Quantum Physics doesn’t adhere to the same rules and constraints as macro objects in classic physics, which is fine until one tries to apply the rules of one to the other. For instance, trying to apply certain statistical truths from the Quantum world to the macro world, one seems to run into paradoxical situations.
In this classic thought experiment, our researcher proposes to seal his pet cat in a box with the controls to his jukebox, and to then control what he hears by playing hotter/colder with the cat. “The problem,” says Pandora, “is that the rules of Quantum Physics say the cat must both be listening and not listening at the same time, and any correlation with my desires is purely an artifact of chaos.”
The counter argument, while abrupt, is nonetheless poignant – “Duh. It’s a cat.”
So it is with Pandora’s streaming radio. You give the service a seed value, like “Eagles”, and your little custom radio station riffs on the theme, bringing on Skynnyrd and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, sometimes straying far enough to bring back maybe Jim Croce or the Statler Brothers. Most of what comes back is right on point, with the occasional surprise… sometimes good, sometimes not.
If that’s all you’re after – decent listening inside of a vague category – then you just rock right along. If, though, you’re trying to elicit a particular category, you have quite a bit of hand-holding left to do.
Pandora is fed by the Music Genome Project. There are just scads of criteria that can be applied to a song, but all you can do is play warmer-colder. Say, for instance, I’m trying to build a station devoted to atmospheric chic rock. I suggest Tori Amos, Annie Lennox, Tracy Chapman, and the Indigo Girls. What I get is, again, mostly on target… but what I can’t do is positively affirm “female vocalist”. I’m left instead to hand hold the station for a few days or longer.
20 minutes of what I want, and then … “Bob Marley?” “NO!”. A couple hours and … “Coldplay?” “NO!”. A song and … “Billy Joel?” “NO NO NO!”.
Not that I have anything against Marley, Coldplay, or Joel, but that’s not what I want from this station. But again, what do I expect from a cat sealed in a box?
Technology
music, pandora