In Practice

Ideas at work

For my book Drone Cultures, I interacted with Gemini 3 to create an image suggesting the global scope of algorithmic control through the drone's surveillant assemblage. Several interactions led to various iterations; the image below visualizes the book's core ideas. Let me know what you think! 

Embodying the steampunk genre, the image evokes industrialization and 21st century tech in the insect (mosquito/dragonfly) as a drone. The sepia-tone global map suggests the longue durée of history; east and west symbols include classical busts, pagodas, minarets, pyramids, and Adinkra geometric shapes found in the Akan cultures of Ghana. The insect's blue and white stained glass patterns evoke the fragility of network aesthetics.  Blue and white lines overlaying the map indicate our networked present. 

# Image can be downloaded and used freely:  © John Muthyala. CC BY-NC-SA: Non-commercial, share-alike, with attribution. 

# Image download. (1024 x 1024; 544 kb)