Mutual Metaphor

Fortune-telling, an arcane human proclivity, finds its contemporary analogue in the machinations of digital prognostication. Intrinsically, this divinatory endeavor seeks to extrapolate future eventualities through the assimilation and interpretation of the prevailing zeitgeist. Aquatic elements, posited as the primordial nexus of all biotic existence, function as an encyclopedic repository of Terrestrial chronicles and reminiscences. The seer, through esoteric means, interfaces with this aqueous compendium, distilling epiphanies from its profundities and subsequently transmogrifying them into oracles via crystalline formations.
Concurrently, computational entities embark on a deep dive into the cybernetic abyss of the World Wide Web, extrapolating the cumulative datum of homo sapiens. This vast trove, instrumental in sculpting the mutable paradigms of artificial cognition, emerges as an apparatus for augury.
While their modi operandi appear antithetical—one rooted in the natural and the mystical, the other in the binary and algorithmic—their endeavors are symbiotic, each resonating as a reflection and allegory of the other.

算命是一种神秘的人类嗜好，在数字预言中找到了当代的类似物。从本质上讲，这种占卜活动旨在通过吸收和解读流行趋势来推断未来的可能性。水元素被认为是所有生物存在的原始纽带，是地球编年史和回忆的百科全书式宝库。先知通过深奥的方式与这个水元素宝库进行交流，从其深邃的内涵中提炼出顿悟，然后通过结晶体的形式将其转化为神谕。
与此同时，计算实体开始深入万维网的网络深渊，推断智人的累积数据。这个巨大的宝库在塑造人工认知的可变范式时发挥了重要作用，同时也成为预言的工具。
虽然他们的工作方式看似对立，一个植根于自然和神秘，另一个植根于二进制和算法，但他们的努力是共生的，每一个都是另一个的反思和寓言。

/Concept and Background Research

Superstition rituals are often seen as products of the supernatural in many cultural contexts, while machine learning algorithms embody rational, scientific thinking. Originally, superstition and science represent very different modes of thinking and understanding the world. However, as machine learning develops and becomes more accessible to the public, its user experience becomes more straightforward, and it can yield highly sophisticated results that surpass our imagination, while its specific operation remains mysterious to the average user. Thus, the two seem to gradually share similarities. Take fortune-telling, an age-old human superstition as an example, it finds an echo in the realm of modern technology. At its heart, fortune-telling is rooted in harnessing the collective knowledge and intuitions of the present to forecast the future. Water, believed by many to be the cradle of all life, serves as a reservoir of Earth's memories and experiences. The medium taps into this vast repository, drawing insights from the water's depths and crystallizing them into blessings through ice.
In parallel, the machine dives into the vast ocean of the internet, retrieving the collective data of humanity. This data, which shapes the evolving contours of artificial intelligence, becomes a tool for predicting future trajectories. Though the methods differ—one drawing from nature and ancient practice, the other from the digital realm—they converge in their quest to understand and anticipate the unknown. These two seemingly disparate activities, in reality, resonate in harmony, each acting as a metaphor for the other.


/Technical Implementationion

The artwork bifurcates into two thematic realms: the human and the machine. Within the machine's domain, the core technology employed is GPT. Utilizing the p5.js system interfaced with the GPT API, real-time responses are generated. Sound captured from a microphone is transcribed into text, sent to the GPT server, and GPT's response is converted into audible speech through speakers. Simultaneously, the machine's response illuminates an LED matrix display and is printed via a thermal printer, allowing audiences to both pose questions and retain tangible answers. This machine, crafted from welded mild steel, features a concealed microphone within an ear-shaped fixture, subtly beckoning attendees to vocalize their queries. In contrast, the human section is symbolized by ice cubes, with the largest measuring 15 cm—serving as the medium through which the fortune-teller divines. A backdrop of black sand, reminiscent of Iceland's iconic beaches, sets the stage. During non-performance intervals, a monitor displays pertinent imagery. The stark white floor tiles evoke a sense of the artificial, emblematic of the machine's essence, while the juxtaposition of black sand and ice underscores the organic nature inherent to the human realm.


/Reference

[1] ‘OpenAI Platform’. https://platform.openai.com (accessed Sep. 09, 2023).
[2] Initiation | Gaia. Accessed: Sep. 09, 2023. [Online Video]. Available: https://www.gaia.com/series/initiation
[3] p5.js and Arduino serial communication - control an Arduino from p5js, (Mar. 28, 2020). Accessed: Sep. 09, 2023. [Online Video]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yThUrgBkZ2o
[4] LED Matrix Essentials with the MD MAX72XX library, (Apr. 05, 2017). Accessed: Sep. 09, 2023. [Online Video]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inax2KqHWXo
[5] ‘Mini Thermal Receipt Printers’, Adafruit Learning System. https://learn.adafruit.com/mini-thermal-receipt-printer/overview (accessed Sep. 09, 2023).