I’m slightly puzzled why about half of them aren’t in mutual antiphase, like that rebel in that right column.
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That rebel on the right eventually saw the light.
A MatLab guru could probably make a simulation that would allow a person to understand the subtleties of a coupled oscillator system such as this. Similar things happen with coupled electronic oscillators.
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I get what you are saying but…
As a frustrated drummer (As in I wish I was a drummer) I’ll sometimes try to drum along to my turn signal clicking as I’m frustrated that the turn light of the car ahead of me is noticeably out of sync.
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Yes and no. Most people are going to find themselves in those situations. Walking in rhythm with music, subconsciously. Tracking the dripping of a faucet to a beat. But its incidental, and/or unconscious. These things happen to me constantly. And most people aren’t going to contextualize them in the same way you do. They aren’t going to search for a complex pattern to make the dripping water fit, because they aren’t well educated in how music is assembled. They aren’t aware that there are more complex patterns that could fit. They’ll just be frustrated or disappointed when the momentary match to a familiar beat disappears. Most people are familiar with “good driving” or “good running” songs, meaning songs that seem to naturally match up with the movements or activities your undertaking. All the same thing. Your brain auto-magically recognizes and locks in on a pattern or similarity. That’s what its built on. But Picasso isn’t special because he’s the only one who can see Jesus on this piece of toast.
Everyone (nearly) can see Jesus in that piece of toast. Picasso is special because he can recognize why it looks like a human face. Contextualize and deconstruct elements like line, color saturation, blending. Then mimic, build on, and alter them. Its just a different more informed follow through on basic brain weird.
Again I, and many other people, experience the same thing (without the drumming along. I’m uncoordinated, and don’t want to die). @anotherone on the other hand seems like he knows enough about music to not get frustrated, and instead work out another beat that works with all of it. Everyone’s brain is capable of and prone to going “OH MAN!” in these situations, people with special training just have enough info/experience to do something further with it.
I think it’s because the foam base moving back and forth is in antiphase to all of them.
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Not complete without some Ligeti!
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The point, it is missed.
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Okay, so with all of this talk of magic and physics am I the only one who sees it as a sad metaphor for growing up?
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Well, not anymore… 
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It’s more about about the power of oscillatory dynamics than anything else. The patterns of oscillation are random at first, and this chaotic input of small feedback force across the oscillators entrained them to the mean signal as it organized. Feedback is life.
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Mmmm, physics porn. I know what’s going to happen, I understand why it happens, but still…watching it is curiously satisfying. I think I’ll watch it once more.
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Sure man… sure. Matrixing is the same as self imposed obsessive compulsive neurosis… ok. My inability to ignore patterns is shared by everyone. No group of people experience life differently than others.
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How about, “This is your brain on Fox News”
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And it’s the mass of the table that inspires the human metaphor for me. The foam represents a social matrix of backstabbing, gossip, generalized fear. People don’t trust each other. Life is uncertain. The illusion of safety can only be found in lock-step conformity with the neighbors.
Had the metronome been placed on a solid concrete floor, that would have simulated a different ideal social scheme, where health care is not blackmail, civil rights are respected, a high education level and low level of violence give everyone space to become their own best selves.
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Hmmm, for certain values of “up”, then yes, I suppose.
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I’d imagine that unless exactly half of them are in an opposite phase, the dominant phase is going to be having a self-correcting net influence on the smaller portion, eventually fully correcting them until they all end up the same.
(And yes that is a terrible way of explaining it i know, but it makes perfect sense in my head but i can’t quite explain it properly)
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I’m curious if they would all remain in sync, or if they would all eventually fall back out of sync (the way turn signals and wiper blades eventually do)?..are they actually synchronizing or are their varying cycles simply lining up for a period of time (as any various length cycles inevitably do)?
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Possibly orthogonal, but does anyone else get anxious when they turn their wipers on high?
These oscillators are coupled to each other by the foam base. Turn signals on different cars are not coupled, so they have no ability to synchronize with their neighbors.
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Run this in reverse, and it would sound a lot like my high school band.
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