Academic Stuff
The other day I went into my boss's office to discuss a couple of scientific papers he'd given me to read. Now my boss is all into game theory, forming mathematical models for the decisions people make, and the calculations people make in order to make a decision. He is interested in finding the "neural code" of decision making. He's a very rational kind of guy.
He gave me papers on how music generally exhibits 1/f behavior (having a 1/frequency power density spectrum), and it's *because* music is 1/f sound, that people like to listen to it. 1/f behavior is almost like Phi, the golden ratio, it's ubiquitous in natural phenomena. So he's basically saying the reason humans find music pleasurable, is that our auditory neurons are primed to respond to 1/f noise, which music is.
Now, to me, music goes hand in hand with emotion. Music can be cheerful, or sad, or whatever. It seems to me that the sound evokes certain emotions, and it's the emotions we're responding to. So, I walked into my bosses office, asking if any research had been done including emotions in this whole idea. He sat back slowly in his chair, smiling ever so slightly at me, telling me I "shouldn't go that route," that "consciousness," wasn't really a part of it. I hadn't even mentioned "consciousness." I responded back somewhat defensively, "Well, when I talk about emotions, I'm not necessarily trying to be qualitative," meaning that emotions can be discussed quantitatively, through amount of neurotransmitters and such. Nonetheless, he insisted that emotions cannot be a part of the whole 1/f music topic.
I just do not understand people's logic. You cannot possibly make progress if you stay inside a little traditional box. It's impossible. You will eventually go in circles. Plus I think he's ridiculous. How can music not be related to emotions? That's ridiculous! It is disappointing to me how people can be so unwilling to new ideas.
On a completely flipped note, I was asked by the UW Slavic Department to write a letter of support for my old Polish professor, Pani Ewa, because she's up for a prestigious teaching award. This is really exciting, because in my entire life since kindergarten, she has to be my favorite teacher. Not only was she just an awesome person, but her teaching methods were awesome too. I mean, Polish was always my favorite class. So I've been working hard putting together a good letter for her and having another member of the Slavic Dept. edit a draft for me.
Only about 10 people were asked. I think it's because they chose the best students, especially ones that won Slavic performance awards themselves last spring, like me (yes, I'm bragging). After dealing with asking absent-minded professors for rec letters myself and having 2 of those professors be late with their letters, it's nice to be on the other side, and be able to help someone I feel deserves the recognition. *My* rec letter will definitely NOT be late!
He gave me papers on how music generally exhibits 1/f behavior (having a 1/frequency power density spectrum), and it's *because* music is 1/f sound, that people like to listen to it. 1/f behavior is almost like Phi, the golden ratio, it's ubiquitous in natural phenomena. So he's basically saying the reason humans find music pleasurable, is that our auditory neurons are primed to respond to 1/f noise, which music is.
Now, to me, music goes hand in hand with emotion. Music can be cheerful, or sad, or whatever. It seems to me that the sound evokes certain emotions, and it's the emotions we're responding to. So, I walked into my bosses office, asking if any research had been done including emotions in this whole idea. He sat back slowly in his chair, smiling ever so slightly at me, telling me I "shouldn't go that route," that "consciousness," wasn't really a part of it. I hadn't even mentioned "consciousness." I responded back somewhat defensively, "Well, when I talk about emotions, I'm not necessarily trying to be qualitative," meaning that emotions can be discussed quantitatively, through amount of neurotransmitters and such. Nonetheless, he insisted that emotions cannot be a part of the whole 1/f music topic.
I just do not understand people's logic. You cannot possibly make progress if you stay inside a little traditional box. It's impossible. You will eventually go in circles. Plus I think he's ridiculous. How can music not be related to emotions? That's ridiculous! It is disappointing to me how people can be so unwilling to new ideas.
On a completely flipped note, I was asked by the UW Slavic Department to write a letter of support for my old Polish professor, Pani Ewa, because she's up for a prestigious teaching award. This is really exciting, because in my entire life since kindergarten, she has to be my favorite teacher. Not only was she just an awesome person, but her teaching methods were awesome too. I mean, Polish was always my favorite class. So I've been working hard putting together a good letter for her and having another member of the Slavic Dept. edit a draft for me.
Only about 10 people were asked. I think it's because they chose the best students, especially ones that won Slavic performance awards themselves last spring, like me (yes, I'm bragging). After dealing with asking absent-minded professors for rec letters myself and having 2 of those professors be late with their letters, it's nice to be on the other side, and be able to help someone I feel deserves the recognition. *My* rec letter will definitely NOT be late!