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Re: musique cement



> >  it's like trying to have a conversation with someone but only being allowed
> > to recite prepared sentences.  I want to talk freely.  is that a good
> > enough reason?

correct me if i'm wrong, but from what i understand, a good part of the
things you & i say are "prepared" in some way, otherwise your brain
would be working way too hard trying to reinvent the wheel all the time.
 what your brain does is patching up pieces of possible conversation in
order to form more or less what you mean.  (but maybe someone better
versed in linguistics can precise/refute this?)

that of course doesn't say anything of the fact that nobody can ever
"talk freely" without learning of vocabulary & grammar basics, or even
inventing their own rules.  meaning certainly does not come out of thin
air...  this continues the analogy with the computer which "learns"
sounds & methods, which you can trigger later on as you think of
something you would like to have it "say"...  the more relevant data you
have, the more precise you can be.

computers will allow you to "talk freely" only insofar as you teach it
the vocabulary & grammar you need.  in that sense, it isn't so different
from our own capacity of making sense through speech.

another comment to finish: a good saxophone player will feel that they
can "play freely" & express everything they want through their
instrument.  but the truth is, they can't make a C64-like "BLEEP!!!"
sound even if they wanted to.  yet, the musician will insist that they
feel "free" to play what they want.  they will not have the feeling that
they are, in fact, repeating figures, sentences, tricks that they have
practiced, prepared, thought of hundreds of times before.  freedom is,
as ever, a very relative thing.

have a nice day
~ david

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