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Comment by robocat | Hacker News Reader

> free people from drudgery in the hope that it will encourage the biggest HUMAN artwork renaissance ever in history.

This experiment has been run in most wealthy nations and the artwork renaissance didn't happen.

Most older people don't do arts/sciences when they retire from work.

From what I see of younger people that no longer have to work (for whatever reason) neither do younger people become artists given the opportunity.

Or look at what people of working age do with their free time in evenings or weekends after they've done their work for the week. Expect people freed from work to do more of the same as what they currently do in evenings/weekends: don't expect people will suddenly do something "productive".

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> Most older people don't do arts/sciences when they retire from work.

This isn't my experience. I know a bunch of old folks doing woodcarving, quilting, etc. Its just not the kind of arts you've got in mind.

You don’t want older folks to generate reams of good art for consumption. Let the youngsters who need to make money do that. And many artistically-oriented youngsters do create art in their off hours from work, at least out here. I don’t think they think of it as “production” though. Why does a bird sing?

What retirees often do, rather, is develop an artist’s eye for images, a musician’s ear for sounds, a philosopher’s perspective, a writer’s voice, etc.. This often involve a broader exposure/consumption of arts and studying art history. Sometimes producing actual art as well…but less for the final artistic product but instead to engage in the artistic process itself so as to develop that way of seeing/feeling/being an artist has. When the work-related chunk of the mind is wholly freed up for other pursuits, there is often such a bit-flip. And since it is a deepening appreciation and greater consumption, there is no risk of overproduction of art and the soul devolution that arises from hyper competitiveness in the marketplace.

Becoming an artist is difficult. Sure, anyone can pick up a tool of their preference and learn to noodle around. Producing artwork sufficiently engaging to power a renaissance takes years of practice to mastery. We think that artists appear out of nowhere, fully formed, an impression we get from how popularity and spread works. Look under the surface, read some biographies of artists, and it turns out, with few exceptions, they all spend years going through education, apprenticeships, and generally poor visibility. Many of the artists we respect now weren't known in their lifetimes. The list includes Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Vivian Maier, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Jeff Buckley, Robert Johnson, you get the idea.

They do art.

It’s just published on YouTube. Seriously the quality of diy videos and everything is sometimes PBS or BBC quality or better.

Well I do art in the evenings and weekends, so we exist you know

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