Emergence: Morphogenetic Design Strategies

Through computer tomography scans of rotational slices of a bird’s nest, a sequence of 450 slices was generated to describe the nest configuration. The high-resolution spatial data base gives a precise documentation of the varying material density levels of the nest. Three levels of complex nest configurations can be addressed: interior make-up as well as exterior member geometry, and the interrelations of structural components at the global scale. The achievable information depth corresponds to available processing intensity.

Technology and beer ... are they by any chance related? In the ‘emergent’ world I think they might be. Here comes a generation drunk on technology – using it to get rid of a few of those old-world inhibitions and venture into hyperspace to play with things their grandmothers wouldn’t dream of. Escapist stuff from the world of PS2. When I was student I used to get a similar effect by cranking up the feedback on my electric guitar – until something strange happened and I got a hangover, totally rebelled against the unstoppability of it all and just wanted to sit under a tree. After a few hours on a computer I get the same feeling – what begins as liberation becomes ponderous, too predictable, too heavy.

‘Apparently the word ‘technology’ comes from old Greek and means ‘the systematic treatment of an art’. Here ‘art’ means skill. Our interest also lies in the ...