Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for October 15, 2023

It’s 2023 and everybody is on strike: writers, nurses (both of whom have settled), actors and autoworkers!

I LOVE IT!

UNION! UNION! UNION!

“There would be no need for unions if we all had benevolent employers who respected their workers.”

I remember this set of strips. It was the one truly forward-looking thing that ever came out of Sid Kibitz.

Time to channel Hunk-Ra.

I was a postal worker over twenty years ago and pretty much all I remember about interactions with the relevant union is that its members were some of the rudest people I’d ever met. And that’s pretty much all I’ve got on that topic. :-|

The last panel reminded me of a bit of theoretical humor:

“Did you hear the one about the actress who was so stupid that she slept with the WRITER?”

I recall Boopsie telling her daughter about the Julia Roberts gig. Something about Boopsie getting a royalty every time Roberts leaned forward.

Oopsie, Boopsie!

I still think Trudeau has lost some of his edge. In particular, the insight on this topic is that human authors cannot compete with generative AI. I’m saying that as someone who was a professional technical editor and rewriter for many years. I still write quite well, but ChatGPT can crank out 10 versions faster than I can do one. No, more like 100. Therefore even if each version is only slightly better, I’m going to be overrun, though it would be by a worse writer who is willing to use ChatGPT while I resist the crutch. (Actually, it will be a new kind of specialist who knows how to guide the AI in improving the drafts.)

On the other hand, I think Trudeau did have enough of an edge in recent comics to help me reach a new realization. I’ve been increasingly aware of corporate cancers as it appears they are destroying society. Notice that many of them are creating their own competing AIs, as if they can’t wait to make things worse. But I recently realized that Murdoch’s corporation deserves to be recognized as one of the top corporate cancers. Most harmful? Hard to say because so many dimensions of harm are involved.

Spent most of my last AI experiment poking ChatGPT with international analogies. Then tried to get Bard’s take and that AI fell completely flat on every aspect of the topic…

Desperate for good news or a joke to close with, but not doing well. How about a closing question? Is Bard really that much worse than ChatGPT? Or is the EVIL google playing head games with me because I’ve qualified for some kind of enemies list?

Considering her career never properly took off, I often wondered how she managed to afford her lavish lifestyle.

The effect on the nation of the Hollywood writer’s strike was truly devastating.

Some actors have already sold their images and voices to AI. A new movie is coming out, costarring James Dean. His performance is courtesy of AI. It’s a horrible development for the visual arts and an incompetent one for writing—since it can only steal and recombine from other sources. It also makes facts up.

EAT THE RICH!

Movie studios say it’s illegal for you to make a digital copies of their movies, but they want to make digital copies of human beings.

Personally, if I were down with recreating film stars via AI, I wouldn’t mess with Tom Hanks or any of today’s lot; I’d be more inclined to bring back Garbo, Gable (imagine Clark hawking dental plans!), Monroe, Astaire, the Marx Brothers, etc. The real stars.

And I thought Trudeau was done using Boospie as a clueless ditz.

SAG, get it? ☺

I’m sure someone will be along to tell us that all unions are corrupt, and that the only fair labor arraignment is for each worker to be entirely on their own against a multinational conglomerate.

“Trickle down” needs a good shake down to prime the well once in a while.

I question the existence of any union whose leadership earns more than twice what the highest payed member earns.

Hey, anyone remember Ukraine?

Gaza: 140 sq. mi., pop. 2.4 mil., at war 9 days, 1800 dead

Israel: 8630 sq. mi., pop. 9.4 mil., at war 9 days, 1300 dead

Ukraine: 233,000 sq. mi., pop. 43.8 mil., at war 595 days, 10,000 dead

I would happily have my body scanned and licensed for use by Hollywood. Everyone wants to see the cleavage of a late-middle-aged guy, right?

Unions are such a wussy thing. Meant for weak minded people that can’t fend for themselves. I retired at 58 after working 42 years and with north of 1.5mil in the bank. We raised 4 children who all went to college if they wanted and are doing great. My wife worked the first three years we were married and was full time mom after that. I didn’t need a union to change my diaper, tell me what my wage should be, or tell me how to vote. I always thought unions were a jerky thing that took $35 out of my pay each month to do what I could do myself. Never needed them.

Also, i never cared what the ceo of the company I worked for made, but I cared about the work I did and remained a value to the company.

A banker, a MAGAt, and a union member are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies. The banker takes 11 cookies, then turns to the MAGAt and says “You should watch out for that other guy; I think he wants more than half of your cookie.”

Unions: the people who brought you the weekend

I’m just glad Jimmy and Seth are back: I need some laughs…

Since 1976 workers’ pay up 40%, CEOs ’ up 1400% (or something like that)

This is what happens when you do a comic once a week. The writer’s strike is over.

Hollywood is losing it’s last chance to get rid of the human element in entertainment.

This one’s so stupid it’s not even worth replying to. Go union!

Now they can scan your works and produce something in-the-style-of. (That’s what hack writers have been doing to other writers for years, anyway.) Not-quite-plagiarism

AI, either the next cotton gin or the next gatling gun.