Aehso’s Output

Distributed computer sheep dreams on your screen.

The electric sheep screen saver (for Win, OS X & Linux) is one of those strange concepts that begs the question: ‘who creates this stuff???’ It is amazingly cool:

…the screen saver comes on and the computers communicate with each other by the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as “sheep”. The result is a collective “android dream”, an homage to Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

The generated visuals are usually spectacular and it is minimally interactive to allow us meatspace inhabitants to judge the output:

If you see a sheep you like, hit the “up arrow” key on your keyboard. A smiley face will temporarily appear. Conversely, if you see one you dislike, press the “down arrow”. You have voted for that sheep and contributed to its genetic destiny. Popular sheep will live
longer and procreate.

Of course, your machine could also run one of many more noble distributed computing screen savers…

(The one question that they don’t answer well in the FAQ is what the typical daily bandwidth usage is…hmmm)

No comments yet.

Leave a comment