Recently, Artificial Intelligence was used to artificially construct a new comedy special of deceased American comedian George Carlin, titled “I’m Glad I’m Dead”. I’m going to give my perspective as both a Satanist and a George Carlin fan on George Carlin, this A.I. creation, and A.I. in general, including a look at some limitations shared by both artificial intelligence and HUMAN intelligence.
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Magister Bill M. here with Satansplain.
Recently, somebody used A.I. to artificially create a stand-up comedy special of the late, great American comedian George Carlin. It’s titled “I’m Glad I’m Dead”, and at the time of this recording you can still find it on YouTube. Many people messaged me about this, asking for my thoughts. So I wrote a blog post about it and put it on Satansplain dot com. But I also figured that this would be something worth expanding on and talking about here on Satansplain. So that’s what this episode will be about.
Now of course, I’m sure there’s at least one person out there wondering, “Bill, WHAT does any of this have to do with Satanism?” And my answer to that is: a lot. That’s because there is something Satanically SIGNIFICANT to say about A.I., and ALSO, something Satanic significant to say about George Carlin. As for the combination of the TWO, well, as we’ll see, I think it could have been much better, to put it very nicely.
Before I launch into my rants about all of this, let me first give you a summary of what I’m going to talk about.
One, I’d like to first talk at least a little about George Carlin, and why he’s well worth bringing up on a Satanism podcast. Spoiler alert: it’s NOT just because of his anti-religion routines.
Two, I’m going to read you my overall review of this A.I.-generated special. Frankly, like most fans, I had low expectations of it. And after listening to it, meh, it was pretty much what I expected. SOME accurate aspects, SOME interesting new bits that were created, but overall more of a lame parody than anything. Which is not the same as the outrage expressed by a lot of other fans I see. But having said all of that, it still does bring up some good questions about artistry, intellectual property and copyrights.
That will all be in the first half of this episode. After the break, I want to talk about AI. Like I said, there is something to be said Satanically about AI, in and of itself. I’ve touched upon this in some prior episodes of Satansplain. This includes PenTAGonal Revisionism as it’s applied to artificial human companions and total environments. Likewise the TABOO stigma people attach to AI. While there are certainly some things to be wary about with AI, and debates and dilemmas that can arise from its use, I still find that a lot of the complaints and fears I see regarding AI -- especially in cases like this, where it’s used to create art or performances of some type -- I find those complaints and fears to typically be rooted in irrational dogma, which overlaps with the complaints I see against artificial human companions. But in a more general sense and more importantly, this fear or denial many humans have with LABELS and the act of categorizing things. It’s something mentioned in The Satanic Bible, as well.
In fact, I’m going to go REALLY blasphemous and probably piss off a lot of artists and techno-phobes as I present my argument as to why I think what A.I. does, process-wise, particularly when it comes to rendering art or creative works, is funfundamentally NOT ALL THAT DIFFERENT from how the HUMAN mind goes about it.
Let us now begin the show, with some thoughts on…George Carlin. Who was George Carlin? Well here in the United States, he’s kind of a household name. If you’re from the U.S. or at least have been listening to my other podcast for a while, The Devil’s Mischief, I’m sure you’re familiar with him. One thing I myself didn’t realize though until I launched The Devil’s Mischief 20 years ago, is that George Carlin is virtually unknown outside of the US, sadly.
