An aeolian harp lying in the grass. It is made of light pale wood, and looks like a short rectangular box perhaps two feet long and one foot wide. It has a dozen metal strings, and a soundhole in the shape of a leaf" contenteditable

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   Clive Thompson (clive@saturation.social)'s status on Monday, 26-Feb-2024 00:58:56 JST Clive Thompson

   Coleridge was fascinated by the aeolian harp ...

   ... an instrument that was played not by a human, but by the wind

   A random-seeming input, with a system that transforms it into unpredictable and lovely outputs

   (These days we'd call it "procedural art", lol)

   Coleridge wondered if *humans* were, in essence, aeolian harps

   The metaphor caught on: Romantics loved it

   An essay considering this in the age of chatgpt

   Item #11 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free here: https://buttondown.email/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-18-infinite-crafting-the-reverse/