[hectorlorenzo]

I think the same argument can be made of photography. A photographer does not "paint" or "create" the image. It points a machine to a place and presses a button with a finger. This machine does "the work" for her. Who is the artist? Are photographers just commisioners of images?

[spookie]

Capturing the moment is more than just pointing. Look, I know the argument you're making, and it's certainly something to ponder on. But the whole "writing prompt" thing has a different aim from "human-created" art. Whatever that means. But it's generally a small subset from the latter.

[hectorlorenzo]

I'm fully aware that I'm stretching the argument and analogies. However, I find all of these expressions ("Capturing the moment", "has a different aim") vague and full of gaps. Maybe it's because I never fully got photography, in a way. The difference between "capturing the moment" and "writing prompt" is that the former has a more romantic feel to it, but let's not forget that some of the most well-known photographies were staged to look spontaneous. And suddenly photography is just an exercise of story-telling and technique (light, exposure, etc), which is not that different from "harnessing the algorithm" to do the same.

Also, we're comparing an art 150 years in the making (with its schools, philosophies, heroes) with one in its infancy.

[spookie]

> the last paragraph

Oh, for sure. As for the rest, well I might've also missed the whole writing prompt thing. But I've always felt as if reverse engineering the thing.