Week 2: Combinatory Poetics

 Scott Rettberg's writing looks into the idea of combinatory poetics. The concept is fascinating as a style of electronic literature. Rettberg references many different works in the genre, which is an examination of how procedural generation and random chance can create engaging works. The exploration of such ideas is equal parts interesting and concerning. Since the publishing of Rettburg's book, AI and procedural/analytical algorithms have become commonplace in the lives of many people. Artificial Intelligence is now widely used to generate works of writing and art, creating a hazy line between what is human-made versus what is made by a computer. The concept of combinatory poetics is a sort of precursor to the current world of AI, and Rettburg does well to give readers an idea of how this genre of literature fits in to electronic literature as a whole. 

I chose to look at a piece called Evolution by Johannes Helden and Hakan Jonson. It is an AI for the purpose of emulating Helden's works. It continuously goes through new generations at a speed controlled by the user. The words and spaces on the page constantly change, making it hard to keep up with, yet fun to try and decipher what the page is saying after each generation. It is from 2013, and is not quite as advanced as current AI programs, however it is still quite interesting to look into. The program keeps changing and is a fun example of Rettburg's analysis of combinatory poetics.