
A Mind is Born - fredley
https://linusakesson.net/scene/a-mind-is-born/
======
baby
> The melody is generated by a linear-feedback shift register (LFSR). Thus, in
> one sense, the melody is randomly generated. But I spent a considerable
> amount of time tweaking the random process until I found something that was
> musically satisfactory.

This is just mind blowing to me. The music is actually really good, I've been
playing it on repeat and I just wish it could be longer.

~~~
l33tbro
I recommend checking out a record that came out in 1984 by a guy called Manuel
Göttsching called E2E4. I'm sure a lot of coders here know it, as it's
brilliant for concentration and is just a beautiful piece of music in its own
right.

I'm not going to provide a Youtube link, as it's really worth hearing in at
least 320 kbps.

~~~
msutherl
Some free associations:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgGU8Vy3xoc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgGU8Vy3xoc)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLIi_ZMBfQs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLIi_ZMBfQs)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d38xbAFnCSQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d38xbAFnCSQ)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hamT4XESYG0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hamT4XESYG0)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQWCUXNsUyQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQWCUXNsUyQ)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY-9cGBdxNw&list=PL8kGLx6Th4...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY-9cGBdxNw&list=PL8kGLx6Th4TNju_Mng7D259Je34QvoeeF)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM251rMyfUg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM251rMyfUg)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oBl0xq16G0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oBl0xq16G0)

~~~
monk_e_boy
The band "The Algorithm", although more rock/metal is kinda chip-tune enough
for me.

[https://youtu.be/zwG97ah0mEU?list=PLB687_YKwVcBhVI8bzQ_yjj4Q...](https://youtu.be/zwG97ah0mEU?list=PLB687_YKwVcBhVI8bzQ_yjj4QklEL-
OcO)

[https://youtu.be/dJwNfRaPp08?list=PLB687_YKwVcBhVI8bzQ_yjj4Q...](https://youtu.be/dJwNfRaPp08?list=PLB687_YKwVcBhVI8bzQ_yjj4QklEL-
OcO)

------
rcarmo
I'd hazard the statement that this is the best code sample I've seen on HN in
a year.

Fascinating to see it alongside Netflix's description of their gargantuan take
on container scheduling :)

------
agumonkey
I find there's something fundamental about small sized demos. Trying to craft
something as diverse as possible with as few symbols as possible means you
have to encode chaos and order at the same time.

~~~
EvanAnderson
Procedural generation of interesting output being created by very small bits
of code makes me think very profound thoughts about how life "works". Physics
provides the virtual machine that life executes within, and tiny machines
interpreting the "instruction set" of a genetic code are just generating
procedural output.

~~~
jmcphers
If you're interested in the implications of this view, Stephen Wolfram (of
Mathematica fame) has a book called A New Kind of Science[0] that explores how
the complexity of the universe can arise from simple machines following simple
rules.

[0]
[https://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/toc.html](https://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/toc.html)

~~~
ForHackernews
See also, this classic review: "A Rare Blend of Monster Raving Egomania and
Utter Batshit Insanity"

[http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/](http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/)

(originally at
[http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/wolfram/](http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/wolfram/))

------
EvanAnderson
The LFSR-generated music reminds me of the old Atari 2600 game "Pitfall". The
game had to fit in a 4K cartridge, so a lookup table of the attributes of the
255 "rooms" wouldn't fit. Instead, an LFSR (that fits in 31 bytes) generates
the bitstream that describes the entire map. (Background:
[http://www.samiam.org/blog/20130606.html](http://www.samiam.org/blog/20130606.html))

~~~
to3m
The BBC Micro game `Exile' used a mostly-randomly-generated map, with some
manually-created areas here and there:
[https://www.stairwaytohell.com/gamehelp/MAP-Exile-
BC.png](https://www.stairwaytohell.com/gamehelp/MAP-Exile-BC.png) (very large
PNG)

The patterns are quite apparent when zoomed out, but on the actual BBC Micro
the display area was 128x128 low-res pixels (a 256x128 area on the map image),
making it more difficult to spot.

------
digthecoder
This was so impressive that it compelled me to finally make a Hacker News
account instead of lurking. In less than a typical paragraph of space you have
created a masterpiece of efficiency. The music is catchy too. Bravo!

------
robotresearcher
Site getting slow, and I thought this was awesome, so here's the demo:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWblpsLZ-O8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWblpsLZ-O8)

~~~
clort
incredible that it produces a video which is compressed to 20-30Mb :)

------
100ideas
+1 - would love to see more posts celebrating the demoscene too! thanks for
sharing

------
faragon
That guy is always doing mindblowing cool stuff. I propose renaming him from
Linus Åkesson to Linus Awesome :-)

------
strainer
This triggers multiple levels of wonder. That the tune alone is compose-able
from 256 bytes is uncanny. What would this have been like to witness in the
1980s ? -being as it could have been published as a relatively easy to type
magazine listing.

The name "A Mind is Born" has special resonance at this time as there has
never been more popular anticipation that artificial minds will soon be able
to coalesce from the same kind of bitwise operations made visible and audible
in this demo.

~~~
mrkgnao
This has a beginning that you may find interesting.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_(novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_\(novel\))

~~~
strainer
Its a powerful fantastic idea, but Im personally concerned that our human and
animal conciousness should probably not be equated with virtual
representations, no matter how accurate or convincing certain renderings might
get. Mostly because I would never be fearful of switching a simulation off -
for its "own sake". Im concerned that people can feel the same way about each
other, if they believe in the equality of computed feelings.

~~~
maxerickson
So you are worried that virtual representation will lead you to close off your
empathy for humans?

The alternative is to extend it to the simulations.

~~~
strainer
I wrote "our human and animal conciousness should probably not be equated with
virtual representations"

Your reply did not follow... no empathy.

~~~
maxerickson
I think I understood what you wrote. I just doubt that some people extending
empathy to virtual personalities will lead to meaningful numbers of other
people retracting it from humans.

~~~
strainer
I half expect powerful futuristic AI to figure out and enlighten us as to the
specialness of our conciousness, the transience of simulations, and perhaps to
define the special arrangements required to create life of similar importance
to ourselves, should we really wish to do so... in the non-traditional way.

------
Nadya
This is one of the most impressive things I've seen this year - and the song
is rather catchy (been playing it on repeat). Amazing work! Also great job
winning the comp.

I wish I could speak more on the technological side of it, but I'm not well
versed in this area. So all I can offer is praise.

------
joshmarlow
Super cool! This reminds me of reading about .Kkrieger -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.kkrieger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.kkrieger)

------
johansch
"In the absence of an actual 256-byte compo, it was submitted to the Oldskool
4K Intro compo at Revision 2017, where it ended up on 1st place."

:-)

(I hope the other contestants were suitably ashamed of themselves.)

~~~
Gracana
I hope they had fun and enjoyed themselves.

~~~
diydsp
Lol, my production with nom de nom came in last place against this one...

At one point while coding our music player, I wondered if something simpler
and more algorithmic might be more effective :)

So yeah I was both spanked and I learned a lot. I always watched these
cracktros as a kid and now get the chance to write them with the benefit of
hindsight, a career in micro controllers and 20 years of music playing
experience...

I'm glad the scene is still going and there are great tools out there to
accelerate the process.

------
colllectorof
Check out author's other works. This is the same guy who helped Teenage
Engineering design their Pocket Operator series and he also built (and plays)
Chipophone.

------
shkurkin
This is amazing. I transitioned from working as a musician to development a
few years ago and have recently been thinking of ways to merge the two in
interesting/meaningful ways. Often times I feel like a lot of what I enjoy in
art is left out of music made primarily with/by computers. This is one of the
first examples I have seen that really delivers on medium, message and just
plain enjoyment. Really inspiring.

~~~
sjg007
There is a lot of opportunity here especially with neural networks.

~~~
shkurkin
I agree, but I have yet to hear any music generated by a neural network that I
enjoy beyond the novelty of it. Feel like the focus is on the neural network,
not the music, with the neural network as the instrument.

~~~
sjg007
I mean it should be the instrument... or at least an approximation of one!

------
branchless
Wow, that's somehow disturbing. I think the stronger than usual visual link
with the music sucks you in.

I was surprised to see this guy wrote a tty blog article I had enjoyed before.
This one is very different.

------
komali2
lol even the google cache is being hugged to death
[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:h_l9j_...](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:h_l9j_NhpUEJ:https://www.linusakesson.net/scene/a-mind-
is-born/index.php+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

~~~
sp332
The Google Cache only stores text. It still has live links to all the images
on the page. It's more reliable to link to the text-only version.
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:h_l9j_N...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:h_l9j_NhpUEJ:https://www.linusakesson.net/scene/a-mind-
is-born/index.php&num=1&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1&vwsrc=0)

------
chrismealy
I love that the line number in the embedded basic program is also code.

------
grabcocque
I mean... Amazing stuff. How..?

My mind refuses to believe it's actually possible EVEN AFTER I TRIED IT AND
SAW IT WORKING.

The universe is a lie.

