Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal

Abstract

Empire of the Senseless will speak many voices, filling it's databanks with the flexibility of fiction and the micro-mythologies of sequenced Organisms. The Empire's Organism lives and health will be evaluated and animated by the amount of public and economic attention given to it, the more attention and economic investment-the larger and more powerful the Organism. Empire of the Senseless will be an artificial environment of Organisms born in the realm of the senseless - computers that hold them as information objects. Empire of the Senseless will have off-line extensions and engage a shared social space with the assistance of Synthetic Witnesses. Synthetic Witness systems will transmit data collected about them into memories, this will include disputes over proper usage and reflect the discarded local context of an Organism's origin. Synthetic Witnesses will broadcast such data for each Organism. A Synthetic Witness for thai-jasmine rice, A Synthetic Witness for Indian-basmati rice, A Synthetic Witness for Indian-turmeric, a Synthetic Witness for Mexican pozol (a medicinal drink made from corn), etc.