whank
This was most amusing to my inner 14-year old:
tunage: otter
new tune uploaded:
mutilus -- otter (ogg)
my host doesn't seem to want to serve oggs, so you might try the mp3 link:
mutilus -- otter (mp3)
made with psycle as always, using the sdc#27 samplepack.
entering into sdcompo #27.
mutilus -- otter (ogg)
my host doesn't seem to want to serve oggs, so you might try the mp3 link:
mutilus -- otter (mp3)
made with psycle as always, using the sdc#27 samplepack.
entering into sdcompo #27.
ASCII Rave
The idea is to be able to make instrumental sounds by typing onomatopoeic words.
http://doc.gold.ac.uk/~ma503am/alex/asciirave/
[via zealan via rekkerd.org]
ink trails by flight404
made in processing by flight404
http://www.flight404.com/blog/?p=86
Ink Trails from flight404 and Vimeo.
http://www.flight404.com/blog/?p=86
Ink Trails from flight404 and Vimeo.
Will Wright & Brian Eno talking about generative things
http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=451
Running your computer with sound
Monitor your Linux computer with machine-generated music
Use Perl and FluidSynth to create a real-time musical composition of your system status.
Whistle while you work to run commands on your computer
Use open source software and microphone-enabled laptops to listen for specific tonal sequences and run commands
gene2music
The primary goal of this work is to convert genome-encoded protein sequences into musical notes in order to hear auditory protein patterns.
http://www.mimg.ucla.edu/faculty/miller_jh/gene2music/home.html
debugging by ear
Debugging the machine was also done by ear. Circuits were opened and closed by relays -- metal bars attached to springs that were raised by the pulling force of electromagnets. The thousands of relays being slapped into position in various sequences made a deafening racket at times, yet it was not merely random industrial noise. To the trained ear of a programmer, the repeated rhythm from one corner of the machine, signifying a program was frozen in some calculating loop, was as dissonant as listening to a broken record. Later, when the next-generation 701 Defense Calculator arrived, with its mute electronic switches instead of mechanical relays, Backus recalled felling a twinge of panic. "I wondered, 'How are we going to debug this enormous silent monster.'"
-- from p.18 of Go to, by Steve Lohr
A quote from Danny Hillis
I was reading The Pattern on the Stone today, and felt like quoting this:
I like that. I agree with the sentiment, about doing things from the bottom-up rather than the top-down. I'm not too fussed as to the idea of building a rooty toot toot sentient AI, but the emergent process is a great one. I see it as better for the artificial universe/artificial life tack though, rather than as a way of making a brain in a jar. I'm more interested in weak AI rather than strong AI, I guess.
Anyway nothing groundbreaking there, I just felt like putting something in the blog.
I believe that we may be able to create an artificial intelligence long before we understand natural intelligence, and I suspect that the creation process will be one in which we arrange for intelligence to emerge from a complex series of interactions that we do not understand in detail--that is, a process less like engineering a machine and more like baking a cake or growing a garden. We will not engineer an artificial intelligence; rather, we will set up the right conditions under which an intelligence can emerge. The greatest achievement of our technology may well be the creation of tools that allow us to go beyond engineering--that allow us to create more than we can understand.
Danny Hillis, The Pattern on the Stone
I like that. I agree with the sentiment, about doing things from the bottom-up rather than the top-down. I'm not too fussed as to the idea of building a rooty toot toot sentient AI, but the emergent process is a great one. I see it as better for the artificial universe/artificial life tack though, rather than as a way of making a brain in a jar. I'm more interested in weak AI rather than strong AI, I guess.
Anyway nothing groundbreaking there, I just felt like putting something in the blog.
Digital philosophy
Following on from the last entry, I took a look at the page for digital philosophy, which is very interesting. Digital mechanics/digital physics/digital philosophy seem to be the general idea that the universe is one big old cellular automaton, I have to say something which independently crossed my mind in a naive, whimsical way when I first read about CAs. Woozily getting caught up in Planck time and space and whatnot.... saying.. "it's all discrete man!" Nice to find out lots of more serious thought has gone into it, and something I'll have to read more about.
N. Katherine Hayles: Nature Space Society
There's a really great presentation/talk given by Katherine Hayles at the Tate Modern, about cellular automata and computation with regards to the slightly more futuristic ideas you can apply to them, weaved in with a bit of literary theory and scifi talk. Amongst many other things she discusses something called digital mechanics, some idea of nature being fundamentally made up of bits. All very interesting (and 3 hours long.)
Here's the link to the presentation: N. Katherine Hayles: Nature Space Society
Here's the link to the presentation: N. Katherine Hayles: Nature Space Society
Introducing Fractal Geometry
I've just got the book Introducing Fractal Geometry, part of the illustrated Introducing Books series. It's really good--this is certainly one topic which is suited to illustration. It's full of bize-size snippets of a wide range of stuff from the area, and is very easy and pleasant to read.
In anticipation of a more in-depth review, I have included a picture of its front cover.
