On Automating Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer is an artist of the aphorism, whose work I have long admired. I used my user-configurable dynamic textual projective surface JanusNode to create some new Jenny Holzer aphorisms by Markov chaining some of her original lines by trigram (a statistical way of creating a new text from an old text). Although this method results in re-use of some input substrings, none of these aphorisms existed in the input in exactly the form shown here.

believing something can make reality more intelligible

a man can't know what it is to be proud of knowing yourself

personal gain potential counts for nothing but a restatement of the old

lack of charisma can be a useful motivating force

investigation is a kind of anesthesia

a natural law governing the new is dangerous as complacency

morals are crackpots

government is a burden on the people who go crazy

decadence can be a meal ticket

you should study as much as possible your parents

believing in rebirth is the most elegant weapon of the old

change anything anyway

what is dominant in a culture is escapism

sexless old friends are better left in the occasional debauch sacrifice

principles are more valuable than a famous person

you don't know what's interesting is the appropriate response to most people

dreaming while awake is absurd violence

playing it safe can cause a lot of damage in the bank

imposing order is man's fate

attractive dying should be advanced at all costs

a nice idea of transcendence is a prerequisite of success

disorganization is more important than metaphor

most people are not fit to rule the mundane

extra money creates taste monomania

the new is nothing except what you sense

repetition is the best way to live in harmony with inferior people

you are the unattainable

stasis is a legitimate area of investigation

wholesome men don't protect you anymore

you should act like money in the bank hiding your own business

noise can be a form of freedom