sometimes words are only appreciated with first-hand experience.
painting started as a reverse psychology attempt to get my daughter to generate her portfolio for art school. my intent was to motivate her to prove that she could certainly be a better artist than her misguided father. it was her senior year in high school and college art program applications were due.
while she made it to a college art program, my plan hopelessly failed. i, however, was inspired and kept painting for a number of years. i started on small canvasses and approached art within my limitations concerning fine manipulation. essentially, i never used paint brushes. with some advice from an exceptionally artist, i understood my direction in art. i started a journey with small canvases and moved forward.
over a series of years, i practiced and experimented with many aspects of the art. application of paint via non-brush tools as well as color exploration were main focuses. with some courage, i took on large canvasses.
after over 100 paintings, i completed a painting that i felt was something special. the large canvas exhibited skill and exploration of color and made a statement. it represented my mastery of what i set out to do. it was my “master” piece. my belief was endorsed when my brother, who is picky, inquired if he could take it.
my journey gave me an appreciation of the term masterpiece. most people, who don’t do art, are shown paintings of a variety of great artists and are told that these pictures are masterpieces. the public rarely is afforded to see a particular artist’s rise and development. we often see their height and not the progression. appreciating an artist’s mastery of their skill and technique is an achievement.
like painters, the creator of the universe’s book of instruction, the torah, is a work of mastery. the book captures humanity’s pre-writing experience. the nature of human emotions and inclinations are expressed in story form as opposed to a cold text book. laws and directions have been molded by the observation of generations and generations of humans. observations of successes and failures led to the master crafted book.
thus, this post will take the concept of masterpiece to the field of artificial intelligence. this area was within my field of study. while intellect is achieved with time, experience and growth, artificial intelligence can captures an aspect of human intellect at its peak. it can be programmed to be at a master level. with this in mind, the question presented is to whether artificial intelligence has the ability to grow beyond this level and achieve, within itself, a high level of mastery.
in sum, intelligence and mastery is rapidly taking and new form and shape in this world. skill and experience is now in competition with ready made mastery. as such, we should enjoy our “masterpiece” moments can we get them. life is best when you can be content on the journey.
be well!!
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The Ten Commandments Project 