Skip to content

Guest Talk with Ian Cheng | Neuro Gym

TalkIan Cheng
researcherpractitioner
Guest Talk with Ian Cheng | Neuro Gym
Open resource →

Ian Cheng traces his evolution as an artist from early raw motion-capture work ('This Papaya Tastes Perfect') through self-playing simulations ('Entropy Wrangler', 'Emissaries') to the AI-driven creature Bob, built using Richard Evans' neurosymbolic inductive logic programming to model belief-formation and motivated perception. He discusses colliding scripted narrative with open-ended simulation, drawing on Dramatica story theory, Jeff Hawkins' thousand-brains model of mind, and Will Wright's systems-based design philosophy to explain his approach to AI-generated worlds and storytelling in works like 'Life After Bob'.

Topics

agent-based-ai-simulation-sims-style-need-architecturedramatica-narrative-theoryfictionguest-talksneurosymbolic-inductive-logic-programming-richard-evans-modelsimulation-vs-scripted-story-as-colliding-sculptural-forcestechnologythousand-brains-cortical-column-theory-of-mind-jeff-hawkins

Related resources

Talk

Guest Talk with Chen Qiufan | Science Fiction as Protocol

Author Chen Qiufan (Stanley Chan) argues that science fiction functions as a protocol for reconciling heterogeneous systems of thought, drawing on his own experiments training an AI writing collaborator ('Chen Qiufan 2.0') to explore distributed and non-centralized models of cognition found in novels like Peter Watts' Blindsight, Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep, and Ursula K. Le Guin's work. He proposes that symbiosis and endosymbiosis—biological precedents for merging distinct systems—offer a template for how carbon-based and silicon-based intelligence might coexist, framing science fiction as a tool to counterbalance cognitive asymmetry and motivate participation in shaping the future.

Chen Qiufan

Talk

Protocols for TV Comedy with Steve Hely

Steve Hely, a TV comedy writer and novelist, maps Hollywood's unwritten protocols onto the Summer of Protocols framework, walking through the pipeline from pitching (agents/managers, the five-part pitch structure, 'burglar ways' like South Park's demo tape) to the writer's room's 'yes and' norm, table reads as laughter-audits, and call-sheet production hierarchies. He argues comedy itself often arises from characters running mismatched protocols (Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office, Big Bang Theory), and closes with skepticism that AI can yet replicate the emotional story-stakes that make scripted comedy work.

Steve Hely

Talk

Divergent Protocols: A Speculative Protocol for Cultural Convergence Zones

Nicolás Madoery presents 'divergent protocols' as a counter-model to standard protocols that converge toward homogenization, arguing that AI and robotics now function as infrastructure (not tools) through which culture becomes 'liquid' and infinitely re-versioned. Drawing on examples like AI-generated Argentine folklore, a dancing folk robot, and his PIACH framework for cultural organizations, he proposes protocols that preserve diversity by naming what is lost, keeping source names, and leaving room for noise rather than optimizing transmission.

Nicolás Madoery