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Comment by Vakaiser | Hacker News Reader

While this is interesting, what I really wanted to see was more 'graffiti' and less 'laser'.

Graffiti, fundamentally, is a defacement of public property as a form of artistic self expression. To that end, why not combine this with a laser engraver instead of a laser pointer?

Imagine hooking this up and then literally carving your graffiti into the side of a brick building. Or burning it into the paint on a metal container car.

Obviously such a thing has the potential for serious bodily harm and could start building or wild fires inadvertently, to say nothing of the energy consumption requirements such a laser engraver would necessitate.

Counterpoint: rule of cool.

View on HN

"Can you tell the jury what you told investigators when you decided to use computerized directed energy weapons to target civllian infrastructure?"

"...rule of cool?"

You’ll probably burn your retinas with the backscatter

> Graffiti, fundamentally, is a defacement of public property

Both wrong. Neither is defacement the point nor doing it to public property. Fundamentally it's a visual art form and whether that's on private or public property is insubstantial.

It's surely intervoven with anarchic protest and that's where the defacement angle comes in. Similarly, public property as a symbol of the state that is rejected plays often a role. Though that's ironic too since if the "artist" comes from a left-leaning anarchic background then damaging public goods is kinda counterproductive, as opposed to private property of the rich who are the more usual target for symbolizing oppression of the poor.

Both statements are wrong. But yours is wrong-er. You are thinking of street art. Or just spray paint art. The whole point of graffiti is to "get up". If you don't know what getting up is, you should not be espousing any opinions on what graffiti is and isn't.

In fact, I'm aware what it means and don't see how that and what I wrote are contradictory.

Though not everybody around here may know, so how about you educate folks instead of being condescending?

Getting your tag up somewhere can surely be considered art. It's fine if you personally don't, but you are not speaking for others. Nor is it clear why you feel entitled to explain to me what I am supposedly thinking.

Reciting ancient Roman graffiti

https://youtu.be/-qSETCKlzQQ

I will be happy to come over your place and destroy your stuff by adding my graffiti "art" to it

I didn't say it's not damaging. But that's a side effect, not the goal.

> Graffiti, fundamentally, is a defacement of public property as a form of artistic self expression.

The "Musée de la mémoire des murs" (museum of walls' memories), previously named "Musée des Grafittis historiques" sees grafittis much beyond your strict definition. https://www.verneuil-en-halatte.fr/musee-de-la-memoire-des-m...

I visited it long ago, but I remember drawings by prisoners on cells walls. Definitely not public property (or not visible by a wide public from public places).

Defacement is not the point of graffiti. It's fundamentally visual, not fundamentally destructive.

Ask the people who have to clean it off.

they have no choice, and i don't care what their bosses think.

That is a really edgy and cool opinion.

Seriously? 99% is some stupid tag.. no art at all.. just the equivalent of a dog lifting his leg in paint..

>coolness as a function of danger

Well now you got me started. Why not engrave your message into the surface of a celestial body via a carefully aimed series of orbital bombardments?

I was hoping for the same. If we're going to live in a cyberpunk dystopia we could at least have some cool anarchist tools to go with it.

WARNING: DO NOT LOOK INTO LASER WITH REMAINING EYE

Arr: You are not the pi-rated captain of me..

Please tell me where you live. I'd like to come over and ruin your property with graffiti and see how you like it.

> defacement of public property

Plenty of graffiti is on private property.

About $15 billion is spent dealing with property destruction by graffiti. All of which is passed on to tax payers and consumers.

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