[alife] San Francisco GreyThumb Meeting, June 24th

[tom at nobleape.com]

----- Forwarded message from jeffrey at ventrella.com -----
     Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:02:41 -0700
     From: Jeffrey Ventrella <jeffrey at ventrella.com>
Reply-To: gt_sv at lists.ccon.org
  Subject: [gtSV] GreyThumb SV Meeting Announcement

Greetings Silicon Valley GreyThumb Folks!
We would like to invite you to the next GreyThumb-Silicon-Valley meeting
at the Internet Archive, in the heart of the Presidio in San Francisco,
at 7:00pm, Tuesday, June 24.

The Archive is located at Sheridan Ave, San Francisco, CA 94129
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=internet+archive&ie=UTF8&ll=37.796933,-122.46151&spn=0.028689,0.06506&z=15&iwloc=A&output=html

There's ample parking in the area. (print out the map and bring it! The
Presidio is a beautiful place to get lost - if that's your intent :)

The Archive is a small 2-story wooden building (yes I know, "Archives"
are supposed to be ominous concrete library-like structures with fat
columns - but we archive bits, which are very small). Please enter
through the back door, and find your way to the meeting room (through
the sofa-room, and to the right). Introduce yourself when you arrive.

----------------------------------------------
Presentations:

(1) Synthetic biology: Why it is the next best thing since sliced bread
and how we'll be settling the solar system because of it. - John
Cumbers, Graduate Student, NASA Ames Research Center & Brown University.

"You cannot escape the press, investment, hype and excitement about
synthetic biology.  And rightly so, this new field is taking genetic
engineering by the balls and dragging it kicking and screaming into the
21st century.  Whilst the last 30 years of recombinant DNA technology
has produced major advances in our understanding and ability, the design
and construction of biological systems still remains an ad hoc process,
where solutions are custom designed for a specific problem or task and
little is generalizable.  This is where synthetic biology comes in, with
the thinking that if we invest in foundational research then the
engineering of biology will become much easier."

"I'll first give an interactive overview of the biology covered in the
talk to make sure that we don't lose anyone along the way.  I'll show
examples of foundational synthetic biology and then talk about what I
hope we'll be doing with photosynthetic extremophiles once the cost of
synthesizing whole genomes has fallen to just a few thousand dollars."

Read more about John and his work at:
http://www.cumbers.com/

(2) GA-based Music and CA gliders
-JJ Ventrella, Internet Archive

"The first half of the presentation covers the Musical Gene Pool:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/k00g03x142k153l9/
The Java applet is: http://www.ventrella.com/EvoMusic/EvoMusic.html
Hundreds if MIDI events are encouraged by a listener/user to link up
into phrases, while the listener/user listens and clicks when something
sounds cool . After being rewarded, the MIDI events acquire fitness
values and perform the various genetic algorithm acts we all know and
love. The second half is about "Gliders and Riders": a grid of 2D
cellular automata with initially heterogeneous rules is gradually made
homogeneous by way of a particle swarm that rides along the chaotic
waves of the CA and encourages coherent spacetime patterns to emerge
(gliders). The particles perform the GA acts we all know and love on the
CA rules whenever they enjoy a good ride. This work was published as a
chapter in this book:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/25u765j72j431714/
<http://www.springerlink.com/content/25u765j72j431714/%A0>
The Java applet is here...
http://www.ventrella.com/Alife/Cells/GlidersAndRiders/Cells.html

(3) Bruce Damer, Brief Update
-Bruce Damer, Biota.org

Bruce will give a brief update on Biota.org, the podcast, his upcoming
trip to London and the Grey Thumb meeting there, and the EvoGrid concept
development.

(4) Got an A-life system? Bring it to show/talk about!

Per Grey Thumb tradition, we may retire to a local establishment
following the meeting.

Our previous meetings are described here...
http://www.greythumb.org/blog/index.php?/archives/300-GreyThumb-Silicon-Valley-meets-for-the-first-time.html
http://www.vimeo.com/1099350

See you there!
-j



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----- End forwarded message -----