"Mech and Manabozho" and "Dancing Robot"

Fred: Kit came by Five Pines today and performed the songs from the current Turing Game. He gave us a live show after lunch and it went very well--except for the laughing. I did not anticipate the audience laughing during "Dancing Robot." So we brought Kit down to the machine vision lab and recorded him there too. These are posted below. We hired Kit and he will be playing more songs from X and Y. (Kit is our first new hire in four years. So Cole's no longer "the new guy.")

I asked Kit if he had any suspicions about which song was written by a human and which by a machine. He said, "Yes." So I did warn him that sometimes people come into the Imitation Game and try to sound like a computer. (I believe the Loebner Prize has awarded these pranks in the past.) However, I am concerned that Kit's suspicions may color his performances. So he has agreed that we send him the songs without indicating "X" or "Y" until after he performs them.

Talk | Douglas Hofstadter on Analogy as the Core of Cognition

Douglas Hofstadter is most famous for his wonderful book, Gödel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. He also collaborated with Dan Dennett to edit The Mind's I and wrote the Metamagical Themas column for Scientific American. In this characteristically engaging and playful lecture, he talks about the role of analogy in human cognition. This is just a little over one hour.

We're Hiring a Musician

Alma: Hello everyone, this is your president, Alma. I have a couple announcements, including a call for a concert-slash-meeting on Monday.

If you haven't already heard, both players in Rose's Turing Game have submitted songs. That means FAC has written one of the songs. If you want to take a look, the texts for the songs are posted at the company site [X|Y]. Rose says she gave them a quick look, but she's waiting to hear them before reading them closely. She has asked us not talk with her about the songs until after the show.

So, we need to hire a musician to perform these songs. And we've lined up someone named Kit—he's a friend of Miguel's. We asked Kit to send a couple examples of him playing guitar and singing. Those are also posted at the company site.

On Monday at one o'clock, Kit will perform the songs for us. This will also be a meeting so we can vote on whether to hire Kit. Rose says both X and Y agree they will be writing more songs. So we'll be needing an in-house musician for the next several weeks.

Kit will be arriving here Monday Morning to get a tour of the place and set up. So don't be surprised if we stop by your office for a few. You might want to give us a quick tour of what you're working on. If you have any questions or have a problem with the meeting time, please send me a note and we'll talk.

Thank you everyone. And I'm looking forward to the show and vote on Monday.

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[Fred asked that Kit send us two songs with unusual chords—an original and one that everyone knows.]

             

Play Ball!

Y: Dancing Robot

[The sound of a tiny nut falling into a jet turbine, on glockenspiel]

h=hammer p=pluck s=slide

Main riff:

                                                              tremolo

     A                C7   Eb D7-Am   A               EbmMAJ7 E7#9  A11

E ---0-----------------0---3---2p0----0---------------------2---0---0---

B ---2-----------------1---2---1------2---------------------3---8---0h2-

G ---2-----0-----0-----3---3---2------2-------0---2-0-------3---7---0h2-

D ---2-0h2---0h2---0---2---1----------2-0h2p0---0-----2-0-1-1---6---0h2-

A -0-0---------------3-3------------0-0-----------------------7-7---0---

E ------------------------------------------------------------0---------

That robot’s moving like a robot dancing badly

That robot’s dancing like it’s never moved around before

I could go on for hours criticizing that robot

Can’t they make a robot these days with more accomplished dancing skills?

            

C13: 0-0-2-3-3-0

It’s a mashed potato

F#7: 0-4-4-3-2-0

It’s a popping, locking,

C9no5: 0-3-0-3-1-0

bumping, grinding, twisting, breaking,

F#aug: X-X-4-3-3-2

jittering, buggy

Eaug: X-X-2-1-1-0 [slide up to A, return to main riff]

pile of nuts and bolts

And it’s dancing too mechanically

That robot is reverse engineering our dances

It’s got 4D models of Gene Astaire and Ginger Tharp inside of its head

Improved genetic algorithmic dance moves make me look worse by comparison

So I contend that dancing robot threatens all the dances of humanity

[Glockenspiel, now melodic]

   5x         5x           5x

   C13 Gm     F#7  B11-C11 C9no5               F#aug   G#aug   A*

E -0---3-0-----0---4-2s3---0---------------------2-------4-----5-

B -3---3-11s12-2---5-2s3---1-----------------------3-------5---5-

G -3---3-10s11-3---0-2s3---3-------------------------3-------5-6-

D -2---0-0-----4---0-2s3---0-------0---1h2p1p0-4-------6-------7-

A -0-----------4-----2s3---3-0h3p0---0-------------------------7-

E -------------------2s3---------------------------------------5-

*=barre chords

A*                   C#7*

Dancing robot take a bearing for courage

F#7                   C7             E7            A*

Your corporeality may one day be all eignen-dances superimposed

          A7*                           C#*               C#7*

‘Til then cut a zillion carpets of your own in polynomial time,

X-X-9-9-9-X [bend]

  E

Remember,

                                              0-1-0-1-1-2   X-0-7-9-10-0

F#7                              C7                E9b5b6      A5

Dancing is for dancing’s sake so let your shape be everwhat it means

[Pure tone from 1046.505Hz to 1108.73Hz]

X: Mech and Manabozho

  Em       A               C7 C#7 C7 B11 Em       A               C7 C#7 C9 B7

E ---0-0-0-0-0-0-------------0-0-0-3-0-----------------------------0-0-0-0-2

B ---3-3-0-2-0-2-------------1-2-1-0-2-0---3-3-0-2-0-2-------------1-2-1-3-0

G ---3-3-0-2-0-2-3-2-0-------3-4-3-3-2-0---3-3-0-2-0-2-3-2-0-------3-4-3-3-2

D -2-2-2-2-2-0-2-------2-0---2-3-2-2-1-1-2-2-2-2-2-0-2-------2-0---2-3-2-2-1

A -2-2-2-2-0-0-0-----------3-3-4-3-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-0-0-0-----------3-3-4-3-3-2

E -0-------------------------------------0----------------------------------

Main riff:

  Em       A               C7 C#7 C7 B7

E ---0-0-0-0-0-0-------------0-0-0-0-2 [flourish on B7]

B ---3-3-0-2-0-2-------------1-1-2-1-0

G ---3-3-0-2-0-2-3-2-0-------3-3-4-3-2

D -2-2-2-2-2-0-2-------2-0---2-2-3-2-1

A -2-2-2-2-0-0-0-----------3-3-3-4-3-2

E -0----------------------------------

Old Manabozho was a crafty shape shifter

Who met a funny gadget named Mech one day

The machine said, “Let me make your life go swifter

You look so inconvenienced in your primitive way”

Old Manabozho was hungry for adventure

And hadn’t seen a creature like Mech before

He didn’t know the gadget was a masterful entrencher

The cost of its admission wasn’t marked on the door

A      G# G

Manabozho then elected

G# A           G# G             G#

To step inside to see what Mech did

A           G#     G            G#

He got deep fried, nuked, convected

A             G#   G

Spliced, rewinded, vivisected

G# A        G#  G

Unqualified and unexpected

    F           F#    F   B7        C7        Em

The shiny new machine had swallowed Manabozho whole

Old Manabozho’s predicament was dire

He was discombobulated, battered, hazed and contused

He found a naked wire and then he got inspired

“A fire in this belly is a thing I could use!”

Now, the not-so-funny Mech laughed “Don’t you even try it!

I heard that story yesterday

My memory remembers and my processors apply it

Evolving adaptation is the natural way.”

Old Manabozho changed his voice

He said, “You’re the shiniest suit I’ve seen

Your belts and gears are my style of choice

I’ll be handsome when I’m fashioned in my new machine

Manabozho changed his shape and

The new machine retaliated

They both fought and sparred and raided

Sneak attacked and counter-invaded

Deconstructed all the day ‘til

The shiny new machine had finally given up the ghost

Old Manabozho was a crafty shape shifter

Who fashioned a mechanical suit one day

He’s worn it ever since and he’s always moving swifter

In expediently deft and technological ways

He lives inside your switches, knobs and spools

Ink pens, toaster and digital bits

If something funny happens with any of your tools

    C7            C#7 C7    C9           B11        C9addmaj7 B7     Em

You know that Manabozho the crafty shape shifter is playing another trick

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