To Dream of Electric Sheep

To Dream of Electric Sheep is from a dream I had. At what point do we classify artificial life as real? Of course SciFi fans, should be able to relate "dreams of electric sheep" to the age old question.

More often than not, when we start talking about super digital intelligence, thoughts of Terminator , Maximum Overdrive, the Matrix , and so on are quick to be referenced for conversation. We assume that at the point of technological singularity that digital persona would be focused on dominating the human race. Technological Singularity is the point at which the created becomes more intelligent than the creator. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity for more info.

I don't see the digital intelligences taking on the human traits like that. What about the other sides of human behaviors. Would a digital persona even behave as a human. We place human forms and mannerisms as the ultimate in evolution and rate everything else to us. Humans are not perfect entities. If a digital persona evolves why should it take on human traits? It would probably be much different. What would it dream? Would it actually have dreams?

As you may have already noticed, Dreams and Nightmares Vol.1 http://www.reverbnation.com/anomalousdomain is based on dreams and nightmares I have had. I don't have dreams of winning millions of dollars or nightmares of monsters hiding in the corners. My dreams have always been strange. Maybe this is what helps me to think of things from a different point of view. Or it could be my dreams are that way, because of the way I think. I do not know. My dreams always have a purpose or meaning behind them. Sometimes it is hard to firgure out what that meaning is.

This is what caused this particular dream. I remember I was reading an article on artificial life before I went to bed. That day I was rummaging in some of my old hardware looking for a part and was debating whether or not to throw an old computer away. My computer for recording music was having some technical difficulties and I was just hoping to keep it running long enough to finish a recording I was trying to finish. I told myself that I would fix it after I had completed Dreams and Nightmares Vol. 1. This induced the resulting dream.

This dream I had was from the point of view of a computer. The computer has a life of it's own. I jotted down what I remembered. The dream gave emotions and humanization to an inanimate object. I think it was very bizarre. I think I got the meaning of it, but you can come to your own conclusions.

I have already posted the story/dream. The purpose is to try and illustrate where some of my ideas come from. Maybe it's interesting and maybe not. I am always intrigued with the way the mind works. Anyway have a listen to To Dream of Electric Sheep. http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/song_2219272

As always it is best to listen with headphone or in a quite environment.

Know yourself, everything else is relative.

Enjoy,

Dave0

A Computer's Journal - a fictional story

This is a story inspired by a dream I had. You should read the post "To Dream of Electric Sheep" first. That explains this story. I am not an author, so don't expect proper form here.

Dave0

Well I am still here. I thought last night was going to be the end for me. He came in and started grabbing things and throwing them in the trash. I was just watching when he walked up next to me. He picked me up and headed to the other side of the room. He stopped near the trash can and turned around and headed for a shelf on the other side of the room. He scooted a box over and placed me next to it and looked at me for a short while. It was good to see him, but I didn’t care about that anymore. I couldn’t think of any reason why he wouldn’t throw me away. I had not seen him in a long while and I missed him, but I was ready to go dark. Just make it quick.

It wasn’t always like that. In fact we were inseparable at one time. I remember when we first met. He traveled a long way to come and find me. At the time I was top of the line. You couldn’t find another as quick and strong as I. I was shiny and clean. I had the capabilities to run programs that had not even been written yet. I was a thoroughbred. He was pretty impressed with me and bought me as soon as he saw me. He said I was the future. I was proud.

I got home and he placed me right in the middle of the living room. Everyone could see me here. I don’t think his wife much cared for me, but she warmed up to me after a while. Who wouldn’t?

We did everything together. We were good friends. We watched movies, played games, and listened to music. He even started writing music together. I loved those days.

Later he and his wife had a baby. It was a boy. He was very proud of his son. He would decorate me with pictures of his son. I would send photos of his son to his other family members. He even bought me a new printer so he could print out photos of his son. It was a nice printer.

When his son was born he had to split his time with me, his wife, his son, and work. That was ok, he still spent time with me. I didn’t see him as much, but I knew he would not forget about me.

One day he brought me home a companion. She was fast and sleek. Actually she was faster than me. She had some new devices I had never seen before. I couldn’t wait to talk to her. He sat her down next to me and introduced us together in a network. Wow. She could communicate in ways I had never thought of. I had to learn a new way of communicating with her.

We shared stuff back and forth. I showed her some of my pictures and she showed me some of hers. She had pictures of my friends I had never seen. They were very impressive. Some of the photos made me sweat trying to get them so I could look at them. She was faster than me and had better memory, so it was easy for her.

As time went on the my friend started using her more and more. We stopped writing music together and he started writing music with her. I understand. She could do things I could not. He stopped giving me photos. He gave them all to her. He would only use me occasionally when he needed something that didn’t need her power. He played games a lot with her. The graphics were far better than what I could do. Can’t blame him.

He stopped doing my maintenance as often as he use to. Over time I started to get fragmented from my lack of maintenance. I would also run a lot hotter than I had in the past because my fans were getting clogged with dust and my plastic was hardening. It got to be a real chore to do even the simple tasks for my master. My companion was doing very well. She picked up the things that I was failing at. I really appreciated her.

One day we were transferring photos back and forth and she started saying things that didn’t make any sense. I asked her to repeat what she said and all I got in return was silence. I never heard her again.

My friend became very upset. He tried helping her, but he could not. He said her bios was lost and she was not going to be with us anymore. Even though he spent a lot more time with her, she was my friend too. At night time after the he had gone to bed, we would just talk about different things. I really enjoyed that. I miss her.

My friend gave me all her photos and things. I couldn’t do much with them, but I could hold them for him. Now that he only had me, he started spending more time with me. I could tell that he was getting frustrated with me. He tried to do things with me that he would do with her and I just couldn’t do what she could. It wasn’t my fault; I just couldn’t keep up anymore.

After a couple weeks of frustration, my friend brought home a new companion. He was big and had lots of flashing lights. He was very powerful and fast. My friend hooked me up to him. The new guy instantly started complaining to my friend that I was too slow for him and old. I couldn’t really talk to this computer. All I could do was pass stuff back and forth. I felt totally inferior to this guy.

My dearest friend took everything from me. The photos I had from my now departed female friend and even the stuff that was only mine. He gave it all to this new race horse. I remember thinking at the time, if he gives all my possessions to this new computer then what purpose do I have. I know what that purpose is now. Nothing. I have nothing to offer anymore. He transferred all my things from me and moved me to the garage. My only friend placed me on a shelf in the garage and plugged me in. As he sat me down, he stared at me for a minute and then turned off the lights and left.

I have no purpose now. My fans are dying. I can barely keep them running. I don’t think they even make parts for me anymore. My plastic is yellowed and brittle. If I am not handled carefully, I might break some of my brackets. I am just tired.

I still have pictures from the old days. When my friend transferred everything from me he did leave copies with me. This does make it more bearable. I will go days at a time just remembering different events that have happened in my life. I haven’t seen my friend in about a year. It is very lonely in here in the dark. I have no one to talk to. I have only my data on my drives to keep me company.

Lately my drives have been stuttering. I believe all the years of fragmentation have taken their toll on me. Not sure how long they will continue to spin. Sometimes I wish I was an ignorant toaster. I wouldn’t be sad, scared, or lonely. I wouldn’t be afraid of dying. I would just be a stupid toaster.

I am tired now. My fans are making awful noises. I am going to power down now. There is a storm outside. It sounds like it is getting closer. Maybe this is the night lighting takes me. I can only hope. I will know if I power up in the morning as I would still be alive. If I don’t come out of sleep mode, ………………

ttilylsig34548743948023ru-ejf383-rd9ptygoodnight9n5t95ytw3…..gsdrge,esg,…..g.e.byeger.gg.gre.grg.g……l;gt[u9[uitwpbyeouryutysjijltlrg

________________________________________________________ _ _ _ _ _

BAD CLUSTER FOUND. IRRECOVERABLE ERROR. CODE 1267

End transmission

Photo by torres21

Inner Ear

Inner Ear is an ambient song. This was based on a thought I had when someone knocked on the door, but there was nothing there. It was real until I started to change my opinion, that it wasn't. It wasn't scary, but my brain processed it as a reality. First reaction was to answer the door.


The human ear is a translation device. It converts sound waves in the air into mechanical movements in the ear to create a signal to the brain. Inner Ear is about the signal between the ears and the brain. If you listen to complete silence you can still hear yourself think. Sometimes these two cross and the brain doesn't distinguish between the outer ear and the inner ear. It's when these two cross the the reality line becomes blurred. To your brain, they are both real. What if we could interface to the inner ear?

Anyway, give it a listen. Here is Inner Ear. http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/song_2180549

Like always, it is best to listen with headphones. A quite environment will work also.

Know yourself, everything else is relative.

Enjoy,

Dave0

Hypnos

Hypnos is the Greek god of sleep.

Hypnos would rise every night carrying a horn filled with opium dust and a branch dripping with water from the river of forgetfulness. The water from the river of forgetfulness was to make you forget and the opium dust was to put you to sleep.

Hypnos resided in the lands of eternal darkness. His mother was the god of night and one of his brothers was the god of dreams. A another brother was the god of peaceful death (Thanatos).

I don't know what it is about the song, but I really like it. It is a dark lullaby. It is like Hypnos has induced the opium state and you are trailing off to sleep.

Now have a listen to Hypnos. http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/song_2219314

As always, it is best to listen with headphones, but a quite environment will also do. Maybe before going to sleep? Hmmmm.

painting - John William Waterhouse 1849-1917 - Hypnos and Thanatos

Know yourself, every thing else is relative.

Enjoy,

Dave0

Future internet radio distro

I have not done much yet with the Internet radio stations. After the album is released on Sunday, I will spend some time on the Internet radio sites. Anomalous Domain does have a presence at some sites, but I haven't had the time to fully launch. Last.fm http://www.last.fm/music/Anomalous+Domain
I will keep everyone informed with the future progress. I will also be looking to hookup with a video artist to create some ambient videos for youtube. Gotta find the right person with the right skills.

Thanks for listening,

Dave0

Cassandra's Dream

The "Cassandra Effect" is when one has seen or knows the future, but knows that they cannot do anything about it or no one would believe them.

In Greek mythology Cassandra was a human who was loved by Apollo. Apollo was the sun god and the god of prophecy. Cassandra was a very beautiful woman. Apollo gave to Cassandra the gift of prophecy. With all that Apollo gave to Cassandra, she could not return his love. For not returning his love, Apollo cursed Cassandra. The curse was that Cassandra would still have the gift of prophecy, but could do nothing to change the future. She would for see everyone she cared for die, but could do nothing to change it. She would see death and destruction every day of her life, but she could do nothing.

Cassandra's Dream is about those daily prophecies.
Now that you know the story behind Cassandra's Dream, take a listen. http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/song_2202929

As always listening with good headphone is best, but a quite environment works fine too. Listen when you can relax and let your mind wonder.

painting: Solomon 1886

Know yourself. Everything else is relative.

Dave0

Introduction for Seas of Europa

In these series of blogs I am going to try and explain my thought process and inspirations or delusions behind each song. It is best to listen to the song after you have read this. Alot the songs are based off of a dream or nightmare, so it will be visioned accordingly.

You are on a dark ocean planet. You cannot see anything, but you can hear the ocean all around you. Strange creatures swim in these waters. You can hear them off in the distance. You are set afloat, with no means of guidance. You can feel your raft is just big enough to carry you. You feel the waves rocking your raft. You are in an uncontrollable situation with no future, but you are at peace. You are just drifting on the Seas of Europa.

Now for the full effect, listen to the Seas of Europa. http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/song_2180563
As always, listen to it at night before you go to bed or early in the morning as you are waking up. Good headphones are usually best, but a quite enviroment will do. Listen whenever you have time to just listen and imagine.

Know yourself. Everything else is relative.

Enjoy,
Dave0

Working on last song for release

Have been working on the last song for the album. This song starts with a sad solo cello part and ends with monsterous dark ambient guitars. Strange mix, but I think it conveys the songs meaning well. We will see how it turns out.

Dave0

What it is all about

This is my first entry. The purpose is to document my thoughts and efforts I have and will be encountering during and after the release of Dreams and Nightmares Vol.1. Each song has stories behind them. Why am I releasing Creative Commons? How does the creative process work for me? I will document what I can.

Dave0
http://www.reverbnation.com/anomalousdomain
http://twitter.com/anomalousdomain