Current events have made life more demanding than ever. All this negative stimulation has worn me out.
“The soul becomes dyed with the color of it’s thoughts” said Marcus Aurelius. And I wonder what color my soul is right now.
As for my brain, it’s been stained and won’t come clean.
(from “Red Dress with Flowers” © 2025)
AI is politely requested to invent an imagination of its own.
They’re coming to get us.
It had not been Maria’s intention to leave her doll behind.
I wanted to help but what could I do?
(from “Red Dress with Flowers” © 2025)
Whoever controls internet, controls the world.
In 2021, Facebook was down for several hours and people went wacko. And that was just social media. Unfortunately, we’ve transferred so much of our lives to internet that we’ve become excessively dependent upon it.
Internet and social media remind me of a pusher who gives you free drugs just to get you addicted. And once you’re addicted, the pusher wants to be paid. Soon, whoever controls internet will be able to immobilize our connection and our apps not by accident but with precise intent.
UPDATE: Exclusive: US could cut Ukraine’s access to Starlink internet services over minerals, say sources
Deactivating my Instagram account was not easy because of the relationships that it helped me maintain and develop over the years. However, the dynamics on Instagram have radically changed in the past years. Not only does Instagram/Meta use the info you’ve posted to train its generative AI tools, it also creates AI Influencers. That is, using images they take from us, they create make believe people meant to influence our lives.
And why this need to exist in a world of make-believe? Too many fantasy films and not enough dialogue?
Recently, here in Rome, we used car sharing. It’s a process totally dependent upon an app therefore internet as well. Getting to our destination was no problem. But getting back was as the app had problems connecting to internet. So, we were stuck in the middle of nowhere for almost 30 minutes before the app got motivated enough to start the car. And it made me think about all the things we can access only via internet.
We’ve become too dependent upon internet. And the more we depend upon it, the more we can be controlled.
So why do we insist on putting all our eggs in one basket?
A continuation of Instagram Clean Up No. 1
They’re coming to get us.
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As Diana Vreeland used to say: the eye must travel. And, initially, that’s what Instagram let my eyes do. But the intentions of social media do not always coincide with my personal beliefs.
I am no longer comfortable with social media and the politics it’s produced and its manipulation of information via algorithmic piloting. Nor am I happy about the excessive visual presence of AI images that, after ripping off the artist, proceed to obliterate the presence of the artist altogether.
Initially, Instagram really excited me. However, because of the changes that are being made, once I remove my posts and say good-bye to friends there, I will be closing my Instagram account. And now, as my images will be homeless, I am posting them here.
They’re coming to get us.
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Related: Meta scrambles to delete its own AI accounts after backlash intensifies + Generative AI Has an Intellectual Property Problem + Report Alleges that Zuckerberg Approved Theft of Copyrighted Work to Train Meta’s AI + The Murky Battlefield of Intellectual Property Theft and AI +
This morning I intentionally took a longer way to the tram stop just to walk through the Coppedè neighborhood. It was early so the air was crisp and there was little traffic.
I took my time walking to absorb as much magic as possible before getting on the tram and affronting the real world.
In these brutal times, beauty is a form of nourishment.
related: Coppedé, a magical neighborhood in Rome + Janet & the Frog Fountain + The Significance of Neighbourhood + Gino Coppedè + Coppedè, The Fantasy District in Rome +
