Are we human? Then let's be dancers
an antidote to the AI
Why does every product that adds AI claim to be magic and use the ✨ and 🪄 emojis as its proof?
It's like that weird song 'For he's a jolly good fellow.'
The very fact that you’re singing it over and over and over again makes me think he’s maybe not so great of a fellow?
‘That nobody can deny’?? Honestly sounds like a few people are denying it, and the song is a PR play to get ahead of this not-so-very-jolly-but-actually-bad fellow.
You don’t see magicians telling you they’re magicians for an entire hour long performance. They’re too busy, ya know, doing magic.
A quick example of AI in products right now
First, there’ll be a nice big splash page like this:
Omg yes I want all these things! How could you not click?? You’re human, so you click to ‘get started’ and are taken to this:
Ok wow this is so cool! Look there’s even a photo of the whole planet lit up by the ‘aha’ moments of everyone using AI!! Can’t wait for everything to change.
The app then asks me to describe my task?
I mean…idk. What am I supposed to say here? The app doesn’t really give me much detail…duh! That’s because the AI is super smart and I can tell it to do anything.
Silly dumb me being an idiot of the Old Way of Doing Things.
How about… “Create a marketing campaign to get people excited about a new internet where things are easy. Include a mascot and a catch phrase.”
I hit enter and….
It’s a race to the bottom. Companies see their idiot friends creating AI and they want a piece of that hype hype yum yum so they do it too. For example:
Don’t bother with that pathetic, 10-minute a day meditation bullshit on Calm.com
Try Headspace AI. where one of our robots will meditate FOR YOU and then tell you all the lessons it learned.”
Saving you time for what really matters.
There are apps who use AI well
They don’t call it AI because they are not children.
All of Google is AI.
But you don’t see them bandying it around like a kid with new light up shoes.
If I see “now with AI-enabled assistant” anywhere on a website, I run.
I will pay money for you to not use the word AI anywhere on your app. Make that the premium tier and I will buy it.
And yes, as a person named Alex who is often called Al by friends, I have a personal stake in this. When I see “AI Magic” I think it’s saying I am magic or it is using my magic for its app and that’s illegal.
We’re all singing the same song
The companies are laying the whole ‘magic’ thing on real thick because they’re scared that the products themselves won’t be all that magical. That nobody can deny!
But us humans, we’re scared too. Which makes us defensive and write think-pieces like "Will AI replace the artist? Wait dang it I wrote that one nvm.
The more we talk about how we are not AI, the more robotic we become.
"Trust us, we're human and here's why," we keep saying — that nobody can deny!
The truth hides in the subtext and makes me wonder, “wait…are we human?”
Of course we are.
So, as per The Killers scripture, let’s be dancers.
A new song
For we’re all jolly weird humans
For we’re all jolly weird humans
For we’re all jolly weird humans
that everyone can deny.
That last line is important — questioning our own humanity, aka attempting to deny it, is precisely what makes us human! In fact, that’s basically all we do — we bend and expand and implode in order to discover (and rediscover) who we are.
Focusing so much on the whole ‘AI is not human and here’s why’ is part of that, sure, but when it’s ALL we do, it feels a bit…boring, no? Let the AI Industrial Complex run itself ragged trying to convince us of its efficiency. We’re too busy making weird art, building things that make no sense, and laughing at our own bad jokes to notice.
In that spirit, I’d like to share below some recommendations for some things that are very much human without trying to be.
Reply in the comments with recs of anything you’re loving - I’d love to hear em! And if you’re on Sublime, I’ve made a communal collection for us to all add recs here.
The good is the weird and the weird is the good: Volume 1
BOOKS THAT ALL FELT LIKE THEY WERE WRITTEN FROM THE POV OF AN ALIEN EXPLAINING HOW THINGS WORK ON PLANET EARTH
TV SHOWS THAT MADE ME GO WHOA
Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Scavengers Reign by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner
breaking: this show was JUST cancelled by Max and picked up by Netflix. Weird!
I Think You Should Leave by Tim Robinson
fav sketches atm: Brian’s Hat, Prank Show, and Focus Group
NEWSLETTERS THAT REMIND ME IT’S OKAY TO NOT HAVE IT ALL FIGURED OUT BECAUSE NO ONE DOES
Experimental History by Adam Mastroianni
Situation Normal by Michael Estrin
PORTALS INTO THE WEIRD COZY INDIE WEB
Web Curios by Matt
The Syllabus Project by Julia Gunnison and Gillian Waldo
PODCASTS THAT TAKE YOU INSIDE PEOPLE’S BRAINS
Song Exploder by Hrishikesh Hirway
Tetragrammaton by Rick Rubin
bonus: The entire Tetragrammaton website feels like a sister site of Sublime - well worth checking out
VISUAL ENTERTAINMENT MADE BY THE DANIELS WHO MADE EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Tongues by Joywave, music video directed by The Daniels
Swiss Army Man, feature film directed by The Daniels
Possibilia, an interactive short film by The Daniels
note: the site where you could ‘choose your own adventure’ is no longer up, but the YT link above takes you through the whole film as if you were making decisions about which way it would go
Turn Down For What by DJ Snake + Lil Jon, music video directed by The Daniels
fun fact: the main dude in the music video is Daniel Kwan, aka one of The Daniels
bonus for the real ones: A 16 min video with The Daniels walking through how they made the music video
Alrighty, that’s it for today. Reply in the comments with your own recs and, if you’re on Sublime, add them to the communal collection here.
In other news…
We’re hosting a fireside chat on May 22 at 12p EST.
"I feel so cosy here, how can we connect and have more fireside time?"
— A Sublime Premium member during last month's "To AI or not to AI" conversation
Ask and you shall receive! Come hang with Sari, Gabriel, Alex, and the very cool members of Sublime's community.
Attendance is free for Sublime Premium members.
Some topics we may or may not cover:
Whether the right spelling is 'cozy' or 'cosy.'
A sneak peak of the new visual thinking feature we're working on.
Updates on how we've developed our thinking about AI inside of Sublime.
open the floor and hear:
How you're using Sublime and what you'd love to see inside the product.
Questions you have about how to integrate Sublime into your flow.
Literally anything else - that's the beauty of the fireside chat! It's a vibe and you're invited.
Hey!! Don't come for 'for he's a jolly good fellow'!! It's a banger. In any event, when people start singing 'happy birthday to you, happy birthday day to you, happy birthday to <name>, happy birthday to you', it makes me doubt if it actually is their birthday :)
Nailed it. This is a jolly good post. Nobody can deny.