Definitely interesting ideas about perception and this topic. Also, I'm not overly aware of ASMR but I'll have to look into that that there's a limited amount of triggers (and like you said, the hedonic treadmill of how our brain habituates to sound). Thanks for the thoughts!

Really interesting thoughts to add to the discussion, I'll be thinking over these ideas for sure. Thanks again for being so thorough / contributing!

Yea, what you're talking about that a story has to "mean something" is what I'm getting at, that there isn't an infinite amount of those theoretically. So if there aren't infinite possibilities that "make sense" (like you said) then won't we eventually run out of them (even if you think it would be far into the future)?  

And if we will run out of possibilities that "make sense", then isn't it just a question of when?

Thanks for letting me know! I didn't realize it. Should be fixed now

Really interesting thoughts, thanks for contributing. It seems like you think it's possible we could "exhaust" good art, even if not anytime soon. My other blog posts (you don't need to read them) are about if this concept applies to everything in human development (that it will be substantially "completed" one day) then what would be the implications of that and how would people live and how should society be set up. Do you have any thoughts on any of that? (it's ok if you don't, you just gave a really thorough good reply above so I thought you might)

I understand what you are saying, but I am still curious if you agree that there is a limit of distinctness in music? It seems difficult to argue that there is unlimited distinctness in music, and I don't think you are, but that you are instead arguing that it requires a certain level of the artistic sensibility to gauge the limits of musical possibility.

If so, who do you think / what type of person would have the requisite artistic sensibility to make such a judgment with some accuracy (but still imperfect)?

If you have the requisite artistic sensibility (I'm not saying you asserted that but I'm curious if you do think that), what is your position on where our current collective body of musical works is in relationship to an objective limit in the distinctiveness of new music?

If you do not think you have the requisite artistic sensibility, are you saying that from your perspective and my perspective that we can make no predictions on whether humanity reaches a certain limit of distinctiveness in music this decade vs in 10,000 years? What I mean is, is your position that there is no way for someone without the necessary artistic sensibility to estimate any limit in the distinctness of music?

Thanks

I understand your point. My experience is in the genre of rock music (which is songs) and not in classical music, so my explorations into the metaphysical nature of music is based on extensive experience with songs (and not in other pieces of music). However, I believe at the metaphysical level that this idea applies to, there is not a substantial difference in examining the nature of songs and other pieces of music. That may make the perspective I'm coming from clearer to you, or we may have to agree to disagree.

I have not read the Fun Theory Sequence article, but you're right that is connected to this topic. I appreciate the link. Thanks for your comments!

To be more clear, putting pieces of music under different labels (bagatelle, folk song, house track, etc) doesn't have a bearing on this discussion of what is the metaphysical nature of a piece of music. I understand that I was using the word "song" colloquially for a piece of music. I was not attempting to initiate a debate on the dictionary definition of a song or its characteristics in relation to other types of music. Again, I would refer you to the metaphysical discussion that many of the other posters contributed to.

I understand that music categorization and music theory are a separate and important topic of which you may have an expertise in, but that is a different discussion.

IE "what is a piece of music?" from a metaphysical perspective.

You're failing to engage the question of the nature of songs and music as a metaphysical level. I agree that mass culture and dissemination of works is part of the discussion, but it doesn't seem like you're trying to engage with that nature of "what is a song?". (See a number of the longer comment chains by other posters who provided thoughts on this topic if you're not sure what is under examination besides mass culture and dissemination.)