Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by heinrichhartman 561 days ago
What's the point of art?
4 comments

To complain about it not having any point on Hacker News, thus creating a paradox where the complaint itself becomes the most discussed and engaging aspect of the post.
This is not what HN is for and your comment has no point. (Upvoted.)
So a standard C program is not art, but if you remove newlines and shorten variable names it suddenly becomes art?
Only if we arbitrarily state this is now art. But you can of course say the same for the standard version. There is even a youngster out there that started a work called "the art of computer programming."

We are definitely legitimate to lament about the good old time when art and mere texnical stuffs were clearly and sharply separated, while this new generation is ruining societies and our glorious civilizations with their careless use of words that mixes everything. Well, at least as legitimate as any old man in traceable history.

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/28169/what-is-th...

If it's an entry for the IOCCC, yes ;)
That’s craftmanship, not art.
A talk by Brian Eno convinced me that there is no meaningful difference between the two, and I've yet to see a definition of art that does not end up in self-contradiction if we try to make the distinction.
The point of art is the expression of human experience and ability, but it frequently becomes perverted into serving capitalist tendencies. So:

1. Art becomes content 2. Automation to make life better becomes automation for profit 3. Life becomes meaningless achievement

At some point, there is always the counterpoint of balance and we don't have that.