The Concert review

The Concert review

From the mid-twentieth century, the complete melodic process was re-evaluated from the songwriter to the audience, taking a chance and freedom into consideration. A chance operation refers to the process of creating anything, a composition in this case, against the will of the composer. John Cage used these operations to mimic nature’s existence and mode of operation. In the 1950s, he used the I Ching in his compositions, incorporating a symbol system to create chance-based compositions (Bandt). While they engaged in a chess match on an electronic chess board developed by one inventor, Lowell Cross, Cage and Duchamp came up with an impromptu composition “The Concert” using chance operations and which lasted for almost five hours.

Contrary to the assumptions and criticism about their chess game, Cage and his fellow composers emphasized that the chance operation was based on the opening and closing of sixty-four photoresistors (Jones). The process also consisted of contact microphones, which made it possible for the listeners to hear the actual moves of the chess pieces of the board. A single move made by either of the participants would cause the board to set off one of the numerous electronic systems that generate different sounds. Moreover, oscilloscopic photographs were produced from customized monochrome and color television screens. These images enabled them to visually monitor the various sound events generated by the chessboard as they played (Jones).

The chance operation system by John Cage influenced quite many American composers such as Christian Wolff, Erle Brown, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and many more. He influenced many art and music students across Europe as well, who undoubtedly acknowledge his work. Quite a few noise music artists have also cited Cage as an influence on their music. Primarily, he applied the I Ching as a means of separating his purpose of finding delight in observing what would happen in the end. Cage always anticipated that he would find the outcome to be satisfying. Although, according to chance, the art designs are supposed to be made with disregard for any likes or dislikes, he appeared to want a result that he would find pleasant (Bandt). All in all, for him, the target of art was self-alteration instead of self-expression.

Q2: The LIfebox, the Seashell, and the Soul

The retired computer science professor Rucker, in his vast and progressive work, mentions that life is all computations. He gives several instances of our day to day activities, which he claims to be computational processes. These activities include hunting, agriculture, speaking, and other examples of computations that occur naturally. Rucker, therefore, tries to modify these computations with the use of cellular automata. He uses four classes to distinguish between these classes of computation. Although he views the world as being beyond calculation, eventually, he persuasively asserts his initial idea that the computational approach offers some point of view on life’s actuality.

Wolfram’s Principle of Computational Equivalence

Stephen Wolfram’s expostulation concerning the computer revolution debate is that almost all things and processes are equivalent in terms of computation. This principle relates to class 1 and 2 of the courses of calculation by Wolfram. Rucker customizes Wolfram’s primal ideas s that he could compare them to his day to day endeavors, where he comes up with six viable stipulations for one to acquire happiness. Notably, the principle mentions that “systems that occur naturally in the world can compute to a maximum (global) level of computational power” (Rowland and Weisstein).

Additionally, almost all systems are capable of acquiring the optimal level of computational power. As a result, most of these systems are equivalent to computationally. Take, for instance, the functioning of the human brain in the prediction and assessment of weather forecasting systems. The human brain could, ideally, process a similar output as that of a computer. Hence, this implies that computational processes are merely a matter of harmonizing inputs and outputs processes between systems.

Wolfram’s Principle of Computational Unpredictability

There exist numerous manifestations of computational unpredictability in systems that range from the ability to make decisions to intractability. The unpredictability of homogeneous attributes is consequential in various scientific areas like biology. For example, some animals and plants are similar in structure as well as their functional indifferences, which prohibits them from suffering the effects of continuously changing their form and also their composition. More specifically, the act of spreading of wings by some birds around predators could be viewed as a logical move aiming to deceive the predator while protecting their offspring. In any case, they are successful, and the birds take a different path towards their offspring’s actual location. This logical characteristic is evident in several systems in the world, be it in mathematical processes, physics, biology, or in our day to day lives.