Open thread, Mar. 23 - Mar. 31, 2015

MrMind

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If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.

Notes for future OT posters:

1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.

2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one. (Immediately before; refresh the list-of-threads page before posting.)

3. Open Threads should be posted in Discussion, and not Main.

4. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.

Calling things "an art, not a science" has always been a pet peeve of mine. And I've heard people say things like, "there's no best way to do it'. In particular, I'm taking a Responsive CSS course on Udacity and the guy said these things (if you listen closely, you could hear me cringe).

And then there's the idea that art is like inherently intuitive, whereas science isn't. I want to focus on the "art is inherently intuitive and not about breaking things down into components like science" part. My thought is that these people who say this are confusing their map for the territory. They may not know how to deduce what the perfect painting would look like, but that doesn't mean that it's not possible.

I know that there are different versions of these beliefs, and that I may be misunderstanding them. If so, please correct me. Anyway, what do you guys think?

In LW jargon I'd phrase it as: "It's a system one thing, not a system two thing." I think this is what most people do mean when they use "it's an art, not a science." When something is considered an art and not a science it's something that can't be done well by "just" following a set of instructions. Keep in mind that the popular view on science (when it's positive) is seen as strictly adhering to the scientific method (form hypothesis-->test hypothesis-->adjust hypothesis) and that this is something that anyone can do.... (read more)

1skeptical_lurker11y

Consider the following two statements: 1) Things fall downwards, and anyone who disagrees is objectively wrong. 2) Mozart is better than Iron Maiden, and anyone who disagrees is objectively wrong. I think there are problems with the second statement, and not just that people will stop inviting you to parties. You're trying to impose your opinions on other people. There are approaches you could take to determine which art is objectively better. For designing a website, the answer is which gets more hits, or sells more products. But as far as art goes... you could take a democratic vote over which artist is better. You could, in a thought experiment, extend the vote to a sum over the whole of mindspace. You could weight by IQ. But I don't want my tastes in art to be determined by a democratic vote of what everyone else thinks. At the end of the day, the people who say "there's no best way to do it" are not able to work out what the most popular website ever would look like, and saying that the currently most popular site is objectively best would stifle innovation. They're not trying to say philosophically universally correct points. They're not theologians trying to determine whether God could create the perfect painting. They're trying to teach humans.

4ChristianKl11y

Art is about relying on intuitive pattern matching and not following strict rules. Computers can follow strict rules that you program into them but are bad at creative pattern matching. A correct breaking down may very well result in 10,000 rules with complex interactions between them. The human brain has a lot more than 10,000 neurons that are active during a particular decisions process.