Can we share an us-feeling with a digital machine? Emotional sharing and the recognition of one as another*

ABSTRACT

To share an us-feeling means to acknowledge one another. Can we share such a feeling with an extreme form of the other, for instance with a digital machine? The answer that is given in this article is ‘no’. Relevant tests like the Turing Test are based on a third-person perspective, whereas a second-person perspective would be needed.     

Hits,Misses and Close Calls: An Image Essay on Pattern Formation in On Growth and Form

Abstract

The second edition of D’Arcy Thompson’s On Growth and Form was written only shortly before the advent of computers made it possible to develop more sophisticated mathematical models of processes of growth, morphogenesis and pattern formation in nature. It also predates the blossoming of several branches of science with the conceptual tools to investigate complex phenomena such as self-organization, nonlinear dynamics and chaos, fractal geometry and self-organization. As a result, Thompson’s aspirations sometimes fall short of his means — and occasionally he sets out on the wrong path. This image essay explores some of the instances in which Thompson surpassed his limitations or, alternatively, was constrained by them. In either circumstance, it illustrates how his themes remain areas of significant scientific activity today.