Digital Mantras: The Languages of Abstract and Virtual Worlds

By Cecil D. Mercer and Cecil Mercer

Book Overview

Steven Holtzman synthesizes ideas from a number of different disciplines to arrive at a new philosophy of creativity for the digital age. Computer technology is making possible new worlds of expression that are already being explored by a growing subculture of artists, musicians, virtual reality enthusiasts, and cyberpunks. In Digital Mantras, Steven Holtzman synthesizes ideas from a number of different disciplines to arrive at a new philosophy of creativity for the digital age. Blending ideas from music, computing, art, and philosophy, with biographical and historical anecdotes and a thread of mysticism, Holtzman gives us new ways to think about the integration of computers into the creative process. He shows how computers will change the way we create, and reveals the exciting potential for entirely new forms of expression. Running throughout the book are episodes from Holtzman's own sometimes mystical journey in search of the personal aesthetic he presents. Holtzman explores the presence and use of structure in fields as diverse as the development of ancient human languages, the philosophy of the Buddhist monk Nagarjuna and the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, the paintings of Wassily Kandinsky, and the pioneering grammars of Panini and Noam Chomsky. He then turns to the use of computers for building abstract and virtual worlds in language, music, and art as well as virtual reality, and surveys the work of AI pioneer Terry Winograd, composers Gottfried Michael Koenig and Iannis Xenakis, and artist Harold Cohen. Holtzman concludes by discussing the aesthetic implications of these new worlds. He introduces the concept of digital expression, along with examples that hint at its far-reaching possibilities. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262082284
• ISBN13: 9780262082280
• Release Date: June 1994
• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Length: 321 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 1.0" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

stimulating overview

This beautifully written book offers interesting sections into the history of algorithmic thinking in the arts, and builds a concept of the computer use in art thereon, embedded in a context of indian mythology. It is the best book combining music and visual arts in this respect that I have read so far and its concepts will certainly and hopefully be quite influential on the producers of new media work. Musicians might find...

It will broaden the horizon on all artists & technologists

What do musicians, artists, linguists, Buddhist monks, and computers have in common? This book takles this broad scope with some very interesting revelations. The author has a Ph.D. in computer science and an undergraduate degree in eastern & western philosophy. Thus, the title and the Buddhist angle.This books reads easily and is very entertaining. Coming from an engineering background, I appreciated the author's...