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From: hestenes@sdcsla.UUCP (Eric Hestenes)
Newsgroups: net.books,net.ai
Subject: Re: Hofstadter on computer music
Message-ID: <850@sdcsla.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-May-85 14:37:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcsla.850
Posted: Fri May 10 14:37:00 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 13-May-85 03:26:42 EDT
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Organization: U.C. San Diego, Cognitive Science Lab
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> In article <234@sdcc13.UUCP> ee163acp@sdcc13.UUCP (DARIN JOHNSON) writes:
> >
> >Ok, as a Computer Engineering major, with a minor in Music, I can safely
> >assume that some type of (perhaps enjoyable) music may one day be created
> >by computer.  However, I seriously doubt that any great piece of music
> >would emerge...
> >   <various discussion of music by computer>
> >
> 
> Not to get involved in a long discussion of AI and philosophy, but...
> 
> Your assumption is that the computer would generate music by the machine
> equivalent of a throw of dice.  I think most people would agree that this
> 
>     Scott R. Turner

	I think you underestimate human ability to create. 
One could likewise say that we never would have realistic
computer graphics made by a computer. One could say that 
the best computer graphics could only be created by the best human
graphics artist. However, the best,most realistic graphics made today
is made with the computer, not exclusively by humans. Fractal geometry
provides mathematical principles that describe real-world scenery far
better than the hands of most artists. And it draws scenery with such
precision that it makes human efforts look "like the throw of the dice".
	What is to keep us from discovering priciples of music that would
allow us to create the best in auditory mosaics with a computer? NOTHING.
My bet is the computer that makes the best music will be the computer
that incorporates the most understanding of human cognition. It is quite
likely that there are a small set of unifying principles of cognition that
govern differences betweeen good music and bad music, just as we can now
mathematically describe scenery in a recursive way that beautifully matches
the ability of the comuter.And perhaps there are other mathematical properties
of the real world, like fractal geometry, that are relevant to creating music,
and that are waiting to be discovered. The point is that the problem of
creating great music on a computer isn't a function of the technology. Rather
we are waiting for an innovator to tell us that, indeed, the world is not
flat, that we can fly to the moon, that we can invent the bomb. It is easy the
be a skeptic. It is hard to replace an older idea with one that better fits
the problem. 

Eric Hestenes

ARPA:  sdcsla!hestenes@nprdc or hestenes@nprdc
other: ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcsla!hestenes