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Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

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Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#131

Post by jacquesm »

kabdib wrote: post #72
daneel_w wrote: post #9

Owed to my father's long interest in electronic music, I'm the thankful owner of several of the 1960s/1970s original print Walter Carlos-attributed vinyl records and a few of the 1980s Wendy Carlos-attributed ones. Switched-On Bach/Brandenburgs, Sonic Seasonings, The Well-Tempered Synthesizer etc. all played a large part in my discovery of electronic music as a child.

I was 8 when my dad handed me a set of headphones and had me listen to the first few minutes of Switched On Bach . Still vividly remember that experience, it was like a rapture. Wendy's works are tough to find on streaming services these days. I'd love to listen to Timesteps again, from A Clockwork Orange .

Youtube provides:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOjCTifs-uY

Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#132

Post by jacquesm »

honcraft wrote: post #118
jacquesm wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a right to determine how you use and/or modify your body and you don't have that right over me. That's called bodily autonomy, and is about as clear cut a human right as you'll be able to articulate. The social context has nothing to do with it, that's just a way to say that if enough people say that you can't do to yourself what you want to that that makes them right, which has historically led to all k…

That is your opinion, but consider another topic: elective disablement. Some people are very insistent on having their spinal cord surgically severed or getting their arms and legs chopped off or being permanently blinded, or similar. If you naively consider the topic only from a bodily autonomy perspective, then the answer is deceptively simple: get the blades out and start slicing. But this ignores the wider medica…

They may have that wish, but they will not find a doctor willing to assist them, because doctors have as a rule a sense of ethics.

So this strawman won't stand.

Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#133

Post by yunch »

DelaneyM wrote: post #125
yunch wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

It's much more impressive than that: > Upon completing her transition in 1968, Conway took a new name and identity, and restarted her career in what she called "stealth-mode". (From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Conway ) She managed to have groundbreaking impact in two disconnected careers after restarting from scratch!

I stand corrected, that is much more impressive than I'd assumed!

Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#134

Post by notch565b »

jacquesm wrote: post #127
notch565b wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

The times when we had to run and hide from tigers, when men were real men and women were left behind in the compound to rear the children is long behind us. And the simple fact is that even then there were gay and trans people, they just weren't recognized as such and ended up having problems to fit in.

My thesis has never been gay/trans people are better/worse at fighting tigers or tending children.

Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#135

Post by awsation »

danidiaz wrote: post #25

Adult Swim's "Lords of Synth" comedy short contains a homage to Wendy Carlos in the form of a certain "Carla Wendos" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXgNo5Smino There's also the documentary "Sisters with transistors" about women pioneers of electronic music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r-3hlzpV7M

Anyone knows if this is a available for streaming? BTW, the catchy synth in the trailer is here:

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=52f1ElmTy4o&feature=share

Laurie Spiegel - Appalachian Grove I

Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#136

Post by honcraft »

jacquesm wrote: post #132
honcraft wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is your opinion, but consider another topic: elective disablement. Some people are very insistent on having their spinal cord surgically severed or getting their arms and legs chopped off or being permanently blinded, or similar. If you naively consider the topic only from a bodily autonomy perspective, then the answer is deceptively simple: get the blades out and start slicing. But this ignores the wider medica…

They may have that wish, but they will not find a doctor willing to assist them, because doctors have as a rule a sense of ethics. So this strawman won't stand.

Well here's the thing, this has already been a hotly debated topic by medical ethicists and philosophers, who have indeed considered many factors other than the individualistic bodily autonomy viewpoint.

Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#137

Post by howinteresting »

notch565b wrote: post #126
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk what maladaptive from an evolutionary basis means, dude. We’re not beholden to survival of the fittest anymore. We got glasses, bro. We do shit like microdosing, keto, and cryo therapy. If someone wants to take estrogen and call themselves Jessica, why should I give a shit any more than when some gym rat (therefore on artificial testosterone) wants me to call him Jake instead of Jacob? I don’t think there’s any r…

Quoted post unavailable.

Your understanding does not match the scientific evidence. One of the reasons being trans is not a mental illness is that cis people experience gender dysphoria all the time as well, like cis men when they're called girls, cis women with facial hair, or the revulsion many cis people experience when they even so much as think about the idea of taking hormones that don't align with their gender. To the extent that this is a "mental illness", the vast majority of people have it.

Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#138

Post by wedowhatwedo »

bane wrote: post #19

I grew up in a very religiously conservative household and was raised to not think "well" of trans people. Simultaneously one of my favorite soundtracks of all time was the music to the original 1982 Tron. I had never heard anything quite like it compositionally, or sonically. Sweeping orchestras blended in with synthetic beeps, and bold vistas. It fit the aesthetic of the movie perfectly and was such a daring film p…

I was a huge fan of Switched-On Bach. My dad bought the album for me and it said "Walter Carlos". Many years later I was in a music store and saw the CD and it said "Wendy Carlos". I thought it was a typo and would be worth lots of money so I bought it.

Years later I learned the real story.

I'm still glad for my purchase and Wendy Carlos has made my life just a little bit better because of her art.

Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#139

Post by jacquesm »

honcraft wrote: post #136
jacquesm wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They may have that wish, but they will not find a doctor willing to assist them, because doctors have as a rule a sense of ethics. So this strawman won't stand.

Well here's the thing, this has already been a hotly debated topic by medical ethicists and philosophers, who have indeed considered many factors other than the individualistic bodily autonomy viewpoint.

That's a mis-representation of what bodily autonomy stands for in the context of elective surgery. The ethics of medicine are a complex and very well established domain that extremely cautiously moves forward to ensure they get it right. And when they do not the damage is incalculable, for instance gay conversion therapy and other such niceties.

So before you go off on a tangent about what is and is not accepted practice and which things doctors are required to do and which things they abstain from on ethical grounds I will have to bow out because we are at the limits of my knowledge on the subject and that's not for want of reading material. Let me close with: I know where the line lies in simple cases, but if you start dragging in things that I have not spent enough time on/read about/have knowledge about then I simply will not be able to hold that conversation. If you have this knowledge then more power to you, but so far you have not convinced me of it and you come across as an ideologue.

Re: Wendy Carlos: The brilliant but lonely life of an electronic music pioneer

#140

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

notch565b wrote: post #126
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk what maladaptive from an evolutionary basis means, dude. We’re not beholden to survival of the fittest anymore. We got glasses, bro. We do shit like microdosing, keto, and cryo therapy. If someone wants to take estrogen and call themselves Jessica, why should I give a shit any more than when some gym rat (therefore on artificial testosterone) wants me to call him Jake instead of Jacob? I don’t think there’s any r…

Quoted post unavailable.

Idk what you’re talking about… I don’t look at depressed people like some evolutionary whatever whatever lol

If they want therapy I can pay for the therapy, if they want me to call them depresso mcfesso I can do that too idc. There’s no reason to be all high minded about stuff like this, man

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