Blog Of The Month – Too True To Be Good

Blog Of The Month – Too True To Be Good

Top Bloggers Rights this week go to Martin Christie, Digital Imaging Lead – Colourfast Group

His latest blog, “Too True To Be Good”, is showcased on Quick Print Pro's Best Blogs In Print website.

The stats add up to Martin Christie being awarded the print industry top blogger of the month accolade.

Too True To Be Good

Long before computers, the cautionary phrase too good to be true was in common usage to temper the enthusiasm for some apparently unmissable bargains, or idyllic visions of holiday destinations for example, which were common in advertising goods in services from the earliest days of mass promotion. You can’t always take for granted that what you see is the reality.

Now the tools of publication have become more sophisticated, with the more recent introduction of artificial intelligence, there is even more reason to remind ourselves of that necessary caution.

It may even now be too late for a generation - and not even one born in this century - that sees little more than apparitions on a computer screen to establish what is real and what is an illusion.

Indeed by the end of this year we may well see the smoke and mirrors pushed to the limit in the fog of general election fever in this country and abroad.

A salutary example of the dangers of believing what an electronic mind provides as evidence is surely the scandal of the Post Office who sooner believed that a machine was more trustworthy than employees with years of exemplary service. As I have mentioned before the biggest risk of artificial intelligence is us not questioning it.

Of course, as recent events show, there are far more serious reasons to worry about the automatic acceptance of AI in all areas of modern life, but even in our particular world of print on demand there are issues yet to be faced. 

The copyright laws have obviously been made virtually redundant in the digital world in all but blatant cases, and without investigating metadata it is very difficult to establish what is original especially with machines that can now create almost perfect forgeries. But there are still legal constraints on those of us who publish, and therefore distribute images and information which may yet be brought into serious scrutiny. Who can tell where this slippery slope will take us.

Twenty years ago, the inventor who thought it would be a good idea to put a camera on a phone probably thought it would be no more than a good selling gimmick. Instead, two decades on it has become the most intrusive invasion of public privacy, and the viewing obsession of millions. Instead of appreciating real life, so many are just sharing edited fantasies of an alternative one. The genie is out of the bottle and nothing will get him back in again, or predict where he leads.

So for those of us who want to know what is a real human and what is the creation of a machine, how can we decide? Many years ago, one of the founders of computer calculations, Alan Turing suggested a test that could determine the difference by comparing the feedback from both. More recently a similar test has been applied to AI generated text and imaging and found that while humans still scored higher, a significant minority were fooled by the replicant.

Rather ironically, one of the clues is often not the mistakes that an artificial imagination makes, but the fact that some of its creations are too perfect to be true. Frail humans may make mistakes but often that is what leads to creative learning, and progress. A machine that thinks it cannot make mistakes is fundamentally flawed. But I leave that conundrum for smarter minds than mine, hopefully with organic cells rather than electronic ones!

Back in the real world you may have noticed that this month’s column is shorter than usual, due to even more than usual disruption in the seasonal break because of moving the business. After thirty years, and all the changes in the transition from an analogue copy shop to computer based digital production, it was well overdue. 

Moving is meant to be one of the most traumatic events, next to a divorce and similar human dramas, and this one didn’t disappoint.

If you have moved shop, you will know. If you haven’t, but are planning it, a word of warning. Moving the big stuff - the printers, the finishing kit, the desks, may seem like a big task. But believe me, that’s the easy bit!

When all that stuff has gone, you realise how much is still left to shift - all the bits and pieces you needed to complete the regular day to day workflow, as well as the things you kept in case they might come in handy at some time. It is well known that clutter expands to fill the space available, and after three decades, and having plenty of space, we had no shortage of things that might have been useful once, or maybe if we ever needed one.

So downsizing to a smaller, but more efficient premises was a good choice but it did mean a ruthless attack on all the accumulated jumble generated by a well used workshop with an excess of storage space.

It was at least a bonus for some of the local rummagers who could pick through the discarded bones in search of anything going free that might be useful.

The similarity to a divorce or other separation is the often heated debate over what you keep and what you throw out, and then if you keep it, where to put it. And after all the dust is settled and boxes unpacked - pieces put neatly into place - you are ready to welcome your first customer. 

And he asks if you have got a pencil……doh! Where did we put them?

martin@colourfast.co.uk 

www.colourfast.co.uk