SYNOPSIS >>> "In the articles, “The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin”[1] by Burroughs and “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”[2] by Turing, (old) new media is characterized by the relation of several concepts: Experiences, recombination, random methods as the solution, stimuli and the computational mind, are some of the main concepts present in these two articles."


RANDOMNESS >>> “(...)introduces the cut-up method of random action into game and military strategy: (...) by random factor your opponent will gain no advantage from knowing your strategy since he can not predict the move.” [1]

“It is probably wise to include a random element in a learning machine. A random element is rather useful when we are searching for a solution of some problem.”[2]

(I) - RANDOMNESS AS A SOLUTION TO PROBLEM SOLVING

[1] William S. Burroughs. 1963. “The Cut Up Method of Brion Gysin”. The New Media Reader.
War drip-Fruin, N., Montfort, N. (Eds.). (pp. 89 - 91). Cambridge; Massachusetts: MIT Press.

[2] Alan M. Turing, 1950. "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" in "Mind: A Quarterly
Review of Psychology and Philosophy" 59(236):433-460. October. The New Media Reader.

"RANDOMNESS AS A SOLUTION
TO PROBLEM SOLVING"

RANDOMNESS >>>
“A random element is rather useful when we are searching for a solution of some problem.” [2]

“Suppose the digital computer contains a random random number generator.”[2]

RECOMBINATION >>> “Burroughs indicates, rather, that randomness and recombination can be used by an author as an intermediate step in composition.[1]

COMPUTATIONAL MIND >>> “The whole mind is mechanical.”[2]

STIMULI >>> “You can introduce the unpredictable spontaneous factor with a pair of scissors.”[1]

STIMULI >>> construct electronic equipment which will ‘think for itself’, or in which, in biological terms, one could set up a conditioned reflex, which would serve as a basis for ‘learning’.”.[2]

EXPERIMENTS >>> “Cut-ups are for everyone. It is experimental in the sense of being something to do.[1]