“Delicacies” is my incoherent, irregular, unpredictable collection of interesting sparks that I came across on the internet. Handpicked by a human, no robots, no AI. There is no fixed frequency for Delicacies: when there is enough material, I hit the publish button. That can be after a week, or after 3 months. No pressure, literally.
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The very best
About Transdisciplinarity, Composition, Expression: Reflections on a Spherical Way of Thinking - by artist Adriana Sá. Adriana Sá is a transdisciplinary artist, performer-musician-composer. She considers that music involves vision and space, beyond audition. Her graphic scores suggest sonic texture, density, playing techniques, and sequence variations while leaving other aspects open to interpretation. Similarly, she designs and develops her instrumentation to enable complexity, unpredictability, and discovery.
“Bridging art, music, philosophy, and perception science, this article proposes a spherical way of thinking. The term evokes an inclination to sense connections between all things, implying a transdisciplinary approach to the world. The tensions between differing viewpoints can drive us to think beyond any dichotomy, and uncertainty can inspire creativity. By showing how this possibility is reflected in her work, the author hopes to activate new questions and new ways of addressing those questions.”
Central Saint Martin’s just released this great talk by Alan Warburton, who recently became well known for his “The Wizard of AI”. Suggesting that VR/AI etc are NOT freeing up artists to be artists. Enjoy!
“We operate increasingly at machine temporalities”
A trip through memory lane. Talk by Kei Kreutler as part of the Summer of Protocols project. The talk starts at 2:56
Data & Society
About BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) technology, the hype of Elon Musk’s Neuralink, future scenarios, and the broader ethical questions. By René Walter.
“What happens in a society where I (not only with a brain implant but also right now with smartphones and their high-resolution super cameras) can eavesdrop on every conversation just by looking at or filming the speakers? Thanks to the rapid progress in BCI technology, it's entirely conceivable that signals from the visual cortex can be translated directly into an AI-enhanced lip-reading superhearing.”
FinTech, crypto and other distortions
About Reconstructing the Monetary Stack - by Luca Prosperi
AI, Robots, Algorithms
Another super interesting essay by Venkat on “Massed Muddler Intelligence” with some heterodoxies challenging the monolithic scaling of AI. Not easy to read (at least for me - get as far as the bricks/armed concrete metaphor), but true engineers may salivate at this ;-)
Very interesting take on AI by Simon Wardley. As usual, well researched.
“there is a compelling parallel between OpenAI and a theocratic system. OpenAI is just an example; there is more than one AI church.”
and
“It is extremely rare in history that all three change simultaneously; the last incident I can think of is the Enlightenment. Hence, these AI changes, by affecting all three, have wondrous potential. However, this is not without danger…. the change of language, medium and tools raises a concern because if you can gain control over these, you can change a person’s reasoning of the world around them.”
AR, VR, XR, Games
On Spatial Computing, Metaverse, the Terms Left Behind and Ideas Renewed - by Matthew Ball
On myth-making and wording: Jay Springlet’s talk at Autonomous World Assembly
The Third Pill: A Virtual Reality Game Based on a True Dream - by Numena
Art related
Colloquy of Mobiles - an art installation that got me completely distracted and immersed in cybernetics.
“In celebration of the 50th anniversary, a full-scale version of Pask’s COLLOQUY OF MOBILES has been replicated, approximately 10’ by 12’ in floor area and stretching from floor to ceiling. While the physical form is as close as possible to the 1968 original, it is driven by modern digital software, sensors, and motors. This makes possible the recreation of the dynamic interactions as Pask designed them in 1968 as well as the invitation to students to explore what the newest technologies in 2018” (from the Colloquy of Mobiles project website)
Dream Machine by Brian Gysin from 1961. I discovered this by reading Pickering’s book on Cybernetics. “the first artwork in history made to be viewed with closed eyes” (Geiger 2003, 54).
Teresa Wennberg’s “Swimmer (1978)
Aesthetics
The gusts of wind in a field of grass? By Studio DRIFT
Numena’s headset VR tool “Space Elevator” allows for story performances in VR
There is an example in the Space Elevator collection that feels like a 21st-century Magritte in VR
Music/Sound/Dance
Petervan’s Music Ride February 2024. Play in shuffle mode to increase the surprise factor. Enjoy!
The Beatles live (tribute band) with Lucy in the Sky — a short intro by John Lennon, who makes me think for a second about Steve Jobs. Don’t know why.
Books/Publications
Private I: A novel about thinking disorders caused by an AI bot that is in constant conversation with its owner. By Paul Pangaro as one of the co-authors. Feb 2023.
Andrew Pickering’s take on the cybernetic brain. The brain is not a knowledge tool, but a performative organ. Nov 2011.
For real nerds
A LEGO variation on Ashby’s Homeostat and below a picture of the original Homeostat