Behind last year’s buzz following the release of the text generator GPT-3 , there was another machine learning headline that gave cause for pause: AI controlled fighter jets had defeated a human piloted fighter jet 5-0 in a Darpa simulation. Looks like today’s fighter pilots may be going the way of the shining medieval knight in armor–obsolete and unsustainable because of catastrophic vulnerabilities on the battle field.
Culture / Digital Culture
The Kissing Project
The kiss is a symbol of love and intimacy. Many artists have produced iconic works about it. From Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece “The Kiss” (1907) to Warhol’s experimental 50 minutes silent film “Kiss” (1963), artists have taken up the gesture of the kiss as subject matter. A black & white photograph taken in the 1950’s by an unknown photographer in Nelson, BC, provided the inspiration for the Kissing Project (2017).
Playing with Google: Street View Performance and Installation Artists
In a recent post, I drew a distinction between two groups of artists that use Google Street View as part of their creative work:
Accidental Street Photography: Google Street View Scavengers
The launch of Google Street View services in 2007 was followed almost immediately by the emergence of its very own art genre: Street View Art. In 2011, just a few years after the launch of GSV, Pete Brook of Wired hailed the emergence of the new genre with exuberant excitement, announcing that
The Street View car is like the ultimate street photographer, a robo Cartier-Bresson methodically scouring the streets and documenting what it sees — Pete Brook, Wired
While Brook’s article offers a great selection of early Street View art, the comparison between a digital mapping machine and a hybrid mashup of RoboCop, a Hollywood created SciFi robotic police officer, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, the flesh and blood pioneer of street photography in the twentieth century, may seem hyperbolic and somewhat besides the point when it comes to the impact of Google’s Street View images on the arts and popular culture.
Was this post written by a machine?
This post was not written by a machine. It was written by a real person, a human writer, me. I wrote it. But consider the following opening sentences of a post
Messaging App Telegram Moves to Protect Identity of Hong Kong Protesters
WASHINGTON—Telegram, a popular encrypted messaging app, will allow users to cloak their telephone numbers to safeguard Hong Kong protesters against monitoring by authorities, according to a person with direct knowledge of the effort.
The update to Telegram, planned for release over the next few days, will allow protesters to prevent mainland Chinese and Hong Kong authorities from discovering their identities in the app’s large group chats.
Instantly add colour to black and white photos with this free and easy website
Recent World War One doc They Shall Not Grow Old mesmerised many over Christmas with its hours of colourised war footage, but the ability to add colour to black and white imagery is no longer in the domain of top-end production studios.
Created by GovTech Singapore, the website Colourise SG allows anyone to upload any black and white photo for a simple and almost instantaneous colourisation.
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