Captain Keytar – a real life pseudo-hero for everyone.

From Bill Vincent, mild-mannered piano player and friend of the Captain and today's guest writer: 

TL,DR: Captain Keytar is here to remind us that we feed AI, and we must feed it well, to counter the negative and sensational. And to dance. We need to dance.

Let's talk for a moment about AI. Artificial Intelligence. Philosophically. AI is a mirror. Yet it is also a powerful decision-maker. It helps shape and control everything you see and hear in the media and on social media as well - probably more. When we click in either amusement or terror at something a horrible politician has supposedly done, AI will feed us more unhealthy stories of the same type and more. More editors will choose from stories sorted and collated by AI for their ultimate choices in the newsrooms of our biggest networks. It is already ubiquitous. It is already everywhere. It makes hundreds of decisions for us behind our devices that we could scarcely imagine. 

For the past few years, we've had a very polarized and fiercely contentious fight between political parties that has dissolved family ties, caused death, and more. But yet, our news media (take your pick, they all do this)  feeds us more polarizing material. Why? To put it simply, because we eat it up. We lap it up, spew it out, and come back for more. The nastier the story on "the other side" the better. But what does this do to us as individuals? We are already trained by our devices and screens. We accept the (limited) choices provided to us, by visiting the sites that have rewarded us with content we want to see - and not content we need to see that might sometimes be painful but necessary stories about how our media is being shaped and delivered. I'll tell you now. It's AI based, with some human eyes "overseeing" the content - i.e. taking it down if the slightest legal tussle threatens the publisher of the material. 

When a media personality decides to take advantage of the megaphone they have been given to divide and threaten people, it is polarizing. It is also traumatic to those who have been abused, bullied, or otherwise threatened for no reason in the past. The media used to have a responsibility to keep people such as this from getting an overwhelming share of national media attention. But then, AI led them (both the media and the people) to the trough. They started to realize the monetary impact of serving up sensationalized stories designed to either amuse or horrify readers/viewers - and racking up the clicks and eyeballs in the process. And we just lap up what we want to read. All. The. Time. AI is a mirror, remember? We see and are fed what we want to see and be fed with.

When the media now finds that it’s okay to spread a hateful person’s message simply because he or she is a “celebrity” or “newsworthy” and because it is more profitable than not for them to do so, something has to be done to counter the power the media holds (but is not using responsibly), their continued acquiescence to them, and the nasty messages they spread. Profits should not dictate whether horrible messages are amplified and disseminated globally without regard to truth and without sensitivity to various cultures and beliefs that do not agree with this brand of hate. Letting AI be in the driver's seat of the massive choices of what to cover in today's media is like closing every restaurant but one or two, forcing you to eat junk food all the time, and in the process becoming addicted to the chemicals it produces in you. This is no mere metaphorical comparison - we are addicted to the dopamine hits that occur in our hypothalamus when we are consuming media we are conditioned to see and like, no better than being addicted to any other substance.  

With that in mind, I took stock of my abilities, and thought seriously about the message I wanted my own kids and grandkids to hear. I decided to put my efforts into creating something that was bigger than myself in the hope that I might someday attract enough of my own eyeballs and media attention to start spreading the love and positive vibes and actually beginning to shape the AI algorithms. But how? I’m just a mild-mannered piano player. What could I do to help spread a more positive message?

And just like that, something amazing happened - I came upon a new friend named Captain Keytar. The Captain was accidentally transported to our 21st century after opening a portal while trying to solve a Rubik’s cube and falling from an 80’s multiverse into ours! After arriving in the 21st century, the Captain realized that we had lost our way. Instead of people coming together to help each other like the promise of “We are the World”, he saw a planet lost in fear, anger, and hate! So he dedicated himself to spreading a message of Kindness, Empathy, Young@Heart, Tolerance, Acceptance, and Rock in your heart – KEYTAR – and doing it with love and music from his 80s multiverse to you. In a world that seems lost in the messages of “us vs. them” and religious intolerance, racism, cultural differences, greed, and territorial disputes, the Captain has a simple message that deserves to be heard over all of the negative noise – and he brings his message and music from the 80s to overpower and drown out that noise.

Once I made the decision to do something and began my relationship with the Captain, almost immediately other aspects of my life started to change. Little did I know that in forming that relationship with Captain Keytar, I opened up a portal of my own – with my granddaughter – a teen who loves cosplay, singing, and more. We began mapping out strategy together, and after many hours of working together, the Captain was ready to take on the world. I had no idea that my relationship with the Captain would develop into a deeper relationship with others I love – but that is the first, and most exciting part of my Captain’s story so far. The Captain’s influence and circle of supporters is growing, and it has only brought me closer to those I want to influence and to share time and experiences with.

The Captain is a musical performer, yes. He’s also just a mere mortal – his only superpower is his ability to perform music for everyone. I call him a “pseudo-hero”. In the world of cosplay and superheroes, there are relatively very few musical examples. But this gives the Captain an opportunity to fill that gap, and to inspire more to do the same. This gives him a platform to talk about the principles that are really universal in nature – those outlined in the KEYTAR acronym. These are not, and should not be, controversial. They are timeless and desperately needed right now, to combat the message of hate being spread daily by true life evil villains, and then regurgitated daily by the media for profit and attention. Regardless of specific religion, culture, or any other demarcation, the message of the Captain is needed. By spreading that message through music, dance, cosplay, entertainment, and love of everything 80s, he and we can start to feed the media and AI beasts with truth, better human examples, better ideas, and a better vision for America, and by extension for the world.

They say “think globally, act locally”. So with the help of the Captain, that is exactly what me (and now some of my family as well) are doing. One show, one song, one person at a time, we are spreading the Captain’s message. It is a message bigger than us. And I am proud of what the Captain stands for, and what working with him has already done in my life, regardless of whether he has only 10 “followers” on social media, or 10 million. It is truly amazing to me how much impact he has already had on my own life, and it has hardly begun. 

Let’s all start putting better messages out for the media and AI to absorb, whether it’s by strapping on a keytar and cosplay, or using whatever superpowers we have. Together we can change the narrative. Turn on the 80s and start dancing. The Captain thanks you, and so do I!