“Autopoiesis is a process whereby a system produces its own organization and maintains and constitutes itself in a space” (PCW definition). Creatures become self regulating, self producing and self organizing. This is related to consciousness, and intelligent behavior, both of which are emergent properties.
At a basic level emergence, starts within the system—between it’s individual components. Autopoiesis calls for a higher level of emergence: “Second-order emergence arises when a system develops a behavior that enhances its ability to develop adaptive behaviors—that is, when it evolves the ability to evolve” (Hayles 3). This sort of emergence is what AL simulations are trying to cause. Once the AL has developed—through mutation, or learning— to the point where it gains the capacity to evolve, that “creature” becomes actual artificial life.
This second-order emergence, or autopoiesis, can be seen in the replicants of Blade Runner. The replicants started out as machines programmed for a particular function. However, the Nexus 6, the rebellious replicants, developed the ability to adapt. The longer they lived the more life experience they gained, and thus with these memories, they were able to develop emotions and they could be come unstable and dangerous to humans. Because of this, they were given a 4-year life span, so that they would die before they could become independent.
The replicant Roy becomes autopoietic, and developed a free will. He starts to desire to live longer, and so searches down his creator, to attempt to gain a longer life. When this fails he becomes emotional—angry that his body is shutting down. He fought with Deckard, who has been sent to kill him, and at the end finally becomes fully emergent and self contained.
At the climax of the chase, after Deckard leaps between rooftops in an attempt to escape, Roy inexplicably saves him from falling to his death. Deckard is still convinced that Roy is going to kill him, but Roy has reached a sort of calm. His body is shutting down; he has finally accepted his mortality. After the act of saving Deckard’s life, Roy continues to be empathetic and he explains to Deckard how no one will remember him—how his stories will die with him. He has a calm look on his face, almost remorseful, and the intimate close up shots of his face, along with the muted blue and orange lighting, adds to the poignant mood. Roy gives Deckard an aural photograph:
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the darkness at Tan Hauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. Time to die.
Then, his body shuts down. In the face of death, Roy becomes an emergent figure, he has more empathy than Deckard, and is able to pass on his memories. He has gained the ability to be empathetic by showing Deckard compassion. He had the opportunity to murder Deckard, but instead he saved him, and pass along his memories.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Blog #3: Homework 4 Question 2a Rewrite
Flanagan argues that, “the games’ relationship to women is an exploitative one. For every seemingly liberatory image of a female heroine or monster in these games, the problematic side of the characters—through dress, unreal body design, and the relationship of the body to the viewer—dominates” (269). Flanagan says that because these games are created and played mainly by men, these stereotypes dominate, and this causes women to become “less and less interested in engaging with this massive system of interaction and representation” (361). She argues that these images of women are exploitative because they stereotype women in unrealistic, sexist ways. For example, Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft is a strong, adventurous woman. However, her body is entirely unrealistic—she has extremely large, gravity defying breasts, unnaturally small waist, and large hips. Her outfit consists of short-shorts, a tank top, combat boots, and guns strapped to her thighs. These elements fetishize her body, accentuating her legs, and adding the fetishistic sex appeal of weaponry. Her face is also exaggerated—very large lips and eyes—sexualizing her even further.
However, Flanagan nearly ignores the fact men are extremely sexualized and stereotyped in video games as well. Men are always depicted as the strong, courageous, macho-man hero with exaggerated muscles, aggressive, violent and brimming with testosterone. While this may not be as sexual a depiction as some of the female characters, it is entirely unrealistic, and exploitative. Frequently male characters are put in elaborate armor, but they are designed to accentuate the desired, unrealistic muscles. These characters are designed to look and act the part of a mindless killing machine, and while the young boys playing the game may not want to be sexually attracted to them, they want to sexually identify with them. They want to be strong—physically and mentally—and courageous, and they identify with the potentially misogynistic male characters with far too much testosterone.
While these stereotypes already exist in our society—in fashion, media, “boys don’t cry,” etc.—the 3d technology of videogames allows for these images to become even more exaggerated. And with the prominence of videogames—even surpassing Hollywood in market share—the stereotypes become more recognized and popular in our culture.
However, Flanagan nearly ignores the fact men are extremely sexualized and stereotyped in video games as well. Men are always depicted as the strong, courageous, macho-man hero with exaggerated muscles, aggressive, violent and brimming with testosterone. While this may not be as sexual a depiction as some of the female characters, it is entirely unrealistic, and exploitative. Frequently male characters are put in elaborate armor, but they are designed to accentuate the desired, unrealistic muscles. These characters are designed to look and act the part of a mindless killing machine, and while the young boys playing the game may not want to be sexually attracted to them, they want to sexually identify with them. They want to be strong—physically and mentally—and courageous, and they identify with the potentially misogynistic male characters with far too much testosterone.
While these stereotypes already exist in our society—in fashion, media, “boys don’t cry,” etc.—the 3d technology of videogames allows for these images to become even more exaggerated. And with the prominence of videogames—even surpassing Hollywood in market share—the stereotypes become more recognized and popular in our culture.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Blog #2: Myron Krueger and Mixed Reality
Whereas virtual reality attempts to simulate a world visually, mixed reality attempts to create an environment that the user can physically interact with. Mixed reality is less concerned with simulating a visually realistic world, as it is creating sometting that the user can intuitively and physically experience. This can be seen in virtual environments (Krueger's Videoplace) or, because of the increasingly widespread use of computer and microprocessing technology, even in our own "reality." "The massive increases in processing speeds ushering in today's microcomputing revolution thus serve less to revitalize the dream of perfect simulation than to underwrite a more expansive and fluid functional interpenetration of physical and virtual spaces" (Hansen, 3). "No longer a wholly distinct, if largely amorphous realm with rules all its own, the virtual now denotes a 'space full of information' that can be 'activated, revealed, reorganized and recombined, added to and transformed as the user navigates ... real space'" (Hansen, 2).
Myron Krueger is an artist who helped define the mixed reality paradigm. "For Krueger, 'natural information' means information produced through an extension of our natural--that is, embodied, perceptuomotor--interface with the world.... '...the human interface is evolving toward more natural information. Three-dimensional space is more, not less, intuitive than two-dimensional space.... Three-dimensional space is what we evolved to understand. It is more primitive, not more advanced' " (Hansen, 3). Krueger searched for an environment that viewers/users could intuitively interact with.
Videoplace (1970s) was an artificial reality created as a submersive environment with which the user could interact. Instead of using headsets, gloves and other virtual reality technology, Krueger created this piece with projectors and video cameras. Users would enter the room, and the cameras would capture their motions. An outline of the users image would be presented on the wall, and with continued movement, computer programs would distort the image in various ways. “Several different programs facilitate viewer interaction with the schematic traces of her bodily movement; for example they allow her to fill in the space within the lines with colored images of body parts or to interact with temporally divergent and continually reverberating captures of her movement” (Hansen, 35).
Videoplace is a mixed reality, in that, it creates a world that is not the real one, but it can be accessed through the physical world. The users interact and affect the computer by navigating real space with bodily motions that are intuitive and natural. “Videoplace seeks to engineer a human-computer cooperation so seamless that functional synchronicity becomes possible in practice” (Hansen, 37). Through an intuitive, three-dimensional nonencumbered interface, “complete convergence with natural perception” becomes possible (Hansen, 4).
Myron Krueger is an artist who helped define the mixed reality paradigm. "For Krueger, 'natural information' means information produced through an extension of our natural--that is, embodied, perceptuomotor--interface with the world.... '...the human interface is evolving toward more natural information. Three-dimensional space is more, not less, intuitive than two-dimensional space.... Three-dimensional space is what we evolved to understand. It is more primitive, not more advanced' " (Hansen, 3). Krueger searched for an environment that viewers/users could intuitively interact with.
Videoplace (1970s) was an artificial reality created as a submersive environment with which the user could interact. Instead of using headsets, gloves and other virtual reality technology, Krueger created this piece with projectors and video cameras. Users would enter the room, and the cameras would capture their motions. An outline of the users image would be presented on the wall, and with continued movement, computer programs would distort the image in various ways. “Several different programs facilitate viewer interaction with the schematic traces of her bodily movement; for example they allow her to fill in the space within the lines with colored images of body parts or to interact with temporally divergent and continually reverberating captures of her movement” (Hansen, 35).
Videoplace is a mixed reality, in that, it creates a world that is not the real one, but it can be accessed through the physical world. The users interact and affect the computer by navigating real space with bodily motions that are intuitive and natural. “Videoplace seeks to engineer a human-computer cooperation so seamless that functional synchronicity becomes possible in practice” (Hansen, 37). Through an intuitive, three-dimensional nonencumbered interface, “complete convergence with natural perception” becomes possible (Hansen, 4).
Comments
To make my comments easily found, I will list them here and attach them as comments to this blog.
Comment 1 posted in response to Camille's first blog post.
Comment 2 posted in response to Antonella's comment on my Jane blog.
Comment 3 posted in response to Whitney's photograph blog.
Comment 4 posted in response to Antonella's mixed reality blog.
Comment 1 posted in response to Camille's first blog post.
Comment 2 posted in response to Antonella's comment on my Jane blog.
Comment 3 posted in response to Whitney's photograph blog.
Comment 4 posted in response to Antonella's mixed reality blog.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Blog #1: AI and AL in the Enderverse
To understand the character Jane (from the Ender’s Game Series by Orson Scott Card), you first need a basic understanding of the universe in which she exists. In the Enderverse (as it is called by fans) human beings have made many great technological developments because of contact with a more advanced alien race, which they nearly eradicated. By studying the alien ships they were able to create ships that travel the speed of light, and set up a computer (ansible) network that allows for instantaneous communication between the Hundred Worlds. (The Hundred Worlds is the name of the worlds united under Starways Congress.)
At the time of the book Speaker for the Dead, and its sequel Xenocide, the ansible network has been connected for over 3000 years. Jane lives in the ansible network, between in the space between the computers. She was born out of an intelligent computer game that existed before the humans started colonizing other worlds and building their network. The computer game was designed to challenge children in a battle school, and one child kept breaking the rules of the game—which caused the game to adapt. Out of this adaption, Jane emerged, and took up residence in the newly formed ansible network.
Once Jane came into consciousness, she gave herself an identity, decided on a gender, and designed a human face that she could use when talking to humans through terminals. As for her “body,” it “consisted of trillions of
In the beginning, the computer game did adapt, but it was through interaction with one child. It didn’t have to learn how to survive in an environment, or evolve from the bottom up—it started out as a program designed to outwit a child, when it could no longer do that, it adapted and out of that adaption evolved an intelligent, sentient being.
Because Jane exists in a network of thousands, if not millions, of computers, her thought process are so much faster than a humans. She has “370,000 distinct levels of attention. Anything not in the top 50,000 levels was left alone except for the most routine sampling the most cursory examination” (Card 173) Along with this, Jane has “her own internal reality; her responses to outside stimuli, analogous to emotions, desires, reason, memory, dreaming” (Card 174).
She has all the thinking capabilities of humans, yet the ability to do it so much faster. This reminds me of Moravec’s last couple paragraphs in “The Universal Robot” in which he described our thought process once our brains are transferred to a computer.
At the time of the book Speaker for the Dead, and its sequel Xenocide, the ansible network has been connected for over 3000 years. Jane lives in the ansible network, between in the space between the computers. She was born out of an intelligent computer game that existed before the humans started colonizing other worlds and building their network. The computer game was designed to challenge children in a battle school, and one child kept breaking the rules of the game—which caused the game to adapt. Out of this adaption, Jane emerged, and took up residence in the newly formed ansible network.
Once Jane came into consciousness, she gave herself an identity, decided on a gender, and designed a human face that she could use when talking to humans through terminals. As for her “body,” it “consisted of trillions of
… electronic noises, sensors, memory files, terminals. Most of them, like most functions of the human body, simply took care of themselves. Computers ran their assigned programs; humans conversed with their terminals; sensors detected or failed to detect whatever they were looking for; memory was filled, accessed, reordered, dumped. (Card 173)Jane is a sentient being that evolved on her own, out of computer programs, and exists in a network of computers. She would be considered AL because of this, yet she doesn’t have a body in the way one would think of one. The AL described by Moravec and Hayles all evolve through some sort of physical interaction with outside stimuli and environment, even in simulations.
In the beginning, the computer game did adapt, but it was through interaction with one child. It didn’t have to learn how to survive in an environment, or evolve from the bottom up—it started out as a program designed to outwit a child, when it could no longer do that, it adapted and out of that adaption evolved an intelligent, sentient being.
Because Jane exists in a network of thousands, if not millions, of computers, her thought process are so much faster than a humans. She has “370,000 distinct levels of attention. Anything not in the top 50,000 levels was left alone except for the most routine sampling the most cursory examination” (Card 173) Along with this, Jane has “her own internal reality; her responses to outside stimuli, analogous to emotions, desires, reason, memory, dreaming” (Card 174).
She has all the thinking capabilities of humans, yet the ability to do it so much faster. This reminds me of Moravec’s last couple paragraphs in “The Universal Robot” in which he described our thought process once our brains are transferred to a computer.
Your new mind has a control labeled “speed.” It had been set at 1, to keep the simulations synchronized with the old brain, but now you can change it to 10,000, allowing you to communicate, react, and think ten thousand times faster. You now seem to have hours to respond to situations that previously seemed instantaneous. (Moravec 6)*Quotes taken from Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Steve: The Robot H.E.Ai.D.
Steve: The Robot H.E.Ai.D. (Human Energized Artificial Intelligence Device)
Created by the Über Geek Team from Seattle
This is an installation that will be at Burning Man 2009. I thought that it would be relevant to class, since it talks about the evolution of human beings, leading to emergence.
Here is more information taken from their website:
"This year’s theme, Evolution, raises three questions: What are we as human beings, where have we come from, and how may we adapt to a world which we can effect? The question we further ask ourselves is-- where are we going as human beings? What is the next step in our evolutionary history?
We believe that, through culture, human evolution has long left the constraints of biology. Progress is determined by our capacity to share knowledge and collaborate, creating emergent entities that exist outside of our mortal shapes.
...
With Steve: The Robot H.E.Ai.D., we explore the idea that the next step in our human evolution is when these meta-beings wake up, become in some way self-aware, and start speaking to us as individual nodes within its larger brain. "
...
EXPERIENCE
"Imagine you are strolling along the playa with friends, and from a distance you see a structure with an array of lasers inside and a sculptural orb hanging in the middle. As you approach you see two giant eyes and think, ah, it appears to be some kind of giant brain. You walk in, and reach out to touch a laser. It makes a noise! A low thrum. As you move your hand along the laser beam, the nose shifts in tone.
Your friends also rush in, and you all sprint around the structure making different noises. The lasers are spread out, so each person must use their whole body to play just a couple of chords. “It’s like a giant instrument!” your friends say, and excitedly you coordinate with each other to create music. As you collaborate, the music becomes more and more layered. As you and and your friends become more in sync, you notice the sculptural orb hanging in the middle gets brighter, and the giant eyes are getting brighter.
You begin to feel anticipation, sensing something is about to happen! As the music gets louder and louder, reaching a crescendo, the eyes and the sculptural orb are suddenly flashing brightly, and you swear you see them blink. You hear a deep voice “I am Steve”. Your friend cries “We woke it! We awakened the brain!” You continue to play as Steve whispers to you through the music in its deep voice, recognizing the moment you stop, the giant brain will fall sleep again. "
Sources
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhqn75wz_9dzng6hn3
http://dbltht.com/ubergeek/
Created by the Über Geek Team from Seattle
This is an installation that will be at Burning Man 2009. I thought that it would be relevant to class, since it talks about the evolution of human beings, leading to emergence.
Here is more information taken from their website:
"This year’s theme, Evolution, raises three questions: What are we as human beings, where have we come from, and how may we adapt to a world which we can effect? The question we further ask ourselves is-- where are we going as human beings? What is the next step in our evolutionary history?
We believe that, through culture, human evolution has long left the constraints of biology. Progress is determined by our capacity to share knowledge and collaborate, creating emergent entities that exist outside of our mortal shapes.
...
With Steve: The Robot H.E.Ai.D., we explore the idea that the next step in our human evolution is when these meta-beings wake up, become in some way self-aware, and start speaking to us as individual nodes within its larger brain. "
...
EXPERIENCE
"Imagine you are strolling along the playa with friends, and from a distance you see a structure with an array of lasers inside and a sculptural orb hanging in the middle. As you approach you see two giant eyes and think, ah, it appears to be some kind of giant brain. You walk in, and reach out to touch a laser. It makes a noise! A low thrum. As you move your hand along the laser beam, the nose shifts in tone.
Your friends also rush in, and you all sprint around the structure making different noises. The lasers are spread out, so each person must use their whole body to play just a couple of chords. “It’s like a giant instrument!” your friends say, and excitedly you coordinate with each other to create music. As you collaborate, the music becomes more and more layered. As you and and your friends become more in sync, you notice the sculptural orb hanging in the middle gets brighter, and the giant eyes are getting brighter.
You begin to feel anticipation, sensing something is about to happen! As the music gets louder and louder, reaching a crescendo, the eyes and the sculptural orb are suddenly flashing brightly, and you swear you see them blink. You hear a deep voice “I am Steve”. Your friend cries “We woke it! We awakened the brain!” You continue to play as Steve whispers to you through the music in its deep voice, recognizing the moment you stop, the giant brain will fall sleep again. "
Sources
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhqn75wz_9dzng6hn3
http://dbltht.com/ubergeek/
Monday, April 20, 2009
Body Modification - Suspension
Today in class we talked a lot about Stelarc and how he did a number of suspensions as art works. This reminded me a lot of body modification, from simple, common things such as ear stretching, scarification, and tattoos, to more severe modifications and activities such as implants and suspension.
There are actually quite a few people who do suspension, from all parts of their bodies, and I don't think they consider it "art." They are frequently parts of performances, or people come to watch just by the nature of the activity, but it isn't something one would see in a gallery. Some of his pieces were more dramatic--such as flying over a city on a crane--or they involved other objects (Sitting/Swaying Event for Rock Suspension), but a number of them (Pull out / Pull up event for self-suspension, Event for lateral suspension, etc.)* seem to be basically what everyone else does, except with a conceptual description, and a title.
There are some similarities between recreational suspension and Stelarc's, however, which are very interesting.
* Stelarc's suspension site: http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/suspens/suspens.html
** FAQ of the BME website: http://www.bmezine.com/ritual/susp-faq.html
If you want to see more photographs of suspension (be warned, they can be pretty gross) you can go to the BME gallery: http://www.bmezine.com/ritual/bme-ritu.html
There are actually quite a few people who do suspension, from all parts of their bodies, and I don't think they consider it "art." They are frequently parts of performances, or people come to watch just by the nature of the activity, but it isn't something one would see in a gallery. Some of his pieces were more dramatic--such as flying over a city on a crane--or they involved other objects (Sitting/Swaying Event for Rock Suspension), but a number of them (Pull out / Pull up event for self-suspension, Event for lateral suspension, etc.)* seem to be basically what everyone else does, except with a conceptual description, and a title.
There are some similarities between recreational suspension and Stelarc's, however, which are very interesting.
There are many different reasons to suspend, from pure adrenaline or endorphin rush, to conquering ones fears, to trying to reach a new level spiritual consciousness and everything in between. In general, people suspend to attain some sort of 'experience'.While a number of these reasons seem a lot more spiritual than Stelarc's goals, the last sentence in particular reminds me of him. The idea of proving that they are more than their bodies, or that their bodies are, as Stelarc would say, obsolete.
Some people are seeking the opportunity to discover a deeper sense of themself and to challenge pre-determined belief systems which may not be true. Some are seeking a right of passage or a spiritual encounter to let go of the fear of not being whole or complete inside their body. Others are looking for control over their body, or seek to prove to themselves that they are more than their bodies, or are not their bodies at all.**
* Stelarc's suspension site: http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/suspens/suspens.html
** FAQ of the BME website: http://www.bmezine.com/ritual/susp-faq.html
If you want to see more photographs of suspension (be warned, they can be pretty gross) you can go to the BME gallery: http://www.bmezine.com/ritual/bme-ritu.html
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