The New Aesthetics of Slop新懶散美學

Or what happens when vulgar technocrats control the arts

A century ago, the creative world was buzzing with exciting artistic movements. Everything was fresh, new, and vital:
一百年前，創意世界因令人興奮的藝術運動而沸騰。一切都是新鮮的、嶄新的、充滿活力的：

• You could be a Surrealist or a Futurist or a Post-Impressionist or a Cubist.
  你可能是超現實主義者、未來主義者、後印象派或立體派。

• You could align yourself with Art Deco or Dada or Bauhaus or Fauvism.
  你可以與裝飾藝術、達達主義、包豪斯或野獸派結盟。

• You could proclaim your allegiance to Imagism or Verismo or the Harlem Renaissance—and dozens of other creative movements.
  你可以宣稱你效忠於意象主義、真實主義或哈萊姆文藝復興——以及數十個其他創意運動。

And what about today?   那麼今天呢？

Pardon me while I yawn…..
請原諒我打個哈欠……

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如果您想支持我的工作，請訂閱高級版（每月只需 6 美元）。

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Instead of aesthetic manifestos, we get web platforms. They have machines to make big decisions—and the machines have invented the dominant art style of our day.
我們得到的不是美學宣言，而是網路平台。它們有機器來做重大決策——而這些機器發明了當代的主導藝術風格。

It’s called Slop. And it’s everywhere.
它叫做「Slop」。而且它無處不在。

There’s Slop music and Slop visual art and Slop video. There’s Slop enough for all of us—because the machines Slop nonstop.
有 Slop 音樂和 Slop 視覺藝術，還有 Slop 視頻。Slop 多到足夠我們所有人—因為機器不斷地製造 Slop。

Anybody can be a Slop artist. You can Slop till you drop!
任何人都可以成為 Slop 藝術家。你可以 Slop 到筋疲力盡！

It’s easy: Just find an AI bot, and give it a prompt—the goofier the better.
這很簡單：只要找到一個 AI 機器人，給它一個提示——越荒謬越好。

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So I created this image of Vladimir Putin and Taylor Swift on a motorbike, with teddy bears celebrating the couple’s impending nuptials.
所以我就創作了這張弗拉基米爾·普京和泰勒·斯威夫特騎摩托車的圖像，旁邊有泰迪熊在慶祝這對情侶即將到來的婚禮。

Yes, I am deliberately creating something ridiculous. But that’s the essence of Slop.
是的，我故意創造一些荒謬的東西。但這就是 Slop 的精髓。

A hundred years ago, Ezra Pound proclaimed: Make It New. But in the Age of Slop we have a different rule: Make It Whack!
一百年前，艾茲拉·龐德宣稱：使其新。但在「爛泥時代」，我們有另一條規則：使其怪！

AI image generation is boring unless the results are stupid. That’s the consensus view. And it’s why AI artists are in a race to make the most abominable Slop they can extract from the bots.
AI 圖像生成很無聊，除非結果很愚蠢。這是普遍的看法。也正是為什麼 AI 藝術家們正在競相製作出他們能從機器人那裡提取出最糟糕的「Slop」。

People collect and curate these images. Entire social media accounts are devoted to stupid Slop.
人們收集和策劃這些圖像。整個社交媒體帳號都專門用於愚蠢的 Slop。

Source  來源

Or consider this:  或者考慮這個：

Source  來源

Or this:  或者這樣：

Source  來源

The supply is endless—because AI never sleeps.
供應源源不絕——因為人工智慧從不休息。

We have come a long way from the days of Impressionism and Naturalism and all the rest. Those were serious movements. They happened because of dedicated artists committed to their craft.
我們已經從印象派和自然主義等等的時代走得很遠了。那些都是嚴肅的運動。它們之所以發生，是因為有專注於自己技藝的藝術家們。

Slop is the opposite.   Slop 是相反的。

It’s the perfect aesthetic theory for 12 year olds with no artistic sensitivty—but possessing a crude sense of humor and lots of pop culture detritus in their heads.
這是為 12 歲、毫無藝術敏感度、但擁有粗俗幽默感和腦中充滿大量流行文化垃圾的孩童量身打造的完美美學理論。

Tech companies embrace this—and even brag about the sloppiness of their Slop. Each generation of AI aspires to new levels of whackness.
科技公司接受這一點——甚至吹噓他們的「Slop」有多麼草率。每一代 AI 都追求達到新的荒誕水平。

Source  來源

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Let’ get more specific. What is Slop, really?
讓我們更具體一點。Slop 到底是什麼？

The dictionary definition for the word slop refers to “tasteless food” or “garbage” or “excreted body waste.”
字典對「slop」這個字的定義是指「無味的食物」或「垃圾」或「排泄的體廢物」。

Okay, but that’s just a start.
好吧，但這只是個開始。

The dictionary doesn’t yet recognize how these terms relate to the new dominant artistic style of the digital age. The general sense of tastelessness, garbage, and waste are clearly a big part of it.
字典尚未認可這些術語與數位時代新主流藝術風格的關聯。普遍的品味低劣、垃圾和浪費感明顯是其中的一大特徵。

But it’s worse than that.
但情況比這還糟。

In trying to define it, I created a Slop manifesto—and it puts everything into perspective:
在試圖定義它的過程中，我創作了一份「Slop 宣言」——它將一切都置於透視之中：

A SLOP MANIFESTO  一個 SLOP 宣言

Long live Slop!  長壽 Slop！

Slop is a creative style that emerged around 2023 with the rise of generative AI. Slop art is flat, awkward, stale, listless, and often ridiculous. Slop works are celebrated for their stupidity and clumsiness—which are often amplified by strange juxtapositions of culture memes.
Slop 是一種在 2023 年左右隨著生成式 AI 的崛起而出現的創意風格。Slop 藝術扁平、笨拙、陳腐、無精打采，且常常荒謬可笑。Slop 作品因其愚蠢和笨拙而受到讚譽——這些特點通常通過文化迷因的奇特並置而得到放大。

These Slop works are widely mocked by the audience—and even by the people who create and curate them. Yet they are the results of hundreds of billions of dollars in tech investment.
這些「Slop」作品廣受觀眾嘲笑——甚至連創作和策劃它們的人也不例外。然而，它們是數千億美元科技投資的結果。

Slop is all about wastefulness!
Slop 就是浪費！

Let’s put this in context: In the current moment, there’s no money for serious artists—in filmmaking, fiction, painting, music, whatever. But there’s an endless supply of dollars to create Slop technology.
讓我們來看看這個背景：在當下，嚴肅藝術家——無論是電影製作、小說、繪畫、音樂或其他領域——都沒有資金。但創造「Slop」技術的資金卻源源不絕。

In fact, no artistic movement in human history has soaked up more cash than Slop.
事實上，在人類歷史上，沒有任何藝術運動比「Slop」吸收了更多的資金。

This seems like a paradox. Why is so much money devoted to churning out crap?
這似乎是一個悖論。為什麼要投入這麼多錢來製造垃圾？

Ah, that’s part of the appeal of Slop. The audience’s gleeful mockery is actually enhanced by the fact that a huge fortune has been wasted in creating pointless and bizarre works.
啊，這正是「Slop」的吸引力所在。觀眾的歡樂嘲諷實際上因為一筆龐大財富被浪費在創造無聊且怪異的作品上而更加強烈。

In other words, this mismatch between means and ends is a key part of our aesthetic movement. Hence a certain degree of cynicism is embedded in both the production and consumption of Slop.
換句話說，這種手段與目的之間的不匹配是我們美學運動的關鍵部分。因此，某種程度的犬儒主義嵌入了 Slop 的生產和消費之中。

So it’s stupid. It’s wasteful. It’s tasteless. It’s cyncial.
所以它是愚蠢的。它是浪費的。它是沒品味的。它是犬儒的。

And that’s all part of the plan.
而這一切都是計劃的一部分。

Long live Slop!  長壽 Slop！

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“We will work at Slop jobs inside Slop buildings. And wear Slop clothes and get Slop hairstyles.”
「我們將在 Slop 建築內做 Slop 工作。並穿上 Slop 衣服，弄個 Slop 髮型。」

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That was painful to write. But none of this happens by chance.
那寫起來很痛苦。但這些都不是偶然發生的。

AI does not possess a self. It lacks personhood. It has no experience of subjectivity. So any art it creates will inevitably feel empty and hollow.
AI 沒有自我。它缺乏人格。它沒有主體性的經驗。所以它創造的任何藝術都不可避免地會感覺空虛和空洞。

Any human quality it possesses will be based on imitation, pretense, and deception. None of it is real.
任何它所擁有的人類特質都將基於模仿、虛偽和欺騙。這些都不是真實的。

AI doesn’t even have a direct sense of objectivity—its knowledge of objects is all secondhand, assimilated through data. This results in a lack of depth or felt significance in any artistic work it creates.
AI 甚至沒有直接的客觀感——它對物件的認識全是二手的，通過數據吸收而來。這導致它創作的任何藝術作品都缺乏深度或感受到的意義。

That why Slop is inevitable in an Age of AI.
那是為什麼在 AI 時代，Slop 是不可避免的。

But this will not stop it from dominating the aesthetics of our time. The billionaires who are funding AI will make sure that it shows up everywhere.
但這並不會阻止它主宰我們時代的美學。資助人工智能的億萬富翁們將確保它無處不在。

But the worst phase arrives when human artists start imitating Slop. That’s already happening.
但最糟糕的階段在於人類藝術家開始模仿「Slop」。這已經在發生了。

The Slop aesthetic is so pervasive now that even realistic photographs of actual events are staged to resemble AI works.
「Slop 美學如今如此普遍，甚至真實事件的寫實照片也被刻意布置得像 AI 作品。」

Consider these images from the recent past. They were NOT created by AI—but they look like they were.
考慮這些來自不久前的圖像。它們並非由 AI 創作——但它們看起來像是。

This represents the ultimate triumph of Slop. Human photographers strive to match the ultimate stupidity of generative AI.
這代表了「Slop」的終極勝利。人類攝影師努力達到生成式 AI 的極致愚蠢。

• So when I see a photo of a plane that lands upside down—I immediately think SLOP.
  所以當我看到一張飛機倒栽蔥著陸的照片時——我立刻想到 SLOP。

• When a maniacal movie star jumps on stage at the Oscars and slaps the host—I recognize SLOP.
  當一個狂熱的電影明星在奧斯卡頒獎典禮上跳上舞台並掌摑主持人時——我認出了「SLOP」。

• When a presidential candidate steps down from a private jet and drives away in a garbage truck with his name on it—I hail to the SLOP.
  當一位總統候選人從私人噴射機下來，然後駕駛著一輛印有他名字的垃圾車離開時——我向 SLOP 致敬。

This is what aesthetic movements always do. They start by influencing creative works, but eventually they impact all of society.
這就是美學運動一直在做的事情。它們首先影響創作作品，但最終會影響整個社會。

And that’s why Slop will soon leave the web platforms and enter into every sphere of everyday life. Sooner or later, we will work at Slop jobs inside Slop buildings. And wear Slop clothes and get Slop hairstyles….
而這就是為什麼「Slop」很快就會離開網絡平台，進入日常生活的每一個領域。遲早，我們將在「Slop」建築裡從事「Slop」工作。並穿上「Slop」服裝，擁有「Slop」髮型……

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Is this what we deserve?
這是我們應得的嗎？

We actually deserve better, much better. But we won’t get it unless we push back against the Slopmeisters of Silicon Valley.
我們實際上應該得到更好的，好得多。但我們除非反擊矽谷的「Slopmeisters」，否則無法獲得。

That would only be fair. Yes, they have the money. But we have good taste.
那才公平。是的，他們有錢。但我們有品味。

In a previous day, people who got rich quick but lacked good taste were called vulgar. I don’t hear that word much anymore. But maybe it should have a comeback.
在過去，那些快速致富但缺乏良好品味的人被稱為粗俗。我現在不太聽到這個詞了。但或許它應該重新流行起來。

Vulgar is certainly an appropriate label for the billionaire purveyors of Slop.
粗俗確實是適合用來形容那些推廣「Slop」的億萬富翁的標籤。

But even in vulgar times, a few people resist the vulgarity. Maybe that is the starting point for a different kind of artistic manifesto.
但在粗俗的時代，仍有少數人抗拒這種粗俗。或許這就是另一種藝術宣言的起點。

If so, I’ll happily sign my name to it.
如果這樣，我將樂意簽上我的名字。