Fine article and great photographs. Thanks, Allain!
However, Google folks may cause you to rework one of your arguments:
Quote from Alain:
However, your camera cannot compose a photograph anymore than your car can drive itself.
I get your point, Les, that Google has invented a driverless, robotic car. However, as far as I know, no-one has invented a functioning robotic camera in relation to composition choice, although I did outline the design for such a camera several years ago on this site.
I took my inspiration from the Mars Rover. It occurred to me that a similar, portable device could be designed purely for photography. It could be easily transported in the boot of the car when travelling to scenic locations one wanted to photograph.
The device would essentially be a small and very lightweight all-terrain vehicle, made of strong carbon-fibre plastic, housing sophisticated computer programs and literally hundreds of thousands of images of all the great art works of the past.
The integrated camera with zoom lens would be attached to a flexible arm which would automatically rise, fall and turn in any direction as the small vehicle negotiated the rough terrain in search of any scene which resembled the composition of one or more of the images of the great masterpieces stored in its computer.
One could program the rover to make a trip of a certain duration whilst one enjoyed lunch at the scenic location. One could examine the shots taken by the robot on its return to the starting point, and if not satisfied with the results, one could reprogram the device to set out again on a different route to take some more shots whilst one enjoyed one's dessert.