Defective Computing

Organism Project Materials

Thanks to everyone for great input so far, already some great ideas taking shape.
I’ll be sending out a group email to confirm our meetings for next week, the timetable changes are a tad confusing.

I'm going to post any interesting and relevant projects here for you to check out as the project goes on, as well as anything good you find yourselves- I'm posting the main sections of the lecture notes as a quick reference here if you need it.

Project Brief
The project brief is to design and create an organism, so below we'll look at the ideas that surround this in more detail.
An organism is a life form or structured entity that resembles a life form. The aim of this project is to take an open an creative approach to your conceptualising your idea for the organism, idea first, technology later.
Your organism- or organisms- should demonstrate 'lifelike' qualities such as physical body, it should change over time, react to elements in its environments or other objects around it and should have variable qualities.

Forms of Life

Amoebas and protozoa,
Cells,
Simple invertebrates,
Insects,
Reptiles and Mammals.
Plants and plankton.

Also there are some that are unsure-
Prions and viruses- self replicating structures - systems - artifical life forms

Larger forms of life are actually collections of these things-
for instance- a human being is actually made up of a number of co-operating groups of different cellular life forms.

"It would not be too far-fetched to say that the extermination of mankind begins with the extermination of germs." [ Jean Baudrillard ]

Is something that self replicates alive?
Henrietta Lacks
Viruses
Computer Viruses
Prions


Some attributes of life to consider in your designs;

Complex - they often have multiple levels of different structural organisations, such as a hive of bees, cells, structured to create individual bees, that then create the hive that then operate as part of an ecosystem.
From micro to macro levels.

Reproduction - Genetic systems - Life forms change throughout generations in response to environmental factors. Natural selection does this by mixing the gene pool with each generation in the hope that particularly successful hybrids will result.

Self organising - Emergence - very large groups of very simple beings can demonstrate very complex behaviours- such as nest building insects, using a simple system of rules they create large and intricate structures.
Swarm theory.

Responsive - Many animals have none or very small brains, and simply respond automatically to stimuli- however that response can appear to have clear intention.

Metabolism - Relies on food or other fuels - converts one substance into another, consumes other life forms or material from them (amino acids).

Growth- resulting from the metabolisation of material.

Movement- Almost all life forms have the ability to move under their own will.

Internal agency- Intention and intelligence.The intelligence of a being may be contained in its structure and also in mental tissue and heigher level processing.


Artificial Life and Artificial Intelligence Research.

A-life and AI research usually have one of two purposes, the generation of novel, interactive, complex or beautiful artworks or the understanding of life by modelling it- attempting to re-create it.

Steve Grand's Lucy project is all about creating intelligent life from the bottom up. Steve thinks that artificial intelligence will be impossible without a body for the mind to use.
http://www.cyberlife-research.com/people/steve/

Ken Renaldo's work with robots.
Autopoesis is a robotic work which responds to humans using an array of very simple sensors. However the group of robots working together in tandem gives the viewer the impression that they have internal agency and intention.
http://accad.osu.edu/~rinaldo/


Paul Brown
Paul Brown is an artist who uses cellular automata to control time based drawings.
http://www.paul-brown.com/

Cellular automata are mathematical games that display interesting patterns and behaviour. The first, and most famous of these is Conway's Game of life, created by mathematician John Conway whilst trying to discover a life like mathematical system that would display self replicating properties. The game of life was originally painstakingly played out on a paper grid, with one sheet for each turn, or on a go-board.

Game of life rules
For a space that is 'populated':
Each cell with one or no neighbours dies, as if by loneliness.
Each cell with four or more neighbours dies, as if by overpopulation.
Each cell with two or three neighbours survives.
For a space that is 'empty' or 'unpopulated'
Each cell with three neighbours becomes populated.

http://www.bitstorm.org/gameoflife/

posted by Hannah Drayson @ 4:15 PM