Future Spam
The Bionet can be imagined as the first inklings of the Internet of Biological Things.
These are images of the Spample I created and mailed to the other team members at the BioBricks Foundation. This was done in order to show how artifacts might start to be “pushed” through the Bionet by an interested corporation or party that wants to reach new customers with its materials.
While providing an ideation of a searchable, architecturally formatted information space for tractable biomaterials, the thought experiments for enabled communities brought into light certain ethical and political ramifications of autonomously administrable living systems.
Every sticker ripped through was like the single click or swipe that one can make on a phone as an agreement to proceed. ASLBSL biosafety level 1 upon entry.
In this case, spam sent from MycoWorks to people interested in mycological materials, along with information about the provenance, instructions, and applications of the included sample.
Specific information about the density and expression of genomics, cladistics, and phonetypic aesthetics in culture.
Spample with suggested Protocol Emoji deck and certifying Bionet manifest showing the dominant paradigm filters used to target possible customers.
MycoWorks’ list of universally searchable Protocol Emojis is a way for a recipient to quickly determine if they have the required skills and resources to use the included product sample spam.
This was a really fun exercise in collage, mail-art, and hacking, and brought up a continued uncertainty if DIY biology is the expressive edge of individual freedom or a neo-liberal fantasy of technological autonomy. I feel that I helped create spam from the future and now I'm going to have to go forward in time and kill myself to keep the world from ending.