[po]

We teach kids that lying is wrong.. not because it hurts people (it does) or that people care (although they do) but because it tells you something about the morals of a person. You don't have to prove the individual social damage of each lie. We've accepted that lying has bad enough consequences often enough that "lying is bad."

I get that we now live in an age of trolls, but this isn't a "whoo hoo, I trolled the world!" post. This post is using the language of morality that it's wrong to lie. The post itself is saying what he did was wrong. And yet, not apologizing for it. As you say, it's just another troll.

[curiousgeorgio]

Exactly. It's also pretty disrespectful to the honest people who spend years mastering a craft or skill that is appreciated for the process rather than just the end result.

It's an interesting topic in light of generative AI art. In many cases, the generated stuff can look nearly identical to some really talented artists' work. So are the artists themselves irrelevant? Is their work more or less valuable, given that it took much more time and effort for them to produce?

Why do people line up to see the real Mona Lisa when they can see essentially the same result on their smartphone or tablet?