Watching the shape that generative media is taking, it occurs to me that there is emerging a kind of sub-category of journalism which concerns itself with what happens in the unreal world. That is, invented images and entire worlds are becoming things of interest in their own right – not just in terms of a debunk or a fact-check, but because they are note-worthy and interesting in and of themselves.

To me, generative media and the latent space literally is the Metaverse. Like an early alpha version… Okay, maybe I can’t – yet – navigate the latent space using VR goggles and a directional control, but that day is surely coming. And in the meantime, I can use tools like Midjourney to reach into and explore realms which seem to have their own kind of existence and (hyper)reality — and I can bring back treasures from them to share with others, making those Otherworlds more real and accessible from this one.

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