Sixth Day Six | 10.22.2022
Sixth Day Six | 10.22.2022
Technology is empowering new artistic mediums. Plus - a cancer vaccine?
Art is in the eye of the beholder. Recently art from an AI generated tool won a competition. But is it really art if a computer made it and not human hands? I think so. It’s just so new that we aren’t used to it. The first article in the Atlantic covers off on this idea.
Also, could we be close to cancer vaccines? This bit of optimism and a couple of other funny videos from Twitter round out this week’s Sixth Day Six.
We’re Witnessing the Birth of a New Artistic Medium | The Atlantic
I’ve played around with some AI art and honestly find it a lot of fun. There is a good Twitter account that curates obscure pieces of art created with DALLE-E prompts. Some people are pessimistic about this. Actually quite a few. But this article argues how AI art is something worth embracing.
What is so tiresome about the fear of AI art is that all of this has been said before—about photography. It took decades for photography to be recognized as an art form. Charles Baudelaire famously called photography the “mortal enemy” of art. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which was among the first American institutions to collect photographs, didn’t start doing so until 1924. The anxiety around the camera was nearly identical to our current fear of creative AI: Photography wasn’t art, but it was also going to replace art. It was “mere mechanism,” as one critic put it in 1865. I mean, it’s not art if you’re just pushing some buttons, right?
Click here to read the full article.
“As If Nothing Happened”: I Used Artificial Intelligence To See How Some Celebrities Would Look Today If They Were Alive | Bored Panda
What would certain celebrities (mainly musicians) look like if they had lived to what their respective ages would be today? This artist used AI to imagine what people would look like had they not faced tragedy. Honestly, he did a pretty good job. He covers Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Michael Jackson and this person below (can you guess who it is?).
Click here to view the full gallery.
Runners and Cyclists Use GPS Mapping to Make Art | New York Times
Another form of artistic expression using a new medium - GPS apps. What if you could use your running route as a way to draw a picture with your footsteps? I’ve seen a couple of these pop up on Twitter from time to time but glad to see a major publication pick up and give some light to this fun trend. It’s been around since 2003 but the detail improvements in GPS maps have allowed the art to have more complexity and higher quality.
The art form even has its own Guinness World Records categories. The Guardian profiled a couple who completed a 4,500-mile bike ride across Europe (while blogging the journey) that resulted in a 600-mile-wide GPS drawing of a bicycle — the largest such drawing on record, according to The Guardian.
Vaccines to treat cancer possible by 2030, say BioNTech founders | The Guardian
The same couple who developed the technology for mRNA vaccines are optimistic that they are near a breakthrough for vaccines that target specific types of cancer within the next decade. If this works, proves to be safe and effective, this would be more world changing (IMO) than the COVID jab.
An mRNA Covid vaccine works by ferrying the genetic instructions for essentially harmless spike proteins on the Covid virus into the body. The instructions are taken up by cells which churn out the spike protein. These proteins, or antigens, are then used as “wanted posters” – telling the immune system’s antibodies and other defences what to search for and attack.
The same approach can be taken to prime the immune system to seek out and destroy cancer cells, said Türeci, BioNTech’s chief medical officer. Rather than carrying code that identifies viruses, the vaccine contains genetic instructions for cancer antigens – proteins that stud the surfaces of tumour cells.
The Best Timing I’ve Ever Seen on TV
Seriously watch this. Awesome. Another form of artistic expression from the 1970s.
Click here to watch on Twitter.com or the app if the above doesn’t work for you.
World’s Worst Bartender
This is an old video but goes viral from time to time. The reactions from this TikTok guy make it so much better.
Again, click here if the above won’t play on whatever device you’re reading this on.
What Book Am I Reading Right Now?
I’m currently reading “Where the Deer and the Antelope Play” by Nick Offerman. So far it’s just his description of a camping trip he goes on in Glacier National Park with some buddies of his. It’s a memoir and a lot different than what I normally pick up but it’s been a relaxing read.
