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Art

C. L. Moore’s “No Woman Born.” On Beyond Cisgender X – Boogieman In Lavender

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NOTE: This occasional series was inspired in 2019 by a suggestion from A. M. Leibowitz about a reading list for High School beyond the straight, white, male paradigm. In this edition, we won’t talk about a book, but rather about one story. We’ve met C. L. (Catherine Lucille) Moore several times in this column and in this feature. Moore (1911-1987)is the science-fiction and fantasy writer for the pulps from the 30s through the 50s in an era where women writing in that field were seemingly rare or concealed; whose use of initials was not meant to hide her femininity but … Read more

FOR WRITERS: Robots Who Create

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robot - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Scott: Inspired by today’s news post about a robot who paints self portraits, and Lindsey B-e’s Cyborg Anthology, a collection of cyborg anthology – will robots ever become creative, like humans? Have you written about it? Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABVMeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf

When Robots Paint

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Ai-Da Robotic Artist

The world’s first robotic self-portraits, painted by an android called Ai-Da, have been unveiled at a new art exhibit in London, despite the “artist” not having a “self” to portray. The surprisingly accurate images question the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in human society and challenge the idea that art is exclusively a human trait, according to her creators. Ai-Da is a life-size android artist powered by AI — computer algorithms that mimic the intelligence of humans — that can paint, sculpt, gesture, blink and talk. Ai-Da is designed to look and act like a human woman with a female … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Hands

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It’s been a hot minute since I last posted an article and I apologize for that. Life kicks people in the teeth and the last few months its been kicking mine. I’m back though, with an early resolution for 2020 not to miss posting here. I forgot how much I love doing these until this topic jumped up and bit me with sharp, plot bunny teeth. Caves. As a Pagan, caves are a tumultuous gateway into the the dark, hiding knowledge and secrets like the precious stones found within, the descent into the Underworld ripe with all kinds of things … Read more

An AI Animates the Mona Lisa, and It’s freaky – Live Science

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The enigmatic, painted smile of the “Mona Lisa” is known around the world, but that famous face recently displayed a startling new range of expressions, courtesy of artificial intelligence (AI). In a video shared to YouTube on May 21, three video clips show disconcerting examples of the Mona Lisa as she moves her lips and turns her head. She was created by a convolutional neural network — a type of AI that processes information much as a human brain does, to analyze and process images. Researchers trained the algorithm to understand facial features’ general shapes and how they behave relative to each other, and then … Read more

Rambling Through the Year—Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender

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                        Some End-Of-the-Year Rambling By Jeff Baker   The end-of-the year is a time for reflections. On the year, on life, on history. Maybe on the future.  A few weeks ago, we saw “J.F.K.: Reckless Youth,” a mini-series from the 1990s. Watching it made us remember how young the boys were who went off to fight World War Two. And that John F. Kennedy, still to many a symbol of youth and vigor, was born in 1917 while World War One was still going on. World War One, now … Read more

SCIENCE: Meet the AI Artists

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Botanical Dinosaurs - Chris Rodley - Live Science

One of the behaviors considered to be uniquely human is our creativity. While many animal species create visually stunning displays or constructions — think of a spider’s delicate web or the colorful, intricate structures built by bowerbirds — they are typically created with a practical purpose in mind, such as snagging prey or seducing a mate. Humans, however, make art for its own sake, as a form of personal expression. And as computer engineers attempt to imbue artificial intelligence (AI) with humanlike capabilities and behaviors, a question arises: Can AI create art? The AMC series “Humans,” which returns June 5 … Read more