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by astazangasta 3673 days ago
Easy. A "soul" is a collection of thoughts and narratives that define the core of your being, many of which are held in common with other human beings. I think this is a useful requirement for a soul, since this means that ensouled creatures must participate in a community of discourse/culture along with humans. If AI can't do this, it's worthless.
1 comments
bch 3672 days ago
AI will "fake it till it makes it."

I'm listening to Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin right now. What about those can't be analyzed and recreated ? There's not complex bowing technique or lyrics to speak of, but it's still relatable, and some I'm sure would say soulful. BoC for certain (by their tone) evoke "nostalgia". Does that qualify as soulful ? Does it seem out of reach of algorithms ?

I think "soul" will have to be better qualified unless its just going to be tautological.

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astazangasta 3672 days ago
This is the wrong idea. Of course a machine can recreate Aphex Twin with perfect fidelity, just like, unfortunately, a monkey can recreate a Jackson Pollock.

But a machine does not yet have the capacity to lay its finger on the cultural pulse and create something new and slightly different that strikes a resonating cord, pulls people in a new direction, makes them grow, because in addition to having a certain algorithmic description, the music they are making also betrays a certain darkness, a blend of fear, grotesque and dissonance that is there, somewhere down inside us, and that we love despite its ugliness. Until a machine can discover this part of humanity and translate this roiling mass into music, it hasn't managed the same feat as Aphex Twin.

This is what makes music great, that it is born from a place that requires loving observation of humanity. Real creativity requires having insights about humans, representing them in art, and exposing your insight through a particular medium. The image itself, the sound, means nothing. It's the reception, the speaker, the meaning, that matters.

A machine has no place in society. It isn't "straight out of Compton". It CANNOT make music.

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TheOtherHobbes 3672 days ago
Not so sure about that.

James/Aphex said back in 1997 that he was using algocomp for some of his music. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphex_Twin#Musical_style

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astazangasta 3671 days ago
It does not matter. This is just a human using a tool to create music. It's identical to him playing the piano. The machine is not doing the work of making his music socially relevant, he is.
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