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Fiction

Here comes every thing…

Two researchers from ULabs, Cambridge have brought the possibility of desktop bio-engineering a step closer. Dr William von Ka and Dr Michel Mauss are developing DIY kits for bio-engineered networked objects. They hope to have a fully functioning prototype within the next 2 years. Essentially you will be able to ‘terraform’ or farm your own universe, fashion it from a combination of digital avatars, spimes and biological matter.

Writing in The Journal of Genetic Fiction, Ka & Mauss describe their work as: ‘transreality story telling’ or ‘recombinant carnivalism’, a mash-up of three emerging fields: Mixed Reality, AI and Biotech— oh yes, and a heavy dose of ‘ludic’ spin. The gaming angle is vital, for what has tentatively been called ‘Desktop Pet Publishing’ (DTPP), is seen as the logical extension of cosmological programs such as SL and WOW— Think: OncoMouse ® meets Lego meets meets The Sims.

design | biotech | denser now | terraforming | narrative | udp

Comments

[Ben]

Does that mean Dyson will attempt ‘brand transcendence’ and like Hoover move from a noun to a verb? As an attempt to counter the ‘grey goo problem’, hoover manufacturers develop ‘blue goo’ predators to control the ensuing chaos!

[Matt]

what are the illustrations? have you seen this? http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/146

spore looks amazing.

right, down to business, drink and proposal?

[Nic]

Matt, that’s fantastic, speculative gaming! I would say that’s one of the directions, design and narratology. The illustrations were a way of exploring ‘bio fiction’, ones a ‘Qee’ http://www.toy2r.com/Qee_patent/Qee_patent_index.html ones a lego thing Summer made the other day, two are culled from old Japanese wood cuts and the pussy’s— well, a pussy.

I’ll buzz you about the drink.