100 Coolest Science Videos on YouTube

http://onlineschool.net/2009/11/16/100-coolest-science-videos-on-youtube/

Harold Cohen

Harold Cohen, former director of the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA), was an English painter with an established international reputation when he came to UCSD in 1968 for a one-year Visiting Professorship. His first experience with computing followed almost immediately, and he never returned to London. Cohen is the author of the celebrated AARON program, an ongoing research effort in autonomous machine (art making) intelligence which began when he was a visiting scholar at Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1973. Together, Cohen and AARON have exhibited at London's Tate Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum and many more of the world's major art spaces. They have also been shown at a dozen science centers, including the Ontario Science Center, the Boston Science Museum and the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry. Cohen represented the US in the World Fair in Tsukuba, Japan, in 1985. He has a permanent exhibit devoted to his work in Boston's Computer Museum.

One of the few artists ever to have become deeply involved in artificial intelligence, Cohen has given invited papers on his work at major international conferences on AI, computer graphics and art technologies. His work is widely cited in the literature, and it is the subject of Pamela McCorduck's AARON's CODE: Meta-Art, Artificial Intelligence, and the Work of Harold Cohen (Freeman).

In more than two decades AARON has produced many thousands of drawings, to a few dozen of which Cohen has added color. The goal of his current research -- by far the most difficult to date, he says -- is to have AARON do its own coloring. This phase of the project is now well under way. The painting machine with which AARON colored real drawings in the real world was premiered at an exhibit at the Computer Museum in Boston in the spring of 1995.

http://www.viewingspace.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w05/cohen_h.htm

Leonard Shlain

Dr. Shlain is a best-selling author of three books, Art and Physics: The Parallel Visions of Space, Time and Light, Alphabet Vs. The Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image and Sex, Time & Power: How Woman’s Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution. A favorite among artists, scientists, philosophers, anthropologists and educators, he has lectured at such venues as Harvard, The New York Museum of Modern Art, Cern, Los Alamos, The Phillips Collection, Florence Academy of Art and the European Council of Ministers. His fourth book about Leonardo Da Vinci “Leonardo’s Brain: The Right - Left Roots of Creativity” is nearly completed and in typical Leonard Shlain fashion he is determined to finish it, however he will be canceling his currently scheduled speaking engagements.
http://leonardshlainsbrain.com/site/

CAPITALISM HITS THE FAN

english//38,54 Min//04.12.2008
- A Marxian View - Professor Rick Wolff, Department of Economics, UMass Amherst, October 7, 2008

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.

http://kanalb.org/clip.php?clipId=2188&Vlang=eng

Slavoj Zizek's "Ecology: A New Opium for the Masses"

speech in NYC. You can watch it here
http://www.lacan.com/blog/index.html
ot read it here
http://www.lacan.com/zizecology1.htm
more articles and relevant themes on: http://www.lacan.com/lacan1.htm

"Charity is a humanitarian mask hiding the face of economic exploitation."

a line from Slavoj Zizek's book "Violence".
Read more in a piece entitled "Clash of the Titans" at the Haaretz.com blog, Shlomzion Kenan writes about the recent debate between two "superstar philosophers," Bertrand-Henri Levy and Slavoj Zizek, at the New York Public Library in late September.

The Maastricht McLuhan Institute

The Maastricht McLuhan Institute (MMI), European Centre for Digital Culture, Knowledge Organisation and Learning Technology, was officially opened by Dr Eric McLuhan (the son of well-known media theorist Marshall McLuhan) in November, 1998 and began its formal activities in January, 1999 at the Grote Gracht 82 in Maastricht.
The mission of the Maastricht McLuhan Institute (MMI) is to study and develop methods for knowledge organisation and knowledge management in a digital, distributed, multimedia world. These methods will be applied to cultural heritage, the design of learning technologies and new electronic services for business. Research will also explore the implications thereof.

Here you can find all about perspective in many articles wtitten by Dr Kim H. Veltman - Scientific Director and Manager Digital Culture of the instistute.
Download for free two of the forth volumes of his seminal work:
Bibliography of the Literature and Sources of Perspective.
Volume 1. Sources of Perspective
Volume 2. Bibliography of Sources
Volume 3. Literature on Perspective and Appendices
Volume 4. Bibliography of Literature
http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/people/Veltman/publications.htm#Perspective

Albert Memmi

With his "Portrait of the Colonised" Tunisian-French sociologist and writer Albert Memmi laid forth a seminal work of decolonialism in the 1950s. This work was followed recently by "Portrait of the Decolonised", in which he draws a very sobering balance.

more on http://qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-811/i.html

English bibliography

The colonizer and the colonized. Introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre; afterword by Susan Gilson Miller; [translated by Howard Greenfeld]. Expanded ed. Boston: Beacon Press, c1991. ISBN 0807003018

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kTZDi7ZWoxoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Albert+inauthor:Memmi&hl=el&sig=ACfU3U2SaeaNxIFOy3SucMfJ2Nx_X9DhKw#PPA15,M1

Decolonization and the decolonized. Translated by Robert Bononno. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2006. ISBN 0816647348

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6HxjavtQmq4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Albert+inauthor:Memmi&hl=el&sig=ACfU3U0Hzj1iKbI2kosda0uQ6cSYr0WE1g#PPP7,M1
Dependence : a sketch for a portrait of the dependent. Translated by Philip A. Facey. Boston: Beacon Press, c1984. ISBN 0807043001

Dominated man; notes towards a portrait. New York: Orion Press [1968].
Jews and Arabs. Translated from the French by Eleanor Levieux. Chicago: J. P. O’Hara, c1975. ISBN 0879553278 ISBN 0879553286

The liberation of the Jew. Translated from the French by Judy Hyun. New York: Orion Press [1966].

The pillar of salt. Translated by Edouard Roditi. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. ISBN 0807083275
The pillar of salt. Chicago: J. P. O’Hara, [1975] c1955. ISBN 0879559071

Portrait of a Jew. Translated from the French by Elisabeth Abbott. New York: Orion Press [1962]

Racism. Translated and with an introd. by Steve Martinot. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2000. ISBN 0816631646

The scorpion, or, The imaginary confession. Translated from the French by Eleanor Levieux. New York: Grossman, 1971. 0670622710

Strangers. Translated from the French by Brian Rhys. New York: Orion Press [1960]

The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour

Whatever you need to know about Artificial Intelligence in an academic approach.
http://www.aisb.org.uk/

STEVE KURTZ : ARTIST CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES IN PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE

ARTIST CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES IN PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE

Department of Justice Fails to Appeal Dismissal
Kurtz Speaks about Four-Year Ordeal

Buffalo, NY—Dr. Steven Kurtz, a Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY at Buffalo and cofounder of the award-winning art and theater group Critical Art Ensemble, has been cleared of all charges of mail and wire fraud. On April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the government’s entire indictment against Dr. Kurtz as “insufficient on its face.” This means that even if the actions alleged in the indictment (which the judge must accept as “fact”) were true, they would not constitute a crime. The US Department of Justice had thirty days from the date of the ruling to appeal. No action has been taken in this time period, thus stopping any appeal of the dismissal. According to Margaret McFarland, a spokeswoman for US Attorney Terrance P. Flynn, the DoJ will not appeal Arcara’s ruling and will not seek any new charges against Kurtz.

For over a decade, cultural institutions worldwide have hosted Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects, which use common science materials to examine issues surrounding the new biotechnologies. In 2004 the Department of Justice alleged that Dr. Kurtz had schemed with colleague Dr. Robert Ferrell of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health to illegally acquire two harmless bacteria cultures for use in one of those projects. The Justice Department further alleged that the transfer of the material from Ferrell to Kurtz broke a material transfer agreement, thus constituting mail fraud.

Under the USA PATRIOT Act, the maximum sentence for these charges was increased from five years to twenty years in prison.

Dr. Kurtz has been fighting the charges ever since. In October 2007, Dr. Ferrell pleaded to a lesser misdemeanor charge after recurring bouts of cancer and three strokes suffered since his indictment prevented him from continuing the struggle.

KURTZ SUMS UP END OF FOUR-YEAR NIGHTMARE
Finally vindicated after four years of struggle, Kurtz, asked for a statement, responded stoically: “I don’t have a statement, but I do have questions. As an innocent man, where do I go to get back the four years the Department of Justice stole from me? As a taxpayer, where do I go to get back the millions of dollars the FBI and Justice Department wasted persecuting me? And as a citizen, what must I do to have a Justice Department free of partisan corruption so profound it has turned on those it is sworn to protect?”

Said Kurtz’s attorney, Paul Cambria, “I am glad an innocent man has been vindicated. Steve Kurtz stared in the face of the federal government and a twenty-year prison term and never flinched, because he believes in his work and his actions were those of a completely innocent man. Clients like him are a blessing, and although I have had many important victories, this one stands at the top of the list.”
As coordinator of the CAE Defense Fund, a group organized to support Kurtz from the beginning of the case, Lucia Sommer sees the end of the prosecution as bittersweet, and like Kurtz, is thoughtful about the broader significance of the case: “This ruling is the best possible ending to a horrible ordeal—but we are mindful of numerous cases still pending, and the grave injustices perpetrated by the Bush administration following 9/11. This case was part of a larger picture, in which law enforcement was given expanded powers. In this instance, the Bush administration was unsuccessful in its attempt to erode Americans’ constitutional rights.”

Referring to the international outcry the case provoked, involving fundraisers and protests held on four continents, Sommer said, “ The government has unlimited resources to bring and prosecute these kinds of charges, but the accused often don’t have any resources to defend themselves. This victory could never have happened without the activism of thousands of people. Supporters protested, vocally opposed the prosecution, and refused to let it go on in silence. And without their efforts at fundraising, Kurtz and Ferrell would not have been able to defend themselves from these false accusations.”

Sommer added that the next step for the defense will be to get back all of the materials taken by the FBI during its 2004 raid on the Kurtz home, including several completed art projects, as well as Dr. Kurtz’s lab equipment, computers, books, manuscripts, notes, research materials, and personal belongings. The four confiscated art projects are the subject of an exhibition entitled SEIZED on view at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo, NY, through July 18:http://www.hallwalls.org/visual_shows/2008/show_seized.html.

BACKGROUND TO THE CASE
The case originated in May 2004, when Kurtz’s wife Hope died of heart failure as the couple was preparing a project about genetically modified agriculture for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Police who responded to Steve Kurtz’s 911 call deemed the Kurtzes’ art materials suspicious and alerted the FBI. Kurtz explained that the materials (legally and easily obtained basic life science equipment and two harmless bacteria samples) had already been displayed at museums throughout Europe and North America with absolutely no risk to the public. However, the following day, Kurtz was illegally detained for 22 hours on suspicion of bioterrorism, as dozens of agents from the FBI, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Homeland Security, Department of Defense, ATF, and numerous other law enforcement agencies raided his home, seizing his personal and professional belongings. After a federal grand jury refused to charge Kurtz with bioterrorism, Kurtz and Ferrell were indicted on two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud concerning the acquisition of $256 of harmless bacteria for one of Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects. (Critical Art Ensemble is the recipient of numerous awards for its projects, including the prestigious 2007 Andy Warhol Foundation Wynn Kramarsky Freedom of Artistic Expression Grant, in recognition of twenty years of distinguished work: http://www.creative-capital.org/index2.html.)

The Department of Justice brought the charges in spite of the fact that the alleged “victims of fraud”—American Type Culture Collection and the University of Pittsburgh—never filed any charges or complained of any wrongdoing, and the fact that in bringing the charges the Department of Justice was acting completely outside its own Prosecution Policy Relating to Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud (http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/43mcrm.htm).

For more information and extensive documentation, including the Judge’s dismissal, please visit:http://caedefensefund.org***

Kevin Warwick

Kevin has carried out a series of pioneering experiments involving the neuro-surgical implantation of a device into the median nerves of his left arm in order to link his nervous system directly to a computer in order to assess the latest technology for use with the disabled. He has been successful with the first extra-sensory (ultrasonic) input for a human and with the first purely electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans.
http://www.kevinwarwick.com/
LIFT08 is a three day event to explore the social impact of new technologies.
http://www.nouvo.ch/liftvideo

Critique of V.S. Ramachandran’s ideas

From: hplambert@hotmail.com

Subject: Re: Synesthesia

Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:12:51 +0200

Bonjour, dear Y.........

Bonjour!

- I observe that a lot of messages in the section Synesthesia have no direct relations with the phenomenon of synesthesia but generally speaking with the relations between arts and the new field of neurosciences. I consider that to be very meaningful. The term synesthesia is used more as a metonymy for something much more extensive, which would include neuropsychology, neurobiology, cognitive psychology and what is called neuroesthetics.

- The idea of” that artists and writers are able to explore specific functioning of the cognitive system through their works” has nothing new. It is largely used by Semir Seki in Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and the Brain. Oxford University Press: Oxford. (1999).Zeki who coined the term neuro-aesthetics illustrated every specialized cortical era by a painter. Fauvism was supposed to have explored the V4 era, specialized in the colour processing, and kinetic art would correspond to the specialization of V5. In his conference on the “Beautiful”, Jean-Pierre Changeux gives the example of Matisse as a neurophysiologist artist. There is an excellent article called « Art and Neuroscience », written by John Hyman, on line (http://www.interdisciplines.org/artcognition/papers/15 ), from a conference on line about art and cognition organized by ENS/ CNRS/ Institut Jean Nicod in 2005. John Hyman reminds the idea that artists would be neurologists as studying the brain with their own techniques is just a modernized rewriting of Helmhotz’s theory of 1871. According to Helmholtz, artists were explorers of visual system. John Hyman quotes Helmholtz in a text of 1871:

"We must look upon artists as persons whose observation of sensuous impressions is particularly vivid and accurate, and whose memory for these images is particularly true. That which long tradition has handed down to the men most gifted in this respect, and that which they have found by innumerable experiments in the most varied directions, as regards means and methods of representation, forms a series of important and significant facts, which the physiologist, who has here to learn from the artist, cannot afford to neglect. The study of works of art will throw great light on the question as to which elements and relations of our visual impressions are most predominant in determining our conception of what is seen, and what others are of less importance. As far as lies within his power, the artist will seek to foster the former at the cost of the latter."

After this quotation, Hyman comments: “In this passage, Helmholtz combines the idea that artists test and explore the visual system Most visual scientists have abandoned Helmholtz’s theory of vision. They no longer talk about sensuous impressions, or about the unconscious mind interpreting sensuous impressions. Instead, it is generally held that different parts of the brain are simultaneously performing various highly specialized tasks, reacting to form, or to motion, or to colour; and that somehow or other the results of these processes are combined to form a unified visual perception, although nobody is sure yet how this synthesis occurs.”

The article is furthermore a devastating critique of V.S. Ramachandran’s ideas on neuroesthetics.

3 For relations between arts and neurosciences, and especaillya arts and neuropsychology, I would recommend some books or articles:

- Rose, F. C. (Ed.), (2004). Neurology and Arts: Painting, Music, Literature. London: Imperial College Press.

-Bogousslavsky, J., & Boller. F. (Eds.). (2005). Neurological disorders in Famous Artists.

-Basel: Karger AG. Chatterjee, A. (2004). “The neuropsychology of visual artistic production”, Neuropsychologia, (42) 1568-83.

4 Sorry for that, I would indicate some personal papers. But one was done in Leonardo Conference in Prague, called : « neuroaesthtics, neujrological disorders and creativity”, which begins by: « Neurology of the arts or neuroaesthetics is a new branch of neurology especially concerned by neuropsychology of visual artistic production and cerebral localisation of musical perception and musical memory (Seki, 1999; Rose, 2004; Chatterjee, 2004; Bogousslavky & Boller, 2005). Among the different activities the new field of research is gathering, such as study of pictorial representation of neurological symptoms in the art history, diagnosis of artists’neurological diseases, this article will focus on the study of relations between cognitive disabilities for neurological disorders and artistic production by visual artists. Neurological deficits can change the work in content or in style, but can be used also as sources of inspiration, especially in the case of epilepsy and migraine. But some final diagnosis remain controversial as regards for instance the nature of the disease of Ravel, Van Gogh, or Giorgio de Chirico, (Bogousslavky & Boller, 2005) or even De Kooning!. According to Anjan Chatterjee (2004) writing about the breakdown of the visual representations: “The work produced by artists who have suffered from brain damage can contribute to our understanding of these representations“(p.1568) and it is also the opinion of Bogousslavky and Boller (2005): »Among more personal writings:

- Article, « Art et cerveau : vers la neuro-esthétique ? », in « Rencontre », Recherches en esthétique, Revue du C.E.R.E.A.P, n°12, 2006.

Cette revue reliée au Laboratoire d’Esthétique Théorique et Appliquée de l’Université de Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne est dirigée par Dominique Berthet, dans le comité de rédaction : Ernest Breleur et Marc Jimenez. - Colloque MutaMorphosis: Challenging Arts and Sciences, International Conference, Prague. A Leonardo 40th Anniversary celebration, Prague, novembre 2007.

Titre de l’intervention : “Neuroesthetics, Neurological Disorders and Creativity“ (La neuro-esthétique, désordres neurologiques et créativité)- Article en ligne : « Littérature, arts visuels, neuroesthétique », http://www.epistemocritique.org/spip.php?rubrique22

Épistémocritique, revue d’études et de recherches sur les littératures et les savoirs, Université du Québec - Intervention : « Dernières traces : l’ultime possibilité créatrice dans la maladie neurologique », Colloque Voyages Au Noir, organisé par le Centre des cultures et des arts de la Caraïbe et la délégation académique aux arts et à la culture, du vendredi 23 novembre au dimanche 25 novembre 2007, Martinique ( on line in the next months)

5 I am preparing an article for a conference on Besançon on memory at he ed of mars and one of my theme is on what Jonah Lehrer wrote on “Proust as an neuroscientist”.The theme is nothing new as we saw with Zeki and even Lemholtz. And furthermore a lot of authentic scientists have wrotten on relations between Proust and neurosociences. . As early as the 9th of november 1998, a specialist of Proust, Yves Tadié had presented in front of the Académie des Sciences morals et politiques, pusblished in the Revue of the Académie an article about “Proust neurologue”. In his recension for books and articles on it, there were, D.Shacter, Searching for memory, I. Rosenfield, Invention of memory, G. Edelman, Bright air, Bright fire, without speacking of Changeux and Vigouroux. What would be original in what he wrote on the theme should be on the speculative explanation of involuntary memory by prions, - whitout entering in easy commentaries of bizarre errors on Proust’s work. It is why in the article I compare this kind of new scientific fantasies with Narby’s explanation of memories in the nature. The well-know Jeremy Narby’s «hypothesis » in The cosmic snake: DNA and the origins of Knowledge postulates a link between the genetic code and shamanic knowledge, refering to a speculative hypothesis, that of Popp, Gu and Li. about biophotons like cellular language. In both texts, Narby’s and Lehrer’s you have the same importation of highly speculative theories connected to the genetic code to explain memory mechanisms. Of cause, my point of view is not to judge or condemn, but from an anthropological point of view, to describe phenomena of the contemporary imaginary.

Hervé-Pierre Lambert

Institut Nicod. EHESS

24C3 - Programming DNA

http://bang.calit2.net//dr.-cardenas-s-blog/24c3---programming-dna-2.html

About the talk: Biological engineering does not have to be confined to the laboratories of high-end industry laboratories. Rather, it is desirable to ... all » foster a more open culture of biological technology. This talk is an effort to do so; it aims to equip you with basic practical knowledge of biological engineering.

Watch the video of this talk at the 24th Chaos Computer Club meeting in Berlin, here.

Also, see the comic book version!

Genetic engineering is now a thirty year old technology. For reference, over a similar period of time, modern computing machines went from exclusive objects used to design weapons of mass destruction, to the now ubiquitous panoply of personal computing devices that support mass communication and construction. Inspired by this and many other past examples of the overwhelmingly constructive uses of technology by individuals, we have been working over the past five years to develop new tools that will help to make biology easy to engineer. We have also been working to foster a constructive culture of future biological technologists, who can reliably and responsibly conceive, develop, and deliver biological technologies that solve local problems.

Collective Art Practice - Performative and Networked Approaches to Challenging Power

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema

Aaron Katz’s Quiet City

The following essay by Ray Carney on Aaron Katz’s Quiet City accompanies a 2-disc DVD release from Benten Films out this week of Quiet City and Katz's first film, Dance Party, USA.

Mainstream film is so much an art of the maximum – the biggest, the flashiest, the fastest, the most exaggerated – that it is easy to forget that the great films all go in the opposite direction. They are, almost without exception, triumphs of minimalism. They rely on subtlety, understatement, indirection, and simplification. In Stranger than Paradise, Down by Law, and Mystery Train, Jim Jarmusch sets long sections of each work in almost empty rooms. In Femme Douce and L’Argent, Robert Bresson silences his characters to such an extent that room tone and traffic noises become more important than what the characters say to each other. In Joan of Arc and Gertrud, Carl Dreyer immobilizes his actors and actually prevents them from “acting” by insisting that they talk in conversational tones even at moments of high drama. But the effect of these acts of reduction is the opposite of a feeling of emptiness or depletion. As is so often the case in art, less is more. Read more

Ray Carney is professor of film and American studies at Boston University. He is the author of more than ten books on film and other art, and manages the largest non–commercial web site in the world devoted to independent film at: http://www.cassavetes.com.

http://www.makeworlds.org/

http://www.makeworlds.org/

Mel Alexenberg

Mel Alexenberg is an artist who creates artworks at the interface between art, science, technology, and culture. His artworks explore interrelationships between digital age art and Jewish consciousness, space-time systems and electronic technologies, participatory art and community, high tech and high touch experiences, and responsive art in cyberspace and real space.
http://www.melalexenberg.com/index.htm
http://artiststory.blogspot.com/

Human Activity Patterns by Albert-Lazlo Barabasi

The quantitative understanding of human dynamics is one of the most under-explored area of contemporary science. We are witnessing rapid changes, however, thanks to the emergence of detailed datasets that capture human behavior, which allow us to follow specific human actions in ultimate detail. Our interest in the subject is driven by a need for a general understanding of complex systems. Currently social systems offer some of the best mapped datasets on the dynamics of any complex system, when the action of each component (individual) can be followed in ultimate detail.
This webpage summarizes our attempts to understand the nature of time in complex systems. When do things happen in a complex system? When do we send an email, receive a phone call, and check out a book from the library? While traditional models have assumed that the timing of human actions is random, we are finding increasing evidence that they are not. Instead, the statistics of human activity patterns have a bursty character, which can be predicted by simple models.
more: http://www.nd.edu/~networks/HumanDynamics_20Oct05/human_dynamics_.htm
Center for Complex Network Research http://www.nd.edu/~networks/
The Sound of Many Hands Clapping-the Rythmic applause http://www.nd.edu/~alb/Clap/index.htm
http://www.nd.edu/~alb/

Phenomenology in computation (and visual art?)

Tesla Event:Phenomenology in computation (and visual art?)

Speaker: Prof. Igor Aleksander, Imperial College LondonUCL

Contact: Gordana Novakovic (Visitors from outside UCL please email in advance).

Date/Time: 22 Jan 08, 18:00 - 19:00Venue: Garwood LT
AbstractPhenomenology primarily relates to discussions of consciousness by philosophers of the 20th century: Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre and Heidegger. It is a philosophy of personal, individual reality rather than the absolute reality of ontologists and functionalists. I shall try to give thumbnail sketch views of these forbidding sounding concepts as they have affected me as a computer scientist who tries to understand whether machines may help us to understand consciousness. So I shall describe virtual machines in general as they offer an opportunity in information science to discuss consciousness without crashing into 'the hard problem' of links to a physical substrate. I shall explain what are functional virtual machines that are judged by their behaviour and then phenomenological virtual machines which are judged by their ability to create usable inner worlds. I shall suggest that visual artists are special as they make explicit some aspects of their phenomenal worlds. This type of communication is still an open question in computer science but one where interest in art may prove to be beneficial for both the artist and the scientist.

http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/research/tesla/