WEBVTT

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I've been moved or influenced by a lot of things

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that I have seen or heard or read, so that my

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work over time has been, at least in its framework

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or in its initial inspiration, inspired by and

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guided by some bigger and broader concepts. For

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our upcoming episode, I invited American composer

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and record label executive Sean Hickey to discuss

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his monumental piano cycle, Sapiens, a brief

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history of humankind for solo piano. In, I believe,

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early 2018, I read the book of the same name

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by Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens, A Brief History

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of Humankind, and brilliant writer and someone

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that I at least can draw a lot from in nearly

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everything that he's written. For me, I read

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it and I had no idea what was to come next, but

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I just felt that it was imperative for me that

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in some way I was going to fashion a piece of

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music out of the inspiration that I found in

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this book. When I really kind of embrace the

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idea of the piano as this sort of meta instrument,

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and I imagine the piano as sort of a voyeur or

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witness to history at the birth of music. From

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imagined orders to artificial intelligence, this

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conversation asks a timeless question. What does

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it mean to remain human? I choose to live in

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a world where I think there are better days are

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ahead of us. And even if I have absolutely no

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influence on any of that, other than the fact

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that I can... contribute to the world and model

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a piece of music, then I want to be the one to

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do that. Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, February

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24th at 8pm Eastern Time on our YouTube channel.

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The audio version will also drop at the same

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time on your favorite podcast platforms. See

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you tomorrow.