Tag Archives: iiim

Articles

Bucking Copy-Paste Mentality in the Mass-Production of Knowledge – A Personal View

by Kristinn R. Thórisson,
Directing Manager of IIIM and
Aperio Program Director

The educational system has never been as important as it is now. We have established a robust educational system with subdivisions along students’ age and “level”; but, while the system offers a variety of topics to study, it also has some drawbacks. One of them is the idea that, since it is impossible to teach anything and everything from A to Z in the first 10-15 years of a person’s education, a subset of targeted teaching material and topics must be chosen from a larger set. Continue reading Bucking Copy-Paste Mentality in the Mass-Production of Knowledge – A Personal View →

Featured Projects, Projects

Threadneedle

Threadneedle is a simulation framework developed to explore the behavior of the banking system. We are aiming to reproduce the behavior of banking systems using the Basel 2 and 3 Regulatory frameworks, as well as local Icelandic regulations, as exactly as possible.

The framework uses full double-entry bookkeeping for all transactions performed within the banking system, which we have documented in the paper Description of the Operational Mechanics of a Basel Regulated Banking System for validation and checking.

Threadneedle draws its name from the street in London, famous for being the site for the Bank of EnglandThreadneedle Street, London. Famous for being the site of the Bank of England.

Over the last fifty years, computer science has developed a great deal of experience in analyzing and troubleshooting distributed systems like the banking system. Viewed as a distributed system, the monetary system is an example of a relatively unusual (for computer science) closed network, where the operation of the system depends on packets of information (money) continuously circulating in the economy, and being used to determine the price signal for the economy.

By treating the banking system as a distributed system, and applying the same analytical techniques that we use when designing and engineering larger scale critical real-time systems such as the Internet, we hope to cast light on some of its ‘features’ such as the periodic credit crises that have afflicted western economies in the three hundred years since the effective introduction of modern banking.

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Featured Projects, Projects

LivingShadows

Have you ever wondered what would happen if your shadow had a life of its own? IIIM specialists Gunnar Steinn Valgardsson (Chief Technology Developer, demo author) and Hrafn Thorri Thórisson (concept author, advisor) introduced the LivingShadows project to discover just that. The LivingShadows program scans a person’s outline and transforms it into an interactive figure. Rather than being a mere projection, it is its own entity. The shadows act independently so that people can interact with their own shadows, and their shadows can interact with other shadows.


Most of IIIM projects are entirely scientifically motivated, but LivingShadows plays on the border of technology and art.

Worldwide Interconnectivity

Future versions of LivingShadows will enable people all over the world to connect their installations together.

LivingShadows: Scenario Example

Entering the hallway, the viewer sees a series of shadow figures moving along the wall. The figures are standing about, sitting down, some of them come and go on their way to unknown destinations. One shadow seems to be reading a newspaper, another paces back and forth while looking at her watch.


The only traces of their hidden world are revealed by the shadows on the wall. The viewer steps in front of the wall and see their shadow appear on the wall. The shadows stop for a moment to stare at him, then return to their business. The participant waves at the shadow reading the newspaper. The shadow puts down his paper and waves back. One by one he interacts with the other shadows in the virtual waiting room. Finally, the participant waves both his arms and suddenly it begins to rain. All of the shadows take out umbrellas to shelter them from the rain.

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IIIM News, Video

Video Presentation from IIIM’s and CADIA’s Open Day – Dr. Jacky Mallett

Dr. Jacky Mallett.

At a time of uncertainty in the global economy, it is time to examine accepted economic theories. This is why Dr. Jacky Mallett introduced a very simple simulation of a one product economy with a constant money supply. Working with established equations, Dr. Mallett began questioning theories at the heart of the field. The results of her simulation have revealed that even the simplest economy has complexities that economists do not fully take into account, and that the market can behave in unexpected ways.

Continue reading Video Presentation from IIIM’s and CADIA’s Open Day – Dr. Jacky Mallett →