Re: [-empyre-] transparency+digidos

["Patrick Lichty" <voyd@voyd.com>]

> > I don't think its impossible to predict what direction the human
> > artist might go in once you know what influences them, just as in
> > the program.
>
> i think my mentor in college would be very surprised with my work now.

Some of mine are mystified with my work.  When I was in college, my art
instructors always considered me as 'some engineer who wants to be an
artist'.  I don't think I have to say that some of my

> > Are these motives much different from humans? I don't think that art
> > is a purely "human" phenomena, ever see the paintings of that elephant,

Well, in thinking about that, my thought on species-wide self awareness is
that within those species there are degrees of sentience and cognition.  In
higher phyla (?) I would definitely argue for some enjoyment of art, but in
the case of the elephant gamelan and paintings, this seems to be a human
paradigm introduced to other species with varying degrees of
interface/success.  It's an interesting idea.

I posit that more highly evolved species might be more predisposed to art,
or at least something we might consider as such (i.e. self-expression).  As
for Weaver Birds, perhaps a craft born of practical necessity just happens
to have a wonderful aesthetic.  In addition, perhaps this aesthetic is tied
to reproduction, etc.  That's where it gets blurry, because one can argue
that at many times art can be tied to biology.  But self-awareness and
personal expression are key in this.

So, under this supposition, art tied to real self-reflexive expression is
probably more likely the further up the chain you go.  Dolphins, elephants,
Great Apes, bears, Octopi, and do on.

But going into this discussion, one has to think about art being tied to
having time to reflect rather than spending 24/7 surviving.

> > I'd suggest not making assumptions, maybe you should learn whalesong
> > and ask the whale itself ;)

I think that 'art' per se might be species-dependent.  We might not
appreciate polar bear art.