A post from Navaz reminded me about Cayce Pollard Units. And it occured to me that, of late, I've been tending towards a middle-aged man version of that. And, since I had an idle minute I asked ChatGPT to show me what that might look like. It came up with this:
That had the requisite anonymity but was just too grimly plain. So I asked for dunks and a grey v-neck. (I also asked for a bit of white t-shirt poking out at the waist but it refused.
That felt slightly more deliberate, but I wondered what something less 'default' would look like, so I asked for the same look but styled by Martine Rose and Margaret Howell:
It's not interested in showing much t-shirt is it? I'm interested in the assumptions too. A young, white man. So I wondered what it thought Cayce Pollard looked like ('thought' obvs).
But then, since I'm man in his 50s I thought I'd try that.
Again, not liking the shoes. And I thought I'd try again with the jumper:
Better. Looks like someone who'd have been cast as a disgraced former Detective Inspector in Shetland.
I then sent it a picture of me, see what it'd do with that. And I got this, which is simultaneously flattering and not. I am this sad and bemused but I think I'm a little taller.
So I tried again. Less me, but further from the ground.
And then I got to my stop and got off the bus.
I know that some of you will think this is all a disgrace. A trivial use of a terrible thing. You're probably right, but there's something here isn't there? This isn't a gimmick, it's a tool. It's going to be used. How, for who, that's the question. One of the questions.