Scales and Extensions

 

Frank Stella Sculptures (2024)

I was thinking about scales again-- not scales in music--but the scales of organisms. One of the main themes of the book Scale by Geoffrey West is that organisms can't be any smaller or bigger than they are and consequently can't extend themselves any more than nature allows. This applies to humans as well, but what's different about humans is that we have the capability to extend, but there are limits to (any kind of) growth. Our worldview only extends so far and we can only know so much. Aliens might have a greater capability to extend themselves: How is it that they can traverse intergalactic space? They would have a much greater ability to scale up technologically, and we might never understand that. It's beyond our ken. We think the sky's the limit on technological extensions but we're bound by constraints. Colonialism is the idea that we can extend by poaching other cultures--or planets. The West is always reaching out and grabbing things by extension beyond its limits. Just as an elephant can't be any bigger than it is, human technologies (or empires) can't be any bigger than they are.

Phil Glass: "When I’m on a tour with the dance company we work in a different-sized theater every night. The first thing the dance company does when we arrive is to measure the stage. They have to reset the dance to fit that stage. So you also have to reset the time of the music: In a larger theater, you must play slower. In a smaller theater, you have to play faster. The relation of time and space in music is dynamic. I have a range of speed in mind. If the players don’t pay attention to that, it will look really funny. You can see the stage fill up with dancers because they are playing at the wrong speed."

What I like about music is that it doesn't take up a lot of space and can be stored in boxes or binders. It scales well.