A colleague of mine is organizing a debate around the question of whether synthetic media will do more harm or more good. Today he sent around the following description to potential participants:
At the intersection of computer generated images, video, text and voice lies a potentially
divergent future for media. From holographic pop stars to new tools to automate workflows, from deep learning techniques to generate media out of whole cloth to highly engaging artificially intelligent characters, the potential is enormous.And yet, the potential for danger is extraordinary. These same tools can be employed for the purposes of misinformation and propaganda. Their very existence may cause the public to doubt the veracity of documentary evidence. This debate will address the proposition, “synthetic media will do more good than harm,” in order to explore these important issues.
Unable to resist such an opportune moment for expression of technocultural relativity, I immediately replied as follows:
“Awesome! Glad to participate. I think there was a similar debate some time ago. I will try to reconstruct the description of that debate as best I can:
At the intersection of books, periodicals and newspapers lies a potentially divergent future for media. From literary pop stars to new tools to automate workflows, from rapid publishing techniques to generate content out of whole cloth to highly engaging artificially existing characters, the potential is enormous.
And yet, the potential for danger is extraordinary. These same tools can be employed for the purposes of misinformation and propaganda. Their very existence may cause the public to doubt the veracity of documentary evidence. This debate will address the proposition, “printed media will do more good than harm,” in order to explore these important issues.