If machines want to make art, will humans understand it?

Empathy is what allows us to understand works of art, right?

Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images for Barbican Art Gallery

Assuming that the emergence of consciousness in artificial minds is possible, those minds will feel the urge to create art.

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Technology & Innovation

Why ceasing to be creative is a mistake

Even drawing stick figures has its benefits.

Photo by gustavo centurion on Unsplash
  • Many of us stop making art at a young age, convinced, perhaps, that we just don't have the talent for it.
  • This belief, however, may be wrong, and the benefits that producing art can bring aren't contingent on talent.
  • Is creating art an activity that all of us should pursue? Can artistic skill be taught?
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Personal Growth

Why are people sexually attracted to cartoons? Evolution.

Nikolaas Tinbergen's concept of "supernormal stimulus" explains why humans are attracted to a heightened version of reality.

(Photo: Walt Disney Pictures)
  • According to Pornhub's annual statistics, "hentai" and "cartoons" were among the most popular categories in 2018.
  • Such pornography is a supernormal stimulus, an artificial object that triggers an animal's instinctual response more intensely than natural analogs.
  • Supernormal stimuli not only explain our heightened response to pornography, but also art, junk food, and social media.
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Mind & Brain

10 Golden Age science fiction novels

Transport yourself to other worlds and states of mind.

Stranger in a Strange Land Cover
  • The early 20th century saw explosive growth for the science fiction genre.
  • A wide range of these books would go on to become classics.
  • These great works explore the strange, zany and absurd profundities of our existence.
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Culture & Religion

Edgar Allan Poe, poet, essayist... cosmologist?

Not so much.

Image source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images / BigThink
  • In 1848, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a book outlining his theory of everything.
  • Modern readers will find many familiar concepts, including the Big Bang and multiple universes.
  • While it has little real scientific merit, it does have a solution to Olbers' Paradox.
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Surprising Science