10-19-2009, 11:03 PM
I think we have to look at the rules of music similar to the rules of grammar.
Books are written using a system of rules. You have a very limited set of letters to print and how they can be printed is defined with rules of grammar. You can teach a computer these rules but you can't get it to invent a story.
Similarly, you can teach a computer about the rules of music and it can actually compose music, but it can't use music to tell you a story. It doesn't have a story. It just has rules.
I think that's the human connection, and that's the art. Music has rules. Writing has rules. What makes it art isn't knowing those rules but rather, how to use those rules to tell a story. Storytelling is an art. Everything else is just a medium for storytelling.
I would suggest the same is true of, say, paintings. The best paintings have something to say. You could easily get a computer to deliver a technically good painting (and you probably already have a printer capable of this) but while the computer understands the rules of how to apply ink to paper to deliver a requested image, it doesn't know how to tell you a story. For that, you need an artist to paint something in particular. Is painting limited? Well sure. You have paints and canvas and there's only so many exciting things you can do with that, but the point isn't the technical implementation of painting -- the point is the story, and understanding how to use the technical abilities of a medium to get your story across.
If your story was "there is a guy on a horse riding across the desert carrying a mop" you could deliver that story in music, painting, poem, photography, etc. Each of those outlets has its own rules and limitations (in the case of poetry, the rules and limitations are intentionally invented and self-imposed). So I don't think the limitations of the medium are all that important to the question at hand.
The real question is whether or not storytelling is limited. If we have run out of stories to tell then it doesn't matter what your medium is.
I have a hard time believing we could have run out of stories, though. There are always more stories to tell, or better ways to tell old stories. Yes, the medium of art is always limited, but the art of storytelling is limitless.
Books are written using a system of rules. You have a very limited set of letters to print and how they can be printed is defined with rules of grammar. You can teach a computer these rules but you can't get it to invent a story.
Similarly, you can teach a computer about the rules of music and it can actually compose music, but it can't use music to tell you a story. It doesn't have a story. It just has rules.
I think that's the human connection, and that's the art. Music has rules. Writing has rules. What makes it art isn't knowing those rules but rather, how to use those rules to tell a story. Storytelling is an art. Everything else is just a medium for storytelling.
I would suggest the same is true of, say, paintings. The best paintings have something to say. You could easily get a computer to deliver a technically good painting (and you probably already have a printer capable of this) but while the computer understands the rules of how to apply ink to paper to deliver a requested image, it doesn't know how to tell you a story. For that, you need an artist to paint something in particular. Is painting limited? Well sure. You have paints and canvas and there's only so many exciting things you can do with that, but the point isn't the technical implementation of painting -- the point is the story, and understanding how to use the technical abilities of a medium to get your story across.
If your story was "there is a guy on a horse riding across the desert carrying a mop" you could deliver that story in music, painting, poem, photography, etc. Each of those outlets has its own rules and limitations (in the case of poetry, the rules and limitations are intentionally invented and self-imposed). So I don't think the limitations of the medium are all that important to the question at hand.
The real question is whether or not storytelling is limited. If we have run out of stories to tell then it doesn't matter what your medium is.
I have a hard time believing we could have run out of stories, though. There are always more stories to tell, or better ways to tell old stories. Yes, the medium of art is always limited, but the art of storytelling is limitless.