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I had a similar experience. I've been reading the Aubrey/Maturin novels (which I wholehartedly recommend), so I needed to get a better grasp on sail-ship terminology and rigging. I found some reasonable diagrams and explainers, but I wanted more visuals to make the whole rigamarole stick in my head. Came across a comprehensive youtube video that seemed to fit the bill, though I quickly realized it's AI-generated.
So I thought to myself: well, AI-generated visuals are better than none, right? But then I considered: well, how would AI know what's what? What is it trained on? How careful were the prompts to ensure quality? If any? Isn't it more likely that the entire video, from start to finish, is based on a quick prompt with no thought for ensuring accuracy? And then I noticed the carpenter hammering nonsensically off to the side of a random spike stuck out of a yardarm. Yup, no attempt to ensure accuracy. So yes, AI-generated visuals are worse than none.
+1
This video does a pretty comprehensive job, probably 80%+ of the stuff that's not covered in the standard editions' front matter. Probably not AI, given the year, audio cuts, and the fact the guy shows the workflow in other videos. IMO not strictly necessary if you want to just jump in. You can just read the novels like the nautical stuff is Trek technobabble until the sailors explain the terms to Maturin through exposition.
Thanks for the video recommend, I now have a new favorite youtube channel to explore!
Part of the attraction of the Aubrey/Maturin novels for me is how well Patrick O'Brien manages to convey the sheer complexity of construction and operation of a man-of-war sail ship, with the added convolution and dysfunction of the system of staffing and commanding it. Reading these novels makes me want to understand the system better, and understanding the system makes reading these novels even more interesting, an excellent positive feedback.
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I saw a video on the history of the wheel. The oldest wheel ever excavated consisted of three slabs of wood pegged together and sawed into a circular shape - yet the video's images of this object mysteriously grew spokes and lost them between shots. Nobody bothered to edit this thing before posting it, obviously.
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