In a society filled with individuals claiming ownership of new ideas, it is surprising to note how modest the reaction was to our ‘call for papers’ for this issue, which was to be primarily based on the theme, ‘Breaking the Boundaries’. Perhaps this has to do with the number of people who believe that the new millennium will commence in January 2001. We have chosen two submissions to include in Volume 4(3) of Organised Sound. Barry Truax presents his thoughts on the current position of the electroacoustic community in the form of a letter to a twenty-five year old electroacoustic composer which highlights paradigm shifts that he sees evolving. Laurie Spiegel's ‘Music as mirror of mind’ describes another paradigm shift towards new musical models based on psychoacoustics, cognitive studies and subjective auditory experience.