"It is such a complex matter we live within, it is impossible to track logic and decision making really, so therefore each choice can actually only be seen as coincidence"
About this Quote
Alva Noto collapses the boundary between choice and chance, suggesting that in a world saturated with interdependence and hidden variables, the story we tell about rational control is mostly a tidy afterimage. We navigate networks of causes we cannot fully see: cognitive biases, social pressures, technological systems, and environmental cues. By the time we explain why we chose, we are already stitching a narrative across gaps in perception. The result looks like decision, but feels, at scale, like coincidence.
This is not nihilism so much as epistemic humility. Complex systems are deterministic in principle yet unpredictable in practice. Their sensitivity to initial conditions and the sheer volume of interacting factors make tracing a neat line of logic illusory. Calling a choice coincidence does not deny that processes exist; it admits our inability to parse them cleanly. Psychology names this confabulation and hindsight bias. Complexity theory names it emergence. Everyday life names it luck.
Noto’s own work in minimal electronic music and visual art mirrors this stance. Using sine waves, glitches, code, and data, he builds frameworks where patterns arise not from a sovereign author imposing form, but from constraints that allow micro events to surface. Errors become texture, noise becomes rhythm, and collaboration with systems and other artists loosens the grip of intention. The listener senses agency distributed across human decisions, algorithms, and materials. What seems like a composed line might be a side effect of feedback or interference. Choice appears as coincidence because the field is rich enough to generate outcome without a single, traceable cause.
The practical lesson is to design with contingencies in mind. Leave room for serendipity, test assumptions, and stay alert to signals rather than clinging to plans. Responsibility remains, but it shifts from controlling every outcome to shaping conditions where good outcomes can emerge. In that posture, coincidence becomes a partner rather than an enemy.
This is not nihilism so much as epistemic humility. Complex systems are deterministic in principle yet unpredictable in practice. Their sensitivity to initial conditions and the sheer volume of interacting factors make tracing a neat line of logic illusory. Calling a choice coincidence does not deny that processes exist; it admits our inability to parse them cleanly. Psychology names this confabulation and hindsight bias. Complexity theory names it emergence. Everyday life names it luck.
Noto’s own work in minimal electronic music and visual art mirrors this stance. Using sine waves, glitches, code, and data, he builds frameworks where patterns arise not from a sovereign author imposing form, but from constraints that allow micro events to surface. Errors become texture, noise becomes rhythm, and collaboration with systems and other artists loosens the grip of intention. The listener senses agency distributed across human decisions, algorithms, and materials. What seems like a composed line might be a side effect of feedback or interference. Choice appears as coincidence because the field is rich enough to generate outcome without a single, traceable cause.
The practical lesson is to design with contingencies in mind. Leave room for serendipity, test assumptions, and stay alert to signals rather than clinging to plans. Responsibility remains, but it shifts from controlling every outcome to shaping conditions where good outcomes can emerge. In that posture, coincidence becomes a partner rather than an enemy.
Quote Details
| Topic | Free Will & Fate |
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