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posted by on Monday April 10 2017, @02:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-did-it-reddit! dept.

The story that describes the creation of this crowd art is almost better than the art itself.
http://sudoscript.com/reddit-place/

Last weekend, a fascinating act in the history of humanity played out on Reddit.

For April Fool's Day, Reddit launched a little experiment. It gave its users, who are all anonymous, a blank canvas called Place.

The rules were simple. Each user could choose one pixel from 16 colors to place anywhere on the canvas. They could place as many pixels of as many colors as they wanted, but they had to wait a few minutes between placing each one.

Over the following 72 hours, what emerged was nothing short of miraculous. A collaborative artwork that shocked even its inventors.

From a single blank canvas, a couple simple rules and no plan, came this:

https://i.redd.it/5p68ukzkwdpy.gif [Ed. Note: This is a time lapse gif of the art created on r/place].


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 10 2017, @06:14PM (15 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2017, @06:14PM (#491794) Journal

    Reading TFA (scandalous, I know!) I didn't agree with the conclusion. In a nutshell, humans need creators, protectors and destroyers. I don't agree. Destroyers are not necessary.

    It is easy to destroy. Creators and Protectors can do that as necessary. It's trivial. But the Creating requires the most effort and Protecting requires some effort. Destroyers are like Trolls. Increasing Entropy.

    Creators can work against each other. So can Protectors. But I don't see Destroyers ever helping anyone or anything.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday April 10 2017, @06:25PM (3 children)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday April 10 2017, @06:25PM (#491802) Journal

    I hear the military values Destroyers very much. ;-)

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 10 2017, @07:04PM (2 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2017, @07:04PM (#491841) Journal

      Individuals can be trained to be destroyers, and valued.

      A certain class of warship are destroyers, and valued.

      The entire military could be considered destroyers, and valued, when it becomes necessary to use them, or when world leaders need to compensate for something. Or just never grew up.

      Which you mean is unclear.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @09:49PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @09:49PM (#491953)

        I think he actually meant that bolt-action carbines chambered for the 9x23 largi pistol cartridge are valued by the miltary.

        Alas, he is confusing the 1950s Spanish police with the 2017 military.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @09:49PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @09:49PM (#491954)

          *largo

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday April 10 2017, @06:39PM (5 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Monday April 10 2017, @06:39PM (#491818)

    Gotta cull the herd before you run out of resources, or a disease spreads and kills everyone.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday April 10 2017, @07:00PM (4 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2017, @07:00PM (#491836) Journal

      The Shadows think that kicking over the ant hills every thousand years or so is helpful. I'm unconvinced. But not fully trusting of the Vorlons.

      Maybe just properly manage herd growth and resources. Disease is an unrelated problem and affects any size herd. Genetic diversity helps. But some diverse genes are a disadvantage because they get you stopped at the US border and are disfavored by some politicians.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by tibman on Monday April 10 2017, @07:55PM (1 child)

        by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2017, @07:55PM (#491893)

        It's hard to trust a species when they've inserted themselves into your past as literal angels in order to patronize you even harder in the present.

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        SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
        • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday April 10 2017, @07:59PM

          by nitehawk214 (1304) on Monday April 10 2017, @07:59PM (#491895)

          Well, all I am saying is, "GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR GALAXY!"

          --
          "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday April 10 2017, @09:18PM (1 child)

        by bob_super (1357) on Monday April 10 2017, @09:18PM (#491945)

        > Disease is an unrelated problem and affects any size herd.

        Culling the old and the weak protects the herd from the disease.

        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 10 2017, @09:58PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2017, @09:58PM (#491960) Journal

          Good point.

          --
          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday April 10 2017, @08:01PM (2 children)

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Monday April 10 2017, @08:01PM (#491898)

    I think the overall point was that the project served as a microcosm of the world.

    Resources are limited. Destruction forces you to either maintain or improve the things you value most.

    Without destruction, the image would have stagnated.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 10 2017, @08:47PM (1 child)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2017, @08:47PM (#491933) Journal

      By stagnated, you mean would have reached a point of stability where improvements and innovation tapered off.

      Destruction is not necessary for innovation.

      The destruction merely caused an accelerated expenditure of resources on the part of creators and protectors.

      Without destroyers, the end point of the final image might have been much better because resources would not have been wasted.

      The additional energy of creators and protectors might have gone to building something else if someone had not gone down main street and burned all of the businesses. Maybe a new school would have been built.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 3, Touché) by pnkwarhall on Tuesday April 11 2017, @01:06AM

        by pnkwarhall (4558) on Tuesday April 11 2017, @01:06AM (#492045)

        Without destroyers, the end point of the final image might have been much better

        You must have either 1) not looked closely at the beginning stages of the canvas or 2) have a subjective definition of "better" as "mass chaos". My impressions of the beginning of the artwork was a giant wall covered in small, crude graffiti. The artistic and aesthetic worth of the end result was of a **much** higher quality than the early stages, which were by necessity covered/destroyed by much larger and more cohesive graffitos.

        --
        Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
  • (Score: 2) by edIII on Monday April 10 2017, @08:22PM (1 child)

    by edIII (791) on Monday April 10 2017, @08:22PM (#491921)

    You made me read the article. Then I read something that made perfect sense:

    But once the Pokemon character was brought to life, it started growing a large male member where once had been a leg. Then came two more.

    This was not by design. Some Creators frantically tried to remove the offending additions, putting out calls to "purify" the art, but others kept the additions going.

    Suddenly, it looked like Place would be a short-lived experiment that took the path of least surprise. Left to their own devices, Creators threatened to turn the Place into a phallic fantasy. Of course.

    Of course it would devolve into a battle of who could put a dick on to what while some people were just trying to create art :)

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 10 2017, @08:50PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2017, @08:50PM (#491935) Journal

      The phallic fantasy would be considered art by some. Especially if not harming others' work. But it could be considered destruction by others. The Joker (Jack Nicholson) on Batman had a twisted view of art.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.