Thought Shrapnel

One of the things I’m a bit concerned about when it comes to generative AI is the replacement of historically accurate images and text with AI slop. There’s a difference between what we’d like to be true, or what is plausible, and what actually happened.

Mike Caulfield shares a good example of this with the Abernathy brothers, who made several cross-country trips across the USA unaccompanied by adults. The AI version of this is nothing like the badass version above.

In 1910, at ages 10 and 6, they rode horseback from Oklahoma to New York City to meet ex-President Theodore Roosevelt, and became nationwide celebrities. They followed this up with a transcontinental horseride in 1911, setting a speed record. In 1913, pooling some money from earlier stunts, they bought an Indian 1000cc motorcycle, and drove it from Oklahoma to New York City — then retired from public life at the wise old ages of 13 and 10.

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This is honestly the coolest picture I’ve seen in a month. Every bit of it is rich with meaning and resonance.

What are we doing here? Why are we sucking history through a straw?

I am at a loss for words.

Source: The End(s) of Argument