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CyberneticCupcake

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I'm still here, in spite of everything.

I've tried hanging onto this site for as long as I could, in spite of not updating it, as my main art hub and discussion platform, but after some very disconcerting news (and I never did get to maximum llama in this account's lifetime), I've decided to announce my attempts to move my platform elsewhere, if at all possible.


Where, you ask? I really don't know.

My long-term plan has always been my own website, but as the internet-scape has radically shifted from personal pages to social media to corporate-dominated and intrusive-ad-run business sites in some mad grab to try—desperately—to make money, I've no longer been interested in trying to find ways to make and host a site with the tools available. If anything does come up, it will either be something that looks like it's out of a late-90s era GeoCities site (since that seems to be the extent of my education in designing websites), or made in conjunction with proper web designers for the purposes of artistic communication only, not business.


In the meantime, I'll be working to get a Carrd or other aggregate link page set up to show where I usually go to dink around. My Newgrounds site, in spite of its lack of activity, acts as the nearest thing I have to a link collection for now. My other sites also have a little network of links where you can find me elsewhere.


As for YouTube, I did have a long-term plan to post videos there, but as of this journal most of my public videos are hosted on the channel I've termed my "archive"—where I mostly host TF2 audioplays (not using the S[m] word) and other sampled and transformative silliness. My main channel is empty save for some private videos for playlist experiments, and the music on my music channel has been unlisted as well out of concerns for sound quality (music mixing for streaming is a science I'm still not versed in). I don't plan on going back to maintaining these channels alone, at least not until I can get some proper help with it.

In fact, geez, looking back after over thirty years alive and around fifteen spent fucking around and finding out online, starting with DeviantArt and a few other forums, it seems all of my dreams for my online presence were wholly based on fads and trends that didn't really withstand the test of time (I'm lucky the TF2 and GMod communities are still lingering and even continuing to produce refreshingly silly content sometimes...) Vlogs, sketch comedy, music videos, gameplay videos, livestreams, VTubing, and who knows what else will capture an internet audience's increasingly shortened attention span.


Where would I fit in all this? I don't know, and I feel I've tried to find out. Fan-art and a few "original" ideas seemed to be my best outlet, but while I'm still trying to make a graphic novel (and a few fanfics as well), my motivation to actually make things is often sporadic and fleeting. The only reason I even have the few projects I do is because I often jump between them, though I still suffer from devoting myself to another side project that excites me, only for that motivation to drop off the face of the earth at the slightest inconvenience.


So why do I still keep trying? Even after only finding more drama and controversy than not, and often getting into trouble for my big mouth?

I think because I'm finding I'm more of an extrovert than not. As someone on the autism spectrum, I was assured that introversion was an autistic trait, and one introverted trait I relate to is finding my center alone with my computer, phone, or television. However, as I've found the few friends online with whom I can relate to, I realize I've come to depend upon internet communication for my socialization, though my often misguided attempts to find more friends have often failed spectacularly.


I'm still trying to learn better, or at the very least I'm learning what's getting me angry and reactive and avoiding those situations, but after a certain point—whether it be from age or sheer stubbornness—I've come to realize there are going to be certain aspects of me I can't control, at least not in the way that will make me instantly more socially acceptable for certain groups. I still have my beef with a lot of social conventions and bad faith interpretations of emotional reactions, but the only thing I can promise is that I'm making the effort, day by day, to get better.


If you still hold grudges against me after all these years, I understand completely and hold no judgment. However, I do ask anyone still interested in taking me down (including my own self-loathing ass) to ask why you're interested in putting down someone. Is it really for justice? For the decency of the people? Or just to make you look or feel better? I can no longer spend my energy on apologies and pleasing people just to be misinterpreted all the same, so all I can really say is what I've just said, and maybe a bit more if I'm in the mood.

Best wishes for a safe 2023,

CyberneticCupcake 🧁

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I'm all in favor! 😱😱😱


No, I don't think A.I. art is "the future of art" and that any traditional artists still using old techniques are going to be made obsolete.

  • You can look at any number of online artists bringing back old techniques such as calligraphy and film photography to see how the idea falls apart. Artists will use whatever techniques suit their needs, and if that includes a database of their own art and the means to reassemble it, that's on them.

No, I don't think A.I. art should be a replacement for hard work and proper technique.

  • Everyone jokes about the A.I. outputting too many fingers or wonky eyes, which could be easily fixed with some good old-fashioned Photoshop editing.

  • In addition, the A.I. can only generate art worth showcasing through trial and (mostly) error, so it starts to feel as much like programming as it does making art. That's an artform to itself, in my belief.

  • At any rate, thanks to the RNG nature of A.I. generation, it's a gamble that any A.I. art is going to look worthy of publishing anyway, with or without editorialization.

No, A.I. art is not stealing, tracing, collaging, or comparable to any immoral art technique that a human might commit.

  • While I am concerned with the terms of service of any image hosting site that allow for unsolicited mass-scraping of image data in the first place, the way in which it actually makes the work is much more comparable to generating familiar patterns that correspond to the prompt you give it.

  • Without the database with which to reference from, it cannot generate any pattern, whether it be the style of a certain artist that didn't agree to their name being used as data, or just the visual definition of a given object in the first place.

  • Besides, people should have control over the database, not the other way around; it's the only way A.I. can learn anyway.


Yes, I think A.I. art can be used as a supplement for artistic endeavors, whether it be:

  • a rapid prototyping machine for concept art (the kind to be used with commission artists as visual reference for a character)

  • quick generation of an art element such as backgrounds or even character poses (though they'll have to be adjusted for consistency, obviously)

  • when other artistic techniques are not possible (people without the dexterity or even patience to create art otherwise... yes, that includes the idea that anyone can make art through A.I...)

Yes, I think people who generate A.I. art are artists, as long as they don't try to lean on A.I. art as their only technique (see my point about "proper technique") and recognize the concerns traditional artists have with A.I.'s proliferation.

  • Much of the current controversy around A.I. artists surrounds a minority who will go out of their way to proclaim A.I.'s superiority, and while this has led to tragic bullying of traditional artists for "failing to get with the program," this sort of behavior has been going on since before A.I. got "good," so while I am concerned for this group's proliferation and spread, I don't chalk it up to A.I. development itself so much as the "techbro" movement of technological innovation over common sense.

  • As for whether these artists deserve to monetize their works, that's unfortunately a bit sticky. As of now, A.I. art has no copyright protection due to the nature of the database it draws from, as well as its "inhuman" source, and is thusly in the public domain. However, that does not dismiss people making art regardless of its ownership.

  • I find it sad that the definition of an artist anymore must include some idea of intellectual property and total ownership of their work, because it makes for a very strange precedent going forward. If I find myself inspired by works outside of my sphere (keyword: inspired, not traced or directly referenced), must I publicly announce their "usage" in my work? If I fail to do so, will I be threatened with an accusation of infringement? If I do so and the original artists disapprove of my interpretation, am I a criminal "stealing" their hard-earned work?


If any of this discourse sounds familiar to you, it's because I've heard it bandied around long before A.I. even got off the ground as a viable medium. DeviantArt has long been the site of discussion about artist's rights, what is "art," and how artists can further themselves online. So is the internet. Of course the idea that A.I. art is against everything these artists have stood for would make itself here, along with the propaganda and misinformation that comes along with it. The more things change, the more stay the same, and more likely than not it's that very discourse that has led me down this "dark" path into artistic "villainy."


In fact, I'm not even going to try to cite what has inspired my beliefs in A.I. art, because I know people are going to try to debate me, fight with me, change my mind, even put me down as a person because of it. So is the internet. The only reason I even desire to make my views public is because I know they're shared by others in my sphere, and because as someone social in an internet space, I'd like to know just what I'm up against in an age when people can claim to be friends with someone over thin slips of shared interests, if that.


I don't even care if I get called out, canceled, or even harassed for this. I'm tired of this site anyway. If you really wish to debate me on this, I've got many other sites you can meet me and gather dirty laundry through.


See you there,

CyberneticCupcake 🧁

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Don't do that...

And by "that", I mean self-promotion in others' deviations, asking for favors on main page comments or deviations, noting people to solicit business, and other suspicious activity. 

We can continue to behave like civilized artists even as this art site continues to grow UNcivil. You can learn how to behave properly, no matter your age or disability.

I give favors to those I think deserve them, I support the business of artists who are honest and professional, and I work hard to be the sort of artist I'd want to meet. 

Oh, and you're always welcome for llamas and faves I give you. Your thanks are best expressed to me in returning the favor.
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cyberneticcupcake.newgrounds.c…

Not sure how long this'll last, but it should be fun; it supports all the stuff I'm interested in, so I'll be reposting a lot of stuff from here and my music websites. Drop me a line if you follow me here and have a NG account as well.
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Really, just in case I'm unable to utilize Eclipse for whatever reason, you can best contact me through Skype, Discord, and Telegram; note me for details as I don't want to attract username-scumming bots.
I don't do Facetime, Google Hangouts, or Zoom, so don't ask about anything other than the ones I got.

Through there, you can find out what other sites I frequent, or just freakin' use a search engine; my username is more or less constant across platforms. I'll see you there.
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