JohnBrownsBussy [he/him]

I mean, power dynamics are something that needs to be considered to make a healthy relationship, but all relationships have power dynamics. I mean, the power dynamics between men and women in general is likely more intense than the specific gap that of a 26 year old and a 19 year old.

Some thoughts on AI art and AI/software in general:

The impact of AI on artists is not unique to them. The same goes for all skilled fields affected by AI/software, but again, the effect is not uniquely produced by software. Rather, all of these instances are a sequential step towards capitalism’s end point: complete proletarianization and reduction of all strata into a two-class system via the hyper-accumulation of capital.

The impact of technology on art is the same as the impact of the power loom on the weaver. Previously, you had artisans and a craft, with a single individual involved in all aspects of the production process and thus unalienated from their labor. Following capital development, you have laborers/technicians and a production process, with intense division of labor that grinds down workers into their unadulterated labor power. It’s easy to see how artists’ traditional interfacing with the art market (through direct sale, commission and patronage) lines up with the earlier, while studio systems for animators and SFX artists lines up with the later.

With that in mind, participating as a consumer in the art market will not reverse the trends of capital development. Neither would a socialist revolution to be frank. The Soviets did not smash the textile mills like as the Luddites thought to do, but sought to utilize capital development in a manner that benefited human development.

Zizek is a lib. He’s happy enough to borrow Marxist analytical frameworks for his work and pal around with left-wingers, but whenever he’s asked to make policy prescriptions it’s always lib shit.

While Arstotzka has a eastern bloc aesthetic, I think the game is more of a commentary on post-9/11 US security theater. The invasive strip searches/gender checks is a direct reference to similar abuses in US airports, and the general treatment of the people crossing the border mirrors the abuse of migrants. The treatment of terrorism is similar. You have basically no ability to stop attacks before they happen. Each new rule that is introduced just makes things harder for you and the people trying to cross the border, and does little to keep people safe. Likewise, you have the ability to treat every violator as a potential terrorist, no matter how minor. You can have people extra-judicially detained for typos. Again, this is another part of the US security theater.

Another reason why I don’t think the game is really commenting on eastern bloc governments is the fact that you are processing immigrants and refugees, people trying to come into the country. Anti-communist tropes/propaganda have always positioned socialist states as someplace people are trying to flee, whether that be East Berlin, Cuba, or Venezuela. It’s the US and capitalist Europe that have the practice of trying to stop people from entering the country. I don’t think the game/creator has a positive view of communism, but the point being made is that it’s comparing the current practices of western “democracies” to the perceived corruption/heavy-handedness of socialist “autocracies.”