Google’s neural network spends a lot of time looking at fuzzy creatures (dogs, mostly). And now it can’t help seeing them everywhere it looks. I relate to this. The way I see the world is also profoundly shaped by my experience. There’s a lot to think about here beyond rose coloured glasses (or Dog-shaped spectacles). As a collage artist, I’m not sure what to feel: inspired? Threatened? I have more questions than answers.
The way I see the world is also profoundly shaped by my experience.
On the one hand the machine behaves in a seemingly playful way. Upon feeding it (the algorithm) Communio , one of my sculptures from 2011, Deep Dream managed to find puppies even in the curvature of mussels and water lilies. Is this an instance of a machine demonstrating resourcefulness? Or is it merely incessant projection? The self absorbed worship of a puppy god? What really is going on when you turn pattern recognition upside down? If you repeat something often enough, does it automatically become true? Isn’t this iterative digital insistence miles away (from how children look at clouds)? Isn’t the abundance of eyes creepy? Is google playing God an Ophanimic scale?
I’ll have to keep mulling on this. But I have to admit it’s at least as much fun as it is sinister. Why not take a zoom, and see what you find. You can also Download the dream image.
