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Aaron Hertzmann

@aaronhertzmann.com

3.4K followers 270 following 200 posts

www.dgp.toronto.edu/~hertzman

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Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · Aug 19

Here's my the talk for the #SIGGRAPH 2024 Computer Graphics Achievement award, about my experiences in painting, computer graphics and the science of art. And how so much art and research are unplanned and unpredictable.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehgj...
aaronhertzmann.com/2024/08/19/j...

SIGGRAPH 2024 Award Talk: My journey in art and computing (so far)

YouTube video by Aaron Hertzmann

www.youtube.com

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 1d

He does seem to agree that GenAI is the latest stage in this
culture.ghost.io/genai-is-our...

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 1d

Looks like this is the topic of his new book too. "Over the past 25 years, pop culture has suffered from a perplexing lack of reinvention. We’ve entered a cultural “blank space”..."
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/769187...

Blank Space by W. David Marx: 9780593833995 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

An NPR Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2025 A revealing exploration of a quarter century of cultural stagnation, examining the commercial and technological forces that have come to dominate contempora...

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 1d

IIRC @wdavidmarx.bsky.social's explanation is that internet virality prevents subcultural movements the time they need to gestate away from the mass media limelight. It might be that the 20th century was a time of abnormal cultural productivity, with just the right amount of mass media.

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 1d

"People don't make good pop music anymore like they did in the 1950s, it went bad after that"
aaronhertzmann.com/2022/12/16/s...

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 1d

In _Status and Culture_ (chapter 10), W David Marx summarizes claims of cultural stasis from the 2010s due to Internet culture. But I think, whenever one thinks "nothing has moved me lately," the first question to ask is "is it me?" It gets harder to appreciate new culture as you get older.

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 1d

Personally I follow a stronger rule: do not mention the authors at all in the review. I don't think it's necessary to be that strict but I think it is better.

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 1d

Excellent principles. One more: review the paper, not the authors
aaronhertzmann.com/2025/06/23/n...

Violent Communication in Scientific Paper Reviews

In peer review for scientific and technical papers, peer reviews occasionally discuss the paper authors directly. In this post I argue that this behavior can be toxic: it harms the review process, the...

aaronhertzmann.com

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 3d

Thanks!

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 5d

Hmm, I wonder if my work would be a fit, since it directly relates to the nature of mental imagery and representations of space and pictures. Not sure whether I can make it to Cambridge in April though. bsky.app/profile/aaro...

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 9d

Here's a recording of my talk on how perspective works! If you're interested in learning about how picture perspective works in human vision, this is the video to watch. #visionscience
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eamc...

Picture Perspective and Our Eyes

YouTube video by Aaron Hertzmann

www.youtube.com

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 7d

Thanks to the artist Tom White for pointing me to this essay! end+2/

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 7d

Even so, I am grateful for recorded music should not have been invented, and could not give up all the new kinds of music that it enabled, from musique concrète and tape loops (Beatles and Pink Floyd) to hip-hop (Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy) to electronic music (Amon Tobin) and much more. end+1/

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 7d

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned TVs. It used to be stereos and radios. The point is that most of our music listening now is, passive and solitary. We still have live music, and amateur musicians, but, for most of us, they're a much, much, much smaller part of modern life.

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 7d

In fact, Sousa's own band made a lot of money on recordings, and he himself had profited from reusing Gilbert and Sullivan's work without compensation. He wildly overstated the case claiming that recorded music has no soul, but also correctly predicted some things we've lost. end/

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 7d

Sousa's third point—and the real reason for the essay—is that recording robs composers of money from their compositions. At the time, there was no copyright law governing licensing for composers, and his essay was part of a successful campaign to create one. He also testified before congress. 5/

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 7d

In Sousa's day, the piano was the social center of many homes, saloons, and taverns. When I grew up, the center of the living room was usually a television. 4/

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 7d

But he also correctly predicted a decline of social music-making. People used to make music together as a social activity much more than now, when so much of our entertainment is passive. But social music-making is probably the reason we have music at all. 3/

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 7d

It's easy to mock the ridiculous claims that people once made about new artistic technologies, like Sousa's bonkers claims that recorded music lacks soul and would no longer inspire new musicians, and would turn kids into robotic phonographs. 2/

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 7d

New blog post: In 1909, the famous composer John Philip Sousa wrote that recorded music would lead to a deterioration of music and musical taste. The more I thought about it, the more I think that he had a point.
aaronhertzmann.com/2025/09/30/m...

The Menace of Mechanical Music: Was John Philip Sousa right?

In 1877, Edison introduced the phonograph cylinders, the first musical recording media. For the first time in history, you could listen to music without being in the same room as a performing musician...

aaronhertzmann.com

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 8d

More research is needed to understand size perception, but it seems to be partly contextual, partly related to visual angle (i.e., no focal length compensation).
jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx...
scholar.archive.org/work/eyreite...

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 9d

Here's a recording of my talk on how perspective works! If you're interested in learning about how picture perspective works in human vision, this is the video to watch. #visionscience
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eamc...

Picture Perspective and Our Eyes

YouTube video by Aaron Hertzmann

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Aaron Hertzmann

Paul Linton @lintonvision.bsky.social · 13d

Great to present my work "Five Illusions Challenge Our Understanding of Visual Experience" at the European Conference on Visual Perception (#ECVP2025)

Project Website + Preprint in link below 👇

@ecvp.bsky.social @italianacademy.bsky.social @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social

Paul Linton, ECVP 2025: "Five Illusions Challenge Our Understanding of Visual Experience"

YouTube video by Kriegeskorte Lab

www.youtube.com

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 12d

The BBS paper on summary statistics and attention: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Visual Attention in Crisis | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core

Visual Attention in Crisis

www.cambridge.org

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 12d

Here is my commentary on @ruthrosenholtz.bsky.social's BBS paper. I point out deep parallels between topics in 2D and 3D human vision that are usually studied separately: summary statistics and attention in 2D, and 3D vision. This suggests studying them together. psyarxiv.com/dz3rx_v2

Aaron Hertzmann @aaronhertzmann.com · 13d

www.businessinsider.com/everyone-hat...

The most hated workplace software on the planet

It creates mountains of busywork for everyone. So why do more than half of the companies in the Fortune 500 use it?

www.businessinsider.com

Reposted by Aaron Hertzmann

Hadas Weiss @hadas.bsky.social · 13d

me: maybe i can gain clarity by going over my notes

my notes: