[grawprog]

>It is funny how willing computer scientists are to want to use a duct tape analogy.

I'm not a computer scientist. I'm just going off of the way I learn and the way i've watched other people learn or the way i've seen people learn while i've been teaching them or training them. That and the general way everything kind of works. As amazing as everything in the world seems, when you break everything down to the smallest components, they all rely on the same skills and techniques we've been using since we were picking berries and hunting mammoths. The materials, accuracy and scales of our work have changed and improved dramatically, but fundamentally, most of what we do can be traced back to the same old things we've always done. We're just really good at building on layers and layers of things and applying things and knowledge to novel concepts and ideas.

Take music for an example, we just keep making the same music over and over and over again, yet we still find new and novel ways to make it sound different and new to the point where most people don't realize they've been listening to the same few songs in new forms for the last 100 years or so at least.

[nwienert]

Your music example is just wrong. Music has changed consistently, constantly and honestly miraculously and in such beautiful ways over the years. From all the great classical geniuses to jazz to the extraordinary advances in sound design and mixing, avante garde and experimental new styles that show up year after year, I mean that’s your example? Sorry, but disagree, strongly.

[joenot443]

> we just keep making the same music over and over and over again, yet we still find new and novel ways to make it sound different and new to the point where most people don't realize they've been listening to the same few songs in new forms for the last 100 years or so at least.

What do you mean by this? Oftentimes I see people reaching the conclusion that because a lot of modern music is built around the same major scales and largely homogenous chord progressions, it must be the same, but this simply isn't the case.

[grawprog]

>a lot of modern music is built around the same major scales and largely homogenous chord progressions, it must be the same, but this simply isn't the case.

But it is, to the point where there's songs I learn only somewhat and i'll get confused to which lyrics are which and I'll sing a mix of the two songs when playing them, imagine and no woman no cry jump are two it happens to me with all the time. Same with truly madly deeply and kryptonite oddly enough. Then there's the whole pachabel's canon meme which is entirely true. There's a few songs, the most recent is some maroon 5 and i think a jonas brother's song which I was confused as hell as to why I liked until I realized they're just another rework of canon.

That's not even getting started on the direct ripoffs such as the 1000'@ of songs based on the Amen break or the thousands of songs that are basically a simple 8 or 12 bar blues progression or the tangled web of constant remakes that is reggae and dancehall and every song that lifts a bassline or melody from them without credit all the way up to such obscure things as the friendly neighbours tune from earthbound being a relick of the real rock riddim.