The view inKirsten Zirngibl‘s example is breathless , but the concept behind the design is as challenging . She imagines that this landscape is made up alone of microbots , and research worker can manipulate the environment by feed the microbots new information .
In an e-mail , Zirngibl explained the concept behind “ Microzoo 1 ” :
Regarding the piece itself : It is called “ Microzoo ” because the “ landscape ” is in reality made up of microbots . These are tiny machines ( still much larger than nanobots ) which are capable to ego - assemble into “ swarms , ” send information to each other , and potentially form a variety of liquid cognisance . They follow many simple rules based on the actions of their neighbour , which combine to make chaotic and sometimes even intelligent behaviour . Their retention are both local and distributed , the latter full of redundancy . They are able-bodied to take instructions from humans to an extent , but can also operate as their own entity indefinitely . The ultimate role for them is for colonise / terraforming novel Earth . More than that , they are a whole new chassis of “ spirit . ”
This particular scene portray a coral - like microbot terrarium exhibit in a “ research zoo ” on Earth . We are seeing it through a 15 ft wide chalk panel . It is currently undergo a test . Extra sensors have been embedded into the foreground structure ( bottom - most mediate part of the piece ) . developer are using them to feed false information about the surroundings into the coral - alike swarm to see how it handles the conflict . ( Will it modify its bodily structure to endeavor to bury the detector ? Will it turn away the part of itself in contact with them ? Something else ? )
As the inquiry facilities continue to flourish in sizing , background , and expense , business sector - savvy admins have turn them into intemperately controlled public access parks called Sandboxes , where multitude are pay the tools to manipulate and communicate with the microbots directly . The parks terminate up becoming tests for how future colonists might interact with a microswarm - overlook surroundings .
She also portion out the influences and themes behind the idea :
I am fascinated by horde intelligence service / emergence , as well as the structure of colony ( coral , sludge mold , stilted life simulations like Conway ’s ) . How close could one approaching abstract thought with this computer architecture ? I also am heavily inspired by fractal ! Fractals , especially 3D ones , are tied to how swarms ego - assemble to maximize certain attribute like surface domain . They will help sell the idea that they are “ animated ” to an extent . ( I in reality used fractal software package to help oneself make part of this piece . ) I was also barrack by Lego growing up and am interested in how to make the most out of a relatively small diversity of part .
And her larger goal for this opus ?
I intend for my labor to be some fresh aviation for how swarm / nanotech is handled in scientific discipline fiction . It ’s a more optimistic , though still not utopian , take on thing . I ’m exploring psychedelic - yet - mathy visuals to sell this , and Microzoo 1 was really just an early experiment in that . I see forwards to sharing this in full !
Zirngibl tells us that she ’s currently looking for a author to facilitate her develop her project . you may see more of her work ather portfolio siteandher deviantART gallery .
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