And artists are no bettter.....

In an earlier blog or two I have had a go at science and those who practice it; I now feel it is time to balance things up by pointing out what a debased and inhuman thing this thing called ART has become!


Cards on the table right off: all this stuff we put into the hallowed halls of art galleries, concert halls, libraries and the like, IS COMPUTER-GENERATED ART! So, when scientists working in 'artificial intelligence' (the word 'artificial' IS significant) try to prove that computers are as intelligent as people by getting said computers to 'be creative' and, say, write great works of literature, or paint great works of art, all they are really doing is proving MY point: that is, that what our supposed 'great artists' are doing is debasing themselves to the level of machines in order to create those 'great' works. Time to marshal my evidence ....

Let us consider the origins of our GREAT ART. The ancient Greeks and people did get a look in, but, for the most part, the significant birth date is 'the Italian Renaissance'. And the significant names credited with energising this re-birth, are such as the Medicis, that is, MERCHANTS AND BANKERS! The next relevant question is: what best serves the interests of merchants and bankers? Answer: a unique, marketable product! --- and here we see the genisis of copyright, and patent legislation, all those things that put shackles on the creative imagination.

An experience I had yesterday is very telling. I was whiling away the time waiting for someone, so I spent it browsing around a shop selling ornaments, amongst other things. I like to do craft work myself, and I have a panchant for fairies, so when I spotted some ornamental fairies on a shelf, I homed in on them. They were pretty enough to induce me to consider buying, but when I checked the price, the thought that went through my head was: oh no, I could make a better one myself for a fraction of the price! QUITE!

Now, this is MOST DEFINITELY NOT the sort of reaction merchants and bankers want to induce in prospective customers. In fact, they want to produce EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE reaction ... this is why GREAT ART intimidates; this is why we mere mortals think we cannot do it; this is why there exist these mythical monsters called GENIUSES! So now the merchants and bankers have got us where they want us: parting with hard-earned cash for computer-generated rubbish!

So, why do I call it 'computer generated'? Because it is not created naturally, does not come FROM WITHIN the artist. It is created to fit a set of rules generated by said merchants and bankers. It reminds me of a scene from the film BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, made in the 1970's, if I remember, with Robert Redford and Paul Newman. It is the scene where the pair are trying to 'go straight', and have asked a mine manager for a job. In order to assess their suitability for an opening as guards, he asks Sundance to display his marksmanship. Sundance prepares to shoot in his accustomed manner, but the manager interrupts and says, 'I don't want any fancy stuff, just stand there and shoot that tin can'. Forced to shoot standing still and aiming as though he was on a shooting range, Sundance fails abyssmally! The manager turns away in disgust, but Sundance says, 'can I move now?', then he dives to the ground, roles over, etc, all the while pumping the tin can full of holes! Well, that's the kind of difference I am talking about: computers do art standing still and obeying the rules; people do it for REAL!

And then there are the 'truths that lie too deep for taint', that I have refered to in earlier blogs ... these give the game away, of course, and one of my favourites is a short story by a German writer called Lisa Eichman (the surname is not accurate because I cannot remember precisely ... I am not a computer!). The story is titled: THE BOUND MAN. In summary: a man is attacked and robbed on the highway and left unconscious. When he wakes up his is tied about with ropes, bound, but with just enough freedom of movement that he is able to get to his feet and jump/hop his way across the fields till he comes upon a circus. There he gets a job (this is akin to 'magic realism') as a performer, showing what tricks the BOUND MAN can perform. One day, the BOUND MAN is taunted into entering a cage with a savage wolf that will kill him if he cannot kill it first. One of the spectators takes pity on the BOUND MAN, and when he is close to the bars of the cage, she slips a knife through and cuts his bonds. The ropes fall away, and the BOUND MAN is savaged by the wolf. He is pulled from the cage, and as he lies dying, he explains to the woman that she is, in fact, responsible for his death ... he had become so accustomed to his bonds, and so clever at working within them, that he could have killed the wolf is they had been left on! But he was no longer accustomed to free movement, and so, freed, he had no chance against the wolf.

That image of the BOUND MAN is a metaphor for the mind of the writer of the story. She is a literary writer, and she has had to learn to write within the the limits created by the 'ropes and bonds' imposed by the literary establishment. She has become so good at performing these CIRCUS TRICKS now that, if the bonds were removed, she would be unable to defend herself against the wolves! And yet, even under these circumstances, her humanity will out: she shows a remarkable ADAPTABILITY.

The world of commerce really is sucking us dry, robbing us of life, of our very humanity.

PEOPLE of the world unite

YOU ALONE know what is right.