The Merged Evolution of Artificial Life, Genes and Culture

TheAbstracts section of Leonardo is intended to be a rapid publication forum. Texts can be up to 750words in length with no illustrations, or up to 500 words in length with one black-and-white illustration. Abstracts are acceptedforpublication upon the recommendationo f any one member of the Leonardo Editorial Board, who will thenforward it to the Main Editorial Ofjce with his or her endorsemmt. AN AFFAIR WITH A MOUSE Navjot Altaf(artist), 501 Green Acres, Pali Hill, Bandra,Bombay 400 050, India. Received 1 November 1991.Acceptedfor publication by RogerF. Malina. When I was invited to work on the computer , I was unaware that I was confronting an electronic system that had far greater possibilities than those with which artists have been creating manually for centuries. At first I was reluctant, even suspicious , to allow a machine to interfere with the freedom of creativitythat artists have alwaysenjoyed. But as I worked, I realised the sheer potential of the computer, which artists could exploit to their own creative needs. Soon it became like a toy in my hand; then there were counterquestions-the doubts. Did I want to move to new dimensionsexploitingthe medium for itself, or did I want to use the computer to suit my own needs?Initiallythe tendency to compare the results with traditionallyexecuted paintings and graphics did not allow me to look at the medium independently. The pixelish effectsof the image looked extremely mechanical. Even the amazing range of colours did not impress me-somehow they lacked body, I felt, since they are shown by means of light. Moreover, the overall image was reduced to a scale that made it very difficultto define the overall impact of the complete work when enlarged. In time, however, as I proceeded, I worked out my objective,which was to handle the computer as I would any other medium from conception of the idea to the finishedwork. I decided to take full advantage of the possibilities offered, such as multiplicationand replication of images,erasing and Fii. 1. NavjotAltaf, A C u mwithin a Curwas, computer graphicsand drawing , 72 x 66 in, 1991. adding, texturing and colouring-ultimately looking toward the final results rather than at the process itself. As I could not, to begin with, comfortably draw directlyon the screen (becauseof the lack of flow of time), I decided to scap drawingsfrom my sketchbook, “AStilled Life,”aswell as two other works done during communal riots in Bombq (seeFig. 1).I developed other work entirely on the computer, with mixed feelings.During that period, I was painting about communal disturbancesand peoples’ attitudes to the problem, and perhaps, subconsciously,this idea got extended while I was working on the computer as well. All of this, I felt, gave a further dimension to my work. THE MERGED EVOLUTION OFARTIFICIALLIFE, GENES AND CULTURE Susantha Goonatilake (theoretician), Center for Studies of Social Change, New School for SocialResearch, 64 University Place, New York, NY 10003, U.S.A. Received 2 November 1992. Accgbtedfor publication @ RogerF. Malina. This Abstract is based on a paperpresented at the Third Arta&-ialLife Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A., 1992. Geneticinformation and machine-based information (asin neural networks, geneticalgorithmsand artificiallife) constitute lineagesthat have evolutionary characteristics.Lesswell known to geneticistsand computer specialistsis another evolution information systemnamely that of culture [11.Scientific knowledge,a subcategoryof culture,has been shown by sociologists of science to be “sociallyconstructed,”responding to environmental pressuresof the larger society. Geneticand machine information are operated upon by human actions through cultural information. Cultural information in the form of scientific knowledge is thus mapped directly onto machine information as programmes and data, and onto genes 0 1993EAST LEONARDO,Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 169-171 169 through genetic engineering. On the other hand, machine information as computer output is mapped within cultural information as it is internalised by computer users. Genetic information is mapped onto culture through the information-processing techniques and limits of perception that biology gives to culture. Yet current developments in, for example, the analysis, storage and eventual manipulation of gene sequences by computers show direct transfers between the genetic and machine-information realms. Nascent developments in bicchips and biocomputers promise interactions from genes to machines and vice...