A great example of collective intelligence/creativity

[DefinitelyNotARobot]

There is an event happening on reddit right now. It's a huge canvas where every user can place 1 pixel once every 5 minutes. Watching all the colors and shapes emerge from literally nothing is amazing considering that these aren't individual projects, but collective ones that take place over the course of hours. There was an event like this in 2017, here is a time lapse:

(Here is a link to the final image)

The reason I find it so interesting is that it literally looks like the canvas is alive. Images emerge, clash with other images and fight over territory, form alliances, and sometimes get destroyed just to give rise to newer images that emerge from the remains of what once was. It's literally survival manifesting itself as an art project. The canvas is evolving and transforming all the time. Some images are heavily protected by their communities, while other images get run over by much larger communities. Some stand strong, some get destroyed and rebuilt while some are forever lost.

Such an interesting idea.

Edited April 2, 2022 by DefinitelyNotARobot

[Matt23]

I imagine some of those photos, like the mona lisa or some of the flags, etc., had some direct coordination between members being like "Ok guys, we're gunna make this picture."

[OceanRiver]

@DefinitelyNotARobot interesting, sounds  jungian I think you’d like the red book 

[DefinitelyNotARobot]

@Matt23 Oh yeah definitely. I think that quiet a few communities do organize, it's not all random people placing random pixels. But there's also a lot of improvisation and randomness to it which is also beautiful.

@OceanRiver What is it about?

[Dryas]

It's really incredible that something like this is possible. I would've thought that people just make a mess and nothing come out of it.

[TheAlchemist]

It was really interesting to observe and participate, I was part of a quite big coalition/union.

This was essentially a simulation of global real world geopolitics and collective human behavior. We had to have internal and foreign affairs, diplomats to negotiate and de-escalate with other coalitions and internal hearings to not have any part of the coalition feel left out. We needed to gain territory to express our identity through art. We developed a direct democratic system to decide on all projects or attacks we made. Also made many peaceful and loving relations with neigbouring areas which was fun as hell. 

It may sound absurd to some, but it was very very meaningful for many people. The project was a real crash course on diplomacy, negotiation, politics, leadership, organization and collective action. I especially loved the lesson on impermanence when we had to destroy everything we had made in the end! 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by TheAlchemist

[DefinitelyNotARobot]

@TheAlchemist You put it perfectly! Watching this ocean of colors move, evolve and transform was quiet mesmerizing. Tens of thousands of communities all coming together to create a beautifully diverse master piece. All the things that were created and destroyed, All the collaborations and wars. The love and the hate. The yin and the yang. Working with others to create and defend, attack and destroy. I also loved the end because of how poetic it was. Watching everybody's work of the past 96 hours dissolve into a ball of light felt very bittersweet. Placing white tiles on the art you've helped to create and defend. All the wars and the fighting becoming basically meaningless, showing us to enjoy the journey while it's there instead of always rushing to get somewhere else.

[DefinitelyNotARobot]

Here is a timelapse of this years event: