May 2, 1996 Contact: Barbara McKenna (408) 459-2495; mckenna@ua.ucsc.edu

CAN COMPUTERS COMPOSE? TWO LEADING THINKERS DEBATE THE CREATIVE ABILITY OF COMPUTERS AT UC SANTA CRUZ SYMPOSIUM ON MAY 22

Event features Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist Douglas Hofstadter and composer/programmer David Cope

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Is creativity a uniquely human ability? The question is at the crux of ongoing debate, most recently embodied in the chess match between Gary Kasparov and IBM supercomputer Deep Blue. Weighing in on the debate at a May 22 symposium at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will be Pulitzer Prize-winning cognitive and computer scientist Douglas Hofstadter and internationally respected composer and programmer David Cope.

The symposium, "Minds, Machine, and Music: Can Computers Compose Creatively?," begins at 5 p.m. in UCSC's Performing Arts Concert Hall. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Board of Studies in Philosophy and UCSC's Mind and Meaning Research Group. (A complete schedule is attached.)

Hofstadter, a professor of cognitive science and computer science at Indiana University, Bloomington, is a leading thinker in the fields of artificial intelligence and cognitive science. In the early 1980s he helped crystallize the human versus machine debate when he speculated that if a computer program were ever to compose deep and original music or become world chess champion, it would have to be as sophisticated as a human--possessing full human intelligence and even consciousness.

At the same time, Cope, a professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was at work on an artificial intelligence program designed to compose its own music. The program, named EMI, became operational in 1987. Pronounced "emmy" and short for Experiments in Musical Intelligence, EMI composes original music in the style of another composer using a complex six-step algorithm. (See attached biographical notes for more details.)

Over the years the two professors have debated EMI's creative ability, the creative abilities of computers in general, and the nature of creativity. The symposium will be an opportunity for the public to listen in on and participate in this lively debate, which will be complemented with music composed by EMI.

"I look forward to addressing the very puzzling finding that the music produced by Cope's model is definitely higher quality than I had ever expected I would hear by a computer program of such limited focus," Hofstadter said. "It has been enormously provocative for me to run into something that I consider deep--musical expression--that has nonetheless been produced by a mechanism that, though quite complex, is certainly not nearly as deep or as complex as a human mind. By this experience I have been powerfully provoked to think not only about the music produced by EMI but also to ponder the nature of music in general. I've been led to wonder, is musical composition as emotionally profound and as deeply creative a process as I'd always imagined?"

Cope has described the process EMI uses as similar to that of human composers: "Very rarely do composers actually invent new sounds but more often create imaginative new combinations of sounds, many of which they've heard previously. In effect they are recombining sounds and patterns into their own style."

"Creativity isn't such a big deal to me," Cope adds, "being good at it is a big deal to me. Most people can compose a song or paint a picture, but not many of us are Beethovens and Michelangelos. To me it is a matter of elegance--how well a work achieves a certain elegance."

Cope believes that in the future computer programs may be capable of achieving elegant results. "We should not be biased against this possibility simply because we have natural human- centered egos," Cope said, adding, "We should not define creativity so narrowly that the definition itself precludes the possibility that computer programs can be creative or create elegant works."

Hofstadter, on the other hand, speculates that there is something deep missing, a kind of "motivating core" that derives from human emotion and desire. "Right now programs like EMI and others may do a good job at some level, but they don't have any of that motivation humans gain from experiencing the complexities of the world over a lifetime," he explains.

The debate continues May 22. For more information, call (408) 459-2070.

Biographical Information

Douglas Hofstadter

Hofstadter is a professor of cognitive science and computer science at Indiana University, Bloomington, and director of the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition at Indiana University.

For nearly twenty years, Hofstadter has worked in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). As a graduate student, he became interested in both the workings of the brain and the potential of computers to imitate the brain's thought processes. He subsequently spent several years theorizing on aspects of the mind, machines, formal systems for logical and mathematical reasoning, self- reference, and consciousness. His ideas were set down in the book Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980. Among his other books are: The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul (1981), coedited with Daniel Dennett; Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern (1985); and, last year, Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies. Hofstadter earned his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1975 from the University of Oregon.

Along with his work in AI, Hofstadter is interested in translation and poetry and composes music.

David Cope

A professor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Cope is a respected composer whose works, in the genre of twentieth century classical music, have been performed around the world. He is the author of New Directions in Music, one of the most popular textbooks on twentieth century music, now in its sixth printing.

Cope began work on EMI in the early '80s when he was commissioned by the University of Richmond to write an opera and found himself facing a composing block. He conceived of an artificial intelligence program that could serve as a composing tool to help with the block. Cope completed EMI six years later, in 1987 and, with EMI's help, finished his commission. Titled Cradle Falling, the opera received rave reviews when it was performed. Cope uses EMI as both a compositional tool and to understand style-- characteristics of a piece that make it recognizable as the work of a specific composer.

Cope's EMI-related recordings are Bach by Design (1994) and Dedications (forthcoming). EMI-related publications are Computers and Musical Style (1991). Other publications include New Music Composition (1977; second edition forthcoming) and New Music Notation (1976). His newest book, Experiments in Musical Intelligence, will be published in late May.

EMI (Experiments in Musical Intelligence)

Of the 100 or so programs in the world creating music through computer algorithms, EMI is the only one that operates by analyzing and recombining previously composed music. The works it has produced have been performed in concert and released on the CD Bach by Design (1994). Since it became operational in 1987, EMI has created music in the styles of such composers as Mozart, Bach, Stravinsky, Gershwin, Joplin, and Cope.

EMI's six-step algorithm works like this: The user carefully selects and inputs compatible works of music from a composer (pieces with similar tempos, ranges, and orchestration); EMI analyzes them; identifies signatures (characteristics unique to the composer); breaks the music into its components; recombines the music into a new piece that preserves the composer's signatures; and, ultimately, performs it.

Conference Schedule 5 p.m.--David Cope will present an overview of EMI, including samples of works by EMI 6:30 p.m.--Dinner Break 8 p.m.--Douglas Hofstadter will share his perspective on EMI and creativity. Pianist Mary Jane Cope will perform EMI works. Following, Cope and Hofstadter will debate briefly and take questions from the audience.

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