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Dying of a Deadstar

Recently GPT-J-6B came out, an open-source program that uses a pre-trained neural network to generate authentic-looking text. You can easily try it out on the Interactive online demo page. It is quite similar to the famous GPT-3 model by OpenAI, which is ironically closed-source though. So, finally, mortals like you and me can play around with it \o/

Interactive online demo page

GPT-J-6B

I want to share this incredibly deep song lyrics that the AI produced:

She took a guitar and some basic drum lessons, and started writing songs.

It was with this song she found her voice again.

This is the full version, available in the newest TSB version.
If you’re interested in getting the instrumental, that’s available as well.

Track Name: Dying of a Deadstar

Well here I am standing by the bleedin' edge of the cliff
Lost in all this dry acid that I’ve been choking
I can hear the stone crushing down, I can’t do anything
It just don’t make no nevermind
I’m buried in a mass of misfortunes and ideas
Cursing every one of them like I’m up to my neck in ludes
I’m jonesing hard to death, just what I need
I can feel the ache growing stronger by the second
I’m trying so hard to let go, but it’s too late
But now I’m dying of a dead star

Chorus:
It’s gonna eat me alive
From now on I’ll be alone
Laying in the path of a never ending train
Hoping that it never stops
Now I’m dying of a dead star
It’s gonna eat me alive
From now on I’ll be alone
Laying in the path of a never ending train
Hoping that it never stops

Oh I’m lonely, I’m dying
I’m drowning, oh I’m dying
Oh I’m running out of strength, oh
Oh I’m dying of a dead star

Chorus:
It’s gonna eat me alive
From now on I’ll be alone
Laying in the path of a never ending train
Hoping that it never stops
Now I’m dying of a dead star
It’s gonna eat me alive
From now on I’ll be alone
Laying in the path of a never ending train
Hoping that it never stops

I feel it coming, slowly moving down the track
It keeps a distance between me and every other place
It’s almost here, oh how it haunts me every day

On the first glance, I was impressed how it produced the same text twice for the chorus, but disappointed that there's no link to the instrumental, so I can't karaoke it. Some sentences don't make sense, but that's expected.

Reading and thinking about the lyrics made me realize how deep this song is. It's about crushing depression in the face of the lack of objective meaning in this world. An existential angst sparked by the realization of powerlessness against the futility of life, the loneliness and finitude.

"I’m dying of a dead star"* is obviously a reference to Carl Sagan's 1973 classic "The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective", where he writes:

Our Sun is a second- or third-generation star. All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star-stuff.

- Carl Sagan, 1973

Everything around us, everything we see, is technically a dead star. The author viscerally feels the crushing pressure that her atoms once felt in the celestial forge in which they were formed. She doesn't know yet how she is going to die, but she is certain that it's going to be due to a dead star, since anything that can possibly kill her is star-stuff. Even if she survives for 4.5 billion years, our very sun will eventually die and *"It’s gonna eat me alive"*. There is no escape.

All she can think of in this moment as a way to alleviate her pain is: *"Laying in the path of a never ending train"*. Between the train tracks and a train, there is a safe space where nobody can intrude. At the same time, she's also feeling the force of the train rushing over her, as the ground shakes, the wind blows, and the sound roars. She sings *"I’m jonesing hard to death, just what I need"*. Under the train, death is close by, making her feel alife more than ever, and she's *"hoping that it never stops"*.

These lyrics are (apart of the few sentences that make no sense) on par with any other deeply philosophical song and would easily pass as human-made. I tip my hat, and can't wait for more AI-generated art.

[This entire post was written half jokingly. But only half.]

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