Category: MUSIC IN PHASE SPACE
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You Can’t Re-synthesize a Synthesis
In science, a synthesis is the process of combining separate elements to form a coherent whole, a compound that has unique properties distinct from its individual parts. In chemistry, for example, hydrogen and oxygen can be synthesized into water—a substance with entirely new characteristics compared to its gaseous components. In physics, synthesis brings together forces,…
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Aurora and Tithonus
Imagine Tithonus, old Tithonus, sagging in skin and brittle in bone, trapped by Aurora’s misguided gift. Eternal life in a prison of withered flesh. Time turns, decades blur, but his body crawls forward in slow decay. And Aurora, still young, still radiant, like an eternal ad on the highway for some elixir of beauty, unchanging,…
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Philosophy is the Original Technology
If I were to expand on this, I’d say it’s like watching engineers attempting to construct a building but stopping at the scaffolding. Philosophy, after all, is the original technology. It’s the underlying framework that got us thinking about thinking. But most engineers don’t go beyond the surface—content with the Microcontroller Unit, that simple, mechanical,…
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Have a Cigar
Scene: Dimly lit record label office, smoke curling through the air. Peter Coyote lounges at the head of a massive leather couch, cool, calculating, sizing up the young band sitting across from him. The musicians look equal parts excited and nervous, caught somewhere between awe and dread. Coyote lights a cigar, gestures grandly for them…
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The Garage
Ray: “It’s the garage, Bill. The garage itself. Not some ordinary space filled with nails, wood shavings, and the detritus of middle-class American living. No, this garage, it’s alive. Like one of those shops in the old stories, the ones that weren’t there yesterday and won’t be there tomorrow. But today? Today it hums with…
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Finite vs. Infinite Rewards: The Hidden Structure of Satisfaction
In today’s world, where software dominates much of our interaction with both work and leisure, it’s easy to see why we might expect quick, noticeable payoffs for our efforts. After all, software and its network effects often produce immediate and tangible rewards—think of the dopamine rush of a viral post or the convenience of an…
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Hyperreality is Thinning Out:
For decades, we’ve lived in a world that is less and less rooted in reality and more in layers of hyperreality—constructed narratives and illusions carefully pieced together by media, corporations, and political forces. But now, in an age where every person carries a camera in their pocket and can broadcast the world’s raw, unsanitized messiness…
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Entanglement theory is contrary to all libertarian tenets
Entanglement theory spits in the face of libertarian delusions, shattering their fantasy of pristine individualism. Turns out, the universe doesn’t give a damn about your “personal autonomy”—everything’s tangled in an invisible web, whether you like it or not. While libertarians preach self-reliance, quantum mechanics laughs and reminds them that no one, not even a particle,…
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Robots with Passion: How Creators, Platforms, and the Lizard Brain Redefine Creativity
In the digital age, creators have become central to the success of platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Yet, many of these creators would not pass the Turing test, a benchmark for determining whether artificial intelligence can imitate human intelligence to the point of being indistinguishable from a real person. Their content often feels robotic,…