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<html><body><h2>Formula is a speculative research proposal to investigate how we might collectively decide our relationships with artificially intelligent companions.</h2>



<p>Contemporary forms of living and sharing are enabled and often dependent on networked platforms &acirc;&#128;&#147; even if we can sometimes barely understand their underlying mechanisms. At the same time, our near future is likely to be drastically shaped by tools not yet built and artificial intelligences not yet even trained.</p>



<p>The first generation who have lived and often shared their entire lives in the digital age are starting to have families of their own. As it becomes more common, what happens when living with such technology becomes co-parenting? If your neighbours own an always-on voice-recognition personal assistant is it your neighbour too?</p>



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1586" height="1538" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-16-at-17.11.10.png" alt="4D Ultrasound scanning from GE Healthcare " class="wp-image-2510" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-16-at-17.11.10.png 1586w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-16-at-17.11.10-300x291.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-16-at-17.11.10-1024x993.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-16-at-17.11.10-50x48.png 50w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-16-at-17.11.10-768x745.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-16-at-17.11.10-1536x1490.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screenshot-2021-12-16-at-17.11.10-1568x1521.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1586px) 100vw, 1586px"><figcaption>4D Ultrasound scanning from GE Healthcare &ndash; the data footprints of the next generation may begin before they are born</figcaption></figure>
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<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="http://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.35.png"><img loading="lazy" width="1493" height="1496" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.35-edited.png" alt="Diagram of the layers of the new extended family" class="wp-image-1845" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.35-edited.png 1493w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.35-edited-150x150.png 150w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.35-edited-300x300.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.35-edited-768x770.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.35-edited-1022x1024.png 1022w" sizes="(max-width: 1493px) 100vw, 1493px"></a><figcaption>The layers of the new extended family</figcaption></figure></div>
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<p><strong>Training Ground</strong></p>



<p>A child born today may encounter a world increasingly populated by technologies that are also learning ever more precisely from, and about them.  They will enter a world already entangled by connectivity and likely generate big data footprints, perhaps before they are even born and joining what we could call&Acirc;&nbsp;&acirc;&#128;&#139;<em>The New Extended Family</em>&acirc;&#128;&#139;<strong><em>.</em></strong> </p>



<p>Many of the earliest sensory perceptions of the next generation will take place in spaces and environments simultaneously serving as the &lsquo;training&rsquo; grounds for software agents and deep learning systems. Already capable of dazzling linguistic, conversational and analytical feats, such services continue to grow in accuracy and reliability, and young children are beginning to encounter devices and interfaces that are for the first time <em>meaningfully confusing</em>, with respect to the question of artificial identity.</p>



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<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><a href="http://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.49.png"><img loading="lazy" width="2596" height="1374" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.49.png" alt="A graph of the technologies that a child born today might encounter " class="wp-image-1515" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.49.png 2596w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.49-300x159.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.49-768x406.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.49-1024x542.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.49-1536x813.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.49-2048x1084.png 2048w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.28.49-1568x830.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 2596px) 100vw, 2596px"></a><figcaption>The technologies of that a child born today will encounter will likely include a huge array of seemingly intelligent, chatty interfaces</figcaption></figure>



<p><strong>Talking To Strangers</strong></p>



<p>Developments in machine learning conversational or &acirc;&#128;&#152;chatty&acirc;&#128;&#153; systems and image recongition can increasingly operate off-line &ndash; in so-called &acirc;&#128;&#152;federated&acirc;&#128;&#153; learning environments. </p>



<p>At the same time our interactions and the spatial design of public and private spaces will increasingly be shaped by conversations with agents we get to know but cannot see, from Alexa&acirc;&#128;&#153;s and Siri&acirc;&#128;&#153;s in our mobile devices to screens, cars, lampposts and even plant pots. It seems likely that we will continue to use such technology to help us manage the mixed-use city of the future and the operational complexity of juggling shifts of occupancy, function and social program.&nbsp;</p>



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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&ldquo;By 2030, most social situations will be facilitated by intelligent-seeming programs that interact with us in human-like ways. At home, parents will engage skilled bots to help kids with homework and catalyze dinner conversations. A bot confidant will be considered essential for psychological well-being.&rdquo;</p><cite>Judith Donath, Harvard University Berkman Klein Center for Internet &amp; Society</cite></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>&acirc;&#128;&#156;One seven-year-old girl said she thought Google Home was smarter than Alexa because it gave her more information about sloths.&acirc;&#128;&#157;</p><cite><a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/bc/understanding-generation-alpha" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Understanding Generation Alpha Wired Consultants Report 2018</a></cite></blockquote>
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<p>There is a deep cultural history of associating objects with personas, from mystical daemons to allegorical familiars &ndash; it&rsquo;s in human nature (or neurobiology) to personify the things around us. The construction of narrative is a fundamental part our abstractive capacities, helping us navigate a complex world and our community structures are of course, often based on forming collective memories and stitching such stories into shared social histories. </p>



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="750" height="500" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/echo-dot-kids-edition.jpg" alt="Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition (2019)" class="wp-image-2516" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/echo-dot-kids-edition.jpg 750w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/echo-dot-kids-edition-300x200.jpg 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/echo-dot-kids-edition-50x33.jpg 50w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px"><figcaption>Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition (2019)</figcaption></figure>
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<p>Whether you feel that the personification of objects and the creation of such characters is a by-product of evolution or part of a more spiritual tradition, it&acirc;&#128;&#153;s hard to dismiss it&acirc;&#128;&#153;s significance in our everyday lives, especially for the youngest members of our society. </p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1400" height="936" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ll_1.png.jpeg" alt="Prototype from Microsoft's 'Project Oxford' now known as 'Azure Cognitive Services Face API'." class="wp-image-2507" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ll_1.png.jpeg 1400w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ll_1.png-300x201.jpeg 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ll_1.png-1024x685.jpeg 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ll_1.png-50x33.jpeg 50w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ll_1.png-768x513.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px"><figcaption>Prototype from Microsoft&rsquo;s &lsquo;Project Oxford&rsquo; now known as &lsquo;Azure Cognitive Services Face API&rsquo;. The efficacy of image based emotion detection using machine learning is highly contested. </figcaption></figure>



<p><strong>Systems That Build Systems</strong></p>



<p>For many the highly centralised, opaque and proprietary operational patterns that underpin some of our platformed services are highly disconcerting and concern about data collection practices have been growing almost as rapidly as technology advances. However the range of feeling is very broad and many families lie on a spectrum between deep suspicion and rapid adoption &ndash; in some cases both. </p>



<p>If we could restructure our relationship with machine learning technologies, could they actually help us build more liveable and open communities? Could these advancing technologies be shaped to express the local values of groups and communities they find themselves in? How might parents and communities decide the terms for these systems so they can really join the family in a more socially responsible way?</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/big-image-01.png"><img loading="lazy" width="2667" height="2418" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/big-image-01.png" alt="Interface design prototype for organising data relationships with 'intelligent' agents." class="wp-image-1844" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/big-image-01.png 2667w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/big-image-01-300x272.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/big-image-01-768x696.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/big-image-01-1024x928.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/big-image-01-1536x1393.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/big-image-01-2048x1857.png 2048w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/big-image-01-1568x1422.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 2667px) 100vw, 2667px"></a><figcaption>What new interfaces would we need to organise the relationships between increasingly intelligent agents?</figcaption></figure>



<p>Formula proposes a new set of new prototype tools to investigate the complexities that emerge as we encounter technology that learns and talks, to help us co-design and co-define new metaphors, boundaries, characteristics and data standards for our artificially intelligent companions so that they might help us share our homes, public spaces and ultimately our lives in a more human, more meaningful ways.</p>



<p>At the heart of this idea is that it may be possible to keep new systems within more human-readable boundaries that we might reasonably expect of all members of society. While of course this may increase the sense of agency over such systems, more subtle questions arise about how we define such models for ourselves. Could it be the case that the discussion and organisation of these systems by informed communities is itself a valuable social exercise in an increasingly polarised digital world?</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-5-01.png"><img loading="lazy" width="2580" height="810" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-5-01.png" alt="Examples of the different types of agents that might be put to community use." class="wp-image-1843" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-5-01.png 2580w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-5-01-300x94.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-5-01-768x241.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-5-01-1024x321.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-5-01-1536x482.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-5-01-2048x643.png 2048w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-5-01-1568x492.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 2580px) 100vw, 2580px"></a><figcaption>What new models of interactive agents might be created if communities had access to more sophisticated methods to set boundaries?</figcaption></figure>



<p>The tendency in debate surrounding artificial intelligence is to see it uniformly as something that continues to grow in &lsquo;power&rsquo; until it reaches a point beyond human comprehension. While in the long term future this might become true, the decisions we take en route may be just as consequential. By establishing criteria and limits around which machine intelligences can relate to the world and to social life, could we arrive at a diaspora of agents that relate the memories, language and culture to other members households or community members, potentially across generations into the future?</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><a href="http://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.27.33.png"><img loading="lazy" width="2600" height="1670" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.27.33.png" alt="Illustration of the broad scope of technologies that conversational interfaces might become part of" class="wp-image-1522" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.27.33.png 2600w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.27.33-300x193.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.27.33-768x493.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.27.33-1024x658.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.27.33-1536x987.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.27.33-2048x1315.png 2048w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-11.27.33-1568x1007.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 2600px) 100vw, 2600px"></a><figcaption>Defining clearer relationship boundaries between learning networks and growing children</figcaption></figure>



<p>Learning to orientate ourselves, as the emerging field of conversational interfacing becomes interwoven with the human process of sense-making is an urgent task. We have already, for instance, arrived in the age of fast, computationally cheap <a href="https://deepmind.com/blog/article/wavenet-generative-model-raw-audio">voice mimicry</a> &ndash; the ability to accurately and quickly simulate individual voices and inflections to produce almost entirely convincing digital remakes.  Perhaps our social engagement with digital systems and the cultivation of real relationships with them is however, the organic evolution of the human fascination with narrative?</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-10.51.19.png"><img loading="lazy" width="1834" height="1326" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-10.51.19.png" alt="Illustration of co-parenting in the age of machine intelligence." class="wp-image-1506" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-10.51.19.png 1834w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-10.51.19-50x36.png 50w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-10.51.19-300x217.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-10.51.19-768x555.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-10.51.19-1024x740.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-10.51.19-1536x1111.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screenshot-2021-05-07-at-10.51.19-1568x1134.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1834px) 100vw, 1834px"></a><figcaption>Towards community control of machine learning?</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>This project was originally the result of a speculative proposal and the questions raised are being further explored in as yet published work. If you&rsquo;d like to know more please get in touch: chris [at] burman [dot] work </p>



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Formula

Growing up in the age of machine intelligence

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A writing project exploring the relationships between ecology, perception and space.

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<html><body><p>The archive of Christopher Burman photography.</p>
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Regularly updated, loosely organised collection of photography

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<html><body><p>Frames is an on-going series of vector images, published twice weekly at: <a href="http://frames.burman.work">http://frames.burman.work</a></p>



<p>The project started in January 2021, in the midst of a COVID-19 lockdown.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0043-1024x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-2335" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0043-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0043-300x300.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0043-50x50.png 50w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0043-768x768.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0043-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0043-1568x1568.png 1568w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0043.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"><figcaption>#0043</figcaption></figure>



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0024.png"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0024-1024x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1852" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0024-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0024-150x150.png 150w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0024-300x300.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0024-768x768.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0024-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0024-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0024-1568x1568.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></a><figcaption>#0024</figcaption></figure>



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<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0040.png"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0040-1024x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1853" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0040-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0040-150x150.png 150w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0040-300x300.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0040-768x768.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0040-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0040-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0040-1568x1568.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></a><figcaption>#0040</figcaption></figure></div>
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<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0013.png"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0013-1024x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1855" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0013-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0013-150x150.png 150w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0013-300x300.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0013-768x768.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0013-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0013-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0013-1568x1568.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></a><figcaption>#0013</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0002.png"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0002-1024x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-1854" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0002-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0002-150x150.png 150w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0002-300x300.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0002-768x768.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0002-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0002-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/0002-1568x1568.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></a><figcaption>#0002</figcaption></figure></div>



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0047-1024x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-2337" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0047-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0047-300x300.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0047-50x50.png 50w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0047-768x768.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0047-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0047-1568x1568.png 1568w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/0047.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"><figcaption>#0047</figcaption></figure>
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Frames

An on-going series of vector images, published twice weekly.

http://frames.burman.work

View The Project

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<html><body><p>We live in entangled networks of buzzing things, both living, digital and somewhere in between.</p>



<p>In this module we ask where do we need to look to understand what the city becomes next? Who or what will generates it&rsquo;s configuration? How will it connect together?&nbsp;</p>



<p>Smart, dumb, connected, disconnected, cheap, fast, slow, old, broken, clean, dirty, &lsquo;green&rsquo;, &lsquo;blue&rsquo;, &lsquo;grey&rsquo; or other. The aim of this module is cultivate our curiosity about the&nbsp;<em>things</em>&nbsp;that make up the networks of urban life. What are their characteristics, and how might they need to change?&nbsp;</p>
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The City in Things

Masters Module on The Prototyping Future Cities MA, Shukhov Lab, Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Cover Design

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<html><body><blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><em>&ldquo;The solution is the source of pain and pleasure to the situation to ensure that they don&acirc;&#128;&#153;t do anything or on the way we evaluate the way they love to realize that they don&acirc;&#128;&#153;t want to realize that they have to do it.&rdquo;</em></p><cite>Extract from<em> What Will Happen In Your Metaphor?</em></cite></blockquote>



<p><strong>What Will Happen In Your Metaphor?</strong> is a self-help book generated with the Char-RNN machine learning algorithm, using Tony Robbins genre classic &acirc;&#128;&#156;Awaken The Giant Within&acirc;&#128;&#157; as source material.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><a href="http://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2.jpg"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="768" src="http://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-618" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-300x225.jpg 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-768x576.jpg 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-35x26.jpg 35w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-27x20.jpg 27w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-67x50.jpg 67w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-533x400.jpg 533w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-800x600.jpg 800w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mock_up_2-1333x1000.jpg 1333w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></a></figure>



<p>The title of the project and the full content of the book, including chapter headings and motivational quotes are generated from the output of a trained software model.</p>



<p>The intention of the project is to not only to demonstrate the power of text based generative frameworks, but also to document the progress of such a model as it learns, with each paragraph in the text generated by another sequential training iteration. The book begins with an almost incomprehensible stream of characters but quickly transforms into fully legible, grammatically correct aphorisms.</p>



<p>In this sense &acirc;&#128;&#152;<strong>What Will Happen In Your Metaphor?</strong>&acirc;&#128;&#153; exposes an uncanny transition, as a more clear voice gradually emerges from a soup of letters, asking the reader to consider exactly where the meaning of the words resides.</p>



<p>Char-RNN is a fascinating approach, developed by Andrej Karpathy and extensively outlined in his blog post: <a href="http://karpathy.github.io/2015/05/21/rnn-effectiveness/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Recurrent Neural Networks</a>.</p>



<p>It processes large volumes of source text to make predictions on a character by character basis, using multi-layer LSTM&rsquo;s, or &lsquo;Long Short-Term Memory&rsquo; a type of neural network architecture particularly well suited to this task. The learning model quickly builds &ndash; essentially from scratch &ndash; an appreciation of how digital text is structured and is before long out-putting seemingly meaningful novel sentences. Part of what is so interesting for me about Char-RNN is that it demonstrates how susceptible we are to infer from meaning from a text, if the grammar and structure it&rsquo;s presentation seem to match our expectations.</p>



<p>The process of training a model involves establishing constraints about just how it should learn. Most of the generated book is the output of the model as it is &lsquo;learning&rsquo; and more inclined to take risks in how it generates characters. The final chapter represents the output of the model when it has been fully trained and , leading to a higher degree of accuracy.</p>



<p>The source for the project was &acirc;&#128;&#156;Awaken The Giant Within&acirc;&#128;&#157;, a foundational and perhaps seminal text within the self-help movement, for which it&rsquo;s famous author Tony Robbins is a noted figure. Beyond it&acirc;&#128;&#153;s stated aim of being a guide to &ldquo;<em>Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Life</em>&ldquo;,  the original book is an attempt to demonstrate the power of language to transform our thinking &ndash; an intuitively written guide for experiencing the world in a different way by actively reframing how we describe it.</p>



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What Will Happen In Your Metaphor?

A book generated by a recurrent neural network, trained on “Awaken The Giant Within” by Tony Robbins

On Car Museums

Trust Issues

Commissioned by Turf Projects for the Exhibition 'Ground', 2015

An essay about sense, space and orientation

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<html><body><p class="has-drop-cap">Perhaps we can be grateful at least that someone in the US Navy has a sense of humour as <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2016-01/08/drone-swarms-change-warfare" target="_blank">plans were recently announced </a>to field test a new swarm robotics program called &nbsp;&lsquo;Low Cost UAV Swarming Technology&rsquo; codename <em>LOCUST</em>.</p>



<p>Biblical references aside, the&nbsp;aim of their program is to create disposable self-organising drones swarms, as a cheaper&nbsp;and more&nbsp;dangerous alternative to $1M missiles. Each &lsquo;missile&rsquo; is actually an airborne&nbsp;pack of 30&nbsp;drones, individually&nbsp;shot from a canon before forming into co-operative flock&nbsp;in mid-air under the general guidance&nbsp;of a single sheepherding pilot.</p>



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="LOCUST" width="750" height="563" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AyguXoum3rk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p>As a program,&nbsp;LOCUST isn&rsquo;t flying into uncharted territory, swarm robotics is one of the boom research areas in&nbsp;labs across the world, with engineers tackling a full spectrum of scales, from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn1gmcs-HXU">nano robotics</a>, at a cellular level, insect sized &ldquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDsmbwOrHJs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kilobots</a>&ldquo;, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UCpf7mBZIw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">choreographed dancing spheres</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQIMGV5vtd4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">micro quadcopters</a>&nbsp;and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITTvgkO2Xw4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">boats</a>.</p>



<p>There are some remarkable possibilities, especially in medicine and nano-robotics,&nbsp;but as the physical size of the robots increases, the military potential becomes more perturbing. While civilian applications from&nbsp;disaster relief to agriculture might be significant, there less reflection&nbsp;about the outcome of projects specifically designed to exponentially scale, not just to tens&nbsp;or hundreds of members, but quite possibly&nbsp;hundreds of thousands.</p>



<p>Pitched as a&nbsp;weapon, these numbers presents some spooky&nbsp;military options&nbsp;&ndash; a mass of robots that can confuse and overwhelm an enemy, guard a convoy, transport objects, and solve problems as a pack. The stated aim is to&nbsp;form self-organising clouds with behaviour that is adaptable to the situation in which they find themselves, a squad&nbsp;formulating solutions for goals together rather than simply moving from A to B. By stealing a few of ideas from nature, robot teams&nbsp;are able to achieve en masse what seem like impossible feats, for instance 20 tiny&nbsp;robots moving&nbsp;a 1800kg car.</p>



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="Let's all Pull Together: Team of &Acirc;&micro;Tug Microrobots Pulls a Car" width="750" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wU8Q7gIdiMI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div><figcaption>Swarm Robots Working Together</figcaption></figure>



<p>While single drones are usually associated with surveillance or the long-range kill &ndash; operating unseen, as a spy or a sniper &ndash; a&nbsp;major &lsquo;advantage&rsquo;&nbsp;of the&nbsp;swarm is&nbsp;it&acirc;&#128;&#153;s physical presence. It is not a single target, but a headless, amorphous beast, growing&nbsp;into huge flocks, impossible to individually target or disarm.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>By coordinating dozens of drones or more into a single swarm, it&rsquo;s theorized the tiny aircraft could overwhelm a defender, presenting far more targets then can be easily destroyed and allowing at least some weaponized drones to reach their target.</p><cite>As described in the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.army.mil/article/156370/Drones_to_take_Network_Integration_Evaluation_by_swarm/">official Army Press release</a>&nbsp;for a &lsquo;Network Integration Evaluation&rsquo;.</cite></blockquote>



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<h2>The Calm before the Swarm</h2>



<p>In someways the&nbsp;creation&nbsp;of the swarm only represents the next logical step after the deployment of physically reliable autonomous robots. That drones are now cheap enough to be on sale in <a href="http://www.argos.co.uk/static/ArgosPromo3/includeName/drones.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Argos</a> is testament to the massive leaps that has been made in UAV technology over the last few decades; a progression that has relied the simultaneous solution of several non-trivial problems including the miniaturisation of microprocessors and sensor technology, wireless communication, GPS, sophisticated libraries for movement stabilisation and even battery technology.</p>



<p>These first challenges of drone robotics are perhaps similar to those&nbsp;a baby encounters&nbsp;in infancy; the development of basic motor skills, moving and not falling over, of limited communication, or navigating obstacles in the environment, knowing when to refuel. And of course single drones, like children have only limited autonomy.</p>



<p>For the drones to work together effectively however requires a different set of hard problems to be overcome that are dependent on first ones.&nbsp;A good list of the challenges is defined in more detail in this <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2013/608164/" target="_blank">paper</a>&nbsp;but includes more abstract ideas such as team goal setting, the leaving or joining of the flock, pattern formation, collective movement, task allocation and collective mapping.&nbsp;Extending this slightly dry set of technical terms we might see this next stage of robots akin to a child&acirc;&#128;&#153;s first exposure to society, and the development of social skills and and appreciation of the relationships and hierarchies of their&nbsp;community. In general a far more nuanced&nbsp;set of challenges, possibly without defined&nbsp;&lsquo;solutions&rsquo;.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-large"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king.png"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="576" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-638" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-1024x576.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-300x169.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-768x432.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-35x20.png 35w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-30x17.png 30w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-89x50.png 89w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-600x338.png 600w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-900x506.png 900w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king-1500x844.png 1500w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lion_king.png 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></a><figcaption>A still from the stampede scene from Disney&rsquo;s The Lion King, one of the first commercial uses of Craig Reynolds Flocking algorithms.</figcaption></figure>



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<h2>Model Agency</h2>



<p>An intriguing aspect of this next stage&nbsp;is that while the challenges&nbsp;of actually getting a drone into the air is generally a hardware problem, the creation of stable, collaborative swarm is in the software&nbsp;and some of these&nbsp;problems have had people&nbsp;interested for decades already. The most acute insights into crowd behaviours actually originate entirely in computer code, for instance the first simulations of flocking algorithms, developed by <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.red3d.com/cwr/" target="_blank">Craig Reynolds</a> in 1986.&nbsp;Reynolds developed a set of simple rules governing patterns of behaviour of digital agents that generates simulations that at least appear to have they&rsquo;re own, hypnotic and&nbsp;anthropomorphic logic. Craig Reynolds termed these agents &ldquo;boids&rdquo;, and defined a series of crowd behaviours, which in turned became <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://opensteer.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">OpenSteer</a>, an open source library widely used in the computer games. <a href="#notes"><sup>1</sup></a> &nbsp;These path-finding algorithms have a brought range of uses in simulation, not least the crowd-dynamics of CGI films &ndash; one of the first&nbsp;being the stampeded scene is The Lion King.</p>



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<p>It&rsquo;s worth considering the fundamental metaphorical difference between a&nbsp;swarm and a&nbsp;crowd.&nbsp;While a crowd might be defined by a shared purpose, as in&nbsp;the crowd-sourced, crowd-funded web and it&rsquo;s varying degrees of utility, as a group is not necessarily adaptive, rational or even logical &ndash; it&rsquo;s simply strength in numbers.</p>



<p>However it&rsquo;s not just volume that gives the swarm more terrifying potential &ndash; reliant on organisational principles we cannot easily predict or outsmart &ndash; in the case of a weapon, something that might can attack from all directions. While it also relies on the group having some shared purpose and is defined by relationships between those within it &ndash; co-operation of some kind between it&rsquo;s members is essential. While crowds and mobs dissipate or run out of energy &ndash; the members of a swarm are essentially dependent on it for identity, for safety, for survival or create conditions where individuals are dispensable for the benefit of the whole. <sup><a href="#notes" data-type="internal" data-id="#notes">2</a></sup></p>



<p>The most obvious and powerful exploration&nbsp;of this is&nbsp;<em>The Birds</em>, Hitchcock&acirc;&#128;&#153;s&nbsp;terrifying portrayal of the reversal of natural order.&nbsp;Another film which explores this motif in incredible visual splendour is Phase VI, the only feature-film directed by Saul Bass, the famed&nbsp;designer responsible for amongst many other projects, the iconic poster for The Birds. In Phase IV, ant species of the world begin to unite and before turning against the&nbsp;scientists sent to research them. What makes these behaviour of the creatures&nbsp;in both these films so acutely uncanny&nbsp;is that we are free to imagine there is a&nbsp;pervasive&nbsp;and collective purpose&nbsp;to their actions&nbsp;but we cannot comprehend&nbsp;what it is &ndash; in fact&nbsp;we can do little but run. <sub><sup><a href="#notes" data-type="internal" data-id="#notes">3</a></sup></sub></p>



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<p>Since it&rsquo;s helpful to work at various levels of abstraction within the field of swarm robotics and everything is simulated before it&rsquo;s built, techniques for controlling the swarm&nbsp;can be borrowed from&nbsp;disciplines as distinct&nbsp;as particle physics or sociobiology. Agent based simulation is already a well established research technique&nbsp;in&nbsp;social sciences and macroeconomics, as well as the&nbsp;bedrock of computer game AI.</p>



<p>Of course the &acirc;&#128;&#152;agents&rsquo; inside an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-sieJVR5TI" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">economic model</a>&nbsp;might operate on&nbsp;axes labelled &lsquo;incentives&rsquo; or &lsquo;productivity&rsquo; &ndash; but the exploration and decision making in these&nbsp;&acirc;&#128;&#153;solution spaces&acirc;&#128;&#153; might be entirely portable. Strategies based on video games or&nbsp;emergent phenomena&nbsp;found in networks, simulations and &ldquo;Big Data&rdquo; become fair territory to exploit in honing the intelligence of the swarm and in a sense weaponising the research itself.</p>



<p>What&acirc;&#128;&#153;s more it&rsquo;s a two way street &ndash; in <a href="http://www.wired.com/2013/03/powers-of-swarms/">one study of real-world locusts</a>&nbsp;researchers observed&nbsp;the locusts &acirc;&#128;&#156;<em>spontaneously generate the same formations that physicists observe in statistical models.</em>&acirc;&#128;&#157; &nbsp;Some of these principles&nbsp;appear essentially&nbsp;interchangeable between real animal behaviour, mathematical simulations&nbsp;and artificial intelligence &ndash; which in a world of drone warfare, might provide a genuine military&nbsp;advantage.</p>



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<h2>Intel Outside</h2>



<p>So while the drone and it&acirc;&#128;&#153;s ability to <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/every-person-is-afraid-of-the-drones-the-strikes-effect-on-life-in-pakistan/262814/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">remotely induce terror</a>, has slowly but surely entered the&nbsp;mainstream, the image of the weaponised swarm hasn&rsquo;t quite permeated the public consciousness yet &ndash; although this&nbsp;may soon be about to change.&nbsp;Some of the research projects are making it out of the lab and into the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShGl5rQK3ew">interactive art world</a> &ndash; including this video by Intel demonstrating the choreography of &nbsp;100 drones set to an orchestra.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s a corporate promo so it hardly critical about the military potential of the technology but it does represent a&nbsp;21-gun salute for the launch of the swarm age.</p>



<p>Aside from the obvious question about how&nbsp;Beethoven might&nbsp;feel about Intel mashing&nbsp;the five notes of their&nbsp;jingle into his fifth symphony, the video appears to be a celebration that we are&nbsp;even able to maintain control of this many&nbsp;drones,&nbsp;presupposing the swarm as a wild force that can be tamed but only just.</p>



<p>Perhaps&nbsp;as the drone has become a focal point for a discussion surveillance, military power overseas and the technological disconnect between remote control and effect, the evolution&nbsp;of swarm dynamics&nbsp;may come to represent something beyond that. If&nbsp;robotic swarms are going to be part of the future of our &lsquo;security apparatus&rsquo; &nbsp;they represent a&nbsp;demonstration of not just a new weapon but the cultivation of a different kind of fear, fuelled by a ravenous appetite for emergent properties and Big Data. Less an exercise&nbsp;in&nbsp;soft power but something altogether more&nbsp;&lsquo;fuzzy&rsquo;.</p>



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<p id="notes">Notes</p>



<ol><li>Reynolds observations and ability to model them are still wonderfully elegant&nbsp;30 years later. His insights are reminiscent of the story about Alan Turing, gazing at a cow through his window and wondering about the formation of it&acirc;&#128;&#153;s skin pattern, before inventing the mathematics of morphogenesis, which would half a century later be more fully validated by biologists in the lab.</li><li>Although part of a different discussion, it&rsquo;s hard&nbsp;to ignore the fact that it&rsquo;s the same&nbsp;type of fear that many politicians seem happy to invoke&nbsp;in reference to migration both in Europe and the US.&nbsp;When David Cameron referred to the refugees in Calais as a swarm of people, &nbsp;he is of course implying that&nbsp;a&nbsp;swarm is by default a confusing, overwhelming enemy.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33716501</li><li>There isn&rsquo;t a word that specifically means a fear of swarms, but taking from the ancient greek Esmos, we might arrive at&nbsp;<em>Esmophobia</em> &ndash; https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/rhetoric/camerons-swarms-and-dehumanizing-ancient-greek-rhetoric/</li></ol>



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Happiness Is A Swarm Gun

Flocking, Steering, Herding: Are We Ready for the Autonomous Swarm?

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<html><body><p>Consider a near-future reality of making things in which every digital production process, material technique and construction method is fully automated, seamlessly connected and remotely organised. Let&acirc;&#128;&#153;s call this <strong>Easy Production</strong>.</p>



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/easy_and_me_extract.png"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="495" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/easy_and_me_extract-1024x495.png" alt="" class="wp-image-2072" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/easy_and_me_extract-1024x495.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/easy_and_me_extract-300x145.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/easy_and_me_extract-768x371.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/easy_and_me_extract-1536x743.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/easy_and_me_extract-2048x990.png 2048w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/easy_and_me_extract-1568x758.png 1568w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></a></figure>



<p>At the same time the sophistication of our interfaces to control technology starts to simplify another order of magnitude. Machine learning systems graduate from helpful gimmick to becoming fundamental middle management in the way we engage with technology. Interactions become sufficiently &acirc;&#128;&#152;intelligent&acirc;&#128;&#153;that our statements and actions are richly interpreted and complex decisions can be made on our behalf &acirc;&#128;&#147; in real time. Let&acirc;&#128;&#153;s call this <strong>Easy Communication.</strong><br><br>Finally consider a software platform which has a fully semantic relationship to data. Services like Google Images or Facebook and it&acirc;&#128;&#153;s social models are attempts at realising this for specific types of data, but anticipate the extensions of these structures as they become entirely interoperable. Images, sounds, text, news, social profiles, videos, 3D models, networks, faces, products, voices, purchasing preferences, meta-data, time and space become fully interchangeable components. Like a seamless road-trip from Rainbow Road, Mario Kart to Liberty City, Grand Theft Auto &acirc;&#128;&#147; digital descriptions of objects, concepts or the relationships between them flow effortlessly across all platforms &acirc;&#128;&#147; in real time. Let&acirc;&#128;&#153;s call this <strong>Easy Data. </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-23-at-12.09.57.png"><img loading="lazy" width="1024" height="478" src="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-23-at-12.09.57-1024x478.png" alt="" class="wp-image-2067" srcset="https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-23-at-12.09.57-1024x478.png 1024w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-23-at-12.09.57-300x140.png 300w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-23-at-12.09.57-768x359.png 768w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-23-at-12.09.57-1536x718.png 1536w, https://data.burman.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screenshot-2021-08-23-at-12.09.57.png 1558w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"></a></figure>



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<p>The fact that the current state of technology is not too far away from any of these three pitches being realised is fascinating.&nbsp;We must consider though the relationships that develop as all three paradigms begin to collide.</p>



<p> If <em><strong>Easy Communication</strong></em> controls <em><strong>Easy</strong> <strong>Production</strong></em> fed by <em><strong>Easy Data</strong></em>, our relationship with digital systems &ndash; and creative practices which engaged with them &ndash; may become entirely conversational. During such a conversation is it clear when are speaking and when we are listening? When does such a system start to talk about itself? When does it ask us for help?</p>



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<p><a href="http://cb.li-dev.co.uk//wp-content/uploads/2017/03/c_burman_easy_and_me.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Download Here &ndash; Easy And Me [PDF]</a></p>
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Easy and Me

What happens when Easy Production meets Easy Communication meets Easy Data?

BURMAN.WORK

Christopher Burman

Artist & Urban Technologist

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Growing up in the age of machine intelligence

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A writing project exploring the relationships between ecology, perception and space.

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Heat Island

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Raw Processing

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