4 ms·

Applying statistics to works of fiction is mildly interesting, much as applying geometry to paintings. But after you tell me all about your statistical analysi

Applying statistics to works of fiction is mildly interesting, much as applying geometry to paintings. But after you tell me all about your statistical analysis of Faulkner's prose or how the Golden Mean is distorted in Van Gogh's paintings, you still haven't touched the thing that makes the works of Faulkner and Van Gogh much more interesting than those of their less-known contemporaries. That's why it is called "art" and not "science."

whatshisface 9y ago
I've always wanted to conduct an experiment where we put some higshcoolers who wanted to major in art history in isolation (except for sterilized food and some math textbooks slipped under the door) and had them reconstruct the periods and choose important artists from scratch. How much of the canon would turn out the same?
- bbctol 9y ago
  Similar to the plot of "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Quixote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Q...
  - ivanbakel 9y ago
    I wouldn't agree. Menard is about authorship of a rewritten identical work - the GP was talking about people selecting works to potentially produce a different canon, and there's no question of an author.
    - bbctol 9y ago
      Right... but it's similar.
- kartan 9y ago
  At "How the Mona Lisa became so overrated" from Vox, you can see a unique circusntance that made the picture legendary beyond its initial merit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2wy7Fp2fqw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2wy7Fp2fqw
  - cafard 9y ago
    Well maybe, but see http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2398/2398-h/2398-h.htm#leonardo http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2398/2398-h/2398-h.htm#leonar... from 1873.
- bradleyjg 9y ago
  Reminds me a little of the thousander maths in Stephenson's Anathem.
  - fredley 9y ago
    Reminds me of the Auditors in Pratchett's Thief of Time.
- gwern 9y ago
  You'll be amused to know that similar experiments have been run for music: 2006: "Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market" http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_dodds_watts06_full.pdf http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_dodds_watts06_full.p... Salganik & Watts 2009 "Web-Based Experiments for the Study of Collective Social Dynamics in Cultural Markets" http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_watts09.pdf http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_watts09.pdf 2008: "Leading the Herd Astray: An Experimental Study of Self-fulfilling Prophecies in an Artificial Cultural Market" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3785310/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3785310/
BaronSamedi 9y ago
Sure but that doesn't mean we can't understand why some works of art resonate with us. The computational folkloristics field has found some very interesting patterns (see for instance http://www.mftd.org/index.php?action=atu http://www.mftd.org/index.php?action=atu). In "Religion Explained" Pascal Boyer describes why certain myths resonate with us and others do not.

whatshisface 9y ago

I've always wanted to conduct an experiment where we put some higshcoolers who wanted to major in art history in isolation (except for sterilized food and some math textbooks slipped under the door) and had them reconstruct the periods and choose important artists from scratch. How much of the canon would turn out the same?

bbctol 9y ago
Similar to the plot of "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Quixote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Menard,_Author_of_the_Q...
- ivanbakel 9y ago
  I wouldn't agree. Menard is about authorship of a rewritten identical work - the GP was talking about people selecting works to potentially produce a different canon, and there's no question of an author.
  - bbctol 9y ago
    Right... but it's similar.
kartan 9y ago
At "How the Mona Lisa became so overrated" from Vox, you can see a unique circusntance that made the picture legendary beyond its initial merit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2wy7Fp2fqw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2wy7Fp2fqw
- cafard 9y ago
  Well maybe, but see http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2398/2398-h/2398-h.htm#leonardo http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2398/2398-h/2398-h.htm#leonar... from 1873.
bradleyjg 9y ago
Reminds me a little of the thousander maths in Stephenson's Anathem.
- fredley 9y ago
  Reminds me of the Auditors in Pratchett's Thief of Time.
gwern 9y ago
You'll be amused to know that similar experiments have been run for music: 2006: "Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market" http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_dodds_watts06_full.pdf http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_dodds_watts06_full.p... Salganik & Watts 2009 "Web-Based Experiments for the Study of Collective Social Dynamics in Cultural Markets" http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_watts09.pdf http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_watts09.pdf 2008: "Leading the Herd Astray: An Experimental Study of Self-fulfilling Prophecies in an Artificial Cultural Market" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3785310/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3785310/

BaronSamedi 9y ago

Sure but that doesn't mean we can't understand why some works of art resonate with us. The computational folkloristics field has found some very interesting patterns (see for instance http://www.mftd.org/index.php?action=atu http://www.mftd.org/index.php?action=atu). In "Religion Explained" Pascal Boyer describes why certain myths resonate with us and others do not.