With the $JENNER and $MOTHER coins taking up a lot of space on X this past weekend, I turned to…books. But conditioned as I was, I once again attempted to pick up on my Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace reading.
The book has hundreds of characters woven together in a complex web of interconnectedness that tells a story about the characters' relationships with technology and entertainment and how it shapes the mind. Full disclosure: I’ve never managed to finish it; the writing style is not for me, but I am fascinated by subcultures, especially those that exist online, and I think the book is a helpful fictional resource to understand these.
The next day, the Infinite Jest that is The Internet, or specifically, Twitter, continued, this time, with a wave of critics towards the usage of AI as an artistic tool. The super talented artist Petravoice got picked on by a seemingly uncoordinated moat claiming she was “copying” other artists, affirming AI was just used for plagiarizing, and so on, and so forth. The Internet Detective in me recognized some patterns, and most importantly, some pfps. And I immediately realized we were once again, unfortunately dealing with a new wave of coordinated harassment by an infamous subculture: the furries. When the NFT hype kickstarted in early 2021, some of the well-beloved artists in the space started getting never ending and aggressive comments about “their NFTs burning the planet”. Mind you, this was still when Ethereum was proof-of-work. But these comments weren’t targeted correctly: a recognized artist that has chosen to mint on Polygon due to her own environmental concerns was one of the targets. Upon taking a closer look, some of us discovered spreadsheets full of artists’ Twitter usernames, and those would get these aggressive comments. Back then, Twitter and Instagram were the only digital social spaces for artists. While Mastodon and other alternatives were there, they didn’t have enough users for artists to consider them a viable way to share their work.
I think it’s worth highlighting here, that social media both plays a role in helping mobs organize AND feeding them. It is understandable to see strong reactions against AI, when Apple’s latest iPad ad suggests destroying creative instruments and replacing them with your iPad, probably plugged to a text-to-image AI engine. Or when the CEO of Klarna, a very successful fintech company providing online financial services, goes on social media to boast how his company is cutting down advertising spend and jobs by 20% by leveraging generative AI for ads (he later deleted his statement, amidst backlash).
For some of us, these waves of criticism are a normal part of the internet. Those of us that study these phenomena, are familiar with the Meaningness essay on the topic. Some people like to think that these kind of groups are a necessary evil - but I vehemently disagree: we can make our own rules, write new, healthier norms. Once again, I was reminded of the importance of building our own social media - where the community sets the values, and there’s more tolerance because of this. Where moderation comes from within and not from arbitrary corporate policies. Where we make our own rules, simply by interacting with each other in healthier ways.
A garden we tend to in a community, will always be well-kept.
Here are some positive corners of the internet to prove my aforementioned conviction:
Laughs
Collect
The Yeche Lange curators club was launched this week on Orb! The club explores a new format - a curated space, curated in dialogue with artists, hosting one-week long drops. Collect them while they last!
Read/listen/ view:
Kay’s Corner, with love from Japan (and Lens):
In Japan we are heading into monsoon season, but that means event season is also soon to come. There are dozens of events being planned and attended! If you are heading to Tokyo, keep an eye on our feeds and will be sharing information and content as it comes in.
Eri invited Ayaka, Montako and Kay to be part of her art and music event “Tokyo Love Hotels” this past weekend, which Asami captured in video.
You can also mint this Montako for Tokyo Love Hotels edition.
⭐️HOT NEW LENS USERS⭐️
Also - our team is hiring! Find out more here.
Next week I'm speaking at Digital Art Mile's The Art of Protocols conference, hosted by Outland, as a part of Art Basel in Actual Basel, Switzerland. I'll be giving a keynote on protocols as a medium. I made some very cute slides so I might turn them into a writing of sorts. Stay tuned.
Also, now that James joined the Lens team, we'll be alternating between authors both in Touch Grass and in a new publication we're developing.
Very excited about all of this. See you soon.
