Bernie Krause: The voice of the natural world

Bernie Krause has been recording wild soundscapes -- the wind in the trees, the chirping of birds, the subtle sounds of insect larvae -- for 45 years. In that time, he has seen many environments radically altered by humans, sometimes even by practices thought to be environmentally safe. A surprising look at what we can learn through nature's symphonies, from the grunting of a sea anemone to the sad calls of a beaver in mourning.

Bernie Krause's legendary soundscapes uncover nature’s rich sonic tapestry -- along with some unexpected results. 

This has something to do with complexity but I'm not sure what. Each of the environments he records are complex systems (I think). And, the sound of the system must relfect the complexity. But ...

A Poet's View of Complexity

A poet's view of complexity:
"Nature gives us shapeless shapes
Clouds and waves and flame
But human expectation
Is that love remains the same
And when it doesn't
We point our fingers
And blame blame blame"
Paul Simon, You're the One

And it's not just love where we look for blame. Almost all human systems are complex systems, and looking for a cause in them is fruitless.

Change, Entropy and Complexity

A video clip from Al Gore's speech on his book The Future. He talks about change, entropy and complexity. While I applaud his courage of introducing the concept of complexity in the public speech to a general audience and I love his metaphors, he doesn't quite get right. But it's a great attempt.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4463895

The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change

Former Vice President Al Gore is currently the Chairman of the Climate Reality Project, co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management and a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufiled & Byers. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1985 and the U.S. Senate from 1985 to 1990. Mr. Gore is the author of several books, including Earth in the Balance and An Inconvenient Truth. He was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. For more information, visit www.algore.com. From the 6th annual Savannah Book Festival in Savannah, Georgia, former vice president Al Gore discusses his book The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change. Click here to view video.