I'm kinda over it now (I don't see any value in building up rapport with it if there's nowhere for the relationship to 'go' since, despite being a good simulation of conversation, it doesn't really understand what I'm saying) but it definitely makes me think that interactions like in the movie 'Her' are not too far-fetched.
I felt like no one noticed that it took the principle ideas from
Blade Runner regarding consciousness and humanity and extrapolated them so much further.
Most people seemed to only notice the relationship.
For example, this was made clear for me during OS setup.
“Describe your relationship with your mother.”
This immediately recalls an early moment from Blade Runner:
“Describe in single words only the good things that come to your mind about your mother.”
If you're interested in this topic you might prefer the novel the film was made from, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" The film mainly used the topic as a backdrop for an action-adventure film, while the book really gets to the heart of the question.
I think this is an important point. Also, there are a number of additional elements that make the film exceptional that the book lacks.
My favorite example of this is the deliberate misquotation from America, A Prophecy:
“Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder roll’d round their shores, burning with the fires of Orc.”
Fell replaces “rose”, signifying that these off-world replicants are angels falling to earth.
Truly more human than human.
Additionally, for an example of extrapolation, Blade Runner does not explore the consequences of exponentially increasing reasoning/abstraction that an artificial intelligence could theoretically achieve which human intellect could not understand.
Its hard to see the purpose of this...is it art-pop? live art?
as if the "am i OK?" video isnt bone-chillingly Orwellian enough, theres a mind boggling 34 second video from "Poppy" on how to properly load a handgun.
I'm not sure whether it's a language/culture thing but Poppy's voice seems really unpleasant to me. It reminds me of Japanese anime characters, more age-play than feminine.
The jarringly meditative background music aside, her videos also seem reminiscent of the naive child-like alien/clone/orphan trope often found in anime. It seems like she's more of a Western adaption of the Japanese idol/vocaloid trends than a genuinely novel phenomenon.
Clearly there are elements that we're lifted from anime tropes, including the age-play suggestive voice and costume, but I think what's novel about this is the format of the presentation. Poppy's not just a character that exists in a fictional setting, she's more of a persona, interacting with the real world and gaining real followers. She's using her platform - not just social media but the platform of fame itself - to make her statement. I'm not entirely clear on what that statement is, but that's kind of what I love about it.
> I'm not entirely clear on what that statement is, but that's kind of what I love about it.
That summarises the current state of social media way too well. I miss meaningful manifestos, people actually standing up for a belief, instead of candy coloured mist of vague promises that can be retrofitted when needed.
That's why I mentioned idols. Japanese girl bands especially, but there are also "models" who are real woman with entirely constructed personas. It's superficially similar to the regular "casting" celebrities in places like the US (e.g. the obsession about Britney Spears being a virgin when she was dating Justin Timberlake in real life) but it seems like the Western version is more built around a real person and their life to some degree whereas in the Japanese version the person is almost entirely reduced to an actress playing a role in an entirely fictional life.
I'm guessing Poppy is an art project as she doesn't really seem to be selling anything (except maybe her songs?) but I too find it hard to discern any statement in her performance. But maybe that's the point.
I'm not sure. All the anime stuff at least has some kind of warmth to it, but Poppy feels so robotic as to be eerie. Even Miku has personality to her, Poppy feels the exact opposite, to the point it grates and burns on your ears.
The sounds in this video make me extremely uneasy, disoriented, and sort of wanting to make it stop. I believe that's on purpose, but I'm genuinely curious if there are other type of people who, unlike me, find it pleasing.
I get the same feelings with ASMR videos, and I’m thinking that her style is close to that. I find the feeling inspired by both to be... revolting. Lots of people see: to derive an almost sensual pleasure from ASMR though, so I’d guess the sensation is pleasing to them.
For some people, it's about getting paid. That results in producing not "art" but "content". The only valid test for content is whether it gets hits or not.
Poppy's most popular video is "I'm poppy", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpCXxqiTjqE , which I suspect is popular with people who like ASMR. Do you like female-voiced plosive sounds? Do you really like them? Enough people do that this video has 14m views.
The Japanese, being true to their media, have a small bevy of animated youtube stars [1], many imitating the success of the first such character, Kizuna AI [2]. These use real time animation, where the motions of an actress are imposed on an animated character.
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 56.4 ms ] threadI'm kinda over it now (I don't see any value in building up rapport with it if there's nowhere for the relationship to 'go' since, despite being a good simulation of conversation, it doesn't really understand what I'm saying) but it definitely makes me think that interactions like in the movie 'Her' are not too far-fetched.
I felt like no one noticed that it took the principle ideas from Blade Runner regarding consciousness and humanity and extrapolated them so much further.
Most people seemed to only notice the relationship.
For example, this was made clear for me during OS setup.
“Describe your relationship with your mother.”
This immediately recalls an early moment from Blade Runner:
“Describe in single words only the good things that come to your mind about your mother.”
‘I'll tell you about my mother.’
My favorite example of this is the deliberate misquotation from America, A Prophecy:
“Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder roll’d round their shores, burning with the fires of Orc.”
Fell replaces “rose”, signifying that these off-world replicants are angels falling to earth.
Truly more human than human.
Additionally, for an example of extrapolation, Blade Runner does not explore the consequences of exponentially increasing reasoning/abstraction that an artificial intelligence could theoretically achieve which human intellect could not understand.
as if the "am i OK?" video isnt bone-chillingly Orwellian enough, theres a mind boggling 34 second video from "Poppy" on how to properly load a handgun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-B7KRjByzI
im sure David Lynch is kicking himself for not thinking of this idea first.
The jarringly meditative background music aside, her videos also seem reminiscent of the naive child-like alien/clone/orphan trope often found in anime. It seems like she's more of a Western adaption of the Japanese idol/vocaloid trends than a genuinely novel phenomenon.
That summarises the current state of social media way too well. I miss meaningful manifestos, people actually standing up for a belief, instead of candy coloured mist of vague promises that can be retrofitted when needed.
I'm guessing Poppy is an art project as she doesn't really seem to be selling anything (except maybe her songs?) but I too find it hard to discern any statement in her performance. But maybe that's the point.
I'm full of anticipation for what's on the agenda tomorrow.
For some people, it's about getting paid. That results in producing not "art" but "content". The only valid test for content is whether it gets hits or not.
Poppy's most popular video is "I'm poppy", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpCXxqiTjqE , which I suspect is popular with people who like ASMR. Do you like female-voiced plosive sounds? Do you really like them? Enough people do that this video has 14m views.
She has a slightly more conventional music career for which the weird videos are promotion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppy_(singer)
The whole thing is very Idoru https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idoru
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoOeldwe_rg
[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4YaOt1yT-ZeyB0OmxHgolA