No, F#%k YOU! An Art Robot With a Potty Vocabulary

Yesterday we took a short break from needlessly in-depth coverage of the latest gossip surrounding rumored LCD flat screens and OS updates to take in a little art and culture when we took a look at a trippy techy water sculpture. And today we visit the gutter (of art!) with a video of a piece called Four Letter Words from NYC-based programmer/artist Rob Seward. (Both projects are featured in the “Captured” category of the upcoming Vimeo film festival).

The technology behind Words is an intricate solution to a simple task. And that’s what makes it so captivating to watch. Various gears and robotic fizzimajigs work in unison to arrange a set of fluorescent lights to form a changing list of different four-letter words. The machine runs through a list of words based on an algorithm developed by the University of South Florida that takes into account meaning, rhyme, letter sequencing, and association.

Living up to its name, Four Letter Words often veers into negative or scatological territory, which the artist attributes to the influence of various language studies used in the development of the algorithm. Crap, rape, kill, spit, among other visceral words come up in the course of this sample video.

So, be on the look out for any sudden changes in the gadgets in your life. Now that machines have finally mastered profanity, can drinking and smoking and talking back to teachers be so far behind?

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