From Stone Carving to ChatGPT: 11,000 Years of Content

It’s the last episode of 2022, and in the spirit of auld lang syne, we’re taking it all the way back to the 9th millennium BCE, to a region found in modern-day Turkey. That’s because it’s there we find what archeologists and artsy types are calling the “oldest known depiction of a narrative scene.” 

But watch out — this neolithic masterpiece is a bit NSFW! Carved into a stone bench in an area likely used for rituals of some kind, cheeky enthusiasts can gaze upon a composition consisting of “a squatting male figure holding a rattle or a snake against a bull, while the right shows a male figure in high relief holding its phallus as leopards approach from both sides,” per ARTnews. It’s a tense and steamy scene that's likely meant to reflect the changing view of our place in the world as we transitioned from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a more sedentary one defined by agriculture, and eventually, what starts to look like modern-day civilization. 

But oh, how far we’ve come. The year 2022 has also seen its fair share of advances in content creation, perhaps most emblematically defined by the rise of software that produces AI-generated images, narratives, corporate copy, B-minus level code, and soon, 3D objects. So, as the year comes to a close, we decided to take a look at what this watershed technological moment might mean for the year 2023 and beyond. 

It’s hard not to wonder how that plucky stone-carver 11,000 years ago would react to a bonkers hellscape generated by DALL·E 2 in a matter of seconds. Perhaps he’d worry about his job security as a humble stone carver, as many of today’s copywriters think that they’ll soon be replaced by ChatGPT. Or maybe he’d just shrug, take his union-mandated 10-minute break, and get back to the important business of etching phalluses into benches that will one day be enjoyed by archaeologists, art critics, and tourists alike.

Happy New Year, from all of us at JOURNOS.

JOURNOS is produced by Brandon R. Reynolds and Stephen Jackson. Music by Nathan Readey.