Feedback Loop and Tipping-Point Network<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nAbout the Song
\nFeedback loop and tipping-point network: it starts at the top of the world\u2026 and works its way down to Middle Earth, where our girth is actually slowing the planet\u2019s rotation. Welcome to the present. <\/p>\n
Polar amplification \u2192 weakened equator-to-pole temperature gradients \u2192 planetary mass redistribution \u2192 altered moment of inertia \u2192 rotational dynamics \u2192 slight rotational slowing \u2192 changes in length of day.<\/p>\n
\nToday’s new release, \u201cFeedback Network,\u201d is also tonight’s homework assignment: create a theme-song sound for the next eco-rock album, \u201cFeedback Coupling.\u201d<\/p>\n
The song is about a remarkably strange consequence of climate change: humanity is, in a very literal sense, changing the length of the day.<\/p>\n
As polar ice melts and mass is redistributed through the Earth system, the planet\u2019s rotation can change slightly. The effect is tiny\u2014but measurable, and large enough to create challenges for keeping highly precise time in scientific and technical applications.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a little like the Y2K problem of 1999. Y2K involved a seemingly tiny detail in computer code\u2014the way years were represented\u2014that became important because modern systems depended on precise timekeeping.<\/p>\n
This is different, of course. Here, the problem isn’t a coding convention. It’s the Earth itself changing how it rotates.<\/p>\n
And that matters for systems that depend on extremely precise timing and positioning\u2014particularly GPS and other satellite-based technologies.<\/p>\n
The irony is pretty remarkable:<\/p>\n
We changed the climate.<\/p>\n
The climate changed the planet.<\/p>\n
And now we’re having to account for the change in the clock.<\/p>\n
This song is my attempt to translate that feedback network into sound.<\/p>\n
It’s experimental audio science.<\/p>\n
The track begins with a clean acoustic\/electric guitar signal, running through a digital delay and distortion pedal. The guitar starts relatively clean and acoustic. Then the distortion enters, followed by increasing digital-delay feedback.<\/p>\n
Next, a live synthesizer joins the network.<\/p>\n
Again, the signal begins clean.<\/p>\n
Then it becomes distorted.<\/p>\n
Then delayed.<\/p>\n
Then the delay feeds back into itself.<\/p>\n
And the guitar and synth begin interacting as a coupled system.<\/p>\n
Clean signal \u2192 distortion \u2192 delay \u2192 feedback \u2192 synth \u2192 distortion \u2192 delay \u2192 feedback.<\/p>\n
The musical system starts behaving a little like the climate system I’m trying to describe: one change feeds into another, which feeds back into the first, creating something larger and increasingly complex.<\/p>\n
By the end, we’ve arrived at some serious feedback coupling.<\/p>\n
Welcome to \u201cFeedback Network.\u201d<\/p>\n
And welcome to \u201cFeedback Coupling.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the album “Feedback Coupling<\/a>“<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Intro] Feedback loop and tipping-point network: it starts at the top of the world\u2026 and works its way down to Middle Earth, where our girth is actually slowing the planet\u2019s rotation. Welcome to the present. Starting at the top… (Top of the world) Place is changing… (Things are rearranging) Down from the poles… (Into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[163],"class_list":["post-55909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4d-music","category-chaos-theory","tag-climate-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55909"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55922,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55909\/revisions\/55922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Climate](\"\/global_warming\/climate-graphics\/Feedback-Cascade-Global.jpg\")