The Poetry of Machine Learning

My opening notes for today read like a poem:

Creativity and dexterity of Hands. Fundamental elements of nature. Fascination with imitating nature And how it works To understand ourselves

Manipulation of nature Humans the great manipulators Robotic forced labour We are the stories that we tell ourselves

It’s becoming clear that every day throws up more to look at read and watch. My curiosity is being fed and fed until, hopefully, my brain will get fatter with knowledge. The neurons are pulsing, networking and connecting to accommodate miles of information, human interaction, and fantastical imaginings – with technology the context within which to explore the merging of imagination and reality. 

We were introduced to the programme Teachablemachine.withgoogle.com and our first attempt at making AI content. Using our poems from day 1 we worked to teach our computers to recognise objects. It was surprisingly straightforward and I was buzzing afterwards with new ideas for the work that I am making for an upcoming exhibition. Although the resulting work is obviously basic, and after realising that I had omitted one step of the process and re making the work, I was eventually pleased with the outcome. Sometimes making a small mistake in tech cements the correct way to do it in your brain so I was happy to not be successful on my first attempt! 

The Pecha Kucha session again showcased how techart is broad and exciting through 8 more presentations from more lovely fellows – coding as an act of self care, sex toys and drones, archives and music, culture through the lens of the future.

My reading/research watch list from today’s first session includes;

Rossums Universal Robots, Octavia Butlers Colony Plants, Trevor Paglen, Gods and Robots, Bloodchild, ABTEC.ORG