Comments on: Something fun I ran into at the St. Louis Science Museum during a recent visit...

Something fun I ran into at the St. Louis Science Museum during a recent visit...

Samizdata — Sun, 14 Jul 2002 11:29:48 -0800

Something fun I ran into at the St. Louis Science Museum during a recent visit... I ran into this virtual fishtank exhibit when in St. Louis, and found it interesting as a hybrid web site/exhibit. You can create fish in any museum featuring it, or via the web site, then run the fish in a personal tank or in a museum's tank. Then you can see it's impact on that tank.

By: warhol

warhol — Mon, 15 Jul 2002 20:21:22 -0800

Oh, c'mon. I'd love to have some other people talk about this. Has anyone visited the counterpart installation in Boston's Museum of Science? Are hybrids like this interesting? What's missing in the experience? What does *anyone* want to know about the experience? Disclaimer: I helped design and create it.

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Tue, 16 Jul 2002 04:03:11 -0800

I need to go by tonight and pick up my fish from St. Louis. I do wish the there was a bit more physical customization available though...

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Tue, 16 Jul 2002 04:03:51 -0800

Doh! Don't try to post first thing in the morning after only 4 hours of sleep...

By: briank

briank — Tue, 16 Jul 2002 06:31:00 -0800

I created a fish for myself in the Boston MOS virtual fish tank a long time ago. I watched it for a while, but not much happened, so I lost interest.

By: warhol

warhol — Tue, 16 Jul 2002 06:31:58 -0800

I do wish the there was a bit more physical customization available though... Well, it's an exhibit about emergent behavior - that simple rules can lead to complex behavior. The exhibit just happens to use fish as an example. So, any physical trait that you're changing is reflective of a single rule and the physical change only gives you feedback that you've really changed the rule, so the changes are variations on a theme. For example, the mouth changes shape as you determine how hungry the fish is, with four levels of hunger to choose from. All told, off the top of my head, there are over 1000 possible fish, not including the shape change as a result of depth. The online version has a slightly smaller subset.

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Wed, 17 Jul 2002 03:46:40 -0800

Just picked up my fish from Srt. Louis and am dropping it off in Boston. Hopefully the Boston tank will be a bit busier.