# Oscar Schwartz: Can a computer write poetry?

If you read a poem and feel moved by it, but then find out it was actually written by a computer, would you feel differently about the experience? Would you think that the computer had expressed itself and been creative, or would you feel like you had fallen for a cheap trick? In this talk, writer Oscar Schwartz examines why we react so strongly to the idea of a computer writing poetry — and how this reaction helps us understand what it means to be human.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2016
- Runtime: 11 min
- By: TED.com
- Genres: Education, Science
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/OscarSchwartz_2015X)
- Licence or status: [CC BY-NC-ND 3.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/) (as the archive states it)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/OscarSchwartz_2015X?play=1)