Machine Intelligence and Art
Art and the Future of Pokémon Go
Understanding Art is Difficult: A Picture is Not Worth a Thousand Words

Why You Should Fear A Genuine Autonomous Intelligence Machine

Fear Genuine Autonomous Intelligence Machine

As our discussion of representational and abstract art demonstrates, machine intelligence needs a value-based internal model of the world to interact with its environment. If such an agent is to Continue ReadingWhy You Should Fear A Genuine Autonomous Intelligence Machine

Abstract Art and Artificial Intelligence

First Abstract Work by Wassily Kandinsky

How would an intelligent software agent look at abstract art? Previously, we demonstrated why today’s intelligent agents are unable to comprehend a representational work of art. Could an intelligent agent decode Continue ReadingAbstract Art and Artificial Intelligence

Vermeer, Self-Driving Cars, the Gamesters of Triskelion, and Yayoi Kusama

The Love Letter - Vermeer

A large rubber ball bounces into the street, the driver sees the ball, intuits that a child might follow, and stops the car. Automated vehicles are incapable of accomplishing the Continue ReadingVermeer, Self-Driving Cars, the Gamesters of Triskelion, and Yayoi Kusama

Is Great Art Still Possible?

Bernini - Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

Art balances artistic technique with emotional expressiveness. The more difficult the act of balancing, the greater the art. If artistic technique dominates, we get craft. If emotional experience dominates, we Continue ReadingIs Great Art Still Possible?

Vermeer is Not Just About the Light: Art is Not Just Technique

Lady Writing a Letter With Her Maid - Vermeer

While admiring the artistic technique of a painting at the National Gallery’s wonderful exhibit about Vermeer and his contemporaries, I overheard an individual exclaim: “Vermeer is all about the light”. Continue ReadingVermeer is Not Just About the Light: Art is Not Just Technique

How Artistic Deception Created Modern Art

Calder "Snow Flurry"

Picasso said abstraction starts with an object, and then reality is removed.  Deception is at the heart of art, morphing reality into artistic lies representing the truth. How does an Continue ReadingHow Artistic Deception Created Modern Art

Baudelaire and Dickinson: Religion for Moderns

Where do we find spirituality in a world without absolutes? Charles Baudelaire and Emily Dickinson offer two alternative paths. Let us compare two poems written about the same subject – Continue ReadingBaudelaire and Dickinson: Religion for Moderns