I have started wondering since I've seen social media literally overrun by AI images of people tarting themselves up into into what they want the world to see.
I see you now, you slightly overweight, tired mother trying to portray yourself to the world as a slender goddess, a tree fairy or some kind of science fiction lizard creature with golden sparkled scales. I feel your dissatisfaction with your current life, current looks and what you think your future holds.
I don't quite know how to describe the disturbed and mixed feelings these AI images evoke.
I'm really concerned that the drive towards Perfection and the Sexualization of our image in social media prevents us from doing the real inner work. What is the real work? The Journey of the Hero is to become that persona that we want to portray ON THE INSIDE... to manifest all of the hallmarks and traits of the character we want to portray, not just to casually try on the external frills like a cheap plastic façade and then share it like it's real.
Cosplay is a fabulous thing, don't get me wrong; it allows us to experiment, to play, to be creative. But at what level does cosplay feed the desire for change just enough that we lose the drive towards transformation and simply slip back to being our regular, limited, uncreative, stuck self? It's a bit like the hollow feeling the titillation of porn can leave without the deep connection and fulfilment of profound lovemaking; how porn in its search for endless, carefree ecstasy can numb and ultimately quell the ability for real intimacy, connection and transformational sex.
Is this AI image creation another form of visual porn?
At what point have we failed to understand that the barrage of constant images of ourselves as Warrior Goddess, Cosmic Astral Hero or Reptilian Seductress actually NUMB us to the real magic of personal transformation? Joseph Campbell's Journey of the Hero is NOT about the colour of the gold paint on your skin, or the sexy scales or whatever... it's about becoming that reptilian, magical, amorphous being on the inside at the heart & soul level.
It disturbs me enormously that most people take the bottom 1% of AI's capability and that those tiny crumbs are actually enough to satiate them and soothe them. It's a bit like standing in front of a sumptuous feast and watching the 95% paying big money to gorge on only the sugary, mass produced bread whilst the rest of the feast is ignored. Did I mention that after the first few addicting fantasy images of yourself, Lensa is not free?
AI also has issues for me in the sense that it encourages the theft of copywritten artistic property.
"I’m cropping these for privacy reasons/because I’m not trying to call out any one individual. These are all Lensa portraits where the mangled remains of an artist’s signature is still visible. That’s the remains of the signature of one of the multiple artists it stole from." Source
I wonder how many of us, in the end - once we have created that perfect AI Lensa picture of ourselves, will sit down and list out the character traits of that Goddess or that character that we wish to embody? How many of us are willing to consistently get up at 5am and do the meditation or the martial arts practice that will help to shape and mold us into that which we so desperately seek? How many of us are willing to understand the extent of the alienation from the Tribe which is required in order to actually BE (and not just look like) the amazing picture-postcard hero?
AI image manipulation disturbs me in the way that it's distorts and soothes the desire in us to evolve to be more. That quest to evolve is part of what makes us quintessentially human. Is our fascination with AI image manipulation the beginning of what will make us actually less than human?
It's frightening that we are so easily LED, that we are so easily easily soothed with toys and games, and that we are so childlike in what it takes to placate us.
Personally, I'm continuing to use AI for things like preparing frameworks for website copy and research - that kind of stuff is so timesaving and useful!! AI is an incredible tool that that brings us so much farther forward in the quest for knowledge and better research skills. But I'm really resisting the plastic facades and the pretendy portraits on social media.
I deleted the Lensa app from my phone.
I use social media for my business. I really don't mind if I don't have that sexy picture of myself as an Earth Fairy or Warrior Goddess on my social media profile. In fact, I have experimented recently with posting REAL unedited pictures on social media of what my aging self without makeup actually looks like - so I can FEEL all of the uncomfortableness and vanity that my imperfect looks brings up, to begin the journey towards more authenticity and freedom.
It disturbs me enormously that the discussion isn't being had about who we want to transform ourselves to actually be in terms of heart-mind-soul and how we can live more authentically in a world that is increasingly fake.
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