All it takes is an autotuner and a few well-known science popularizers.
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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« I wish I could have seen that | Main | Donohue rants some more »
Is it really that easy to turn science into music and poetry?
Category: Entertainment
Posted on: October 20, 2009 8:16 AM, by PZ Myers
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TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/122736
Comments
Posted by: The Science Pundit
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October 20, 2009 8:24 AM
That was nice. I'm really enjoying these autotuned pieces.
Posted by: chrisD | October 20, 2009 8:43 AM
Primarily a test to see if registration is required...
That was pretty neat. There is much beauty and splendor in a realistic view of nature, much more so than when viewed through the pale-hued lenses of religious explanations.
Posted by: harv
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October 20, 2009 8:45 AM
my favorite part-
. . . and it's all really, really there.
Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM
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October 20, 2009 8:53 AM
Yes, it's that easy
A trained monkey could do it
Or a cuttlefish
Posted by: Am I Evil | October 20, 2009 9:02 AM
So very good... so very Facebooked...
Posted by: Laurence H | October 20, 2009 9:02 AM
That was awesome! I don't think thats particularly easy. There should definitely be more of these!
Posted by: B166ER
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October 20, 2009 9:03 AM
That was beautiful. And to think that those deluded by religiosity can't fathom any of the beauty and wonder in the universe without attributing it to some deity(ies) master plan. Why does it have to be some massive cosmic painting for it to be truly magical. Just finding ourselves to be apart of such a extraordinary accident and being born in a time when our brains our capable of even understanding a tiny percentage is incredible. To all my fellow cosmic travelers, I wish you all the best!
“It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” Carl Sagan
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" Douglas Adams
No Gods, No Masters
Cameron
Posted by: Fred The Hun | October 20, 2009 9:08 AM
And it's all really really there!
As opposed to your petty little imagined deities...
Posted by: Hank Fox | October 20, 2009 9:09 AM
That was beautiful. Moving.
Whoever did it, thank you!
Posted by: kopd
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October 20, 2009 9:16 AM
Wow! That was beautiful.
Posted by: eeanm
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October 20, 2009 9:35 AM
Sagan was really poetic to start with, so you don't even need the autotuner.
Posted by: bcbwilla | October 20, 2009 9:37 AM
"...we are a way for the Cosmos to know itself".
That Sagan quote still gives me chills.
Posted by: Mystyk | October 20, 2009 9:39 AM
That is a good one. It goes well with the one from a few weeks ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc
"Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' ft Stephen Hawking"
Posted by: bcbwilla | October 20, 2009 9:42 AM
Sagan is romantic and poetic, Tyson and Nye are enthusiastic and Feynman is full of childlike wonder - all about the universe.
That's why those guys are my heroes.
Posted by: paul@morecowbell.net | October 20, 2009 9:43 AM
This was great!
For those of you who have never seen auto-tune the news!
It's a bit silly, but pretty great..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0OzxvClwoU&feature=related
Posted by: Rorschach | October 20, 2009 9:52 AM
Love it, awesome !
Feynman was exceptionally good playing bongos !
Posted by: Fedor | October 20, 2009 10:03 AM
Can I post comments now?
Posted by: Vidar | October 20, 2009 10:11 AM
I wish I was brought up with Carl Sagan's stuff, rather than with religious indoctrination. My youth would have been so much more wondrous, and so much less boring.
Excellent song. Can't wait for the next one.
Posted by: Austin Skeptic | October 20, 2009 10:16 AM
These were brilliant. I watched both of them a couple of times. It's been a while since I've seen Cosmos, and it is surprising to see how poetic Sagan was when speaking about science.
The Cosmos series is available via streaming on Netflix, so I need to sit down and watch that whole series again.
I have immense respect for those that not only understand great scientific ideas, but can explain them in a way that the general public can appreciate and understand.
Posted by: chaunceyworld | October 20, 2009 10:18 AM
In the other video at symphonyofscience Sagan says we're drawn to the sky. And I feel a pleasure just like Feynman expresses when I hear this sort of thing. I've already sent it to my friends. (and though they love it when I get that way, they really don't know what I'm feeling.)
Posted by: rawnaeris
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October 20, 2009 10:26 AM
I love these. ^_^ It's nice to hear music and science first thing in the morning.
Posted by: Bean | October 20, 2009 10:28 AM
That was a real toe-tapper.
We need more.
Posted by: derb | October 20, 2009 10:42 AM
Ok...is it just me or does Carl Sagan Autotuned sound very much like Kermit the Frog?
Loved it by the way. Feynman is great.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | October 20, 2009 12:14 PM
…
While I, on the other hand, fail at putting my admiration of Cuttlefish into words.
Posted by: Squeese | October 20, 2009 12:15 PM
Holy crap, thats awesome :)
It's really, REALLY, REALLY there; pure goosebumps :)
Posted by: Techskeptic
|
October 20, 2009 12:17 PM
I love these.
PZ I really dont think you should write these off as easy. If I were the author, I would be annoyed that my hard work editing, writing the actual tune for the auto tuner, and researching the material for the right clips to make a cohesive song, all done on my free time, would be so casually written off as:
"All it takes is an autotuner and a few well-known science popularizers"
Well, to whoever writes these. I dont think its easy, and I really like what you are doing.
Posted by: whitebird | October 20, 2009 1:24 PM
Lost Flaming Lips Track?
Posted by: Tom Coward
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October 20, 2009 1:29 PM
Give me materialistic mysticism any day! Keep your vengeful old desert 'gods' to yourself!
Posted by: Darwin's Teapot
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October 20, 2009 2:09 PM
You can watch the other video here and sign up for updates when he makes another one: symphonyofscience.com/
Posted by: mothwentbad
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October 20, 2009 3:24 PM
Holy crap, I read Surely You're Joking, but I'd never seen the man play before! Feynman, playing drums Brazilian-style! Well, with an American accent, as he said.
Posted by: B166ER
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October 20, 2009 3:28 PM
@Vidar # 18
I'm truly sorry Vidar that you weren't exposed to the wonder of Carl Sagan as a child. Speaking from experience, as a young child, I was always awestruck at how poetic he described the universe and our place within it. I always loved the fact that he was as captivated by the mysterious beauty of the workings of the cosmos as myself, since so many adults tried to act as if they knew all the answers. Carl Sagan spoke the special language of wonder, and I was enthralled. The longer I live, the luckier I feel for being raised in a VERY skeptical pro-science family. With thousands of books and nary a t.v. in sight, I was very blessed.
No Gods, No Masters
Cameron
Posted by: llewelly | October 20, 2009 3:34 PM
ok, this piece is proof that autotuning can sound like total garbage.
Posted by: Norman Doering | October 20, 2009 3:36 PM
I favorited that one on my own youtube channel.
MelodySheep has another, "Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' ft Stephen Hawking (Cosmos Remixed), that's pretty good.
But I still have a preference for metal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEwkeH2XiTQ
Posted by: Dratagon | October 20, 2009 5:32 PM
Amazing! Makes me wanna cry out of pure happiness that i'm a part of all this. Thanks to whoever made this.
Posted by: momkat
|
October 20, 2009 5:36 PM
"ok, this piece is proof that autotuning can sound like total garbage"
dude, don't harsh my mellow! it's all about the beauty, man.
Posted by: Heatherly | October 20, 2009 6:02 PM
I've had an absolutely horrible, awful day with crazy court drama, kids being violent and hurting themselves, and then I came home to this.
Absolutely awesome.
Thank you so much.
Posted by: aratina cage
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October 20, 2009 7:21 PM
I fell in love with "A Glorious Dawn" on the first listen. This one took a while to grow on me. Colorpulse/John Boswell did an excellent job on both and I look forward to many more.
Posted by: bc23.5
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October 20, 2009 7:53 PM
Techskeptic @ 26- I think your irony-meter is broken. :^) Surely PZ has a better grasp of music than to dismiss beauty when he hears it. I know I didn't miss it and neither did you. I listened to it again and again. Why is it that the autotune seems right at home here, and yet so out of place in pop music? Not that I listen to pop music.
Posted by: Suck Poppet
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October 20, 2009 9:23 PM
I found this enjoyable for the obvious enthusiasm shown by Sagan, Nye, Feynman and Tyson.
Was a bit sad seeing Feynman and Sagan appearing rather obviously ailing in some scenes.
Posted by: Sili
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October 20, 2009 10:32 PM
I was a geeky kid, but I don't think I ever applied myself as I should have. (Compared to all the smart people here who learnt hella many things in their teens.)
So I only ever became aware of Feynmann and Sagan after the deaths. What a waste of my youth.
I should get some more Sagan books on the net. I've only picked up two while I was in Bath, and I've only read the last one - Billions and Billions.
Bill Nye looks wonderfully enthusiastic. I think I get why he's so popular.
Posted by: speedweasel
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October 21, 2009 12:11 AM
@B166ER / Cameron
I'll tell you something that we're all too polite or frightened to tell Desert Son aka Robert. Sigs are lame even before you've forced your audience to read them 100 times.
Do yourself a favour and lose the tagline.
Peace out, love and light, no Kings, Queens or Bishops
-Speed(Im-trying-to-help-you)weasel
Posted by: aratina cage
|
October 21, 2009 12:58 AM
I rather like Desert Son's sig line. It has always stood out amongst the sea of comments because no one else does it quite the same (others use sig lines, too, like Glen Davidson and Smoggy Batzrubble, both OMs). And actually, I confused BI66ER for Desert Son the first time I came across BI66ER's comments because of the similar sig line to Desert Son's.No wizards or fairies or flying pigs,
the caged rat
Posted by: Islander
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October 21, 2009 1:28 AM
I'm still getting over my depression from being raised in a fundie family, and thus never even hearing of Sagan or Feynman before they passed. They couldn't keep me from Bill, though- he came on one of the 3 channels we got.
Cool signoff,
Josh
Posted by: DLC
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October 21, 2009 5:02 AM
Ahh yes. there's some good people making some good sense, set to music.
And -- Cuttlefish you do a great job, keep on!
Posted by: Tommie | October 21, 2009 7:49 AM
Nice. But you're doing the artist a disfavour calling it easy.
Posted by: Fracture
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October 21, 2009 10:56 AM
Scientists spend their lives studying the poetry around them. It's not surprising some of it rubs off.
Posted by: Per-Erik Svensson | October 21, 2009 4:31 PM
I can't get over how profound the Cosmos-series are.
"We've traveled this way before, and there is much to be learned".
"The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together."
Brilliant samplings! Thank you!
Posted by: kopd
|
October 21, 2009 4:50 PM
I'm amazed I never saw Cosmos when I was younger. I was obsessed with astronomy and the universe as a child in the 80's. How did I miss it? I'll be adding that to my Blockbuster queue. I had no idea how awesome Sagan was until the last couple years when I began reading some of his beautiful quotes here and there. He has become my hero. Truly inspirational.
Posted by: bc23.5
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October 21, 2009 8:13 PM
I'm watching this video about 5 times a day now. It's really beautiful. Also, check out Sunday School.
Posted by: Beardedone
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October 22, 2009 9:56 AM
Man! This an inspiring piece of comping. It conveys the passion of the speakers so effectively. I rarely put iTunes on repeat but I had to with this one.
Thanks PZ for tagging it.
Btw, pitching spoken word can be easily done with Autotune of V-Vocal or with a hardware or virtual vocoder. The "hard" part comping it together in a musically, compelling way. Same can be said for syncing to the video-clips. I found the way this was done was superb.
Cheers,
Gordon
Posted by: Jason | October 22, 2009 1:22 PM
This reminds me of a day in the life of a turret.
Posted by: woodsong
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October 22, 2009 2:00 PM
Very well done! I'll have to listen to it again later when I'm on a PC with decent speakers...
I, too, missed out on "Cosmos" when it first aired. That's what happens when the parents decide the kids are too glued to the TV and get rid of it. I vividly remember seeing 1 episode at someone else's house, where he talked about the Cosmic Calendar and just how tiny an amount of time human history spans in relation to the age of the universe...
Posted by: B166ER
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October 22, 2009 4:11 PM
@speedweasle #41
Sorry speedweasle, I didn't know it bothered anyone that I added a little sig on my posts. I have been adding that sig on many sites for years and just carried it over. If it helps, just don't read it when I add it, because I feel it's my duty to add it for all those murdered for just that line and the political philosophy behind it. For all those murdered by fascist regimes like that in Spain, those words meant that someday people would look upon others as just that: people. I'm sorry that it bothers you (and possibly many others) but for the stated reasons I simply cannot stop doing it. It is my homage to those who gave their lives so that I would live in a world with the potential to carry its memory on. So sorry speedweasle, I understand and respect your criticism, but the sig stays.
No Gods, No Masters
Cameron