Musical scores are precise instructions detailing how the composer wished the music to be played: notes and tempo are fixed, accents and volume levels accounted for. Two performers tickling identical ivories should, therefore, render carbon copies of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
But that never happens.
The differences are timing and nuance—an observation that might also shed light on a tired argument: "If bits are bits, how can two different methods of serving those same bits sound different?"
Timing and nuance.
Or, take a recipe as another example: exacting lists of ingredients, portions, temperatures—even technique—rarely come out the same.
Timing and nuance.
Is it responsible to argue that bits are bits while ignoring all the other factors at play? (And isn't such a black and white argument of a complex technology a little lopsided?)
Seems to me there must be a reasonable middle ground somewhere—I just can't seem to find it.
