SCIENCE, IL SUONO, L'INGLESE e "LORD RINGWOOD".
di Francesco Quartana
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La Musica di Osiride - …quasi un Prologo
"[...] Le stelle sbiadiscono come il ricordo the instant before dawn. The sun is low in the east, like a golden eye open. What can be named must exist. What is nominated can be written. What is written should be remembered. What is remembered lives. In the land of Egypt Osiris [...]"
wanders from the "Book of the Dead of the ancient Egyptians"
Lord Carnarvon: "Can you see anything?"
Howard Carter: "Yes wonderful things. "
by Howard Carter (1874-1939)," Tutankhamen ", Rizzoli (1973)
Egypt, Valley of the Kings, 1323 BC
in a spring day
The sun was low in the east, like a golden eye open, when the high priest went into the tomb to check that nothing had been forgotten. They just take a quick look at the various clubs to see that everything was exactly where it was necessary that was.
reached the burial chamber, came up with stealthy step of the chest and leaned on the yellow quartzite sarcophagi inside, still open, shed the light of oil lamps. His eyes glittered mask and blue lapis lazuli of the outline was lit as if the whole live its own life.
There was still a small wreath of flowers prepared by the young widow, who was placed just above one of the outer coffin, but what you could have moved to deep emotion.
The man was a moment in silence, bewildered by the beauty of the finishes and hues of gold, and had no doubt that Osiris was welcomed with great joy the boy Pharaoh in his kingdom without end.
Within that sacred place, where each object was placed not at random but according to a predetermined pattern, the priest led the heir to the Pharaoh in the solemn celebration of the "Ritual of the opening of bocca”, lo stesso a cui rimandavano gli splendidi dipinti alle pareti, in cui il defunto, raggiunto l’aldilà, veniva accolto dalla dea Nut e, successivamente, dal dio Osiride, pronto a cingerlo in un abbraccio di comunione.
Terminato quel rituale, l’uomo diede disposizioni affinché lo scrigno più interno – quello appunto di quarzite, contenente l’uno dentro l’altro i tre sarcofagi in cui era custodito il corpo del Re - venisse sigillato; poi si diresse verso l’anticamera.
Una statua di Anubis, posta all’ingresso, sembrava scrutarlo silenziosamente.
Muovendosi a stento tra gli innumerevoli oggetti già stipati nel locale, The priest reached what was surely the most beautiful: a throne of wood covered entirely in gold and enriched with inlaid glass and ceramics.
If any part of that object had been worked with care, especially in the back was a unique masterpiece of art and jewelry. We saw it depicted the Queen intent on dispersing the body of Pharaoh, seated in front of her, of some ointment or perfume. The expression on their faces was serene and happy, highlighted once again by a deep blue lapis lazuli and benefits of Re-rays that lit up the scene from above.
The man was a moment to contemplate the wonder, therefore track of the signs invisible on the session, and thereafter released from the thin covering of linen, they were wrapped, two items he had brought with them specially in that place.
Two small horns, one bronze and gold and one silver, glistened in the dim light of the lamp, before being carefully laid just above the beautiful golden throne: they guided the young Pharaoh in the long and perilous journey through the Duat, from darkness into the light of the afterlife and, therefore, the Judgement of the god of the dead.
This had to be done, was done. What needed to write, had been written.
Now yes, everything was and musicians could stand ready to accompany the music of Osiris with the final steps of closing the tomb - the priest knew that from that moment, was no longer required his presence in the tomb.
Before leaving the hall, however, the man walked over to a young player sistrum and gave him three small pyramids of wood and a silver flask containing a particular ointment.
"To close the 'gate' that attracts the energy of sound" - he said, eyes with pride in those of others, who already look back at a perfect accomplice.
Then, without another word, closed his eyes and began to slowly climb the sixteen steps that were shown outdoors - under the sacred sky of Egypt, in a fatal dawn of spring ...
- II - On the uncertainty
"Doubt is one of the names of intelligence"
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
"Why, or, should give two two four?"
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
argued, I believe, Pierre Simon de Laplace (1749-1827), that Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was a lucky man because in nature there is only one law of universal gravitation and it was he who discover it. And yet, in his famous opening to "philosophical essay on probabilities" (1812), that:
"an Intelligence that for a given instant, knew all the forces by which nature is animated and the respective situations of the beings that compose it, if more was deep enough to submit these data to analysis, would embrace the same formula the movements of the universe and the largest of the lightest atom: nothing would be uncertain and the future for it, like the past would This in his eyes (...) ".
We're talking, of course, the analytical and highly rational nature that is still remembered as "determinism" Laplacian, and that is the leitmotiv that links a bit 'all the works of the great French scholar.
On the other hand, the early nineteenth century when Napoleon asked Laplace precisely why, in a monumental work which was his "Celestial mechanics", the author had never suggested the existence of God, Laplace replied that writing it had not been "necessary to make use of that hypothesis ..."
David Hilbert argued - and I'm sure - David Hilbert (1862-1943), the late nineteenth century, that mathematics, which is all that it says could be reduced simply to a few axioms starting properly chosen on the basis of which they can demonstrate, in fact, every proposition internal to mathematics itself - I would say that this was the greatest dream of the father of mathematical formalism.
We now know that both the Laplace Hilbert wrong. However, even if they are collapsed and the certainties of determinism is that of formalism, I would say that we are immensely richer, having opened in front of us, of a tratto, nuovi orizzonti di ricerca.
In Fisica c’è una differenza sottile, ma non banale, tra ciò che si definisce “Legge” e ciò che si definisce “Principio”.
Le leggi vengono provate in laboratorio e descrivono, in sintesi matematica, la natura di un fenomeno.
È una precisa “Legge”, ad esempio, quella che descrive il fenomeno per cui la Terra ruota intorno al Sole - la “Gravitazione Universale”, già ricordata più sopra - oppure quella che descrive in che modo due corpi puntiformi carichi si attraggono o si respingono – la “Legge di Coulomb”.
Un “Principio” è molto di più: è qualcosa che nessuno ha mai smentito e di conseguenza costituisce il fondamento di una determinata parte della Fisica.
Sono principi quello di “inerzia” oppure quello di “conservazione dell’energia meccanica” (sistemi conservativi); è un principio, ancora, quello secondo cui, se due corpi sono posti a contatto, il calore fluisce “spontaneamente” sempre dal corpo a temperatura maggiore a quello a temperatura minore, fino a che entrambi non si portano all’equilibrio termico (variante del “Secondo Principio della Termodinamica”).
Essi affermano proprietà così evidenti e sempre verificate - almeno nell’ambito della Meccanica classica - che sarebbe riduttivo definirli leggi.
Quasi sempre un principio definisce anche un limite imposto dalla natura.
Supponiamo di conoscere, ad un dato istante, la posizione esatta occupata da un elettrone che si stia muovendo in una regione dello spazio. In questo caso, l’esperienza prova che non potremo mai risalire, in alcun modo, alla velocità esatta della particella in quello stesso istante.
Viceversa, se conoscessimo in modo esatto la sua velocità, allora non riusciremmo mai ad ottenere alcuna informazione valida sulla sua posizione.
Tale limite, imposto dalla natura indipendentemente dall’abilità di chi conduce le misure, called "uncertainty principle" of Heisenberg (1927) and can be considered the starting point of the so-called "Quantum Mechanics", ie that part of modern physics based on probabilistic laws and that the mere act of "observing "a certain physical phenomenon observed effects on the system and interacts with it.
How easy to understand, this is absolutely incompatible with the principle of Laplacian determinism scenarios and the consequences of which open completely unimaginable in the past.
If the specter of uncertainty in physics is called "uncertainty", and is part of the already aforementioned principle of Heisenberg, mathematics called "indecisiveness" and based on one of the most important theorems that have ever been found.
Werner Heisenberg
In mathematics, an "axiom" is a statement which is taken without that proves true. A theorem is a statement that instead you get, for demonstration, starting from some initial assumptions considered "real" and which gives its name to "hypothesis" - think for example the famous "Pythagorean theorem" which expresses a specific property on the sides of each triangle ...
One of the most well-known axiom of parallels is probably introduced by Euclid in the third century BC, based on which, in essence, two parallel lines have no points in common.
This statement does not establish the basis of its content and you can build what we call "Euclidean geometry", often useful for a rational description of the visible world.
If, however, assumes that two parallel lines by definition have a common point, then it is possible to construct a new geometry, non-Euclidean, which is also consistent and significant applications in various fields of science.
Whatever the axioms chosen on which to base a formal mathematical theory, it is reasonable to think that they should always be what is called a "coherent and complete."
For a system of axioms is consistent (not contradictory), it must be that, starting from the axioms, is not taken to show that a certain statement is both true and false.
order for the system was, however, complete, it is necessary that any statement (or its opposite) in the theory is a "theorem", an assertion that is "certified."
As already mentioned, and on this basis of consistency and completeness based appunto il più grande sogno di Hilbert: riuscire a trovare il migliore dei sistemi assiomatici possibili, cioè quel sistema di assiomi, coerente e completo, a cui ricondurre non una precisa teoria matematica, ma addirittura “tutta” la Matematica.
Prima di proseguire, prendiamo in considerazione la seguente affermazione, nota anche come paradosso di Epimenide, noto filosofo dell’antichità.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradosso_del_mentitore
Epimenide afferma:
«Io sono un mentitore»
Se volessimo stabilire se tale proposizione è dimostrabile, sorgono problemi.
If it is "true", in fact, that we would be saying something true Epimenides saying, though, to be one mind, and therefore there would be an obvious contradiction.
On the other hand, the claim can not be any "false" (which is tantamount to admitting that its contrary is true) because, in this case, that we would be one that Epimenides is telling the truth, but his claim to be a liar to extend once again a contradiction.
That question is just an example of the proposition "undecidable", that is a proposition which, if we could demonstrate that it is true or that is its opposite, we would in any case a contradiction, and lose coherence of the system that has been defined.
Albert Einstein and Kurt Godel
The existence of these propositions constituted a cause of great embarrassment to the mathematicians of the late nineteenth century, but at the beginning of the century was also the starting point of studies of Kurt Gödel (1906-1978), a young Austrian author of a mathematical theorem - actually two theorems, the second even more destabilizing for the first - the most extraordinary scientific literature of all time.
try to understand why.
Suppose for a moment, to be able to build a formal system of mathematical axioms based on the consistency, ie a system that if you use the rules of logic do not prove that some statement within the system is simultaneously true and false.
Well, the "incompleteness theorem" of Gödel (1931) states that such a system can never be "complete", that is to say that there will always be, within the system itself, at least a statement " undecidable, "that statement" true "and yet not certified!
But the question is even more subtle.
If we wanted to get around this by deciding to raise axiom to this statement (assuming true, either it or its opposite), so you do not have to show more (remember that an axiom is by definition a true statement which is not shown), the new and larger system that will bring it to build again, inside, at least one undecidable proposition.
This is an outstanding result, whose importance could not be grasped and quickly accepted by the scientific community of the time. They needed a sacrifice had to turn the page and suddenly become adults, leaving forever a dream - that of Hilbert - absolutely impossible.
Despite being shunned by initials, in the end even the most conservative of the facts had to face facts and recognize the genius of Gödel. The latter, in 1978, now mentally ill, would be left to die of malnutrition because convinced that someone wanted to poison him.
The size of his theorem, of course, has survived. And for the enormous contribution that the author has given to Mathematics, the new millennium, not surprisingly, Time has shown just in Kurt Gödel, "the mathematician more representative of the twentieth century."
Il “Principio di indeterminazione” di Heisenberg ed il “Teorema di incompletezza” di Gödel rappresentano due dei più importanti risultati della conoscenza umana. Il primo è appannaggio della Fisica, l’altro della Matematica.
Entrambi, se da una parte hanno aperto una voragine in ambito scientifico mostrando l’impossibilità di risolvere in positivo la cosiddetta “Crisi dei Fondamenti”, dall’altro hanno creato nuovi campi di indagine e dato vita, soprattutto, ad un nuovo modo di pensare.
Faremo bene a ricordarcene tra un attimo, quando prenderemo in considerazione i fenomeni connessi col suono e la sua percezione…
- III -
"Trying and trying again"
"Every great scientific progress is the result of a new act of audacity of imagination"
John Dewey (1859-1952)
"The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its previous size '
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Palermo, August 2008 ... The city
was emptied for the summer holidays and a man wanders alone within the walls of a shop in the center. For over thirty years, sells equipment to play music, or, as they say in the most learned to listen in "high fidelity".
Her shop is without doubt the most famous city. One of the few that survived the crisis in the mid-nineties, without having to convert your home theater, the only one where you are fascinated by the noble story-telling ability of the owner: and he is aware.
Palermo also know that the "audiophile" - another term of doubtful meaning - it is always divided into two groups, without middle way: one consisting of those who admire his ideas as to sound reproduction and those that the hates they considered, to say the least, "very original".
has decided not to close the year for summer holidays, except Sundays and the day of August, because it must carry out some experiments that some months now the haunt and frighten.
Sometimes the door opens, enter a few friends for a quick greeting or buy any accessories to take on a minor holiday, and he greets him, entertains him with two quick chat please, but not really looking forward to the customer if they return to where he came, so that he can devote himself to his resume and his electronic experiments.
Sure, it's been a while since, in the mid-'80s, his shop was among the first to listen to those speakers to the city Made in Italy that soon they would go crazy Americans, and aesthetically beautiful speakers that even many of the excellent sound, but yet he managed to get sound even better by acting directly on the crossover.
Once the store was teeming with people and especially young people who cultivated a passion for the music: it seems a century has passed since then, as new generations today are more distracted by computer and by the "liquid music" that which is played by the electronic music.
There are days when the shop is completely deserted, but this is not a cause of depression for our man, indeed ...
I would probably have been mentioned in the golden years, when the family needs to achieve an imposed "position" to ensure a bright future for himself, his wife and especially his children.
But now that the children have grown and economic stability was achieved, our men can afford to hope that in the days when it feels so say, "inspired", takes the customer to disturb her new job in the field of sound reproduction.
In the spring, by chance, after more than thirty years he returned to take into account the dramatically wacky ideas of a British scholar named Peter William Belt, his old acquaintance.
This scholar - that might be more accurately defined as "an alchemist of sound" - argues that it can change for the better perception of the music played by an audio system by coating, for example, small amount of toothpaste on a few strategic points of the electronics, or simply by placing a photograph of a loved one on a speaker or salt crystals on a CD.
At our man smiled rereading those advice given by a passionate ideas certainly much of its original. But then he remembered a listening test carried out one afternoon in his shop, and his mind began to gallop without stopping ...
That afternoon, two speakers sounded top of the already mentioned - between the lines - Italian brand . Someone casually, had placed a sheet of paper on one of the speakers and the listening session in his ears had perceived the surf sound so much different from many other times.
At that moment he could not determine the cause, but something inside him had convinced him that it was an extremely interesting, worthy of being crystallized in a corner of the brain rather than being consigned to oblivion.
One spring day, the reinterpretation of the original ideas Belt did resurface with arrogance in him that memory. And since then, nothing has been more equal than before for our man ...
do not know if the dealer in his youth protagonist of this history had ever come across in the motto of the Accademia del Cimento, the Medici of memory: "Trying and trying again."
is certain, however, that from the moment he realized that the original advice Belt could have some truth, the evidence in his shop did not order more and went on, as mentioned above, for the whole ' summer of 2008, finally finding an end point in what we call "the turning point of the pen."
There is a forum, as well as a site where you can get to know the tips pseudo-audiophiles Peter Belt. To a specific question of our man, someone in the group of Belt said that the effectiveness of the tweak - so called "tweaks" made within the audiophile and not only - it would be found to be enhanced by using a special pen for sale on the site at a cost of 50 pounds.
A marker, on balance, is a vehicle of some chemical that contributes to the staining: nothing more, nothing less. At that point, the road along which direct testing was drawn.
the summer of 2008, the store remained mostly desert every day.
The tests were continuing at a relentless pace, our man has taken into account hundreds of markers and the same colors of different objects.
The English alchemist and his advice highly "original" came out lentamente di scena, ma qualcosa di importante è rimasto: il venditore protagonista della nostra storia ha trovato la combinazione - o colorante chimico che dir si voglia - ideale con cui trattare piccoli oggetti lignei al fine di renderli tali da modificare, se inseriti opportunamente in ambiente, non già il suono in sé, ma la sua percezione da parte di chi lo ascolta.
Eccolo, dunque, il nostro uomo intento a trattare con quel composto ora delle piccole piramidi di legno ora dei bottoncini di ebano ora delle piccole strisce di stoffa, e posizionare poi i legnetti e le strisce così trattate tra le elettroniche e i cavi di alimentazione.
Ed eccolo, un attimo dopo, avere la conferma che il suono riprodotto is actually perceived as different, more airy, more defined, more fluid, with the tools no longer swollen or unrealistically drawn forward, but perfectly focused and localized in space.
In a word, a sound perceived as inexplicably "more orderly "....
Pandora
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora
- IV -
Pandora's Box
"The most important thing who teaches science has to say: "I do not know."
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
This story looks like a thriller, yet it is damn simple.
In some ways it reminds me of the extraordinary novel that is "Perfume" by Patrick Suskind, with the exception that no one commits murder to achieve the intended objective villains and the hero of this story will not end up torn to pieces by any nation audiophile - ... hopefully.
An act of violence, however, was committed here. Not the killing of an individual, but an act like that committed, in science, by Gödel and Heisenberg at the beginning of last century victim, once again, the "certainty" in this case that of "measures" in relation to sound.
Having developed this unusual compound capable of altering the perception of the music playing was for our seller as having opened up a Pandora's Box in psychoacoustics, a vessel that no one would ever suspect existence.
No harm, however, came out to fly away for men and contaminate their noble ears, in fact, experiments with chemical sticks have not only treated nicely drawn the curiosity and attention of many fans, but those of accredited technicians. And if ordinary mortals have found no explanation for the improvements - received almost unanimously - the sound played after the interposition of wood tweak, engineers have proposed, instead, their scientific explanation.
According to technicians, in practice, the interposition of the tweaks would improve only "apparent" and not a real perception of the music playing, better due to a sort of "principle of selection" physiology of the human ear.
ear Human beings, in essence, if subjected to further tests of listening to one song, would have the ability to make a sort of "cleansing" or even cancellation of some frequencies recognized annoying sound in the message.
After some listening to a particular song, so each person would perceive an improvement in the recorded music regardless of the presence or absence of sticks covered in environment.
Only a mental conditioning, then? No real improvement in the perception of sound? And how to explain, then, the immediate decline of the perception of sound, resulting in the removal of sticks?
* * *
If a positive scientific studies have had on my training, it is certainly the ability that I have donated to approach with confident curiosity about otherness and uncertainty - it seems strange, but so much ' is. It was natural, therefore, that once you become aware of the experiments of our man, I decide to do some tests in my system.
The trials lasted for a couple of weeks, in different listening conditions and using different combinations of tweak borrowed, and the results were significant in my opinion.
environment designed by me listening to music was with a couple of tapestries on the walls and a large rug in front of the line of speakers, there are not also particularly bulky furniture. The size is about 16 sq m built within an environment of about 24 square meters. Overall, I think it can be considered a more than acceptable for riprodurvi music.
The plant consists of four electronics - CD player, converter, tuner and amplifier - and two floorstanding speakers (I will not quote here because I do not think makes significant). It is, in my view, a system that sounds good with a substantially neutral tone and riproduce una scena molto ampia ed altrettanto alta.
Quasi tutte le prove sono state effettuate ascoltando due brani molto diversi tra loro, aventi però in comune l’ottima qualità della registrazione: “Otto e mezzo”, tratto dal cd “Voci di Luna” (Velut Luna) e “Stimela”, appartenente alla raccolta audiophile del cd “Burmester Reference 3”.
Conosco perfettamente il suono del primo cd – flauto e pianoforte - avendolo elevato da tempo a riferimento per il settaggio del mio impianto. Il realismo del flauto e la profondità del pianoforte di questo cd, ed in particolare del brano citato, mi hanno sempre dato utili indicazioni su cosa e come modificare per ottimizzare le prestazioni delle elettroniche.
D’altra parte, “Stimela” è un capolavoro di jazz fusion in grado di mettere a dura prova le capacità dinamiche dell’amplificatore e anche quelle di ascolto delle orecchie di un qualunque appassionato.
Posiziono due piccole piramidi di legno chimicamente trattate sul bordo superiore dei diffusori e faccio partire la riproduzione di “Otto e mezzo”. Risultato: ho la sensazione che la percezione del suono subisca un lieve peggioramento. Controllando meglio, però, mi accorgo di aver posizionato le piramidi in modo errato rispetto alle indicazioni (uno dei lati di base, contrassegnato in blu, va orientato infatti to the outside speakers) and therefore immediately proceed to correct the positioning of the same tweak.
So yes, the feeling that I feel is that of a sound that fills the room a more soft, with the flute that keeps the same height and the same realism as always, but now no longer projected forward from the piano but is fully integrated with it.
Let me be clear, this is not a drastic change, but a small, an important nuance that certainly does not go unnoticed in my listening.
Step to the reproduction of "Stimela", and because curiosity has now made its way, harbor directly to the absolute reading of the passage of the trumpet. Here too, the feeling is the same: there is something new in sound reproduction, now it is as if the instrument had acquired the right size and sound are better integrated with the voices and the remaining instruments.
As soon as I try to describe what I feel a comparison, the first thing that comes to mind is that, with the positioning of the sticks, so the flute before and I'm still listening to the trumpet that will be enhanced, if possible, of their new internal coherence and have ceased to "scream."
however slight, I would say that the improvement was perceived nettamente dalle mie orecchie ed ha avuto ricadute positive soprattutto a volumi di ascolto piuttosto sostenuti. Non credo di aver notato, inoltre, un significativo “tempo di ritardo” dall’istante in cui ho sistemato i tweak a quando è mutata la percezione del suono: come dire che i legnetti agiscono “da subito”.
Le successive prove hanno visto il posizionamento di una piramide alla volta su ciascuna delle elettroniche. Risultato: l’effetto prima descritto è diventato più evidente ed ha raggiunto il suo apice quando è stata sistemata una piramide sullo chassis dell’amplificatore.
In un secondo momento, le piccole piramidi poste sui diffusori sono state sostituite da due altri legnetti, questi di forma tondeggiante, simili a due piccole pastiglie. Ebbene, sono praticamente certo che la loro azione abbia prodotto un ulteriore miglioramento rispetto a quanto da me udito con il posizionamento dei legnetti di forma piramidale – forse perché il loro profilo curvo meglio si adattava alla curvatura posteriore dei miei diffusori?
* * *
Le ultime prove hanno coinvolto dei nastrini chimicamente trattati.
Ho provato a legarne alcuni ai cavi dell’alimentazione, ma in questo caso non mi pronuncio sugli eventuali effetti prodotti: le sfumature sono state talmente lievi, infatti, che non posso escludere condizionamenti di natura psichica. Aggiungo però che, nel dubbio, ho preferito lasciarli piuttosto che rimuoverli.
L’interposizione dei legnetti, a mio giudizio, non ha avuto influenza sulla timbrica sonora: quella è rimasta identica a se stessa e quindi sostanzialmente corretta. Il cambiamento ha riguardato piuttosto la “mutua integrazione” degli strumenti riprodotti, le cui sonorità sono state percepite in un quadro d’insieme più equilibrato e naturale.
Questo fatto è già di per sé sorprendente.
Stiamo parlando, infatti, di un miglioramento che nulla ha a che vedere con quelli solitamente indotti dalla sostituzione di un’elettronica, di un cavo or a pair of valves.
If in that case, the change / improvement is more or less attributable to the change of some electrical parameters of active components and / or passive, and is expressed almost exclusively in a greater or lesser extent across the range of frequencies, but here we are dealing with an "improvement of general conditions of listening, as if the air around the listener, the environment and everything is in it were" cleansed "from virtual obstacles of nature, alas, absolutely indecipherable .
If it were really so, it would remain open at least another matter.
place that, as it seems, the improvement in perception of sound made by tweak tested is in fact relate to an interaction with the environment as well as with deputies to the reproduction of electronic music, then a measure of the improvement you should also take during a live performance, even in the presence of a small orchestra playing a few pieces of chamber music.
This conjecture may be subject to future investigation and has not ruled out that just may be the outcome you can get important information to reveal the working principle of the test sticks.
Overall, I think, in my system, action the tweak has mainly affected the perception of the sound of wind instruments.
Needless to say, the removal of all the tweak did emerge immediately used that sense of "fine mess" when playing certain instruments, which I had never noticed before.
Say no more. Nothing more to add.
said Proclus - known chronicler of antiquity - that "Wherever there is a number, there is beauty."
Verissimo, in my opinion. But it is not the "numbers" in this case, namely the "measures traditional "to make peace in the mind of those who want to explain what is the unbiased effect of kindling on the perception of sound.
The timbre of the sound of an instrument is known to be linked to the waveform of the sound. No change in the tone does not change the waveform there is little to be measured. The same applies to the remaining distinctive features, namely the intensity and height, respectively, related to its frequency and amplitude of the wave.
The only suggestion that I would move me, after several trials, is that the action of canceling tweak some conflicting nature of dark Until yesterday, listening to music, we had never experienced, but that the presence of sticks in a chemically treated has now dramatically revealed.
However, if someone asked me what is, in my opinion, the exact role played by these pieces of wood, or on the basis of what laws of physics they act, the state of current scientific knowledge I would have no fear to answer: "Do not I know. "
Memories from a distant near future - almost an Epilogue ...
" We do not know with certainty what the mechanism or mathematical
which describe the total field in space or under what laws and general invariant
this total field is the subject. But one thing is certain:
the general principle of relativity is an essential tool
and effective solution to this problem the total field. "
by Albert Einstein," My Later Years "- Basic Books (1965)
"To the fables and parables have questions, or they will have answers;
or receive all the questions and answers."
Citati Peter, about the "Magic Flute" by Mozart (1756-1791)
Stockholm, Thursday, December 10, 2099.
The professor did not want to show it, but it was undoubtedly excited.
result that physicists had pursued for nearly two centuries, tirelessly, with the same vigor with which an archaeologist is dedicated to the quest for the Grail. And in the end it was he who reach the coveted goal.
in the hall that leads into the great hall set up for the awards, it was total chaos. Journalists and photographers tried to capture the new winners of the Nobel prize with the most effective technology could offer them, or digital cameras-quantum e video a risoluzione fotonica direttamente collegati con le redazioni di appartenenza; i rappresentanti dell’Accademia Reale di Svezia badavano a dare le ultime indicazioni prima dell’arrivo del sovrano; gli uomini del servizio d’ordine radiografavano i presenti con speciali emettitori di campo magnetico in grado di rilevare la presenza in sala di qualunque tipo di arma o di ordigno.
Il professore sapeva che la maggior parte delle riprese e delle attenzioni erano dirette al suo indirizzo, e ciò non lo faceva certo sentire a proprio agio, schivo e riservato com’era. Ma cosa poteva farci?
Ad un certo punto, una giovane donna si diresse verso di lui e lo invitò a seguirla in un corridoio di collegamento non molto distante dalla sala in cui si consumava l’attesa.
«Pamina Benucci, per Rai-Globalsat. Professore, le spiace se le faccio qualche rapida domanda prima della premiazione?»
Per un istante il professore si stupì che la donna si rivolgesse a lui in italiano e non in inglese, come del resto tutti in quel luogo. Un attimo dopo, però, si tranquillizzò riflettendo che entrambi avevano comuni origini italiane.
«E come faccio a dirle di no, signorina! Lei mi ha appena salvato da una vera e propria crisi di panico» - rispose l’uomo con un largo sorriso sul volto.
Raggiunto il punto più riservato del corridoio, la giornalista cercò di sfruttare la ritrovata serenità dell’uomo di scienza - finalmente al riparo dagli strumenti sempre più invadenti della tecnologia – per ottenere qualche informazione esclusiva sulla teoria che stava per consegnarlo alla storia quale vincitore del premio Nobel per la Fisica.
«Allora, professore, che effetto le fa avere avuto la meglio laddove Einstein e molti altri non sono riusciti a proseguire?»
Di fronte a quella domanda, l’uomo arrossì d’imbarazzo, poi rispose con la calma di chi conosce profondamente ciò di cui sta parlando.
«Le dirò, le teorie di “Grande Unificazione” sono state oggetto di studio per noi fisici per almost two centuries. I just think that with my research I make the final link in a chain that had become long enough to convince most that we all think of an equation 'of everything', uniting in itself the four fundamental forces of nature, without conflict with the 'Theory of Relativity', the idea was far from unhealthy. I believe that the merits of the result reached is that I definitely want to share with everyone - and there are many - who have preceded me. "
The woman, who in spite of the technology of his time still preferred to take notes on a small black notebook, he wrote down every word the professor, and now prepared to pursue us with more specific questions designed to shed light on studies that had led him to develop what now all called the equation altogether.
"Professor, I will not ask what are the consequences that flow from his discovery: I understand that will have the opportunity to speak at length in the coming days. I'd like to know, however, if it was intuition or something else to lead towards the formulation of the Equation of everything. "
The man smiled. Basically, it is expected a question like that, and already looking forward to the sense of wonder that he took his interlocutor when he had answered your question.
took a deep breath and replied with another question.
"Tell me, what is the relationship she has with the ... Music?"
The woman stood for a moment puzzled by the question of the scientist. What on earth could the music got to do with the equation at all?
"I listen mainly Rock, Quantum-Music and Soundtrack. Sometimes a little 'Classic, but things only really famous. I'm saying is maybe that the music has accompanied her as she tried to develop his equation? "
The man shook his head slightly. His gaze had become suddenly immobile, but still sparkling: he was recalling some memories, there was no doubt.
"The idea to reach equation gave it to me my grandfather, without his knowledge. He was a very unusual: think, taught Mathematics and Physics and yet he had the ball in literature, writing about esoteric and believed in reincarnation and palmistry, as well as being a profound scholar of ancient Egyptian and Gothic cathedrals. In short, a man of science sui generis, I assure you. He was also a music fan, not just the one that still listening to concerts, but also that which was then reproduced in the home through the plants.
One day I told a shopkeeper, his friend, started from the ideas of an English investigator was able to develop their own chemical compound that can change the perception of recorded music. My grandfather nicknamed him "The Lord of the sticks", which later changed to "Lord Ringwood" at the request of his friend the same as this seller was used to convey the mixture through in a small wooden objects, mostly in the form of pyramids or tapes.
At the time it made an impression on my grandfather, because one day some deciphering papyri accidentally discovered that the ancient Egyptians, more than three thousand years earlier, had developed something similar for substantially improving the perception of sound.
He told me that the Egyptians were convinced that there was a sort of "gate" inside of which was sucked most of the auditory information. It seems that to 'close' that gate they use their chemicals very similar to those developed by the retailer, a friend of my grandfather. "
" Does he chemicals can interact with the 'doors' connection between parallel universes, Professor? The Egyptians had such knowledge? "- Interrupted the woman in amazement.
«Sì, è molto probabile signorina. Così come è quasi certo che gli egizi tali conoscenze le abbiano ereditate da una qualche civiltà ancor più evoluta della loro. Ricordo perfettamente le parole pronunciate da mio nonno quando terminò di decifrare i suoi papiri: “Aveva ragione Giorgio De Santillana”, mi disse. “Ciò che sapevano è talmente straordinario che possiamo crederci solo se allo stesso tempo crediamo a quella che De Santillana era solito definire una 'mano informatrice'”.»
«Si riferisce alla teoria secondo la quale alcune civiltà tra loro geograficamente lontanissime pare condividessero un notevole sapere comune, giusto? Un sapere proveniente da qualcosa di molto più antico, se ricordo bene...» - lo interruppe con interesse la giornalista.
«Proprio così. Il nonno era appassionato di archeo-astronomia ed era convinto che fosse esistita una qualche civiltà antichissima da cui gli egizi, ma anche altri popoli, avessero attinto le loro conoscenze, che le assicuro erano davvero notevoli. Questa tesi, tuttavia, non è mai stata provata con certezza.
Posso solo dirle che i miei studi sull’Equazione del tutto hanno avuto inizio proprio indagando l’esistenza di quello strano gate, rivelatosi poi la chiave di volta per giungere addirittura all’unificazione delle Forze.
Vede, per quasi due secoli, e cioè from the brilliant synthesis electromagnetic electromagnetism was the Treaty published in 1873 by James Clark Maxwell, we focused mainly on electro-magnetic field and the two interactions, strong and weak nuclear. This, unfortunately, was essentially a political choice, not deny it.
Doing so, however, we have neglected the only field that interacts with more than any other human beings since their conception: the gravitational field. And to think that was all there, in front of our eyes, which also sought the truth elsewhere!
If only I think about ninety years does anybody, starting with simple experiments to improve the listening to music, did nothing to disturb that field for the benefit of your ears, thus arriving at a pitch from one of the most important discoveries in physics ... "The man
a pause for effect, even to allow the journalist to write down everything he said. Then he spoke again with renewed enthusiasm ...
"Ah, Miss Benucci! The science is just weird. Perhaps it would be to ask whether what we now general enough to constitute a new theory, they may in fact be considered, in turn, only a fragment of something even more General and inscrutable will find out tomorrow. A series of Chinese boxes, in other words, we do not know if it will never end and where appropriate. "
" Fascinating! "- Said the woman. "But we can at least believe that today, with the equation of the Whole, has been attained more general results possible?"
The scientist gave a slight smile.
"A drop in the ocean, young lady. Here's what it represents, in general, my equation. Many questions still remain open, as can be easily understood. For example, we still need to extend the equation alla Cosmologia per cercare di comprendere una volta per tutte “cosa ci sia là fuori”» – l’uomo indicò un punto immaginario verso il cielo stranamente terso che si stagliava al di là di una finestra lungo il corridoio.
«E, d’altra parte, non dobbiamo neppure perdere di vista le correlazioni che di sicuro esistono con la Meccanica quantistica, il cui sviluppo nel secolo che stiamo per lasciarci alle spalle è stato davvero notevole. Quando riuscissimo a mettere a posto tutto ciò, allora sì, forse avremmo appena fatto capolino “sotto le lenzuola di Dio”, giusto per parafrasare Indro Montanelli, un noto giornalista del secolo scorso che mio nonno in gioventù he loved very much. And do you really believe that anything is possible? "
The woman burst into a genuine laugh, amused by the comparison carried by the professor.
"I have no idea. Rather, I'd love to hear his thoughts on the matter. "
The man just nodded, then spoke again.
"You know what Einstein said in 1921, when Dayton Miller clings to the outcome of some of his experiments to discredit the 'Theory of Relativity' of the great scientist? He said the "Lord is subtle but not malicious." Often meant that Nature is strange and so are the laws of physics, but it is an oddity that never degenerates into a 'perversion': behind every event, in fact, even the most strange, every time we discover some unexpected design that seems to lead to a higher order.
In recent years I have often thought back to that famous quote of Einstein, and if the results achieved so far should instill a cautious optimism, in fact I am increasingly convinced that we will never raise all those sheets. And perhaps rightly so, believe me. God is a bit 'as Mozart: all'indovinello together gives you the solution, always. Only, when the people, here you find yourself in front of another and even more interesting riddle. "
Il professore aveva terminato la frase strizzando un occhio alla giornalista, quando, all’improvviso, in lontananza si udì uno squillo di trombe. Subito dopo, una voce annunciò l’inizio della cerimonia per la consegna dei premi Nobel .
«Mi sa che è giunta l’ora, signorina. Devo fare ritorno nella bolgia dantesca, così abbigliato come un pinguino che ha appena lasciato i ghiacci! Fortuna che ho portato con me un piccolo ricordo del nonno per uscirne “indenne”» - disse l’uomo sorridendo, mentre mostrava alla giornalista una piccola piramide di legno che teneva stretta tra le mani…
Stava per avviarsi, quando la donna lo interruppe per un’ultima application.
"Excuse me, professor. I would guess that if I wrote to her grandfather wants to dedicate the Nobel Prize will be awarded to that time? "
The man thought for a moment.
"In fact ... I deserve. If nothing else revealed to me that there is always a point of contact between the severity of the exact sciences and the most educated Esotericism, then that is nothing if not the continuing search for the part of every thinking being.
But I believe that if you spent only a Nobel Prize in my nonno farei un torto ad almeno altre due persone: lo studioso inglese - che si chiamava, mi pare, Peter William Belt - e quel negoziante di cui le ho raccontato, che purtroppo non ho mai conosciuto.»
Lo scienziato rimase qualche istante a pensare, poi guardò la piccola piramide portafortuna che teneva nella mano destra ed ebbe la stessa espressione di giubilo di chi riesca a risolvere un problema particolarmente spinoso.
«Ecco! Penso che lo dedicherò a chi è ancora in grado di credere nelle imprese impossibili, signorina, un po’ come ho fatto io nel corso dei miei studi, a dispetto della razionalità e di ciò che avrebbero suggerito i paradigmi della scienza ortodossa.
Yes, I will dedicate it to write their own "bold". I'm sure they would love all three: my grandfather, English, as well quell'impavido Lord Ringwood, "
VI -
The reasons for a story - thanks and more ...
"His name, or readers, has its origins in the Fertile Crescent.
always laugh and you made of that name, although that sounds
"acts of faith Mormons'"
....?
these few pages would never have come to light if you were not curious dagli esperimenti audiofili condotti dal mio concittadino Giuseppe Scardamaglia.
Mi sembra inevitabile, pertanto, ringraziare innanzitutto lui che senza saperlo mi ha fornito una storia da raccontare, facendomi così rimettere mano alla penna - anzi, forse sarebbe meglio dire alla “tastiera” del pc – in qualità di “narratore”, dopo un lungo periodo di riposo.
Giuseppe l’ho conosciuto un ventina di anni fa, quando io ero ancora un adolescente. All’inizio entrai nel suo negozio con l’intenzione di rimanervi solo pochi minuti, poi però finì che vi rimasi fino a sera.
Quando lo vidi, mi bastò notare che portavamo la stessa brand of shoes - we were probably the only ones who fit into Palermo at the time - to convince me that this was an extremely interesting.
Today more than ever I am not convinced that I was wrong.
addition to the protagonist of the story I told, I would also like to thank the following other friends: Flavia Radetti Institute Encyclopedic Italian, who has carefully re-read these pages before they were placed on-line; Sebastian Ribaudo, who waited with anxious curiosity could get the script, Tullio Amaducci, who provided me with an opinion on the description that I have proposed the "incompleteness theorem" in Gödel, and you "....?" mio alter ego in questo forum, a cui temo di essermi irrimediabilmente affezionato; gli utenti tutti, noti e meno noti, per il rispetto e l’attenzione con cui hanno salutato il delicato argomento intorno a cui gira la storia.
Un grazie sincero, infine, a Bergat e alla redazione tutta di Audio Review per aver permesso che il racconto comparisse a puntate sul forum on-line della rivista, nonché all’appassionato audiofilo Luciano Milossa, che ha accettato la pubblicazione in contemporanea di queste pagine anche sul suo bel sito.
Esauriti i ringraziamenti, è necessario che faccia alcune precisazioni.
Innanzitutto, credo di dovere delle spiegazioni agli utenti del forum, che certamente you will wonder what has prompted me to write a story like "The science, sound, English and Lord Ringwood, focusing on the rather thorny issue of audiophiles and tweak - which is unprecedented - serialized in the pages of the forum itself.
The answer is too simple.
After reading everything and its opposite, within the audiophile tweak the actual effectiveness of wood that I told, I just wanted readers to reflect on the limits of science and the positive effects of uncertainty.
The purpose of the chapter in which I talked about Gödel and Heisenberg, and in which they dealt with topics quite "challenging" was just that.
Personally, I find it rather stupid crush a theory or assumptions of a single experiment because they represent a break with "tradition": indeed, I would say this is an attitude of closure rather than an opportunity for growth.
On the other hand, I recognize also that this is a typical human reaction is hard, in fact, we are ready to accept willingly what we recognize as a new element.
In light of this, I just hope to be at least partially successful in my attempt.
* * * The drafting of the prologue, "The Musica di Osiride”, sebbene di fantasia è storicamente attendibile e le descrizioni sono assolutamente verosimili.
Poche sono le certezze che si hanno sul giorno e sulla causa della morte del giovane faraone Tutankhamen, il cui nome, ahimé, è stato consegnato alla storia più per quella presunta maledizione che si dice abbia colpito l’equipe di archeologi penetrati nella sua tomba che non per la straordinaria ricchezza del corredo funerario rinvenuto praticamente intatto all’interno della stessa.
Studi recenti confermano che il decesso sarebbe avvenuto in un giorno di primavera, probabilmente a causa di un incidente e non per mano di un assassino, come invece sostiene una tesi abbastanza diffusa.
A me è piaciuto immaginare che quel giorno, nel cielo d’Egitto, splendesse Amon-Ra.
Mi pare superfluo ricordare che oggi, senza questa eccezionale scoperta, non sapremmo quasi nulla degli usi e costumi degli antichi egizi. Invito i lettori, pertanto, a ricercare in rete proprio le foto delle “cose meravigliose” – oggi esposte quasi tutte al museo del Cairo - che Howard Carter e Lord Carnarvon (1866-1923) scoprirono all’interno del sepolcro di Tutankhamen nei mesi immediatamente successivi al 4 Novembre del 1922, giorno della localizzazione della tomba.
Il sistro che cito nello scritto era un tipo di strumento “a scuotimento” suonato dagli antichi egizi. Ne è stato ritrovato un esemplare proprio nell’anticamera del sepolcro, insieme ad altri strumenti musicali di ottima fattura.
Sempre all’interno del sepolcro, sono state ritrovate anche le due trombe citate nel testo, una delle quali utilizzata nel 1939 per una storica registrazione eseguita dalla BBC e a tutt’oggi ascoltabile in rete.
Tutto ciò che si legge nel breve saggio “Dalla parte dell’incertezza”, compreso l’aneddoto relativo a Laplace e Napoleone, è storicamente e scientificamente puntuale.
Anche se si tratta di un campo di mia chiara competenza, non posso escludere tuttavia di aver commesso degli errori - di cui mi assumo eventualmente la completa responsabilità - e ringrazio già d’ora tutti coloro che, rilevandoli, volessero gentilmente segnalarmeli.
Per non tediare i lettori, ho dovuto sintetizzare e semplificare il più possibile il contenuto del “Principio di indeterminazione” di Heisenberg e, soprattutto, il contenuto del “Teorema di incompletezza”: le loro rilevanze concettuali, comunque, mi pare siano state conservate e fanno da sfondo a quanto descrivo nel successivo “Provando e riprovando”.
Nella parte bearing that title, I told in fictional form the adventure that led Joseph Scardamaglia to develop the tweaks that we know. Pointless to ask whether things have gone exactly as I set out: a story, we strive for, is always subjective and never objective.
However, when the next part, "The Pandora's box", I refer to the technical opinion of the chemically treated sticks, I have summarized their views faithfully. With equal fidelity would say that I also described the listening tests that I ran to my house, using my hi-fi.
The question I raised, namely whether to tweak the wooden acting improve the perception of music performed live, is still open.
I sincerely hope that they run the tests in this sense: they could give us useful information to determine if the sticks interact with the magnetic field produced by the speakers and the electronics while they are working, or only with the environment. In the latter case, the hypothesis of an interaction with the gravitational field would be anything but fictional ... What I tell
Finally, in the epilogue: "Memoirs of a near distant future", set in 2099, is probably fanciful.
Just like that: "probably."
studies math and reading Borges taught me to refute any form of certainty. And for this I have made "free."
*
Having pointed out what I had, I just have to move towards the conclusion.
These pages begin telling a sad event that occurred more than 33 centuries ago on a spring day, and their preparation has been finished in another day of spring - anything but tragic - when my mind has tried to look with optimism at 90 years away from now.
I think it is auspicious coincidence.
The 2099 is not far away, but not around the corner.
By then, nobody can exclude that we strive to develop a "theory of everything" that, through some wondrous equation, brilliantly summarizing and describing the properties of the four forces in nature, their mutual interaction and, last but not least, the nature of the universe, certainly with considerable consequences on current scientific knowledge.
By then, I do not feel even exclude the possibility that we will return to speak - perhaps in a scientifically proven - of English Peter William Belt and "Lord Ringwood” .
Palermo - Equinozio di primavera dell’anno del Signore 2009
