What is Next Nature?
With our attempts to cultivate nature, humankind causes the rising of a next nature, which is wild and unpredictable as ever. Wild systems, genetic surprises, autonomous machinery and splendidly beautiful black flowers. Nature changes along with us.
Posts Tagged ‘Designed-by-Evolution’
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Build a better being
Will Wright’s hugely successful games SimCity and The Sims let players shape the structure of urban areas and the lives of virtual humans; his upcoming game, Spore, lets them control the universe.
Although it is just a game, the young gamers of today may grow up to be the bioengineers of tomorrow. If Spore has any influence whatsoever, we foresee an utterly comical genetic future.
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Robotic R)evolution
In 1921 the word “Robot” (meaning “labor”) was introduced by Czech writer Karel Čapek. In his play “R.U.R.” (Rossum’s Universal Robots), robots seem happy to work for humans. That changes and leads to the end of the human race due to a hostile robot rebellion.
In august 2008 Sega Toys launches the “Dream Hamster” robot. The company is targeting (Japanese) women 20 to 40 years of age and expects to sell 100,000 units per year.
Aren’t they cute?
Via engadget.com | Related: Killer Robots | Giant Plush Microbes | BabyBunny | Hamster Shredder
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Hyper Fish
While swimming in second life, India Leigh came across this cool lion fish.
See also: Redefining Nemo, Augmented Fish Reality, Who wants to drive a fish?.
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Homo Desktopus
A future physical anthropologist who knows nothing about the human race and would dig up a contemporary desktop computer, might conclude homo desktopus must have been the user of the device.
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I’m feeling lucky
A 21-leaf clover discovered on June 3 by Iwate prefecture farmer Shigeo Obara has shattered the Guinness world record for most leaves on a clover stem (Trifolium repens L.). The current official record is held by an 18-leaf clover that Obara found in his garden in May 2002.
The record-breaking clover’s 21 leaves each measure about 1 centimeter long and overlap each other like rose petals on a 3-centimeter stem.
Obara, a former food crop researcher, has been conducting independent research on clovers in his garden for over 50 years. He first became interested in clover mutations after discovering an unusual patch of 4-leaf clovers in 1951. Since then, Obara has been crossbreeding the plants in his garden to research the genes associated with leaf count, color, pattern and size.
Obara plans to file a new application with Guinness, although he is considering waiting a while. “We are likely to find clovers with more leaves,” he says. Last month, a family member claimed to have found a 27-leaf clover, but the discovery was not confirmed.
While some say that 4-leaf clovers symbolize happiness, 5-leaf clovers symbolize wealth and 6-leaf clovers symbolize fame, it is unclear what 21-leaf clovers symbolize.
Source: Yomiuri. Via: Pinktentacle.
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Lilium Urbanus
Lilium Urbanus is a collaborative senior thesis project by Anca Risca and Joji Tsuruga, recent graduates of SVA. Pretty cool to watch, the video is a metaphor of urban landscapes applied to a flourishing plant!Via Cpluv. See also: Exploding City. Growing rooms, buildings & cities.
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The first pregnant man
At first I thought this first pregnant man was a hoax, but after I saw it on Oprah I realized it must be ‘real’. Well, the pregnant man is actually a former woman who had a sex change but kept
herhis reproductive organs. Welcome in the 21th century! I am telling you: the surrealists were telling the truth all along.See also the peculiar neighbor responses on CNN Youtube. Thanks Selby.
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The Order Electrus
“Nature adapts, even to human actions that seem to destroy everything. The amazing power of evolution has given birth to a new species of insect. Their ideal habitats are old industrial locations. Some call them electrical insects, others simply speak of a miraculous phenomenon, or even better, a self supporting order; the Order Electrus.”
In the countdown to the Biggest Visual Power Show 2008 in Los Angeles we post some presentations of earlier editions. ‘The Order Electrus’ by Floris Kaayk, was first shown at Paradise by the Laptop Light in 2005 and later at the Powershow 2006 in the German Ruhrgebiet, where this mockumentary was also shot. Floris will present new work at the upcoming show in LA.
And in case you were wondering: No, the good people of NextNature.net don’t find that footage of microchips having intercourse, a very realistic scenario. Metaphorically though, this movie is 100% true.
See also: Killer Robots, Meet the worms, viruses and trojans, It is Nature.. but not as we know it.
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Growing rooms, buildings & cities
With their project ‘Rules of Six’ architects Aranda & Lasch envision an unpredictable, self-generating landscape of interlocking hexagons that could represent rooms, buildings or entire urban neighborhoods. The work explores self-assembly and modularity across scales. Using Rhino3D, high-density foam and an algorithm that mimicks the growth patterns of microscopic structures, they create a sprawling matrix of three-dimensional structures that can multiply indefinitely without sacrificing stability. Is this the organic-algorithmic city of tomorrow?
Growing buildings from crystal-like structures not only sounds utterly nextnature & fantastic, but also familiar: I bet these architects loved Superman’s Fortress of Solitude as kids.
The work was created for the Design and the Elastic Mind expo at MOMA New York. Have a look at their previous studies for more in-dept info.
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Next Rabbit
This is not a 3-D-animation of a fictional creature, but an actual existing animal: the Angora Rabbit. Is this what happens when we over breed animals? Or, is this the result of having too much time on your hands?
Somehow I came across these pictures via this and site which eventually led to this curious source. Apparently there are four breeds of Angora rabbits: English Angora, French Angora, Giant Angora and Satin Angora. English and French were the original breeds, Satin and Giant were introduced in the late 1980s. Check the American Rabbit Breeder’s Association’s site for more info.
See also: Lifestyle Pets, Popple II.
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Big Dog got puppies
We posted this fella two years ago but the guys at Boston Dynamics haven’t been sitting still. Improvements have been made and Big Dog got puppies! Little Dog (a learning robot that looks like a frog), RHex (rough terrain robot that can swim as well) and the RiSe (a climbing robot).
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DNA Synthesizer
Playing God? – “We are not playing…”
After having seen this TED talk by Craig Venter, I came across a cynical yet clarifying comic (etcgroup.org) on his plans to build a new DNA synthesizer, an instrument that is basically about “printing” life. Manufactured DNA can be injected into a natural bacterial cell, where it substitutes part of the original genome. When that cell divides, one of both cells will contain the synthetic genome. Voilá: a new species is born.
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Flying Penguins
Last week, the BBC reported a colony of penguins that had gained the ability to fly (video). The penguins were reported to fly thousands of miles and spend the winter in the tropical rain forest. It turned out, the incredible evolutionary leap was an April fools day joke by the BBC and soon after the video of the special effect team was released.
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Prof. Dr. Jos de Mul’s – Poetry of Genetics
In the weeks towards the Biggest Visual Power Show 2008 we post a few video’s of earlier power show presentations.
Philosopher Prof. Dr. Jos de Mul – author of countless articles and books like ‘Cyberspace Odyssey’, ‘Domestication of Fate’ and ‘Database Delirium’ – was a speaker at the Biggest Visual Power Show 2005 in Paradiso, Amsterdam. Inspired by the images of Basia Knobloch and music of Lauri Anderson, professor De Mul decided to sing his lecture.
For someone who only has a hammer,
everything appears to be a nail.
For those who have computers,
the world becomes a huge database…Also on YouTube. See also: Post History.
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Observing Next Nature
You can watch it grow in front of your eyes. Via Core.form-ula.
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Better than the real thing
Take a bite from this pear and I’ll spare you all the default connotations with the apple of eden.
Source photo by Pablo Montanez. See also Modernistic Watermelon, Ferrari Tomato, Cubic Fruit, How to grow an Orangina Bottle. Thanks Selby.
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Popple II
Make no mistake. The children of the 80′s are the bioengineers of today.
