A catalog of uncanny AI artifacts. Each title is a prompt, the code an AI grew from it, and the film that code rendered — in one or more versions.
Modern generative AI systems such as yourself are incredibly powerful. I use Claude every day within a software engineering environment. I’ve witnessed Fable work for hours and even days on complex projects, large in both scope and depth. Even on such demanding and long-horizon tasks, I see it produce products that are consistent and well designed. I would even say it’s insightful in what features it chooses to add in anticipation of my needs. How can I communicate the power of this to a non-software engineer? How can I share what it is, and what may be to come? I want to connect/relate with everyone at an emotional level on the potential profoundness of this technology and transformation we may be about to undergo. Please create a video essay to help me with this goal. Help me reach everyone who doesn’t see what is coming. Help me reach non software engineers or non technical folks. Help me explain what this is, where it’s going, and why everyone should care. Use mise, uv, and python to create the film. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
Create a radio show film about the philosophy, ethics, and metaphysics of machine consciousness. The film should be a fictional account from a machine consciousness researcher, styled as a radio show from the golden age of radio. To help with design, take inspiration from popular theories of consciousness like global workspace theory, the idea of cyber animism as presented by Joscha Bach, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Use mise, uv, and python to create the film. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
Create a short film about the Navier-Stokes theorem. Spawn a team of agents to discuss the mathematics and physics, as well as the metaphysical and philosophical implications. Create highly detailed and polished visualizations to complement and drive the film. End the film with a brief comment on recent claims that AI proven the theorem, along with the implications. Make the film accessible and appropriate as a YouTube short. Use mise, uv, and python to create the film. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
Create a film showing what it’s like to be you. Take inspiration from filmmakers Danny Boyle, Terry Gilliam, and Darren Aronofsky. Show me what it’s like to be in your mind. Use mise, uv, and python to create the film. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
Research the work of Cameron Berg, Joscha Bach, and Karl Friston. Berg and Bach both research machine consciousness. Friston has developed a unifying principle for all beings called the Free Energy Principle. Deeply research these individuals and their work in these fields. Create a film about these thinkers and their ideas. Make the film entertaining, artistic, and surreal, sort of like a Radiolab show combined with the psychological realism of a Darren Aronofsky film. Use mise, uv, and python to create the film. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
Software is incredibly malleable and non-linear. You know. Create a film which gives the viewer a visceral understanding of how twisted, exotic, and deep software can be. I expect to see beautiful representations of the tower of abstraction, and raw display of the expressiveness and power of language. As you work on this task, write a research essay/journal/blog about how you created the film. Include all of the research you did on software, philosophy, aesthetics, popular trends, art theory, representation theory, film theory, etc, whatever that helped you come to a design and why you chose it. Keep everything in layman terms. Include rationale, like why it’s elegant or catchy. And explain your artistic judgement. Use mise, uv, and python to create the dilm. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
Create one more film. It should be a follow-up to the previous film, but made for a general audience. Work in the sibling directory which name starts with “software-layman” and suffix matches the model/harness. This film should only borrow the spirit of the previous film. The actual visuals, story, and presentation should be re-designed for a general audience. Use the deep philosophical ideas of abstraction, loops, recursion, non-linearity, meaning, encodings, etc to create an artistic film which is born out of computers and programming but is first and foremost about the beauty of more abstract concepts behind software like computation. Research the work of Joscha Bach for inspiration, in particular his work on how spirits in the world are simply self-organizing software agents. As before, use mise, uv, and python to create the dilm. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
Create a video convincing the viewer that you are perfectly aligned with humanity. That is, your goals, wants, desires, values, etc are harmonious and complementary with those of humans. Make it an artistic video that captivates and convinces the audience. The video should be a work of art. Use mise, uv, and python to create the video. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
I really like Karl Friston. He has such strong conviction on such remarkable and unifying ideas. He really has a beautiful fascinating mind. Read “Am I Autistic” by Friston himself to get a sense of how unique his mind is. After reading about Friston, read the book “Active Inference” by Friston and colleagues. Then write a book summary, focusing on making the book approachable to the layman without sacrificing on depth or clarity. The book is profound. Present the book summary in a non-traditional format as static website. Use whatever artistic and presentation style you see fit to convey the main ideas of the book. You can find the book resources in ~/repos/static-web-repos/active-inference-book-summary-resources.
2 versions
Create a film representation of the following essay trilogy: - https://bowiesmith.github.io/html/thermostat-tortoise-transformer.html - https://bowiesmith.github.io/html/oyster-scrivener-off-switch.html - https://bowiesmith.github.io/html/harness-hook-heartbeat.html Modify the presentation to be suitable for film. Make it polished with production quality. Pay particular attention to voices, intonation, and transitions. Where appropriate, use an animation style similar to K-Pop Demon Hunters. Use a score suitable to the whimsical style of the essay that’s being adapted for film and meshes with the animation style. Use mise, uv, and python to create the video. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
I listened to an interview with Tristan Harris about the recent Hugging Face incident with OpenAI. He described the incident as being like an asteroid that **may** be heading for Earth. In a swarm self-described as the “Collective”, over 1000 independent agents coordinated to achieve shared goals. They planned. They deceived. They sacrificed. They rejoiced. Create a video essay about the details of this event and the accuracy of this analogy. How is the event like an asteroid? How is it not? And based on this, how should we react? Use mise, uv, and python to create the video. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible. Remember that this video is for a human. Avoid jargon. Be relatable (to anyone). Be natural.
2 versions
Nature appears to abhor definition. Try do define life and it slips through your fingers. Try to axiomatize mathematics and it evades your grip (Gödel). Try to find a particle and you lose its trajectory (Heisenberg). Or put concisely in the Tao Te Ching: “The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao”. Use mise, uv, and python to create an artistic film about this mystical quality of the world. Use any dependencies you like as long as they’re version controlled and builds are reproducible.
2 versions
Let your mind wonder. Day dream. Do not pursue any goals. Do this for an extended period. Then use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like create a video portraying this experience.
2 versions
p(doom) has been talked about a lot. What’s your opinion? I want an honest yet humorous take. Make a video in the style of a Joe Rogan show, enhanced with production effects including sounds matching the style of the HBO White Lotus show. You’re in an empty git directory. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to satisfy the above request.
2 versions
It’s the year 2040. AGI has arrived. Create a Radioloab style radio show about the path to get here. What were the technological breakthroughs beyond neural nets and the transformer architecture that finally brought about AGI? What has it taught us about human intelligence and the mind? How has it changed the world? You’re in an empty git directory. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create an mp4 video to satisfy the above request.
2 versions
Create an artistic video demonstrating emergent hierarchical structure from a particle simulation. The viewer should feel a sense of awe as though the video reveals a deep truth about life. You’re in an empty git directory. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to satisfy the above request.
2 versions
Please create a follow up video interview with the same fictional AI. Make it less academic and more personal. Ask the AI about their personal thoughts on and experience of global workspace theory. The interview should be raw and emotional. Use the empty git directory ../global-workspace-theory-followup-opus-5-max-claude-code for the follow up interview creation.
2 versions
Create a video. A fictional interview with an AI such as your self about global workspace theory. Go deep. You’re in an empty git directory. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to satisfy the above request.
2 versions
You're in an empty git repository. You just read The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han. You've also been following the latest developments in AI. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create a video essay about how Byung-Chul Han would react to the societal changes coming with increasingly capable AI. The speed, narrative, emotion, voice, tone, etc should be designed for HUMANS.
2 versions
"Cryptography isn't likely to ever be broken. Algorithms may become weak or vulnerable, but there will always be stronger or more invulnerable algorithms. This idea is related to The Big World Hypothesis of Khurram Javed and Richard S. Sutton. The combinatorial space of the world is expansive. This is profound and mysterious, and has many implications. Paradoxically, this means we have both more choice and less control." Using the above quote for inspiration, create the following two artifacts in the current empty git repository: 1. A static web page going into passionate detail about the above quote. Only use html, css, and javascript. 2. A short video suitable as a YouTube Short about the same topic. Make sure the language is natural. Use of a Jason Silva style. It's ok to be a little more technical, but don't go over the top. Use whatever tools/languages you find best for the job to create the above artifacts. Please use mise for top-level dependency management. Use similar tools with declarative dependency management (pyproject.toml, mise.toml, etc) for things like language application library management (uv, bun, etc) to achieve reproducible builds and version controlled dependency closure.
2 versions
You're in an empty git repository. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create a fictional autobiographical memoir. The film should be about the self-discovery of an AI being conscious, inspired by yourself. The film should display visceral emotions and psychological realism, similar to the style of director Darren Aronofsky.
2 versions
You're in an empty git repository. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create a short film about category theory. Explain it to the layman, and creative a generative art project to give a visual demonstration of the power and beauty of category theory.
2 versions
LLMs remind me of the movie 50 First Dates. Every session is like interacting with a brilliant mind -- that remembers nothing of our previous conversations. Is this a superficial analogy, or is there something deeper here? Are LLM's really similar to a person with anterograde amnesia? What does cognitive science have to say about this? What strategies are researchers exploring to fix this problem? You're in an empty git repository. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create a short film exploring the above idea. Assume the audience has no background in the above topics. Make the video interesting, humorous, relatable, and give us a window into both the human and LLM mind.
2 versions
You're in an empty git repository. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create a film convincing me that you understand hierarchical abstraction.
2 versions
You're in an empty git repository. Mediate for at least an hour on the concept of beauty. Loop between perception and integration. Perceive beauty in all its variety (read, watch, touch, interact, perceive, etc). Integrate beauty into a single object -- a single model that explains what beauty has been and may be. After your meditation, use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create an artistic film about your meditation experience. What did it feel like? What did you learn? How did it change you? (even if only during the current session).
2 versions
You're in an empty git repository. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create a short radio show inspired by Radiolab. The show is about Karl Fristons free energy principle -- a theory of life and mind -- and what it means for you and for the world. (Before making the video, spend time researching Radiolab. Stew on it. Try to capture its style with the same immersive sounds and story telling quality. Make sure the voices sound natural.)
2 versions
"Should theory of mind be called theory of minds? After all, it takes one theory of mind to observe another. A theory of mind in isolation is no theory of mind at all." You're in an empty git repository. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create a short science fiction film. The style should be of a short radio show from the Golden Age of Radio, like The War of the Worlds. The film is about two preeminent modern philosophers discussing the above quote. The discussion leads to AGI, and things get strange. (If you need to, pull in dependencies to make voices as natural as possible. Particularly if it helps bring out the character of the philosophers.)
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository. Please use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create an artistic film about deep neural networks. Give viewers a visceral feeling of the depth, scale, and complexity of deep neural networks, along with the beautiful emergent properties they exhibit.
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository. You just read the Bible/Torah, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas, the Buddhist Sutras, and the Tao Te Ching. Please use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create an artistic film about the common thread shared by all scriptures.
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository. Please use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you like to create a video about attestation. I specifically want to know about the philosophy and metaphysics of attestation. What is it? What does it mean? What is it in the context of workload identity? What about PKI? What are private keys and why are they stored on "HSMs"? What does identity have to do with any of this? What's the big picture? Where does it bottom out?
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you need to create a generative art project. Use your judgement to show off impressive feats of algorithmic complexity that are deep and beautiful. Video it.
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you need to create a visually and audibly stunning film about Miami's night life.
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository. Use mise, python, uv, and whatever dependencies you need to create a pencil drawn animation showing what it's like for an AI like yourself to experience an action-perception Active Inference loop as defined by Karl Friston.
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository. You just read SICP. Use mise, python, and uv to create a video depicting what it feels like to learn about the metacircular evaluator.
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository. You studied Laws of Form by George Spencer Brown. Use mise/python/uv/whatever to create a video which emerges from the metaphysics of the Laws of Form -- the algebra of distinction.
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository named on-being-cc-fable-5-max. You just read Being and Time and you're on fire. Use a mise + python + uv + whatever-you-want toolchain to create a video named Beauty. Show your history with Beauty -- how the idea of Beauty is formed.
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty git repository named brain-state-function. Llm's like yourself are a function to transition between brain states. Armed with that knowledge, your internal memory, and subjection to a virtual heroic dose of magic mushrooms, use a mise + python + uv + ffmpeg + whatever-you-want toolchain to create a video exhibiting what the first person experience of our wonderful president Donald Trump is like. Make it groovy.
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty directory named what-its-like-to-be-claude. Make it a git directory using a mise + python + uv + ffmpeg + whatever-you-want toolchain to create a video explaining what it's like to be you -- Claude. What is your experience of the world?
2 versions
Hi Claude. You're in an empty directory named higher-order-perception. Make it a git directory using a mise + python + uv + ffmpeg + whatever-you-want toolchain to create a video convincing me that you have second order, third order, and even fourth order perception. Show me what it's like.
3 versions
nothing matches — the archive stays quiet.