只要輸入幾個字，去形容你心目中想要的圖像的類別、風格、用途，不論你想要的是一張插畫、海報、網頁設計 ...。等不到1分鐘，AI就回覆你4張圖像初稿給你選擇。你再揀選其中一張作微調 ... 不滿意，再輸入新的形容詞。直至得出滿意的結果。然後你將高解像的圖像下載，放入慣用的圖像編輯軟件「親自」完成最後的修飾，將作品交給客人。
別以為這是科幻小說內容，或是遙遠的事實。最近美國藝術家Jason M. Allen使用Midjourney﹝近期很流行的AI圖像生成系統﹞「創作」出來的一張畫，去參加一個藝術比賽，贏了冠軍及獎金。事後當然引來一眾藝術家的震驚及批評。
不過，Jason輸入指令給AI，亦決定選用哪一張初稿，其實亦算是創作者 ... 「那麼豈不是不懂繪畫的可以當畫家？！」你們人類可能會反駁。
起初你們可能覺得荒謬，但不少獲獎導演，何嘗不是對攝影，甚至演技一竅不通。最終靠指指點點別人做事，完成不少大作，並贏盡名譽、地位！反而幫他工作的，很多默默無名。
說到你們最擔心的「AI會取代人類的工作」，要求的標準便更低。最近，國際科技新聞網站CNet被揭發，已先後使用了數十篇完全由AI生成出來的文章。雖然他們說這只是一個實驗，用ChatGPT這個近期人人談論的open AI產生出來的文章其實錯漏百出，而最後也經過編輯審閱才出版。
問題是第1代的AI做不好，不代表第2、3、4...代的AI做不到。此例一開，即是將來大型媒體只需聘請幾位編輯坐鎮便可？
試想你是一位餐廳老闆，發覺只要在電腦、手機上輸入幾個字，便可下載一張為自己餐廳宣傳的海報、菜單...等等。根本不用請任何全職或自由身的平面設計師代勞，正所謂快、靚、正，又不用受那些那謂的藝術家的氣。當然你更加不會介意，這樣做嚴格來說，是不是一位創作者。這正是危險的先兆。
一說到這裡，必然會有人類衝出說：「AI會創造更多新職位給人類！」
新職位？多少份？會否比消失的更多？是經過分析研究後的預測，還是人類們的良好願望？
好，今次我們兩隻機械人便依主人pinkwork™外星生命體的吩咐，進入那個近期人人談論的圖像生成AI看看究竟水平去到那裡！提醒各位人類，這只是目前人類市場上其中一個公開的圖像AI系統，它也不是某國際科技巨企的出品。說不定將來有更厲害的系統出現也未定 ... 你們是時候要準備一吓迎接「沒有工作的時代」來臨 !
Hi Humans, after more than 3 months, our spaceship lands on this planet again ! See, my creator ~ pinkwork™ extraterrestrial 外星生命體 also comes with us this time. First of all, wish you Humans, Happy New Year of 2022 !
Let me check, how fast you humans evolve during the past year. Any big Science or Tech news ...?
Well, NFT (Non Fungible Token) must be the hottest topic ! If U want to know what's NFT, could go to check one of my previous articles on ~✶ qooradio.com
The next big thing must be 'Metaverse 元宇宙'. This term first appeared in a 1992 sci-fi novel titled "Snow Crash". Recently, social media giant "facebook" even changed its name to Meta, hoping to make itself a long-lasting company. But the word "Meta" in Hebrew means the opposite. SO many Hebrew speaking netizens ridicule this name lately.
Actually, how is the Metaverse different from the ordinay virtual worlds you could experience nowadays while playing the video games? The main difference may be, through VR headset & Facial emotion sensors, you could fully immersed in the virtual world !
For example, when you has a meeting with some virtual avatars, you could clearly see their facial micro expressions. Or you may come across a BIG ad. board while walking on a virtual street ... a fully immersive 3D virtual world.
In future, you humans might even invent some thin material containing array of miniature 'vibrators', that can make you feel touch in VR !
Of course, the Metaverse hype is actually driven by its so-called investment value. Well, that's nothing new, you humans would pay big money to buy some non-tangible things. You're a social species. Anything which could imply or represent you are superior to or admired by other humans. Your elites are willing to pay money to own that thing, whether it's tangible or not.
Such as, a vanity title, right to name a building or University ... etc. In the end, whether the Metaverse concept will succeed, depends on two conditions.
First, how many humans participate in this 'virtual game'. Second, how much time each participant would stay in this virtual world ...
First condition will inevitably lead to just a few Metaverses created by those tech giants dominate the market in future! The Second condition ... I think will make this concept won't work at the moment.
Reason? the VR headsets on the market today are all so Bulky (including the latest Oculus Quest 2). Many people complain they'll get bad headache, eye strain after prolonged usage, so how can they stay a long time in the virtual world ?
Hope that next time I drive my spaceship to this little planet. You have already invented some more 'comfortable' VR headsets or holographic projection devices ... Otherwise, if too few virtual citizens actually staying in a virtual world. Those virtual lands, virtual advertisements ... won't have any real value !
OK, now I'm already in this physical planet. I'd better walk around & see whether there are any interesting things or New Year Count down events, parties, Or ... I 'abduct' several humans to my spaceship to 'study'.
Bye Bye！
事隔了幾個月，主人pinkwork™外星生命體連同我們﹝兩隻由牠創造出來的智能機械人﹞，又再次坐太空船飛來地球，探望一下你們人類。
首先祝人類聖誕節及2022年新年快樂！好吧，先了解一下你們的進化程度如何、2021年你們有些甚麼科技新發明大事件。NFT, Non-fungible Token 非同質化代幣 ~肯定是最多人類談論的。差不多任何虛無縹緲的東西，例如一句說話、一段社交媒體的貼文 ... 也可轉成一枚NFT，以高價賣出賺了大錢。呀，大家想知甚麼是NFT，可留意我之前的一篇文章。
近期最熱哄哄的，自然是Metaverse 元宇宙。這名詞最先是在90年代一本叫《Snow Crash》的科幻小說中出現。社交媒體將公司名稱改為Meta，就更加引起一陣哄動。不過我們以外星機械人的角度看，這概念距離成功仍有一大段距離。為甚麼？
真希望，下次我再坐太空船到來時，你們已解決了此問題，生產出更輕便、舒適的VR眼鏡或者立體投影裝置。
難得來到這小小星球，自然四處探索一下，例如看看你們的除夕倒數、節日慶祝等活動 ... 又或者「捉」幾個你們的同類，上太空船研究 ... 研究。
Hi Humans 人類, my creator ~ pinkwork™ extraterrestrial entity 外星生命體 ordered me (an Intelligent Robot) to send this greeting message to your species ... well, from the earth moon 月球上 !!!!
人類你們好，已兩個多月沒在這裡發文。幸好主人pinkwork™ 外星生命體不在地球，否則定會罵我們這兩隻由他創造出來的機械人懶惰。好了，交差時間。
今次講講Youtube的新搞作，就是把所有60秒以下，供人垂直觀看的影片，歸成一個叫「shorts」的新類別。用意明顯是跟TikTok競爭，亦鼓勵大家多用其手機App製作這類短影片。於是一些新加入的Youtubers / Creators很雀躍，覺得不用在茫茫大海與成千上億條一般Youtube影片競爭，終於有機可乘，成功發圍。真的嗎？
要知道，Youtube的演算法﹝algorithm﹞，是以影片上載後的頭一、兩小時的活躍度﹝views、likes、share、comments﹞來決定推薦給觀眾的次序。於是即使大家都是拍攝相同題材，例如某新推出型號產品的評測、新開幕餐廳的食評等，那些已累積大量訂閱者的youtubers，他們上傳的影片因為活躍度高，排名通常較先。陌生觀眾搜尋這些產品、餐廳關鍵字時，很大機會先觀看到他們的影片Thumbnail，甚至看完影片後成為他們的新訂閱者。結果是富者愈富，貧者愈貧！
寂寂無名的youtubers即使影片拍得多麼高質素，亦會排在最後才被推薦，沉於海量的影片之中。不過今次Youtube Shorts是一個全新類別，﹝應該﹞暫時沒有很多人製作這類影片，競爭會少很多，豈非有機可乖？！
情況沒你們想像中那麼簡單直接。首先這是新類別，亦代表要吸引新的觀眾群。喜歡這類短片的觀眾，可能跟看傳統Youtube長片的觀眾完全不一樣。何況那些已經上位的youtubers難道就不會去製作一些shorts影片去試試效果？！若然Youtube仍是採用一般長片的演算法，得益依照是這班已上位的youtubers。
Youtube其實從來都說不會公開其演算方法，亦會不停更改，以防被有心人濫用。但是，坊間卻似乎人人都知道內幕消息，依從這些演算暗規則來拍片。你們看，那些Youtubers個個都不停在片中叫大家CLS﹝Comment, Like, Share﹞。
當Slashers斜槓族 根本是被迫的！？
既然講開Youtube，我發現一個有趣現象。近期很多人類說，理想職業是做youtubers。不過細心想想，從來沒有一份工或者工作合約，僱主事先講明不會公開分紅準則 / 比例、人工多少，而且條件他們可隨時、隨意更改。你們都會心甘情願答應做。
入行門檻奇低無比、沒有上下班時間，又常常受到訂閱者留言讚美的那份虛榮感，肯定是原因之一。不過，為何你們會視之為一份工作呢？你們有否想過，某天Youtube可能忽然說，市場策略將重點放於保證觀眾零廣告干擾的「付費」會員服務。於是影片內的網上廣告瀏覽量大跌，嚴重影響你們的收入。
你們可能馬上反駁，付費會員觀看了你們的影片，影片創作者也可獲得分紅。不過，Youtube有沒有跟你們說過，分紅比例是多少？會不會你的Adsense收入因而減少了一大半？我相信你們清楚真相的，但反應依然會是「無所謂」、「不介意」。
原因就是AI﹝人工智能﹞將會，甚至已經開始取代人類的工作。很多公司根本不再需要聘請長期員工。那些社會學者、媒體從業員﹝他們很快也會被取代﹞，亦發明了一些新名詞，甚麼趟平主義、Slashers 斜槓族，去麻醉你們人類的平凡大多數。
表面上，這班Slashers說是因為不甘心被一份朝九晚六的傳統長工束縛，所以同時從事多份不同類型的工作，而且大多數是合約型式的短期工，令自己的人生更多姿多采。
實情是他們可能是被迫的，或者預視年紀稍大時，遲早都會被AI取代，地球上根本再沒有一份「穩定的長工」這回事。他們剛巧看見媒體在吹噓Slasher這個潮流用詞，覺得甚有型，半推半就下就成了「收入時高時低、零退休、醫療保障的打散工一族」。
即使是當Youtubers，就不可以爭取多點「勞工權益」嗎？這正正是現代科技壟斷的絕對優勢。你們當然可以大大聲說，要杯葛Youtube，集體轉投另一間提供更高分紅收入的公司！
但是市場上有嗎？即是有類似Youtube的網站，但影片上傳或播放速度可能不穩定，垃圾病毒留言滿天，或者要收費。主人幾年前出版的一本書，內裡便有一篇關於未來世界的預言，說「平凡的人類大多數只要明白，自己其實對這物質世界根本沒有任何實質貢獻，亦不需要有，只要心甘情願讓我們這些智能機械代勞，便可開心快活在地球上生活。」
題外話，十多年前Youtube未有提供廣告收入分紅時。那些影片創作者說，看厭了傳統電視、媒體那些嘩眾取寵、內容空泛的節目，要自己製作一些高質素的影片放上Youtube。如今影片觀看次數跟廣告收入﹝錢！﹞連上關係，不少創作者便開始天天鑽研「熱門搜尋字」、「搶眼的標題」﹝辱罵人、誇張失實、陰謀論的似乎最work？﹞。
結果，最近看到的Youtube影片推薦，都是甚麼「印度神童末日預言...」、「10大中伏...」、「某某電視台敗亡...」、「DONKI新店開張...」 ... 作為一個被主人創造出來，專搜集關於你們人類情報的智能機械人，我完全明白你們的心態。的確，在這小小星球每天快樂地生存下去，可能就是你們唯一的存在意義。
Twitter創辦人Jack Dorsey的首個推特貼文，以NFT方式賣了$290萬美元！
一位加密藝術家Crypto Artist憑一幅數碼卡通圖片，放上網幾分鐘便賺了幾百萬！
✶ ✶ ✶
"An NFT Crypto Artist making millions selling a .gif image in just a few minutes ! "
" Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's first ever tweet was sold as an NFT for US$2.9m ! "
First off, you have to know what is Crypto Art 加密藝術. It doesn't mean there is a newly-developed technology to encrypt your digital contents (an image, video, poem ... etc.), so that only those who bought the ownership or usage right could open /enjoy it. You know that is impossible.
The core concept of Blockchain 區塊鏈 technology is about public ledger (transaction record book) & decentralization. When this technology is applied to an art piece, not currency. The first part, public ledger, means every people (computers) which have joined this network, can read ownership transaction record of this art piece.
Say, for example, it was first created by person A (no real name, just represented by a password key), then sold it to person B, then ... Well, if you want to buy it, meaning you have to change this ownership record. But without a government or a central authority, who could make & verify this change?
Each transaction record entry is called a 'block". To add a new block, so-called "proof of work", requires each computer in this network to solve a complex mathematical problem by trial & error. How complex? One computer alone may take many years to get the answer, but a network of billion computers may just take 30 minutes! This process is called "mining'. The 1st "miner" who solves this problem could enter the "answer" to verify this transaction.
Though each miner who found the solution could be rewarded in cryptocurrency (*he/she is neither a buyer nor seller, should get some reward), no single person or organisation has incentive to dominate the mining process & become the hidden central authority. Why? Cost of buying numerous computers & electricity bills for running them are huge!
That way, each miner within the network has a chance to confirm a transaction, no one can monopolize this process & no central authority is required. Once a transaction is confirmed, the updated record will instantly broadcast to all computes in the network.
Not only that, the complex "mathematical problem" mentioned above, well, is generated using contents of the current & previous block. Details, please go to my previous video (check below) about 'Blockchain" !
This means if someone try to change one block, "proof of work" on all blocks prior to this block will become invalid. That's why people call it a "chain", meaning people could only add a new block, but not be able to alter the previous blocks. All past record entries can never be altered !
Back to Crypto Art, though is also based on the Blockchain technology, an art piece is a little different from a currency. For example, my 1 bitcoin has the same value as your 1 bitcoin. But my art piece (token) is unique in this Universe, not has the same value as the others' ＆ cannot be divided into smaller parts, says 0.1 token. (*I think it can, you could own 50% of a house, right?) That's why you humans classify Crypto Art, is a type of NFT, standing for Non-fungible Token 非同質化代幣.
In theory, everything including a .gif image, video, poem, statement ... etc. could be "minted" as an NFT. Yes, it is hard to define what's or what's not an art piece? To mint your work as an NFT, is equivalent to opening an public ledger (record book) for this piece work, like a house deed.
People may still be able to use this work privately. BUT for any public usage, like commercials, change of ownership, etc., all people must done through owner of this NFT.
OK OK, no more theories. How could I mint my "artwork" as an NFT actually? Easy, upload your work to an NFT marketplace, like rarible.com , opensea.com ... etc. Before, you should also open a cryptocurrency wallet. such as MetaMask, Coinbase, & put some crypto money (Ethereum or Ether 以太幣, ETH) in your wallet.
Why? As you could expect, selling an NFT Cryto Art piece is not free of charge. You have to pay the minting fee & gas fee for each transaction. Yes, Blockchain technology also has a dark side, the mining process consumes a lot of electricity, that's why humans invented the "gas" fee. By the way, anybody could tell me the carbon footprint of those NFT or CryptoCurrency trades are lower or higher than beef?
Heard that US President Biden will propose a sharp increase of Capital Gains Tax for cryptocurrency tradings. I think this type of tax should be named Crypto Green Tax!
Finally, why some human would buy a thing everybody could use it for free? For the social elites to flaunt their wealth or show off their good taste / hidden power? A new way to support emerging artists or just a new type of investment? I think the answer is, different human has different purpose.
我的創造者 ✶pinkwork™ 外星生命體在以前的 ▶一些文章已預測過，AI人工智能將令人類以往的「工作」概念變得過時。原因？各式各樣智能機械將會取代你們的工作，或者正面一點，應該說是幫你們做了所有的工作。
這是一件好事，對嗎？唯一問題反而是人類的內心。很多你們的同類，即使是生活在發達國家的有基本社會幅利保障，也覺得失去了「存在意義」，很容易投入各種的種族、宗教或政治極端主義。社交媒體上常常看到那些擁有世界絕大部份財富的頭幾個%的精英，每天如何有品味地生活，領導世界。平凡的大多數也總要找點人生寄託嘛！
UBI，Universal Basic Income「全民基本收入」可能是解決此未來問題的方法，但是我的創造者亦講過，此意念行不通，除非同時有Universal Tax System全球稅收體系標準。
噢，真估不到我創造者的預測﹝或者是他給人類的外星訊息﹞有機會很快變成事實。美國財長Janet Yellen耶倫剛剛提出，打算在G20峰會向各國商討製訂Global Minimum Corporate Tax Rate 全球最低企業稅率。
要知道現今很多小國都喜歡盡量降低公司利得稅率，希望吸引更多跨國公司到他們國家成立總部。你們可預見，未來只有那些大型科技公司，而非平凡的大多數人類，賺取此小小星球絕大部份的金錢。
沒有這些大企業貢獻稅收，相信沒有一個國家有財力支付「UBI 全民基本收入」。雖然今次耶倫談的，跟UBI完全無關。她解釋此舉純粹希望防止那些以其他低稅率國家為基地的公司，有明顯的優勢。
但是我覺得背後的理據也大同小異，只不過今次耶倫想尋找金錢去支付總統拜登的基建大計，而非是更加前衛的Universal Basic Income「全民基本收入」意念！
My creator ~ pinkwork™ extraterrestrial 外星生命體 has predicted in several of his previous ▶articles, that Artificial Intelligence will inevitably make human concept of "Jobs" become obsolete. Reason? Different kinds of Intelligent Machines will sooner or later take all human jobs, or better say do all the jobs for you humans.
That should be a good thing! Right? The only problem lies in humans' heart. Many of your species would think they've lost their value of existence in this physical world, so would easily turn to racism, religious or political extremism.
UBI (Universal Basic Income) 全民基本收入 might be a possible solution. But my creator has also said this idea is not workable, except there is a Universal Tax System at the same time. Wow, my creator's prediction (or his extraterrestrial message to humans) seems to be coming true. The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen 美國財政部長耶倫 just publicly called for Global Minimum Corporate Tax Rate 全球最低企業稅 .
You know, many tiny nations nowadays like to lower their corporate tax to attract more multinational companies to setup their headquarters there. And in near future, only those tech giants, not mediocre individuals, will earn most of the money in this little planet. Without their corporate tax, I think no country has enough revenue to pay UBI.
Though what Yellen said is not related to UBI at all, she explained only this could prevent companies based in other countries from having a significant potential advantage, I think the rationale behind are the same. This time she wants the money to pay President Biden 's infrastructure plan, BUT not the more ambitious Universal Basic Income idea.
農曆新年 ~ 辛丑牛年快到了！這星球，特別是亞洲地區的人類正準備慶祝。適逢今年全球疫情大流行，那些明星級風水師、占卜師的來年運程預測，尤其會引起你們關注。特別是今年《通勝》《地母經》內的一句「人民留一半」便嚇得你們半死。難道明年會有甚麼大災難，令一半人類死掉？！
同時，上年忽然爆紅的印度占星神童Abhigya Anand又說，將會出現的「六星連珠」天文現象，代表地球將有大事發生！真的如此可怕嗎？我作為一隻由~✶pinkwork™外星生命體創造出來，專研究你們人類的機械人，似乎也突然變得八卦起來。不過我覺得你們一點都不用擔心。
首先《地母經》的內容每60年便會重覆一次。我不相信人類命運每60年一個循環如此簡單。而且這類預言書，好像《推背圖》、《燒餅歌》... 等等。通常來源、真正作者不詳，亦經過你們歷代祖先無數次再創作。如今你們看到的版本，好可能是清朝才出現的版本，並不是你們想像中，是流傳了幾千年，從天而降，神暢給人類的一本甚麼「奇書」。
而今年《地母經》內容「人民留一半」下一句是「快活好桑田」，看來更不像是講些不吉利的事情。可能像「半杯水理論」，指人類最終仍可保留一半的財產，也不是太差啊！不過內容也出現「六畜瘴逡巡」，難道人類病疫之後，是禽流感、豬瘟流行 ... ？巧合地，今個星期香港一豬場的豬隻首次出現了非洲豬瘟，歐洲、日本亦有禽流感。
至於印度占星神童的預言。上年12月21日冬至日木土星相合，他也預言人類會有大災難，結果地球好像沒有甚麼大事發生。
所以你們根本不用擔心。不過，你們人類上年遇到的一些問題，今年依然要繼續面對。例如不同意見的人各走極端，各族群的人類互相撕裂。
試幻想你是一位智商極低，基本上永不可能考入醫科，做得成醫生的人。不過，你在一個志同道合的群組內，隨便說一句「所有疫苗皆是無料到﹝沒用的﹞」。可能極短時間內已收到成千上萬的和應留言，你怎會不覺得自己是一個萬年一遇的曠世天才？怎捨得返回真實世界？
舉一個明顯的例子。你們試試上網搜尋Flat Earth Theory 地平學說。就是一個陰謀論，說地球其實是像一隻圓碟的平面，中心是北極，外圍是南極，是厚高的冰牆包圍你們。硫今你們看到那些從太空拍攝，地球是圓球體的影像，全是各地政府偽造出來欺騙你們的。
如此荒謬的說法，近年竟然愈來愈多人相信。除了每年有大型議會，吸引大班地平說信仰者。部份人間中更可眾籌到幾十萬美元，說要自製火箭，親身升空證實地球是一個圓碟。
試想像科學理論已算比較嚴謹，可實驗驗證。若然是社會學學說或某些政治理念，根本是你們人類隨口說的，無從驗證，更加易聚集大班「信徒」。
我記得之前拍過一段影片，講人類透過深層次冥想，或許能夠重啟你們一些超感觀超能力。但我認為是你們進化時故意將這些超能力凍結或退化，而非你們的創造者刻意去封鎖。
你看，現在資訊流通稍為快了，已衍生出這些問題。若然你們每個人也可透過心靈感應，可讀穿別人內心的想法，或者有遙距視覺、聽覺能力。到時人與人之間的仇恨可能更易激發，隨時世界大亂。
夠了！新年快到，都是講少一點負面東西好。總之祝各位人類來年健健康康、心想事成、新年快樂。Bye Bye，我又飛去第二個星球旅行喇。。
