Memex Music and Gambling Games: EVE’s Take on Lucky Number 13

Memex is an algorithmic composition, created by a computer program that operates on a database of works by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. The program steps forward with probability Q and jumps backward with probability P=1-Q along note links in this database – where the P/Q odds are set by a human artist. Coincidentally, the backward/forward odds used in composing Memex are the same as the win/loss odds of a typical slot machine, i.e., P=0.13. Here we use a computational theory of aesthetics to draw a cognitive connection between the “flow” of Memex and the “fun” of gambling. Each aesthetic experience is quantified in terms of marginal entropies, and the computed results are seen to be similar when plotted in the form of “Goldilocks functions” – which show how pleasure varies with probability P. This finding suggests that pleasure may be modeled by information gains in these and perhaps other