Generative systems are technologies with the overall capacity to produce unprompted change driven by large, varied, and uncoordinated audiences.
When generative systems provide a common platform, changes may occur at varying layers (physical, network, application, content) and provide a means through which different firms and individuals may cooperate indirectly and contribute to innovation.
Depending on the rules, the patterns can be extremely varied and unpredictable. One of the better-known examples is
Conway's Game of Life
The Game of Life, also known as Conway's Game of Life or simply Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. It is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial ...
, a
cellular automaton
A cellular automaton (pl. cellular automata, abbrev. CA) is a discrete model of computation studied in automata theory. Cellular automata are also called cellular spaces, tessellation automata, homogeneous structures, cellular structures, tessel ...
. Other examples include
Boids and
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...
.
More examples can be found in
generative music
Generative music is a term popularized by Brian Eno to describe music that is ever-different and changing, and that is created by a system.
Historical background
In 1995 whilst working with SSEYO's Koan_(program), Koan software (built by Tim ...
,
generative art
Generative art is post-conceptual art that has been created (in whole or in part) with the use of an autonomous system. An ''autonomous system'' in this context is generally one that is non-human and can independently determine features of an ...
, in video games such as
Spore
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual reproduction, sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for biological dispersal, dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores fo ...
, and more recently generative generosity and platforms lik
generos.io
Theory
Jonathan Zittrain
In 2006,
Jonathan Zittrain
Jonathan L. Zittrain (born December 24, 1969) is an American professor of cyber law, Internet law and the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School. He is also a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of co ...
published ''The Generative Internet'' in Volume 119 of the
Harvard Law Review
The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of ...
.
In this paper, Zittrain describes a technology's degree of
generativity as being the function of four characteristics:
* ''Capacity for leverage –'' the extent to which an object enables something to be accomplished that would not have otherwise be possible or worthwhile.
* ''Adaptability'' – how widely a technology can be used without it needing to be modified.
* ''Ease of mastery'' – how much effort and skill is required for people to take advantage of the technology's leverage.
* ''Accessibility'' – how easily people are able to start using a technology.
See also
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References
External links
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The Future of the Internet and How to Stop it; Yale University Press (2008)Generative Systeme by Benedikt Groß and Julia LaubBugworld - a generative vermin installation by Philipp Sackl, Markus Jaritz & Thomas Gläser
Complex systems theory
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