475 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
475 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "robocadey: Shitposting as a Service"
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date: 2022-04-30
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tags:
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- gpt2
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- machinelearning
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- python
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- golang
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- art
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vod:
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twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1471211336
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youtube: https://youtu.be/UAd-mWMG198
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---
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<noscript>
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[Hey, you need to enable JavaScript for most of the embedded posts in this
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article to work. Sorry about this, we are working on a better solution, but this
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is what we have right now.](conversation://Mara/hacker)
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</noscript>
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What is art? Art is when you challenge the assumptions that people make about a
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medium and use that conflict to help them change what they think about that
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medium. Let's take "Comedian" by Maurizio Cattelan for example:
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By my arbitrary definition above, this is art. This takes assumptions that you
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have about paintings (you know, that they use paint on the canvas) and discards
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them. This lets you change what you think art is. Art is not about the medium or
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the things in it. Art is the expression of these things in new and exiting ways.
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<xeblog-conv name="Cadey" mood="coffee">Originally I was going to use some
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Banksky art here, but for understandable reasons it's quite difficult to get
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images of Banksky art.</xeblog-conv>
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One of my favorite kinds of art is the "uncanny valley" of realism. Let's take
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Death Stranding as an example of this. Death Stranding is a video game that was
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released in 2019 for the PlayStation 4 and is one of my favorite games of all
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time. The game has a very hyper-realistic art style that is firmly in the
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centre of the uncanny valley:
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This game mixes very realistic scenery with a story about dead bodies turning
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into antimatter and you being a UPS delivery person that saves America. This is
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art to me. This transformed what a video game could be, even if the entire game
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boils down to Kojima themed fetch quests. Oh and trying not to die even though
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you can't die but when you die it's really bad.
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I want to create this kind of art, and I think I have found a good medium to do
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this with. I write a lot on this little independent site called Twitter. This is
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one of the main things that I write on, and through the process of the last 8
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years or so, I've written a shockingly large amount of things. I post a lot of
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weird things there as well as a lot of boring/normal things.
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However a lot of my posts boil down to creating a "stream of consciousness", or
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using it as a way to help deal with intrusive thoughts. There's a certain art to
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this, as it is a candid exchange between the author and the reader. The reader
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doesn't get all the context (heck, I doubt that I have all the context lol), but
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from there they get to put the pieces together.
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So, when thinking about trying to get into the uncanny valley with this kind of
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art medium, my mind goes back to the old days on IRC channels. Many IRC channels
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run bots to help them run the channel or purely for amusement. One of my
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favorite kinds of bots is a [Markov
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chain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markov_chain) bot. These kinds of bots
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learn patterns in text and then try to repeat them at random. With enough
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training data, it can be fairly convincing at first glance. However, you need _a
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lot_ of training data to get there. More training data than I have ever tweeted.
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This ends up creating a situation where the markov bot is right in the uncanny
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valley of realism. At first glance it is something that isn't not plausibly
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human. It looks like a bot, but it also looks like a human, but it also looks
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like a bot. It appears to be in the middle. I like this from an artistic
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standpoint because this challenges your assumptions that bots need to be
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obviously bots and humans need to be obviously human.
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In the past I have ran a service I call `cadeybot`. It took all of my Discord
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messages, fed them into a Markov chain, and then attempted to create new
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messages as a result. This worked pretty well, but we ran into an issue where it
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would basically regurgitate its training data. So when people thought it was
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being novel about roasting people, someone would search the chat and find out
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that I said those exact words 2 years ago.
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This isn't really exciting from an artistic point of view. You could get the
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same result from randomly replying with old chat messages without any additional
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data in the mix.
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I haven't run `cadeybot` in some time because of this. It gets really boring
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really fast.
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However, I was looking at some DALL-E generated images and then inspiration
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struck:
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<xeblog-conv name="Mara" mood="hmm">What if I fed all those tweets into
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[GPT-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPT-2)?</xeblog-conv>
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So I did that. I made [@robocadey@botsin.space](https://botsin.space/@robocadey)
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as a fediverse bot that generates new content based on everything I've ever
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tweeted.
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108219835651549836/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="500"
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height="245" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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## Data
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The first step of this is getting all of my tweet data out of Twitter. This
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was a lot easier than I thought. All I had to do was submit a GDPR data request,
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wait a few days for the cloud to think and then I got a 3 gigabyte zip file full
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of everything I've ever tweeted. Cool!
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Looking through the dump, I found a 45 megabyte file called `tweets.js`. This
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looked like it could be important! So I grabbed it and looked at the first few
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lines:
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```javascript
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$ head tweet.js
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window.YTD.tweet.part0 = [
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{
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"tweet" : {
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"retweeted" : false,
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"source" : "<a href=\"http://www.bitlbee.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">BitlBee</a>",
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"entities" : {
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"hashtags" : [ ],
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"symbols" : [ ],
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"user_mentions" : [
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{
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```
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So it looks like most of this is really just a giant block of data that's
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stuffed into JavaScript so that the embedded HTML can show off everything you've
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ever tweeted. Neat, but I only need the tweet contents. We can strip off the
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preamble with `sed`, and then grab the first entry out of `tweets.js` with a
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command like this:
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```json
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$ cat tweet.js | sed 's/window.YTD.tweet.part0 = //' | jq .[0]
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{
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"tweet": {
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"retweeted": false,
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"source": "<a href=\"http://www.bitlbee.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">BitlBee</a>",
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"entities": {
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"hashtags": [],
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"symbols": [],
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"user_mentions": [
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{
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"name": "@Lyude@queer.party🌹",
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"screen_name": "_Lyude",
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"indices": [
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"0",
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"7"
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],
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"id_str": "1568160860",
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"id": "1568160860"
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}
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],
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"urls": []
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},
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"display_text_range": [
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"0",
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"83"
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],
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"favorite_count": "0",
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"in_reply_to_status_id_str": "481634023295709185",
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"id_str": "481634194729488386",
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"in_reply_to_user_id": "1568160860",
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"truncated": false,
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"retweet_count": "0",
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"id": "481634194729488386",
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"in_reply_to_status_id": "481634023295709185",
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"created_at": "Wed Jun 25 03:05:15 +0000 2014",
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"favorited": false,
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"full_text": "@_Lyude but how many licks does it take to get to the centre of a tootsie roll pop?",
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"lang": "en",
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"in_reply_to_screen_name": "_Lyude",
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"in_reply_to_user_id_str": "1568160860"
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}
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}
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```
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It looks like most of what I want is in `.tweet.full_text`, so let's make a
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giant text file with everything in it:
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```sh
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sed 's/window.YTD.tweet.part0 = //' < tweets.js \
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| jq '.[] | [ select(.tweet.retweeted == false) ] | .[].tweet.full_text' \
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| sed -r 's/\s*\.?@[A-Za-z0-9_]+\s*//g' \
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| grep -v 'RT:' \
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| jq --slurp . \
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| jq -r .[] \
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| sed -e 's!http[s]\?://\S*!!g' \
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| sed '/^$/d' \
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> tweets.txt
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```
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This does a few things:
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1. Removes that twitter preamble so jq is happy
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2. Removes all at-mentions from the training data (so the bot doesn't go on a
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mentioning massacre)
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3. Removes the "retweet" prefixed tweets from the dataset
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4. Removes all urls
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5. Removes all blank lines
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This should hopefully cut out all the irrelevant extra crap and let the machine
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learning focus on my text, which is what I actually care about.
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## Getting It Up
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As a prototype, I fed this all into Markov chains. This is boring, but I was
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able to graft together a few projects to get that prototype up quickly. After
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some testing, I ended up with things like this:
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108201675365283068/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="500"
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height="225" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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This was probably the best thing to come out of the Markov chain testing phase,
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the rest of it was regurgitating old tweets.
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While I was doing this, I got GPT-2 training thanks to [this iPython
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notebook](https://colab.research.google.com/github/sarthakmalik/GPT2.Training.Google.Colaboratory/blob/master/Train_a_GPT_2_Text_Generating_Model_w_GPU.ipynb).
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I uploaded my 1.5 megabyte tweets.txt file and let the big pile of linear
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algebra mix around for a bit.
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Once it was done, I got a one gigabyte tarball that I extracted into a new
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folder imaginatively named `gpt2`. Now I had the model, all I needed to do was
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run it. So I wrote some Python:
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```python
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#!/usr/bin/env python3
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import gpt_2_simple as gpt2
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import json
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import os
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import socket
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import sys
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from datetime import datetime
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sockpath = "/xe/gpt2/checkpoint/server.sock"
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sess = gpt2.start_tf_sess()
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gpt2.load_gpt2(sess, run_name='run1')
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if os.path.exists(sockpath):
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os.remove(sockpath)
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sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX)
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sock.bind(sockpath)
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print("Listening on", sockpath)
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sock.listen(1)
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while True:
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connection, client_address = sock.accept()
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try:
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print("generating shitpost")
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result = gpt2.generate(sess,
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length=512,
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temperature=0.8,
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nsamples=1,
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batch_size=1,
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return_as_list=True,
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top_p=0.9,
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)[0].split("\n")[1:][:-1]
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print("shitpost generated")
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connection.send(json.dumps(result).encode())
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finally:
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connection.close()
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server.close()
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os.remove("/xe/gpt2/checkpoint/server.sock")
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```
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And I used a Dockerfile to set up its environment:
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```Dockerfile
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FROM python:3
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RUN pip3 install gpt-2-simple
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WORKDIR /xe/gpt2
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COPY . .
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CMD python3 main.py
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```
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Then I bind-mounted the premade model into the container and asked it to think
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up something for me. I got back a list of replies and then I knew it was good to
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go:
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```json
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[
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"oh dear. I don't know if you're the best mannered technologist you've come to expect from such a unique perspective. On the technical side of things, you're a world-class advocate for open source who recently lost an argument over the state of the open source world to bitter enemies like Python.",
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"I also like your approach to DNS! One step at a time. More info here: ",
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"tl;dr: it's a bunch of random IP addresses and the outcome is a JSON file that you fill out in as you go.",
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"datasoftware.reddit.com/r/programmingcirclejerk-memes",
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"datasoftware.reddit.com/r/programmingcirclejerk-memes",
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"datasoftware.reddit.com/r/programmingcirclejerk-memes",
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"datasoftware.reddit.com/r/programmingcirclejerk-memes",
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"Oh dear, can we third-person?",
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"A group of us is a CVE-1918 impact statement",
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"Is that breaking news?",
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"Lol datasom shitposting omg ",
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"I'm gonna be on the list for #Giving is easy, don't look so far ahead ",
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"Oh dear. Welcome to ThePandora: ",
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"I use a lot of shift lol",
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"I thought you were an orca",
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"Foone, my old computer crashed. What happened to your hard drive? ",
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"Yeah I know some of those things should be automated, but this is about experimentation and experimentation is what makes me happy",
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"Am I? ",
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"Experiment is my favorite part of the article",
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"Yes I can, scroll past the how to read words videos",
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"I was able to see into space but I cannot seen into your eyes",
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"This is with a virtual keyboard/MAC address field",
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"Yes but with the keymap \"~M\"",
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"Yes this is a structural change, I am trying to tease things out a bit. I am trying to make it slightly different sounding with the key mapping. I am trying to make it different sounding sounding.",
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"The main thing I am trying to do is make it easy to type backwards. This is going to take experimentation. I am trying to make it slightly different sounding.",
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"Is this vehicle of mercy?",
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"God i forgot "
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]
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```
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However, this involved using Docker. Docker is decent, but if I have the ability
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not to, I don't want to use Docker. A friend of mine named `ckie` saw that I was
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using Docker for this and decided to package the `gpt_2_simple` library [into
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nixpkgs](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/170713). They also made it easy
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for me to pull it into robocadey's environment and then I ripped out Docker,
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never to return.
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Now the bot could fly. Here was the first thing it posted after it got online
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with GPT-2 in a proper way:
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108209326706890695/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="500"
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height="175" height=allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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I can't make this up.
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## Art Gallery
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Here are some of my favorite posts it's made. Most of them could pass off as my
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tweets.
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108209924883002812/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="190" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108212424672000652/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="190" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108215827551779879/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="210" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108218889999336372/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="210" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108218894030986305/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="800"
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height="250" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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Some of them get somber and are unintentionally a reflection on the state of the
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world we find ourselves in.
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108219835651549836/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="280" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108218522810351900/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="280" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108217161432474717/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="345" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108216170547691864/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="280" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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Others are silly.
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108217116321450713/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="200" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108218107689729996/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="200" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108215257978801615/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="180" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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I say things like this:
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<iframe src="https://pony.social/@cadey/108218301565484230/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script
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src="https://pony.social/embed.js" async="async"></script>
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and it fires back with:
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108218304118515023/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="180" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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This is art. It looks like a robot pretending to be a human and just barely
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passing at it. This helps you transform your expectations about what human and
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bot tweets really are.
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108213387014890181/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="200" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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If you want to influence `robocadey` into giving you an artistic experience,
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mention it on the fediverse by adding `@robocadey@botsin.space` to your posts.
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It will think a bit and then reply with a brand new post for you.
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## Setting It Up
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You probably don't want to do this, but if you're convinced you do then here's
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some things that may help you.
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1. Use the systemd units in `/run` of [github:Xe/x](https://github.com/Xe/x).
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2. Put your model into a squashfs volume that you mount to the
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`/var/lib/private/xeserv.robocadey-gpt2/checkpoint` folder.
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3. Don't expect any warranty, reliability promises or assistance setting this
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up. I made this for myself, not for others. Its source code is made available
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to make the code part of that art, but the code is not the art that it makes.
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Good luck.
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---
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I guess what I think about art is that it's not just the medium. It's not just
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the expression. It's the combination of it all. The expression, the medium, the
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circumstances, all of that leads into what art really is. I could say that art
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is the intangible expressions, emotions, and whatever that you experience when
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looking at things; but that sounds really really pretentious, so let's just say
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that art doesn't exist. Well it does, but only in the mind of the viewer.
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There's not some objective scale that can say that something is or is not an
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art. Art is imagined and we are conditioned to believe that things are or are
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not art based on our upbringing.
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I feel that as a shitposter my goal is to challenge people's "objective sense"
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of what "can" and "can't" be art by sitting right in the middle of the two and
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laughing. Projects like `robocadey` are how I make art. It's like what 200 lines
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of code at most. You could probably recreate most of it based on the contents of
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this post alone. I wonder if part of the art here comes from the fact that most
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of this is so iterative yet so novel. Through the iteration process I end up
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creating novelty.
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You could also say that art is the antidote to the kind of suffering that comes
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from the fundamental dissatisfactions that people have with everyday life. By
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that defintion, I think that `robocadey` counts as art.
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Either way, it's fun to do these things. I hope that this art can help inspire
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you to think differently about the world. Even though it's through a chatbot
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that says things like this:
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<iframe src="https://botsin.space/@robocadey/108215945151030016/embed"
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class="mastodon-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0" width="400"
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height="200" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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What is this if not art?
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