Third Life

In art and design making it is possible to identify three main modes. In the first one the artist physically and directly shapes the matter or uses some simple body-based tools, like pencils, brushes, chisels, and so on. This happens, for instance, in traditional paintings, sculpture and ceramics, in lute manufactoring and so on. The second mode is the art-making mediated by some device or machine, which more or less automatically and industrially involves a process which is strictly driven by starting instructions. Though these instructions can change in time, the device must strictly follow them, and in fact the quality of the final result depends on its precision to attain to the model those instructions represent: the result must be as close as possible to the starting model. This happens in traditional design, in di technological arts, in printing and graphic arts, as well as in computer imaging, video, cinema, numeric controlled devices, 3D printing. This multiform and rapidly growing realm involves software and digital-based manufactoring, processing and automation, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, Big Data, Internet of Things, autonomous agents and objects, and also Robotics technologies, nanotechnologies and nanorobotics... But it also involves biological-based technologies, like Genetic engineering, Synthetic Life and biology, De-exctinction as well as hybrid technologies (organic/inorganic), like in biorobotics.
Generative art can be considered a further step in art and design. Instead of a direct, unmediated construction process or of a mediated controlled one, there is an autonomous and open process which can limit or eliminate the human intervention and can be influenced by inputs. The artist is a processes’ activator setting up some general boundary conditions, but in the process of art making there are variables and interaction levels which make the final outcome (if any) as the (not necessarily) final result of an evolution: using a terminology from the art realm it is a work in progress. This evolution does not generate a fixed result strictly dependent from a starting model, it can create a range of outcomes depending on variables that can be external (like inputs from the environment and/or the user) as well as internal (in the process itself). The final result is open and it can never be completely predicted, it can present a variety of possibilities. If the process is interactive the context is fundamental: people can collaborate in creating the final outcome and even being co-authors, but also the artwork’s and the process’s environment have a great influence. In the so called “interactive arts”, also called “contextual arts”, the artwork resides in the process itself more than in the final result.
It is possibile to generate outcomes which simulate or emulate the behaviour of living systems and beings, as well as of natural phenomena. Generative art does not only concern the digital realm, it can also be biological-based, giving birth to organic and hybrid (organic/inorganic) constructs. In mirroring nature and life Generative art forms and processes can be considered as paths towards the advent of a “Third Life”, the life that humanity is giving to its artifacts, being the “First Life” the biological life and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic realm.

Art has always dealt with complexity, the artworks’ making often required complex processes, abilities, knowledge and intellectual as well as technical skills. Today, thanks to sciences and technologies, the most compelling contemporary art forms can refer to complex poetics. It becomes possible to express theories, topics, ideas, visions of the world, even critically, integrating different disciplines and tools. Art can discuss the complex issues between humanity and the phenomenal world, inherent to the environment, to the living beings, to the idea of Nature. From this point of view, and more effectively than other disciplines, art becomes a philosophy of contemporaneity.

Through sciences and technologies humanity is shaping up a vast and complex emerging panorama made up of new devices, machines, algorithms and new life forms. Art has always represented the living and Nature, and humanity, since its origin throughout its evolution, has always been representing, simulating, modifying and reinventing Nature, for many purposes. Nature and the living have been the inspiration, the solution and the event horizon in human activities, in solving practical problems to achieve protection, knowledge and effectiveness in the phenomenal world. And also in inventing narratives, in generating new aesthetics, in creating new art forms.

Today Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, Smart Algorithms, Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering, Biotechnologies, Nanotechnologies, Internet of Things, De-Extinction and other disciplines are expanding the boundaries of life and evolution. Many artefacts, devices, machines, entities are becoming increasingly powerful, complex, autonomous and independent. Scientific evolution has led to the ability to deeply modify the existing organisms and to create new ones, new species that would have never evolved. We are going to assist to the extension of the idea of life and life forms from the organic domain to a complex landscape with organic, inorganic and mixed life forms. Through sciences and technologies humanity is creating a sort of “Third Life”, originating from human knowledge and culture, which is independently and autonomously evolving, expanding Nature from within its own domain. These emerging life forms can be called “Third Life”, being the “First Life” the biological life, and the “Second Life” the life in the symbolic dimension.

In this profound transformation, many topics from the past appear as outdated and inadequate, while new topics are emerging. These processes seem to push forward the human knowledge and awareness, as well as its boundaries and goals, and at the same time they are undermining the centuries-old centrality of humanity. Will these processes be able to illuminate on a possible evolution? Will art, as in the past, succeed in anticipating and providing a reliable vision of these complex transformations?

Humans evolved the symbolic ability, a complex way to communicate through words, writings, images, sounds, both in direct and in mediated ways, synchronously and asynchronously, presently and remotely. But the symbolic ability is also a powerful “technology”, the main reason behind the evolution of the human species. It is at the basis of our attitude to invent technologies and create tools, machines, and even new future life forms. Born from the symbolic ability, sciences and technologies deeply in uenced the human life. In ancient Greece the average lifespan was 30 years, in the Roman era it was about the same, and by the end of the XIX Century it reached 40 years. Today, in roughly one century, in the so called “technological world”, the lifespan expectation has doubled. Hu- mans also developed a wide range of artefacts, machines, entities that are quickly becoming more and more powerful, complex, autonomous, and independent.  ey could be de ned to a certain extent as “living entities”, expanding the idea of life and of life forms. All this processes seem push- ing forward the human biological, cultural, technical boundaries. How do they happen? Where are technologies based on? Can these processes give any glimpses on a possible evolution?

Through sciences and technologies humans are shaping a wide and complex panorama pervaded by new devices, machines, algorithms and lifeforms, emerging from different realms. From its dawn and all along its evolution, humanity has always been representing, simulating, modifying and reinventing nature, for a variety of purposes. Nature and life have been the inspiration, the solution and the event horizon in human activities, in solving practical problems to attain protection, knowledge and effectiveness on the phenomenal world. But also to invent narrations, to generate new aesthetics, to create new artforms. Today sciences and disciplines like Robotics, Artificial Life, Smart Algorithms, Synthetic Biology, Genetic Engineering, Internet of Things, De-Extinction and more are pushing further the borders of life and evolution. In this profound planetary transformation many issues appear as outdated and inadequate, while new ones are emerging.

In the Stone Age from the first simple splitters to the fist-axes, which are more refined but not so different, there is a gap of one million years. Instead, between the discovery of fire and today’s fire-based many different devices pass four hundred thousand years.

For thousands years, until the invention of the telegraph, the speed of people, animals, things and information had approximately the same order of magnitude. The remote communication in real-time was the dream of the governments, that funded even projects based on telepathy. In roughly one century and half  – a very small time if compared to the history of the human culture – the information speed had an extraordinary boost to: in fact today the information can roughly reach the speed of light, that is being more than five hundred thousand time quicker than people, animals and things.

An acceleration took also place inside the media realm. In the USA the radio required 38 years to reach 50 million people, the television needed 13 years, the cable 8 and the Internet 5. And inside the Internet-based communications Facebook required less than 4 years to reach 50 million users, while Skype took roughly two years.

Sciences and technologies deeply influenced the human life. In ancient Greece the average life length was 30 years, in the Roman era it was about the same, while at the end of the XIX Century it reached 40 years. Today, in roughly one century, in the so called “advanced world”, the life length expectation has doubled.

Humans also developed a wide range of artifacts, machines, entities that are quickly becoming more powerful, complex, autonomous and that are becoming independent from the human control. They could be defined to a certain extent as “living entities”, expanding the idea of life and of life forms with organic, inorganic as well as intermingled life forms.

Why all this acceleration? How does it happen? Does it depend on a cultural or a biological issue, or both? What does it seem pushing forward the human limits, biological, cultural, technical?

Humans evolved the symbolic ability, a complex way to communicate through words, writings, images, sounds, both in direct and in mediated ways, synchronously and asynchronously, presently and remotely. But the symbolic ability is also a powerful “technology”, the main reason behind the evolution of the human species. It is at the basis of our attitude to invent technologies and create tools, machines, and even new future life forms. Born from the symbolic ability, sciences and technologies deeply influenced the human life. In ancient Greece the average lifespan was 30 years, in the Roman era it was about the same, and by the end of the XIX Century it reached 40 years. Today, in roughly one century, in the so called “technological world”, the lifespan expectation has doubled. Humans also developed a wide range of artefacts, machines, entities that are quickly becoming more and more powerful, complex, autonomous, and independent. They could be defined to a certain extent as “living entities”, expanding the idea of life and of life forms. All this processes seem pushing forward the human biological, cultural, technical boundaries. How do they happen? Where are technologies based on? Can these processes give any glimpses on a possible evolution?