Go to Pretend Land so you can feel good about your pathetic life.
Perhaps you have received an ad for a portrait in which you are portrayed as someone you are not. In short, you send photo(s) of yourself along with your payment and the vendor will produce an AI generated portrait (framing is extra) in which you will appear as something you are not. Want to be a mermaid? Gotcha covered. How about an 18th century royalty? No problem. Maybe you are more into cowboys, Indians, pharaohs, knights, you name it you can have a picture of you being someone you are not.
I suppose this is not so different from the dress-up photo booth at tourist attractions like Six Flags. But this is at a whole new level, reflects a cultural shift and for teens the marketing angle is more insidious. If you want one of these, get ready to drop about $100, about what it would take to sponsor a child via a Christian mission for 2-3 months. Of course the price could go up depending on the size of your ego, err I mean portrait, and framing cost. But after all who needs only one of these. The producers will tell you that these are great gifts and everyone in your family would like one. Besides, who has only one heroic fantasy about themselves? You can order your portrayal as a pirate, a viking, a mythological god and Ken or Barbie. Excuse me while I go and throw up.
I think this represents a cultural shift from real heroic lives towards a pretend, heroic fantasy completely disconnected from reality. I have in my memory and possession heroic pictures of my dad. He is not a renaissance poet, he is standing on a makeshift scaffolding painting a church building. He is laying railroad tracks for a church camp that refurbished train cars for cabins. There is one of my mom on what felt like night 50 of a 5 day VBS. I have heroic pictures of my sons-in-law making a lifelong commitment to my daughters. I have one of my son swearing to protect and defend our Constitution. I have pictures of my exhausted daughters having just given birth and all that means. I cannot tell you all the pictures I have of my wife being heroic, none of which involve her pretending to be a fairy, nymph or witch. My point is that as we have drifted further and further into a narcissistic, self-centered, soft, shallow, virtual reality we are losing our ability to be selfless and authentically heroic. These AI portraits are not the only expression. In Gen-X, Y, and Z this fake hero status is also pursued in video games. “This game is beyond you” one ad tells me. Okay stop then stop bothering me with your stupid ad. “My life’s quest is to become a “Level 99 Commander in Zombiezapper?” Pathetic! Beyond that, it is my opinion (that is all that it is) that one of the pulls of online porn is the heroic desire. You may be ugly as a bowling shoe, but in porn world you are desired by the exotic and exciting person on the screen. As a result, we are trying to satisfy our longing for the heroic in our lives by fantasy heroism. It is all dehumanizing and frankly it fulfills the desires of the demonic to degrade the apex of God’s creation.
Perhaps most concerning is that AI photo companies are marketing these products to teens as a way to improve their self-esteem. The possible cross-pollination of AI and transgenderism is scary. “You feel like you are a boy inside? See yourself in these heroic male roles.” “Do you think you would be happier as a girl? Print yourself as a pop music diva and see how wonderful you feel.” Powerful tools can do so much more than weak ones. A plastic butter knife is nothing compared to an ax. Tech is a powerful tool, but we must wield it well. We cannot leave the wielding of this tool to children any more than we would turn a kid lose with a chainsaw. Children stand no chance against evil people with powerful tools. The only chance a kid has is for Godly adults to stand between kids and danger.
So, what do we do? I have three suggestions.
#1 Let’s stop living in fantasy worlds of heroism. I am advocating a vigorous life. Do something that is so heroic that if a picture is made it doesn’t need AI enhancement. Maybe it is a short-term mission trip, taking up a family sport, engaging in real and meaningful activities with boys and girls so that as they grow into men and women, they will have a point of reference of a real heroic life.
#2 Let’s stop being hypocritical. One reason kids reject their parents’s values, faith and worldview is because what they hear and what they see are different. The evidence is clear that the most certain way for a father to guarantee his children will not be believers is to tell them it is important and that they should go to church with their mom while he stays home. If we want our kids to have a vigorous life, then our own life (that doesn’t include them) must be vigorous.
#3 Let’s go back to the analogy of the butter knife and the ax. Do something heroic with the virtual devices that foster an artificial heroic life, like chop them up with your ax. I use but hate tech; I work with it more than I like. One of my favorite pictures is when I had a laptop give me the blue screen of death and I put an arrow right in the middle of the screen. Don’t wait to find something heroic to do and then trash your tech. If your tech is a toy, trash it first and then fill that void with a real and heroic life.
This afternoon I have spent about three hours typing and reading online, so I will go now and do something real. I challenge you to do the same.
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