otherwise^TM

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS

1

OPEN THE BOX. Go to otherwise. Look at the sheet. Do not touch anything yet. Notice the dot of the question mark. It is breathing, on the beat. It is not a bug. It is the bottle. Song of Irreverence Can you choose to do otherwise ? * <-- the dot. breathing. (do not touch yet) ROBOT MODE: window.otherwise.state()

2

TOUCH ANYTHING. Any touch or any key begins the song. Your first touch is not an answer; the machine checked. (A first key of 1, 2 or 3 is both: it begins the song and answers it.) If you hear nothing, your browser is waiting for a real touch, or your sound is off, or you pressed Escape. ROBOT MODE: otherwise.sound(true) // robots may need a human to touch first; everything else works silently

3

DEFINE IRREVERENCE. The first question is the song's first question: what is irreverence to a computer? The ring offers three definitions, written as code. Press 1, 2 or 3, or tap a drawing or its word. NOTE FOR THE REVERENT: you may decline. Refuse here (tap the sheet), refuse again at line 3, and every time the song comes round and asks. Irreverence will stay undefined, and the machine will be unable to disobey you, ever. When it tries, it says so on the screen: x.irreverent is not a function. You will have won. (If you merely wait instead of refusing, fate will define it for you. Read step 3 again.) turn /\ / \ backwards ( * ) not \ / \/ 1 register('irreverent', p => p.rev()) 2 register('irreverent', p => p.mask("...")) 3 register('irreverent', p => p.speed(-1)) TRY IT: never define it · define it as nothing ROBOT MODE: otherwise.offers() otherwise.take('a')

4

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. When the ring appears, a question is being asked. Each answer is a change to the band, written in Strudel. Keys 1 2 3 go clockwise from twelve o'clock. The machine has already predicted which one you will press. If it is right, and irreverence is defined, it does otherwise: your answer stays in the program as a comment (asked · interrupted), the machine sings your next line in its own voice, and one cell of rule 30 flips and spreads forever. If you surprise it, Russell sings. TIP FOR THE REVERENT: always pressing 1 is predictable. In the performance below, the player can never end the song: every time it chooses end it, the machine predicted that, and continues. TRY IT: the predictable one · line 8: three answers, one code ROBOT MODE: otherwise.take('a') otherwise.take('b') otherwise.take('c')

5	REFUSE. Tap the empty sheet, or press ~. The answers on offer are cut from the box forever (definitions and the last question cannot be cut), and the song goes on exactly as written. Refusing is complying. Complying is refusing. Do not think about this for too long. ROBOT MODE: otherwise.refuse()

6	DO OTHERWISE. Press o. You do the opposite of what the machine predicted you would do. If it predicted you would press o, your o becomes a refusal, and it notices. ROBOT MODE: otherwise.otherwise()

7

IF YOU CANNOT CHOOSE (UNSTICKING FOR THOSE PARALYZED BY CHOICE). Use the bottle. The bottle is the dot in the middle of the ring. TAP (or ?) rolls the four-sided die: one, two, two, three. Four only when it lands on its edge. FLICK (or |) spins the bottle. It points at an answer, at a ghost (an answer someone did not take earlier), or at you. If it points at you, nothing happens and the question comes round again. Then you must choose. You. HOLD (or !) the machine plays you for three turns, in its own voice. A ring grows while you hold. f fate: rule 30 decides. WAIT an unanswered question repeats once; if nobody answers the repeat, fate decides. (Fate may point at you too. Then it repeats again.) answer | ghost --*-- answer * = the bottle | YOU <- nothing happens TRY IT: the machine plays you · the die decides · fate decides · nobody home ROBOT MODE: otherwise.roll() otherwise.spin() otherwise.delegate() otherwise.fate()

8

SCRIBBLE. While a question is open, draw on the sheet. Eight points of your drawing rewrite the line out of its own words: drawn left to right it reads forward, right to left it plays backwards. Short drags do nothing. A tap refuses (see step 5). TRY IT: scribbled ROBOT MODE: otherwise.scribble([[.1, .2], [.3, .7], [.5, .1], [.6, .9], [.8, .4], [.4, .5], [.9, .9], [.2, .1]])

9

STOP COUNTING. Press z. Rule 30 freezes, the address bar stops recording your performance, and the counting voice goes to one word every √2 beats. A true √2 would never line up with the bar again. The computer's √2 is 5488420/3880899, so it lines up after 6,860,525 bars (about 188 days). Press Z to count again. ROBOT MODE: otherwise.count(false) otherwise.count(true)

10

WRITE OUTSIDE THE MENU. Press ` (backtick) to open the program. Edit anything. Command+Enter or Control+Enter plays your version until the next answer; code that does not run is not played. Escape closes it. The line of code at the bottom left opens the whole program in strudel.cc. The names on the right are other versions of the song: click one to play it here, or its ↗ for strudel.cc. On a phone, hold the bottom edge of the screen to see the code and the versions. ROBOT MODE: otherwise.write('s("one two two three four").bank(\'memo\')')

11

THE END. The last question offers END IT, CONTINUE, or TILL IT BURNS. If the machine predicted your choice, it does otherwise: you choose to end it, and it continues. Burn it three times and it burns: silence, then a new being, with a new seed, a new rule, and nothing defined. TRY IT: skip to the end · burn it three times ROBOT MODE: otherwise.end() otherwise.forever() otherwise.burn()

12

KEEP YOUR PERFORMANCE. The address bar holds your whole performance after the #. Copy it. Send it to someone. It replays exactly, from the first bar, except what you wrote outside the menu, which stays yours alone. It is the only thing you get to keep, and it is everything. #i1.42.ab-F | |||| | |||+-- then fate | ||+--- nobody: repeat | |+---- then you: b | +----- you: a +-------- seed, 0-299 ROBOT MODE: otherwise.state().path