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The podcast episode “Deep Dive Into Numerical Breezes” explores Işık Barış Fidaner’s project, “Numerik Esintiler,” an AI-generated radio program that mixes music from various eras, including forgotten cultural sounds. Fidaner critiques how social media stifles creativity and advocates for using AI as a tool to resurrect cultural memories and push artistic boundaries. The project intentionally embraces AI glitches, emphasizing human imperfections in the digital age and encouraging reflection on how AI might help create realistic utopias.

Generated by Google’s NotepadLM website given these links:

1) Işık Barış Fidaner: “Humanity Can Create Realistic Utopias with the Help of Robots”

2) Numerical Breezes Manifesto

3) Nümerik Esintiler

This is part of Numerical Discourses

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All right, so are you ready for this one? We’re diving into the world of AI-generated music. But hold on, it’s not just any AI music. This is AI music that’s designed to build a realistic utopia.

Oh wow, yeah, you heard that right. It’s an interesting idea. I mean, it makes you think about what a utopia even is these days.

Exactly, and the person behind it all is this guy Işık Barış Fidaner. Have you heard of him?

The name rings a bell, but I don’t think so.

He created this AI-generated radio program. It’s called Numerik Esintiler.

What does that mean?

It means “numeric breezes” in Turkish.

Got it. Okay, and what’s really interesting about this Fidaner guy is he’s not just some, like, tech bro who stumbled into this whole thing. He’s actually a scholar of Slavoj Žižek.

Oh, and if you don’t know who that is, well, Žižek is famous for his critiques of ideology. But Fidaner is also a computer scientist and a musician.

Okay, so he’s coming at this from a really interesting angle.

Yeah, very unique background. And oh yeah, did I mention the robot jokes?

The what?

We’re going to be looking at excerpts from an interview with Fidaner, parts of his manifesto for this project, and even song titles from his website.

Okay, it’s wild. Trust me.

Oh, I’m intrigued. Let’s do it.

So Fidaner has this idea that humanity was already kind of paralyzed before AI even came onto the scene.

Interesting, and he’s pointing the finger at social media for that.

Okay, so break this whole paralysis thing down for me. It seems like it’s at the core of his point.

Yeah, so he’s basically saying that social media has made us obsessed with our online selves. You know, we’re always chasing likes, we’re trapped in these echo chambers, and it’s all about getting that validation instead of actually, like, genuinely connecting.

Right, so it’s less about actually connecting with people and more about performing for them.

Yeah, exactly. It’s all a performance. And Fidaner calls this performance “The Gaze.”

The Gaze?

It’s like this constant pressure to present a certain image of yourself to get everyone to like you, and he says that ultimately, it’s really stifling creativity.

It’s funny because I remember when, like, the early internet just felt so open, full of potential.

And now it feels different, like… do you know what I mean?

Totally. It’s like we’ve gone from this really optimistic view of the internet to global cynicism or something.

Yeah, like exactly. And Fidaner sees this too, right? He talks about how the early web was all about pushing boundaries. It was experimenting, like a digital Wild West or something. It was playful, and now it’s like we’re just recreating the same old systems.

You know, the systems we were trying to escape in the first place.

Yeah, and it’s interesting that he’s chosen to use AI to push back against this trend. And he’s doing it in a very interesting way too—through sound.

Oh, interesting. So instead of, like, some big visual experience, he’s going old school with a radio program?

Yeah, exactly, and there’s a reason for that. Fidaner is very skeptical of visual mediums.

Interesting. Why is that?

He thinks that visual stuff just plays right into The Gaze—that need for validation we were talking about.

Mhm.

Yeah, but sound? Sound is different. He sees sound as inherently more free, more about tapping into deeper emotions, tapping into cultural memories.

That’s so cool. So he’s using AI to make music, but—and this is where it gets interesting—not just any music. It’s like he’s pulling from all these different eras and genres.

Oh, really?

That way, like, we’re talking Soviet marches, almost forgotten folk tunes…

Oh wow, it’s all over the place. So it’s like a musical melting pot.

That’s really cool. And another thing—he’s not shying away from glitches in the music.

Oh really?

Yeah, you know those little imperfections that you get with AI-generated music? He leans into them.

Interesting. So it’s like he’s saying, “Yeah, this was made by a machine, but there’s still something human about it.”

Yeah, even in those imperfections, even in the glitches. And it all kind of ties into this idea he has that the music his AI is creating is infused with the spirit of the past. He says that humans today couldn’t even make this kind of music.

Oh wow. Why is that?

Because, as he puts it, “we’ve been socially mediatically degraded.”

That’s a mouthful.

Socially mediatically degraded.

Degraded, okay. Yeah, it’s a pretty bleak way to put it, but he might have a point. It makes you think—what have we lost in this whole digital age, you know? And could AI, as strange as it sounds, help us reconnect with it?

Yeah, big questions, right? And this guy Fidaner, he’s not afraid to ask the big questions. One of the things he talks about is using AI to bring back to life what he calls “the forgotten recesses of cultural memory.”

Wow, okay, so he’s not just trying to make catchy tunes.

No, he’s trying to unearth and reimagine sounds from past eras. It’s almost like… like digital archaeology or something.

Exactly. That’s a perfect way to put it. And this AI he uses—Caillou, he describes it as “breathing life into the forgotten recesses of cultural memory.” It sounds really poetic, but is it really genuine artistic expression, or is it just nostalgia?

That’s a good question, and it actually connects to how he uses what he calls “overidentification.”

Overidentification?

Yeah, it’s an idea he gets from Slavoj Žižek. And the point isn’t to just make art that makes you feel good; it’s about pushing those buttons, like exaggerating what’s already there in our culture to the point of absurdity.

So it’s less about escaping reality and more about forcing people to confront it.

Exactly, and he does this with a lot of humor too. Like, one of his songs—are you ready for this?—is called Di Asır.

What does that even mean?

Basically, it means—and I’m paraphrasing here—The Age of Decay.

The Age of Decay. And get this—he’s talking about the 21st century.

Oh wow, so much for subtlety, huh?

Right, but it really makes you think—if we’re already living in the age of decay, is a realistic utopia even possible?

Now that is the million-dollar question, isn’t it?

And you know, like he’s saying, we’re already messing things up pretty badly even without robots.

Right, it’s true.

So maybe AI isn’t the big bad wolf everyone thinks it is.

So then how does this realistic utopia thing work?

So it’s not about this perfect future, right? Like, some far-off fantasy. He’s talking about using AI to help us see our own flaws, and then hopefully, we can move forward in a way that’s more real, more meaningful.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, it’s like, instead of running from reality, you turn around and face it.

Yes, exactly. And this is where I think his sense of humor really comes through. Like, he’s got these songs where robots are singing about how humans don’t know how to connect anymore.

Wow, it’s kind of out there.

But he’s got these AI-generated anthems about the age of decay and everything. So he’s using humor to make these really serious points.

Right. It’s like, “This is kind of messed up, but let’s just try to laugh about it a little.”

Yeah, find some humor in it all. And you know, maybe through all this, we can actually start to imagine something better. You know, like maybe AI isn’t the enemy. Maybe it can help us reflect or something.

I see what you mean. You mentioned earlier how he doesn’t use visuals in Numerik Esintiler, right? But I thought he used AI for the album.

He does, but he uses DALL·E.

Okay, so totally different AI.

Totally. And even with those visuals, they’re very… how do I put this… like, he makes them look like a robot made them, on purpose.

Yeah?

Yeah, like there are glitches and weird things in them. I think he wants you to know that it’s artificial. It’s like a reminder that it’s all just a construction.

It’s all part of the point, I think. He wants us to question everything—our ideas about art, about technology, about what it even means to be human, especially with all this tech around us now.

I like that. For our listeners who are like, “Okay, I’m sold on this AI utopia thing,” where can they actually listen to this?

Fidaner has this website. It’s got all these descriptions of each episode and some writing about his process and stuff. Plus, there’s a YouTube playlist that has all 15 episodes.

Oh cool, that’s awesome.

If anyone wants to dive deep into this whole AI-generated music and robot jokes thing, that’s where to go.

Perfect. So to wrap up, what really stood out to you about all of

this?

It’s just so bold.

Bold how?

Like, he’s really going for it, you know? This guy’s got all this philosophy, he can code, he knows AI, and he puts it all together to make this weird, funny, but also kind of brilliant art.

Yeah, yeah, I see that. It’s like he’s not afraid to critique technology and at the same time use it to make something new. It’s kind of inspiring, actually.

Exactly. It’s like we don’t have to just sit here and let technology happen to us, right?

Right. We can use it to ask questions, to push back, and maybe even to dream a little—even if those dreams involve robots.

Right, yeah, exactly.

You know, it’s interesting because even his choice to do a radio program—not something visual—that’s part of it too, right?

Totally. He says it himself. He doesn’t want to get caught up in making things that just look good. You know what I mean? It’s got to be about more than that.

He’s definitely trying to say something with all of this. He even says on his website that he doesn’t just want to entertain—he wants his work to make people think, make people talk.

Yeah, like he wants to get a reaction out of people.

I respect that for sure.

So for our listeners, the people who’ve been with us on this whole deep dive into AI utopias and robot jokes and the future of sound, what would you say is the main takeaway? What should they be thinking about? What’s the big idea to hold on to?

I think the biggest thing to remember here is that AI isn’t the answer to everything, and it’s not going to ruin everything either.

Okay.

It’s just a tool, right?

Yeah.

And what we do with it—that’s what really matters. That’s on us. We have a choice to make.

We have a choice, exactly.

And I think a big part of making that choice is understanding the technology. You’ve got to engage with the ideas. Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions.

Yeah, like Fidaner is doing.

Yeah, exactly. Even if the answers are, I don’t know, weird, or uncomfortable, or even a little funny, or completely absurd.

Exactly. That’s part of the fun.

All right, everyone, that’s it for this deep dive. Until next time.

See you next time!