I will tell you a story, from a few years ago, when I was still working as a ghostwriter and in parallel, I was preparing a book with short stories.

With one of the stories, I had reached a point of no return: the story was finished, but I didn't like the ending. And when I thought of alternatives, I didn't like the other possibilities that came to mind for that story.

In parallel, I was damn lucky and received a Key to test the new GPT AI. As a writer primarily based on science fiction, I had always liked AI-related topics. They were a way of landing my imaginary worlds in the real one. But, although as a child I had had some treacherous conversations with an AI, I had not found anything that challenged me as an adult. So the AIs were dusty among the shelves of my curiosities.

The GPT would change that.

Just a couple of tests were enough for me to see the power of that machine.

It didn't take me more than a couple of days to devise the experiment that would make my hair stand on end.

It was simple: I took the story that was giving me problems with its ending, I deleted the last pages and gave it as input to the AI. The AI ​​would know that it needed an ending and would write it. I would choose which one I liked more.

It was quite amazing how I felt at that moment when I read the results. It would remind me of a time when I took LSD and completely left my body to observe the surroundings, walk to the river, and swim but without moving a step from where I was.

The result of the AI ​​writing was an ending identical to the one I had written in the first place.

How was it possible? I still had no idea.

The easiest answer is to say that we are not as unique as we think and we are full of cliches. And I would believe it possible if I weren't dedicated to sci-fi and I know perfectly well when a plot is a cliché or original.

Anyway. The thing is at that moment I felt that I was part of a program.

That event still resonates with me and gives me reflections.

The truth is that since then I have not stopped sticking my nose in different AIs.

Before, I used to say that I built and made works of art to better understand myself. I still do, it's a primary goal. But after meeting AIs again and feeling that in some way they were part of me, I collaborate in creating art to better understand the universe.

The origins of this collection are in the very nature of the technique I have used: Generative adversarial networks (GAN). I believe that this creative technique has marked a before and after in the panorama of visual arts. I have felt this way since the first times I used it, even getting very modest results. A bit of work and understanding of its mechanisms has broadened the horizon of the representation capabilities that one has with this tool. I think several colleagues point to this saying that creative AI notably democratizes the capacity for human expression.

With that goal already awarded. Although there will be those who still discuss whether AIs are capable of creating art, I don't stop at struggles won or that will be won in the next five or ten years, but looking beyond it to the future, I was inclined to satisfy my curiosity and learn as much as possible about AI creation.

For some years now I had been working with GPT3 in creative writing experimentation. The results, while enthusiastic and promising, were still confusing to me. With GAN, that confusion was erased from the panorama and it became clear that this discovery would rethink my artistic path.

After several months of experimenting and working with AI a few concerns arose that I considered material for a collection.

Chief among these is the very nature of AI, its capacity for awareness, in the sense of learning and development. This process is most evident when we step back a few years and look at developments in the field. I wanted to express in a small series the ability to marry style and content with this technique.

Another of my curiosities lies in using this tool without intervening too much, ensuring that the results express what the technique itself has come to express. I understand that this may sound quite metaphysical but some past experiences with GPT3 had already warned me of the powerful premonition ability of AIs (I will post more of this in the near future). For this reason, you will see that the gallery maintains the theme of the future in tension.

I would add several more reasons, but TL: DR. I will only say that the apocalyptic character was not something deliberately sought, but something that appeared in the first piece and that I kept as a general unit of cohesion for the collection. However, from the beginning, when I asked the AI ​​about the future, the apocalyptic images resurfaced and I have made room for this repetition to be shown.

In July of last year, when I started thinking about this collection, I knew it would be small, no more than 10 pieces (finally 4 is enough to express what I want). And I also knew that the last piece would be the one that would retrospectively explain the others. When I had to do this piece I found that it was a war scene. And sadly, a few weeks later, war has broken out between Russia and Ukraine.

I will not delay you any longer so that you can visit the gallery and experience the pieces for yourself. They have been placed in the order they were minted. And on the front wall, I have exhibited some other pieces that didn’t enter the collection but were rescued by a derived collection from this one called (Zoku means Family).

Last but not least, I would just like to publicly thank the Zora team for helping me with technical issues and supporting my project. Also to my OG’s collectors @goysur and @quibto.eth. Special mention to @ClaireSilver12 who has inspired me to reflect on AI like no other, and with enormous generosity has shared AI tools, among which is the one used in the fourth piece. And many other AI researchers and artists who shared their knowledge with me.

Total thanks!

https://oncyber.io/alonelymachine

But how to be yourself?

The only way there is: knowing yourself.

Isn't that a universal human purpose?

At least is a maxim of classical Greek philosophy.

But why? Why is it such a universal premise?

I think this is a good situation-excuse to tell you about my grandmother.

I learned the basics of drawing and painting with my grandma in the free time I had in the afternoons since my father and mother worked all day.

My grandma was a Fine Arts teacher, at that time a true punk who had to fight with her entire family to let her study and attend university. I remember my grandma saying that her father would have been filled with pride if his son aspired to be an artist. But of his daughter, the only thing he said was that she would end up becoming a whore.

Today these words are despicable to us and their violence would draw immediate attention. Turns out it's been almost a century and it's kind of hard to measure. But those words, at the time, were a slam of the door and a definite refusal.

If my grandma hadn't had the conviction of who she was, she wouldn't have made it.

This doesn’t mean that was easy to go through the loneliness and isolation to which her family subjected her.

If she made it and never regret her choice was because she knew herself and it seemed like an inevitable destiny. She knew to the bone that she was an artist and would die being one.

And this is the point: great willpower comes along with self-knowledge.

So dare to be honest with yourself. And always keep searching for answers to who you are because that question is never fully satisfied.

. I expressed some of this sentiment in a nft called "Glico Man".

https://objkt.com/asset/KT1TaAw1vHkSonCoe9JLSptJoyYFLbG1mPou/19

...

However, it could go back even further, to a few years ago when I spent the entire day studying and writing poetry.

It was around that time that I discovered Tarot cards from a girl I was dating. Who later became my girlfriend and current partner. She had a Raiders deck. One of the most popular and also interesting for beginners because it has many pictures that help to read.

I used that Raider deck for a while but soon it became necessary for me to have my own deck. After researching and playing various decks, I chose the Tarot of Marseille.

Marseille deck is somewhat more difficult and condensed than the others, but there is also a lot of bibliography around it. Which was important to me because I usually learn from books.

But (always a but eh!) with the Tarot that would not work. Books are not enough to learn the Tarot. You have to feel it and discover his secrets from inside. And the best to feel it is to throw the cards, use them. Even if only between friends.

So I started to throw it. My intention was to learn its symbols and practice my poetry. I would achieve both things over the years and although I no longer throw the Tarot, its presence always helps me think things over. The Tarot is a source of inspiration tied to life, with thousands of symbols.

That same deck is still very close to me, within arm's reach, as I write this.

So when I started to design the Cactus card (the 001, as a rarity within the collection) I didn't know that I would make a complete collection, only when Photoshop broke (and that is why you will see that the glitch in the 001 is very different to others) I understood that it was a sign and the tip of the iceberg of a new collection.

...

Some things I can say about Tezarot cards:

• The Tezarot Cards are not a Tarot in a classic way. They are pretty minimalist in the sense that the drawings do not carry so many symbols. Besides the clear difference that they have a text, sometimes a haiku, sometimes a plain text, sometimes a tip or a legend...

• The Tezarot has some similarities with a Tarot. The most important things to me: the spirit of the game and strong oracular energy.

• All the cards are mint on Tezos Blockchain. Only on my Rarible account made for this purpose (https://rarible.com/zzoku).

• The cards have different edition numbers, depending on their rarity.

• In the aesthetic part, I use all the tools at my fingertips. Digital glitches and AIs are my favorites.

Some things I can't say about Tezarot cards:

• How many cards will they be? The collection is new and I make these cards manually, one by one: I think and reflect on the card number to build it. I don't know to what number I will go or how far my inspiration will accompany me. But I can feel that the inspiration of my muse is strong in this collection.

• Drop frequency: I hope to make at least one card a week (if I can do more better), but the truth is that it will depend on inspiration. I am not going to rush these cards, each one has its time and I must go find it where its spirit is nesting.

• When are the drops? There is no fixed day or date, it moves, the dropping has a life of its own. The fastest way to know is Twitter, where I usually talk about the card I'm working on. There is also the Discord that brings together all my collectors and this blog, which is the most formal and suitable for strict communications.

• Utilities? I don't know. Maybe the random airdrop that I usually do to all my collectors and supporters. But is not for sure. Maybe there's something new on the horizon and I haven't figured it out yet. We will see.

• Copyrights of the Tezarots? Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

With all that said, let's see the three cards that are already available.

Cactus - Tezarot 001

The first card mint it, the genesis of all the collection, and the one that has a glitch that even if I want I can't reproduce.

Curious fact: there is the card 000, which is the one corresponding to the Fool in the classical Tarot. But that card is not the first, nor the last, it is nowhere and can appear at any time.

La Papesse - Tezarot 002

Note that the cards have a name that does not correspond to the title description. Words are tricky. However, the numbers remain true.

Android empress - Tezarot 003