Unsent replies

I've just discovered that my ISP misconfigured PINE and that none
of my email has actually been sent for most of the last week.
This is an old post, sorry for the delay, but it's Deltanet's fault.

My remarks about humans being lousy antennae referred to EMF fields
though the idea may be metaphorically extended to other alleged,
but IMO illusory, "energies" for which I see no real evidence.
Even if one "tuned" the associated mental "circuitry," humans would
still be lousy antennae for physical reasons.

As for the "organizing field" returning to the Creator, I think it
equally possible that it just dissipates. However, I don't really
think there is an organizing field around human bodies, even
metaphorically.

That doesn't rule out some sort of afterlife; some theologies believe
that while humans do not have souls during or before life, they are
perfectly "remembered" by "God" after death and thus have an existence
in His/Her/Its mind. Frank Tipler has given this idea a technological
twist in his book "The Physics of Immortality," in which God is replaced
by a giant computer capable of simulating/emulating every sentient being
who has ever existed. However, Tipler's argument is based on some
speculative ideas about the fate of the universe and whether the
re-collapse can generate an infinite amount of energy to run and organize
the computer which some future race has to build. Tipler's theophysics
does have the virtue that in principle it is testable by observation
and measurement. If the present day universe does not have certain
measurable properties, the type of physical evolution necessary for
his argument is impossible.

Andrew: What does NPD 36 stand for (in English as well as Polish)?
Has Tomasz composed any music in this system? Why did he
decide on the cycle of 1152/octave? I understand 768 because
that is the resolution of many synthesizers.

Jonathan W: I'm glad to find out what these functions are
really called. What I meant was that the prime nomenclature
is to be used by default and the odd descriptor added when
context is not clear. If I were writting about Partch and
said "9-limit," I think my meaning would be clear.

There is a problem with skipped factors, but I think a minor
one. If we need to be precise, one could use something like
Erv Wilson's notation, e.g.," the 2)4 [1.3.5.7] hexany" for the
six-tone set generated from the factors 1,3,5 and 7 taken 2 at
a time. Perhaps commas might be used instead to separate factors
and subharmonic relations indicated by a preposed - or /.
Or, as you suggest, the Euler exponential form with positive and
negative exponents.

I think both prime and odd number limits have musical meaning.
In a chord such as the 5:7:9 triads studied by Max Matthews,
Linda Roberts and John Pierce, the 9 does not function as 3^2 and
similarly in other triads such as 7:9:11 (used by Partch), and 9:11:13.
Even in the dom major 9th formation 4:5:6:7:9, I'm not sure that the 9
is heard necessarily as the fifth of 6. Doty reports that the ratio
9/4 is at least a quasi-consonance or "special relation" in his JI primer.
Hence, I think at least some composite odd numbers have a meaning beyond
their factors.

Kathleen Schlesinger's harmoniai included one with a modal determinant
of 18 and possibly also ones 15 and 21 as variants of 16 and 22.
Whatever the historical status of her theories, the scales themselves
are fascinating.

Johnny: One could describe oneself as simply "agnostic," at least
in informal conversation. The term, unfortunately, is has some ambiguity
as it may mean that the person doesn't know and/or additionally that
the subject or answer is unknowable.

Damien: I don't wish to deny your own very meaningful personal
experiences, if I understand your post, but the earth truly is
round and does orbit the sun (actually the solar barycenter) and
I fail to see how denying these facts enriches one's spiritual life.

If one truly needs astrology to have a meaningful life, there are
heliocentric versions, ones with 13 house zodiacs which include the
constellation Ophiuchus, and practitioners who use the positions of
Chiron, the major asteroids, and the outer planets not known in classical
times. I would not be surprised if versions including the recently
discovered extra-solar planets do not appear soon.

Frankly, just because something is old doesn't make it right.
Astrology developed during Hellenistic times largely on the basis
of earlier Babylonian astronomy and only makes sense if one believed
that the planets are gods. Since we now know that they are material
bodies, this justification is removed.

There are other problems with Hellenistic astrology unrelated to
geocentrism and pagan theology. The equinoxes have precessed about 30
degrees since Ptolemy's time and not all astrologers have updated their
doctrines. Contrary to classical astrology, the Counter-Earth
(Antichthon) does not exist -- computations have shown that it would
measurably perturb Mars and Venus and would itself become visible in
less than a century. Direct photography of the planets by earth-based
and satellite telescopes have not shown it either, in conflict with
Orfeo Angelucci's claims for "Clarion.
"
I know of no evidence for astrology that is dated to 4000 BCE or
anything else. Literacy starts in the Near East sometime around
3200 BCE, slightly later in Egypt.

I'm sorry to have to say so, but synchronicity is intellectually empty.
"Meaningful coincidences" are only recognized post-hoc and the criteria
are entirely subjective. There is no evidence whatsover for "racial
memory, "collective unconscious," and other similar ideas attributed
(correctly or not) to Jung. However, not all of Jung's work is nonsense
-- his "archetypes" may have some existence as reflections of the
"wiring" of the nervous system and its pattern recognition algorithms.

Jim: All languages have onomatopoeic words which do not necessarily
obey the regular rules of sound changes or sound patterns. English is
comparatively rich in "phonesthemes," segments of words with similar
meaning and sound (fl in words like flame, flicker, flash, flimmer;
sp in splash, spray, sprinkle, etc.). While in general the relation
between sound and meaning is arbitrary, there is some sound symbolism
in most, if not all, languages.

While superficially very different, there are universals of language
due to common properties of the human nervous system as well as
invariants in the environment. It is probable that language has
evolved only once and that all human languages are genetically
related, though the time depth is large that reconstruction of the
primordial "proto-Earth" is most likely impossible. Most linguists
feel that 10 Kyears is too long.

Resemblances across languages may be due to descent, borrowing,
independent invention or imitation. I don't find this very surprising
or mysterious, though highly interesting.

Since most speech sounds have harmonic partials, It is not surprising
that we may prefer harmonic timbres and intervals. Similarly, our
nervous system has a characteristic time constant, our hearing a certain
frequency sensitivity, our heart beat a fairly narrow range of rates, etc.,
so I'm not surprised at musical similarities across cultures, save perhaps
for our own which seems the most deviant of all to me. What other
culture deliberatively writes unsingable melodies, uses unplayable
(and undanceable) rhythms, and specifies unnatural intervals? What is
remarkable is that we can learn to enjoy them .

Bruce: Could you give some examples of mystical givens in science?
I'll stipulate that I, you, and the rest of the universe exist and
neither it or we are entirely irrational and chaotic....

John Starrett: While quantum mechanics does suggest "action at a
distance," the effects are severely limited by decoherence which
destroys non-local correlations, save in laboratory experiments.
The probabilities for "tunnelling" on the macroscopic scale are
miniscule. As for dynamical systems, perturbations, attractors,
etc., first one must show that the dynamical system exists.
An arbitrary set of phenomena does not a dynamical system make
(see the above on synchronicity). (I believe it was Gerry Balzano
who said this of spectra in reference to timbres for electronic
music.)

However, I strongly agree with your last statement about
music of the spheres. If someone writes it, I will listen.

--John



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