YLEM Journal: Artists Using Science & Technology (review)

"The Dichotomy of Reality" offers a substantial exploration of the ways in which quantum physics influences our understanding of reality and consciousness and reveals new challenges for science and visual art. The authors focus on the nature of the "dichotomy of reality" through investigating the conflicts between epistemological and ontological models and propose ways of resolving this dichotomy. The evolving relationships and possible interfaces between mind, science and reality are explored. Those topics are investigated through diverse perspectives in a selection of well-illustrated essays by quantum physicists, artists, doctors and biologists. The issue contains an editorial introduction and an essay by Rob Harle, essays by Loren Means, Julian Voss-Andreae, Jacqueline Boustany, C.S. Unnikrishnan, George Weissmann, Len Martin writing on artist Leigh Arnold and brief introductions to YLEM Forums. "The Dichotomy of Reality" opens up a number of interesting possibilities for developing promising collaborations between Leonardo/ISAST and YLEM.

In his informative introduction, Rob Harle focuses on the inherent incompleteness and inaccuracy of scientific theories, as context-dependent working theories. In particular, neither quantum nor classical mechanics should be perceived as a "complete ontological description of fundamental reality," as they obscure the complexity of reality and reinforce an arbitrary dichotomy between micro and macro worlds, which are in fact interdependent. As Harle proposes, that dichotomy has to be resolved to discover the "real ontological nature of the universe" (p. 2). Weissmann offers a detailed explanation of the "quantum paradigm," which is devoid of a subject-object dichotomy. The observer's assumptions and perceptual illusions are exposed, instead of describing an objective reality independent of the act of observation (p. 16). Unnikrishnan reveals the disparities occurring in physics between the underlying yet undefined "primary" reality, the apparently perceptible and thus comprehensible reality, and the scientific models and theories of reality that involve further approximation of reality. The existence of "unobservables" in physical theories manifests the fact that realism and ontology are disregarded (pp. 4–6). As Unnikrishnan argues, in quantum physics the issue is not the objective reality of the physical world but the clash between classical and quantum realities. Quantum "reality" is abstract and paradoxical. It is probabilistic, containing a degree of randomness while lacking causal explanations.

The issue offers various examples of how artists may invent interfaces between the physical world and the abstract domain of quantum physics. Martin's discussion focuses on Arnold's artworks in which complex "metamathematical structures" are visualized (p. 13). Voss-Andreae engages with the quantum "reality" underneath the classical "reality" appearance of matter. In his "quantum sculpture," he explores how fuzzy quantum reality may be "expressed" in sculpture (pp. 9–12). In his discussion on understanding consciousness and existence, Harle identifies the attempt to visualize what Stephen Adler defines as the dynamic "pre-quantum level of physical fields as yet unknown to physics," within which we are immersed, as an interesting challenge for scientists and artists. Harle proposes the invention of visual metaphors and the use of animated modeling, as the latter has enabled scientific discovery (pp. 2, 21).

Quantum physics encourages new insights on the relationship of the environment to matter, the workings of the mind and robotics. Boustany discusses the role of quantum theories in biophysics in terms of enhancing our understanding of how the environment and culture affect us. In his concluding essay, Means discusses the notion of "group mind" as manifested in distributed communication and group interaction in robotics through "emergent learning and evolutionary breeding." The "translation" of biological and chemical systems into mechanical ones is used in probabilistic and behavior-based micro-robot systems. What is remarkable is the manifestation of implicit and unintentional kinds of communication (alongside the explicit and intentional ones), enabled by creating "external memory" through the interaction between robots themselves and the environment. Ultimately, a "group mind" may emerge from a parallel auto-programmable information environment and may generate hybrid entities and realities (pp. 23...