Evolving Melodies: Coding Culture’s Darwinian Patterns

The author argues that music and culture evolve through mechanisms similar to biological evolution. They demonstrate this with a melody breeder that simulates selection and mutation, and a sonified Game of Life that turns simple rules into complex musical patterns. Trends like Labubu’s rise mirror epidemic spread, underscoring universal dynamics that code can make visible.

Key Points

Music likely taps pre-linguistic, biological capacities, making it a natural substrate for evolutionary-style change.
A “melody breeder” simulates cultural evolution as melodies replicate, mutate, and undergo selection based on fitness, novelty, and complexity.
Conway’s Game of Life is sonified to demonstrate how simple generative rules can yield complex, evolving musical structures.
Cultural trends (e.g., the Labubu craze) spread with epidemic-like dynamics, echoing models used in epidemiology.
Universal evolutionary principles—replication, variation, selection—govern not just biology but music and culture; code lets us explore and reveal these patterns.

Sentiment

Overall positive and curious, with constructive technical critiques about musical mapping, evolutionary fitness, and minor UX issues.

In Agreement

Generative music from simple rules (e.g., cellular automata) is compelling and can produce engaging patterns.
There is a rich history and ecosystem of similar experiments (Wolfram Tones, Otomata, Electroplankton), reinforcing the project’s premise.
Algorithmic recombination/evolution of musical patterns is a worthwhile avenue to explore.
Coding interactive toys makes complex ideas in music and computation tangible and fun.

Opposed

Without a fitness function that approximates human taste, evolved music often sounds random and lacks quality control.
Mapping 12-TET onto a square grid may be suboptimal; a hexagonal grid might better reflect musical relationships.
Implementation/UX issues (site downtime, hidden controls, iPhone silent-mode audio) detract from accessibility and evaluation.
Lack of clarity on how note selection is determined (by position, generation, or scale) leaves the musical mapping under-specified.