\m/usicology

I feel that music has been best described by Hans Christian Andersen in the following five words:

"Where words fail, music speaks." In fact, music speaks better than words even when they don't fail. Music is a very integral part of everyone's life. A systematic presentation of noise, as I term music, can well represent various moods of a person as well as make plants and animals sway to its tune. The very fact that even plants respond to music, and not words or language, positively, indicates the power of music.

Talking about the 'systematic presentation of noise', I first talk about noise. Noise is a mixture of sound notes and beats, but randomly expressed, without any pattern or rhythm.  When the same notes and beats are presented rhythmically and in particular systematic manner, we find it pleasing to the ears, and term it music. This actually is the basis for composing. Composers basically just pick up some musical notes from a heap of options available to them and arrange them in a way that will sound pleasing to the listeners. Then they add beats to it which go as per a particular tempo.

Then we have made different instruments that present these same notes They however sound different due to differences in harmonics. We have also created different instruments to play the same beats. The may differ in their structure, thus yielding different pitch as well as differences in harmonics.

Using these different instruments, various musicians have worked extensively, and mastered the instruments. Different instruments were brought together to bring different sounds under one umbrella. These led to what are now songs.

As such developments occurred all across the globe, and as development of communication and transportation is a relatively recent phenomenon, different instruments and rhythms developed in different parts of the world. Over time, they were termed as the 'music' of that region and this concept still exists. For example, Indian classical music, rock music, country music, or maybe even the Brazilian Samba beats are nothing more than regional variations of the same notes and beats. Linking these variations together is what we call 'fusion' music nowadays.

The next stage after composition is presentation. That too has acquired different forms. Some music is sung in choirs, some present it in operas, some are solo artists, while some may present it in groups or bands. Each has its own specialty and uniqueness.

Now, mathematics is also increasingly being linked to music. After extensive research in music, a new set theory in music has been developed similar to the set theory in maths. The beats can also be linked with mathematics as they repeat in a cyclic manner. Physicists also have studied sound waves and harmonics in great detail to understand how music works.

Leaving the technical part aside, music, in any form, has always touched everyone's heart. So let us all convert noise into \m/usic!

Discrimination.

DISCRIMINATION

When one comes across the word above, he/she will most probably relate it to the way some humans have treated fellow humans all over the world over time. And so did I. Discrimination and such differences that humans have generated among themselves, are, like many other malpractices today, a result of the mixing of BAG, as I term it. I define BAG to be Brain And Greed.

None would object if I term the human brain to be the most advanced among all organisms. However, when this amazing power of the brain is used for negative or selfish activities, the glory of the positive achievements diminishes. Take for example the case of applying science to develop new technology. On one hand, humans have created the light bulb while on the other hand, they've also created nuclear weapons. Both are examples of science being applied to develop something, however, the purpose also matters. Developing the light bulb can be termed as a positive achievement of the human brain whereas nuclear weapons can be termed as something created for negative purposes.

Something similar do I apply toward discrimination. When the species of humans were created, no human was given some extra or special advantage over other humans by nature. Then how should we understand the development of such mass-scale discrimination? I simply believe that some used the brain for selfish purposes and looked to control others. Then came this discrimination. Humans 'classified' themselves, based on various features or thoughts. That's fine. But the wrong part in it is that this classification was not a simple tree chart but a pyramid. In other words, some classes were considered to be 'better' than others. Take for example, things like racism. The race of a human is totally decided by nature and nature yields no special benefit to a particular race. Similar was the spate of many classes as per various classifications.

Further, humans didn't stop there. Discrimination was extended to various species. Boasting of the most complex body structure, and a highly capable brain, humans considered themselves to be the most 'advanced' species. What next? Poaching, hunting, killing as well as forest fires. Here's one picture that I came across on the net. It perfectly describes what I'm trying to say:

We were all pitted as equals. May it be in the case of humans, or organisms. Using feelings like greed and feeding it by the power of the brain to selfish benefits is absolutely incorrect for any organism/ human to do. I suppose we should all respect nature and its creations.

Man-made different from natural. Or maybe not?

Well, I admit right in the beginning of this post that this isn't too much of a serious post. Just a fun thought that came up in my mind recently.

So I begin with the knowledge of disasters that is planted in every child's brain when in school. When we are taught about disasters, we are told that they are of two 'types' - natural and man-made. While natural disasters are caused by nature, man-made disasters are caused due to the actions and activities of man.
I now try to think of this in a bit different way. When we say 'man', we refer in general to humans. Humans (or Homo Sapiens) are actually nothing but another species on the face of the Earth. Like all other species, they too have evolved from some other species. In short, humans are also a result of evolution, just like all other species.

Now let us consider nature. What do we include in 'nature'? One often refers to the natural environment when talking about nature. So it shouldn't be inappropriate to consider nature to comprise of living things and non-living things. While non-living things may comprise of water, air, soil and stuff, living things include all the species of plants, animals, and all other organisms that carry out basic life processes like respiration and excretion to name a few. In my previous paragraph, however, I've pointed out that humans also are a species of the same kind.

So in short, humans are like all other organisms whom we together call "nature". That is, humans themselves form a part of the same 'nature'. All that is different with us is that we are more complex in body organisation, and have developed impressive communication techniques. But that doesn't distinguish us from nature. Each organism has its own specialties.

The point I'm trying to make finally, is that there barely lies a proper reason to separate man-made and nature. If it was just because man can 'make' things, I recall the good old weaver bird who can 'make' really fabulous things.

Man has let his himself fall prey to the pride he feels of his achievements and tends to look at himself as a class part. In my opinion, this has also been the basis for the immense amount of discrimination that occurs today in society, which in fact should be the next topic I take up for this blog.

A matter of Inspiration.

I begin this post by first addressing the terminologies 'inspiration' and 'influence'.
Here's what the dictionary told me about them:
Inspiration - The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative.
Influence - The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.

Many people have said, and so do I agree, that one should be inspired not influenced by someone or something. Being influenced might be good during certain times, I don't deny, but that influence should not govern your mind. I rather feel that one should add his/ her own touch of thought to that influence which he/ she has gained before using it, to have some originality. Inspiration on the other hand, inculcates the same. Thus I reach my main point, which is inspiration.

So many times have I been asked, "Who is your inspiration?". I'm pretty sure most of the readers too face such questions frequently in their lives. What my objection, however, is the word 'Who'. Let me get you to what I am saying sequentially. Say, someone asks me who my inspiration is. I might answer that I am inspired by say Beethoveen. Now if someone asks Beethoveen (though I know there is no way of doing this today) who his inspiration was, he might talk of another great figure. And so can this can continue till we reach the first human. Ask him/ her who his/ her inspiration was (please don't tell me about the fact that language wasn't well-developed back then or that there might have been more than one homo sapiens when our species came to life). What would he/ she answer? He/ she has no human to talk about. I quite naturally expect the question directed toward him/ her to be "What is your inspiration?" rather than "Who is your inspiration?". He/ she might answer nature, considering that almost everything at that time could be called nature. Why then do people today never ask "What" my inspiration is?

In fact, I feel that nature (or maybe any other non-human thing, though I'm focusing more on nature) in this world can prove to be a better inspiration than a particular human.

I support this with what Albert Einstein had once said, "Look deep, deep into nature and you will understand everything better."

Today, I feel, that what was once but natural for people to do (seek inspiration from nature), has unfortunately, I should say, been converted into a field of study, called 'bionics'.
You can google that for more information, but in short, it is a study wherein people design technology and engineering methods from biological methods and systems of nature. Today, there wouldn't have been velcro, resilin, cat's eye reflectors, and many more things if people hadn't worked in bionics.

Yet, I get the feeling that this world of humans is quite insane. On one hand we destroy nature, and on the other, draw inspiration from it. A truly "weird world". :-)

Intro

So here I begin with my blog. I'll just try and not keep the readers bored. You can expect posts on various things, and I'll try not to limit my blogging to the traditional "articles".

Speaking about the "thextraodinaryalien" thing (Check the address bar if you haven't!), not too much of thinking/ wisdom goes into that... Just something I cooked up, and am now thinking of the various meanings that it may carry. Maybe a bit 'reverse' kind of order of doing things. Nevertheless, I'll try to keep my posts 'extraordinary'. Extraordinary for 'aliens' (if they do exist) to believe it. [Please note: Earthlings would define aliens to be those who don't belong to this Earth, so most Earthly things might seem extraordinary to aliens. Good for me! ;-) ]

So instead of restricting this blog to an 'Intro', I'll just pop in a song called Intro (I just realized that its name matched with that of this post's.), by a band called Bullet For My Valentine, a band whose name I see frequently on my playlist.