Taste is a Cloud

02007-07-08 | Uncategorized | 1 comment

Even though we humans are 99.5% identical, that 0.5% makes all the difference in the world and no two people are alike, even if they are siblings. I wrote that none of the software predicting what I might like works for me… This morning I built a bridge between those two statements. The predicting software is assuming that taste is linear, but it is not. Taste is a cloud, just like the genetic mix that makes each person so different. It is personal and cultural and rooted in time… What I mean is that my reason for liking a particular sound or melody is predicated by a very complex and completely different set of parameters than exists for the next person.

Therefore I might love A but not at all like B, while the next person loves both or neither… In fact the painters or authors I like, which poems by Naruda I love, whether I prefer coffee or tea (actually I love both) might be more of a key to which music I like than asking me about musical genres!

Taste is a cloud, not a list. Taste is incredibly complex. It’s like that interview question, the one a journalist might ask when they haven’t listened to your music and don’t have a clue what you are about: what influences you? Hm, how about everything, every ray of light, every particle refracting and reflecting those rays of light, every sound and every surface reflecting that sound, every person I have touched and who have touched me, every story I read, every word I heard, every scent… all that has created my taste, my inspiration, my particular take on things, which is as complex as my personal DNA and which is fluidly changing constantly!

PS: some of this came from a conversation I had with Barrett and a friend of his after watching the documentary film tonight.

1 Comment

  1. Will

    With your last paragraph you also see that your taste is ever changing. The best way to find out someone’s taste is to get to know them. If I talk to someone for 5-10 min. I can usually figure out who and what they want (not their deep thoughts and secrets). This takes dropping my own ego, asking questions, and intently listening. Observe how many people can actually do this in today’s society.

    Taste is like a cloud ever changing, taking different forms, what was true today may not be true tomorrow.

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