entropic-IQ

A proposal to study the exchange of information and matter in cities under a thermodynamic approach. A Project by dpr-barcelona.
When we attempt to define human nature, we tend to refer to features and behaviour that are products of the mind: language, emotions, creative capacity, altruistic and collaborative conduct, conscience, et cetera. Nonetheless, we still know very little about how these qualities have developed to the point of becoming attributes that characterise the human species. The mind/brain duality established by modern western science and influenced by the Christian distinction between body and soul, has been superseded by the discoveries of neuroscience and we now know that mind and brain are inseparable. Indeed, scientists and philosophers presently affirm that the human mind, with all its capacities, is the fruit of biological evolution and subject to the same adaptive criteria as other aspects of life. What do we know, then, about what really makes us human? What happens in our mind/brain when we are able to speak, create and be moved? On the occasion of Spain’s Year of Neuroscience, this debate offers an approximation to the latest advances in neuroscientific research and its consequences for our notions of what defines us as human beings. More info: CCCB

When we attempt to define human nature, we tend to refer to features and behaviour that are products of the mind: language, emotions, creative capacity, altruistic and collaborative conduct, conscience, et cetera. Nonetheless, we still know very little about how these qualities have developed to the point of becoming attributes that characterise the human species. The mind/brain duality established by modern western science and influenced by the Christian distinction between body and soul, has been superseded by the discoveries of neuroscience and we now know that mind and brain are inseparable. Indeed, scientists and philosophers presently affirm that the human mind, with all its capacities, is the fruit of biological evolution and subject to the same adaptive criteria as other aspects of life. What do we know, then, about what really makes us human? What happens in our mind/brain when we are able to speak, create and be moved?

On the occasion of Spain’s Year of Neuroscience, this debate offers an approximation to the latest advances in neuroscientific research and its consequences for our notions of what defines us as human beings.

More info: CCCB

Immateriality as material is currently being discovered, opening up a new poetic field in which to narrate with space and information. Location-based metadata waft through the space, and are thereby redefining contexts and places. A new field opens up to designers. More info: Immaterials – Data between visibility and invisibility 

Immateriality as material is currently being discovered, opening up a new poetic field in which to narrate with space and information. Location-based metadata waft through the space, and are thereby redefining contexts and places. A new field opens up to designers.

More info: Immaterials – Data between visibility and invisibility 

A combined image of the Dymaxion Projection (1946) and the World Energy Map by R. Buckminster Fuller. From the World Geo-graphic Atlas, 1953. via: mikasavela

A combined image of the Dymaxion Projection (1946) and the World Energy Map by R. Buckminster Fuller. From the World Geo-graphic Atlas, 1953.

via: mikasavela

Digital Contagions | A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses [book] J. Parikka @juspar [2007] A critical analysis of the culture and history of the computer virus phenomenon. Mapping the anomalies of network culture from the angles of security concerns, the biopolitics of digital systems, and the aspirations for artificial life in software.

Digital Contagions | A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses [book] J. Parikka @juspar [2007]

A critical analysis of the culture and history of the computer virus phenomenon. Mapping the anomalies of network culture from the angles of security concerns, the biopolitics of digital systems, and the aspirations for artificial life in software.

“unnamed soundsculpture” by D. Franke + C. Kiefer [Kinect] via @alphavillefest + @creativeapps 

Generated from the simple idea of creating a moving sand sculpture from the recorded motion data of a real person…aesthetics going far beyond numerical codes.

Engineering Nature: Art & Consciousness in the Post-Biological Era by Roy Ascott.

Annotation This is the third volume in the Consciousness Reframed series, documenting the very latest artistic and theoretical research in new media and telematics, including aspects of artificial life, robotics, technoetics, performance, computer music and intelligent architecture. The contributions to this volume represent the work produced at conferences and in journals which are only now emerging into more accessible literature. With many highly respected practitioners and theorists in art and science contributing, there is a stimulating diversity of approach and a rich background of knowledge.


Dynamic maps reflecting people experience of the city > @Livehoods Mapping different story of the people and places that shape it. via @dpr_barcelona

Dynamic maps reflecting people experience of the city > @Livehoods Mapping different story of the people and places that shape it.

via @dpr_barcelona

Synapse |The entropiqIQ drop-books series curated by: César Reyes Nájera A starting point to articulate an intellectual fabric supporting the entropiqIQ project. A forum of reflection including people moving on the limits and blurring boundaries on the knowledge of cities, information, technology, art, biology and philosophy. A series of publications in pamphlet format exploring the thought and ideas of thinkers and doers; articulated by simple detonating questions posed through emails, tweets and conversations: - What is information?- What is matter and energy?- What is the city?- What is entropy? Some other concepts as evolution, ownership, copyright are also discussed. Nature and city are not opposites or excluding concepts, in fact, they are interacting systems. The next step will be to understand and transform our cities under the logic of nature’s principles of organization. This series, fast printed and transmitted, may help in that connection. First round of connections: - Usman Haque + Natalie Jeremijenko- Juhani Pallasmaa- Aristide Antonas- Peter Rich - Jussi Parikka- François Roche

Synapse |The entropiqIQ drop-books series curated by: César Reyes Nájera

A starting point to articulate an intellectual fabric supporting the entropiqIQ project. A forum of reflection including people moving on the limits and blurring boundaries on the knowledge of cities, information, technology, art, biology and philosophy. A series of publications in pamphlet format exploring the thought and ideas of thinkers and doers; articulated by simple detonating questions posed through emails, tweets and conversations:

- What is information?
- What is matter and energy?
- What is the city?
- What is entropy?

Some other concepts as evolution, ownership, copyright are also discussed.

Nature and city are not opposites or excluding concepts, in fact, they are interacting systems. The next step will be to understand and transform our cities under the logic of nature’s principles of organization. This series, fast printed and transmitted, may help in that connection.

First round of connections:

- Usman Haque + Natalie Jeremijenko
- Juhani Pallasmaa
- Aristide Antonas
- Peter Rich 
- Jussi Parikka
- François Roche

Project Glass by Google[x] Group

We believe technology should work for you — to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.

A team within our Google[x] group started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment.

Follow the project at http://g.co/projectglass 

Meet MinION, the USB-powered DNA sequencer Since the first genome was sequenced in the mid-70s, it’s been getting easier and quicker to analyse DNA. Now, you can do it from the sofa. A company named Oxford Nanopore has built a disposable DNA sequencer that’s the size of a thumb drive, and powered by a USB port. It’s capable of sequencing 150 million base pairs in six hours, and uses the computer’s own CPU to perform the analysis. It’s called the MinION, and costs just $900 (£570).To do the sequencing, it employs “nanopores” — organic molecules that have a very tiny hole in the centre — about a single nanometre across. These are embedded in a membrane, and the whole thing is submerged in a fluid containing both electrically-charged ions and a sample of the DNA to be analysed. Once a voltage difference is placed across the membrane, the ions begin to move and the currents generated sweep nearby particles into the mouth of the pore. More info: Wired + Oxford Nanopores Technologies

Meet MinION, the USB-powered DNA sequencer

Since the first genome was sequenced in the mid-70s, it’s been getting easier and quicker to analyse DNA. Now, you can do it from the sofa.

A company named Oxford Nanopore has built a disposable DNA sequencer that’s the size of a thumb drive, and powered by a USB port. It’s capable of sequencing 150 million base pairs in six hours, and uses the computer’s own CPU to perform the analysis. It’s called the MinION, and costs just $900 (£570).

To do the sequencing, it employs “nanopores” — organic molecules that have a very tiny hole in the centre — about a single nanometre across. These are embedded in a membrane, and the whole thing is submerged in a fluid containing both electrically-charged ions and a sample of the DNA to be analysed. Once a voltage difference is placed across the membrane, the ions begin to move and the currents generated sweep nearby particles into the mouth of the pore.

More info: Wired + Oxford Nanopores Technologies