Randomness
From Maze
(Difference between revisions)
(→I. What is Randomness?: So that our chapter starts with text, not with a section heading) | (→II. Randomness and Aesthetics, Pre-Computing) | ||
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===II. Randomness and Aesthetics, Pre-Computing=== | ===II. Randomness and Aesthetics, Pre-Computing=== | ||
| − | The role of randomness in creating patterns and designs, using analog methods of random generation. Burroughs and Cage will figure prominently here, but there are earlier examples, most notably, the 18th century Dominican priest Sebastien Truchet, whose randomly generated Truchet patterns eerily prefigure that pattern produced by 10 PRINT. | + | The role of randomness in creating patterns and designs, using analog methods of random generation. Burroughs and Cage figure prominently in this history, but there are earlier examples, most notably, the 18th century Dominican priest Sebastien Truchet, whose randomly generated Truchet patterns eerily prefigure that pattern produced by 10 PRINT. |
| − | Chance can mean the free association works of the surrealists (automatism) or allowing things to happen (paint to drip). It can also be a more strict/technical definition of 'random'. | + | Chance can mean the free association works of the surrealists (automatism) or allowing things to happen (paint to drip). It can also be a more strict/technical definition of what is meant by "random". [What is the less strict thing meant by "random" and the more strict thing meant by "chance"?] |
| − | When scientific predictions are made, such as whether a meteor will destroy the planet, or whether a new drug will help people, surveys are made, and noise, or random events must be separated. | + | Randomness has the ability to heighten every other emotion, because, as Bruce Schneier has observed of technology, it obscures perception, mandating further observation and investment. Perceptually, random visual images can alert us to previously undiscovered compositions. Musically, random sound works similarly. It can re-order sonic events or even produce original ones, satisfying our need for emotion. [How so? A specific example?] |
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| − | As observant creatures, we remember and perceive, combing through each others' experiences and stories to thrive. In the process of acquiring that culture, randomness often causes surprise, which is how it so effectively accesses our emotions. | ||
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| − | Randomness heightens every other emotion, because, like Bruce Schneier has observed of technology, it obscures perception, and mandates further observation and investment. | ||
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| − | "Practice random acts of kindness" suggests that when combined with generosity, surprise makes something even better. | ||
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| − | Perceptually, random visual images can alert us to previously undiscovered compositions. Musically, random sound works the same. It can re-order sonic events or even produce original ones. which satisfy our need for emotion. | ||
Yet surprise elements have existed in music well before computers. Consider blues music - a genre which invites improvisation. It might be imagined as a personal music, in which the performer surprises himself though taking random chances in the notes played on an instrument. Imagine an evening's performance, a guitarist onstage, struggling to connect his inner feelings with the motion of his hands and the sound his instrument produces. As playing gets more intense, the body couples tightly to the instrument, and perhaps due to a bit of perspiration, a brief index finger slip near the 14th fret leads to a random “wrong note” which the player's and listeners' ears quickly detect. Yet, the skilled player perceives it not as a "wrong note," but an unexamined slice of his story, and incorporates the new pitch into the melody. Working the note back into the fold, the player relives that surprise moment with every pluck until it no longer becomes a surprise. | Yet surprise elements have existed in music well before computers. Consider blues music - a genre which invites improvisation. It might be imagined as a personal music, in which the performer surprises himself though taking random chances in the notes played on an instrument. Imagine an evening's performance, a guitarist onstage, struggling to connect his inner feelings with the motion of his hands and the sound his instrument produces. As playing gets more intense, the body couples tightly to the instrument, and perhaps due to a bit of perspiration, a brief index finger slip near the 14th fret leads to a random “wrong note” which the player's and listeners' ears quickly detect. Yet, the skilled player perceives it not as a "wrong note," but an unexamined slice of his story, and incorporates the new pitch into the melody. Working the note back into the fold, the player relives that surprise moment with every pluck until it no longer becomes a surprise. | ||
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In that moment of tension after the performer stuck the random note, the whole roomed breathed in together. Instead of resolving it, the guitarist let the silence of the room suffuse. This delighted two shy listeners. As they simultaneously smiled, they mutually recognized the expressions from the corners of their eyes and took it as a cue to move closer together. In their first conversation, one of them revealed, "I wasn't even supposed to be here, I took the wrong train. It was an accident..." Their conclusion is that fate brought them together. While their biological systems may have primed them for the experience, it was the accumulation of random events which produced the perceptible event. | In that moment of tension after the performer stuck the random note, the whole roomed breathed in together. Instead of resolving it, the guitarist let the silence of the room suffuse. This delighted two shy listeners. As they simultaneously smiled, they mutually recognized the expressions from the corners of their eyes and took it as a cue to move closer together. In their first conversation, one of them revealed, "I wasn't even supposed to be here, I took the wrong train. It was an accident..." Their conclusion is that fate brought them together. While their biological systems may have primed them for the experience, it was the accumulation of random events which produced the perceptible event. | ||
| − | In this theoretical example, the randomness played only a small role in the story. In some artworks, as in 10Print, randomness plays a much larger role. | + | In this theoretical example, the randomness played only a small role in the story. In some artworks, as in 10 PRINT, randomness plays a much larger role. |
For example, Duchamp's 3 Standard Stoppages and their use in the Large Glass. | For example, Duchamp's 3 Standard Stoppages and their use in the Large Glass. | ||
