Reptilian Revolution

Almost unquantized music.

Q: Is this a concept album?
A: Yes. Its subject matter is not only derived from those entertaining kooks who see shapeshifting reptilians on u-tube videos with their very own eyes, hence they must exist; there are also references to more serious topics such as the unhealthy state of affairs alluded to in this previous post.

Limited edition

When does it make sense to publish something on the internet, let's say a recording, as though it were a limited edition? A de facto limitation in the number of downloads is not impossible to achieve if the item is made to drown in the information deluge and then taken off-line as soon as it has been downloaded some specified number of times. Then of course one cannot guarantee that it will never be uploaded again, although that can be made a bit awkward by having very large files.

Does this strategy really work if the internet never forgets? (The Wayback Machine takes care of that, although they do not necessarily save all audio that floats around out there. Can we hope that some unnamed data centre in Utah or elsewhere stores it for us? Maybe, if you send it as an email attachment.) Usually people do their best to boost the number of views and fight hard for their page ranks. Doing the opposite clearly has its merits if the analog of a limited edition is the goal. Obviously, the idea of limited edition is tied to physical media, to something people can hold in their hands, so a digital file will not easily do as a replacement. The point of limited editions is exactly to make it clear that the resource is scarce, the object you are holding in your hands is a collectors item.

[announcement]

Thinking along these lines, I have published the two hour apocryphal piece Teem Work, which I intend to replace with something else before it has become too widespread. Although it can be downloaded, the following reasons speak against it.

• The composition is merely a sketch. 
• It will occupy more space on your hard disk than strictly necessary. 
• It will steal two hours of your precious time. You'll never get them back.

It should be added that Teem Work features synthesis by cross-coupled feedback FM as described in a previous post.

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Update (December 2015):

A remixed edition is now available as a digital album. Still it will steal two hours of your time, precious or not.

Open access

The benefits of open-access publishing are widely acknowledged. The arXiv is a splendid site for keeping up-to-date on physics, mathematics, computer science and a few other fields. Just pick your specialization!

arXiv: adaptation and self-organization. This is where they compute with slime and synchronize oscillators. The Kuramoto model shows up every now and then. It seems to be tackled from ever more complicated angles each time.

arXiv: math, history and overview. Unlike more specialized fields, some papers in this section may be partially comprehensible even to lay people with an interest in mathematics.

While the arXiv offers its readers free access, their endorsement system does not allow everyone to publish with them. That is presumably why there is a site like vixra, which has no peer review at all and where anyone can submit papers. And so they do! Crackpots solve all the mysteries of the universe, and no one believes them. (Well, perhaps the truth is far too many believe them.) There is even a name for this sort of behaviour, it is called the Dunning-Kruger effect: incompetent individuals are not even able to realize that they are incompetent.

Then there are all these new open access journals with absurdly broad scope that often cannot be taken seriously.

Ubuweb is a different matter. Being included in their collection should be viewed as the equivalent of winning a prestigious prise, although some copyright holders may disagree. If they do, they should think twice. But ubuweb may not be with us forever.

Ambiguation

Concerning the origins of pataphysics

There is still the Collège de 'Pataphysique (the apostrophe is preferably dropped in non-french languages). Now, over a decade après l'Occultation, they are even more secretive than ever. As for Ubu-quity, the official college describes the all-pervasive character of pataphysics:

Nous trouvons la Pataphysique dans les Sciences Exactes ou Inexactes (ce qu’on n'ose avouer), dans les Beaux-Arts et les Laids, dans les Activités et Inactivités Littéraires de toutes sortes.

In short, pataphysics is found everywhere. The approximate sciences and the foul arts deserve some closer attention. Both of them appear to have some connection with so-called practice based research in art. And what about literary passivity? If everyone wants to become a famous author (with phynances galore), then who is going to read all their books?

Pardon the ambiguation, but this blog is not about pataphysics, although that is clearly impossible. My previous attempt in that direction had to be abandoned.