NEXT OPENING:
AI02LIQUID MACHINE: QUANTUM PHENOMENA
@ Cerchio 91
Special guests: Alessandro Chiolerio, Oliver Rasmus
17 January 2025
Generative Center
Cerchio 91 Via Besso 42 a,
6900, Lugano Besso
Switzerland
STRUCTURE
14.30 - 17.00 Round table open to audience participation
17.30 Stop Pink! book presentation by Oliver Rasmus
19.00 Quantum Experiment by Alessandro Chiolerio
20.30 Q&A
21.00 DJ Cinc and exchange
PROGRAM
14.30 - 17.00
ROUND TABLE: AI - New Dimensions
Let’s start the year with a dialogue: what is artificial intelligence? How is it transforming our world? What is its deeper meaning? What is it for you?
Stimulus: an exploration of the multifaceted role of water as a source of life, intelligence, and memory, and the connections between nature, technology, and the intricate quantum fabric of reality.
"The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine. This applies to the interplay between quantum processes and the emergence of conscious experience."
Roger Penrose, The Road to Reality
17.30
STOP PINK! BOOK PRESENTATION
STOP PINK! BOOK PRESENTATION
“Stop Pink!” is a book of images generated with AI models structured around scenes inspired by nature, technology, our evolution and society in general. The idea is to talk about us and the world around us, through short stories, sometimes surreal, sometimes not, sometimes deliberately exaggerated and symbolic, sometimes poetic or dreamlike.
Oliver Rasmus Schneebeli is a Swiss graphic designer and illustrator, born in 1969 in Lugano. After studying graphic design and illustration at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Appliqués de Lugano (ESAA), then sociology of communication at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), he became a freelance graphic designer in 1999, within the Strates photographers collective, in Lausanne. He has produced several books and magazines for photography, posters in the cultural and social fields, websites and journals, logos and coordinated corporate images. His passion for images, photography and drawing naturally led him to take an interest in algorithmic image generation systems in 2023. He created several thematic series of images before launching the project «The Pink Series» in early 2024 and «The Black Series» in October of the same year.
From the book’s introduction:
“But can we call “work” what results from a “prompt” fed to a machine? The question, in fact, does not concern the machine. A photographic camera has no more genius than a computer. If there is genius, it is indeed to the living being, of flesh and blood, who manipulates the machine, that it will eventually have to be attributed. If AI technology is new, we can therefore see that the “artistic” questions that arise regarding the images it is capable of producing are not. Thus, it is human nature that we must once again trust, because it is she alone who will know, to quote Baudelaire’s verse, how to plunge us «to the bottom of the abyss, Hell or Heaven, what does it matter? To the bottom of the Unknown to find something new!!”
Christophe Fovanna
19.00
CONFERENCE: QUANTUM EXPERIMENT BY ALESSANDRO CHIOLERIO
CONFERENCE: QUANTUM EXPERIMENT BY ALESSANDRO CHIOLERIO
Abstract
Water has been the fundamental component of all living beings that have emerged on this planet. It governs and supports atmospheric phenomena, balances the mineral, plant, and animal worlds, and preserves the matrix of life across all cultures, both living and extinct. Can we deepen our understanding of its significance even further?
Water has been the fundamental component of all living beings that have emerged on this planet. It governs and supports atmospheric phenomena, balances the mineral, plant, and animal worlds, and preserves the matrix of life across all cultures, both living and extinct. Can we deepen our understanding of its significance even further?
Scientific inquiry often seeks to simplify, isolating and reproducing phenomena under controlled, sterile conditions. Yet, such approaches risk losing the coherence of the ecosystems they aim to understand. Alessandro Chiolerio’s experiments at Paneveggio Forest in Val di Fiemme Italy, have provided for the emergence of intriguing correlations: by observing an “holobiont” in its natural environment, analyses have revealed the features of a collective being, potentially enabled by quantum phenomena.
The study of bioelectric signals—collected and analyzed as part of this research—provides a unique "listening" method that unveils unexpected behaviors. Over time, Plants and Fungi have developed intricate networks of both visible and invisible connections. Ultimately, these networks share a common denominator: water.
Recent experimental studies are uncovering the extraordinary possibilities of water-based computing systems. As the cornerstone of life and intelligence, water's ability to encode and transmit information challenges our understanding of its role in both biology and physics.
Alessandro Chiolerio's conference will feature a live quantum experiment, open to audience participation, demonstrating the world's first programmable liquid computer. By examining water through this multifaceted lens, the conference seeks to bridge the gap between science, nature, and technology, inspiring new paradigms in understanding intelligence and memory in the universe.
About Alessandro Chilerio
Currently bridging synthetic intelligence and biological intelligence, their suitability for building analog memories and reservoir computers, and the electrical communication channels between plants and fungi in a living forest on the other side, where computational entropy and divergence could highlight learning mechanisms. Chiolerio has). He is co-author of 150 scientific articles collecting over 6800 citations to date. Chiolerio has filed overall 34 patents as sole or principal inventor.
Key Contributions by Alessandro Chiolerio
Alessandro Chiolerio’s work exemplifies the convergence of biology, physics, and synthetic intelligence, contributing significantly to:
Alessandro Chiolerio’s work exemplifies the convergence of biology, physics, and synthetic intelligence, contributing significantly to:
- Bioelectric Communication: Demonstrating how plants and fungi form intricate networks that could be harnessed for computational purposes.
- Quantum Experimentation: Leading groundbreaking research on programmable liquid computers, pushing the boundaries of water-based computing systems.
- Holistic Ecosystem Studies: Exploring forests as collective bioelectric systems, offering a novel lens for understanding ecological intelligence.
- Interdisciplinary Innovation: Bridging synthetic and biological intelligence, aiming to create analog memory systems and new computational paradigms.
This body of work suggests a future where water, ecosystems, and quantum systems redefine our understanding of intelligence and memory.
21.00
DJ CINC / Cerchio 91
DJ CINC / Cerchio 91
Exchange, shake and dance a while till midnight.
Where and When:
Friday January 17, 2025
Friday January 17, 2025
Via Besso 42a,
6900 Lugano Besso
Switzerland.
AI01 ENZYMATIC MATHINE: CONTAMINATION
In collaboration with Xocolat &Future Fermentation
Special guest: Matteo Fieni
Participant artists: Kevin Merz, Artur Schmidt, Felix A. Bachmann
With the participation of Stefano Gardel
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently a catalyst for social, technical, and creative transformations, characterized by an inherent ambiguity that reflects both its potential and its challenges. Alongside this modern technology, we can consider fermentation, an ancient biological process that has influenced human development for millennia, including the evolution of the human brain. This invites us to reflect on the fact that progress can be both rapid and gradual, blending technological innovation with slow yet profound transformative processes.
While AI and other generative technologies have revolutionized digital content creation and complex processes, our institutional, social, and educational structures remain unprepared to address these rapid changes. This raises sustainability questions that we aim to explore through the concept of "enzymatic transformation" as a metaphor for creative contamination. The idea is to view contamination not only as the interaction between AI and biology but also as the fusion of different rhythms and developmental processes, in an era that glimpses the engineering of biology (or the biologization of technology). Restricting the use of AI could hinder the potential for a deeper understanding of how to integrate diverse technologies holistically. Rather than resisting, we should seek a dynamic balance between technological innovation, sustainability, and ethics, adopting a perspective that encompasses both the rapid pace of technological advancement and the slower, reflective rhythm of biological fermentation.
References
In 1975, Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, formulated "Moore's Law," an observation that the number of transistors in a microprocessor doubles approximately every two years, reflecting the dizzying speed of technological change. Although the validity of this law is debated today, AI drives new evolutionary leaps and emerging technologies. The hypothesis that fermentation played a role in the expansion of the human brain suggests that the regular consumption of fermented foods by our ancestors made nutrients more easily digestible and absorbable, supporting the growing energy demands of the developing brain. The gut is our second brain. This natural process, involving the decomposition of organic substances through microorganisms, could have provided a significant source of metabolizablizing energy, contributing to the increase in brain size and cognitive capacities during human evolution (Bryant, Hansen, Hecht, 2023, Nature / Future Fermentation). Artists, accustomed to creatively utilizing new tools, may understand how to bring new stories and knowledge to life, perhaps more quickly than other segments of society. Embracing this moment with all its contradictions, while avoiding absolute moral judgment, reveals that humanity is shifting dimensions, opening new opportunities for societal good that are both just and necessary.
References
In 1975, Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, formulated "Moore's Law," an observation that the number of transistors in a microprocessor doubles approximately every two years, reflecting the dizzying speed of technological change. Although the validity of this law is debated today, AI drives new evolutionary leaps and emerging technologies. The hypothesis that fermentation played a role in the expansion of the human brain suggests that the regular consumption of fermented foods by our ancestors made nutrients more easily digestible and absorbable, supporting the growing energy demands of the developing brain. The gut is our second brain. This natural process, involving the decomposition of organic substances through microorganisms, could have provided a significant source of metabolizablizing energy, contributing to the increase in brain size and cognitive capacities during human evolution (Bryant, Hansen, Hecht, 2023, Nature / Future Fermentation). Artists, accustomed to creatively utilizing new tools, may understand how to bring new stories and knowledge to life, perhaps more quickly than other segments of society. Embracing this moment with all its contradictions, while avoiding absolute moral judgment, reveals that humanity is shifting dimensions, opening new opportunities for societal good that are both just and necessary.
The following short video was generated and edited during the AI 01 meeting.
Exchanging knowledge, forecasting the future
Held at our base in Besso 42A, Lugano, Switzerland, AI Openings offers a space for sharing and reflecting on the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in today's social and creative contexts. Anchored in specific relational themes, these events expand upon their focus with the contributions of special guests.The first event, MATCH AI 01, held on September 27, 2024, and entitled "Enzymatic Machine: Contamination," symbolized this process of transformation and generation. It envisioned a new paradigm where biological and computational technologies merge to foster creativity and innovation. Read the abstract and additional information below.
Upcoming AI Openings (Dates to be Confirmed):
Upcoming AI Openings (Dates to be Confirmed):
AI02 / LIQUID MACHINE: QUANTUM PHENOMENA - 17 JANUARY 2025
AI03 / DIGITALIZATION SOCIAL ENVIORNMENT - 28 FEBRUARY 2025
Stay informed, please send us a note ai@generativecenter.ch to join our mailing list.