"AI vs HUMAN" is a generative music project that translates the gameplay of a given chess game into a music soundtrack.

This single edition 1/1 video NFT features the gameplay from the decisive Game 6 in the 1987 rematch between the IBM Supercomputer 'Deep Blue' and Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov in New York.

It is also the "genesis" first release of the 'AI vs HUMAN Chess Music' generative music project.

-----------
Game 6 was the shortest and also the decisive game in the 1987 rematch series held in New York City. It cemented victory for Deep Blue in the overall series after the original 1986 match had been drawn.

Deep Blue played "white" and Kasparov "black".

The victory of Deep Blue was a symbolic moment in the development - and more importantly the public perception - of Artificial Intelligence. It signalled an event horizon where machine learning had finally caught up with science fiction.

Machine beats Man!...What would the future hold?...Judgement Day from Terminator?...or the terrifying blandness of HAL from 2001 a Space Odyssey slowly turning off your oxygen...

Who knows. The point is that this felt like the dawn of a new era. A step over a threshold into a future where humans may no longer be the smartest 'beings' on the planet.

For this first release, the video and sounds have been remixed into an 8-Bit style & format to recreate a 1980's video game aesthetic. This was a deliberate choice to juxtapose the future within a nostalgic retro vibe. The idea that people sometimes hide in the past - both culturally & individually - to avoid the future, and that there are unconsidered consequences of retro-utopianism, are central themes of my artistic output. So, choosing a nostalgic format to present this catalytic futuristic moment appealed to my sense of artistic irony...even if it perhaps obscures the music slightly in this version.

-----------

Chess Music - An explanation of the generative music process:

The Chess Music Theory was developed and executed by FQMusic - a musician, composer, arranger and bandleader based in Leeds, UK. He also plays chess.

A full explanation of the methodology behind the generative process has been attached to the NFT as a forever PDF, however in its simplest form rhythm & pitch are derived from the position of a piece on the board following its move. Every moved piece signals both a note and the amount of times that note is sounded in a bar of 4/4 time. Unmoved pieces that remain in their opening positions do not sound. Each moved piece therefore contributes to the generative polyphonic soundtrack.

A copy of the handwritten music score will be airdropped to the buyer. as an NFT.

-----------

1600 x 1600 MP4 Video

Higher Res version available to the buyer through IPFS on Arweave.

This is the first release of the chess music concept.

The plan is to remix the sound and visuals for further releases of Game 6 in different genres of music and visuals.

There will not be another 8-Bit version of Game 6.

-----------

Chess and music theory by FQMusic.

8-Bit Visuals & Sound Remix by Zeitwarp

Thank you to Createbase on NEAR for sponsoring the research & development for 'AI vs HUMAN' as part of their Community Hackathon in May/June 2021.

Event	Token ID	Price	From	To	Date