Featured Page
I explain in some detail my tentative plans to become a vtuber focusing on transhumanism as a topic, creating video essays and more. Running log of updates for this quest!
Sweet! This is a site about my own quest to understand artificial intelligence, or at least what we're calling it nowadays! This includes large language models, image generators, and more. I’ll read about them, experiment, learn, code and dialogue, hoping to figure things out a bit. I’ll post what I learn and my views, especially how they change!
Sometimes these eerie beasts sound a bit like a human typing. It’s unsettling, but I have to admit I do find large language models a bit impressive. I know that there are professions use them daily, but others have no contact with them. Most people have no idea how they work. I don’t know much, admittedly, not yet. I'm hoping to learn, though!
I looked for other people doing this sort of thing for similar reasons and with similar resources. I couldn’t find many people in approaching artificial intelligence this way online, at least not publicly. Most websites were extremely corporatized, after all. I just cannot get involved in any kind of financial pressure with this. It's a hobby!
Other sites about artificial intelligence, while from a non-corporate perspective, were really, really sexual. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t interest me. I don't really have a problem with people who read that kind of erotica; I would just rather talk about other things, so I avoid those spaces.
Quick poll
So, anyways, having noticed that there aren't enough little sites like this, I've started my own. I'll be sharing my little notes and experiments with the technology itself. Artificial intelligence intrudes in my life a lot, so I'd like to understand why it keeps changing my world.
Naming this site? Choosing the aesthetic and thematics? Not as complicated as expected, even if you think it's weird. I chose “midcentury” because I like that time’s aesthetic and sense of order, even if there’s not much else to admire. In particular, I want this site to evoke a sort of secretarial feel.
Think of those neatly-typed reports and university essays from the 1960s, with exact spacing and proper margins carefully handcrafted. People thought they could document the future into orderly submission. They were wrong, but at least they took notes!
We’re approaching yet another midcentury. Now. It’s a very different one! It will probably look nothing like the mid-twentieth century’s tidy diagrams of the future. We don't have flying cars, and we haven't yet met the aliens, alas. Is “artificial intelligence” going to play a role, particularly one like we’d imagined it would back then?
Things don't resemble our old science fiction at all. Maybe that's a good thing. The robots aren't sapient after all, even if they are useful. They might be too useful or not useful enough to justify their cost. It all depends on what you use them for and how you see things. It's time for some serious dread and optimism, entwined...
Recent Site Updates
The most recent changes and additions to Midcentury.now! You can view all past changes over here, or check out the site's RSS feed. The emojis are topical indicators here. It's kind of subtle and not all that necessary, but I like it. The gear stands for structural updates, tools represent systems, whereas the little card images represent pages about prompting, etc. I hope it's not completely unintuitive, at least.
📸︎ Possibly going to keep Nitro.
While I don't really want to stream on twitch, I really think going live on Discord or in some kind of chat there sounds like fun and probably will give it a go, and keep Nitro.
If you can access SillyTavern or a similar program, you can use some of the small, amateurish card prompts I've created. Now with new portraits and a new character!
I try to discuss vtubing, transhumanism, and artificial intelligence with an (obviously) very caffeinated Erica, but she tends to pull things in her own panicky parasocial directions as usual, with copious references to the Lake itself...
When persistently pressed, Weasel83 begins to vent a bit about his online existence and lack of real life enrichment, comparing himself to a raccoon and other strange metaphors. Things take an odd poetic turn.
A surly 4chan reject found my username on a forum thread, and now thinks this might make us close friends, or at least indicate that I'm not a normie, and will tolerate his odd and unnerving behavior. For lulz, apparently.
As a large language model, Anna has absolutely no faith in my ability to complete any technical tasks required for vtubing on my own. Hypotheticals enter the picture to keep things on track...
And Also?
I try to make sure the prompts I post here work as intended, but anything involving a large language model can behave strangely. That's a given, and a well-known fact about these things. I can’t take responsibility for how any model performs under the masks I build.
Also, please don’t treat me as an authority. I’m still learning how these systems work, and that's the point of this site. I'm documenting my journey. It's not something that comes easily to me, either. I use SillyTavern, but much of it still mystifies me. My own installation is maintained by someone else on my household server.
I’m not a trained programmer in the slightest. I have never worked in that industry. I know web languages, but I don't plan to become a professional. A lot of the technical side of things still confuses me (so far). I'm on a quest here, with lots of mistakes, too. Even when it comes to that, everything I post is meant to be light and enjoyable! Many sites say this. Coming from me? Take it literally!
Most importantly, I need to mention that I work with characters when I use language models. It began as a mnemonic trick and turned into a structure of sorts. This is a bit hard to explain, but maybe some will understand?
Giving a system a tone keeps me focused. These voices aren’t companions or pets, and I know they're not alive. I may address them funny in chatlogs, but it's a game to me.
They’re scaffoldings that help me think. It helps me to stay engaged at times, and it can be fun. I’m fully aware that models aren’t people. Any anthropomorphizing of these creepy pattern generators is more like playing The Sims than anything else, with a heavy amount of observation. I want to figure out why they're doing certain things, because it's interesting and fun.
Another thing that I simply have to mention, though. If you’ve ever struggled with sensations of unreality, I don’t recommend engaging with this material. In that case, I can't recommend turning models into characters. Furthermore, all characters here are fictional and based on no one.
And all character images on the site are AI-generated and should not resemble any real person. My 1960s-reporter-styled portrait and persona are fictional as well. Nothing on this site is written for youth, and if you're underaged, pleased leave immediately.
Some people use chat systems for erotic purposes. I guess there's little wrong with that if it's under control. It doesn't interest me, and you won't find that kind of material on this site. If that's what you're seeking, you'll be a bit disappointed here.
This site focuses mostly on large language models for now. I, however, do exist and am not a bot. Yes, this is a persona, and yes, I vibe code like crazy with help from Anna, but I'm just me beneath the persona. Not a bot, though sometimes I wonder what it'd be like!