Lewis Mumford on Art

Sun, 10 May 2026 19:52:01 -0400

“Art, in the only sense in which one can separate art from technics [technology], is primarily the domain of the person; and the purpose of art, apart from various incidental technical functions that may be associated with it, is to widen the province of personality, so that feelings, emotions, attitudes, and values, in the special individualized form in which they happen in one particular person, in one particular culture, can be transmitted with all their force and meaning to other persons or to other cultures. Sympathy and empathy are the characteristic way of art: a feeling with, a feeling into, the innermost experiences of other men. The work of art is the visible, potable spring from which men share the deep underground sources of their experience. Art arises out of man’s need to create for himself, beyond any requirement for mere animal survival, a meaningful and valuable world: his need to dwell on, to intensify, and to project in more permanent forms those precious parts of his experience that would otherwise slip too quickly out of his grasp, or sink too deeply into his unconscious to be retrieved.” – Lewis Mumford, Art and Technics (1952)

It seems to me that Mumford does two things in this paragraph: 1) he clearly defines a purpose for the arts, and 2) he provides a reason, almost 75 years ago, why AI is not a threat to the arts. The purpose is “to widen the province of personality, so that feelings, emotions, attitudes, and values, in the special individualized form in which they happen in one particular person, in one particular culture, can be transmitted with all their force and meaning to other persons or to other cultures.” AI does not have, nor ever will have, the personality – the feelings, emotions, attitudes, and values – of an individual person.

Put another way – and I am thinking specifically of the more corporatized arts of film and TV – if the work that you create can be successfully imitated by AI, you should understand that you are creating products, not works of art. You are not using a “special individualized form” of “one particular person,” but rather are using a well-worn formula to create content and not art. And if that is true, then you deserve to have your work supplanted by AI. You have become part of The Machine, and The Machine will eventually make you unnecessary.

Tech on Wond'ring Aloud

Lewis Mumford on Art