Acrostic Metaverse

Milky Way dancefloor of starlight for our
Embodiment as avatars
Teleports us to virtual gardens of orange fragrant flowers
Accompanying our footsteps with the sound of bells where
Volumes of books hang from trees like
Educational ornaments 
Ripe for a virtual harvest
Synchronizing our history with our dreams amidst
Each soul learning to live with pixel flesh and blood of code

Image created on Night Cage AI image generator

AI Meanderings on Avatars and Poetry

I wrote the acrostic metaverse poem for a friend (Sitearm) who shares my interest in teaching and learning in the metaverse with emphasis on art and music. We worked collaboratively with a virtual music application across distance using my words and his tech skills. Poetry is my favorite form of writing and art (being a word person). Last year, I tried using a prompt to see how AI can write and it was amazingly frightening! The poem, Acrostic Metaverse, came only from my owns words and I never again will use AI for poetry as I feel it robs me of the process. To give voice to a poem is a deep intimate process that involves the writer and the muse conceiving and giving birth. This analogy brings artificial insemination to mind and great joy has been given to parents who might be childless without outside help.

The image in this blogpost came from Night Cafe AI image generator with the prompt: Avatars dancing on the milky way stars with books hanging from trees in the background. Certainly, I could have shot a photo in the virtual world of Second Life, but I wanted to see how quickly AI could create imagery in a variety of styles. In mere seconds, this image appeared and it made me realize how fast our world will change. We have yet to understand the impact of AI. As I write this post, I notice the AI Assistant has provided tips, suggesting I link to work a by Sitearm to provide readers with context! (Note that I took the advice). AI Assistant also suggests that I “reflect on the potential ethical considerations of AI in creative processes to deepen the discussion”. Some may argue this use of assistance by artificial intelligence will enhance our critical thinking in the future. No doubt there are pros and cons and I lean more to the view that AI is a robber of individual thought! (But thanks for the tip!)

I am realizing that AI is artificial but avatars are not. An avatar is a computerized representation of a real person. In the future, it will be extremely difficult to distinguish real humans in avatar form from AI chat bots. A part of digital citizenship will be to understand the difference between the creativity of humans and artificial intelligence … to understand the difference between our physical bodies and our “pixel flesh and blood of code”. I look forward to combining poetry and music with an awareness and appreciation of the pain and beauty of the process.