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SM3809_A7

The Probability of Art

Read

Virtual Muse by Charles Hartman: It is amazing that how Markov chains in letter level with n=3 can still give output that, somehow, "make sense". But in fact, is it really that surprising? If we use Ethan Ham's categorization here, the program should go to the chance category, which means that the results are not "random", but closely related to the real world. The output strings do not come out of nowhere. The process is more like we use the language that exists in the real world (i.e. English) as a mold, to create a cast from the materials - sequences of n letters. n determines the "characteristic" of the materials, the bigger the n is, the more "solid" the materials are, thus the more "similar" cast can be created.
Also, it is interesting that the outputs of the program sometimes might look like poems, but they seldom look like fiction or something else. I guess that's because modern poems are, somehow, also "make no sense". They often consist of fragments of sentences, lack consistent logic, and leave lots of space for readers to fill in. So maybe to some degree, machines are the best poets.
One idea/lesson(?) I got from the text (and combining my previous experience) is: choosing the right format can help a lot when doing digital writing. It is hard to generate a novel, but much easier to generated some forms, and the same story can be strongly told in both ways.
And also, making things be able to run is really, really the most difficult part 🤣
So You Want to Build a Generator by Kate Compton: Very, very, very long and detailed handbook.
Strategies/Ideas
- Constraint solvers: That can be useful to use either as a filter of the generated result or as a "mold" for the generation. The problem is how to design/find an algorithm that can do this fast enough.
- Genetic algorithms: Introducing Darwinism into the binary world! Simulating the natural revolution process not only can make the generated items more suitable for the constrain, but also can sometimes create "controlled surprises" that are unexpected but reasonable.
- Parametric methods: I mean, just changing a number sometimes can introduce a huge difference. This is also a method that often used in game making for the not important random NPCs on the streets.
Art and the API by Jer Thorpe: The idea of a conceptual API is very inspiring. A piece of art that has the utility of connecting/communicating people with different groups of people / people with software can be a solid starting point of a project.
Also, the ability to work with and access the data from big companies that APIs give us are good tools for reflecting on the technologies and the companies themselves.
How to write poems with a computer by John Morris: I think it somehow relates to the question, which Vera Molnar believes that the answer is yes, that is: can we found the rules of aesthetics. John Morris seems to agree too. By adding rules again and again to the algorithm, the machine writes more and more like a human. But does the writing really become more and more "aesthetical"? Of cause, we can, maybe in our lifetime, list out all the language rules, common sense (like snow falling in winter), literature rules and etc. and put that into an algorithm, but does it mean we have created the perfect writing machine?

Locate

You can find lots of weird/interesting/stupid APIs that are free to use on this Github repo: Public Apis

For example, here is an API endpoint for random cat pictures

And below is how you can use it with another API that gives daily cat facts.

🐱Do you know that:🐱

${catFactC}

And here is an API for searching bike incidents. You can use it to create location-specific works like andorDada

This one by DiceBear Avatars is very cool, it gives you a random avatar. You can use it to create portraits for your generated characters in your generated fictions.

${avaDes.text}

Open Library project provides a bunch of APIs that you can use to search for books, which could be useful for generating with Markov chains... but those APIs do not support CORS, so you can't get live data from them on Observable, but you can use it in your Apps.

This BoredAPI can be used to get some sentences about activities that you can do when you are bored. However, this one looks more like a finished artwork.

`34:T5a3,{ if (cocktail.drinks !== null) { return html`

You need

${cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient1 == null ? '': (cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure1 == null ? "" : cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure1)+cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient1}${cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient2 == null ? '': ', ' + (cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure2 == null ? "" : cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure2)+cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient2}${cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient3 == null ? '': ', ' + (cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure3 == null ? "" : cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure3)+cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient3}${cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient4 == null ? '': ', ' + (cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure4 == null ? "" : cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure4)+cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient4}${cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient5 == null ? '': ', ' + (cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure5 == null ? "" : cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure5)+cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient5}${cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient6 == null ? '': ', ' + (cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure6 == null ? "" : cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure6)+cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient6}${cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient7 == null ? '': ', ' + (cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure7 == null ? "" : cocktail.drinks[0].strMeasure7)+cocktail.drinks[0].strIngredient7}

Use a: ${cocktail.drinks[0].strGlass}

${cocktail.drinks[0].strInstructions}

` } else { return html`:( drink not found` } }35:[{"id":"28ce4cc3c377ba60f18ad3514322ef32302b318d00c1b53a29dfff0d26598c480e5023c76330b59ad448541de5ca3ef9f769ec2757fb2c7479c66002b268faea","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/28ce4cc3c377ba60f18ad3514322ef32302b318d00c1b53a29dfff0d26598c480e5023c76330b59ad448541de5ca3ef9f769ec2757fb2c7479c66002b268faea","name":"In Liz-s.html","type":"text/html","lastModified":1615435184542.151,"size":542105},{"id":"f2f3e16cf67c5e9443aa515b68dff2ef5ebc18c38cb18ebe8060610b69209e476d813f26366d28f88eb81b17b6f5b24497122606e3cfa04007ef3d9f2e1fb5fc","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/f2f3e16cf67c5e9443aa515b68dff2ef5ebc18c38cb18ebe8060610b69209e476d813f26366d28f88eb81b17b6f5b24497122606e3cfa04007ef3d9f2e1fb5fc","name":"apn.html","type":"text/html","lastModified":1615435701763.834,"size":41255},{"id":"fbffc438f7e47bc04658b3450f84f3422c012a3a35c0526750cbd8691838a33f976e99458b4d3295e667a3f9daf0289bf8daad6bcc114e8596510c333a15dc0f","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/fbffc438f7e47bc04658b3450f84f3422c012a3a35c0526750cbd8691838a33f976e99458b4d3295e667a3f9daf0289bf8daad6bcc114e8596510c333a15dc0f","name":"In Liz-s@1.html","type":"text/html","lastModified":1615435693381.822,"size":542057},{"id":"8ae5bea0d325e2fba2fcda5dabb0bfe65cfb3f21087e520b061226298933d04c81949213dd963bf6d0cf222623955d9d008a28f2448104c9cb78fe02c2beb756","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/8ae5bea0d325e2fba2fcda5dabb0bfe65cfb3f21087e520b061226298933d04c81949213dd963bf6d0cf222623955d9d008a28f2448104c9cb78fe02c2beb756","name":"apn@1.html","type":"text/html","lastModified":1615454871332.875,"size":41251},{"id":"31895beacf76cde16ac44d77f4e81bff8e1912bbbc598358409d7c17d97bfff2f669c1d0881c4def3940de86673fe06e2642bc53439fd8b38ecf605679898dbd","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/31895beacf76cde16ac44d77f4e81bff8e1912bbbc598358409d7c17d97bfff2f669c1d0881c4def3940de86673fe06e2642bc53439fd8b38ecf605679898dbd","name":"In Liz-s@2.html","type":"text/html","lastModified":1615454857897.372,"size":542053}] 31:{"id":"71c118467d479d7b","slug":"sm3809-a7","title":"SM3809_A7","thumbnail":"cd7b1e4bc328699d1cbff166a535dde782ddf74184dde9ab40bc96e6bf582e61","access_level":"public","create_time":"$D2021-03-06T09:39:37.613Z","update_time":"$D2021-03-11T09:35:16.577Z","view_time":null,"first_public_time":"$D2021-03-09T07:35:12.281Z","has_unpublished_edits":null,"fork":false,"stars":0,"starred":false,"owner":{"type":"team","id":"b2e9840be7b1b607","login":"real-john-cheung","name":"John C","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/1d9ef6121a0bbd1a75fab479f9891fe1d78cc65f76c394585ae1a7dad0d3abf6","tier":"starter_2024"},"version":547,"publish_version":547,"role":null,"authored":false,"authors":[{"type":"individual","id":"e8e99acdbe3aebfb","login":"real-john-cheung","name":"John C","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/1d9ef6121a0bbd1a75fab479f9891fe1d78cc65f76c394585ae1a7dad0d3abf6","tier":null}],"members":[{"type":"individual","id":"e8e99acdbe3aebfb","login":"real-john-cheung","name":"John C","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/1d9ef6121a0bbd1a75fab479f9891fe1d78cc65f76c394585ae1a7dad0d3abf6","tier":null,"role":"editor"}],"comments":[],"custom_thumbnail":false,"trashed":false,"lapsed":null,"subscribed":null,"forks":0,"collection":null,"type":"notebook","body":{"title":"SM3809_A7","cells":[{"id":0,"value":"$33","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":272,"value":"html`Are you bored?`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":212,"value":"viewof ppl = number({placeholder: \"1+\", title: \"How many ppl are you?\", value: \"1\"})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":219,"value":"viewof money = number({placeholder: \"0+\", title: \"How many $ do you have?\", value: \"100\"})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":265,"value":"html`
Then you can ${boredThings}
`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":208,"value":"html`
\n
\n
This TacoFancy API gives you a random real recipe of taco, can be used in your generated story so you don't need to come up with dozens of taco recipes yourself. Since it doesn't use HTTPS, so you would not want to use it on Observable (almost all browsers block mixed content), but again, good for your Apps. Similar APIs include this TheCocktailDB.
\n
\n
`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":303,"value":"viewof cocktailName = text({title: \"I want to make a \", placeholder: \"input cocktail name\", value: \"Gin Fizz\"})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":331,"value":"$34","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":347,"value":"html`\n
\n
\n
hmm come back to text analysis, here is an API for sentiment analysis, you would need to create a POST request to use it.
\n
\n`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":350,"value":"viewof toTestSentiment = text({title: \"Text to analyze\", value: \"I am sad\"})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":359,"value":"html`The result is ${sentimentCheck.type} with a score of ${sentimentCheck.polarity}`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":367,"value":"html`
And at the end, OwlBot, a dictionary API that gives you the definition of the word, related images and emoji, sample sentences and etc. You would need an API token for using it (see the Proxy code below in the appendix). Below is the definition of ${dict.word}.
`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":398,"value":"{\n let container = html`
`;\n let emoji = dict.definitions[0].emoji == null ? undefined : html`
${dict.definitions[0].emoji}
`\n if (emoji !== undefined) container.appendChild(emoji)\n let type = html`
Type: ${dict.definitions[0].type}
`\n container.appendChild(type);\n let defi = html`
Definition: ${dict.definitions[0].definition}
`\n container.appendChild(defi);\n let example = dict.definitions[0].example == null ? undefined : html`
Example: ${dict.definitions[0].example}
`\n if (example !== undefined) container.appendChild(example);\n let img = dict.definitions[0].image_url == null ? undefined : html``\n if (img !== undefined) container.appendChild(img);\n container.appendChild(html`
`)\n return container\n}","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":294,"value":"html`
\n
There is also a bunch of \"free\" APIs on RapidAPI. Well, not totally free: some of them provide a 90-day free trial, and some of them offer a free plan for (very) limited requests a month.
\n
Create
\n
Improvements
\n
\n
Rewrite the code and debug (hope I got them all...)
\n
Improve the story? At least add more text, and create a loop story-line
\n
More text animation/style? hmm, change fonts
\n
Add more visual elements? Need to think more about this...
\n
Add icons using avatar API with RiScript
\n
...
\n
\n
More explanations in the final page... enjoy!
\n
Soucre: Link here
\n
`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":515,"value":"html``","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":9,"value":"html`<hr>\n`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":455,"value":"html`-------------------------appendix---------------------------------`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":96,"value":"getAvaDes = function () {\n let str = RiTa.evaluate('$maleNames=(John|Jack|Liam|Noah|Oliver|William|Elijah)\\n$femaleNames=(Katherina|Mary|Emma|Ava|Sophia|Isabella|Charlotte|Amelia|Mia)\\n$mood=(happy|sad|surprised)\\n I am $mood ($maleNames%male#|$femaleNames%female#). %$mood#');\n let arr = [...str.matchAll(/%[\\w]+#/g)];\n return {text:str.replaceAll(/%[\\w]+#/g, \"\"),gender:arr[0][0].match(/\\w+/)[0],mood:arr[1][0].match(/\\w+/)[0],seed:str.replaceAll(/%[\\w]+#/g, \"\").replace(\"I am \",\"\").replace(\".\",\"\").replaceAll(\" \",\"\")}\n}","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":98,"value":"avaDes = getAvaDes();","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":50,"value":"randomCatC = (await (await fetch('https://aws.random.cat/meow')).json()).file","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":74,"value":"catFactC = (await (await fetch('https://cat-fact.herokuapp.com/facts')).json())[Math.floor(Math.random()*5)].text","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":215,"value":"boredUrl = \"https://www.boredapi.com/api/activity?\" + \"participants=\" + ppl + \"&minprice=0&maxprice=\" + Number(1-((10000 - money)/10000)).toFixed(2)","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":206,"value":"boredThings = (await (await fetch(boredUrl)).json()).activity","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":314,"value":"cocktailNameurl = \"https://www.thecocktaildb.com/api/json/v1/1/search.php?s=\" + cocktailName.toLocaleLowerCase().replaceAll(\" \", \"%20\")","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":328,"value":"cocktail = (await fetch(cocktailNameurl)).json()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":353,"value":"sentimentCheck = (await fetch('https://sentim-api.herokuapp.com/api/v1/', {\n headers: {Accept: \"application/json\", \"Content-Type\": \"application/json\"},\n body: JSON.stringify({\"text\": toTestSentiment}),\n method: \"POST\",\n mode: \"cors\"\n}).then(response => {\n return response.json();\n})).result","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":373,"value":"dict = (await fetch(`${proxy.href}`)).json()","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":91,"value":"RiTa = require('rita')","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":5,"value":"html`\n<style>\nhtml{\n font-family:\"Libre Franklin\"!important;\n}\na{\n color: black!important;\n text-decoration: underline!important;\n text-underline-position: under!important;\n font-weight: 600!important;\n}\n\na:hover{\n text-decoration: underline!important;\n text-decoration-thickness: 3px!important;\n text-underline-position: under!important;\n color: grey!important;\n}\n\nh3{\n line-height:2;\n}\n<style>\n`","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":378,"value":"proxy = deploy(\"proxy\", async (request, response, context) => {\n //from @endpointservices/how-to-keep-an-api-key-secret-in-a-public-notebook\n\n const key = context.secrets['real-john-cheung_owlbotapikey'];\n \n // Sometimes its enough to debug intermediate steps by returning information via the response.\n // return response.send(xml_url)\n \n let apiResponse = await fetch(\"https://owlbot.info/api/v4/dictionary/\"+RiTa.evaluate('(cat|dog|owl|fox|pig|parrot|rabbit|raccoon)'), {\n headers: {\n 'Authorization': `Token ${key}`,\n 'Content-Type': 'application/x-www/form-urlencoded'\n }\n });\n \n response.status(apiResponse.status).send(await apiResponse.text());\n}, {\n secrets: [\"real-john-cheung_owlbotapikey\"]\n})","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":169,"value":"import {number} from \"@jashkenas/inputs\"\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":288,"value":"import {text} from \"@jashkenas/inputs\"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"},{"id":374,"value":"import {deploy} from '@tomlarkworthy/serverless-cells'","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"ojs","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","output":"$undefined","database":"$undefined"}],"files":"$W35","stdlib":"1","titling":"auto"}} 32:"$31:body" </article></body></html>