Promised Land - Ansi on Digital Canvas,
by Dieznyik, November 1996.
* Based on the work of Kelly Freas famo
us 60s sci-fi dude..
4.3 THE SOUL
And we thank Thee that darkness reminds us of
light.
-- T.S. ELIOT
A common concept of the soul is that the essence
of a self lies in some spark
of invisible light, a thing that cowers out of the
body, out of mind, and out
of sight. But what might such a symbol mean? It car
ries a sense of anti-self-
respect: that there is no significance in anyones
accomplishments.
People ask if machines have souls. And I ask back
whether souls can learn. It
does not seem a fair exchange -- if souls can live
for endless time and yet not
use that time to learn -- to trade all change for c
hangelessness. And thats
exactly what we get with inborn souls that cannot g
row: a destiny the same as
death, an ending in permanence incapable of any cha
nge and, hence, devoid of
intellect.
Why try to frame the value of a Self in such a si
ngularly frozen form? The
art of a great painting is not in any one idea, nor
in a multitude of seperate
tricks for placing all those pigment spots, but in
the great network of
relationships among its parts. Similarly, the agent
s, raw, that make our minds
are by themselves as valueless as aimless, scattere
d daubs of paint. What countsis what we make of t
hem.
We all know how an ugly husk can hide an unexpect
ed gift, like a treasure
buried in the dust or a graceless oyster bearing a
pearl. But minds are just
the opposite. We start as little embryos, which the
n build great and wonderous
selves -- whose merit lies entirely within their ow
n coherency. The value of a
human self lies not in some small, precious core, b
ut in its vast, constructed
crust.
What are those old and fierce beliefs in spirits,
souls, and essences? Theyreall insinuations tha
t were helpless to improve ourselves. To look fo
r our
virtues in such thoughs seems just as wrongly aimed
a search as seeking art in
canvas cloth by scraping off the painters works.
THE SELF 41
Text taken from The Society of Mind, by Marvin M
insky
I feel this capture addresses a lot of concerns b
oth with spirituality,
philosophy, and the place and direction of the ansi
world. Truly, many times
have I reached a point at which I felt I was helple
ss to improve my talents,
that there is a limit to the appeals of small block
s stuck together on an 80
column grid. After reading most of this book, I hav
e arrived at a more directed
state of mind, and I hope that through sharing this
one influential chapter withyou that the ansi wo
rld can have a new meaning for you as well.
In regards to other ansi scene parallels, I humbl
y point out the job of the
reviewing based community as similar to the last pa
ragraphs reference to a
wrongly aimed search. I do truly believe that the
en vogue reviewing style is
just like scraping the blocks away and searching fo
r the art.
Anyways, thats all I have to say from this sectio
n of the universe in mid
November. End transmission.
by Dieznyik, November 1996.
* Based on the work of Kelly Freas famo
us 60s sci-fi dude..
4.3 THE SOUL
And we thank Thee that darkness reminds us of
light.
-- T.S. ELIOT
A common concept of the soul is that the essence
of a self lies in some spark
of invisible light, a thing that cowers out of the
body, out of mind, and out
of sight. But what might such a symbol mean? It car
ries a sense of anti-self-
respect: that there is no significance in anyones
accomplishments.
People ask if machines have souls. And I ask back
whether souls can learn. It
does not seem a fair exchange -- if souls can live
for endless time and yet not
use that time to learn -- to trade all change for c
hangelessness. And thats
exactly what we get with inborn souls that cannot g
row: a destiny the same as
death, an ending in permanence incapable of any cha
nge and, hence, devoid of
intellect.
Why try to frame the value of a Self in such a si
ngularly frozen form? The
art of a great painting is not in any one idea, nor
in a multitude of seperate
tricks for placing all those pigment spots, but in
the great network of
relationships among its parts. Similarly, the agent
s, raw, that make our minds
are by themselves as valueless as aimless, scattere
d daubs of paint. What countsis what we make of t
hem.
We all know how an ugly husk can hide an unexpect
ed gift, like a treasure
buried in the dust or a graceless oyster bearing a
pearl. But minds are just
the opposite. We start as little embryos, which the
n build great and wonderous
selves -- whose merit lies entirely within their ow
n coherency. The value of a
human self lies not in some small, precious core, b
ut in its vast, constructed
crust.
What are those old and fierce beliefs in spirits,
souls, and essences? Theyreall insinuations tha
t were helpless to improve ourselves. To look fo
r our
virtues in such thoughs seems just as wrongly aimed
a search as seeking art in
canvas cloth by scraping off the painters works.
THE SELF 41
Text taken from The Society of Mind, by Marvin M
insky
I feel this capture addresses a lot of concerns b
oth with spirituality,
philosophy, and the place and direction of the ansi
world. Truly, many times
have I reached a point at which I felt I was helple
ss to improve my talents,
that there is a limit to the appeals of small block
s stuck together on an 80
column grid. After reading most of this book, I hav
e arrived at a more directed
state of mind, and I hope that through sharing this
one influential chapter withyou that the ansi wo
rld can have a new meaning for you as well.
In regards to other ansi scene parallels, I humbl
y point out the job of the
reviewing based community as similar to the last pa
ragraphs reference to a
wrongly aimed search. I do truly believe that the
en vogue reviewing style is
just like scraping the blocks away and searching fo
r the art.
Anyways, thats all I have to say from this sectio
n of the universe in mid
November. End transmission.
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