March 04, 2008
Electric Sheep Covered by Discover
The Electric Sheep was recommended by Discover Magazine in their survey of distributed computing. They had this to say:
What it is: If Darwin returned as an artist with a knack for computer science, he might be Scott �Spot� Draves, creator of Electric Sheep, a collective of computers that renders artwork. Animations, or �sheep,� evolve into high-definition abstract paintings, spawning off in random mutations. But it�s more science than you�d expect. �I want people to see the power of evolution,� Draves says. �I'd like people to accept evolution and randomness as the ultimate creative force in our universe.�How it works: The program creates sheep whose color, shape, and motion are specified by a "genetic code." If a user sees a sheep he likes, she may vote for it. Sheep that receive more votes live longer and are more likely to reproduce.
Our take: Must scientists get all the distributed-computing love? Perhaps not.
They first covered the Sheep in the
August 2004 issue.
Posted by spot at March 4, 2008 02:51 PM
Comments
That's some really nice coverage, Spot! You should work on your beard though, if you really want the Darwin thing to stick. ;-)
Posted by: Cassidy at March 4, 2008 09:28 PM
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