Episode 050: Road Rage
In which we discuss meditation, donuts, and robots
We have a little faculty meditation group here at the school. Meetings are every Thursday morning, and a nice rotating half-dozen of us or so show up most weeks. We chat about mindfulness-type things, like how to be better human beings, and we practice for about a half hour or so. It's lovely.
The other day, we ended up discussing how, despite our best intentions, we sometimes live our lives from a not-so-mindful place. One co-worker mentioned how he was a few minutes late driving to school that day and was a little concerned he wouldn't get to mindfulness in time. While in that agitated mindset, someone cut him off and he flipped the full-on double bird at the perpetrator. Both hands. Off the steering wheel.
Despite our best intentions…
And that could be any of us.
For the next couple of days I just couldn't get his ironic story out of my mind, thinking about how silly road rage is. So I found this 2014 painting by Eric Joyner entitled Road Rage. And good Heavens am I glad I did.
I don’t think I can articulate Eric Joyner’s awesomeness better than the very first words out of his mouth in his website’s introductory video:
“I paint robots and donuts.”
That hooked me. Robots, sure. But donuts? I just love his explanation “Hey, I'd been painting robots for a long time, and I decided they needed a foil”.
And, as everyone knows, donuts: the archenemy of robots.
The whole concept of robots having road rage is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Any science fiction nerd worth his salt knows Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics":
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
So a robot yelling and screaming in his car after being cut off and jumping out to confront a human? Preposterous.
But…maybe robots are allowed to be mad at each other?
Finally, I tried to get the donut into the reduction. I did. I just love how the pink robot is eating the donut with one hand and smashing into cars with the other hand. Fantastic.
And my reduction does kinda look like flipping two birds I guess.
I don't usually write snap-it-to-the grid electronic-sounding music. While the majority of the drums I record are loops or electronic drums or beats I create with individual sounds, I work really hard to make them sound loose and natural – often purposely out of time. Really funky sometimes.
Not this one. These are robots, my friends. As much as AI has progressed, robot music still sounds like robots. Oh, there are my usual swooshes and bangs and indecipherable voices and static, but, in the end: robots.
I know I tend to beat themes to death a bit [we’re trying to get a point across here I suppose], but this one is intentionally over the top. It’s just the exact same phrase over and over again. Something a robot would do!
After the drop, I add a very important sounding string section to join in on the theme, but: same notes!
The only time it sounds different is the breakdown where I send the synth through a 1980s video game-sounding bitcrusher, and as it distorts more and more it starts to sound like the melody is changing.
It is not.
One last thing about robots…err, I mean meditation…
Wait: I mean robots AND meditation!!
Researchers at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Hong Kong Science Park this past year explored using robots as guides for two different types of practices: loving-kindness and walking meditations.
"Our goal is to develop a deeper understanding of how social robots can promote participation in at-home interventions and provide evidence-based support for young adults' mental health. We will thus continue exploring the efficacy and potential benefits of using social robots in mental health interventions for young adults."
Right! Everyone is afraid these days about how robots are going to take over the world. Let's hear it for researchers trying to figure out how to use these new technologies for good!
PS – Ever notice Buddhist monasteries aren’t often located near major highways? I’m guessing it’s so the monks aren’t tempted by road rage. (After all, they’re human – not robots.)
Until next week, thanks for reading Polyester City. If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment by clicking the link above. If you know anyone who likes Music and Art and Stories [and robots teaching meditation], which is pretty much everyone, please consider sharing by clicking the link below.
Or so they (the monks) are not tempted to pull a quick on and off stop for doughnuts at Dunkin’!
So good, Peter. Very interesting to think about the connection between robotic repetition and spiritual meditation. I'm always keen on things that seem diametrically opposed, but are actually quite similar.