generative music algorithms are not something new. brian eno was somewhat of a pioneer in the idea in the 1970s, but his own ideas have roots in the ideas of composers like iannis xenakis in the middle of the last century, which come out of serialism. musicians have been trying to destroy the book on music theory since the day after it was written.

i have used algorithms to create music as well, most prominently on this record, released in late 2000:

https://jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj.bandcamp.com/album/deny-everything-lp-4th-record-sample-free-instrumental-remaster

the last track, acidosis, features live performances (piano, guitar, bass, organ, synth, mandolin, flute) and algorithms generating sound via midi sequencing (drums, synthesizers, noise generators) and is very much a collaboration between myself and the computer.

my high school music teacher in the mid 90s was fond of a computer program called "jazz in a box" that would generate midi patterns using ai algorithms. how real it sounded depended on how real the sound fonts were, not on the underlying computer program.

i would be more concerned about midi sequencing + sampling technology taking the jobs of session musicians for instruments outside of standard band instrumentation. as a composer, i can afford to tell a computer to play a violin part, but i can't afford to hire a violin player. maybe i could find a friend that would do it for free. if i was a major production studio, i would be able to afford it but wouldn't want to if i didn't have to. sampling is a more serious threat than ai, but it's also progress in the sense of maximizing compositional flexibility and creative options in real-time spontaneity during the composing process.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2024/music-ai-creativity/?itid=mr_opinions_4

no, i am a realist. i like facts, truth. and i'm brutal, yes. i'm not interested in magical thinking or prayer or hope or faith.

the volume of water in the glass is equal to 50% of the total volumetric capacity of the glass, presumably at room temperature and at sea level (nobody ever specifies that).

and hamas is a bloodthirsty terrorist group that only a fool would try to negotiate with.

there's not going to be a deal to release the hostages and pretending that there is going to be one is just wasting everybody's time and putting the lives of those that remain alive in greater danger of ending before they can be rescued. the reality is that they are going to be exploited for maximum profit and then killed by their captive murderers, unless the idf can get there first and release them. 

the real narrative is that the idf is faced with a race against time to rescue them before they are killed. there will be no "negotiation".

this is why it is against the law in the united states to negotiate with terrorists and why biden should be impeached for negotiating with hamas.

a small percentage may be lucky enough to get rescued. most will not be.

this is the actual choice facing the israeli government in terms of what they are actually able to do: to make decisions allocating resources expended on rescue operations, to determine what is feasible and what may backfire.

it may turn out that these six people were killed because the idf was on it's way there. that just demonstrates the point - there is no way out other than through special operations by the idf, when they are feasible. they were never going to be released. they were always going to be killed when it was most beneficial for hamas to do so.

netanyahu didn't murder the hostages.

hamas murdered the hostages.

focus your grief and rage on the criminal element committing crimes, not on the state trying to bring them to justice.

it's not a question of trying to prioritize a hostage deal vs fighting hamas, as though hamas is willing to just hand back the hostages if you were to ask them nicely. this is a false narrative being irresponsibly presented by the media.

the nature of hamas' demands makes a negotiation virtually impossible. they are demanding things like the release of mass murderers (and what are they going to do if you release them? kill more jews. that would be a losing interaction) and the recognition of a sovereign state in gaza, which is a ridiculous proposition.

everybody wants the hostages released but so long as hamas holds to absurd demands and insists on trying to extort concessions the process is a nonstarter and the outcome is impossible. it is a more realistic tactic to get the hostages back by forcing hamas to surrender via the use of overwhelming force than it is to expect them to release the hostages in exchange for one of their nonsensical demands.

history will understand this; that's not a real choice, it's a false narrative that doesn't actually exist.

i'm not exactly a bassist; in fact, i've been (by far) the best guitarist in every room i've ever been in when i've been asked to play bass, which is just the point. you know a guitarist is capable when they can also play bass. a guitarist that can't play bass should be told the truth, which is that they need to go back to guitar school. i'm not ashamed of repeatedly playing bass in scenarios where i'm in a room with five arrogant macho loser guys that claim to play guitar, and of which none of them know what an augmented chord is.

but this idea that nobody cares about bass players is bollocks.

bass players people have cared about:

- paul mccartney

- brian wilson

- roger waters

- blixa bargeld

- geddy lee

- mike watt

- lemmy

- kim deal

- kim gordon

- tony iommi (sorry.)

- jack bruce

- sting

- flea

like, i'm just getting started.

"nobody cares about the bassist" is a legit stupid comment. in rock music, especially, bass is incredibly important and it runs across sub-genres. even most pop bands that everybody agrees are driven strongly by their singers (like nirvana or green day) would be essentially unlistenable with less talented bassists. people might not know it if they don't understand music, but they would not have gotten anywhere without their respective bassists. kurt cobain would have been a mail order gigolo without krist novoselic writing riffs for him.

if anybody ever tells you that to their face, take their beer out of their hand and dump it on their head for me, then tell them jessica told you to do it.