At various points throughout Chapter 5 and explicitly in the Interlude, Ge questions the value of computer music and design. On page 220, Ge says that "one of our favorite passtimes is questioning the value of the computer music we make." On page 250, describing the conception of the laptop orchestra, Dan Trueman says, "That the notion of a 'laptop orchestra' is seemingly paradoxical is one of my primary motivations for creating one; the pairing of these two inventions is perhaps obvious only because of its apparent impossibility." Trueman emphasizes that the laptop orchestra has value because it does not make sense. In Chapter 1, Ge claimed that beauty lies in what we cannot understand but feel to be true. So, for Trueman to venture to realize an inconceivable notion could be an opportunity to confront the unknown and make meaningful design choices that embody his values beautifully. To dig into the unknown gives us the opportunity to grapple with our ineffable sense of beauty in the pursuit of finding a manifestation of the sublime. The Interlude goes on to suggest that the sublime exists not only in the impossible, but in the comical.
At various points throughout Chapter 5 and explicitly in the Interlude, Ge questions the value of computer music and design. On page 220, Ge says that "one of our favorite passtimes is questioning the value of the computer music we make." On page 250, describing the conception of the laptop orchestra, Dan Trueman says, "That the notion of a 'laptop orchestra' is seemingly paradoxical is one of my primary motivations for creating one; the pairing of these two inventions is perhaps obvious only because of its apparent impossibility." Trueman emphasizes that the laptop orchestra has value because it does not make sense. In Chapter 1, Ge claimed that beauty lies in what we cannot understand but feel to be true. So, for Trueman to venture to realize an inconceivable notion could be an opportunity to confront the unknown and make meaningful design choices that embody his values beautifully. To dig into the unknown gives us the opportunity to grapple with our ineffable sense of beauty in the pursuit of finding a manifestation of the sublime. The Interlude goes on to suggest that the sublime exists not only in the impossible, but in the comical.
On page 288, Perry suggests that simply creating an aesthetic experience for the performer and audience is a success. There is value in reaching into the void and pulling out a design that makes raises questions without providing any answers. The chapter's animal-inspired instruments embody this ideal to me. It is hard for me to see a reason for the existence of the Fowl-harmonic besides its comedy, horror, and absurdity. To read about this instrument was an (unpleasant) aesthetic experience for me, and although I did not like it, it did allow me the opportunity to engage with my values and aesthetic sensibilities. Similarly, though slightly less disturbingly, the COWE also brought aesthetics in conversation with functionality, embodying cuteness, uselessness, and again absurdity. The ugliness of the instrument's grossly excessive controllability is offset by the cuddliness of a repurposed stuffed animal wrapped around one of the many unnecessary sensors. The instrument gives me a gut-wrenching distaste at the same time as a warm pang of appreciation, and the striking dissonance of my reaction makes me realize how far some fluffiness will go to justify something and make it more appealing.
At the end of the Interlude, Perry guides Ge to the conclusion that we do not need, or have, a reason to design. Not only is design an experience, but it is an end-in-itself. Together, Ge and Perry design the notion of design with contradiction, self-recurrence, and beauty. This conclusion justified some of the things that were hard for me to swallow early in the chapter, like some of Perry's design principles on pages 228 and 229. The notion of design suggested by these principles is not necessarily supposed to be useful but rather to help us be ourselves, to play, to wonder, to thrive. Regardless of the medium or the manifestation, design by these principles is e a humanist faith.