[Ebolagirl]

Ok, so I sat here and thought about this for a while, and I also dug through the number art web page a little. And I came up with a few thoughts:

First of all, I think people are being most ungraciously unprofessional in expressing their opinions about this particular subject. These people came up with and idea and it's been a hit. Calling what they are doing "stupid", etc. is very unFIRST-like. True, artists are accustomed to being criticized, but, that is an inappropriate manner for this situation.

Something I've noticed in the engineering and science worlds is a lack of appreciation of art and related subjects, and vice versa. "This is an experiment of art and mathematics, on the web". Art is not suppose to make sense. It can be logical or illogical, abstract or realistic. And while you may not necessarily like the kind of art being displayed you should at least appreciate what the artist has put into it. I went to school at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy for high school (I just graduated). Before my freshman year the academies were seperated into two schools,when they were combined there was a lot of heat between the science/math people and the liberal arts people. Most of the tension was created by attitudes like this from both sides. I'm not saying that you have to like what the other side is doing, but at least have an understanding of where they're coming from. Instead of furthering the tension between liberal arts and science/math by bashing the other side, we need to respect what they do.

"My favourite number is already sold. Can you make a copy for me?
Absolutely not! The limit is the art - each number exists only once. I will never make a copy of any of these paintings." This is from the Q&A section on the website. The purpose of this quote is to emphasize that these numbers are ART.