“Aesthetics is pretty reliable among humans, but what about in minds-in-general”
I don’t think that’s relevant. A fugue’s job description doesn’t include entertaining killer robots from outer space, it’s supposed to entertain humans.
In general, I think any artwork should be judged (not enjoyed, but judged) based on whether the author succeeded or failed at what [s]he, personally set out to do, and whether it was a hard thing to do—whether it is creating music that is different from all other music in every way imaginable while remaining musical, or writing a novel that avoids all unrealism, or just figuring out what makes museums accept works for which “garbage” is a description, not an insult. Basically, the same way you’d judge an engineer.
I don’t think that’s relevant. A fugue’s job description doesn’t include entertaining killer robots from outer space, it’s supposed to entertain humans.
Now I wish there were a classical music piece entitled “Fugue in G for Killer Robots from Outer Space”.
Ah, for future reference: this looks to me like a case of defecting by accident. If you intended insult, of course, feel free to disregard this message.
I hadn’t seen any of Flight of the Conchords before, and was wary of it (for reasons of genre) once I clicked the link, but that was a pretty fun song. Sorry for the illusion of transparency on my part.
No problem; and thanks for explaining, actually. I was having trouble coming up with a reason why you’d expect it to be bad other than a low opinion of my taste, though I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case (for one thing, I don’t believe I’ve commented on music on this site).
Incidentally, you wouldn’t believe how long I agonized over a way to bring that implication to your attention without defecting by accident (by seeming accusatory or insulting) myself. This stuff is harder than it seems.
“Aesthetics is pretty reliable among humans, but what about in minds-in-general”
I don’t think that’s relevant. A fugue’s job description doesn’t include entertaining killer robots from outer space, it’s supposed to entertain humans.
In general, I think any artwork should be judged (not enjoyed, but judged) based on whether the author succeeded or failed at what [s]he, personally set out to do, and whether it was a hard thing to do—whether it is creating music that is different from all other music in every way imaginable while remaining musical, or writing a novel that avoids all unrealism, or just figuring out what makes museums accept works for which “garbage” is a description, not an insult. Basically, the same way you’d judge an engineer.
Now I wish there were a classical music piece entitled “Fugue in G for Killer Robots from Outer Space”.
Sort of like this?
I, uh. Wow. I did not expect to like that nearly as much as I did.
Ah, for future reference: this looks to me like a case of defecting by accident. If you intended insult, of course, feel free to disregard this message.
I hadn’t seen any of Flight of the Conchords before, and was wary of it (for reasons of genre) once I clicked the link, but that was a pretty fun song. Sorry for the illusion of transparency on my part.
No problem; and thanks for explaining, actually. I was having trouble coming up with a reason why you’d expect it to be bad other than a low opinion of my taste, though I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case (for one thing, I don’t believe I’ve commented on music on this site).
Incidentally, you wouldn’t believe how long I agonized over a way to bring that implication to your attention without defecting by accident (by seeming accusatory or insulting) myself. This stuff is harder than it seems.
In that case, we’ve both learned something about communicating on the Internet. Tsuyoku naritai!