September 11, 2024

"How should we create things?"

"One popular idea is that we ought to 'make' things. In books like Robert Pirsig’s 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' and Matthew Crawford’s 'Shop Class as Soulcraft,' we encounter the notion that there’s something special about making things yourself, to your own specifications, with a particular goal in mind and in a particular state of mind—a kind of elevated craftsmanship. 'Craftsmanship means dwelling on a task for a long time and going deeply into it, because you want to get it right,' Crawford writes. He’s thinking mainly about making tough, hefty things with your hands—furniture, engines, houses, and so on.... Eno has a different way of imagining creativity.... Demonstrating some of the software he uses for creating generative music, he shows how a few elements can be designed and then put into motion—a keyboard melody, for example, can be fed through a program that randomly skips some of its notes, so that the melody renders differently as it repeats.... The idea is that the music isn’t finished. It will continue growing without him.... Applying a little Eno to my writing can loosen it up, shifting it from the precise, controlled, responsible 'making' track onto the playful, surprising, impersonal 'growing' track...."

Writes Joshua Rothman in "How Should We Create Things? In a new documentary, the musician Brian Eno shows that playfulness can substitute for inspiration" (The New Yorker).

17 comments:

gilbar said...

Music For Airports is unquestionably one of the best albums Ever.

Dixcus said...

"We should use AI to create stuff. That way, the ChatGPT computers do all the work and we get all the money and fame." - Shorter Brian Eno

This also works for journalism, books, painting, lawyering/judges, etc.

mikee said...

Discrete Music was the second album I ever purchased, in 1977. A "new" documentary, showing how Brian Eno has been making music since I was a college kid in the 1970s, seems a retro approach to novelty.

Gerda Sprinchorn said...

Can you give us some insight into why it is great?

PJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kate said...

In order to "make" something, you must first learn the basics of your craft, even in music and programming. None of these skills come out of the air and waft over you in a magical dusting.

PJ said...

Is it still cheating if Eno programmed his own ChatGPT 50 years ago before using it to help generate his music?

n.n said...

Creation or correlation? Playfulness or whimsy? We'll have a gay old time.

gilbar said...

Yes! Yes i CAN!
It was the Original ambient music.. It isn't wallpaper music..
It's Barely Music at All
In the album's liner notes, Eno explained:
Whereas conventional background music is produced by stripping away all sense of doubt and uncertainty (and thus all genuine interest) from the music, Ambient Music retains these qualities. And whereas their intention is to `brighten' the environment by adding stimulus to it (thus supposedly alleviating the tedium of routine tasks and levelling out the natural ups and downs of the body rhythms) Ambient Music is intended to induce calm and a space to think. Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular;
it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.

you Keep waiting for it to start..eventually, you realize it's OVER
BUT; there's ALWAYS something happening. You can play TOTAL ATTENTION to the details (which are entrancing), until you realize that there really AREN'T any details. Or, you can just sit back and let it wash over you.
It's like listening to the whistling pines on a alpine peek (but, NOT)
You Tube: Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports [Full Album]

gilbar said...

Here's a better insight (from the you tube comments):

@davidkonevky7372 3 years ago
This sounds like you're about to enter heaven. And before you enter, you go into a long hallway of all the things humanity has accomplished, and you feel like your quest is over, and you can relax.

Aggie said...

Shoot man that's Yoga music.

MOfarmer said...

I read Pirsig's book when I was in grad school back then. I found it intellectually exhilarating. Unfortunately it didn't influence my practical life. I have a son who is involved with "elevated craftmanship" (producing electronic house music). Does it having never read Pirsig.

Narr said...

I tried to read Pirsig on the recommendation of a friend. Couldn't get past the first 15-20 pages.

Narr said...

Bro!

Rusty said...

It's not so much about motorcycle maintenance, but his journey from madness to sanity.
If you want to know how to fix a motorcycle,(or anything else), take one apart and then put it back together. After a year or two, and your bike is still in boxes, give me a call and I'll give ten cents on the dollar.

Josephbleau said...

You can't create anything, you can only rearrange the particles. Often the rearranged particles are more useful in some ways, than they were before.

If you are speaking of the nudging of sensory inputs to provoke a response from a meat creature via visuals or audio, then, well, you are on your own, partner.

Smilin' Jack said...

Getting creative with motorcycle maintenance is a really bad idea.