A friend of mine showed me this video last weekend, and I just wanted to show you all how freaking cool it is. It's a ongoing work of Dutch artist Theo Jansen, who's literally creating artificial creatures that can move on their own and survive autonomously on a beach. Wind-powered and updated using simulated genetic evolution ... well, just look!
Outside of the coolness factor, the ramifications of this project -- creating autonomous, renewable-energy-powered, zero-emission systems from vehicles to robotics -- just blows my mind. I look forward to seeing something like this in person one day.
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caniscandida Posted 10:08 am
12 Feb 2008
Any development is hard to foresee, given that the "brains" of these animals are not computers; they are built of as simple materials as are the limbs and neo-wheels and wings, and can only perform a few binary functions.
Meanwhile, Jansen's animals should be enjoyed as the magnificent works of art, and of love, that they are. To find value in them only as inspirations of some economic development destroys the beauty, and kills the joy.
Chickens are our cousins! So are fish! So are other sentient animals! Let us learn to be kind.
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mdwalsh Posted 2:23 pm
12 Feb 2008
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robertogreen Posted 2:29 pm
12 Feb 2008
wow.
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