The Electric Sheep Software Artwork
1,052 views · Published 21 June 2016 · 1:24:50 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: Microsoft Research · 2016 · Science & Technology
The Electric Sheep is an infinite animation created by the collective intelligence of 450,000 computers and people. It is an artificial life-form based on a combination of mathematics, genetic algorithms, crowdsource, and open source. This talk will review the mechanism and purpose of the Electric Sheep project, as well as its history and related software artworks by Scott Draves. Along the way we will address questions such as: Can a finite program produce an infinite artwork? Can computers be truly creative, or do they merely recombine what is fed to them? What is the essence of life, and can it be reproduced in digital form? What is the relationship between man and machine?
