Thermodynamic systems seek equilibrium in the amount of heat allowed in the system. As more heat enters, the system outputs excess heat thereby achieving balance . Every new bit of knowledge I get is like a marginal unit of heat entering the thermodynamic system that is my life. The drive to seek equilibrium by applying what I’m learning and experiencing more of the world is high. I become anxious operating at the margin. I read, I think, I write, and my mind simply wants to go off and see the things I read about. I want to make something or collect an experience that would allow me to bring my system into an equilibrium. Writing this post to you helps — I imagine you’ve been in a similar situation before. Taking a walk helps. Making food from scratch — that helps. Breathing and realizing that the time I have right now is the time that matters. I can’t have my cake and eat it. I can’t experience and do all of the things my brain would like to do. No. I can only do what I can at this present moment — and what all I can do is write and share.
I’m stuck. What is the value of music? Yes, when music is created live it dies within seconds of its production. I play a note on the piano, and the note decays. I play chords on the piano, the sound decays. The life of sound is short. Yes, when music is streamed or played back, it dies with the click of a button. I can push pause or stop any time I want. Yes, music is easily created. Artificial intelligence creates music easily. Spotify’s CEO says the cost is “close to zero.” Memories are important to us. They help us retell the story of ourselves and our communities. These stories are important because it’s how culture is created and reinforced. Our memories also fail us, and therefore our stories lose their fidelity and robustness; the bonds that keep the culture together loosen and our groups fall apart. Music is like a key that when put into the lock that is our personal (or collective) memory, we can retell the stories of who we are and why we are.If that’s true, then is it possible the value of music is the value of our stories. And if our stories help us communicate who we are, then it must be impossible to calculate the value of music. Perhaps musicians can ask, “how valuable are the memories you hope to create?”
I’m still new to Ted Gioia’s “Honest Broker” blog. I’m loving it. On July 27th he wrote, “A 2000-Year-Old Argument Over the Flute is the Most Important Thing in Our Culture Right Now.”
Ted’s article references Adam Smith, writer of “On The Wealth of Nations”, and his views that the production of music is of no value. Ted writes about Plato and Aristotle and how both had similar thoughts about music, or did they.
Felipe Pantoja and Adilson Borges believe music tempo effects the evaluation of food and purchase intentions (gated study). I read their study and tried out their ideas at a gig.
I played a solo piano gig earlier in the week. The study, linked above, suggests that music around 110 beats per minute (bpm) may increase arousal (activation) which increases evaluation of food/drink which increases purchase intent. My entire set list consisted of music played at ~110 bpm.
Ethan Mollick is as Professor of Innovation and Business at Wharton. He also wrote a book — “Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI.” He also writes the One Useful Thing blog.Ethan predicts that AI will displace the low value and repetitive tasks of workers. It may replace higher income or knowledge work. It also may free up human capital to be more productive on higher value stream tasks. Ted Gioia is a culture and music critic. He maintains The Honest Broker blog. Ted argues that the rise of AI has led Spotify to develop and push AI-created music, that our culture is stagnating as producers are overusing the same formulaic approach to popular music, and that there has not been any truly original and new music created lately. We’re regressing to music that is from our past. “The rapid rise of AI is actually the most profound evidence yet of cultural stagnation.”My thoughts: If AI is to make a splash in the workforce, then aggressively learn and care about AI.If our culture is to evolve, we need to create and ship work. If we are to keep creating and shipping work, we need to keep being curious.
Imagine if there was a soundtrack that accompanied your day. When I play piano, I imagine I’m adding to the sound track of someone’s life. This Stravinsky piece was the soundtrack I needed for my trip from Chicago to Milwaukee. 9pm, rainy, I’m one of a few people in the quiet car. Head sets with noise canceling on. Here I am thinking about what to say to you. I almost imagine myself with a type writer in some turn-of-the-centruy Parisian flat. Cafe below. What’s your soundtrack?
Tyler Cowen shared Audio Guestbook via Sunday blog post. Audio Guestbook is a service that sends a telephone to an event host so that guests can leave a voicemail instead of writing in a guestbook. In addition to sending the voicemails left at the event via digital file, Audio Guestbook will also send vinyl. I wonder what genesis question the founders asked themselves. What if I could just leave a voicemail instead of write a message in a guestbook? Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if there was a phone here that I could leave a voicemail instead? Maybe it would be cool if that phone looked like the bat phone or something…I met someone who thought creativity was an activity meant for artists. I disagree. Anybody can ask the question. The real skill is indulging the question longer than you think you should. That’s where the magic happens - at the margin of should.
If you’ve ever been accused of being an intimidating figure, consider these ideas to help.There are not many strong enough incentives to change who you are. Add instead.Admit a lack of knowledge. Be comfortable saying “I don’t know.”Make fun of your intensity. Learn to laugh at yourself — humanize.Become intensely generous and supportive. If you can, learn to slow down just a bit. “Taking a beat” is often enough.Don’t change who you are — you’re already fine. Consider adding.HT to Field Notes by Admired Leadership
“You gotta look back to go forward. "”
in wayfinding there is a navigational concept called reverse bearing. A reverse bearing is the opposite direction of your current bearing — the direction you would travel to return to your starting point.
If you wanted to find a reverse bearing, you add or subtract 180 degrees from your current bearing. Your goal is to find the exact opposite direction.
If you can understand the reverse bearing you can understand how to navigate back to the beginning. In the process of life, moving forward means embracing the path that leads us back to our origin — our ultimate home.
I’ve been musing about the point of life. Why bother when it’s all going to end? Questions like that. I just realized — life is a paradox and trying to understand it is absurd. The irony.Embrace the paradox. Accept life as being utterly uncertain, unpredictable, and totally opposite to how you will expect to move and shift and it might just show you something about itself.