Very true, and thanks for the reply. I think we definitely agree more than disagree. After all, thought experiments can be fun, and there's really no way to tell where technology will head after we die because we probably won't be around to see it! It's better to enjoy the time we are allotted now...
As far as talent goes, I liken it to gardening - which I've done more and more over the last few years. You can have the best soil/compost, the right pH, the right sunlight, etc., and if you have a bad plant or a bad seed it will just die. A good plant will also die in a poor environment, or at least will struggle. Environment helps, but whether the plant takes advantage of the environment remains to be seen, just as whether the student takes advantage of the advice of the teacher. The one variable I could never control in lessons or tutelage is whether the student willingly learns, so I just offer up as much advice/help as I can anyway. I find this is a good strategy, and it certainly adds little stress to my life. -William -----Original Message----- From: Hans Pizka <[email protected]> To: The Horn List <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, Jul 10, 2011 3:46 am Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Send in the clones... William, not yet, not yet, even I agree with you - but all remains very theoretical. We had a teacher for physics. My school was led by Jesuits. He said: "Give me 5 bill. years time - and I will create man !". Sounds heretical, but 5 bill. years is a lot of time. When talking about socialism, I had this "Gleichmacherei" (egalitarianism) in mind. This was also one target of the French revolution, but was mainly aimed to give equal right for everybody. But today ? It seems that some people are "more equal than others". Back to the horn & the arts: What is talent ? Inherited, yes, to a certain degree, but also by proper education at home & in school, to develop a special sense to listen, analyze & implement or even better. Anything else means hard work, after the base is prepared well. Talent is a special inherited or educated awareness for the things, which special guidance might develop further. If a child is exposed to the art in general from very early age, it develops much better. It is similar to the development of speech. If parents talk to the child in this often observed Mickey-Mouse-language, the child will not be very fast developing real good speech. But if parents talk to the child as were it an adult, the child starts talking in short sentences at the age of 2 years more or less, continues with 5, 6 or ten word sentences few weeks later AND understands them. If the child starts with musical lessons, it works the same way. The inherited 5% of what we call talent is a great advantage, but if it is not developed/engineered further by careful work, it will value nothing. Just the vision of a hundred-thousand Einsteins or ten-thousand Mozarts or a million Michael Jacksons, - just to name three geniusses - , is a horrible vision. So better not to clone. Competence must be acquired. Cloning a Strad atom by atom might be possible in theory, on the math table, but would it be necessary ? Would the effort be paid by the effect ? How to hire the right horn players for a philharmonic session if all would look the same & play as good as the other candidates ? Would not everything become very boring ? Imagine Germany with 5 millions Claudia Schiffer ? Not a single man would turn his head. And cloning a certain style, - the next consequence - , would it not result in a catastrophic decline of CD sales ? The diversity in life is the essence which makes life worth to live. Why do people cry for help, if they got a piece to play, which is new to them ? They miss proper education, otherwise they would understand the musical inscriptions & the written music. They hang too much with the playing technique instead having these things implemented into their brain to use them spontaneously. etc.etc. William, the more we discuss, the more we find out about how much we both have in common. We have much phantasy & can imagine things which are still unimaginable today. That is our personal problem in discussion with others. Short example: 1974 we had our first tour to Japan and I, as a electronic freak, had the then newest S8 Camera. When asked, I said that in about one generation or so cameras would not even use film or have movable parts except the lens zoom perhaps. All would be electronically. They all laughed at me. They do not laugh at me any more now. ########################################################## _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/valkhorn%40aol.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
