NCN valiantly treks into the 'Uncanny Valley', showcasing, collating and presenting our salient collection of many recent uses (and mis-uses) of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) in comedy, music and technology (some of our own creation).

We also take a look at ethical and copyright issues in our 'music section' Such as how do you parse a mockup of 'The Beatles' singing Bohemian Rhapsody or a convincing version of 'Kanye West' singing American Pie?? Or a 'new album' by 'Oasis '?

Is A.I. just another 'tool' that artists are using? Or will artists wind up becoming the 'tools' that are used by A.I.?

We also take a look at a lot of stupid stuff that's been happening in the world lately proving that while 'artificial intelligence' may be 'hot' right now, it can't hold a candle to natural human stupidity.

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This program was originally webcast on The National Cynical Network bi-weekly audio webcast stream on May 21st, 2023 and some post-production work has been done on it between that time and when it was released as an album to Bandcamp. Most of the individual pieces in this mix were painstakingly assembled by NCN and have never ever existed in this overall form before May 28, 2023. Many pieces herein were not created by NCN but rather were created by various mainstream, underground, obscure, or DIY artists and are being used (fairly) in this mix. All derived material has been somehow transformed (through some combination of editing, remixture, fragmentation or re-contextualization) here or is being used as a cultural touchstone or reference in order to capture a representation, as we see it, of the cultural conversation about the subject matter. It is NCN's hope and intention that our use of these artists' work increases their scope and their audience and gets them more attention. They deserve it. Please explore more of these artists' work through official channels. We feel that the artists referenced in this work, and the derived work used, are important, interesting and worthwhile voices in the cultural conversation that we are trying to portray and capture with this program.

Bandcamp Version Total program length (running time): 12 hours 45 minutes and 4 seconds.

PRO TIPS on how to listen to this program:

- Use headphones
- Take breaks. This is a long program. It is not necessarily meant to be 'consumed' all in one sitting. Think of NCN 'mega-album' programs not so much as traditional 'albums', but more like eclectic 'sonic photo albums' or 'audiobooks with music'. The best place to take breaks is when you hear an NCN 'Station ID' which identifies that you are listening to The National Cynical Network. This usually signifies that a temporal, or thematic change is taking place in the program.
- It is perfectly fine to listen to certain 'sections' ('comedy', 'music', etc.) of interest as these sort of are 'albums within the larger album'.
- If you are listening to the program in tracked form (as it is offered on Bandcamp) then you should make sure that you are listening to the tracks in the numbered order and with GAPLESS PLAYBACK i.e. there should be no pause or blank space between tracks. If you do not listen to the program with gapless playback you are not getting the best and intended effect.
- Be sure that the 'mp3 gain' setting is checked on your digital player if you're listening to it on an mp3 player or on the computer in order to avoid any big jumps in volume or 'gain' that might be uncomfortable. NCN is a collage art enterprise and we're dealing with a lot of different audio sources here with different loudness levels. While we have done our best and made every effort to provide a comfortable listening experience, we are not professionals.
- Try listening to it in the background while working on the computer or even on long trips, like on an airplane or bus ride. The way these and other NCN programs are constructed (we find) is that they are both effective as a mental sonic 'wallpaper', because of the dynamic richness in form, but also rewarding listens if you also devote your entire attention to them, due to the crisp and compelling nature of the content and its sequences.

Happy Listening!

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