David Benqué's Infinite Adventure Machine creates random folk-tales, and is itself an adventure in what he describes as an unsolved computer science problem: automatic story generation.
Tales and myths; the core narratives of human culture, have been transmitted for generations through various technologies and media. What new forms might they take through digital formats and Artificial Intelligence?
Based on the work of Vladimir Propp, who reduced the structure of russian folk-tales to 31 basic functions, TIAM aims to question the limitations and implications of attempts at programming language and narrative.
Because the program is unable to deliver a finished story, rather only a crude synopsis and illustrations, users have to improvise, filling the gaps with their imagination and making up for the technology's shortcomings.
Wikipedia's article on Propp has a lengthy description of his typology of narrative structures.
I've always been fascinated by the subtle movement these devices make, whereby a description of universal narrative elements is turned into a prescription for writing new stories. Every few years there seems to be another bestseller book, for example, telling you how to succeed in Hollywood with Joseph Campbell. Campbell seems mostly good for turning every hero into Jesus but with Vedic mysticism.
But I love these random generators all the same (and make my own). The bite-size mind-meld between culture and software they embody has a strange magic to it.
The Infinite Adventure Machine [Glitch Fiction via Creative Applications]
YouTuber IAA015 likes to demonstrate fun decorative gadgets for the home and office, like this nicely designed Stirling engine that can reach speeds of over 2,000 revolutions per minute.
Now that Consumer Reports is explicitly factoring privacy and security into its tech reviews, we're making some progress to calling out the terrible state of affairs that turned the strange dream of an Internet of Things into a nightmare we call the Internet of Shit.
Uni's Kuru Toga Roulettes are mechanical pencils that solve a problem I've never had, which is that the tip wears differentially, eventually creating a blunt instrument (I am a clod whose draftsmanship looks like I tried writing in a zeppelin caught in a tornado, so this is not a problem for me) -- the Roulette […]
Traveling isn’t always the most comfortable experience, but at least you have your music to keep you company on those long flights. That is, until your chatty neighbor and that crying baby three seats over drown out your playlist. These Paww WaveSound 3 Noise-Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones block up to 20 decibels of audio, so you can […]
SEO can be a fickle creature, but it can work in your favor—you just need the right tools. When it comes to getting your site on that coveted first page of Google, SERPstash Premium simplifies the process with 21 user-friendly tools designed to break down your page’s performance and show you where you can improve. Lifetime […]
Running a Shopify store is a great way to net some extra cash on the side or—if you really know what you’re doing—replace your 9-to-5 altogether. However, success doesn’t come naturally, and newcomers tend to receive mixed results when starting on their own. This E-Commerce Bootcamp can help start your Shopify venture off on the right […]
