32 metronomes attaining spontaneous synchrony

This Japanese video shows 32 metronomes set rocking on a wobbly surface. They begin in a state of chaos, and as they feed motion into the table, they begin to influence one another, until, 4 minutes later, they attain synchrony. It's quite remarkable (and a little sad for those of us with a nonconformist bent!).

メトロノーム同期 (32個) (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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http://twitter.com/aluked Everson Bernardes

As a musician, I can tell you I’ll have nightmares with this. Forever.
http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

At 0:36 it sounds a bit like an industrial beat.

Also they’re all set at the same speed right?
- SamSam
  
  I was wondering what would happen if one was a little off. My guess is that the strong motion of the table would be enough to force it to stay in time. After all, even if they were all perfectly set to the same beat, each one had to move out of beat in order to synch up like that.
  
  Presumably anything set to 1/2 speed, or a 1/4 or 2x or whatever, would manage to keep its own speed (although it would still synch up with the rest, just at 1/2 speed).
  - Boundegar
    
    The cool part is, if just one of them was set to a non-harmonic frequency, it might inject enough chaos into the system to prevent the others from synchronizing. But chaos is funny – a slightly different frequency could have the opposite effect.
    - http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo
      
      Heh – if you could predict it, it wouldn’t be chaos ; )
      - http://twitter.com/nategri DJ Cat Gif
        
        chaotic systems are perfectly predictable. it’s other criteria that classify them as ‘chaotic.’
      - SamSam
        
        Nope, chaotic systems are not predictable, by definition.
        
        Chaotic systems may be deterministic, but this is not the same thing. With a deterministic chaotic system you can always work out what will happen at the very next time point, but you cannot predict what will happen at the hundredth time point, without working out all the time points in between.
        
        It’s a subtle, but important, distinction.
Nylund

It looks and sounds disturbingly like troops marching by the end.
- http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
  
  You’re more right than you know.
  
  The original purpose of marching was to get ground troops from one place to another efficiently in a coherent group, however it was discovered by military commanders that marching has an additional benefit in that it is: “thought stopping” (where individual soldiers are too busy focusing on maintaining correct time that there is literally no time to think: “why am I here?” “why am I fighting?” “is my enemy really my enemy” or “I want to go home to my family”) which preempt thoughts of sedition or desertion.
  
  There is a direct correlation between the amount of “thought stopping” and the complexity and difficulty of an army’s drill; q.v. “goose stepping” of the historical armies of the German Third Reich or the modern armed forces of North Korea:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=096hnKDw5tc
Luther Blissett

Anyone who can tell if they gave some impulse to the wobbly surface (outside camera lens angle)? Really would like to try that in my local music store. Hey, it’s not “Stairways”!

…but then, this reminds me of Hammerzeit… >.<
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=628847850 Tuomas Äystö

Aren’t they just set in slightly different tempos (in groups), and occasionally drift into beat?
- SamSam
  
  No, the synchronous behavior at the end is sustained for nearly a full two minutes before the camera shuts off. Cory says “four minutes” above but they are actually nearly all in synch much earlier than that, with just one metronome 180º out of cycle for a time.
  
  If it was just an example of beats they would be out of synch again almost instantly.
  - LaylaSV
    
    I love that little outlier.
    - http://twitter.com/acousticross Acoustic Ross
      
      I’ll admit it. I teared up a little when that last guy on the right finally got into step.
- pjcamp
  
  Nope. Physics problem solved by Christiaan Huygens while lying in bed with the flu and having nothing to do all day but watch two pendulum clocks on a shelf.
Rob Gehrke

Actually, it’s not all that surprising – the table isn’t fixed, rigid, and influences the motion of each metronome once it starts moving itself. Seems to me it’s only a matter of time before there is statistically more density of periodic motion at one point in time, which slowly begins to set the surface in motion, and eventually each metronome falls in line with the motion of the table. In this sense, it’s not really the metronomes influencing each other so much as it is the table dictating the movements of the metronomes.

I agree it is a bit depressing, though…
- vonbobo
  
  You had me thinking about divine intervention more than subconscious conformity, but then I realized the table is subconsciously conforming as well.
- calebcharles
  
  It’s only depressing if the foundation isn’t rock solid. I smell a parable.
  - esquire
    
    “I smell a parable.”
    
    That was me, sorry.
http://mysite.verizon.net/~vze2tmhh/ pduggie

The japanese don’t find it disturbing, obviously.
- kstop
  
  Yay national stereotypes!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=786701056 Simon Mullen

Does this make anyone think about Intelligent Design?

Order arising naturally over time with out the need for intervention . . .
- vonbobo
  
  yes!
  
  Everything adds to the balance. Extremes will sway like a pendulum… or a metronome I suppose!
  
  If I could only apply this to my washing machine, I wouldn’t have to go rearrange the clothes every time I do laundry.
- Steven English
  
  actually, it would describe evolution better. gradual change in response to external stimuli.
  - http://twitter.com/shay_guy Shay Guy
    
    Makes me think of the cellular-automata experiment described here.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=526082789 facebook-526082789
  
  The existence of the underlying rules of nature does not imply that those rules were “created” by an intelligent entity.
  - SamSam
    
    I think that was Simon’s point….
- austinhamman
  
  i too thought of intelligent designs fictitious claim that order cannot arise out of disorder.
  its a rather nice model for evolution actually, those which become synced become more fit, as the synchronized ones exert more influence on the table, thus those which swing against this influence lose energy while those who swing with it or slightly behind it gain energy, then just following the simple laws of physics from a random set of swinging pendulums you get an ordered set of pendulums all swinging in unison. they arent trying to, they arent saying “hey swing my way” its just as two happen to get in sync they influence the selective pressure of those around them to also get in sync.
Ashen Victor

¡Mesmerizing!
http://twitter.com/dailyrev Brian Donohue

“a little sad for those of us with a nonconformist bent!” – Look at it this way, CD: many may work to a common beat, but the harmony of each is unique. Think of the difference between what Chopin would make of that rhythm, and Stravinsky.
dr_awkward

The trick, for us nonconformists, is to recognize the motion of the table, and avoid its synchronistic, gravitational pull.

There is no spoon.
nehpetsE

I feel an “Odd Sympathy” with those metronomes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd_sympathy
(No… really.. that’s the scientific name for the phenomena )
Snig

The only thing I don’t like about it is it reminds me of the experiment where two asynchonous heart cells, placed adjacent to each other, become synchronous. And I thought it was cause the heart was special, but this just makes it seem like a clockwork trick.
http://twitter.com/McLofty9 John Loftus

There’s an excellent book called Sync by Steven Strogatz that explains the phenomenon. Like fractals, sync arrives as a consequence of feedback. Interesting stuff, I had two homemade synthesizers that would sync if you left them running on arbitrary settings, as they were feedback based.
nehpetsE

and here: fascist sympathies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktQ6EkeJ2sE

Deep…. huh?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Fischer/500021466 Mike Fischer

On the non-conformist side, this brings to mind Tesla’s earthquake machine.
http://blog.nella.org Jeff

I was rooting for the little non-conformist (right column, second up from the bottom). He’d managed to confound the crowd by synchronizing with them in opposite phase. But then, sadly, at 2:37 even he falls in line with the crowd.

Truly, a sign of the times.

-jeff
- Snig
  
  I was into him while he was indie, but not anymore. Total sellout.
nehpetsE

see also http://idolsofthecave.com/2-odd-sympathy/
http://www.facebook.com/frank.xavior.1 Frank Xavior

first row from the right, 2nd from the front.

get him
- Cactaur
  
  He too was unable to withstand the soul crushing conformity.
  - calebcharles
    
    But it held on at a phase of 180 degrees for quite a while which to me is quite telling.
    - Alex Mac
      
      see how the guy in front of him assisted in his conversion by swinging out of sync for a beat or two. cursed imposter non-conformists!
- xzzy
  
  Third one back in the left blue row never perfectly syncs up.. he’s a fraction of a beat behind everyone else.
  
  I’ll call it the chubby kid in gym class effect.. he wants to be part of the crowd, but just can’t keep up.
Paul Renault

So the moral is: if you’re on solid ground, you can be a non-conformist, you can be an independent thinker/actor/agent.. On shaky ground, eventually, everyone thinks the same.
- wolfman_al2
  
  Deep, man.
http://twitter.com/suziewongxx Suzanne Wong

tangentially relevant, but this is the theory behind resonance in mechanical watches/clocks (Breguet, FP Journe, Antide Janvier), those which utilise two oscillators set to the same frequency, which is supposed to aid — not precision, but rate stability.
http://twitter.com/amordecosmos amordecosmos

Old Japanese saying: The nail that sticks up gets pounded down.
- http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope
  
  Close.
  
  出る釘は打たれる ”The nail that sticks out gets hit”.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=522584502 Eric Toberer

Anyone know a cheap source for these? Seems like amazon and similar is ~30$ per…
Andrew Pautz

I see the origins of an Apple commercial… or a commercial attacking Apple.
http://www.xradiograph.com/ OtherMichael

Ligetti’s earlier Inversion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCp7bL-AWvw
Eric Stethoscope

I crossed my eyes slightly while looking at this and then refocused. It was weirder at the beginning than at the end. and a little 3d!
James Leese

You can still be a non-conformist! you just need something solid to stand on.
http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope

…and in other news:

“4 minutes later, they attain synchrony. It’s quite remarkable (and a little sad for those of us with a nonconformist bent!)”

Cory has never been in a band …and probably sucks at dancing.
- Donald Petersen
  
  I’m a drummer with a strong love for rhythm, and this video still filled me with crawling horror.
  
  It was like being on Camazotz, and I wanna get the hell outta there.
http://www.mikezed.com mzed

It seems to be the opposite of my band.
oasisob1

I love the colorful Japanese metronomes. They are simply wonderful to look at.
Petzl

Wow. I was thinking that these must be sophisticated metronomes that have some sort of cellular automata coding to allow them speed up or slow down according to what their neighbor was doing. And the actual solution was the lowest of low tech: placing them all on a slightly wobbly surface.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Linley-Lee/665497022 Linley Lee

I actually found it beautiful.
- http://twitter.com/Steven_Patz Steve
  
  How could you! Cory said it’s sad because they won’t just do their own thing. SAD
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Linley-Lee/665497022 Linley Lee
    
    Well obviously I hate Cory and all he stands for. As this is news to me, do you have suggestions on what my next step should be?
Delaney Davis

160 BPM, for any others who are a little obsessive :)

(My superpower is identifying 80BPM, so I guessed 160, but verified it anyway!)
shrocket

Fantastic and slightly creepy. I was reminded of both Terry Riley’s “In C” and Steve’ Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians” (neither of which is particularly creepy). Here’s some “In C”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy42bYyQNAg&feature=related
snagglepuss

Resistance is futile.
Brent Kirkham

Surely this is Entrainment. A very common (thankfully) occurrence in musical settings, also known as being in the groove.
http://www.jhhl.net/ Henry Lowengard

t all works because the total sum of the motions are added up and transmitted to each of the metronomes. The “out of phase” motions are suppressed while “in phase” ones are reenforced. It’s also how sound is produced out of noisy excitation in acoustic instruments (e.g. wind, stringed instruments). Indeed, if there were metronomes running at integral multiples of the most prevalent original speed, they too would synch up at their own rates. Anyone want to try that?
http://www.facebook.com/hillary.mclaughlin.3 Hillary McLaughlin

I am a little fed up with all of the anthropomorphization throughout this comment thread. They are metronomes doing what physics dictates they do given the circumstances. They are not soldiers or any other variety of people. Nor do they prove or disprove the existence of a human deity.