Whilst researching into artificial intelligence I came across this article. David Cope is a composer that wrote a computer program he called Experiments in Musical Intelligence. The program was written to analyse past compositions from great composers such as Bach or Beethoven and read the notes like data. Once the data has been read in the program identifies common patterns and styles within the composition and recreates those techniques for new arrangements and compositions. The thing I find most interesting about EMI is the reaction the software received from the audience of music lovers. If a machine can mimic and create works of beauty equal to that of the greats then does this discredit and invalidate the idea of the master piece? It reminds me of the core marxist belief of metaphysical materialism which states:
the mind, or thought, is purely the product of the material composition of the brain.
Quote from site
