Why Music is the Ultimate Antidote to Digital Isolation
...and why AI will never write your favorite song.
Whenever I listen to War All The Time by Thursday, I’m immediately transported to my Freshman dorm room at The University of Scranton.
It’s snowing, and I’m playing a MASSIVE networked game of Call of Duty across multiple dorms. The CD is blaring as my friend runs into my room and says, “I see you,” before running back and then sniping me before I can react.
That’s the power of music. Just hearing a song transports me back to a very specific time over 20 years ago. It can elicit deep emotions with just a single lyric or a chord.
Building a Playlist
Music is an important part of my day. It can help energize me, focus me, or help me relax. I went on a journey this morning where I spent the better part of an hour building a playlist on Spotify called Happy.
This falls squarely into the, “energize me — the coffee isn’t strong enough today” camp.
There are no hard and fast rules to what makes it onto the playlist. Basically, I looked through all of my music, and if the song elicited a happy feeling, it made it on. It could be due to:
A sick drum beat
A band I loved seeing live
A happy lyric
Taking me back to a specific time in my life
It got me thinking a lot about how music is such an ingrained human experience, and why.
Music is Universal
Music is one of the few things that is universal to every culture. Historians aren’t really sure when music was created; it seemingly just came into being and might even predate language.
It also breaks language barriers; you don’t need to speak the same language as the song to enjoy it.
Dating back tens of thousands of years to the first bone flutes, music is incredibly diverse. It has evolved into hundreds of genres and subcultures. It has been used to:
Start and advance cultural and political movements
Convey messages and emotions
Add extra dimensions to movies and TV shows
...and so much more. Because it’s universal, it connects us in ways other mediums cannot.
It’s also something that almost requires us to work together.
Music is Collaborative
Writing music is a truly collaborative process. Unless you’re a savant, it requires:
Lyricists
Composers
Instrumentalists
Audio engineers
Musicians often give songs to others who are more suited for it. For example, Ed Sheeran wrote songs for One Direction, BTS, and even Bon Jovi. It’s All Coming Back to Me Now was originally for Meat Loaf before it went to Celine Dion.
Good covers put a new spin on a song while maintaining its integrity. Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah is often considered the best, despite Leonard Cohen writing the incredible original.
Similarly, I believe Pearl Jam’s cover of Last Kiss better communicates the sadness of the story than the original version by Wayne Cochran or the recording by J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers.
You Form Bonds Over Music
Because music is universal and collaborative, it’s easy to form bonds over songs, artists, or genres. Whether it’s a bar full of people singing Piano Man or Don’t Stop Believin’, or finding out your neighbor also loved blink-182.
I was talking to a friend recently, and came to learn her husband and I both like this guy (let’s call him “Rob”), but she and my wife find him hard to talk to.
My friend’s husband and I find it easy to talk to him, and we realized why: we love talking about music in a way our wives don’t.
Why Am I Saying All This?
I’m worried that as we move deeper into a world of AI and isolation, we’ll lose touch with what makes us uniquely human. Music is a great antidote to that. It helps us stay connected to the real world and other people.
There are things AI simply cannot do:
Tell real stories of heartache or elation
Relay emotions the same way a human who has actually felt them can
Create songs that will truly be remembered in 50 or 100 years
And for all the people who are screaming, “just wait 10 years,” I say this: you’re missing the point. Unless AI develops a soul and a body to experience human life, it lacks an ineffable quality that gives songs staying power.
There’s a story behind all music. Overcoming odds. Doing something incredible. Celebrating human ability and ingenuity.
As long as we keep producing original music by actual human beings, we will always have a way to form strong connections with each other.