>>> code
>>> pseudo-code
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slime machine
[python]
with the hope that all machines will slime
This is my final thesis for the Design Research Master Degree I followed at BAU advised by Timothy Justin Cowlishaw.
This research explores the concept of intelligence, the view of machines and their
relationship in a more than human way.
The focus of my research is slime mould, and in particular the Physarum Polycephalum species, a
non-binary, decentralized, random organism used as a model for thinking about and then developing a new
form of computing.
I begin by rethinking intelligence, challenging the brain-centric view that has dominated our society
and trying to understand it in all its forms, trying to remove the anthropocentric lens and analyze it
in its more-than-human forms. Then, I examine how machines can be reimagined, designing new
relationships and better ways to coexist with non-human entities, following an ecology of
technology.
The research includes the development of a computer vision algorithm inspired by the behavior of slime
moulds, with a focus on edge detection. This algorithm, aaardm.py, starts from randomness and searches
for solutions rather than predicting them, providing a philosophical and practical framework for a more
ecological and inclusive form of computing.
Through this research I wanted to demonstrate that there are other ways of doing technology, that
integrate with the more-than-human world in an harmoniously way, keeping nature at the center of the
process and that the conception of a new form of computing is not only material in nature, but refers
back to a new way of thinking.
I presented my research Slime Machine at the "HÃbrides: small embodied data" event, Barcelona, November 28–30, 2024