:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Thursday, December 20, 2007 ::

Swarm

We've been talking about ants in the office recently. A slightly esoteric subject but when you share an office with ecologists stuff like this crops up. It prompted me to dig out my copy of Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software by Steven Johnson It's a fascinating look at many seemingly complex processes in nature and their applications in programming.


swarm
Originally uploaded by gusset.


Wandering around Broadmead during lunch time the same day, I spotted this dude. Trying to sell some silly pillow things to the swarms of Christmas shoppers. He would wheel his trolley towards the largest conglomeration, and they in turn would disperse like a school of fish or pack of birds avoiding a larger predator. A perfect example of swam theory in action in human behaviour.

It got me thinking again about the use of cellular automata in generative music and I wondered how much had been done in the field. And low, g3rm pops up a couple of days later with a link to this paper: Cellular Automata in Generative Electronic Music and Sonic Art : Historical and Technical Review [PDF]

That'll keep me busy for a while.

Labels: Computing, Flickr, Programming

:: Dan 20.12.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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