In Search of Maxwell’s Demon
Processing / Interactive far-from-equilibrium particle system
Java and a really fast PC required / Coded with Processing
Click on applet before using keyboard controls
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Simulation Controls Mouse Click anywhere to generate new cell [ / ] Speed up / slow down frame rate P Pause ; / ' Increase / decrease search radii L Toggle search modes C Toggle super cell mode R Toggle random / computation mode W Toggle environment wraparound mode 0 Reset system Game Mode Controls G Toggle game mode (game cell in bold outline) H / J Cycle through game cell selection Up / Down Accelerate / decelerate game cell Left / Right Spin game cell left / right |
Display Controls 1 Toggle attractive links display 2 Toggle search links display 3 Toggle search radius display 4 Toggle velocity display 5 Toggle acceleration display 6 Toggle nodes 7 Toggle shapes 8 Toggle cell attribute tags 9 Toggle sound D Toggle statistics X Toggle x-ray display V Toggle spawn ripples F Toggle depth of field - / + Zoom in / out Maestro Mode Controls M Toggle maestro mode < / > Decrease / increase music key |
In Search of Maxwell’s Demon was designed as an interactive game-like simulation / diagram coded using Processing. This version has been expanded to react to environments. The original was coded in the alpha (build 0069) version as a simulation and diagram to the architectural research project World Games for a General Economy of Information and Energy at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University.
The simulation explores ideas of flows of energy, information, form and time to develop a program in relation to contemporary problems of infrastructure and territory. It adds to it the model of general economy offered by Georges Bataille’s ‘The Accursed Share’, and places it against the ‘World Game’ concept proposed by Buckminster Fuller. A set of local entropic protocols gives way to emergent field effects in a kind of ‘play’ that results in far-from-equilibrium syntropic systems, frantically in search for a decoherent event and an alternate future. Some of these systems have been showcased at the Asian American Art Center Organized Spaces exhibition.
Maxwell's Demon with webcam input
Maxwell's Demon applet reacts to webcam input
13 Unstable Systems
Jon Kher showcases a video installation of 13 far-from-equilibrium systems at the Asian American Art Center
World Games for a General Economy of Information and Energy
Bringing Desert Syntrophy into City Entropy / Burial of the Los Angeles River