accidentals and substantives

Melancholy Elephants

The title of a short SF story by Spider Robinson, which I've included on my AVT 600: Research Methodologies syllabus. It's set in a future society with no public domain to speak of, the dire consequence of which is artistic sterility. Musicians, in particular, are hamstrung by the fact that most of the finite (extremely large, but still finite) number of possible melodic permutations are already spoken for. Computers are pressed into service to search for the few remaining non-proprietary strings. It's a sobering premise, almost Borgesian at times in its treatment, and one that beautifully conveys the aridity of a world with no creative commons.