Computer Virus Project 2.0

Joseph Nechvatal’s 2001 Computer Virus Project 2.0 follows along the same lines as previous viral works by Nechvatal in 1992 - works where an unpredictable progressive virus operates on a degradation/transformation of an image. Using a C++ framework, Joseph Nechvatal and his programmer/collaborator Stephane Sikora have brought Nechvatal’s early computer virus project into the realm of artificial life (A-Life) (i.e. into a synthetic system that exhibits behaviors characteristic of natural living systems). With Computer Virus Project 2.0, elements of artificial life have been introduced in that viruses are modeled to be autonomous agents living in/off the image. The project simulates a population of active viruses functioning as an analogy of a viral biological system.

Computer Virus Project 2.0 actively propagates viral attacks on image-files from Nechvatal’s recent "ec-satyricOn 2000 (enhanced)+ bodies in the bit-stream (compliant)" series. Here viral algorithms - based on a viral biological model - are used to define evolutionary processes which are then applied to image-files from Nechvatal’s "ec-satyricOn 2000 (enhanced)+ bodies in the bit-stream (compliant)" series. Among the different techniques used here are models that result from embodied artificial intelligence and the paradigm of genetic programming. More...