"Techno Ecologies" Participants

ABSTRACT
Emergent phenomena in nature manifested at the organizational level by cooperating organisms can also be found in the artificial systems we humans create for social interaction. The contemplation of the complex life of ants have inspired humans in many ways to create models to optimize the flow of traffic, find the shortest and most energy efficient travel route, simulate decentralized collectivity, mimic the mechanics behind swarms, and learn the power of relationships in the formation of intelligent networks.

From a macro-perspective, technology is a man-made assemblage of artefacts, a collective force which uses nature as its model. To this extent, the social behaviour of ants can be associated and interconnected to the generative processes found in technology, specially emergent networks that exist in the Internet and other artificially self-organized systems. We have created a globalized technology-dependent world that has become self-aware and self-regulated.

Emergent and complex technologic manifestations nowadays represent phenomena which nurture social interactions beyond the screen; they resemble forms and behavioural algorithms found in the natural social system of ants. From the bottom to the top, ants and humans dominate the planet by exploiting different media and building interspecific mutual relations.

Thus, ant mimicry will be first revealed by exploring examples of solitary insects that use Batesian and Muellerian mimicry to imitate ants for means of social adaptation and/or exploitation, in order to build an ontological bridge between biology and technology, hence unfolding the existing mimicry forms manifested in the former and reproduced by the latter. Secondly ant mimicry will be explored by the three portals that demonstrate the influence of ant avatars in humanity: the alien portal (cultural prejudices: mutations and metamorphosis), the network portal (scientific models: cybernetics and systems), and the material portal or the portal of affects (inter-relations, symbiosis & mutualism).