Wasteland Development Diary
Chapter 736 - 9: Time and Music
"Music and the Time Mover can generate wonderful reactions."
"If the previous efforts were extensions standing on the shoulders of those before me, then this step is a pattern and invention I summarized through my own years of exploration."
At this point, D's voice became passionately excited.
"Mr. Zhou, music is a fascinating thing. By the measure of ancient human civilization, it is at least 30,000 years older than writing; it's one of humanity's earliest thought carriers."
"Music has three origins."
"The first is the rhythm shout induced by collective labor, like logging chants, and the synchronized calls during lifting and carrying, which are still in use today."
"The second is the babbling sounds of infants, biologically homologous to birdsong, driven by the dopamine reward mechanism within the body."
"The third is for supernatural communication. In shamanic rites or rituals to gods and ancestors, music serves as a universal medium between humans and deities. Whether it's musical instruments, odes, chants, or arias, they all have distinct musical rhythms."
"Music is humanity's pursuit of rhythmic order and the expression of emotions that transcend human limitations."
It continued: "Actually, it's not just limited to humans; music affects various kinds of creatures. Zebra finches can recognize sequences of music by Bach and Schoenberg, parrots can sway to drumbeats, and only birds and humans have this capability."
"A 400Hz sine wave can improve bee foraging efficiency, and sound waves between 50-500Hz promote the growth of Arabidopsis roots—the mechanism is the triggering of the calcium signal pathway."
"What's even more interesting is rice; experiments have shown that under classical music (100dB), yields can increase by 25%, but heavy metal music actually inhibits tillering."
D chuckled lightly: "At least it seems the rice prefers classical music and dislikes heavy metal."
This area was Zhou Yi's blind spot of knowledge.
However, D's speech indeed had a strong AI flavor, fitting its prototype.
For Zhou Yi, music was a part of life, just like having three meals a day, sleeping, and surfing the internet—it's a given part.
He had watched some videos before, where small animals resonate with music and even dance to it but had not given it much thought beyond amusement at the time.
Zhou Yi asked, "Is it useful for all creatures? Even microorganisms?"
"Equally useful."
D said: "Microorganisms need their own music. They perceive low-frequency vibrations through cell membrane deformation, flagella, and cilia movement, but conventionally, no one noticed this need. Their lives are brief, so performing and composing music is difficult. Therefore, I specifically composed a song for them, 'The Song No One Sings for Them'."
"Would you like to hear it? I can transcode it into a version we can hear."
Zhou Yi showed interest: "Sure. But we have staff in the microbiology field at our company; I'll have them listen and give it a try."
"That would be wonderful! Frankly, although I can sense their liking through the response of the microbial listeners, they can't express such complex information directly. So I'm quite anxious..."
D said so.
The ones invited over to listen to the song, of course, were the Dong.
The Dong live in the Corridor Palace, but this precise device can also accurately collect vibrations from external sounds.
D took out a small player. After assembling it, he aimed it at the Corridor Palace and conducted another series of tuning.
Confirmed no issues.
D said: "Then I'll start."
Music slowly started playing from the player.
This song was energetic, reminding Zhou Yi of the BGM from Pacific Rim.
He couldn't help but start swaying.
The mic master also gave the highest praise: "I need to learn this song well."
However, the Dong side had no reaction for a long time.
The song ended.
D looked at the waveform diagram, somewhat anxious, and asked: "I wonder how the microbial gentlemen feel?"
Zhou Yi asked twice.
Only then did the Dong respond: "Mr. Zhou, just now the Cave People showed unprecedented excitement and even fell into chaos. Their energy absorption efficiency increased by 38%, drug-resistant gene expression was upregulated, the formation speed of biomembranes was enhanced, and it accelerated iteration!"
"This music is terrifying... The Cave People just went through an unprecedented revelry."
It really works.
Zhou Yi said: "So can music be played to everyone long-term? To promote their growth?"
"I think it's best not to."
The Dong demonstrated restraint at this point: "While this power indeed brought various positive evolutions to the Cave People, it also made the group overly excited, impulsive, and frenzied."
"If this tendency persists long-term, it will plunge the entire group into an extremely aggressive and dangerous state."
"But as a stimulant when the group is low and negative, it indeed can serve as a good encouragement."
Zhou Yi was somewhat unprepared for the impact that special music had on the Cave People.
He immediately fed this information back to D.
The mechanical musician opposite relaxed: "I see... I know where the problem lies."
"Since music itself is a reflection of various emotions and instinctive impulses, to clearly observe microbial reactions in experiments, I created this intense piece. Subsequently, as long as further diversifying the compositions, it could allow for the rotation of various emotions and instincts."
"This one is electronic symphony; I can compose more classical music, pop music, ethnic music, opera, Indian ragas, African drum music... Various emotional releases will be more balanced, and this extreme impulsiveness won't occur."
Zhou Yi also said: "Thanks for that."
"I am a musician, after all."
D was at ease: "Finally, it is verified that microorganisms indeed have very specific needs for music."