PREDICTIONS – 10 Years Later - Santa Fe Institute

EPILOGUE
• • •
We are in Central Europe. I am driving with my son on a
highway flanked by towering Alps on one side and a lake reflecting
the setting sun on the other. Neither of us is talking.
He is fifteen, and if I had to describe with one word what he is
going through, it would be learning.
We are listening to Chopin’s nocturnes reproduced with
rich sound on the car’s four-way stereo. Music, scenery, and
motion blend together to evoke a contemplative mood. Finally,
my son interrupts the music. “Why did Bartok become successful?”
he asks. His music is not nearly as effective as
Chopin’s.”
I am accustomed to such questions. I want to respond
quickly and meaningfully. I “dance” my way through the answer.
“Bartok made innovations in music. All composers do.
But his innovations matched most closely the innovation assimilation
rate of the music lovers of his time. Had Chopin
composed Bartok’s kind of music, it would have been a fiasco,
for no other reason than timing. Evolution in music follows a
natural course, and a composer will fail to reach an audience
by going faster or slower.”
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