////////////////////////////////////////// COMPUTER LISTENING
Non-anthropocentric conceptions of the body are essential for a reimagining of machine listening: “AI doesn't need to be sentient to be mind-blowing” (Herdon, 2019). Just because computers don’t think or feel like us, doesn't mean they don't think or feel something. They are described as “non- conscious or pre-cognitive, (…) it occurs below the reflexive level of consciousness”, but those descriptions are tended towards anthropocentric conception of intelligence. To speculate on machine listening practices, it is necessary to consider the rhythmic potential and patterns of their own cyborg bodies: the hum of the fan, the rhythm of data processing, the transmission and reception of signals.
......identifying the rhythms of the computer body; this track is composed of treated fans, wifi signals, printers, diskdrive writeups and hiccups.
This duplication of processing is extended using neural network technologies, the vocal aspect developed by Holly Herndon and Never Before Heard Sounds; an opensource voice processing tool. The metronomic bass tone, also created from neural networks - what a computer believes a kick to sound like - provides a regularity for the unfolding of sonics.