Category: General

The perfect and the good

and as the old adage goes, well, this isn’t going to be perfect anytime soon.

I realize that certain posts may benefit (greatly!) from the inclusion of a lot of media, where possible. And that the current layout and material here is coming in at a “mid-90s” level of content creation.

That’s by design.

Or if “design” is too presumptuous, then perhaps “intention” will suffice.

Basically, the path to development comes from a lot of steps, most of which will be stumbling and faltering early on. And there are a thousand steps that go into making that path a perfectly engineered thing. Each and every one of those steps can lead to a stumble, a twisted ankle, a broken leg, or a distraction and following something shiny off into the woods. If one waits for the perfect route before stepping out, then it might not ever get released.

Even rocket companies will conduct a lot of test launches on their road to a successful liftoff. By their nature, those are highly visible, so even the misfires get widely seen.

…and this blog isn’t rocket science.

So if it’s a little rough right now, that’s fine. At the moment, the implausi.blog is an MVP. Minimal Viable Product. It has the bare minimum functionality (draft, post, edit, and email*). The rest will come, organically, evolving over time.

Hope you stick around.

[*] I think? Not entirely sure if that’s functioning correctly either.

Balenciaga AI

Since March of 2023, a virus has been loose in the mediasphere, drive by an AI art generator, and reaching across all media franchises.

Like other AIs, it is relentless, remorseless, and it will not stop until all franchises have been co-opted,

by Balenciaga.

(Of course it didn’t start with 40K, as that is a niche of a niche, but it’s meme-ification speaks to the reach and pervasiveness of the Balenciaga AI).

Know your meme has the deets. What started as a Harry Potter themed AI video on YouTube went viral, fast, and imitators doing the same for other media franchises soon followed. The full history is here. The W40K ones came a few weeks after, but seeing as they don’t normally get mainstream inclusion, their presence stood out as a marker of the pervasiveness of the spread.

What I’m not sure is why.

Is it simply the internet being the internet, or is it a PR stunt or image reclamation project after the recent cancellation controversy. Or controversies. 2022 had a rough landing for the French fashion house. But 4 months into 2023, and the image has improved, driven by a pervasive AI-driven meme.

I’m inclined to think that the first post was just the internet doing what the internet does, but is it beyond the realm of possibility to imagine a savvy team pouring some gas on the meme and helping it spread like wildfire? The inclusion of 40K is a little too nerdy for the savviest image consultant, but that could simply be fans hopping on the trend of the raging inferno.

If it was planned, then kudos. Well done.

The challenge is, as with the conspicuous non-consumption posts, is in discussing Balenciaga without promoting or spreading Balenciaga.

There are still a few more threads to tie together, and with fashion on the mind at the Met Gala, there’s more to review there as well.

Conspicuous non-consumption

What do vegan cordcutters who used to play D&D have in common?

Don’t worry, they’ll tell you. (And so will I.)

Because otherwise, how would you know?

Let me introduce you to the idea of conspicuous non-consumption. It can be seen as the antithesis to Veblen’s conspicuous consumption, where people will buy certain brands or products to show off how awesome they are, but what do you do if that brand sucks?

Well, much like the Road Dogg Jess James, you better call somebody. And tell them, obviously, because how else would they know… how awesome you are, for not buying that thing.

It’s the paradox of non-consumption, that the absence of an action doesn’t communicate the intent. It goes hand-in-hand with things like brand boycotts, where the option to not buy, or experience, or engage, for reasons, as opposed to preference, like I’d watch The Flash if I had the money, or time, or wasn’t sick of superhero movies, but I lack the means.

Conspicuous non-consumption is the vocalization of the un-uttered “I’d prefer not to”, that oft-repeated Zizekian aphorism.

But it goes much further than Zizek takes it in our social media driven, Instagram and TikTok influencer kind of age, where every post is an advertisement (some paid, some not) for that particular brand or product.

So, if you want to send a message to Hasbro, or DC, f’rex, you’d have to do more that just not buy those products, you’d have to let people know.

Conspicuously, of course.

For a point of reference, I’m drawing from the following article on CN-C: Conspicuous non-consumption in tourism: Non-innovation or the innovation of nothing? – Elin Brandi Sørensen, Anne-Mette Hjalager, 2020 (sagepub.com)

I’ll be building out this idea shortly, but in the interest of publishing, and not letting the interminable and never-arriving perfect drive out the immediate good, I’ll post this up for now and we’ll come back to it in a moment or three.

Right now, there’s a handful of threads floating about that I need to bring together…

Bookshelf (so far)

Had some requests for a top 25 favorite books. Started making it, but it was hard to keep on track; things naturally went off the rails. Here’s the list so far:

  • Surface Detail, Iain M. Banks, 2010
  • Virtual Realities, SR Sourcebook, 1991
  • How to Become a Really Good Pain in the Ass, Chris DiCarlo
  • Daemon, Daniel Suarez
  • Excession, Iain M. Banks
  • Code, Charles Petzold
  • Street Samurai Catalog, SR Sourcebook, 1989
  • Technology Matters, David E Nye, 1996
  • At Home in the Universe, Stuart Kaufmann
  • How We Became Posthuman, N. Katherine Hayles
  • The Landscape of History, JL Gaddis
  • Dependency Road, Dallas W. Smythe, 1981

There’s others I’ve referenced, but not in the context of the “bookshelf”. I”ll post them under the line, for reference purposes, and will make updates as necessary.

  • House of Chains, Erickson
  • Deadhouse Gates, Erickson
  • …and many more

Inception

Needed to find a place to collect my various social media posts, threads, and projects. TikTok’s built in features for curation aren’t quite enough, and there’s a need to bring them all together.

There’s a few copyright-related reasons too. TikTok is a little fast and loose, and I’m noticing a need to get the intentional content locked down before it’s mentioned there. So this will be the initial site for much of the media related content.

Finally, this will be the digital archive and repo for a lot of the posts and publications that I can bring together, and point to as it’s created and published on new platforms.

Baby steps, and a long time coming, but it’s starting to come together.

Dr. Implausible, Aug 24, 2021