"The Boids" examines the way computer graphics has been used to justify political ideologies in the past and present. It questions our commitment to the libertarian, techno-utopian ideology that has permeated the internet since the 90s.
As artists and coders, what role does our work play in shaping the future?
Techno-utopianism, Silicon Valley's guiding ideology, combines the attitudes of the 60s counterculture with libertarian philosophy. As such it is strongly opposed to centralised control of all kinds. Political theorists often advance the argument that it is necessary for us to accept the social contract, i.e. that it is necessary to give up some freedoms in return for the maintainence of social order by a sovereign power. But Techno-utopians disagree.
Techno-utopians believe that order can arise without centralised control, and that self-organising systems, like the Boids algorithm, demonstrate precisely how this can happen. In the 90s they believed that decentralised networks would free us from overbearing bureaucracies and authoritarian government control.
The liberation they promised us has not only failed to materialize but has been actively hampered by the technology they designed and the companies they built. Not only will this ideology fail to solve the problems of today, but it is morphing into something much more sinister.
We aren't flocks, and we don't have to be mobs.
To read more please visit theelectricword.com.
In order to allow the animation to complete, your image will take 2 minutes to render before it is revealed and added to the blockchain.
To export an image press:
p: PNG at current resolution
j: JPG at current resolution
s: SVG for plotting in A5 with an alignment guide
2-8: export PNG at n*1050px by n*750px
This artwork is fully responsive. Due to the way the mountains and boids are drawn, when a window resize is triggered you may see some aliasing, or see the animation slow down. Please reload your window if this occurs.
You may also find that the live preview contains some lines and jagged edges. This is due to the nature of the HTML canvas. If you would like a smooth output for display, please output the image at a resolution to suit your device.
You can use the following params on the url to make adjustments:
dw: width of image
bsw: scale factor for bird's stroke weight (larger number is finer)
msw: scale factor for mountain's stroke weight (larger number is finer)
flying: let birds fly forever, without stopping for render
Rodeyo
