Such technological advances promise not only to make recording studios obsolete, but also to enable hit-making Svengalis to transform even the most marginally talented performer into a virtuoso. The potential for producing an endless succession of totally soulless, Clear Channel-ready hits is frightening.
We might expect such de-evolution from pop culture, but the fine arts may not be a source of much consolation, because we have a seeming oversupply of creative types. The number of Americans identifying themselves as artists increased from 737,000 in 1970 to 2.2 million in 2000. The number of musicians grew from 100,000 in 1970 to 187,000 in 2001, while the number of painters and sculptors increased from 87,000 to 255,000. The number of authors quadrupled to 128,000. With more artists than ever before, presumably creating increasingly vast quantities of work, you'd think that mathematical probability would result in more works of lasting greatness. On the other hand, remember those scientists at Plymouth University in England who recently tested the old proposition that if you gave monkeys typewriters, eventually one of them would produce a play worthy of Shakespeare. As one researcher noted, "The apes turned out to be more interested in defecating and urinating all over the keyboard."
