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Net Art defined; Having fun making useless technology.

by thomk 9y ago

aalleavitch 9y ago
It’s a nice change of pace from our usual jobs of not having fun making useless technology.
- foo101 9y ago
  Please don't speak for all of us. There are many of us around who still take our usual jobs of developing software to be an art of developing useful technology. I think comments like these, although said in jest, undermine the work of many programmers who are creating useful technological solutions for a living.
  - pqh 9y ago
    Not everyone is so lucky. Why should you be the one to feel undermined in that case?
  - jschwartzi 9y ago
    It's an art for sure, but I don't really enjoy it anymore.
  - aalleavitch 9y ago
    I mean, I was definitely just joking. But I also think it’s a reality that we have to accept that despite our best intentions, much of what we make will be consigned to the dustbin of history. Only a small percentage of our products will ever break through that barrier to becoming truly useful in a lasting way. That’s not a failure in my eyes; that’s the reality of innovation, and the system is working the way it has to.
dentemple 9y ago
The same could be said for almost any art piece. It's not about practicality.
- mattxxx 9y ago
  What _is_ "art?"
everyone 9y ago
I think there may be a sort of uncanny valley effect for how much we like art. For example, I am particularly picky about sc-fi. I love hard sci-fi like Arthur C Clarke. I can also enjoy really silly sci-fantasy stuff like star-wars. But if something is sorta half way, the inconsistencies and inaccuracies really annoy me and I hate it. eg that film 'Gravity' being a mix of realistic and unrealistic. In the case of this thing.. A lot of the software dev type people on HN presumably love elegant tech, and probably dont have strong opinions on the latest high-art. But when the art starts to approach tech it hits this valley and we start to actively hate it. Just an idea.
- everyone 9y ago
  I've thought about this idea and have a proposed mechanism for it... We dont have very strong opinions outside our areas of expertise of knowledge, we dont have the inclination or the capacity to really. Whereas within our area of expertise we have cultivated our understanding to be able to fully appreciate and love great works, but also truly understand and thus hate the depths of failure of poor work. I suppose this is similar to the original uncanny valley effect. A part of our mind is highly specialized at recognizing other humans with an amazing attention to detail. Real humans are registered by the system and pass, quasi-human things register and fail alarmingly, rocks and trees merely dont register.
pdpi 9y ago
It got us talking, it got us thinking. Neither of those is useless

Net Art defined; Having fun making useless technology.

by thomk 9y ago

Net Art defined; Having fun making useless technology.

aalleavitch 9y ago

It’s a nice change of pace from our usual jobs of not having fun making useless technology.

foo101 9y ago
Please don't speak for all of us. There are many of us around who still take our usual jobs of developing software to be an art of developing useful technology. I think comments like these, although said in jest, undermine the work of many programmers who are creating useful technological solutions for a living.
- pqh 9y ago
  Not everyone is so lucky. Why should you be the one to feel undermined in that case?
- jschwartzi 9y ago
  It's an art for sure, but I don't really enjoy it anymore.
- aalleavitch 9y ago
  I mean, I was definitely just joking. But I also think it’s a reality that we have to accept that despite our best intentions, much of what we make will be consigned to the dustbin of history. Only a small percentage of our products will ever break through that barrier to becoming truly useful in a lasting way. That’s not a failure in my eyes; that’s the reality of innovation, and the system is working the way it has to.

dentemple 9y ago

The same could be said for almost any art piece. It's not about practicality.

mattxxx 9y ago
What _is_ "art?"

everyone 9y ago

I think there may be a sort of uncanny valley effect for how much we like art. For example, I am particularly picky about sc-fi. I love hard sci-fi like Arthur C Clarke. I can also enjoy really silly sci-fantasy stuff like star-wars. But if something is sorta half way, the inconsistencies and inaccuracies really annoy me and I hate it. eg that film 'Gravity' being a mix of realistic and unrealistic. In the case of this thing.. A lot of the software dev type people on HN presumably love elegant tech, and probably dont have strong opinions on the latest high-art. But when the art starts to approach tech it hits this valley and we start to actively hate it. Just an idea.

everyone 9y ago
I've thought about this idea and have a proposed mechanism for it... We dont have very strong opinions outside our areas of expertise of knowledge, we dont have the inclination or the capacity to really. Whereas within our area of expertise we have cultivated our understanding to be able to fully appreciate and love great works, but also truly understand and thus hate the depths of failure of poor work. I suppose this is similar to the original uncanny valley effect. A part of our mind is highly specialized at recognizing other humans with an amazing attention to detail. Real humans are registered by the system and pass, quasi-human things register and fail alarmingly, rocks and trees merely dont register.

pdpi 9y ago

It got us talking, it got us thinking. Neither of those is useless