dublinka

Posthuman poetry, is perhaps the best term I can think of, to encapsulate David Link's poetry machine project, which "creates a new écriture automatique, where language is no longer the exclusive domain of human thought but also that of the internal logic of computers." The concept of automatic writing is not new, and of course monkeys typing randomly will generating something resembling that most othodox of concepts "meaningfulness", but what we see here, and elsewhere on the net, is the transition of poetry from being human centered to becoming a trans species, or posthuman, art form. The problems posthuman poetry generates, of gibberish, long windedness and obscurity are not new, (although perhaps they now exist in greater quantities), and it's applications may be more interesting than we suspect -and not just aesthetic. If a history of poetry is to teach us anything, is that all great poetry, is experimental to other ages. So an open mind remains helpful. I have a feeling though, that perhaps the previously discussed work of Eric Elshtain and Gnoetry will bear more appetising fruit for joe bloggs in the short term.

It's probably worth noting in passing, that Link obtained a PhD for this work, at the the Berlin, Institute for Aesthetics. A good programmer could rustle up this particular piece of code in a day or two for you, so that should leave a lot of time for contemplation of the ethereal, the sublime, the other sex, the same sex, writing a nice thesis contradicting everything I've said etc.