[brian_cloutier]

> Sure, we will get to a point where a computer can write a symphony that fits all the characteristics of Beethoven, or write a stylistically accurate Shakespearean sonnet. But it won't have the weight of the artist's observations behind it.

"I've noticed the many photographers here, [...]. Always the same conventional eyes, noses, mouths, waxy and smooth and cold. It still always remains dead. And the painted portraits have a life of their own that comes from deep in the soul of the painter and where the machine can't go." - Van Gogh

We've been asserting souls for quite a while now and we've been wrong every time. What does the weight of the artist's observations mean? How is that different from the result of machine learning, which is nothing if not carefully considered observations.

[dwighttk]

If you could have any photograph ever taken, or a Van Gogh, which would you rather have?

Note: The most expensive Van Gogh paintings sell for about 2 orders of magnitude more than the most expensive photographs.

(I was actually surprised at how much the most expensive photographs sold for)

[d--b]

The question is whether would you make a difference between a photograph of your kid, and a photograph of someone who looks exactly like your kid (and that you know is not your kid).

[marcosdumay]

> and that you know is not your kid

I don't expect any reasonable answer to this, but...

There are two sets of photos, both exactly alike, yet one of those sets was created by capturing photons while the other was created by computers. Both were created by pointing a machine at your kid during a trip, and subsequently giving you a digital image. How to you tell those apart?

How do you know it's your kid on your kid's photos anyway?

[dwighttk]

One set of photos is possible… the other is the fever dream of a Verge editor.

[marcosdumay]

Is it really? A sensorless camera is pushing it, but the amount of processing current cameras do to your photos is staggering.

[dwighttk]

Getting to the Andromeda Galaxy is pushing it, but the number of satellites we have launched is staggering.