Zoltan Posfai - AI anyone? - Loose mind on the loose. Also writing it down occasionally.

[Zoltán]

Sooo... every topic needs a top post. Let's see what we have...

About myself: I consider science-fiction my primary genre, but I'm always out to learn/experience new areas, and maybe combine them. (Right now working on converting a novel for the stage.) I prefer hard(ish) science fiction. The reason is simple: I like to pay attention to details. I also prefer to mix in a selection of the following: history, ethics, psychology, philosophy, technology, science, fantasy, survivalism.

Experiences: Too much to even try to list. I haven't been in outer space or did a heart transplantation, who knows what the future brings ;)

Rules of engagement for the topic:

- Use common sense. We are here to have a good time and exchange ideas. Not to hurt anyone. If I need to go more into detail, this is not your topic.
- I will occasionally make announcements or post links, but I plan to use the topic as a sandbox. Anyone os welcome to pop in.
- You are allowed to post about your book if it fits into current conversation or has some common ground with my writings. So please no chicklit. (At least not until we finished the joint My Little Vampy book.) BTW: C.B. is exempt from this rule. He can post anything :)
- You are allowed to post graphics, covers, fanart if it fits into the topic or conversation.

That's all for now. I will update once I realise what I forgot...

[Zoltán]

[Practical placeholder for a few things I will add as second-to-top-post.]

[G.G., Genre Buster Extraordinaire]

Hey Zoltan, welcome aboard! (Thank goodness for copy paste, I got your name right. :P )

[Jane]

Welcome to the house of perverse pleasures

[Zoltán]

Hey G.G.! I've been planning to open the topic for a while, but I was too busy with 'life'. I plan to be back and active again.

And of course, you are also welcome here :)

I'm contemplating how to kick off. Share my recent post about the relationship between science and philosophy. Ask for impressions on the embellished poem I uploaded with a voice-over actor reading it. Or simply yell "Free cheesecake for everyone!" and wait for the horde...

[Zoltán]

Jane wrote: "Welcome to the house of perverse pleasures"

Agreed. I think one of the best things about SIA forums is the mind orgy of all those different authors poking the same subjects from a myriad point of views. And taking it easy.

[G.G., Genre Buster Extraordinaire]

haha too funny...I'm telling you, if you want people to run here, you found the right word: Cheesecake is the way to go! That and maybe chocolate. I've noticed authors are a hungry bunch. :P

[Madeline]

Welcome, Zoltan!

[Zoltán]

(Got the point!)

Here! Have some chocolate!



Now... about that poem...

[Rohvannyn]

Hi! Welcome! That darned chocolate... *reaches into the screen and noms it*

[Nat]

Heya Zoltan! I'm a sci-fi reader, you're a sci-fi writer. Let's share cheesecake!

[Zoltán]

Nat wrote: "Heya Zoltan! I'm a sci-fi reader, you're a sci-fi writer. Let's share cheesecake!"


Hello Nat!

With chocolate and science fiction in common, what could go wrong? :)

Although, I have only one sci-fi short story that has a hint of romance. But definitely not an everyday one...

[Annie]

Yo, Mr Zoltán!

Welcome to the funhouse of craziness and chocolate sauce!!

Hugs,
Ann

[Zoltán]

Annie wrote: "Yo, Mr Zoltán!

Welcome to the funhouse of craziness and chocolate sauce!!

Hugs,
Ann"

Hiya,

You already got me at fun and crazy!

[Christina]

Hi Zoltán! Welcome to the showcase. Looks like you've already tried the 'lets have a serious topic' and got hit with 'help, ravenous authors are demanding snacks.'

*Scatters fun size candy bars and snack size bags of goldfish crackers everywhere*

There. Now, you were saying? ;P

[Zoltán]

Christina wrote: "Hi Zoltán! Welcome to the showcase. Looks like you've already tried the 'lets have a serious topic' and got hit with 'help, ravenous authors are demanding snacks.'

*Scatters fun size candy bars an..."

Sorry no time to read this, but I will check back later. Right now I have to pick up two boxes of sweets, eight bars of chocolate, three cheesecakes and a lemon cake.
Damn! There is something on the other side of the note as well...

[C.B., Slave to Santa's Workshop]

Hi Zoltan!!! Good to see you.

[Zoltán]

C.B. wrote: "Hi Zoltan!!! Good to see you."

Hey C.B.! nice to have you here.

You also reminded me of covers. Given that everyone is past their sugar-hangover :)

I'm waaaay late with my second book of The Witchhunter series, but already started working on the cover. I could use some first impressions about the graphics.

Short background: For the first book I chose a cover that looks like an old, textured hardcover with one half having a graphics printed over it. (I wanted to avoid readers who think its their next-paranormal-romance-in-the-queue to avoid disappointment. I also like hardcover books :) ).
It had a vertical split, with graphics on the left and texture/text on the right. Dominant colour was red. Related to the witch.



The second book is going to have the witch hunter himself. This time a dark coloured theme. texture colour is going to be a very dark shade of grey.

Here is the graphic intended for it:

[C.B., Slave to Santa's Workshop]

I like it. A good contrast from the first one!

[Jane]

Dark and moody....

[Zoltán]

Thanks. Seems to be a good direction then :)
Now, I just have to find the time to finish the book..........

[Zoltán]

Being a bit stuck with the second book, I started working on another story I had in my 'queue' for some time. It's highly experimental from my part.

- Written in present tense. (Never done that before and using it for a specific reason here.)
- This is the story that I plan to rewrite as a playscript for stage later on.
- The whole story happens in a single 'room'.

It's way too early to look for beta readers, but maybe a fellow author can give me a first impression.

Things worth knowing:
- Style/genre: science fiction drama
- 4 characters only.
- Single location.
- First two chapters written. (~4600 words)
- Highly pre-alpha draft(ish)!

Anyone with a little spare time and a lot of courage? :)

[C.B., Slave to Santa's Workshop]

I never back down from a challenge.

[Zoltán]

C.B. wrote: "I never back down from a challenge."

Oh, I love your adventurous side :)
Will send you a link shortly.

[Zoltán]

C.B. just earned some reward from me! :)

[C.B., Slave to Santa's Workshop]

Zoltán wrote: "C.B. just earned some reward from me! :)"

Hooray!

I was glad to help.
Also, those look really good.

[Zoltán]

I'm using up my remaining quarterly KDP days before I turn over into my next period.

My spring free/countdown goodies:


Book/price: The Witchhunter: Fading Futures for FREE
Date(s): 03.10.-03.14.
URL(s): .com

Book: Red shadow for 0.99
Date(s): 03.10.-03.17.
URL(s): .com, .co.uk

Book: Open Mind for FREE
Date(s): 03.16.-03.18.
URL(s): .com

[Zoltán]

I'm toying with deep learning neural networks and had a funny idea. Anyone interested in feeding all their work into ML and see what it starts writing from it? :)

For those not familiar with the subject: You feed as much data to a machine learning (ML) system. The more, the better. After that, it will be able to produce similar output.

If you have a consistent style, the result should be recognizable.

I don't have the system for it ready yet, but if there is interest for it, I will do it.

What's needed: All works in text format. Can be a single file as well. If it works out well, I may create an online version as well.

[Lyra]

I have no opinion about machine learning (sounds like a gateway to Skynet problems, if you ask me!) But holy heaven, you're giving away free chocolate and cookies here?!! Hello, Zoltan nurse!! Gimme gimme!!! *opens mouth and points at it*

[Zoltán]

No, you misunderstand the whole point of these topics. This is a place for serious conversations and debates about writing. The deeper meanings of writing, philosophy, the meaning of life, consciousness and conscience.

.
..
...

Eh... ok. Here ya go :)

[Lyra]

Yay!! *dives into bowl* Go ahead... Be deep and stuff... *crunch munch* I'm listening.

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the back with the chocolate snacks.

[Sam (Rescue Dog Mom, Writer, Hugger)]

**speechless and drooling** Hugs!!

[Zoltán]

Lyra wrote: "I have no opinion about machine learning (sounds like a gateway to Skynet problems, if you ask me!)"

It's OK. My latest writings are all done using AI. We are OK. Resistance is futile.

[Lyra]

Zoltán wrote: "Lyra wrote: "I have no opinion about machine learning (sounds like a gateway to Skynet problems, if you ask me!)"

It's OK. My latest writings are all done using AI. We are OK. Resistance is futile."

Well, I guess, technically, ALL of us are using machines to write and publish, etc. Resistance is indeed futile.

[Christina]

Hey Zoltan! Sorry, haven't popped in here in a while. I see ravenous authors are still at it (they don't call us starving artists for nothing!).

I'm always curious about machine learning (and eventual self-awareness), but I think you just touched in the next wave of Kindle self-pub scamming. Folks feeding the works of popular authors into a machine and having it spit out bestsellers. Or at least having it spit out 100 pages of seemingly engaging nonsense that they can reap the benefits from before Amazon catches on.

[Zoltán]

Christina wrote: "Hey Zoltan! Sorry, haven't popped in here in a while. I see ravenous authors are still at it (they don't call us starving artists for nothing!).

I'm always curious about machine learning (and even..."

There have been around pretty good soap opera story generators for many years. This next step could also happen. Machine learning-neural networks-AI is one of my hobbies. I've seen an example recently where a program generated Shakespeare-like drama. The style, the formatting, even the generated names looked right. Of course, there was no 'story' in it. The copycat bestseller generator is not imminent, but it got my mind going. I will play around with my writings and some e-books I own, or are public domain and downloadable. It would also be interesting to have a few authors around here jumping in and then discuss with them how 'them' the result looks. Will it feel like a writing in the drawer they've forgotten about?

Apart from my experiment, the Amazon part you mentioned will raise a valid ethical and legal problem. If a program is trained by someone's works by another person and it generates a story, who is the owner of the generated story?

If you go to a painting school and learn your favourite painter's style and start your own works, they will be yours. It's been like that for centuries. A machine adds an additional layer of abstraction. You write a program capable to learn from someone else and then IT generates something. While all authors would feel bad being copied, the question/problem is quite complex IMHO.

And the next step after that: If the program reaches a complexity where it becomes conscious, and writes something at that point, who is the owner of the result? The original author, the programmer or the AI? :)