Aside from some time in a recording booth, their experience is done. Whether they choose to replicate those three days in some form or fashion on their own — whether for a few hours or a few days — is on them.

Some traditional cultures feel that the photograph steals the soul. While this is attributed to a lack of understanding, it does touch on a greater truth: film and photographs are able to capture some revealing fragment of their subjects. How else do we explain the connection we feel with them? Since AI-generated subjects have no soul, there was no connection. No backstory. No depth or emotion. It felt like mini wax dioramas in a museum display.

The ancient Persians invented horse blinders with the purpose of narrowing the horse’s field of vision to keep it focused on what is directly in front of it while limiting it’s exposure to the environment around them. This blocking of the periphery helped to prevent unpredictable distractions which could ‘spook’ even a mild-tempered horse in certain environments.