Hans Rudolf Straub, Author at Hansruedi Straub

How resonances explain our musical scales and chords

Have you ever wondered why the musical scales in all musical cultures, whether in the jungle, in the concert hall or in the football stadium, span precisely an octave? Or why children without any musical education the world over quite spontaneously find the major triad “beautiful”? The explanation lies in the resonances. No matter how different musical cultures are, they still have a common core. This consists of the resonances which emerge between the notes of the musical scales and chords. Two strings in resonance Mathematics and physics in music Classical music theory is aware of the fact

By Hans Rudolf Straub|2025-12-03T14:42:21+00:007. April 2025|Categories: music, Theory of the Three Worlds, Resonance, Music scales|0 Comments

Self-reference 2 (Paradoxes)

Self-reference 2 (Paradoxes)

Simple instruction for generating paradoxes The trick with which classical logical systems can be invalidated consists of two instructions: 1: A statement refers to itself. 2: The reference or the statement contains a negation. This constellation always results in a paradox. A famous example of a paradox is the barber who shaves all the men in the village, except of course those who shave themselves (they don't need the barber). The formal paradox arises from the question of whether the barber shaves himself. If he does, he's one of those men who shave themselves and, as the statement about

By Hans Rudolf Straub|2025-12-16T10:03:26+00:0025. February 2025|Categories: Logic, Paradoxes, Self-Referentiality|Tags: Barber paradox, Meta-level, Model selection, Paradox, Self-reference, Zenon|0 Comments

Self-reference 1

Douglas Hofstadters 'Gödel-Escher-Bach' In the 1980s, I read Douglas Hofstadter's cult book ‘Gödel-Escher-Bach’ with fascination. Central to it is Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. This theorem shows the limit of classical mathematical logic. Gödel proved this limit in 1931 in conjunction with the fact that it is insurmountable for all classical mathematical systems as a matter of principle. This is quite astonishing! Is mathematics imperfect? As inheritors of the Age of Enlightenment and convinced disciples of rationality, we consider nothing to be more stable and certain than mathematics. Hofstadter's book impressed me. However, at certain points, for instance on the subject of the ‘coding’ of

By Hans Rudolf Straub|2025-12-03T14:42:56+00:0025. February 2025|Categories: Logic, Self-Referentiality|0 Comments

Ijon Tichy meets artificial Intelligence

Stanislaw Lem on entropy (littering) Littering in space had been a concern long before Elon Musk's Starlink programme, and various methods for cleaning up the growing clutter in Earth's orbit are currently under discussion. The task is not easy because - due to the second law, the inevitable increase in entropy - all littering tends to increase exponentially. If one of the thousands of pieces of scrap metal in space is hit by another piece of scrap metal, the one piece that was hit creates many new pieces that fly around at insane speeds. Space pollution is therefore a self-perpetuating

By Hans Rudolf Straub|2025-12-03T14:43:26+00:0011. February 2025|Categories: Artificial Intelligence, Information, Logic|Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, entropy, Ijon Tichy, Stanislaw Lem, Starlink|0 Comments

What is Resonance?

Oscillations: the physical basis of resonance Resonance is always based on the natural oscillations of two physical objects and their mutual coupling Coupling of natural oscillations of physical objects Natural vibrations are standing waves whose frequency is determined by the properties of the physical medium (size, shape, material, etc.). Two such media can enter into resonance through their oscillations. The resonance is created by coupling the two oscillations so that the two physical media form a coupled unit in their oscillating behaviour. The coupling takes place through a physical exchange of energy, either directly or indirectly, e.g. through the air. The

By Hans Rudolf Straub|2025-12-03T14:47:57+00:0013. November 2024|Categories: music, Theory of the Three Worlds, Resonance, Music scales|0 Comments

Entropy between Micro- and Macro Level

Entropy between Micro- and Macro Level

Two Levels define Entropy: Micro and Macro Two levels Define Entropy The conventional physical definition of entropy characterises it as a difference between two levels: a detail level and an overview level. Example Coffee Cup The thermal entropy according to Boltzmann is classic, using the example of an ideal gas. The temperature (1 value) is directly linked to the kinetic energies of the individual gas molecules (1023 values). With certain adjustments, this applies to any material object, e.g. also to a coffee cup: Thermal macro state: temperature of the liquid in the cup. Thermal micro state: kinetic energy of all

By Hans Rudolf Straub|2025-12-03T14:48:40+00:0027. September 2024|Categories: Information, Entropy, Micro / Macro|Tags: entropy, Information paradox, Ludwig BoltzImann, Macro Level, Micro Level|0 Comments

The Semiotic Triangle

Words and their Objects When we speak, we use words to describe the objects in our environment. With words, however, we do not possess the objects, but only describe them, and as we all know, words are not identical to the objects they describe. It is obvious that there is no identity. Some funny examples of the not always logical use of words can be found in the following text (in German), which explains why the quiet plays loudly and the loud plays quietly. Fig 1: The piano (the quiet one) Fig. 2: The lute (the wood) But how does the

By Hans Rudolf Straub|2025-12-03T14:49:07+00:0020. September 2024|Categories: music, Semantics|Tags: lute, piano, semantics, semiotic triangle, words|0 Comments

Entropy and information

The term entropy is often avoided because it contains a certain complexity that cannot be argued away. But when we talk about information, we also have to talk about entropy. Because entropy is the measure of the amount of information. We cannot understand what information is without understanding what entropy is. Information is always relative We believe that we can pack information, just as we store bits in a storage medium. Bits are then the information that is objectively available, like little beads in a chain that can say yes or no. For us, this is information. But this image is

By Hans Rudolf Straub|2025-12-03T14:54:11+00:0011. September 2024|Categories: Information|Tags: Bit, entropy, Macro State, meaning, Micro State, Thermodynamics|0 Comments

What is Entropy?

Definition of Entropy The term entropy is often avoided because it contains a certain complexity. The phenomenon entropy, however, is constitutive for everything that is going on in our lives. A closer look is worth the effort. Entropy is a measure of information and it is defined as: Entropy is the information - known at micro, - but unknown at macro level. The challenge of this definition is: to understand what is meant by the micro and macro states and to understand why entropy is a difference. What is Meant by Micro and Macro Level? The micro level contains the

By Hans Rudolf Straub|2025-11-15T12:31:44+00:004. September 2024|Categories: Entropy|Tags: entropy, Laws of Form, Macro Level, Micro Level, Niklas Luhmann, Observer, Re-Entry|0 Comments

Georg Spencer-Browns Distinction and the Bit

continues paradoxes and logic (part 2) History Before we Georg Spencer-Brown's (GSB's) distinction as basic element for logic, physics, biology and philosophy, it is helpful to compare it with another, much better-known basic form, namely the bit. This allows us to better understand the nature of GSB's distinction and the revolutionary nature of his innovation. Bits and GSB forms can both be regarded as basic building blocks for information processing. Software structures are technically based on bits, but the forms of GSB (‘draw a distinction’) are just as simple, fundamental and astonishingly similar. Nevertheless, there are characteristic differences. Fig. 1: