IU to showcase AI technology

More than 200 scientists from 22 different countries will assemble in Bloomington for A-Life X, the 10th International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems. The conference, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of such research and is largely sponsored by the IU School of Informatics, will start Saturday and go on until June 7. \nThe conference will showcase work from top scientists around the world, including the work of a scientist who worked on the Human Genome Project, according to a press release. It will also offer tutorials and workshops to acclimate those unfamiliar with advancing technologies that have defined the field. \nLuis Rocha, IU associate professor of informatics and chairman of the event, said he is looking forward to the event since it helps cement IU and the School of Informatics as leaders in the field. \nRocha added that artificial life is an effort that employs complex computing techniques to better understand foundations and principles of life by mimicking those processes. As an example, he said that synthetic biology could potentially reverse the ageing process and provide other innovative medical treatments. \n"There are different things being discussed about that topic," Rocha said. "One would be to design cells that could count by adding synthetic biology and other nanotechnology elements to normal cells. This would allow cells to count how many times they have divided, thus facilitating the isolation of older cells." \nIn an effort to attract public attention and increase thought on the subject, an art exhibit will also take place throughout the duration of A-Life X.\nMichael Brady is a co-organizer of one of the various workshops that A-Life is offering to participants and is also the curator of the free art exhibit that will open to the public starting at 7 p.m., Friday in the School of Fine Arts Gallery. Brady said that the workshop he is involved with is highly relevant to the art exhibit since it will deal with the ethical responsibilities of scientists and innovators. \n"The exhibition is meant to exemplify some of the ideas under discussion at the conferences," Brady said, "and to provide food for conversation."\nThe exhibit, titled Robotic and Emergent Systems, will be host to a symposium 7 p.m. this Saturday, according to its Web site. The RES exhibit will examine the integration of science and society in an open format with the artists.\nIU Director of Graduate Studies Colin Allen, who is also a history and philosophy professer, will moderate the discussion for the symposium. Brady said the public is welcome to attend.\n"I think we'll see a range of perspectives, from those who want to use art to express their worries about what the technology of human-created life forms will bring to those who want to use art to reexamine what it means to be human and what possibilities are opened up by the technology," Allen said.\nArt professor Galo Moncayo was largely responsible for recruiting artists for the show. The exhibit will have a wide variety of art, some traditional pieces and others that would commonly be found at a science fair. \nProfessor Larry Yaeger of the IU School of Informatics, created a display that mimics the flocking behavior that is characteristic of birds or "boids" -- artificial birds. Using a projector, Yaeger will illustrate this phenomenon in a visually and orally pleasing fashion. \n"Natural organisms have a field of view," Yaeger said. "All they have to do is fly toward (other birds) and not bump into them, and kind of line up the way they're lined up. Those three rules are enough to have the coordination of a flock without a leader." \nThis work, which initially seems to be quite abstract, represents one of the themes that abound in the interplay of art and science. \n"Leonardo da Vinci is pretty in vogue recently with that new movie and all," Brady said. "But he's always been kind of an icon for how engineering and art and science all need to mesh together. Art trends tend to mirror the technology of a society." \nBrady said that the impressionist movement was affected by the introduction of photography and psychology.\n"The works of folks like van Gogh became of stronger cultural relevance," Brady said. "In a sense, his paintings were needed by society"