If you were to present one kind of music to non-human itelligence, what would it be? The limitation is that it must fit within 64M of storage. I believe that a stock wave format is what the encoding would be. Given that I think we're looking at a length of 9 minutes. Anything is possible, but what might best describe humanity? The reasons behind this question will explained later.18 responses total.
What does the first sentence (question) mean? What kind of "non-human intelligence"? That of a worm, or an ape, and how would it be "presented"?
Rane's Credo: Question Everything, except my own Know-It-All-Ness.
re #1, 2: Well, I can think of one tiresome duet that I wouldn't consider.
re #0:
> Anything is possible, but what might best describe humanity?
What might best describe humanity, or what would I choose to present?
Maybe "best describes" isn't what one would willingly choose.
I'm sure this choice is pretty cliched, but upon reflection I believe
I would choose the Ode to Joy movement from Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
My reasoning:
1) it's moving (by human standards)
2) its sentiment (again by human standards) is positive and
uplifting and the music is dynamic and exciting.
3) it contains both musical instrumentation and human voices,
(as performed, usually both male and female) giving the
recipient(s) a chance to hear a wider range of musical
expression.
4) it's historically significant in the development of human
music.
5) Beethoven rocks.
i think humanity could be summed up by just about any brittany spears recording, at least american mainstream humanity. would it be possible to put a jpg of some fastfood trash blowing around the parking lot of a stripmall next to a clearcut on the olympic penn. on it?
Weren't Bach and the Beatles the choice already blasted into space?
Jeffrey's credo: dump on Rane? Re #3: I've gotten totally tired of Beethoven's 9th. Loud and repetitive. I did, however, play his 6th so much when I was in my 20's that I can identify it from hearing any couple of bars. I don't think there is any particular piece of music that "best describes the human spirit". How can it? Humanity is much more complex than a bucket of notes. Certain musical passages have, however, gotten pretty well identified with certain human moods - at least in Western music.
re #6: I also prefer Beethoven's 6th (aka "Pastoral") symphony to the 9th.
But I don't think there's a short section of it that's quite as choice
as excerpt as the bit of the 9th that I'd choose.
Jeffrey's credo: dump on Rane? Who dumped on whom first, bigshot?
Jeffrey has been doing all the "dumping". I've only been asking questions and challenging certain assumptions. Scuh as, where's your evidence, pal?
See, this is a perfect example of why I'd go for something other than "best describes the human spirit.."
OK. Let's get serious. I nominate "Beer Barrel Polka".
oh totally! in fact that song should be the new national anthem.
Sorry I wasn't a little more specific. Use "intelligent, thinking non-human entities" as the intended subjects of my query.
Like, whales?
Maybe STeve has extraterrestrial aliens in mind. Has SETI finally struck pay dirt?
Nope.
Wouldn't the music that best describes the human spirit be something which describes the Chinese or Indian spirit?
the C-scale, it has most of the songs in the world in it, just need arranging.
You have several choices: