Too many people, too many languages, but not enough goods to go around. Some nations are starving to death, while others are being offered "mile high" sandwiches. There is a general feeling that our world is out of control. Not we ourselves, but the world in general.
One of the elements creating this feeling is the computer: not the computer itself, but the computer in general.
Computers operate on the simplest of all principles: on and off. A binary system in which there is or is not a piece of information. It either exists or it doesn't. Almost every text on computer begins with some explanation of how difficult it is for man and how easy it is for machines to decipher this binary language of ones and zeros. Then an example is given such as 1101 0010 1111 0101, or some other long string of zeros and ones and the author unimaginatively writes something to this effect: "Now that we've shown you how difficult it is to read these long strings of only ones and zeros, we'll move on to more important aspects of computers." And you fall for it!
There has been an easy way to decipher binary language for centuries. It is called music, and its tablature (its system of notation) is not only easy to read, but can be read in highly complex forms such as orchestral scores. Music is a pure binary language. Unfortunately, the poor guys who had teletype machines and who were the inventors of early computer languages were either not musicians, or simply did not make the connection. My purpose in writing this is to help make some possible connections in this "out of control" world so that we may truely use music as the universal language it really is. A music staff is simply a set of parallel lines on a page. Music is written with five of these lines which then contain four spaces inside the lines. This is called a staff. A dot (called a "note") which represents a musical pitch is placed at the left hand side of the staff on one of the lines or in one of the spaces. Then, moving to the right, another note is placed, and another, etc. until a "melody" is made. (A melody is any series of notes) This left to right notation indicates sequential events taking place in time. This is pure binary language at work: put a dot on a piece of paper, leave a space, add another dot (or dots) etc. Binary computer language can be represented on an existing music staff as "notes;" either on the lines or in the spaces. These notes or groups of notes (which are called "chords" in music) can then be read very easily, even by pre-schoolers. As a consequence, the binary language of music tablature can begin to function not only as a way of recognizing music, but of recognizing the simplest language form in existance - the language of computers. Many of you who are reading this will already know how "base two" or binary works, but for those who don't know, I will briefly explain. Using the fingers on only one hand, you can "count" up to 31. Let's assume we are going to use the "pinky" (smallest finger) as representing the number 1. In base two, the next number will be the first number times two. As a consequence, your ring finger will then represent the number 2. Both fingers together are equal to the number three. The number four is represented by the middle finger. Simililarly, "adding" either the pinky, the ring finger or both will give you a product of 5,6 or seven. The next finger towards the thumb is the index finger. This is equal to the number 8: the thumb will equal 16. So finally we have the thumb plus the product of the other four fingers which equals 31.
If we utilize the spaces between the lines on the music staff to represent the spaces between the five fingers on each hand, then the following would be the result -
The result is fairly easy to see - things(such as letters) which represent things which could be represented on both the fingers and spaces between them of one hand. We could represent the entire English alphabet on one staff. When you realize that the ten fingers on two hands only represent two staves of music (as found in piano music) and how many people find piano music easy to read, you are beginning to realize the amazing possibilities of binary language and how easily we have been reading this stuff for over 500 years. Just for fun - on your ten fingers alone you can represent 1023 numbers or things: using fingers and the spaces between them, you could represent over 64 thousand separate things. Pretty nifty, eh?
you can begin to see how this might be used. It boggles the mind to think about an orchestral score and the
possiblities there. This is not arithmetic. Arithmetic is base 10 and doesn't
translate into base two easily for beginners. Binary systems are very simple.
It is either there or it is not:
just like sound - or dots on paper. Very simple. Testing or "de-bugging" a series of binary numbers could also be done
musically. This way you could do your spell checking by listening to a series
of recognizeable musical chords which represent an audible translation of the
binary material you just typed into your computer. Why should anyone care if
you can do this? Why should anyone care if the binary system is accessable at
all - after all this is only low level machine language, remember? It's good
for machines, not for us. I would like to postulate one of the reasons this
world is out of control is because we have lost the ability to access any of
the controls. Computers are very simple machines which operate very fast. They
operate at present by "running" programs which consist of a series of very
exact instructions in machine language which cause the computer to make very
exact choices (either yes or no) creating some kind of a result which is then
translated into a language which is "easier for a human to understand." This is
all well and good if you don't mind being dictated to by a program in a
computer which can only respond to a "correct" response such as a #2 pencil
slash mark within an exact place (SCANTRON tests). Personally, every time I
must fill in a blank in this manner, my whole being rebels. Besides which,
multiple choice questions preclude thought and creativity - they only reflect a
perspective of one person or group of people who deemed the four or five
choices given to me as the appropriate ones. Pooh! However....it works well because the computer can "grade" the choices. Sequential thought is inherently
logical and creates specific and exact methodologies with specific (and often
exact) rules. However, these methodologies leave little room for an Archemidian
"Eureka!" which is both the result of existing parameters and the breaking of
those parameters into new and unexplored territories. Multiple choice
inherently is "choosing the one I have deemed correct for you to chose" not
"give me your thoughts and reflections on this subject." Sequential thought is
usually referred to as "linear" - or two dimensional. It is measureable, and in
"pop" culture, simplistic. This is perfect for the present "computer
age." (At least until fuzzy logic becomes more widely understood and
used) However, I am frightened at the possibility of having a computer breakdown and not being
unable to understand the mechanics of fixing it. Since I understand
computers do nothing more than make one simple choice at a time in
a predictable and measureable method, how is it that when a computer breaks down
at the bank or at the store, no one is capable of carrying on. "We can't access
our files." This is the same as saying "Excuse me, I have gone temporarily
insane and cannot function until I get better." We have extended our brains and
lost our minds! If all the computer does is chose one step at a time, why are
we not being taught to read the steps. That you understand any of these words
indicates your ability to process, digest and "understand" complex information
drafted in my mind in a very random and non-sequential manner, but appearing on
my computer screen as a series of letters representing sounds which
translate to you as a series of ideas to which you can react. If I have been
"linear and sequential" with my ideas, you will understand them more quickly on
a "literal" level (called in the 1980s "left brained"). No matter how I chose to relate them, they must be in a language you can comprehend, otherwise you
must have someone else translate: and translation is always someone else's
choice with regards to linguistic subtlties and shadings.The language of music is really universal. Not music as
we understand it. "Music is the universal language" is just a "buzz-phrase" for people who want to seem educated.
However, music tablature as the universal binary language is a possibility we ought to consider as a training ground for people to understand the language we need to
talk to the machines we have making choices for us. Otherwise we will continue
to need "experts" because we are not sophisticated enough to understand the
complexities of the machines we have created which only respond "yes" and "no."
We have created new emperors and they have allowed us to be convinced that they
are wearing clothes. The computer programmer reads
and writes in a language you cannot understand. They write programs which make you behave in certain,
prescribed ways - "fill this out - one letter in each blank
space" Pooh again!
I don't have to behave in this manner..... the problem is that I do. I look
around me and I see anarchy. I see students carrying guns and wondering why we
are asking them to learn to spell and multiply. We have given them wonderful
electronic machines which can do all that for them. Why bother? We don't need
syntax in an oral society other than making ourselves "understood" - spelling
is an invention of the ubiquitous printing press and a public which can read. Is it necessary to read in a global village where enough information to survive
is pumped electronically into so many places in so many countries?
WhatIworry about is the inability to communicate easily with the electronic brains we have
so unthinkingly promulgated. What I worry about is not Big Brother watching me
- it's not realizing who Big Brother is. Since we have extended our brains
into the world, we should all have access, but presently, only those with "computer
knowledge" are even aware that there is a potential for serious misuse. Even
though we teach "reading, writing and arithmetic" the machines we have to do
all these things for us do them in a very different language. Why are we not
teaching our children to read and write in the language which we have invented
for the computer? Because someone said it was too
hard for us to learn - and we bought it: hook, line and sinker. As a consequence, we have the new emperors
who, at least theoretically have the ability to "shut down" the entire world in
one fell swoop. Think it through. All that is necessary is a super computer
virus. I'm always skeptical that many "viruses" are created by CEOs
so the cure can make more money. What happens when the computer virus
infects your super-duper central home computer system. How much will that cost.
We need to learn the simple language of machines and teach it to our children.
Our lives are binary. We exist, we are gone. All choices we make are binary: we
either chose to do or not to do, or we wait to chose or not to chose. We have
outfitted our machines to make choices now, deluding ourselves that the
machines do it better and faster. We live to make choices. Perhaps we should
equip ourselves with the tools to work with our machines, rather than let
someone with a vested interest tell us that the machine is too difficult for
all to understand. We can start the process using music as the universal binary
language. Not as art or entertainment, but as a real language - as simple as it
gets.