#story

Proof of Human

Eric Vance Walton@ericvancewalton (81)14h

This post came up today in Facebook Memories. Ten years ago on this very day I delivered my talk at the first SteemFest. After all the day's activities were wrapped up and the adrenaline was fading away we strolled the streets of Amsterdam. As the sun sank lower in the sky we felt as though we were on the top of the world.

As far as memories go this is among my top three. It was our first trip overseas, my first appearance in front of such a large crowd, and we felt like we had finally "made it", whatever that even means. That part of it is funny to think about now. Fate is fleeting and fortunes can change in an instant but those memories are indelible. We were so lucky to get to have those experiences.

I can't impress upon you enough how much excitement and hope was in the air during that festival. I wish we could find a way to rekindle that fire. @riverflows just posted a few days ago about her frustration with AI-generated thumbnails and discussed banning them from her Hive Garden community.

This totally jives with the novel I'm writing right now. The story is centered on communities separating themselves from a mainstream society that is completely run by Super Intelligence. After I read her post yesterday I got to thinking about how Hive could position itself perfectly just before this tsunami of Super Intelligence really hits our world (believe me, we haven't seen anything yet.)

What if we take it a step further and make Hive a place for purely human-created content and market it as such?

If we were to do this properly the entire platform would be set up perfectly for all of the people who will be desperately craving something other than AI-slop. Right now would be the time to start the cleansing process of ceasing all AI-created content on the platform. Hive could be known as the place to temporarily escape AI and drink deeply from the well of human creativity.

I'm not even sure how we would do this. Are their tools that can effectively identify and flag AI-created posts and comments? There must be because YouTube now labels AI-created content on their platform with a small watermark.

How about it Hive? I see this as a way to really position the platform as a unique, soulful, and attractive place to converge and share.

Honestly, I feel like Hive, as it is is withering. Do you feel that way too? I see more and more people leaving or posting less. There are those who will say, "This is normal when token prices slip." As someone who has been here for over a decade, this time, it feels like more than that. I think what we have here is worth saving.

I, for one, will take the pledge not to use AI in any of my content here on Hive. Will you? If so, use the #proofofhuman tag on your posts as a show of support.

Portraits From The Hearthhold Update

It's been a better week on the novel-front. I've completed one more chapter and the characters are beginning to take on a life of their own. Per the chapter outline I have eleven more chapters to go. I think I'm going to set myself a goal of producing, a minimum of one chapter a week.

Working on a novel feels a lot like being a monk. It's about putting in the hours in seculsion and silence. It's about putting your heart and your soul into something that may not even be a success but you have to convince yourself that it can't fail. Because sometimes this kind of blind faith is the only thing that keeps the project going.

Siri Watch Face

I'm not totally against AI. I think it has its place and can make all of our lives a little better in some ways. This new AppleWatch Siri watch face is one such expample. I started using this after the latest iOS update and it has been totally amazing. You can customize the widgets on the bottom but in the center of the sceen Apple uses Siri to predict what you'd like to see there several different times a day based on your daily routine.

Before my morning walk it shows the weather, in the middle of the day it shows where I'm at with my workout goals, in the afternoon the watch face displays how the financial markets are performing. Pretty impressive Apple.

Kamikaze Birds

Lately, we've had the unfortunate experience of birds flying into our windows. We started having multiple bird strikes a day. It seems to have gotten worse as the birds have begun to prepare for winter. When we found a dead golden finch on our deck we knew we needed to find a remedy.

I'm happy to report we found a way to stop the kamikaze birds. These iridescent window clings have totally solved the problem—a cheap and effective solution.

That's just about all I have for now. Time to settle in and work on the novel. Make this a wonderful day.

www.ericvancewalton.net

Comments · 7

@livinguktaiwan(81)· 5h
AI has it's place in our life today, there's no denying to that. I use it to plan my holidays, and help to answer general questions and problems.

However, I disagree with people using it on Hive to earn rewards. It takes away the level playing field and the social element making Hive an empty, cold, money grabbing platform.

It makes me cringe when I see multiples of similar posts everyday, all with AI generated thumbnails, all responding to the same community prompts of the day, all writing fluff that could have been written by anyone.

Making Hive AI free probably won't help Hive price, it'd need a lot more than that's. But the continue and aggressive use of AI will definitely put real people off, and we'll gradually see the real users leaving because we don't want to talk to bots
@seki1(71)· 8h
No AI content at all huh...

Would be interesting if Hive tried that, I only use AI for the thumbnails at times but not always...

Maybe I would just scrap the laziness all together and join in the proofofohuman tag.
@agmoore(76)· 9h
AI--that is, artificial intelligence (artificial because it is not human...doesn't matter how super it is, it still is not human) is a tool. It is a tool that humans use to get things done. It can never replace creativity. I think of the Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel as a symbol of creativity.

There is a spark, there is a kind of genesis every time a human creates something. Artificial intelligence cannot have that spark. It can only replicate and duplicate what it has learned from humans. It can synthesize and produce, but it lacks the spark.

Why would I relinquish human essence?

I use AI to collect information, as I in the past used the card catalogue in the library. It saves me a lot of time.

AI is a synthesis of everything. We all struggled through childhood and adolescents so we could become our unique selves. What was all that work for? So we could turn ourselves into a synthesis of everything that has come before?

No.

On another note. I'm happy to hear about your progress on your novel. I remember once writing a gargantuan novel. It was horrible, but the process was amazing. I couldn't get up from the chair. The words poured out. My hands hurt. My arms hurt. My back hurt. But I kept writing.

I had to throw that book away (it still exists somewhere in my files and fragments of it are worthy). It is the process that is valuable. Enjoy it :) And good luck.
@seattlea(78)· 13h
I think that you are correct about Hive slowly fading I had the same feeling for a while now especially seeing the data... And yes, it is not just token price.

In terms of making Hive AI free it is not something I am a fan of. I don't think that it is going to help save Hive at all.
@owasco(73)· 13h
I have never used AI in any way in my posts on Hive. Sometimes I arm myself with AI found information before I go to village board meetings, but I do not see the fun in using AI for my posts; I enjoy my own mind coming up with the words! Would not our minds atrophy should we used AI very often? I support banning the use of AI here. I am an anachronism in many respects, and by choice (your watch gives me the creeps).

I had windows like that in my last home. The thud! Awful. I just stopped cleaning the worst window, a huge picture window facing the garden.
@videoaddiction(72)· 14h
I think proving we are human is becoming an increasingly strange challenge in a world where AI can generate almost anything.
@bozz(83)· 14h
I almost think they would have to do some kind of fork. There is just too much AI stuff here already that people don't seem to care about. If restrictions were suddenly imposed, people would freak out. Excitement around crypto in general is down. It's not just HIVE. It really sucks. I was hoping for some more fireworks.