Final Blog

It seems that the posting problems have been solved, most of the time I would just give up without any hope. But today it seems the computer has taken pity on me...or it is trying to lure me into a false sense of security. So anyway without further ado...

What really got me thinking in our last class today was the discussion surrounding Fake vs. Authentic art and music. If a cyborg with a human brain placed in a robotic body created something, I would still consider the art created to be authentic. However if a cyborg with a robotic (positronic?) brain placed in a human body created art, I would not consider it authentic. (A robotic brain belonging to a special case such as Andrew in Bicentennial Man being the only exception). The reason would be that the human brain is the seat of our personality. If we change the brain we would be making a fundamental change from who we are - even if we do become more perfect.

I really love music, espicially classical pieces that feature either the Piano or the Violin. This is what makes Andrew Bird particularly enjoyable, the sound of just him and his violin is enough to send me into euphoria. If I were to find out that either Andrew Bird or Michael Nyman (the writer of my favorite piano piece "The Heart Asks Pleasure First") were cyborgs, I would be extremely disappointed. Even if they created this music through some sort of brain wave enhancing device, I would still sulk around for weeks (or until I found a great collection of Vivaldi's works laying around my house). I feel that these artists have taken their experiences and transformed them into music, music that they are willing to share with me. Live performances would also be pretty much shot to hell. Its hard to get a robot to break bow strings like Andrew Bird does when he plays with so much passion. I feel that a robotic brain or enhancer would cheapen the meaning and the music would lose all saliency.

In the end I just really hope that Nyman or Andrew Bird are not cyborgs...I'm more than a little paranoid now. Andrew Bird was looking a bit off that night...