Coming from the perspective of a craft-focused writer, I’m trying to understand how you define authenticity—trueness to self, as opposed to playing to audience for clicks and likes? There seems to be a dichotomy between fiction (these absurdist AI-generated memes) and nonfiction (e.g., you talking about linguistics.) I’m also trying to work out how craft fits into this idea. The bulk AI-generated memes are created without craft. But when you, or some other earnest “influencer” creates a short video attempting to encapsulate and successfully project an idea in less than 60 seconds, that involves quite a bit of craft. Also wondering how pastiche (as opposed to artless imitation) and parody fit into this idea. I have seen other fast-talking linguists on Instagram (I don’t know if they are imitating you, but their content as far as I can tell is earnest.) I can also imagine a parody.
I also found myself wondering which flavor of authentic we were pondering. I first read it as “trueness to self” and that seems to fit. There’s also authenticity as in the “real” thing instead of a knock off. Which isn’t completely unrelated to “trueness to self” since we don’t have a concrete seal of authenticity as with other products. But AI slop misses “the real thing” because it’s not trying to build new creativity on top of others’ ideas. It’s just empty mimicry
Coming from the perspective of a craft-focused writer, I’m trying to understand how you define authenticity—trueness to self, as opposed to playing to audience for clicks and likes? There seems to be a dichotomy between fiction (these absurdist AI-generated memes) and nonfiction (e.g., you talking about linguistics.) I’m also trying to work out how craft fits into this idea. The bulk AI-generated memes are created without craft. But when you, or some other earnest “influencer” creates a short video attempting to encapsulate and successfully project an idea in less than 60 seconds, that involves quite a bit of craft. Also wondering how pastiche (as opposed to artless imitation) and parody fit into this idea. I have seen other fast-talking linguists on Instagram (I don’t know if they are imitating you, but their content as far as I can tell is earnest.) I can also imagine a parody.
I also found myself wondering which flavor of authentic we were pondering. I first read it as “trueness to self” and that seems to fit. There’s also authenticity as in the “real” thing instead of a knock off. Which isn’t completely unrelated to “trueness to self” since we don’t have a concrete seal of authenticity as with other products. But AI slop misses “the real thing” because it’s not trying to build new creativity on top of others’ ideas. It’s just empty mimicry