what the machine cannot choose

i use the machines every day. the moodboard on the key mob logo page was made with one, and it says so under the picture. i'm not scared of them. i'm just clear about where they stop.

a machine gets good at whatever can be scored. code that runs or doesn't. a test that passes or fails. give it a number to chase and it will chase it faster than any of us.

but there is no number for taste. nobody can score whether a cover sounds like the album, whether a badge looks forged or typed, whether a drop feels like a ritual or a shop. those answers don't exist before someone decides them. that decision is the job.

the machine works from everything that already exists. it averages it beautifully. and the average is exactly what i spend my time avoiding. one idea per cover means throwing away the ninety that look fine.

on 12 january 2022 the chrome key mob word was saved at 16:09. the oval around it came at 22:28. nothing in those six hours was generating. it was looking, and saying no, and looking again, until the word became a badge. a machine can give you a thousand versions in a minute. it can't tell you which one is yours.

and it doesn't grow. a model is frozen the day it is finished. i am not. every drop teaches me something the last one didn't. the first key mob tee taught me that 81 people showing up on time are worth more than a warehouse of stock. no dataset had that line in it. i had to live it.

so i let the machines make. i keep the choosing.

un placer como siempre.