real virtual

Extended reality

2011-05-23T13:57:00.001-07:00

FACT in Liverpool

http://www.fact.co.uk/about/exhibitions/2011/knowledge-lives-everywhere

The V&A's computer art collections

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/v-and-a-computer-art-collections/

http://www.technocultures.org.uk/index.html

Urban Tapestries (Project now finished)

http://urbantapestries.net/

Game on London Underground

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9463441.stm

http://www.chromaroma.com/

Blast Theory - Day of the Figurines

http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/work_day_of_figurines.html

Blast Theory - Rider Spoke

http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/work_rider_spoke.html

Blast Theory are quite good as they work with the Mixed Reality Lab part of University of Nottingham so have presented quite alot of papers about their work at various conferences mainly about HCI

http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/research.html

FourSquare

https://foursquare.com/

Living life in augmented reality

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/8889490.stm

Art Opportunities and Galleries

2011-03-29T12:01:00.001-07:00

Oportunities

Galleries

Blogs tugas

2011-03-03T01:29:00.001-08:00

Ionline

Pandromeda

2011-02-26T03:54:00.001-08:00

Pandromeda

Earthsim - 3D Universe Browser - Earth Space Tour Screensaver

2011-02-26T03:53:00.001-08:00

EarthSim

Course where xTNZ is referenced

2011-02-26T03:47:00.003-08:00

xTNZ

Imagens Lourenco Maruques

2011-02-26T03:45:00.001-08:00

Fotos
Video

Nature Communications: Mathematical Model Could Help Predict and Prevent Future Extinctions

2011-02-26T03:41:00.001-08:00

Mathematical Model Could Help Predict and Prevent Future Extinctions

CIG2010 - K - The Day the Game Came Alive: Virtual Worlds and an Origin of Artificial Life on Vimeo - Bruce Damer

2011-02-26T03:40:00.001-08:00

www.eco-tools.net: Home Page

2011-02-26T03:38:00.001-08:00

New MFA in Art and Ecology at the University of New Mexico

2011-02-26T03:37:00.001-08:00

The new MFA program in Art and Ecology at the University of New Mexico is an interdisciplinary, research-based program engaging contemporary art practices. Students develop ecological and cultural literacy with a conceptual foundation and a wide range of production skills, including sculpture, social practice, and digital media. Students in Art and Ecology have the opportunity to work on various collaborative and interdisciplinary projects with departments across UNM and on comprehensive thesis projects integrating community and ecological research. Coursework includes the Land Arts of the American West program, a semester-long travel and place-based arts pedagogy.

PARTNERS
Sustainability Studies at UNM
Landscape Architecture at UNM
SEV, Long Term Ecological Research at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
Centro Artistico y Cultural, El Paso, TX
The Center for Land Use Interpretation, Wendover, UT
Art + Environment Center, Nevada Art Museum, Reno, NV
The UNM Center for Advanced Research Computing (CARC)
Fodder Project: A Collaborative Research Farm
The American Society for Acoustic Ecology

Urban Studies - recostitution of cities

2011-02-26T03:34:00.000-08:00

Bernard Frisher

MIT Press Journals - Artificial Life/Evolutionary Computation

2011-02-26T03:33:00.000-08:00

Artificial Life

Evolutionary Computation

Art and Genetics

2011-02-26T03:31:00.001-08:00

Fluxus: 3d game Engine

2011-02-26T03:28:00.001-08:00

Fluxus is a 3D game engine for livecoding worlds into existence.

"act of a flowing; a continuous moving on or passing by, as of a flowing
stream; a continuous succession of changes"

We spent too long livecoding and forgot to do any releases, so this is
your semi-annual fluxus release fanfare:

Changes:

* Render to texture makes recursive worlds possible
* Freeframe plugins supported
* Windows support
* OpenAL 3D sound playback
* AR/Camera module
* Planetarium/dome projection
* Livecode text effects to confuse your audiences
* Experimental voxel primitive
* Icosphere primitive
* Unicode support in the scratchpad
* Some proper games stuff - frustum culling, scene inspection etc.
* Stereo panning in fluxa.

Get it here:

http://www.pawfal.org/fluxus/packages/

Theories of evolution

2011-02-26T03:26:00.001-08:00

In his first Notebook, On the transmutation of species (1837), Charles Darwin drew the first evolutionary tree of life. The current commnly accepted theory of evolution is NeoDarwinist, which combines Darnin’s dangerous idea of Evolution by Natural Selection with genetics. The modern theories of symbiogenesis and punctuated equilibrium challenge this concept.

In 1972, paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould published a landmark paper developing this theory and called it punctuated equilibria. Eldredge and Gould proposed that the degree of gradualism commonly attributed to Charles Darwin is virtually nonexistent in the fossil record, and that stasis dominates the history of most fossil species.

When evolution occurs, it is localized in rare, rapid events of branching speciation, called cladogenesis. Cladogenesis is the process by which species split into two distinct species, rather than one species gradually transforming into another. Thus, "punctuated equilibria is a model for discontinuous tempos of change (in) the process of speciation and the deployment of species in geological time."[1]

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), also Lateral gene transfer (LGT), is any process in which an organism incorporates genetic material from another organism without being the offspring of that organism. By contrast, vertical transfer occurs when an organism receives genetic material from its ancestor, e.g. its parent or a species from which it Most thinking in genetics has focused upon vertical transfer, but there is a growing awareness that horizontal gene transfer is a highly significant phenomenon, and amongst single-celled organisms perhaps the dominant form of genetic transfer. Artificial horizontal gene transfer is a form of genetic engineering.

It is often stated that cultural and social evolution occur more in accordance with Lamarckian ideas of inheritance.

Tree models were not only introduced by Darwin to model the evolution of life, they were also introduced by Ernst Haeckel, the first taxonomist, and by August Schleicher, a linguist who modelled the evolution of language.

On Virtual Worlds

2011-02-26T03:23:00.000-08:00

People need a reason to enter a virtual world – an objective, something relevant to them.
This ’sense of purpose’ is what will drive wider adoption of virtual worlds and bridge the gap
between the innovators and early adopters currently inhabiting older virtual worlds to the early majority.
When you think about it, worlds like Second Life are generalist.
People have nothing really in common with each other when they first join.
This is why you find over time that residents gravitate towards people with similar interests,
be it geographical, genre or interest group. Whilst this is great if you want to actually target
early adopters (and many companies do) worlds that offer a dedicated themed or category driven experience
are likely to encourage this wider take-up. (more…)
Interoperability
http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/05/mpeg-issues-cal.html
outeroperability
http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?cat=82
Metaverse History
http://www.metaverseroadmap.org/inputs.html#history
23 pagina o futuro
http://metaverseroadmap.org/
http://www.virtualworldsreview.com/

The creatures's paper

2011-02-26T03:21:00.001-08:00

Software for interview transcription

2011-02-26T03:20:00.001-08:00

3d texturing with 3D Max

2010-12-09T05:15:00.001-08:00

http://www.republicofcode.com/tutorials/3ds/texture_stealth/
http://www.republicofcode.com/tutorials/3ds/unwrap_uvw_mapping/

3D Virtual Worlds

2010-07-21T02:31:00.000-07:00

The List (originally from ArianeB which includes videos from youbube):

Active Worlds

Operated By: Activeworlds Inc
Built By: Activeworlds Inc
Status: Developed 1994 Open since 1997
Customization: Land building is a primary activity. Avatars are too simplistic to customize.
User Created Content: Yes
Notes: Oldest still in existence. Barely supported anymore.
Website: http://www.activeworlds.com/

Amazing Worlds

Operated By: Amazing Worlds Inc (Singapore)
Built By: Amazing Worlds Inc
Status: Beta
Customization: n/a
User Created Content: n/a
Notes: Primary focus is on virtual tourism and mirror world building
Website: http://amazingworlds.com/

Blue Mars

Operated By: Avatar Reality
Built By: Avatar Reality using the CryEngine2
Status: Closed Beta, Open Beta starting September 2, 2009
Customization: Avatar and Real Estate customization via purchases
User Created Content: object and clothing submissions via development program and approval process
Notes: Set in a futuristic world on a terraformed planet Mars. Avatars created by e-frontier (makers of Poser).
Requires a decent computer with a decent video card.
Website: http://bluemarsonline.com/

My Review: A Quick Peek at Blue Mars

Club Cooee

Operated By: Cooee GmbH (Germany)
Built By: Cooee GmbH
Status: Open Beta since January 2009
Customization: Avatar customization
User Created Content: None
Notes: Another 3D Chat Client designed primarily for teens
Website: http://www.clubcooee.com/

Empire of Sports

Operated By: Infront Sports and Media (Switzerland)
Built By: Empire of Sports Ltd.
Status: Open since December 2008
Customization: Avatar customization
User Created Content: None
Notes: Multiple sports games against real players from around the world. Keep a common avatar between them.
Website: https://www.empireofsports.com/

Evolver / FriendsHangout

Operated By: Evolver.com (Canada) / Friendshangout.com (US Florida)
Avatars By: Darwin Dimensions Inc.
Worlds By: unity3d.com and arteria3d.com
Status: Open beta since May 2009
Customization: Avatar customization through evolver.com
User Created Content: Limited to friendshangout.com developer program
Notes: Friends hangout is a 3D Chat Virtual World using avatars created with Evolver.com. Create your avatar in evolver
and one of the "Transport" options will be friendshangout.com which provides multiple beautifully rendered 3D sites to
explore. Each room also has a vehicle of some sort you can ride.
Website: http://evolver.com/ or http://friendshangout.com

My Review: What if you built an awesome 3D Virtual World and nobody came?

Football Superstars

Operated By: Cyber Sports Ltd (UK)
Built By: Monumental Games
Status: Open since November 2008
Customization: Avatar customization
User Created Content: None
Notes: Sort of a Football (Soccer) MMORPG but with a social virtual world aspect outside of playing games.
Website: http://footballsuperstars.com/

Free Realms

Operated By: Sony Online Games
Built By: Sony
Status: Opened April 2009
Customization: Avatar customization, building
User Created Content: None
Notes: 3D fantasy virtual world designed primarily for kids and teens. Multiple activities including racing, pets, RPG quests, in world games.
Mostly free, though more content opens up with payment.
Website: http://www.freerealms.com/

My Review: A Quick Peek at Free Realms

Frenzoo

Operated By: Frenzoo.com (Hong Kong)
Built By: Based on the Unity Engine
Status: Early Beta
Customization: Avatar and room customization, animation and others coming soon
User Created Content: Yes, can import 3D models, in game fashion design.
Notes: Built by a few Second Life people. Primarily a 3D chat world at the moment, looking to expand beyond that.
Website: http://www.frenzoo.com/

HiPiHi

Operated By: HiPiHi (China)
Built By: HiPiHi
Status: Beta
Customization: n/a
User Created Content: n/a
Notes: Open ended platform, often called the Chinese Second Life
Website: http://www.hipihi.com/index_en.html

IMVU

Operated By: IMVU inc.
Created By: Will Harvey (also primary creator of There)
Status: Open Beta since 2004, Officially out of beta June 2008
Customization: Avatar and room customization via purchased items
User Created Content: Room, clothing, and animations via submission
Notes: Designed as a 3D chat client, no free movement or explorable areas. Animations are triggered by interacting with objects.
Has its own social network system.
Website: http://www.imvu.com/

My Reviews: A Quick Peek at IMVU, The Oldest Noob in IMVU

Just Leap In

Operated By: Leap In Entertainment (Canada)
Status: Closed Beta since July 2008
Customization: Room customization
User Created Content: limited to textures and videos, likely to expand to objects and avatars
Notes: Runs in a browser. You can add animated "people" to your room, Graphics are great. You Google Lively fans should check this out.
Website: http://www.justleapin.com/

Kaneva

Operated By: Kaneva inc.
Created By: Christopher Klause (founder of ISS)
Status: Open Beta since 2007
Customization: Limited avatar customization. Clothes and furniture can be purchased at the mall
User Created Content: Limited to wall hanging pictures.
Notes: Has a closely integrated social network system. Free apartment to decorate.
Website: http://www.kaneva.com/

Meet-Me

Operated By: Co-Core Inc (Japan)
Built By: Co-Core Inc
Status: Beta restricted to Japan
Customization: n/a
User Created Content: n/a
Notes: Home of Toyota Metapolis
Website: http://www.meet-me.jp/ ( translated by Google )

Moondo

Operated By: Funtactics (Israel)
Built By: Funtactics
Status: Open Beta as of November 2008
Customization: Avatar Customization
User Created Content: None
Notes: Not a social virtual world, but a group of interconnected MMO games. Create an identity/avatar and use it in all games.
Website: http://moondo.com/

Moove

Operated By: Moove (Germany)
Built By: Moove
Status: 3D version released in 2001
Customization: Limited avatar customization, room fully customizable
User Created Content: Clothes and textures
Notes: Older program hence older graphics engine. Your "room" is stored on your own computer. If you visit someone
else's room you download their room from their computer. There is no central virtual world to visit.
Website: http://moove.com/

Onverse

Operated By: Onverse (Tempe, Arizona)
Built By: Onverse using the Torque Game Engine
Status: Open beta in June 2009
Platform: Currently Windows Only
Customization: Limited avatar and room customization furnishings obtained via currency awards and currency purchase
User Created Content: none
Notes: Simple low end, low resource 3D virtual world. Also has social networking website.
Website: http://onverse.com/

Playstation 3 Home

Operated By: Sony
Built By: Sony Computer Entertainment
Status: Open beta in December 2008
Platform: Playstation 3 owners only
Customization: Limited avatar and room customization furnishings obtained via game awards
User Created Content: wall pictures only, possibly more
Notes: Designed to be a central meeting place for Playstation 3 owners. Meet in world then launch other multiplayer games to play.
Website: http://www.us.playstation.com/PSN/Home

My Review: A First Look at Playstation 3 Home

Protosphere

Operated By: Protonmedia
Status: Demo
Customization: Limited avatar customization
User Created Content: Unknown
Notes: Designed primarily for long distance collaboration in business uses.
Website: http://protonmedia.com/

Prototerra

Operated By: Prototerra
Built By: worlds.com
Status: Open
Customization: Limited avatar customization
User Created Content: Unknown
Notes: Website says it has been around since 2000. Seems to be marketed as a communications platform.
Website: http://www.prototerra.com/

Red Light Center

Operated By: Global Reach Inc.
Built By: Worlds.com
Status: Out of beta since 2007
Customization: Limited avatar customization
User Created Content: none
Notes: Primary focus is on adult content and online sex. VIP membership allows access to porn content.
Has its own social network system at Utherverse.com
Website: http://www.redlightcenter.com/

My Reviews: A Quick Peek at Red Light Center
How are the Virtual Worlds Doing?

Associated Worlds:
Rude Virtual
Virtual Vancouver

Second Life

Operated By: Linden Labs. (California)
Built By: Linden Labs
Status: Open to public since June 2003
Customization: Completely customizable avatars, Land via purchase or rent allows building space.
User Created Content: Textures, Animations, and Scripts instantly uploadable with small fee.
Notes: Largest 3DVW in both membership and activity. Over 20 million accounts, over 700,000 unique visitors monthly, and over 1800 sq. km of land.
Website: http://secondlife.com/

My Page dedicated to Second Life: Second Life Tips and Scripts

There.com

Operated By: Makena Inc. (California)
Built By: There Inc.
Status: Open to public since November 2003
Customization: Widely customizable avatars, rentable/purchasable "Port A Zones" available to build whatever you want.
User Created Content: Clothing, Vehicles, Textures, and 3D Objects via submission process
Notes: Second largest 3DVW economy. First one to feature voice, vehicles, and fully navigable land.
Website: http://there.com/

My Page dedicated to There: There Magic

Twinity

Operated By: Metaversum (Germany)
Built By: Metaversum
Status: Open Beta as of Sept 2008
Customization: Facial avatar customization including skins from photo feature. Fully customizable rooms via purchasable furniture and textures
User Created Content: Limited to wall pictures but more coming soon
Notes: Strong web integration. You can hang a fully operational webpage on your wall. Only the third social virtual world to have voice feature.
Has its own social network system
Website: http://twinity.com/en

My Reviews: A Quick Peek At Twinity

Vivaty

Operated By: Vivaty Inc.
Built By: n/a
Status: Open Beta July 2008
Customization: Limited avatar customization, Post your own pictures and You Tube videos in your room.
User Created Content: Developer tools coming soon
Notes: This is a browser plugin based program that currently only works in Facebook and AIM.
Website: http://www.vivaty.com/

vSide

Operated By: Exit Reality (Australia)
Built By: Doppelganger Inc. based on the Torque Game Engine
Status: Reopened under new ownership
Customization: Limited avatar customization
User Created Content: None
Notes: This teen oriented world has been shuffled around. Once operated by AOL, now by an Australian Virtual World company.
The original owners shut down in July 2009, but sold all assets to other companies. The new owner Exit Reality hopes to have it
up and running again soon.
Website: http://www.vside.com/

Worlds.com

Operated By: worlds.com
Built By: worlds.com
Status: First worlds built in 1994
Customization: Limited avatar customization
User Created Content: Yes
Notes: Although they still maintain some old unpopulated demo worlds which haven't changed since 2001, worlds.com is
primarily a 3rd party platform developer company (see Prototerra and Red Light Center above).
They are the oldest 3D internet company still in existence, and are more or less the ones that started it all.
Interesting interview with the CEO about the company's future can be found here Summary: New updated platform
and two new 3D worlds are on the way.
Website: http://www.worlds.com/

Platforms:

3DXplorer

Website: http://www.3dxplorer.com/
Status: Early Beta
Notes: This is the first, and as far as I know only, 3D virtual world that can be reached using a regular browser instead of a separate
client you have to download. (you do need the latest Java installed). This is kind of a "holy grail" for advertisers as it makes your
3D advertising much more accessible to the general public. I have tried it out and it still has a ways to go. For example, The ability to
turn your avatar using the keyboard has yet to be implemented (huh?). Altadyn is more interested in selling it as a platform than as a
virtual world, which it is why it is included in the platform list instead of above.

Multiverse

Website: http://www.multiverse.net/
Notes: Primarily a platform for creating MMORPG games, but can be used to create social virtual worlds as well

My Reviews: Virtual Times Squares
The Metaverse Stage II: Platforms!

OLIVE

Website: http://www.forterrainc.com/
Notes: OLIVE is a virtual simulation platform based on the same technology behind There.
This company was originally There.com. They changed their name to Forterra in 2004,
then divided in to two in 2005, the online game half renamed Makena which runs There. Among
their corporate contracts is the US Army which uses virtual technology for situational training in Iraq.

RealXtend / Open Sim Project

Website: http://opensimulator.org/ and http://www.realxtend.org/
Notes: Open Sim Project is an open source platform that works like Second Life, and can even be accessed
by the Second Life client. Linden Labs has nothing to do with this project, though they are cooperating with it.
The primary corporate leader on the project is none other than IBM. RealXtend is a new small company
that is using the Open Sim Project as a starting point to not only reach parity with Second Life, but exceed.
Ultimately, this could be the 3D Web as it will be possible for anyone to run 3D worlds accessible with the
Second Life client, that are not attached in any way to Second Life. Japanese 3D modeling company 3Di has
also created their own version for release.

Virtual world networks based on this technology:
http://openlifegrid.com/
http://3di.jp/en/
http://www.virtualworld.sl/
http://www.newworldgrid.com/
http://www.reactiongrid.com/
More

My Review:
SL Open Source Update!

Vastpark

Website: http://www.vastpark.com/
Status: Open Beta
Notes: Built from the ashes of failed Yoicks Outback. You can download and try out the developer tools. It is fully open source.
Uses file sharing technology to distribute content. This may eventually become a virtual world, but for now it is just a platform to
play with.

3D "Outside the Box" Exploring:

As a footnote, I want to mention a few sites that are almost 3D Virtual Worlds but are a little bit outside of the box. These websites are multiplayer and have 3D elements, but communications and navigation are a bit non-traditional.

3B Rooms

Status: Open since 2007
Notes: Build 3D rooms with web pages as walls, click on walls to go to website. It also has chat capabilities. Beyond that it does not do anything else, hence I cannot call it a true 3D Virtual World.
Website: http://3b.net/

Entropia Universe

Status: Open since 2003
Notes: For all intents and purposes, this is an MMORPG, but it has enough 3D Virtual World elements that it is often mistaken as such. Its free to start, but progress in the game requires real world money.
Website: http://www.entropiauniverse.com/

EveryScape

Status: Beta
Notes: Uses "street finder" like technology to navigate the real world via photographs. Includes interiors of buildings as well. You can tag locations with notes or buy advertising space at popular locations.
Website: http://www.everyscape.com/

Exit Reality

Status: Open Beta
Notes: Takes a standard 2D social network profile page, and converts it to a 3D space. Pictures turn into wall hanging pictures, embedded music turns into jukeboxes, embedded videos turn into TVs, and online friends turn into people you can chat with.
Website: http://www.exitreality.com/

My Review: A Quick Peek at Exit Reality

Forbidden City

Status: Open 2008
Notes: The Forbidden City: Beyond Space and Time is the world's first online virtual world dedicated to a country's cultural heritage. This is presented as a three-dimensional replica of the square-kilometer palace grounds called The Virtual Forbidden City. The project partners' goal was to create an experience that is as authentic as possible by being true to important Chinese principles of balance and harmony.
Website: http://www.beyondspaceandtime.org/

My Review: China in 3D

Freaky Creatures

Status: Open 2008
Notes: This online combat duel game (think "Street Fighter"), has complicated creature design tools and some extra building features that some 3D Virtual World enthusiasts might enjoy.
Website: http://www.myfreakycreatures.com/

GeoSim Philly

Status: Beta since 2007
Notes: A very detailed "mirror world" of downtown Philadelphia, made by a company based in Israel. Originally appeared in the main list, may soon again as avatars are forthcoming.
Website: http://www.geosimphilly.com/

Google Earth

Status: Open since 2006
Notes: A 3D representation of the world via satellite. People can mark locations, tag photographs, tag videos, build 3D buildings to place on the world.
Website: http://earth.google.com

My Review: Google Does Manhattan

Kinset

Status: Beta
Notes: Download a program that lets you shop online in 3D. Visit a bookstore, electronics store etc. Most actual sales handled by Amazon.
Website: http://www.kinset.com/

My Review: Online Shopping in 3D

Koinup

Status: Open
Notes: This is a social network designed to showcase art and video made within 3D worlds.
Website: http://www.koinup.com/

My Review: Social Networks for Virtual World Avatars

Meez

Status: Creating 3D avatars since 2006, opened non-3D virtual world Meez Nation in May 2008
Notes: I first wrote about this site in 2006. They recently opened up a virtual world based on these characters you create.
Website: http://www.meez.com/

Photosynth

Status: Released to public in 2008
Notes: Takes a large number of still photos of the same object and mashes them together into a 3D representation
Website: http://photosynth.com/

Qwaq

Status: Open in 2007
Notes: A program for private 3D interaction, primarily for business use.
Website: http://www.qwaq.com/

SceneCaster

Status: Beta
Notes: A social network where you build 3D scenes with your own, or others objects and textures. Then you can share the scene with others, including embedding them on your website or facebook page.
Website: http://www.scenecaster.com/

Virtual Earth

Status: Open Beta since 2007
Notes: Microsoft's answer to Google Earth, primarily designed for business use.
Website: http://maps.live.com/

Wild Style City

Status: Open 2009
Notes: Make your own public grafitti on "streetview" maps. Demo project of Earthmine, Inc.
Website: http://wildstylecity.com/wsc/

Content Creators:

As a second footnote, I want to list some companies that are independently creating content for other 3D Virtual worlds. If you follow the 3D webs development, keep an eye on these companies:

3Di Japan

Arteria

Clever Zebra

Electric Sheep Company

Eon Reality

Icarus Studios

Metaversatility

Millions of Us

New Media Consortium

Oddcast

Rezzable

Rivers Run Red

Second Interest

Second Places

Trilogy Studios

In Development:

As a third footnote, I am listing sites that have stuff in the development chain, but relatively little information:

http://www.3djays.com/

http://www.awomo.com

http://code.google.com/apis/o3d/

http://www.moondus.com/

http://www.mycosm.com/

http://www.n-sided.com/

http://www.nearglobal.com/

http://www.nurien.com/

http://www.projectchainsaw.com/

http://www.realifeplus.com/

http://www.sunnymmc.com/ (translation of pertinent page)

In Memorium:

The Sims Online 2003 - 2007
Google Lively 2008 - 2008
Virtual MTV 2004 - 2009
Virtual Lower East Side 2007 - 2008
Cybertown 1998 - 2006? (Technically still open, but has gone on unsupported for 3 years)
Novoking 2008 - 2009 Website dead for months, no news

Your own solitary VW

2010-07-09T04:27:00.000-07:00

Fractal (algorithmic) artist Ken Musgrave and Mojo a virtual wolrd creator

Terragen

Evolution

2010-06-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

Evolution

The original idea of Darwin is of evolution by natural selection, that every species in the world ultimatelly derives from a single common one. The branching occurs through speciation. He proposed a mechanism explaining why and how this could happen. The first condition is a population of individuals. When they reproduce, they create differentiated copies of themselves. Since these copies are not perfect, some of these individuals in the offspring are more able to survive than others, and thus these have more probability of replicating and propagating these favourable traits.

The individual features are the result of cumulative adaptation from multiple generations. And because individuals live in complex predator-prey relations, their need to adapt is fast. Consider a predator which develops sharpest teeth, the prey may evolve a thicker skin. The Red Queen hypothesis predicts a constant arms-race between predators and their prey, so that continuing development is needed in order to maintain the fitness ratio between the two. This hypothesis takes the name from the red queen in Lewis Carrol's novel Through the Looking-Glass who advised Alice to run as fast as she could to stay in the same place.

If adaptative evolution create conditions for the appearance of strong predator devices, such as sharp teeths or claws, and prey protections, such as the shells in molusces and snails, nature has evolved other examples which paradoxally make individuals extremelly more vulnerable, such as the peacock tail or the exuberant birdsongs. Darwin also observed that evolution is driven not just by natural selection, but by the process called sexual selection. Biologist suggest that if the big tail makes peacocks more visible and slower to run away from predators it also reveals a healthy individual to peahens, functioning as a mating feature.
In The mating mind: how sexual choice shaped the evolution of human nature, Geoffrey Miller, extends Darwin notion to suggest that other forms of sexual display are found in self expression from humans: art, criativity, moral and language.
Thus, there is not one but two types of adaptive evolution, one making individuals live longer, and the other making individuals gain attractiveness.

If these theories help to explain the evolution of species through adaptation to their environment, they fail to explain the mechanisms of heredity and how the resemblance and variation from parents to offspring, and from one species to another, might occur.

In 1866 Gregor Mendel published his observations on the hereditarity of peas , uncovering their basic underlying hereditary principles. Mendel's results from these experiments can be summarized in two main ideas: The principle of segregation: for any particular trait, the pair of alleles of each parent separate and only one allele passes from each parent on to an offspring; and the principle of independent assortment: the allele defining a particular trait for instance the color of the flowers in the plant don't interfere with the allele defining another trait, the color of the peas. These principles are the beginnings of the modern science of genetics, which boosted later with the discovery of the molecule of DNA, in 1953, credited to James Watson and Francis Crick. DNA is a complex molecule composed of four bases: adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. The sequence as these appear in the molecule determine the construction of different aminoacids. Proteins are assembled from amino acid and are the building blocks from which the cells on animals and plants are made. Genes are working stretchs of DNA, containing a particular set of instructions, usually coding for a particular protein. DNA is thus a vast chemical information database that carries the complete set of instructions for making the proteins a cell will need. Different organism differ due to different combination of proteins in their bodies. Cells divide (mitosis), multiply and specialize into different cells type (embriogeny).

In sexual reproduction DNA is passed from parents to their offspring, when one cell from each parent is mixed into a fertilized cell called the zygote, mixing their the genetic material and generating genetic diversity. This is a common process in animals. In asexual reproduction parents generate a single cell, in a process called parthonogenesis, which then develops into a new organism, a process observed in many plants and insects, generating indentical copies, or clones, from their parents.

The sex cells that fuse to form a zygote are called gametes. In isogamous organims both parent's gametes are similar. When these are different, male gametes are small and able to move, while female gametes are big and static, these organims are said anisogamous.

In sexual reproduction when two individuals cannot fuse their genes they are said to be reproductively isolated. One view of speciation establishes that in this situation, they form separate species. However, in asexual reproduction, this concept doesn't apply, and this forces a second view on the categorization of species, where organisms are distinguished by their apperance, their behavior or their genes.

During repoduction DNA is copyed from the parents to the offspring, and occasionally a gene may not be copyed correctly. This new gene is a mutation. Not all mutations are beneficial and some mutations are harmful to the organism reducing its chances of survival, and in these situations natural selection dictates that such mutations are unlikely to prevail in the gene pool.

Throughout the cumulative effect on generations the frequency of some genes increase in the population while others decrease. Evolution can then be seen as changes in the frequency of genes in the population (the gene pool).

However natural selection is not the only driver for evolution. If a mutation is not adaptive, and doesn't bring any beneficial advantages or disadvantages on the individual ability to reproduce and survive, it is called neutral. The phenomenon occuring when neutral mutations prevail in the gene pool is called Random Drift, and is arguably equally important as natural selection in the evolutionary course of species.
In what can be seen as an anti-adaptionist stance, Richard Lewotin described how features of an organism can exist as a necessary consequence of other features, but do not directly improve fitness (and thus are not necessarily adaptive), a notion denominated "Spandrels". The relative frequency of spandrels versus adaptations continues to stir controversy in evolutionary biology.

Richard Dawkins illustrates the process of natural selection, describing Darwinian evolution as a Blind watchmaker, assembling pieces together in a cumulative process, by random try and error, with no ending aim.

Richard Dawkins, a zoologist, also introduced other relevant concepts in evolution. One of these is the theory of the selfish gene which help to justify some behaviors from a genetic perspective. According to this theory genes will try to perpetuate themselves, and thus this theory provides a possible justification for parental care and other altruistic behaviors seen in nature. Genes must be capable to influence the organisms behavior to make them act altruistically with other organisms with the same gene.

Other strong theory for altruism is Bill Hamilton's Kin Selection which suggests that altruism will tend to develop whenever individuals can direct it to those to whom they are related. Evidence suggest that animals emit warning cries only if they are related with the endangered individuals. The only animals that self-sacrifice to help others are social insects, but even these it can be argued they are related through the queen.

Robert Trivers put forward the theory of 'reciprocal altruism' arguing that animals target altruistic behaviors for those who were likely to reciprocate, and Robert Axelrod the 'Tic-for-Tat', that we behave altruistic towards those who previously acted altruistic to us, returnung the favour. Most biological altruism is, it seems, due to kin selection, not reciprocity.

Other theories suplement Darwinism with complementary visions on the role of culture in evolution. The intention is what drives evolution in Lamarkism, an evolutionary theory favoured in many computational methodologies. Jean Baptiste Lamark in the eary 1800s saw evolution as resulting from the adaptation of life to local environment. Consider the evolution of the neck on giraffes. The short giraffe learns to stretch its neck to reach leaves on tall trees. According to Lamarck the animal’s offspring would tend to have longer necks. This assumes a mechanism for modifying the DNA during the parent's life, to alter its genes for longer neck, based on its habit of stretching it.

The Baldwin effect is a similar concept in terms of considering the life experience and learning as mechanisms to change the evolutionary course of species. However it is coherent with Darwins' ideas. Short necked giraffes with the ability to stretch their necks will pass to new generation not longer necks but the ability to stretch their necks. The selective effect of evolution by natural selection is seen on the prevailance of individuals able to stretch their necks on the popualation after some generations. With time, it might occur that a mutation will create a favoured longer necked giraffe.

Sexual selection and other mechanisms of differentiation

Because it permits ecological adaptation natural selection is a precondition for biodiversity. However, Todd and Miller argue sexual selection may be the privileged mechanism gearing diversification in plants and animals. Natural selection provides a mechanism for adaptation to selective forces from a) the environment and b) the other species. It creates adaptative zones around a local optimum in the fitness landscape.

Wrights (1932, 1982) explains how species may escape from getting trapped in these evolutionary local optima in the shifting balance theory (Futuyma 1976, p.174). He suggests that genetic drift may be the driver for quasi-isolated populations to escape from the current fitness peak.

Studies at the molecular level have uncovered other mechanisms proposing yet other alternative mechanisms for adaptative walks, causing diversity and genetic variation. The neutral theory of molecular evolution(Motoo Kimura 1983) suggests that the vast majority of evolutionary changes at the molecular level are caused by random drift of selectively neutral mutants.

The Duplication Evolution (Ohno 1970) is yet another conflictual theory supported with real biological data. Susumu Ohno argued that gene duplication is the most important evolutionary force.Mutations of duplicate genes have no deleterious effects to its host organism. Thus it accumulates mutations faster than a functional single-copy gene, over generations of organisms. Plants are the most prolific genome duplicators. For example, wheat is hexaploid (a kind of polyploid), meaning that it has six copies of its genome.

Other important idea is the disparity theory of evolution. It is based on different mutation rates in double strands of DNA (Doi et Al 1994).

Genetic drift may allow the population to move far away enough from the fitness peak and find the lower base of another peak. Having entered a new adaptive zone the population can climb the new peak rapidly. Once they multiply the innovation may spread to the other population. As a consequence, if this peak is higher, the evolutionary innovation gets into the species as it moves to this new adaptative zone. Kauffmann (1993) however, in his analysis of adaptative walk in rugged fitness landscapes, is critical of this phenomenon being a common occurance.

Complimentary to Wrights shifting balance the Baldwin effect also provides a fast escaping mechanism. Learning accelerates the evolution as it allows individuals to explore the fitness landscape during their lifetimes (Balwin 1896).

Similarly, sexual selection allows an accelerated exploration of the fitness landscape as active mate choices contrast with the passive moves of the genetic drift. Sexual Selection can be seen as a way of making Wrights shifting model more powerful.

As Todd and Miller explain, the economy of sexual selection and courtship innovations is simple, little is lost if the organism develops a phenotypic courtship device and fails. Sexual dimorphism are the difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. The male and female have evolved courtship innovations with cost in terms of natural selection but with substantial benefits for sexual selection. However, a lot is gained if a new adaptive peak is found. These innovations will be elaborated through natural selection. And If these quasi-isolated populations becomes reproductively isolated (allopatry), they form a new species.

The combination of these evolutionary principles forms the core ideas of canonic Evolutionary theory, which informs much of the work on EvoArt. The next section presents a context for EvoArt.

Games Art

2010-06-21T03:24:00.001-07:00

Article in furtherfield

Digital Art

2010-06-20T02:50:00.000-07:00

Database of Virtual Art