Hofstadter, Dennett - The Mind's I

A Conversation with Einstein’s Brain 433TORTOISE: Well! I hardly need dignify that comment with an answer. You know verywell that they are just as different as, say, two pieces of music, one by Bach andthe other by Beethoven.ACHILLES: They look very similar to me.TORTOISE: Well, it was you who allowed as how the very surfaces of the record containall the music-thus if the two pieces of music differ so must the record surfacesdiffer-and to exactly the same amount as do the pieces, moreover.ACHILLES: I guess you've got a point there.TORTOISE: I'm glad you'll grant me that. So, since all of the music is on the face of therecord, why don't you take it in at a glance, or at most a cursory once-over? Itwould certainly provide a much more intense pleasure. And you'll have to grantthat each part of the musical selection is in its proper place; the relationship of theparts is not lost, as it would be if all the sounds were to be heard at once.ACHILLES: Well, in the first place, Mr. T, I don't happen to have very good eyes, andTORTOISE: Aha! I've got another solution! Why don't you paste all the pages of thewritten score of some selection upon your wall and regard its beauties from time'to time, as you would a painting? Sure you'll have to admit that the music is allthere, in every last respect.ACHILLES: Well, to tell the truth, Mr. T, I must confess to a shortcoming in myaesthetic capacities: I doubt that I would know how to visually interpret theprinted symbols in front of me in such a way as to give me the same pleasure as Igain from the actual hearing.TORTOISE: I am sorry indeed to hear that. Why, it could save you so much time! Forimagine, instead of wasting a full hour listening to a Beethoven symphony, onwaking up some morning you could simply open your eyes and take it all in,hanging there on your wall, in ten seconds or less, and be refreshed and ready fora fine, fulfilling day?ACHILLES: Oh, you do poor Beethoven an injustice, Mr. T, a sorry injustice.TORTOISE: Why, not at all. Beethoven is my second favorite composer. I have spentmany long minutes gazing at his beautiful works, both in score and on playingrecord. The sculpted forms in some of his playing records are so exquisite, youhave no idea.ACHILLES: I must admit, you have floored me. That is an odd way, to put it mildly, toenjoy music. But I suppose you are an odd character, and