Where have all the flowers gone? (Silence)

Blaise Agüera y Arcas writes: 'Communication is meaningless if it is fully predictable. If the receiver can already infer the message with certainty, no information has been transmitted.' ('What Is Intelligence?', 2025)

In the 90s, authenticity was everything.  It wasn't just about sincerity, it was also about informational irreducibility.  DIY bands made lo-fi sound on purpose and failure was intentionally visible.  Why?  Because the unpredictability was proof of human presence.  Authenticity meant that it couldn't have come from someone else and couldn't be faked. In this way, authentic acts carry entropy.

In Guitar Hero (2005, PS2) the joy is undeniable: the flow, rhythm and applause. But the system is designed so that every "correct" action is already known, and every successful performance confirms this expectation.  Deviation is punished and not explored. From an information perspective, nothing new is being expressed.  The expressive decisions have already been made and you are active, but silent.

As Kurt Cobain writes in Nirvana's "In Bloom" (featured in this piece): "He's the one who likes all our pretty songs, and he likes to sing along, and he likes to shoot his gun, but he knows not what it means".
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24" x 27" x 5"
CNC-cut aluminum composite, 19” IPS screen, PS2 and guitar controller, Guitar Hero CD, 3D printed controller wall mount
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