Art in the Sciences of the Artificial

This position article argues that the sciences of the artificial (artificial intelligence and artificial life) have a special relationship to art that is absent from much of science. Just as art is often a depiction or interpretation of nature, so are the algorithms in the sciences of the artificial. This observation is important because the discourse in these fields largely ignores the relevance of subjective resonance with nature to scientific progress. Yet progress is potentially stifled if scientists cannot discuss such resonance openly. To support this view, the author provides examples that illustrate how the subjective impression of such resonance led to novel encodings and algorithms in his own career. The author concludes that there may be more to gain than to lose by allowing some level of subjectivity to enter the discourse in the sciences of the artificial.