Old Art Concepts In A Transhuman World

So I saw this article, and it got me thinking...
What is art going to "be" in "the future"?

Return the map...

At first blush, this seems like a really vague question; even if we stick with the abstract term "art", instead of getting specific (paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc.), what "is" art? You could ask 100,000 people and get just as many answers.

Art is a talent, an expression of emotion, the capture of beauty, physical/emotional therapy, the search for truth, a means of communication, an evocation of spirituality, a glimpse into the past and the future and a million other things besides. It would seem that "art" has no boundary, save that of human imagination and whatever resources are available.

An interactive space which physically changes its form in relation to human sounds and motion.  

That last part, it would seem to me, is the key. Each new innovation in art, each "first", had to be accompanied, if not preceded, by a technological leap, on more than one level. There's the most obvious level, the physical; you can't make a sculpture without tools capable of carving stone, after all. But there's also the reality that without the leisure time that technological advancements provide, the creation of art becomes a much more difficult proposition.

Which brings us to the present, and the rapidly advancing future. Already the potential for problems seems to be everywhere; in a world where you can use your fingerprint to unlock your phone, your laptop or even your password manager, a stylized portrait of said fingerprint seems like a bad idea. And that's not even mentioning wall-sized voiceprints or DNA portraits. In a world of 3d organ printers, publicizing your genetic code is a screaming invitation for trouble.

A very nice DNA portrait.

"OK," you might say; "so then 'art' just stays the way it is, and avoids all those pitfalls. No harm, no foul, right?" That sounds nice...but I can't imagine a world where self-styled "artists" choose not to push forwards in a particular direction because of the potential for problems. It just seems unlikely. So the question becomes, in a world where your features, your fingerprints, your signature are potential security leaks, are we approaching a point where we might have to add imagination to that list?

More on this in the future...

Book Review: Popes & Bankers by Jack Cashill

Much more readable than its title would imply...

     ...but not without its problems. Some were relatively minor - I didn't like the layout of the book, with such wide spaces and odd paragraph construction, and placing the footnotes at the end of the book made getting more information on an unfamiliar topic more annoying than it should be. Some, though, were more challenging - namely, the sense that this book was written by an accomplished author with little-to-no ability to clearly and simplistically convey his core points. It's here that the footnotes become an issue - unless you have more knowledge of economic terms than the average layman, expect to do a lot of flipping back and forth.
     Despite that, the book does have its merits. The history of the connection between morality and debt is colorful at times, although the author's efforts to wrap the current worldwide financial issues in Christian morality can be cloying at times. Overall, I can't say I wouldn't recommend it, although it's not the type of book I would give someone were I trying to explain the basics.