Monday, February 1, 2010

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] simulation vs emulation vs representation

Hi Roman,
In a holistic sphere (cyberspace) the terms became fuzzy, is it real,
simulation, emulation or representation?

Interesting examples are Eduardo Kac's installations: "Teleporting an
Unknown State" (1994-2003) creates an experience of the cyberspace as a
holistic life-supporting system. In a dark room, a pedestal with earth
serves as a nursery for a single plant seed. Through a video projector
suspended above and facing the pedestal, remote surfers transmit light via
the Internet to enable the seed to photosynthesize and grow in the dark
environment.

Another piece by Kac "Genesis" (1998/99), is a transgenic art installation
that explores the network relationship between technology, society, ethics,
biology and myths. An "artist's synthetic gene" was fabricated. The gene
contained a Morse- encoded verse from the biblical Book of Genesis. The
verse reads: "Let man have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
This verse implies humanity's domination over nature. Morse code represents
the dawn of the information age - the genesis of global time and space
compression. The Genesis gene was incorporated into bacteria, which were
shown in the gallery. Web surfers could control ultraviolet illumination in
the gallery, causing biological mutations in the bacteria containing the
Genesis verse.

After successive manipulations, the DNA was decoded into Morse code, and
into mutated verse in English. This art piece suggests a new holistic
interactive data sphere where the ability to change the verse is a
reciprocal symbolic gesture.


Avi.

-----Original Message-----
From: yasmin_discussions-bounces@estia.media.uoa.gr
[mailto:yasmin_discussions-bounces@estia.media.uoa.gr] On Behalf Of ramon
guardans
Sent: ב 01 פברואר 2010 16:57
To: YASMIN DISCUSSIONS
Subject: Re: [Yasmin_discussions] simulation vs emulation vs representation

i would say that in these terms its representation or emulation, clearly not
simulation, the pixels in the image are placed by some kind of graphic
routine directed by a program but none of this is simulating any biological
processes. like a graphic of a blooming flower which can be very detailed
but is never based on cellular behaviour integrated to the flower level, the
graphic on dna does not consider the interaction between pixels or nuclear
acids.

in biology , specially molecular biology the distinction is complicated,
also because , like in astronomy, what one is simulationg are already images
mediated by a microscope, telescope or other device that has a way to bring
things to us thus changing them already.

i think its also useful to think about the three kinds of relations,

us versus simulation/emulation ,
simulation/emulation versus the physical process it deals with,
and our relation with the process mediated by the simulation.

Are the astronomical simulations you pointed out very different in their
strucutre and function from an armillary sphere, also a simulation and
representation of the cosmos that one can use to test out things,

greetings

--- On Mon, 2/1/10, roger malina <rmalina@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

> From: roger malina <rmalina@alum.mit.edu>
> Subject: [Yasmin_discussions] simulation vs emulation vs representation
> To: "YASMIN DISCUSSIONS" <Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr>
> Date: Monday, February 1, 2010, 8:45 AM
> ramon
>
> thanks for the example of molecular dynamics-
> i guess i would distinguish three sub categories
>
> - representation/ eg a walt dysney cartoon that elicits
> human response like
> the physical phenomenon but the animation does not encode
> any physics
>
> - emulation- where the representation behaves like the
> physical phenomenon
> but does not encode the same physical assumptions ( eg a
> computer can
> emulate old software but runs on new computer chips and
> emulates the way the
> old chips behaved)
>
>
> - simulation- where the software system encodes the best
> scientific laws
> available to enable a system to behave like the real
> phenomenon= many
> artificial life systems try to do this
>
> the two examples i gave on stellar evolution and evolution
> of structure of
> the universe are "simulations'= i tried to
> find out what category the molecular dynamics animation
> was\
> but couldnt=do you know ?
>
> i suspect that there are texts on these differences
> between
> represenation/emulation/simulation =maybe yasminers can
> point
> us to them
>
> roger
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: ramon guardans <ramon.guardans@soundplots.com>
>
>
> Thank you Roger and Avi, informative and beautiful mterial
> adding to this i would suggest
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIwu5MevZyg
>
> and other similar molecular dynamics simulations
>
>
>
>
> be well
> r
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