Strike back in black & blood!

Yes, in an irony that is far from lost on its creator, this illustration was executed by AI.

Sean Bolli of Calgary has been experimenting with AI image generation, using it to create typewriter-themed pulp and comic-book illustrations that he's posted on his Instagram account. The technology is now so much more reliable and impressive than it was even last year. It can create images that concretize nearly anything we can put into words, adding the detail, precision, and aesthetic qualities that most of us are simply unable to create without digital help. Does this debase human effort? Or, with intelligent use, does it enhance our efforts? I wonder what you think.

I myself find Sean's idea here delightful, and I think the AI did an excellent job of realizing it. Using AI to question AI is very much in the spirit of the typewriter insurgency, which (as I interpret my own manifesto) doesn't turn its back on all digital technology, but challenges its supremacy and the assumption that it must be implemented everywhere.

Sean writes:

I have been finding fun in the use of AI as a way to explore imagination and storytelling—transforming ideas into visuals I couldn’t create on my own. While I believe in fair use and shared inspiration, I also believe AI tools must be held to higher ethical standards. Artists deserve transparency, consent, and respect for their work. Creativity should be expansive—but never careless. 

In short: I believe in creative freedom—with respect. I support innovation—with responsibility. And I pursue art—whether analog or AI—as an outlet for joy, storytelling, and connection.

This particular piece sort of sums up a bunch of things, the Typewriter Revolution, the emerging 'rebellion' against the digital and a thoughtful look 'back' on what this would have looked like from the past into the future, which is still the past for us today....if that makes sense.

Anyhow remember, like the AI says, 'PROGRESS IS PEACE'

Hurtling into posthumanism

Radical environmentalist and anarchist Edward Abbey enjoys a cigar next to his Royal KMG in this photo shared with me by Chris Osmond. I note a painting of Don Quixote over the typewriter.

Whatever you may think of Abbey's ideas, he spent year after year typing them on this machine that required no electricity but invited his brainpower. And he was a human being.

Now where are we going?

On May 18, the Chicago Sun-Times published this list of reading recommendations.

The novels sound great. Only problem: the first ten of them don't exist. At least, they didn't on May 18. I bet that since then, people have prompted AI to generate them, as it generated this list.

Meanwhile, I was shown this ad on Instagram.

What is saddest? That we are suffering from a loneliness epidemic? That the creators expect us to be so gullible that we will be consoled by a "90% Human-like" simulacrum? Or that, perhaps, they are right?

We seem to be hurtling into a world where human effort and imagination no longer make any difference, where what matters is how machines calculate patterns in the massive stock of recorded information. It will require trillions of dollars and countless gigawatts, but those with the money and power are sure that it is the inevitable next step. Edward Abbey is rolling in his grave.

But I am sure of one thing: not everyone wants this future. This semester, most of my students chose to write their daily reflections by hand. The four young women at one table all told me that they use flip phones. A quixotic insurgency is afoot. One form it can take is sitting at our typewriters, drawing on our own memories and thoughts, creating ... and connecting with like-minded humans who reject the authority of our powerful, yet mindless new overlords.

Free Thoughts, Spring 2025

I was joined by recent Xavier grad Sayo for a session of "free thoughts." Students, faculty, and others gave us a great range of topics and appreciated what we were able to type for them over an hour and a half.

A couple of roommates await their Free Thoughts:

A Xavier colleague joined us with some trepidation. Her topic: daring to create!

Sayo has been borrowing this red Underwood Champion for a few months, and says he's posted all sorts of typewritten notes and reflections around his house. Between that and his great performance in Free Thoughts, I decided that the typewriter should belong to him.

Here are some of our creations.

The next two were tough—they were written for a young woman who had just lost her grandfather. She said he was a woodworker who made doll beds for her.

*OK, a voicebox is an organ of the body.