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But like most art, whether it connects on an emotional level is mostly dependent on the consumer. Once an artist gains fame, then it becomes a matter of fashion

by p4wnc6 10y ago

But like most art, whether it connects on an emotional level is mostly dependent on the consumer. Once an artist gains fame, then it becomes a matter of fashion signalling to agree with others about how good that artist is or to deride that artist for making something that doesn't live up to previous works. I found a lot of the lines from The Policeman's Beard is Half-Constructed by the program Racter to connect with me on an emotional level, despite knowing that (a) it was likely heavily edited by the program creator and (b) much of it just mimicked the unusual word choices and rhythmic qualities of poetry, not the intentional conveyance of a message or theme.

gridspy 10y ago
That's the interesting thing about looking through the output of any computer algorithm. I have often done this with random walks using markov chains. By editing 200 lines into just 3 or 4, you are actually adding a lot of information. It makes the computer seem smarter than it is. If we could create a "good poem" evaluator + editor and tack it on the end of a "random poem" creator, we could perhaps get some good results.
gridspy 10y ago
That's the interesting thing about looking through the output of any computer algorithm. I have often done this with random walks using markov chains. By editing 200 lines into just 3 or 4, you are actually adding a lot of information. It makes the computer seem smarter than it is. If we could create a "good poem" evaluator + editor and tack it on the end of a "random poem" creator, we could perhaps get some good results.
TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
>But like most art, whether it connects on an emotional level is mostly dependent on the consumer. Consumers. The best art affects a lot of people. And they don't need to be told to like it. It "just works." Art audiences follow multivariate statistical distributions. It's very much not just a personal reaction - it's a personal reaction shared by many other people having broadly similar reactions. Some of it is social signalling, and some of it requires education and experience. But valued works tend to persist in culture because they reliably create reactions in a statistically significant proportion of all possible audiences.

by p4wnc6 10y ago

gridspy 10y ago

That's the interesting thing about looking through the output of any computer algorithm. I have often done this with random walks using markov chains. By editing 200 lines into just 3 or 4, you are actually adding a lot of information. It makes the computer seem smarter than it is. If we could create a "good poem" evaluator + editor and tack it on the end of a "random poem" creator, we could perhaps get some good results.

gridspy 10y ago

TheOtherHobbes 10y ago

>But like most art, whether it connects on an emotional level is mostly dependent on the consumer. Consumers. The best art affects a lot of people. And they don't need to be told to like it. It "just works." Art audiences follow multivariate statistical distributions. It's very much not just a personal reaction - it's a personal reaction shared by many other people having broadly similar reactions. Some of it is social signalling, and some of it requires education and experience. But valued works tend to persist in culture because they reliably create reactions in a statistically significant proportion of all possible audiences.