Back at our Google meeting, Hofstadter spoke with extraordinary emotion about his encounters with EMI: I sat down at my piano and I played one of EMI’s mazurkas “in the style of Chopin.” It didn’t sound exactly like Chopin, but it sounded enough like Chopin, and like coherent music, that I just felt deeply troubled. Ever since I was a child, music has thrilled me and moved me to the very core. And every piece that I love feels like it’s a direct message from the emotional heart of the human being who composed it. It feels like it is giving me access to their innermost soul. And it feels like
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