Exobiologist

 In a blog post near the end of 2023 (see 2 x 3 = Sha), I mentioned the idea that Lato Johns grew up on a distant exoplanet called Nor'Dyren where she developed an interest in biology. From an early age, Lato studied the endogenous life forms of Nor'Dyren. Here in this blog post, I'm going to develop my thinking about Lato as a character in "Departure From Nor'Dyren", my fan fiction sequel to the novel "Assignment Nor'Dyren", a 1973 science fiction novel by Sydney J. Van Scyoc. At the same time, I'll be making use of tools like WOMBO Dream to make illustrations for "Departure From Nor'Dyren".

I'll briefly mention a new AI-powered tool in this blog post: Microsoft's Designer software, which is now linked to Bing's Image Creator. In my next post, I'll examine Designer in more detail and also play with the AI Comic Factory.

weather map (source)

 Cloud Seeding. To make the book cover image that is shown in the upper right corner of this blog post (above), I started with the 90° rotated National Weather Service satellite imaging map that is shown in the image to the left.

sea creatures of Nor'Dyren

Along with that satellite image as a reference for Mr. Wombo, I used this text prompt: "high resolution movie science fiction still showing a sentient sea creature, the sea creature has purple tentacles that look like human arms, the sea creature likes to grab unsuspecting girls, the sea creature has glowing eyes on long stalks" and got the AI-generated undersea image that is shown in the image to the right. I love how the stable diffusion software can take any random image and alter it so as to conform to the requested scene.

Lato swimming.

By adding in a human figure to depict Lato, I then made a new reference image that is shown to the left.

Lato in the deep.

 Zoom In. I selected the part of that reference image that included Lato and the tentacles for closer attention. Mr. Wombo was then able to generate images such as the one that is shown to the right. 

 Composite Image. Here, I manually pasted in some extra eyes for the alien creatures in an attempt to hide anatomical defects in her hand and foot. I also boosted the level of color saturation in the image, which might not be a realistic way to depict an under-water scene, but I like the more vibrant colors.

Lato closeup view.

 Zoom In More. The image shown to the left is a closer view of Lato during her dive into the waters of Nor'Dyren. Mr. Wombo tried to find a way to constrain Lato's hair with some sort of headband.

The rescue.

 One Is Too Lonely. As shown in the image to the right, sometimes Mr. Wombo wanted to add in additional human figures to this scene.

For these images, I mostly used the WOMBO Dream Nightly v2, Dreamland v2 and Dreamland v3 "styles". Dreamland v2 is best for generating Lato's face with the appearance that I wanted. 

The Dreamland v3 style is the best one for matching the details that are in a reference image. Nightly v2 will make the biggest changes to the reference image and in this scene, often went in the direction of turning Lato into a fantasy mermaid.

Lato's diving skirt.

As shown to the left, sometimes Mr. Wombo wanted Lato to be wearing a skirt.

Dangers of Nor'Dyren.

The image shown to the right is another example where Mr. Wombo spontaneously added a second human figure to the scene. 

Originally, both of these women were generated with blond hair, but I manually changed one of them to black hair. This is actually a composite with parts taken from another similar AI-generated image. Also, their faces were re-generated at a higher level of detail than in the original scene.

Biology of Nor'Dyren.

In the original AI-generated image for the scene shown to the left, there was a very weird and alarming detached arm pasted against the side of her head. That stray "feature" of the AI-generated image completely ruined the scene, so I covered that arm with yet another alien sea creature's tentacle.

Creatures of Nor'Dyren.

 Explore Alternatives. Shown in the image to the right is an alternative under-water scene depicting Lato exploring the aquatic biosphere of Nor'Dyren. Sometimes the stable diffusion algorithm fails to make all the parts of the image internally consistent. In particular,  feel that the green creature in the upper left corner of this image does not really fit in with the rest of the scene. And since I was making changes, I also altered the upper right corner of the image.

After I erased 2 objects with Designer.

 Image cleaning. I used Microsoft's Designer software (discussed in more detail at the bottom of this blog post, see Figure 4, below) to remove two objects from this scene ("Creatures of Nor'Dyren", above); 1) the green creature at the upper left corner behind her head and 2) the blue thing in the upper right corner. The resulting modified image is shown to the left.

Image repairs by Mr. Wombo.

I was not satisfied with how Designer filled in those two gaps in the image, so I had WOMBO Dream make some "filler" content including 1) a new right arm for Lato and 2) a new multi-tentacular sea creature with an eye), producing in the image that is shown to the right.

I used an AI-generated image that was similar to the one that is shown to the right as a new reference image and allowed Mr. Wombo to create several more alternative underwater scenes featuring Lato and assorted sea creatures from the planet Nor'Dyren.

Something fishy.

 Something Fishy. In the image that is shown to the left, Mr. Wombo finally included a creature that looks something like an Earthly fish (the green creature in the background that is seen close to Lato's face). I can imagine that this particular purple creature might be among the most intelligent creatures that ever evolved on Nor'Dyren. It is fun to imagine that Lato can establish a weak telepathic connection to this creature's mind.

Beached.

 Back to the surface. For the image shown to the right, Mr. Wombo brought Lato up onto the shore along with a very large alien life form. Maybe this is a scene depicting some event that is similar to the beaching of a whale on Earth. 

Lato's submarine.

In the image shown to the left there is what might be an alien whale in the far background. Also, in this scene we see some of the support equipment that Lato uses while exploring the oceans of Nor'Dyren, including a submarine, painted purple to blend in with the purple native life forms.

artificial lung on her back

In my imagination, Lato can "breath" underwater with the help of an artificial oxygenator that she wears on her back (see the image that is shown to the right). The device continuously extracts oxygen from the water and then injects oxygen into her blood.

Uncanny Valley. I wish I had been able to find a way to make the oxygenator seem to have a larger surface area for absorbing oxygen from the water. At the bottom center of this image is an alien organism that looks similar to a human arm. I suppose it is useful to have touches of the bizarre in an alien environment, small features that are surprising and even disturbing. 

Figure 0. Lato in outer space. Image by DALL-E.

 Departure From Nor'Dyren. Eventually, Lato and her friend Purn depart from Nor'Dyren and travel to other worlds that are remnants of the Ka^Erb interstellar empire. In her novel, "Assignment Nor'Dyren", Sydney J. Van Scyoc did not provide any details about the interstellar travel technology that was available to the people of Civilized Unity. 

Working with AI-image generators in an attempt to illustrate a science fiction story, it is challenging to find the right mixture of some terms that are familiar to our world and other terms in a text prompt that will lead to an image that is appropriate for the story and looks like nothing in our world.

Lato colorless.

 Take my colors, please. I asked both DALL-E and Mr. Wombo to generate images depicting: "high resolution full color science fiction movie still of a very young woman looking out the view-port as the star-ship Enterprise approaches a black hole, photo-realistic, intricate detail, long blond hair, the woman has skinny arms and is twenty years old and is dressed Victoria's Secret style". If I did not specify "full color", then Mr. Wombo would sometimes make gray scale images like the one that is shown to the right.

By Mr. Wombo.

I used Figure 0 (above) as a reference image for WOMBO Dream and Mr. Wombo produced the image that is shown to the left. Maybe this is what it looks like when a Xzixkina star-ship activates its faster-than-light interstellar drive. The alien Xzixkina were mentioned in "Assignment Nor'Dyren" by Sydney J. Van Scyoc.

I'm still not clear in my thinking about how Lato Johns will travel to other planets from Nor'Dyren. As a "junior partner" in Civilized Unity, it seems as if humans from Earth need to hitch rides between the stars, relying on technology that is available to other more technologically advanced species who have been members of Civilized Unity for a much longer time.

Departure from Nor'Dyren

 Full Color. The image to the right is a book cover made starting with a color image that was generated by Mr. Wombo. The only alteration to the AI-generated image was that I added the text on top of the machine-generated image. 

Other Software. I routinely use GraphicConverter to add text to images and to make composite images. I also sometimes use GraphicConverter to make animated GIF files.

 A Legal Question. Mr. Wombo seems to find it difficult to resist putting military insignia on people who are inside spaceships. I wonder: could a company that is making available to the public AI-driven software (such as WOMBO Dream) be open to a lawsuit if their AI system created images that look too much like Star Trek?

image generated by WOMBO Dream

 Personally, I feel that artists should be free to create images without having to worry about accidentally including something that a corporation claims to own. When I look at these AI-generated images, I have other questions, such as: why did the AI make one window round and the other window rectangular in the "Departure from Nor'Dyren" cover image that is shown above? 

 Choices. It does seem as if Microsoft is taking a more cautious approach with their deployment of DALL-E than is the case for WOMBO Dream. For example, when I asked Mr. Wombo to create an image illustrating "Margot Robbie winning an Oscar", I got the image that is shown to the left. I'm not very imaginative; I can't imagine why such an AI-generated image should be "out of bounds" or be a target for legal action.

Image Creator content warning.

Microsoft. When I used the exact same text prompt with Image Creator, I got the warning that is shown to the right. Maybe this text prompt is a violation of the content policy in that the resulting image might be "misleading". 

AI Spring? With Bard, you can show images to Bard and ask Bard to comment on the images, but Bard refuses to look at images of people, even if they are AI-generated images of imaginary people. I was surprised when Google stopped offering a facial recognition service in its search engine, but I suppose there was a lawsuit that put an end to that.

Lato on Pes^Cro.

 Return to Nor'Dyren. I'm thinking that the first planet visited by Lato and Purn after they leave Nor'Dyren will be Pes^Cro. Maybe their spaceship will land on the dark side of Pes^Cro. 

For the image shown to the left, I asked Mr. Wombo to generate an image showing long hair and in this case he really went for it. Sydney J. Van Scyoc mentioned in passing that Nor'Dyren had two moons and maybe Pes^Cro also has more than one moon. The moon that Mr. Wombo generated in the image that is shown to the left looks quite similar to our Moon... I can easily imagine this being a scene that is set on Earth.

Beachport

 Imaginary Book Covers. The image shown to the right is an alternate cover for "Departure from Nor'Dyren". Van Scyoc vaguely described the spaceport of Nor'Dyren as being on a coastal plane, but usually deep in fog.

I was impressed by the futuristic jumpsuit that Mr. Wombo crafted for this scene. I had to manually insert that spaceship into the AI-generated scene of Lato at the shore.

A replicoid of Pes^Cro

In my imagination, the artificial life forms of Pes^Cro should not have an appearance that is too different from the Earthly humanoid pattern, but Mr. Wombo generated the oddity shown to the left. The never ending challenge of finding the correct balance between alien otherness and something sensible that does not clash with my sense of what is possible.

For the image to the left,  that alien control panel was generated in a separate image.

First Contact

The image shown to the right is is an alternative depiction of First Contact between a human and an artificial life form. I'm not sure what she is holding in her hands... maybe a device something like our smart phones.

Lato in the mountains.

In "Assignment Nor'Dyren" by Sydney J. Van Scyoc, she depicted a mountainous region of the planet where temperatures could get quite cold. The image to the left shows Lato on a snowy mountain. However, that moon is the Mr. Wombo default. Van Scyoc specified that there were two moons around Nor'Dyren.

Lato under two moon.

The image to the right shows Lato in a warmer location on Nor'Dyren and there are two moons in the sky, conforming to Van Scyoc's imagined conditions for the close orbital neighbors of this exoplanet.

the challenge of genetics

Lato is particularly interested in genetics. Previously, I've imagined that in the Asimov Reality, the pace of technological advance has been slowed by using the Phari endosymbionts that are inside all humans to block scientific creativity and the development of new technologies. 

I'll have to come to a decision about the level of technological sophistication that R. Nyrtia and Grean will allow in the Phari Reality. The image to the left illustrates Mr. Wombo's idea of the difficulty of studying genetics in the Phari Reality.

Lato's vision of Pes^Cro

A serious problem with Lato's imperfect ability to access information that is available to her via the Sedron Time Stream is that her imagination is often left to fill in the gaps that exist in information flowing to her from the Time Stream. For example, she may suspect that there are only artificial life forms on Pes^Cro, but nothing prevents Lato from imagining that there are bizarre biological creatures on that planet (see the image to the right).

vision of B^Ta

After visiting Pes^Cro and discovering that the artificial life remnants of the Ka^Erb are not as bad as she has feared, Lato has a more favorable vision of her future on B^Ta (see the image that is shown to the left). In her vision, Lato sees Purn and the Slibili in the role of mischievous forest elves who can't accept the fact that Lato does not have a penis.

One of the ways that Lato can "fine tune" the information flow that she receives from the Sedron Time Stream is by establishing telepathic connections to herself at other points in time. This might not be telepathy as conventionally understood, but subjectively it feels like Lato can communicate with her future self.

Lato's use of the Sedron Time Stream.

Lato exploring another life-
form on a beach of Nor'Dyren

The image above is meant to depict two different times when Lato was at the same location in a forest of Nor'Dyren while growing up. Both times she was able to sense her presence at that particular location from the temporal perspective of two different points in time by means of information that she was obtaining from the Sedron Time Stream. 

In Lato's consciousness, this type of unusual multi-temporal experience was also a way to become cognitively linked to her future self, at the time when she would be on the planet B^Ta, although she never understood that connection to her future life on distant exoplanets until after she departed from Nor'Dyren and traveled to B^Ta.

The image to the right shows one of Lato's friends on Nor'Dyren. I have yet to settle my thinking about how many humans might be on Nor'Dyren about 20 years after the events in "Assignment Nor'Dyren".

Next: Comic Hallucination.

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Hybridize 7

Spire Mountain, a hybridized Mandelbulb
surface. Bottom panel: "Add Constant 4D".

This is my second blog post about using Mandelbulber2 software to create fractal surfaces. Here, I'll use the surface shown to the right ("Spire Mountain") as an example.

Mandelbulb surface example

For this example, I started with the basic Mandelbulb surface that is built into the software and the default material. The image to the left shows that starting fractal surface.

You can select among the available transform functions and begin reshaping the core fractal shapes.

Add Constant 4D transform

An example of a transform function is "Add Constant 4D".

You can manually enter the four parameters (x, y, z, w) or you can use an available randomizer pallet.

randomize

If you click on the randomize button then a new window opens that can be used to generate a desirable transform. An example of the pallet with some computer-generated random transforms is shown below:

A random selection of transform parameters is generated then you can select among them.

In the example shown above, I used the "medium randomization" option. From among the pallet of generated options, I selected the variant shown below:

Left, standard Mandelbulb surface. Right, the transformed surface made with "Add Constant 4D".

The effect of this transform function on the Spire Mountain hybrid surface is shown in the image at the top of this page.

To transform the standard Madelbulb surface into Spire Mountain, I went through the sequence of hybridization steps shown below:

I started with the standard Madelbulb fractal surface (inset, upper left) then six other fractals (their names are shown) were added sequentially and hybridized to produce the next modification of the surface (red arrows).

As shown below, I then zoomed in on the top half of Spire Mountain.

I liked the spire with the radiating folds. Further zoom:

I then moved the camera down and to the right, entering one of the valleys. I changed the camera angle to point at the base of the spire:

Left panel: default. Right panel: with new light source.

In the image to the right, the left panel is a quick, low resolution render. In general, the default lighting is good, but you can zoom in on some poorly lit parts of the surface.

I made my first extra light source inside one of the dark depressions. Just below the main render window is a drop-down menu that allows you to change what clicking in that window does. One option is to insert a new light source. The panel on the right ⇛ is a higher quality rendering with the added light source.

Another mode for using the cursor allows you to determine how far it is from the current camera position to a point on the surface of the fractal.

As shown to the left, you can move the cursor over the fractal surface and obtain the coordinates for points that are on the surface. The software calculates the distance from the current camera position to the point on the surface that you select with the cursor.

This distance information is useful for making decisions about how far to move the camera when you want to zoom in on the surface. If you are not careful, you can zoom in too far and move the camera inside the fractal!

For the science fantasy story that I am currently writing,  "Final Change", I wanted an illustration of an entrance leading into the highest chamber of Seelie. I zoomed in on the lower part of Spire Mountain...

Left: bottom center part of Spire Mountain. Right: after Photoshop processing.

Related Reading: Mandelbulber2 iteration controls

Next: High Seelie

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Firefox Fail

image source

Late on May 3 Firefox browsers began to shut off the extensions that Firefox users had installed. Later, on May 4th, Firefox had a fix for the problem and they posted this tweet.

Firefox blocks uBlock Origin

In my case, I've been happily using the uBlock Origin ad blocker extension along with millions of other people. When this recent Firefox browser problem with add-ons hit my computer, the uBlock Origin extension was deactivated and placed in the bin for "Legacy Extensions" (see the image below).

My initial guess was that uBlock Origin had failed to keep up with the current Firefox requirements for extensions. Upon clicking on the "Find a Replacement" button, I saw that among the listed ad blocking extensions was "AdBlock for Firefox", but when I attempted to install that extension, I got an ugly red message saying "download failed" with the useless advice "check your connection".

Business as usual: the Firefox user experience, May 2, 2019

I use AdBlock on my copy of the Chrome browser. However, I seldom use Chrome. Compared to Firefox running on this computer, both Chrome and Safari are slow. The quick fix that was used to allow Firefox users to again use their extensions involved the existing "Studies" feature in Firefox. In my case, I had previously shut off the default preference for "Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla".

uBlock Origin

A few minutes after activating the preference "Allow Firefox to install and run studies" (see the image above) my uBlock Origin ad blocker was up and running again. During the brief time that I was without an ad blocker, I visited a few websites (looking for an explanation for the loss of uBlock Origin as my Firefox ad blocker) and was reminded how much I rely on ad blocker software for my sanity while visiting websites. Many websites are now larded up with disgusting ads, annoying popups and assorted bits of distracting crap of a seemingly endless variety. Ew.

the current crop of "studies"

original poster

Reflection
This experience today with the Firefox browser reminded me of the constant struggle that we humans are having with computers and computerized systems in the world today. In 1964, the film Fail Safe prompted viewers to imagine that a nuclear catastrophe might be generated by a computer error. Which is more prone to errors: humans or computers and computerized systems?

I'm also reminded of Isaac Asimov's story "The Feeling of Power" (mentioned here), possibly the first science fiction story promoting the idea that humans might, in the future, choose to decrease their dependence on computers.

Next: celebrating the Sci Fi story telling of Jack Vance