{"id":1352,"date":"2015-05-06T12:11:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T12:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/05\/take-studies-with-a-grain-of-salt.html"},"modified":"2015-05-06T12:11:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T12:11:00","slug":"take-studies-with-a-grain-of-salt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/05\/take-studies-with-a-grain-of-salt.html","title":{"rendered":"Take studies with a grain of salt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Especially when they are about subjective topics like art and music. \u00a0So\u00a0this article<\/a>\u00a0breaks through with the \u00a0news that a recent study shows the Beatles and the Rolling Stone eclipsed by Hip-Hop. \u00a0That\u2019s the headline. \u00a0What could it mean? \u00a0Hip Hop is more popular? \u00a0More critically acclaimed? \u00a0More influential? \u00a0More people like Hip-Hop? <\/p>\n

Well, nothing really. \u00a0It was based on \u201ca computer analysis of 17,000 songs.\u201d \u00a0What does that even mean? \u00a0Did it include only rock songs? \u00a0All rock songs? \u00a0All recorded music? \u00a0Probably not the last one, as I doubt there have only been 17,000 songs recorded.<\/p>\n

But what does it mean? \u00a0Not a damn thing, that\u2019s what. \u00a0It is, in keeping with the modern \u2018science and computer models know all\u2019 mentality, the latest in attempts to get headlines by saying nothing at all. \u00a0And as if to reinforce the uselessness is a statement by the study\u2019s author touting the supremacy of a scientific approach to music analysis: <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time we can measure musical properties in recordings on a large scale,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can actually go beyond what music experts tell us, or what we know ourselves about them, by looking directly into the songs, measuring their make-up, and understanding how they have changed.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This assumes that the computer woke up one day and suddenly decided to study 17,000 songs, as opposed to being programmed by rather subjective and biased programmers setting the parameters of the study. \u00a0Once again, the idea that where lab coats are, all biased and personal preference have been eliminated. <\/p>\n

Again, it says nothing. \u00a0Nothing, except perhaps that the individuals who programmed the study may need to look at influence versus inspiration in the arts a little more closely. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Especially when they are about subjective topics like art and music. \u00a0So\u00a0this article\u00a0breaks through with the \u00a0news that a recent study shows the Beatles and the Rolling Stone eclipsed by Hip-Hop. \u00a0That\u2019s the headline. \u00a0What could it mean? \u00a0Hip Hop is more popular? \u00a0More critically acclaimed? \u00a0More influential? \u00a0More people like Hip-Hop? Well, nothing really. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTake studies with a grain of salt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Especially when they are about subjective topics like art and music.  So this article breaks through with the  news that a recent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/05\/take-studies-with-a-grain-of-salt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Take studies with a grain of salt\" 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