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"I'm a farm boy. It's very interesting; you can detect self-starting characteristics in this society and they are strongest among people who have had some kind of rural upbringing and a very impressionable stage."
- Frank Herbert
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| Computer Generated DigItal Music | ||
| A computer composes music with a few simple inputs from the user. |
I'm sure there must be earlier references to this idea in sf, but I'm still looking.
| Waves, repetitions, pulsatons, rumblings, the rise of a violin taking off can all be described by a Fourier Series-an amalgamation of sine & cosine waves of different frequencies & amplitudes. A frequency is a number. An amplitude is a number. Charlie composed by choosing the number and deciding when to change it. His computer executed the command. He created his own computer language for imitating instruments. It was a simple matter to write a subroutine for oboe or violin or harmonica |
| Technovelgy from The Moon Goddess and the Son ,
by Donald Kingsbury. Published by Not known in 1979 Additional resources -
|
In an interview published in Wired magazine (August, 2010) Fred Brooks states that he programmed a computer to produce hymns in the 1950's. Brooks is the author of the famous The Mythical Man-Month.
Thanks to Dennis Cote for finding this item and sharing it with us.
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'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
