Listen
From an obscure story
"It is about a species that has evolved a system of communication, independent from man. A rich ecosystem allowed their language to function on abstract sound".
About
Reading a chapter from physicist Erwin Schrödinger's "What is Life?", with limited comprehension but just enough to re-read one of the final chapters from Diaspora written by SF-author Greg Egan, led me to wonder:
what would it be like for a piece of sheet metal to come alive?
Background
The piece of sheet metal in mind is part of an electromechanical installation that uses the principle of plate reverb
to function as a synthesizer. Due to audio-feedback, this installation quickly becomes a tough instrument to handle.
Process
Constrained by limited knowledge on biology and physics, I turned to setting up a model for the system by writing a speculative narrative. One that expressed
personal but still quite abstract ideas spawned from reading Schrödinger and Egan. And these ideas only made sense in the language of Speculative Fiction.
As well as the minimal drone music perceived as nonhuman bellows that the sheet metal produces.
Concluding
Currently most time is spent on figuring out the technical aspect of running biology-inspired computer models.
While the relevant scientific theories find meaning by being written into brief accounts of SF.
Both approaches are focussed on the question:
What is it like for a piece of corroding sheet metal to be a living organism?