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Hito Steyerl Medium Hot(Images In The Age Of Heat)

Hito Steyerl Medium Hot(Images In The Age Of Heat)

HK$198.00
HK$198.00
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《Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat》（中譯預計為《微熱：高熱時代的圖像》）是當代知名藝術家與新媒體學者 Hito Steyerl 於 2025 年出版的批判文集。全書收錄了 11 篇精闢論文，將麥克魯漢（Marshall McLuhan）傳統的「冷／熱媒體」分類法，重新拉回物理學的**熱力學（Thermodynamics）**層面，藉此剖析人工智慧（AI）、生成式圖像與全球氣候變遷之間共生的生態危機。 [1, 2, 3, 4]
Steyerl 的核心論點圍繞在一個大哉問：當圖像的生產正在加熱地球、剝削勞工並助長軍火貿易時，這還能被稱作藝術嗎？ [1]
以下為本書的四大核心概念與批判維度：

1. 微熱圖像（Medium Hot）與統計學熱力學
  • 擴散模型的冷與熱：Steyerl 深入探討了生成式 AI（如 Stable Diffusion）的渲染邏輯。在演算法中，清晰的目標圖像被視為「冷」，而加入隨機雜訊則會產生「熱」。
  • 無關視覺，只關乎溫度：AI 生成圖像的本質是透過演算法消除雜訊（去噪）來重建畫面，這意味著這些圖像與人類肉眼所「看見」的客觀現實毫無 indexical（索指性）關聯，它們純粹是 AI 模型在偵測冷熱區域後的統計產物，亦即一種**「微熱」（Medium Hot）**的圖像。
  • 文化熵增（Cultural Entropy）：根據熱力學定律，能量流動取決於冷熱區域的差異。當 AI 大量製造出這種處於統計平均值的「平庸圖像（Mean Image）」時，視覺文化的異質性將被抹平，導致類似宇宙「熱寂（Heat Death）」的文化停滯與均質化。 [1, 2]

2. 「損害圖像」與環境代價（Da/mages）
  • 實體碳足跡：書中創造了 "da/mages"（數據圖像／損害）一詞，諷刺虛擬世界並非憑空存在。科技巨頭所標榜的雲端技術與 AI 生成，背後依賴的是龐大的資料中心、化石燃料發電、劇烈的碳排放與水資源枯竭。
  • 加速自然熵增：虛擬網絡的每一次運算，都在向現實自然界排放實體熱量，加速了全球氣候變遷與生態崩潰。 [1, 2, 3]

3. 被剝削的數位「微勞工」
  • AI 的精準度並非完全自動化，而是建立在全球地緣政治衝突區域或低收入國家的**廉價點擊勞工（Clickwork）**之上。這些隱形網絡中的勞工被迫暴露在大量暴力、殘酷的數據過濾工作中，為 Big Tech 的演算法進行標籤與清理。
  • 生成式 AI 同時也在無償掠奪（Data Harvesting）廣大藝術家與創作者的既有心血，將底層蓬勃的「窮人圖像（Poor Image）」轉化為壟斷資本的視覺廢料（Visual Slop）。 [1, 2]

4. 科技巨頭的藝術洗白（PR Stunts）
  • Steyerl 犀利指出，科技產業長期利用藝術界作為新技術（如前幾年的 NFTs、加密貨幣，到如今的生成式 AI）的推廣跳板與公關工具。
  • 這種「藝術科技化」的包裝，精準掩蓋了其背後龐大的軍事戰爭後端應用（Warfighting Back-ends）以及對公共資源的掠奪。 [1]

總結
《Medium Hot》並非一本預言 AGI（通用人工智慧）毀滅人類的科幻恐懼之書，而是一本緊扣當下的技術環境主義警告（Techno-environmentalist Warning Shot）。Steyerl 呼籲大眾與其擔憂未來的機器人統治，不如正視眼前的具體傷害，透過監管、課稅以及建立「紅色駭客合作社」等反抗手段，收回圖像的生產主權。 [1, 2]

Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat is a critical collection published in 2025 by Hito Steyerl, a well-known contemporary artist and new media scholar. The book contains 11 incisive papers, pulling Marshall McLuhan's traditional "cold/hot media" classification back to the **Thermodynamics** level of physics, thus analyzing the ecological crisis between artificial intelligence (AI), generative images and global climate change. [1,2,3,4]

Steyerl's core argument revolves around a big question: Can this still be called art when the production of images is heating the earth, exploiting labor and fostering arms trade? [1]

The following are the four core concepts and critical dimensions of this book:

1. Medium Hot and Statistical Thermometics

Cold and hot of diffusion models: Steyerl deeply explores the rendering logic of generative AI (such as Stable Diffusion). In the algorithm, the clear target image is regarded as "cold", while the addition of random noise will generate "heat".

It has nothing to do with vision, only about temperature: the essence of AI generated images is to reconstruct the picture through algorithms to eliminate noise (denoise), which means that these images have no indexical connection with the objective reality "visible" by the human naked eye. They are purely the statistical products of the AI model after detecting the hot and cold areas, that is, a kind of **medium Hot** image.

Cultural Entropy: According to the laws of thermodynamics, the flow of energy depends on the difference between hot and cold regions. When AI creates a large number of such "Mean Images" in the statistical average, the heterogeneity of visual culture will be erased, leading to cultural stagnation and homogenization similar to the "Heat Death" of the universe. [One, two]

2. "Damage images" and environmental costs (Da/mages)

Physical carbon footprint: The word "da/mages" (data image/damage) was created in the book, which satirizes that the virtual world does not exist out of thin air. The cloud technology and AI generation advocated by technology giants rely on huge data centers, fossil fuel power generation, heavy carbon emissions and water depletion.

Accelerate the increase of natural entropy: Every operation of the virtual network is emitting solid heat to the real nature, accelerating global climate change and ecological collapse. [1, 2, 3]

3. Exploited digital "micro-labor"

The accuracy of AI is not completely automated, but built on **cheap clickwork** in global geopolitical conflict areas or low-income countries. The workers in these stealth networks are forced to be exposed to a lot of violent and cruel data filtering work to label and clean up Big Tech's algorithms.

At the same time, generative AI is also plundering the existing efforts of the majority of artists and creators in Data Harvesting, transforming the booming "Poor Image" at the bottom into a visual slop of monopoly capital. [One, two]

4. The art of technology giants is whitewashed (PR Stunts)

Steyerl pointed out sharply that the science and technology industry has long used the art world as a promotion springboard and public relations tool for new technologies (such as NFTs and cryptocurrencies in previous years, to today's generative AI).

This kind of "art technology" packaging accurately covers up the huge warfighting Back-ends and the plunder of public resources behind it. [1]

Summarize

Medium Hot is not a science fiction fear book that predicts that AGI (General Artificial Intelligence) will destroy mankind, but a Techno-environmentalist Warning Shot. Instead of worrying about the future domination of robots, Steyerl called on the public to face the specific harm in front of them and take back the production sovereignty of images through means of resistance such as supervision, taxation and the establishment of "red hacker cooperatives". [One, two]

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