That certainly applies to a work that exists entirely as
an audio recording such as "Music for Airports." Yet it
was transcribed with some degree of success into a score.
This speaks to the nature of music as an art. It has a
theory and a notation.
Now let us consider Jaron's problem.
He wrote some code in 1982 which today cannot be (easily) run.
Yet, if it was code, it must have had an abstract structure.
Wouldn't it be possible to encode the algorithm?
The interesting thing to me is the transformation of our
understanding about visual art. The media were based on
one-offs that were passed down as physical objects making
their archiving very much different than music. However,
look around. The visual artists have discovered computers,
and the cutting edge work is not really all that physical in
form. In fact, the level of abstraction is beginning to
remind me of music.
I think Stewart suggested a story about orbiting
an archive for future generations. OK. What about sending
a radio beacon that will wrap around the curved universe
and come back to the receiver at the end of time?
Unlike a space barge filled with little pieces of media,
this scenario requires abstracting the content into symbolic
content. Easy for math. Possible for music. How do we send
Rodin's "Thinker"?
Tom