I wanted to respond to Spoon’s post on the Non-Line-of-Sight Camera, one of the more technical projects shared but which nonetheless has artistic/philosophical implications. As the spoon pointed out, this technology has many practical implications, but it also changes how we think about cameras capturing the reality that is ‘available to’ the photographer. What if all possible views on reality become available?
Recently, I read an incredible book of science fiction short stories by Ted Chiang, Exhalation. A couple of the stories dealt with how it’s essentially impossible to reconcile the predetermined nature of the universe with notions of free will. It’s a bit of a stretch, but a camera that can decode reflections is on the way to simply modeling the position of every atom in the universe. Once we know all those positions, (first we will run into an information storage space problem like in the Borges story with the map, but) then we’ll be able to determine all their present and future positions and thus know everything that has happened and will happen. Anyways, that’s my startup idea based on this research.
Other Projects I Reviewed:
- Joseph’s post on Triple Chaser
- Joyce’s post on Delusional Crime and Punishment
- Cassie’s post on Shining360
- Cathryn’s post on The Capture of Gesture
