Deep Blue
“The project was started as “ChipTest” at Carnegie Mellon University by Feng-hsiung Hsu; the computer system produced was named Deep Thought after the fictional computer of the same name from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Hsu joined IBM in 1989 and worked with Murray Campbell on parallel computing problems. Deep Blue was developed out of this. The name is a play on Deep Thought and Big Blue, IBM’s nickname.”
—on Deep Blue, from Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia.”
Deeper Blue
“Deep Blue . . . a chess-playing computer developed by IBM . . . was the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion (Garry Kasparov) under regular time controls. . . .
Deep Blue was then heavily upgraded (unofficially nicknamed “Deeper Blue”) and played Kasparov again in May 1997, winning the six-game rematch 3.5–2.5. . . . Deep Blue thus became the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard chess tournament time controls. . . .
After the lost match, Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in the machine’s moves, which he could not understand. He also suggested that humans may have helped the machine during the match. He demanded a rematch, but IBM declined and retired Deep Blue. In 2003 a documentary film was made that explored these claims titled Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine. . . .
In part these allegations were correct. The rules provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they took with abandon. The code was modified between games to understand Kasparov’s play style better, allowing it to avoid a trap in the final game that the AI had fallen for twice before.”
—from Wikipedia. This means it’s probably fairly accurate. I saw Game Over a few months ago, and if you like chess or the color blue, I recommend it!
the excitement rather than the logic of life
“Abstract Expressionists such as Oscar Kokoschka asserted the excitement rather than the logic of life by using strong and bizarre colors (for example, a green face), heavy, dynamic brush strokes, and even distortions of figures and faces, such as enlarging an eye out of proportion to the rest of the face.”
—Albert Mehrabian, from Public Places and Private Spaces: The Psychology of Work, Play, and Living Environments, 1976.
a good many theatres are carpeted in red
“Opera houses, concert halls, and legitimate theatres are often fairly high-status environments. . . . Lobbies are usually plush and impressive; it is interesting that a good many theatres are carpeted in red, which is the most arousing color.”
—Albert Mehrabian, from Public Places and Private Spaces: The Psychology of Work, Play, and Living Environments, 1976.
Many living rooms are failures for entertaining
“Many living rooms are failures for entertaining not only because they are not colorful and are poorly lit but also because room shapes or the type and arrangement of furniture seriously depress arousal levels. Some rooms feel too large and cold and can easily be made to seem smaller by colors and textures on the walls. Since a high-load surface—one that is heavily textured and contains sharp color contrasts involving arousing colors—appears closer than a low-load one, the perceived shape of a room can be altered dramatically by judicious application of this principle. For example, ceilings can be “lowered” or “raised” by using more or less arousing colors and textures, respectively. When a room feels overly confining, less arousing surfaces must be used. A trick decorators often use is to paint opposite walls darker and lighter shades of the same color, thus making a narrow room seem wider.”
—Albert Mehrabian, from Public Places and Private Spaces: The Psychology of Work, Play, and Living Environments, 1976.
The most pleasant hues
“To use color effectively, we need to know its emotional effects, and these are readily summarized. Color is characterized by hue, brightness, and saturation. Hue is related to wavelength and hence determines whether colors are perceived as red, blue, green, and so on. Brightness refers to the intensity of light that is reflected; saturation refers to the concentration or vividness of the hue. The brighter or more saturated the color, the more pleasant it is. The most pleasant hues are blue, green, purple, red, and yellow, in that order. In terms of arousal, less bright and more saturated colors are more arousing. The most arousing hue is red, followed by orange, yellow, violet, blue, and green, with green being the least arousing. Thus, if we wanted to maximize arousal in a given room, we would probably use flocked, velvety, or otherwise textured deep red wallpaper, carpets, and curtains. [We] . . . would emphasize the more arousing hues and the more saturated colors. It is probably no accident that extremes of such a decorative scheme often prevailed in the better nineteenth-century brothels.”
—Albert Mehrabian, from Public Places and Private Spaces: The Psychology of Work, Play, and Living Environments, 1976.
the vivacious college student
“Let’s take a look at clothing in terms of its ability to produce feelings of arousal, pleasure, and dominance. Clothing that is colorful, bright, and somewhat different from the usual styles is more loaded (complex and novel) and hence more arousing. Clothing that employs complex color patterns which are perceived as garish or clashing will produce feelings of arousal and displeasure. . . .
People who stick to the same basic and somewhat drab styles, or even wear the same clothes day after day, are not loaded social stimuli. Compare the conservative matron who relies primarily on the same design, colors, and textures in her suits and shoes for months on end with the vivacious college student who changes her clothing in between morning and afternoon classes, and again in the evening before a dinner date. . . .
Uniformity in the clothing styles of military, social, political, or ideological groups not only helps to readily identify a stranger’s attitudes, primary preoccupations, or way of life, but also tells us something about his emotional preferences. Both the hippie and the beatnik movements rejected accepted social values. However, ideologically, the beatnik movement drew inspiration from philosophies which emphasized despair as the primary emotional reaction to existential dilemmas. The “heavy” beats often chose dark, severe, somber, and more tailored styles. Hippy garb, with its carefree, light, bright, flowery, and complex look, was consistent with its ideology, which emphasized pleasure, doing your own thing (variety), and a “flower-child” brightness and openness.”
—Albert Mehrabian, from Public Places and Private Spaces: The Psychology of Work, Play, and Living Environments, 1976.
Mona Lisa
“Leonardo [Da Vinci] undertook to execute, for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife; and after toiling over it for four years, he left it unfinished. . . . In this head, whoever wished to see how closely art could imitate nature, was able to comprehend it with ease; for in it were counterfeited all the minutenesses that with subtlety are able to be painted, seeing that the eyes had that lustre and watery sheen which are always seen in life, and around them were all those rosy and pearly tints, as well as the lashes, which cannot be represented without the greatest subtlety. The eyebrows, through his having shown the manner in which the hairs spring from the flesh, here more close and here more scanty, and curve according to the pores of the skin, could not be more natural. The nose, with its beautiful nostrils, rosy and tender, appearing to be alive. The mouth, whith its opening, and with its ends united by the red of the lips to the flesh-tints of the face, seemed, in truth, to be not colours but flesh. In the pit of the throat, if one gazed upon it intently, could be seen the beating of the pulse. . . . He made use also of this device: Mona Lisa being very beautiful, he always emplyed, while he was painting her portrait, persons to play or sing, and jesters, who might make her remain merry, in order to take away that melancholy which painters are often wont to give the portraits that they paint. And in this work of Leonardo’s there was a smile so pleasing, that it was a thing more divine than human to behold; and it was held to be something marvellous, since the reality was not more alive. . . .”
—Giorgio Vasari, from The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1550 C.E.
green cushions and beautiful carpets
“They [the righteous] shall repose on couches, the linings thereof shall be of thick silk interwoven with gold: and the fruit of the two gardens shall be near at hand to gather. . . .
Therein shall be damsels, refraining their eyes from beholding any besides their spouses: whom no man or Jinni shall have touched before them, . . .
Having complexions like rubies and pearls. . . .
And besides these there shall be two other gardens. . . .
Of a dark green color. . . .
In each of them shall be two fountains pouring forth plenty of water. . . .
In each of them shall be fruits, and palm trees, and pomegranates. . . .
Therein shall be agreeable and beauteous damsels. . . .
Having fine black eyes; and kept in pavilions from public view. . . .
Whom no man shall have touched before their destined spouses, nor any Jinni. . . .
Therein shall they delight themselves, lying on green cushions and beautiful carpets.”
—from The Koran, 7th century C.E. This is Paradise!
a silver toothpick
“We were revelling in these delicacies when, behold! Trimalchio himself was borne into the hall with musical honours, reposing upon tiny cushions! The spectacle drew a laugh from the surprised guests. His close-cropped head stuck out from a cloak of bright scarlet; his neck was well wrapped up, and he had donned a linen cloth with a broad stripe and tassels dangling right and left. On the little finger of his left hand he wore a heavy gilt ring, but on the last joint of the next finger he had futhermore a smaller ring, which appeared to me to be of solid gold but as a matter of fact was picked out with brilliants made of steel. Also, to show that these did not exhaust his jewel-case, he had his right arm bare, encircled with an armlet of gold and an ivory circlet clasped by a gleaming metal plate. . . .
Then having made full use of a silver toothpick, he addressed the assembly.”
—Petronius from The Satyricon, 1st century C.E.