Re: Supplanting Singing?

Michael writes:

>To paraphrase from another thread on this subject, the damaging
>effects of the computer on creativity are an issue only if we turn
>off our brains as we turn on the computer.


There seems to be a consensus building that extensive computer use
results in some sort of a hypnotic, automaton like state. But, to be
honest, is this news? I've never heard anyone suggest that a couple
of hours in front of the monitor gave them a huge boost of creative
energy (or intellectual activity)...  Surely it's more a case of turn
on, tune in, drop off...?



>Visualization is done with the eyes closed and I don't think it
>matters what tools are used for drawing. Putting the image into
>tangible form is done as an adjunct to visualization rather than a
>replacement for visualization.

Computers, as I suggested in my previous post, only pick up on
tendencies that are already developed in our society(ies). The idea
of externalizing the process of visualization has been going on for
hundreds of years - with ever more accurate representations through
drawing and model making. But these processes were slow and costly,
and required a fair amount of clarity and commitment to a particular
design route before they were started. What computers do, however, is
to make it quick and cheap to work through any number of alternatives
- reducing the role of visualization to a hazy, sketchy initial
conception.

alpha dog