I am all for supporting local artists and I feel that “handcrafted in XXX” products make great souvenirs when you’re connected to those places. Still, if some AI hallucinated me a perfect novel for my interests, or generated something I couldnt tell was manufactured or created by a master, I would happily enjoy it.
“How can I tell if this is slop so I can know to hate it” sounds stupid to me: good is good. When it comes to art / food / products, I want the best experience for ME. If I want human connectedness, then I’ll go interact with a human directly.
I can do without wasted water, power, and money, but in the abstract it seems to bother everyone on Lemmy to enjoy something a person didn’t make. I don’t have that hang-up.
I would say that the third point here on connection is interesting and might be something I appreciate one artist or author for, but not necessarily a necessary condition? Everyone likes to be in the know for inside jokes and commentary, but the ones on the outside can still enjoy I think.
The only other thing I think I disagree with you about is point 2. Yes, art needs to be unique to be valuable, but working in the styles of others and in a clever way is still unique. I think there is an untapped market of interesting artistic commentary that gets written off because it’s “low effort”. It strikes me as weirdly hypocritical that people will celebrate the majesty of “modern art” where the point of the piece isn’t the product, it’s the method. It’s squiggles on a page or a bold red line (with a bullshit plaque that says that line is a commentary on social inequality or something). I don’t find that any more insightful than someone who comes up with a good political cartoon idea and has a prompt make it in the style of Vincent Van Gogh in starry night: it was the idea that was the important part, but it loses impact when made with stick figures and crayon.