Tech-Chimeras : : : Digital Art

Today, 2018: Autonomous microdrones format themselves like flocks of birds for military flight maneuvers over the Baltic Sea. Scientists use the genome tool CRISPR to edit the genomes of plants, mammals and humans. Colonies of ants are tagged with QR codes for behavioural analysis. Plastics replace joints and organs. Prostheses, pacemakers and implanted long-term sensors for diabetes prevention make life more worth living. Multi-organ chips simulate the circulation and hopefully replace more and more animal experiments ...

We combine biomass with technology, deriving forms and functions from nature (bionics). What does the future look like when man and machine enter into an even greater physical symbiosis? How will organisms be constructed in which the implanted technology increases in proportion to the biological cell tissue - by 10, 30 or 60 percent, ... ? When will living beings cross the borders of machines?

Below 200 m an unknown world opens up. More than 60 percent of the earth’s surface consists of seabed, deeper than 1000 meters. Terra incognita - an intolerable state for Homo sapiens. We want to explore and measure, explore potentials, develop resources. Researchers from all over the world are working to unlock the secrets: the deep sea is being surveyed. We are looking for the best deep-sea drones for mapping. The data is of interest to the oil industry, for example.

Miniaturisation and Swarm Behaviour : : :

In the 1950s, computers were as big as cabinets and had the processing power of today’s pocket calculators. Miniaturization into the realms of nanotechnology created smaller components and more space. Space that could be used more effectively for microelectronics, mechanics and energy storage. With the approach to atomic dimensions, new forms of processors are being considered that simulate neural patterns. The border between human thinking and artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming blurred. Microchips injected under the skin are already being used to control people, for tracking and tracing and for payment transactions. Will we combine the intelligence of biological creatures with artificial intelligence through implanted processors?

Swarm behaviour offers collective advantages, copied from us, for example in herring, starlings and grasshoppers. In nature, swarms are more successful in their search for food and protect better against predators. Similarly, many small microsystems (robots) are more mobile, measure larger areas in the same period of time and provide more comprehensive images and measurement data.

More overview means more profit and more power.