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Shepard Tone

J_II0 HN recommenders · 2020–2022
4M views · demo · evergreen · Uploaded 2012-09-05

A five-minute demonstration of the Shepard tone, an audio illusion made from octave-separated tones that makes pitch seem to rise endlessly without ever getting higher.

HN uses it as the reference example of the illusion and as a metaphor for endless escalation.

Everyday physics & science demosMagic, puzzles & curiositiesMusic theory, synthesis & production

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3 comments from Hacker News

@mettamage2020 · in “The Worst Decision of My Career”

For some reason, your comment reads like a Ted Ed Talk: a nice story with a cool lesson in it :) Fun Shepards: [LINK] [VIDEO] (really dizzying to listen to :P)

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@xmprt2021 · in “How are Rome's monuments still standing?”

I think software will never feel like it's improved because as technology improves and changes, new features will be expected of software and so while some parts of software improve, other new parts will bring down the average quality. It reminds me of Shepard Tones which sound like they are infinitely increasing in pitch which is impossible because the human ear can only hear certain frequencies. ( [VIDEO] )

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@tjr2252022 · in “Eviction notice downloads soar after federal moratorium ends”

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The current state of things appears to be that internet and media/ad revenue AI machine seem to have come together to put us in an sort of shepard tone of fear and impending doom. Pandemic, war, inflation, division, shortages, crypto, every storm has a name, everything is record breaking. I have more to be grateful for than I've ever had before, in spite of all of this somehow- but I can see the inequality growing around me. To me it seems like chaos has gone "viral." I don't know when or how it ends and we come out better for it. [VIDEO]

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