Art Hacks AI’s Post

I am super excited to announce that I am the Guest Editor for AccScience Publishing's Journal of Art and Communication for a special issue titled, 'Critical Posthuman Art and Communication' Special Issue Editor Dr. Ram Shergill   Business School for The Creative Industries BSCI, University for the Creative Arts, Epsom, UK Interests: Bioregenerative Design, Creative Business and Management practices, The Posthuman, Circular Economy, Sustainable Fashion, The Bioeconomy, Wearable Technology, Bioastronautics, Creative Direction & Critical Thinking Special Issue Information This special edition of the Journal of Art and Communication questions what it means to be more than human in a post anthropocentric world, encouraging relationships with non-human entities through visual practice. Transformations, mutations and technological extensions to the human body have been extensively illustrated throughout history. Speculative scenarios have masked, bodied, morphed, and conceptualized the human as an ontological hybrid of man-animal-machine. This issue explores how anthropocentric notions of the human can be re-addressed through critical posthuman art, incorporating new ways to envision bodies by communicating the non-human (multi-species) and artificial entities (machines, AI), expressing a new relational coexistence. Posthuman art can be understood as a techno - aesthetic vision for a future in which we are forced to redesign and extend our existence for an uninhabitable earth. On the other hand, critical posthuman art represents a mix of generalized fear of our own anthropogenic legacy, while at the same time implying a sense of hope in technology and multispecies coexistence to solve the profound challenges we are facing. This issue seeks contributions that rethink the human condition through a technological and multispecies lens. Art is used as a tool to envision, critique and challenge anthropocentric futures by revisiting human and non-human corporeality. The issue aims to explore a visual language for post anthropocentric futures, speculating symbiotic ways of for living in alternative realities, a damaged planet and for multiplanetary co-existence. Keywords Posthuman Art Design Sympoiesis AI Multispecies Anthropocene Ecology https://lnkd.in/dkx72G2J

Announcement: Introducing 'Imprinting Empathy' - A New Contemporary Art Project Expect this project to challenge our assumptions about non-human intelligence, the future of AI, and reimagining human value systems. In a new art+tech collaboration we are exploring the possibilities of converging the spectrum of Earth’s intelligences – human, more-than-human, and digital. Can mutual endeavour and respectful interaction create an alliance of inter-intelligence stewardship in this epoch of corporatised AI and ecological demise? As an artist, I feel truly privileged to collaborate with researchers from Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences at the University of Queensland. Pioneering in socially transformative computing projects, Prof. Janet Wiles leads a group of researchers working on technologies to uniquely engage with my sentient biomes* towards the development of an interspecies language AI. This art+tech collaboration will proliferate rich ground for a distinct body of multi-artform works that will materialise interspecies transmissions from both biological agency and metaphysical impressions. The artistic, technological, bio-ecological and philosophical discoveries that will unfold as this project progresses will make for an interesting journey. I look forward to sharing our discoveries with you, and please feel free to share your questions or thoughts. This is a second chapter in a long-term exploration, following 'Intimate Organisms'. To find out more about these projects head to my website – biancatainsh.com. You’ll also find more information on the biological and technical aspects of this interdisciplinary collaboration. * Biosystems of flora and microfauna connected by a network of mycorrhizal fungi

Finally the junior staff for the research project "THE AESTHETICS OF BIOMACHINES" (THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS) is assembled! Meet them here! Johan Munkholm:  Johan Lau Munkholm is a postdoc researcher with a background in cultural studies currently working on the question of labour and machinic subjectivity with the biomachines project. He wrote and defended his Ph.d. at the University of Copenhagen with a dissertation exploring the relationship between liberal politics and new power formations in information society with a special emphasis on a critical analysis of privacy as well as the implications of platform power for 21st century capitalism. Other research interests include political economy, the geopolitics of data and the history of technology.   Patrick Sloan:  My PhD project is a part of the research group “The Aesthetics of Bio-Machines and the Question of Life”, funded by the Velux Foundations. In my thesis, I examine how contemporary speculative fiction makes literary characters out of advanced technologies (androids etc.) which we come to relate to, empathize with, and see as beings capable of sensing, feeling, and experiencing. These perspectives boil down to a question of, how technological characters become “convincing” as living beings - albeit fictional ones - and what imaginaries shape our aesthetic experiences of technology “coming to life”. Contrary to widespread discourse on AI and advanced technology surpassing various human abilities, I hypothesize that literary speculative fictions largely succeed in animating and humanizing technological characters by depicting them as “failing” to understand or process information. Notions such as “disorientation”, “self-alienation”, and “defamiliarization” thus play a central role in my work, which draws on affect theory, literary criticism, feminist posthuman theories on ethics, and the history of science, among other fields.   Naja Grundtmann: My project the "Aesthetics of Generative Models" addresses the generative abilities of state-of-the-art generative models as a particular computational life form that involves the sense-making of computational agents. Guided by the hypothesis that the output of contemporary generative models, such as synthetic images, is thoroughly intertwined with a specifically computational sensation of data, the project studies generative models by asking how we can engage with the aesthetic production of generative models as a distinctly computational mode of sense-making. In proposing that the partly self-modifying behaviour of generative models engenders a distinct computational sensation, the project aims to develop an understanding of the mode of life of generative models qua their generative abilities. https://lnkd.in/g6aPi5SV

Unravelling the Language of Nature Through a Scientific Lens In our quest to decode the complexities of nature, the language we adopt plays a pivotal role. It shapes our perception and guides our scientific exploration. As we delve into nature's intricate processes, adopting a language that mirrors the reality of the natural world, free from anthropocentric biases, becomes crucial. - Nature: A Phenomenon, Not an Agent: Often, we personify nature in our descriptions, but in truth, it represents a series of interactions and phenomena without intent. Acknowledging this is vital for scientific inquiry, enabling us to study nature's processes based on their inherent properties, rather than attributing them to agency or intention. - Overcoming Cognitive Biases: Humans naturally tend to perceive intentionality where there is none. Science aims to transcend this bias by examining nature's properties through a rational and empirical lens, steering clear of anthropocentric and teleological interpretations that have historically skewed our understanding. - The Challenge of Anthropocentrism: Attributing human-like traits to nature (e.g., "parsimonious," "intelligent") risks conflating the observer's characteristics with those of the observed. This anthropocentric view can obscure our understanding of biological phenomena, projecting human logic and rationality onto the natural world. - The Misconception of Teleology: Nature evolves through spontaneous variation and natural selection, not through foresight or intention. Appreciating this helps us understand the congruence between form and function in nature as the result of evolutionary processes, rather than a product of predetermined design. - Nature-inspired Innovation and Accurate Language: In nature-inspired innovation, where biology meets design, employing language that accurately reflects nature's principles is paramount. This understanding enables bioinspired designers to develop innovative solutions that are truly grounded in how nature operates, avoiding flaws and miscalculations. The language we use to describe and understand nature significantly influences our scientific exploration. By adopting vocabulary that accurately reflects the phenomena we seek to understand, we can gain a clearer and more accurate picture of the natural world. Let's commit to a language and mindset that honours the true nature of the phenomena we explore, fostering genuine discovery and innovation. Read on: https://bit.ly/4c4zjnh ++ Hi, I'm Richard James MacCowan, the mind behind Biomimicry Innovation Lab. We partner with founders & leaders to transform ideas into reality, drawing inspiration from transformative solutions found in nature. Our approach? Harnessing the latest scientific research with innovative tools to deliver solutions to complex challenges. Follow me to explore the power of nature-inspired innovation or reach out to dive deeper! #biomimicry #innovation #biomimetics

Mapping the development of technologies from the fall of Constantinople to the modern day - across five centuries, thirty domains, and hundreds of individual advances from ancient automata to algorithms. https://lnkd.in/emCNjbRt If you've some time this weekend, Calculating Empires is a wonderful and well-researched resource for all of us interested in the trajectory and exploitation of technology over a long horizon. The concern of the authors, Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, is the use of technologies for the concentration of power. But you can also trace here the more liberal and optimistic interpretation of history - the technologies and human structures which have lifted billions from poverty and spread individual rights across the globe. As the graphic makes clear, the impact of the printing press or ancient universities rooted in Christian duty resonate to this day. Where we take these technologies next is, as ever, down to us. ('Hat tip' to Kevin Allison at Minerva Technology Policy Advisors - thanks for spotting this!)

Finally the junior staff for the research project "THE AESTHETICS OF BIOMACHINES" (THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS) is assembled! Meet them here! Johan Munkholm:  Johan Lau Munkholm is a postdoc researcher with a background in cultural studies currently working on the question of labour and machinic subjectivity with the biomachines project. He wrote and defended his Ph.d. at the University of Copenhagen with a dissertation exploring the relationship between liberal politics and new power formations in information society with a special emphasis on a critical analysis of privacy as well as the implications of platform power for 21st century capitalism. Other research interests include political economy, the geopolitics of data and the history of technology.   Patrick Sloan:  My PhD project is a part of the research group “The Aesthetics of Bio-Machines and the Question of Life”, funded by the Velux Foundations. In my thesis, I examine how contemporary speculative fiction makes literary characters out of advanced technologies (androids etc.) which we come to relate to, empathize with, and see as beings capable of sensing, feeling, and experiencing. These perspectives boil down to a question of, how technological characters become “convincing” as living beings - albeit fictional ones - and what imaginaries shape our aesthetic experiences of technology “coming to life”. Contrary to widespread discourse on AI and advanced technology surpassing various human abilities, I hypothesize that literary speculative fictions largely succeed in animating and humanizing technological characters by depicting them as “failing” to understand or process information. Notions such as “disorientation”, “self-alienation”, and “defamiliarization” thus play a central role in my work, which draws on affect theory, literary criticism, feminist posthuman theories on ethics, and the history of science, among other fields.   Naja Grundtmann: My project the "Aesthetics of Generative Models" addresses the generative abilities of state-of-the-art generative models as a particular computational life form that involves the sense-making of computational agents. Guided by the hypothesis that the output of contemporary generative models, such as synthetic images, is thoroughly intertwined with a specifically computational sensation of data, the project studies generative models by asking how we can engage with the aesthetic production of generative models as a distinctly computational mode of sense-making. In proposing that the partly self-modifying behaviour of generative models engenders a distinct computational sensation, the project aims to develop an understanding of the mode of life of generative models qua their generative abilities. https://lnkd.in/g2UJ-PGX

Unravelling the Language of Nature Through a Scientific Lens In our quest to decode the complexities of nature, the language we adopt plays a pivotal role. It shapes our perception and guides our scientific exploration. As we delve into nature's intricate processes, adopting a language that mirrors the reality of the natural world, free from anthropocentric biases, becomes crucial. - Nature: A Phenomenon, Not an Agent: Often, we personify nature in our descriptions, but in truth, it represents a series of interactions and phenomena without intent. Acknowledging this is vital for scientific inquiry, enabling us to study nature's processes based on their inherent properties, rather than attributing them to agency or intention. - Overcoming Cognitive Biases: Humans naturally tend to perceive intentionality where there is none. Science aims to transcend this bias by examining nature's properties through a rational and empirical lens, steering clear of anthropocentric and teleological interpretations that have historically skewed our understanding. - The Challenge of Anthropocentrism: Attributing human-like traits to nature (e.g., "parsimonious," "intelligent") risks conflating the observer's characteristics with those of the observed. This anthropocentric view can obscure our understanding of biological phenomena, projecting human logic and rationality onto the natural world. - The Misconception of Teleology: Nature evolves through spontaneous variation and natural selection, not through foresight or intention. Appreciating this helps us understand the congruence between form and function in nature as the result of evolutionary processes, rather than a product of predetermined design. - Nature-inspired Innovation and Accurate Language: In nature-inspired innovation, where biology meets design, employing language that accurately reflects nature's principles is paramount. This understanding enables bioinspired designers to develop innovative solutions that are truly grounded in how nature operates, avoiding flaws and miscalculations. The language we use to describe and understand nature significantly influences our scientific exploration. By adopting vocabulary that accurately reflects the phenomena we seek to understand, we can gain a clearer and more accurate picture of the natural world. Let's commit to a language and mindset that honours the true nature of the phenomena we explore, fostering genuine discovery and innovation. Read more: https://bit.ly/3Tc8mqd ++ "Hi, we're Biomimicry Innovation Lab. We partner with founders & leaders to transform ideas into reality, drawing inspiration from transformative solutions found in nature. Our approach? Harnessing the latest scientific research with innovative tools to deliver solutions to complex challenges. Follow us to explore the power of nature-inspired innovation or reach out to dive deeper!" #natureinspiredinnovation #biomimicry #innovation #biomimetics

WIN is excited to highlight our participation in the Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum, where our Executive Director, Prof. Sushanta Mitra, shared his insights on the panel of Innovative Engineering, along with two Nobel laureates.   The main takeaways from the forum intersecting with WIN were the need to prioritize sustainability from the outset when considering revolutionary materials and the potential of AI to discover new material combinations based on existing experimental data.  Today's world faces complex challenges that require collective action and global cooperation. WIN values interdisciplinary and international collaboration and our partnerships with National Institute for Materials Science in Japan, Korea Institute of Materials Sciences in South Korea, CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology in Czechia, Brainport Eindhoven in the Netherlands, and Waterloo AI Institute. Please visit the link below to learn more about STS. #nanotechnology #materialinnovation #sustainability #AI #materialdiscovery #interdisciplinaryresearch #internationalcollaboration

Mathematical research is crucial because it provides the foundation for advancements in various fields like natural sciences, technology, engineering, and finance, by developing new concepts and tools to solve complex problems, while also fostering critical thinking skills and pushing the boundaries of human knowledge through its abstract nature and pursuit of fundamental truths; essentially acting as a driving force for innovation in the modern world.

A reminder about innovation; it looks different. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to have an excellent conversation with a colleague who is truly world-class in astrophysics and space-weather… Nobel-level work in my humble opinion. The conversation revolved around some truly groundbreaking research he was doing and how his institution and his colleagues in the field have shut out revolutionary changes (even after they have been validated by successful model outputs and extensive hind-casting) because they upset 70-year old dogmas which are built within the discipline. It reminded me very much of a paper I published 1989 titled “Classic Restraints to Novel Science”… and little has changed in those 35 years (except for me, because I have a lot less hair and a good bit more middle than I did back then as a young scientist). Peer Review has been, on the whole, beneficial to the advancement of science, serving to reduce fraud, duplication, and plagiarism and to improve the quality of published research, but it is not perfect. It has also served as an obstacle to suppress conflicting and innovative ideas, and in some cases, discriminate against investigators without the perceived correct credentials, backgrounds, or institutional affiliations. The fact remains that scientific change is not always evolutionary, it is often revolutionary. ‘Black swan’ events and discoveries happen. And sometimes, the equations we have been using for 7 decades are shown to be wrong. The scientific community, as a whole, needs to do the math and be open to a critical look at things we all currently accept to be proven fact. There should be no unchallenged ideas.