[extropy-chat] Music and Science

[Ben Goertzel]

Nietzsche was not exactly a scientist, but he considered his music
improvisation necessary to his work as a philosopher.  He kept
promising himself to stop spending so much time on it, and once said
"From now on, I will pursue music only insofar as it is domestically
necessary to me as a philosopher."

A sentiment I have expressed to myself many times (my music keyboard
being a tempting 10 feet away from my work desk...)

-- Ben G

On 11/30/06, pjmanney <pj at pj-manney.com> wrote:
> I have a research question for you all.
>
> Are you aware of any scientists who have had specific scientific inspiration from music?
>
> I am aware of Einstein finding the architecture and inner unity of Mozart and Bach while playing the violin an inspiration for the elegant equations he sought.
>
> I also have heard that Francis Collins found inspiration during the Human Genome project while playing his guitar, but I haven't been able to find out specifically what inspiration that was or what he was playing.  It could have been "Onward Christian Soldier" for all I know...  ;-)
>
> Are there any other scientists you know who have achieved intellectual breakthroughs or more general inspiration while either playing or listening to music?
>
> Thanks for your time.
>
> [And could either Jef or Russell please forward this to the WTA list?  Seems I'm having problems with their server again... - Thanks!]
>
> Take care all,
> PJ
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