dorkbot.org::   dorkbotsf :  dorkbotSF #17

Images time: 7:30pm Wednesday 09 February 2005 place: dimension 7 150 Folsom St (@ Main) San Francisco, CA Free Admission but donations to our hosts very much appreciated! *** CASH BAR *** Chocolates from Cabaret Chocolates ** SPECIAL VALENTINES DAY PRICE for dorkbot ** Stay after for djs Betty Ray and Rudy Rucker! open dork

Dimension7

speakers: Stelarc - Prosthetic Head The Prosthetic Head is an embodied conversational agent that speaks to the person who interrogates it. The aim was to construct an automated, animated and reasonably intelligent artificial head that has real-time lip syncing and facial expressions. Notions of intelligence, awareness, identity, agency and embodiment become problematic. Just as a physical body has been exposed as inadequate, empty and involuntary, so simultaneously the embodied conversational agent becomes seductive with it's simulation of real-time recognition and response.The Prosthetic Head was realized with the assistance of Karen Marcelo, Sam Trychin and Barrett Fox in SF, in consultation with Richard Wallace. The Head uses a customized and personalized Alice. Several additions to the present project would enhance it's interactivity. Mapping human biorhythms to the Head would make it unhappy to answer your questions early in the day and make it fatigue in the evening, resulting in a more problematic exchange. Giving the Head a vision system so that it has information about the user would enable it to insert appropriate comments about the user's appearance during a conversation. The Prosthetic Head is not meant to be an illustration of an artificial intelligence but rather it is about constructing a performative exchange. As Nietschze noted, there is no being behind the doing- the doer is only a fiction added to the deed. stelarc.va.com.au Luther Thie - Acclairism: a new elitism Acclair (a fictional brainscanning and neuromarketing service provider for airport security clearance) is used as a conceptual vehicle to identify and play out a hypothetical social phenomenon and new form of elitism (Acclairism) where brain measurements influence financial and social status and determine degrees of personal freedom. The aim of the project is to leverage the confrontation between personal freedom and security concerns in order to generate discussion regarding the exchange of personal liberty for convenience especially if it is wrapped in a "user-friendly" environment and a desirable reward system. www.acclair.co.uk/acclairism Paul Haeberli - Lamina Design: Free Form Structures from Computer Models Building free form structures at large scale from geometric models has been difficult and expensive. Current 3D output machines are costly and slow and can only build objects at small scale. However, by using the structural properties of sheets of metal, plastic or wood, precise structures can be built at architectural scale at relatively low cost. To accomplish this, a user's 3D model is approximated by a number of 2D parts that are numerically cut and attached to fabricate the final structure. Laser cutting, abrasive waterjet cutting and plasma cutting services are widely available and make creating parts inexpensive and fast. This fabrication technology can be applied to interior design, building architecture, lighting, signage, clothing, and sculpture. The technology and methods will be demonstrated and described. laminadesign.com www.sgi.com/grafica Presenter Bios Many thanks to dimension7 for hosting this month's dorkbot. If you would like to speak at a future dorkbotsf, please contact Karen Marcelo at dorkbotsf (at) dorkbot (dot) org

dorkbotSF mailing list info

dorkbot.org