Every time we end up talking about 3D printers, Al Williams starts off on how bad he is in a machine shop. I’m absolutely sure that he’s exaggerating, but the gist is that he’s much happier to work on stuff in CAD and let the machine take care of the precision and fine physical details. I’m like that too, but with me, it’s the artwork.
I can’t draw to save my life, but once I get it into digital form, I’m pretty good at manipulating images. And then I couldn’t copy that out into the real world, but that’s what the laser cutter is for, right? So the gameplan for this year’s Mother’s Day gift (reminder!) is three-way. I do the physical design, my son does the artwork, we combine them in FreeCAD and then hand it off to the machine. Everyone is playing to their strengths.
So why does it feel a little like cheating to just laser-cut out a present? I’m not honestly sure. My grandfather was a trained architectural draftsman before he let his artistic side run wild and went off to design jewellery. He could draw a nearly perfect circle with nothing more than a pencil, but he also used a French curve set, a pantograph, and a rolling architect’s ruler when they were called for. He had his tools too, and I bet he’d see the equivalence in mine.
People have used tools since the stone age, and the people who master their tools transcend them, and produce work where the “human” shines through despite having traced a curve or having passed the Gcode off to the cutter. If you doubt this, I’ll remind you of the technological feat that is the piano, with which people nonetheless produce music that doesn’t make you think of the hammers or of the tremendous cast metal frame. The tech disappears into the creation.
I’m sure there’s a parable here for our modern use of AI too, but I’ve got a Mother’s Day present to finish.
“People have used tools since the stone age, and the people who master their tools transcend them, and produce work where the “human” shines through despite having traced a curve or having passed the Gcode off to the cutter. ”
Absolutely, just try looking for something on AI and writing and watch the firestorm ensue. People will have to preserve their reputations and stay mum on the subject. Till the inevitable when things happen under people’s noses.
How do you make AI into a tool in the same sense?
At best it’s a reference to work done by other people, since it can only replicate whatever is already done by people, or mix it up in a way that isn’t factual but random. An actual ruler will give you a straight line within its tolerances, while the AI will give you unreliable instructions about how to construct a ruler.
I think the difference may be that you use a tool to do the work, whereas the more exalted claims about AI are more that they do the work for you.
Yeah. I don’t think we know yet.
I’ve seen some AI videos where they’re really leaning into the uncanny-valleyness of it all, and that works out very well. But it won’t work for all styles/moods. But that’s also a sign that they’re on the right track too, right? Because something that works for everything works for nothing.
“So why does it feel a little like cheating to just laser-cut out a present?”
It’s not cheating. You are simply using a tool to accomplish a task. You’ve already done the leg work with the design and artwork. Cutting your design into a beautiful shape is only the last step of the creative process. A process started when you did the design. Be proud. A lot of people can’t get that far.
Well, I got my son to do the art, because he’s good at that. :) But yeah. Agreed.
it’s not cheating the question is just whether it’s art.
to take the piano example…some people have a significant musical skill and can create something recognizaby musical using the full spectrum of instruments that they know. a low quality or poorly maintained instrument will challenge them but you will often still be able to recognize their artistic skill even through that handicap.
someone who can draw will like to use their preferred tool, whether that’s a pen or a mouse. but if they are forced outside of their preferences you will probably still be able to recognize that they can draw. but if you can’t draw, then a tool that’s easier for you to use can barely mask that fact.
keep in mind i’m speaking as a multi-instrumentalist with some classical training and a lot of diverse musical theory experience and yet still a lack of musical skill that shines through no matter what instrument i pick up. yeah i can compensate for an awful lot of weaknesses by using a sequencer-synthesizer but it only takes a few moments of listening even to that product to discern my lack :)
I think it was an interview with Tom Morello where he describes how he learned to play guitar and was good enough to have other people pay to listen to him play. And that was cool and all but he said something like he later became not just a musician but an artist. That took way more work.
I’m sure in all our respective fields (music, tech, etc) we all know plenty of people that are good enough techs but there is always “that guy (or girl)” that is clearly the artist.
Of course it’s art. All human creative output that serves no imperative survival function is art. Whether it’s “good art” is another question for which there is apparently no definitive answer. Regardless of what the “creatives” will tell you.
Wait wait wait, Al is your son?