This has nothing to do with atheism or God, it's rather some philosophical questions about music. I have talked to a lot of musicians in stickam, and I thought this would be an interesting topic.

Question 1: Why does music (generally) sound good or pleasurable to humans?

On question 1, I have heard a real argument for the existence of God that because of the beauty of music and art, God must exist.

Question 2: What features are required to define music?

(Add any others.)

On question 2, I was reading something this week about a controversy relating to the "ownership" of a genetically-engineered bacterium. Researchers genetically engineered a bacteria for profit, and they then asked for a patent on its genome. The experiment was based on creating the most simplistic genome possible to still allow the bacterium to function.

Similarly, I am asking, if you were going to generate a "song", what would be the MINIMAL features necessary to allow classification of a certain set of sounds as a musical song?

Just 2 notes? Would they have to demonstrate some kind of 'intelligent design' by humans? Could an inanimate natural object produce music without a living being?