Lisp, Jazz, Aikido
By Didier Verna on Monday, September 8 2008, 08:17 - Lisp - Permalink
This is something I originally posted on my JazzBlog, but I'm reposting it here because, as you will figure out pretty quickly, it belongs here as much as in my Jazz website...
What can computer science, music and martial arts possibly have in common ?
These are like "strange attractors" in my life: no matter how much distance I may have put between them and me in the past, I always ended up coming back to them, and I know this will remain the case in the future.
I can remember pretty well the excitement I felt when I discovered the Lisp language, when I was first introduced to Jazz and improvisation, and when I had my first Aikido practice session. Different things, same emotion. And also the feeling that in some way, I was born to be a lisper, a jazzman and an aikidoka. I just didn't know until then.
Recently I was talking about my half-scientific / half-musical life with an old teacher of mine, and he asked me if I had suddenly turned completely schizophrenic. He was right ! To ask, I mean... So I started thinking about it, and I tried to figure out what these three domains have in common and why they all adhere so well to my own philosophy of life.
But perhaps I should begin with explaining what's my philosophy of life, then. I guess it's basically described in three words: Beauty, Fun, Unification.
Why is Lisp beautiful, fun and unifying ?
* There's beauty in writing code in any language (yes, there's even beauty in writing shell code). The beauty lies in your ability to adapt your concepts to the constraints of the language you're using, in other words, to make the best out of it, given its inherent limitations in expressiveness.
* However, and this is where the fun lies, Lisp allows you to break the rules of traditional languages because you can adapt the language to your concepts as much as you need to adapt your concepts to the language. Lisp is known (or at least, it should be) as the "programmable programming language": thanks to the power of its macro system and the customizability of its reader for instance, you can create a completely new language (even with a completely new syntax, see the loop macro for instance) within Lisp and adapt it to your personal needs. This makes Lisp the language of choice for implementing a DSL (Domain Specific Language) for instance.
It is interesting to note that with some experience in Lisp, adapting the language to your needs becomes an integral part of the art of programming; a rule in itself. In this way, what you do is really pushing the limits farther away, making a rule of what was an exception before.
* Lisp is also the language of unification. While it is mainly known to be a functional language (pure or impure, by the way), it is also imperative, procedural, object-oriented and even context-oriented if you want it to be. It is also declarative: look at the abundant literature on how easy it is to implement Prolog in Lisp. So Lisp really is any kind of language you want it to be: where a particular programming paradigm exists by construction in another language, it is usually implemented as a mere library in Lisp. Most recent (and fashionable) programming languages today are just re-discovering things that existed in Lisp since its invention in the 60s.
Why is Jazz beautiful, fun and unifying ?
* There's beauty in playing a song, in any kind of music. The beauty lies in your ability to adapt your personal musical ideas, your way of playing, in other words, your musical personality, to the constraints of the song. People often forget that a song is by definition (or, so to speak, by composition) limited in expressiveness, just as an average programming language is: it has a pitch, a tempo, a rhythmic style, a chord progression; all things actually specified by the score. In traditional music, you are expected to evolve within these limits.
* However, and this is where the fun lies, Jazz (specifically improvisation) allows you to break the rules of traditional music by playing "out", both harmonically and rhythmically. Improvisation is by essence the musical practice that allows you to modify a score in real time: you can change the ambiance, the chords, the rhythm, you can temporarily escape from the song and then get back to it (remember the cat ?), even play "atonal" (roughly meaning using scales that do not correspond to the underlying chords). During this process, you are actually adapting the song to your musical concepts instead of adapting your musical concepts to the song. This is exactly like adapting Lisp to your programming needs instead of adapting your needs to the language. And when the other musicians follow you on this "song tweaking game", that's were the fun really begins !
It is interesting to note that with some experience in jazz, playing "out" becomes an integral part of the art of improvisation; a rule in itself. When Miles Davis started to mix major and minor harmony (for instance using a minor 3rd on a major chord), numerous conservator alligators wanted to burn the heretic alive. Now, all of this is well known, and you can learn actual techniques for chords substitution and atonal improvisation in Jazz schools. Again, in this way, what you do is really pushing the limits farther away, making a rule of what was an exception before.
* Jazz is also the music of unification. A very narrow view of it is as a musical style: the ternary "chabada" drums pattern, the walking bass and so on. But Jazz is really not that. It is a philosophy, a way to envision all styles of music. Michel Petrucciani once said "Jazz is a music of thieves", and he was right ! A Jazz musician is fundamentally curious. He's interested in everything he can ear, and tries to appropriate all the ideas he's exposed to by adapting them to his own personality. This is a process that happens in composition as well as in improvisation, but improvisation is the key factor that unifies all musical styles in Jazz. So just like Lisp unifies all programming concepts into a philosophy of programming, Jazz unifies all music styles into a philosophy of music.
Why is Aïkido beautiful, fun and unifying ?
* There's beauty in practicing any martial art (as long that it has not become just sports). The beauty lies in executing the techniques that define your martial art to the perfection. But one has to understand that as long as you are practicing only a set of techniques (which is a very narrow view of martial arts), you are evolving in a very limited environment, however beautiful (and Aikido is aesthetically beautiful).
* The fun begins when you start to understand the Budo which is behind martial arts, and especially behind Aikido. The Budo is a philosophy, just as Jazz or Lisp are philosophies. By emphasizing on values such as personal cultivation, self-control and self-awareness, the Budo renders techniques unimportant, or at least secondary, because being able to react in any situation is more important than the way you react to them. Techniques are just tools to reach a greater goal. Aikido masters are so far away beyond technique that you can't see them anymore in their movements. The rules are broken, the techniques are gone. What's left is a "purified" state; what's left is the Ki.
It is interesting to note that in Aikido, breaking the rules, that is, avoiding being enslaved by technique is a constant preoccupation. For example, in Aikido, there is no distinction between beginners and experienced practitioners. Mixing levels in practice is one of the ways of ensuring that you will constantly face new and unexpected situations. As such, breaking the rules has also become a rule in itself. The ultimate rule-breaking exercise in Aikido is probably the Randori. When faced with 2 or 4 adversaries simultaneously, there is no room for rules or techniques, you just have to react. This is exactly like improvising in Jazz: in real time, there is no room for rules or harmony analysis, you just have to play.
* Aikido is also the martial art of unification. At least in two ways. On the technical plan, we know that Morihei Ueshiba, the father of Aikido, was a master in several martial arts (both "soft", like ju-jutsu, and "hard", like ken-jutsu or jutte-jutsu) when he founded his own. As such, Aikido unifies martial arts in general by incorporating techniques from many different sources. This is also pointed out by the fact that Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo, sent his best students to learn Aikido. On a spiritual plan, O Sensei's interpretation of the Budo not only encompasses the traditional meaning of the term (notably including personal cultivation) but extends to such notions as love and protection of all things, respect for all lives (see his "revelation" in spring 1925), which are much more universal concerns.
Conclusion
Lisp, Jazz and Aikido are more than kinds of programming, music, or martial arts. They are philosophies of programming, music and martial arts. More than that, they are actually different appearances of the same philosophy of life. There is much more to say about it. There are also links to establish with scientific research in general. But not in a blog... I'd like to write a proper essay about these things when I find the time... someday.
What can computer science, music and martial arts possibly have in common ?
These are like "strange attractors" in my life: no matter how much distance I may have put between them and me in the past, I always ended up coming back to them, and I know this will remain the case in the future.
I can remember pretty well the excitement I felt when I discovered the Lisp language, when I was first introduced to Jazz and improvisation, and when I had my first Aikido practice session. Different things, same emotion. And also the feeling that in some way, I was born to be a lisper, a jazzman and an aikidoka. I just didn't know until then.
Recently I was talking about my half-scientific / half-musical life with an old teacher of mine, and he asked me if I had suddenly turned completely schizophrenic. He was right ! To ask, I mean... So I started thinking about it, and I tried to figure out what these three domains have in common and why they all adhere so well to my own philosophy of life.
But perhaps I should begin with explaining what's my philosophy of life, then. I guess it's basically described in three words: Beauty, Fun, Unification.
- Beauty lies in being able to evolve comfortably within a set of constraints, limits or rules. Note that this begins with accepting the existence of these constraints, limits or rules in the first place.
- Fun, however, lies in breaking those rules at will, knowing how to get rid of them, and then get back to them, a bit like a cat jumping in any kind of direction and yet always falling back on his feet.
There's a corollary to these two points: real freedom is not to have no limit, but to know your limits so well that you can either evolve at will within them, or break them at will. - Unification means drawing bridges between apparently unrelated fields, starting to figure out what is the common essence of things. By the way, this is precisely what I am doing right now... :-)
Why is Lisp beautiful, fun and unifying ?
* There's beauty in writing code in any language (yes, there's even beauty in writing shell code). The beauty lies in your ability to adapt your concepts to the constraints of the language you're using, in other words, to make the best out of it, given its inherent limitations in expressiveness.
* However, and this is where the fun lies, Lisp allows you to break the rules of traditional languages because you can adapt the language to your concepts as much as you need to adapt your concepts to the language. Lisp is known (or at least, it should be) as the "programmable programming language": thanks to the power of its macro system and the customizability of its reader for instance, you can create a completely new language (even with a completely new syntax, see the loop macro for instance) within Lisp and adapt it to your personal needs. This makes Lisp the language of choice for implementing a DSL (Domain Specific Language) for instance.
It is interesting to note that with some experience in Lisp, adapting the language to your needs becomes an integral part of the art of programming; a rule in itself. In this way, what you do is really pushing the limits farther away, making a rule of what was an exception before.
* Lisp is also the language of unification. While it is mainly known to be a functional language (pure or impure, by the way), it is also imperative, procedural, object-oriented and even context-oriented if you want it to be. It is also declarative: look at the abundant literature on how easy it is to implement Prolog in Lisp. So Lisp really is any kind of language you want it to be: where a particular programming paradigm exists by construction in another language, it is usually implemented as a mere library in Lisp. Most recent (and fashionable) programming languages today are just re-discovering things that existed in Lisp since its invention in the 60s.
Why is Jazz beautiful, fun and unifying ?
* There's beauty in playing a song, in any kind of music. The beauty lies in your ability to adapt your personal musical ideas, your way of playing, in other words, your musical personality, to the constraints of the song. People often forget that a song is by definition (or, so to speak, by composition) limited in expressiveness, just as an average programming language is: it has a pitch, a tempo, a rhythmic style, a chord progression; all things actually specified by the score. In traditional music, you are expected to evolve within these limits.
* However, and this is where the fun lies, Jazz (specifically improvisation) allows you to break the rules of traditional music by playing "out", both harmonically and rhythmically. Improvisation is by essence the musical practice that allows you to modify a score in real time: you can change the ambiance, the chords, the rhythm, you can temporarily escape from the song and then get back to it (remember the cat ?), even play "atonal" (roughly meaning using scales that do not correspond to the underlying chords). During this process, you are actually adapting the song to your musical concepts instead of adapting your musical concepts to the song. This is exactly like adapting Lisp to your programming needs instead of adapting your needs to the language. And when the other musicians follow you on this "song tweaking game", that's were the fun really begins !
It is interesting to note that with some experience in jazz, playing "out" becomes an integral part of the art of improvisation; a rule in itself. When Miles Davis started to mix major and minor harmony (for instance using a minor 3rd on a major chord), numerous conservator alligators wanted to burn the heretic alive. Now, all of this is well known, and you can learn actual techniques for chords substitution and atonal improvisation in Jazz schools. Again, in this way, what you do is really pushing the limits farther away, making a rule of what was an exception before.
* Jazz is also the music of unification. A very narrow view of it is as a musical style: the ternary "chabada" drums pattern, the walking bass and so on. But Jazz is really not that. It is a philosophy, a way to envision all styles of music. Michel Petrucciani once said "Jazz is a music of thieves", and he was right ! A Jazz musician is fundamentally curious. He's interested in everything he can ear, and tries to appropriate all the ideas he's exposed to by adapting them to his own personality. This is a process that happens in composition as well as in improvisation, but improvisation is the key factor that unifies all musical styles in Jazz. So just like Lisp unifies all programming concepts into a philosophy of programming, Jazz unifies all music styles into a philosophy of music.
Why is Aïkido beautiful, fun and unifying ?
* There's beauty in practicing any martial art (as long that it has not become just sports). The beauty lies in executing the techniques that define your martial art to the perfection. But one has to understand that as long as you are practicing only a set of techniques (which is a very narrow view of martial arts), you are evolving in a very limited environment, however beautiful (and Aikido is aesthetically beautiful).
* The fun begins when you start to understand the Budo which is behind martial arts, and especially behind Aikido. The Budo is a philosophy, just as Jazz or Lisp are philosophies. By emphasizing on values such as personal cultivation, self-control and self-awareness, the Budo renders techniques unimportant, or at least secondary, because being able to react in any situation is more important than the way you react to them. Techniques are just tools to reach a greater goal. Aikido masters are so far away beyond technique that you can't see them anymore in their movements. The rules are broken, the techniques are gone. What's left is a "purified" state; what's left is the Ki.
It is interesting to note that in Aikido, breaking the rules, that is, avoiding being enslaved by technique is a constant preoccupation. For example, in Aikido, there is no distinction between beginners and experienced practitioners. Mixing levels in practice is one of the ways of ensuring that you will constantly face new and unexpected situations. As such, breaking the rules has also become a rule in itself. The ultimate rule-breaking exercise in Aikido is probably the Randori. When faced with 2 or 4 adversaries simultaneously, there is no room for rules or techniques, you just have to react. This is exactly like improvising in Jazz: in real time, there is no room for rules or harmony analysis, you just have to play.
* Aikido is also the martial art of unification. At least in two ways. On the technical plan, we know that Morihei Ueshiba, the father of Aikido, was a master in several martial arts (both "soft", like ju-jutsu, and "hard", like ken-jutsu or jutte-jutsu) when he founded his own. As such, Aikido unifies martial arts in general by incorporating techniques from many different sources. This is also pointed out by the fact that Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo, sent his best students to learn Aikido. On a spiritual plan, O Sensei's interpretation of the Budo not only encompasses the traditional meaning of the term (notably including personal cultivation) but extends to such notions as love and protection of all things, respect for all lives (see his "revelation" in spring 1925), which are much more universal concerns.
Conclusion
Lisp, Jazz and Aikido are more than kinds of programming, music, or martial arts. They are philosophies of programming, music and martial arts. More than that, they are actually different appearances of the same philosophy of life. There is much more to say about it. There are also links to establish with scientific research in general. But not in a blog... I'd like to write a proper essay about these things when I find the time... someday.
Comments
Why do you spell aikido "Aïkido"?
That comes from the original text which was in French. I've fixed it now, thanks.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Red flags of
an insecure man. Regards
It is in reality a nice and useful piece of information. I'm glad that you simply
shared this useful info with us. Please stay us up to date like this.
Thank you for sharing.
I absolutely love your blog.. Very nice colors &
theme. Did you create this web site yourself?
Please reply back as I'm trying to create my own blog and would love to
find out where you got this from or exactly what the theme is
called. Kudos!
Article writing is also a fun, if you be familiar with then you can write or else it is complicated to write.
I loved as much as you'll receive carried out right here.
The sketch is tasteful, your authored subject matter stylish.
nonetheless, you command get got an shakiness over that you wish be
delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again since exactly the same nearly very often inside case you shield
this increase.
Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with Search Engine Optimization? I'm
trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I'm not seeing very good
results. If you know of any please share. Cheers!
Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with Search Engine Optimization? I'm
trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I'm not seeing very good
results. If you know of any please share. Cheers!
I always used to study paragraph in news papers but now as I
am a user of net therefore from now I am using net for articles,
thanks to web.
Hurrah, that's what I was seeking for, what a
stuff! present here at this blog, thanks admin of this website.
Hi Dear, are you in fact visiting this web page on a regular basis, if so
afterward you will definitely obtain fastidious experience.
I read this article fully regarding the comparison of latest and previous
technologies, it's amazing article.
My programmer is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of the costs.
But he's tryiong none the less. I've been using WordPress on a variety
of websites for about a year and am anxious about switching
to another platform. I have heard good things about blogengine.net.
Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it?
Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!
This design is wicked! You certainly know how to keep a reader amused.
Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved
to start my own blog (well, almost...HaHa!) Fantastic job.
I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more
than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
It's great that you are getting ideas from this piece of writing as well as
from our argument made at this time.
Thanks very nice blog!
I am really pleased to glance at this website posts which includes
plenty of useful information, thanks for providing these statistics.
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the page layout
of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to
say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures.
Maybe you could space it out better?
This information is invaluable. How can I find out more?
What's up to all, the contents present at this site are
in fact awesome for people experience, well, keep up the good work fellows.
You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I
find this topic to be really something that I think I would never understand.
It seems too complicated and very broad for me.
I'm looking forward for your next post, I'll try to get the hang of it!
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good.
I don't know who you are but certainly you're going to a famous blogger if you
aren't already ;) Cheers!
Howdy I am so thrilled I found your blog, I really found you by error, while I was searching on Digg for
something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a
marvelous post and a all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design),
I don't have time to read through it all at the moment but I have saved it and also included your RSS feeds,
so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please
do keep up the fantastic work.
Hello There. I discovered your weblog the use of
msn. This is an extremely smartly written article.
I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to learn extra
of your useful information. Thank you for the post.
I will certainly return.
We're a group of volunteers and starting a
new scheme in our community. Your web site provided us with valuable information to work on. You've done a formidable job
and our whole community will be grateful to you.
Your way of telling all in this paragraph is actually nice, all can easily understand it, Thanks a lot.
You should take part in a contest for one of the finest blogs on the web.
I will highly recommend this web site!
If you are going for best contents like myself, just
pay a visit this web page all the time since it gives feature contents, thanks
What's up, just wanted to tell you, I liked this post.
It was inspiring. Keep on posting!
I am genuinely thankful to the owner of this site who has shared this fantastic article at here.
I'm gone to tell my little brother, that he should also go to see this
website on regular basis to take updated from most recent gossip.
We absolutely love your blog and find nearly all of your post's to
be exactly what I'm looking for. Does one offer guest writers to write content for
yourself? I wouldn't mind composing a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write regarding here.
Again, awesome blog!
I'm really enjoying the design and layout of your blog.
It's a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more
often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme?
Fantastic work!
When some one searches for his required thing, therefore he/she wants to
be available that in detail, therefore that thing is maintained over here.
all the time i used to read smaller posts that as well clear their motive, and that
is also happening with this paragraph which I am reading here.
I was curious if you ever thought of changing
the structure of your blog? Its very well written;
I love what youve got to say. But maybe you
could a little more in the way of content so people could connect
with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or
2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
Now I am going away to do my breakfast, after having my breakfast coming
yet again to read additional news.
You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something
that I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and extremely broad for me.
I'm looking forward for your next post, I'll try to get
the hang of it!
Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular post!
It is the little changes which will make the biggest changes.
Many thanks for sharing!
Hurrah! Finally I got a web site from where I be able to really take useful data regarding my study and knowledge.
That is really attention-grabbing, You're an excessively
skilled blogger. I've joined your feed and sit up for looking for more of your
magnificent post. Additionally, I've shared your web site in my social networks
Can you tell us more about this? I'd like to find out more details.
Hi, I do believe this is a great website. I stumbledupon it
;) I may return yet again since I bookmarked it. Money and freedom is
the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to
help others.
Heya i'm for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much.
I hope to give something back and help others like you aided me.
It's very straightforward to find out any topic on web as compared to textbooks,
as I found this article at this web page.
Wonderful goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you're just extremely
excellent. I actually like what you've acquired here, really like what
you're stating and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care
of to keep it smart. I can't wait to read far more from you.
This is actually a tremendous website.
It's appropriate time to make some plans for the longer term and it is time to be
happy. I have read this submit and if I may I wish to suggest you some attention-grabbing issues or advice.
Maybe you can write subsequent articles relating to this article.
I wish to learn even more issues about it!
Asking questions are in fact good thing if you are
not understanding anything entirely, but this article offers nice understanding yet.