Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/2624
33 www.hplusmagazine.com heard from people who say, "I believe that this is the actual future." And maybe they're right, but who knows? We'll have to wait and see. And once we get the singularity, all of those who are alive will find out. h+: Do you hope that your music encourages people to embrace their inner giant squids? JC: I hope I'm not nurturing an army of supervillains without knowing it. But in some sense, I do think that maybe the "death ray" is a metaphor for the project that is crazy and that everybody thinks is a waste of time. You believe it's really awesome, but it's going to be very costly to you to do and that's why you haven't gotten started yet, then absolutely, we should all immediately go to our basement laboratories and start tinkering, because it's an amazing time to be alive and a creative person. We all have the opportunity to make that "death ray" in our spare time for very little money and publish it to massive numbers of people. Just, if you do make a death ray, make it open source, because that's the most stable way to do it. h+: A lot of people became familiar with you through "Still Alive," the theme song for the Portal videogame. And now there's a version of "Still Alive" on the new Rock Band release. Do you feel that video games are going to be the way that people learn about new music and new artists? JC: I think that video games are certainly going to be part of it, and games like Rock Band are a great example — it's really a brand new genre of game and it's a brand new genre of entertainment. It's this really weird mixture of this participatory experience, where you're part of creating the thing, and also the standard consumer relationship, where you're enjoying a piece of art that already exists. That's a very exciting thing and a kind of collaboration, really. That's ultimately where I think we're headed — this kind of mega-collaboration on a global scale. When you think about the trend in music and post-modern art, it makes sense. You're incorporating parts of other pieces into the pieces that you're making. And now this is a thing that children grow up knowing how to do, because they have computers that come with software that allow them to create videos and music. So, yeah, I think it's part of a trend. We don't know exactly what it's going to look like. h+: So your goal is just to be sampled on a massive scale? JC: Yeah. I just want to be part of the DNA of all future entertainment. Is that too much to ask? Lauren Davis is a freelance writer living in San Francisco and assistant editor for the science fiction blog io9. Jonathan coulton website http://www.jonathancoulton.com ResouRces