After watching the Japanese water sculpture (previous post), I got to thinking about when technology imitates art ...

Scanners, computer-aided design software and automated milling devices are assisting sculptors, and in some cases replacing them, creating detailed pieces from slabs of marble and reverse-engineering complex forms. The result is the seemingly oxymoronic concept of mass customization, in which infinite copies of infinite variations are possible as long as there is stone to quarry. The regular use of these granite-grinding Xerox machines, able to duplicate just about any sculpture, is blurring the line between what is authentic and what is not.

Is this really art?