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Related Experiment Videos

Building artificial life for play.

Alan Dorin1

  • 1Centre for Electronic Media Art, School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Australia. aland@csse.monash.edu.au

Artificial Life
|March 24, 2004
PubMed
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Lifelike toys, from historical automata to modern mass-market items, economically abstract biological properties. Designers manipulate user intuition, enabling temporary acceptance of anthropomorphic abstractions despite rational skepticism.

Area of Science:

  • Robotics and Artificial Life
  • Philosophy of Technology
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Historically, lifelike automata were costly, limited by mechanical technology and manual effort.
  • Contemporary mass-market toys leverage advanced automation but face production cost constraints.
  • Both historical and modern creators abstract living systems for economical simulacra.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine lifelike toys and identify recreated properties of real organisms.
  • To explore how design choices in toys influence our perception of biological characteristics.
  • To understand the interplay between intuition and rational reasoning in recognizing artificial life.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of various lifelike toys across different historical periods.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Comparative study of design strategies employed by toy makers, engineers, and artists.
  • Examination of the psychological impact of recognizing lifelikeness in artificial constructs.

    • Main Results:

    • Designers abstract key organismal properties to create recognizable, cost-effective simulacra.
    • The intuitive recognition of lifelikeness in toys highlights the influence of intuition over biological reasoning.
    • Innovative designs can temporarily override rational skepticism, leading to anthropomorphism.

    Conclusions:

    • The economic constraints in toy production necessitate abstract representations of life.
    • Our intuitive responses facilitate the acceptance of artificial life, demonstrating a bias towards anthropomorphism.
    • Understanding these principles allows for the manipulation of perception in artificial organism design.