The Measure of a Man - Thoughts

[Mojochi]

Data's art is a point of wonder, because by his own admission, he is simply duplicating styles of musicians or painters that have already existed. Where the wonder comes in is when he chooses to combine those things he's reproducing, some of which might never be of interest to anyone else to combine. It's there that "something of Data" can indeed be found, as Picard put it.

For example, If I combine the styles of Louis Armstrong's trumpeting, & Miles Davis', there is a new thing that might not ever have been heard before, because their styles are so diametrically opposed, & separated by differing schools of thought

Or if I combine Johnny Cash's singing, with James Brown's, & makes my own sound from that

 

[DonIago]

Isn't that the case for pretty much everyone and everything ? We're basically always circumscribed by what we are mentally capable of conceptualizing.

I guess that's akin to saying there's only seven(?) types of stories, so whatever someone writes now has already been done.

 

[2takesfrakes]

There's nothing wrong with things having already been done. For example, Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet has been done and redone since Billy Shakes wrote it and the results have been memorable and, for their time, remarkably fresh. Like "Westside Story," for example. There are many ways to do the same story and have the two subjects bare very little resemblance to eachother. As a matter of fact, Agostino di Duccio had already started some work on the marble that was to become The Statue of David, before Michaelangelo was commissioned to take it over. Agostino, I believe, had only carved a hole in where the space between the legs was located. But it forced Michaelangelo to take certain liberties with it. The point being that even though Michaelangelo was a sort of replacement sculptor on a statue that had some preliminary work done ... it's entirely his work and unlike what Agostino might've offered up, David stands immortal. So, working with material that was begun by others is nothing new and not a problem for Artists. But nothing gets the creative juices going like a blank canvas -- I can vouch for that.