Comments on: digital mirrors http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/05/10/digital_mirrors.html making connections where none previously existed Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:10:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jeff Cooper http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/05/10/digital_mirrors.html/comment-page-1#comment-13544 Jeff Cooper Thu, 11 May 2006 13:22:32 +0000 http://ubuntu.my/wp30/archives/2006/05/10/digital_mirrors.html#comment-13544 I thought that Ballmer's quote that "There's no innovation that we've seen come out of at least Linux," was quite... uh... stirring. I thought that Ballmer’s quote that “There’s no innovation that we’ve seen come out of at least Linux,” was quite… uh… stirring.

]]> By: Kevin Marks http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/05/10/digital_mirrors.html/comment-page-1#comment-13543 Kevin Marks Thu, 11 May 2006 01:23:23 +0000 http://ubuntu.my/wp30/archives/2006/05/10/digital_mirrors.html#comment-13543 This reminds me of <a href="http://www.upword.com/wilde/dorgrayp.html" rel="nofollow">Wilde's preface to Dorian Gray</a><blockquote>The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. [...] Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.</blockquote> <a href="http://nonzero.blogspot.com/2002_03_01_nonzero_archive.html#75021974" rel="nofollow">More on this from me and Weinberger</a> This reminds me of Wilde’s preface to Dorian Gray
The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.

The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. [...]

Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.

More on this from me and Weinberger

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