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fractastical/README.md

Joel Dietz

Applied AI Researcher · Computational Artist · Systems Architect · Founder

I design systems for understanding and building intelligence across scales—from artificial agents and biological cells to markets, institutions, and cultures.

My work spans artificial intelligence, machine consciousness, bioelectricity, collective intelligence, computational governance, and computational art. Across these domains, I build research infrastructure, software, simulations, and artworks that explore how intelligent systems emerge, coordinate, adapt, and create.

Rather than separating science, engineering, and art, I see them as complementary approaches to the same questions. Research develops theory, software turns ideas into working systems, and art makes complex phenomena visible and experiential.

How do intelligent systems emerge, coordinate, adapt, and create—from cells and organisms to AI agents and human civilizations?


Website Google Scholar ORCID GitHub X X

Artificial Intelligence Machine Consciousness Bioelectricity Collective Intelligence Computational Governance Computational Art


Research Areas

🧠 Artificial Intelligence & Machine Consciousness

Developing computational models of agency, active inference, self-modeling systems, cognitive architectures, evaluation frameworks, and machine consciousness.

⚡ Bioelectricity & Morphogenesis

Studying bioelectric signaling, cellular intelligence, regenerative biology, morphogenesis, programmable anatomy, and the computational principles underlying biological form.

🌐 Collective Intelligence & Computational Governance

Designing mechanisms for coordination, decentralized institutions, governance protocols, public goods, institutional design, and collective decision-making.

🔬 Complex Systems

Building simulations of biological, economic, ecological, and social systems to better understand emergence, adaptation, and large-scale coordination.

🎨 Computational Art

Creating generative artworks, audiovisual systems, symbolic interfaces, installations, and experimental media that explore complexity, emergence, mythology, consciousness, and transformation.


Featured Projects

Project Description
🌱 Bioelectricity Nexus Research platform connecting scientists, engineers, clinicians, and entrepreneurs exploring bioelectricity, morphogenesis, and regenerative medicine.
🧠 CIMC Philosophy Review Publication exploring machine consciousness, philosophy of mind, active inference, and artificial agency.
🤝 Cooperation Engine Open benchmark and research platform for cooperation, collective intelligence, and AI coordination.
🏛 distributed-governance Research repository covering governance, DAOs, institutional design, blockchains, and coordination.
🌌 Etherea Speculative systems project exploring AI, Ethereum, Mars, future civilizations, and computational worlds.
🎼 Hypermuse Generative audiovisual performance environment combining AI, simulation, music, procedural graphics, and live performance.
EtherCasts Early educational media documenting Ethereum, smart contracts, and decentralized technologies.

What I Build

I enjoy projects that combine technical implementation with deep conceptual questions.

Research Infrastructure

  • AI research tooling
  • Scientific knowledge graphs
  • Literature synthesis
  • Evaluation benchmarks
  • Open research platforms

Intelligent Systems

  • Agent architectures
  • Active inference systems
  • Multi-agent environments
  • Complex systems simulations
  • Computational governance protocols

Creative Computing

  • Generative art
  • Interactive installations
  • AI-assisted creativity
  • Audiovisual performance
  • Symbolic interfaces
  • Visualization systems

Artistic Practice

My artistic practice explores many of the same themes as my research: emergence, intelligence, symbolism, transformation, and collective behavior.

Working across generative algorithms, photography, painting, AI, performance, and interactive media, I treat art as a research practice—a way of investigating the same questions that animate my work in artificial intelligence, bioelectricity, morphogenesis, and complex systems.

Mythology, alchemy, eros, speculative futures, and computation appear throughout my work not as historical references but as symbolic languages for thinking about transformation.

I don't see art and research as separate disciplines. Both are methods for discovering structures that already exist but have not yet become visible.


Current Questions

Some of the questions guiding my work include:

  • How do intelligent systems construct models of themselves?
  • How do biological and artificial intelligence converge?
  • How do cells coordinate to build living organisms?
  • How do groups become coherent collective intelligences?
  • How can simulations become scientific instruments?
  • What institutions are needed for increasingly autonomous intelligence?
  • How can art reveal structures that are difficult to perceive through language alone?

Currently Exploring

  • 🧠 Machine Consciousness
  • ⚡ Bioelectricity
  • 🌱 Morphogenesis
  • 🤖 Active Inference
  • 🐜 Collective Intelligence
  • 🌐 Computational Governance
  • 🎨 Generative Art
  • 🧬 Artificial Life
  • 📚 Scientific Knowledge Graphs
  • 🔭 Future Civilizations

Collaboration

I collaborate with researchers, artists, founders, laboratories, universities, and interdisciplinary teams working at the intersection of:

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Bioelectricity
  • Machine Consciousness
  • Complex Systems
  • Computational Governance
  • Scientific Research Infrastructure
  • Computational Art
  • Research Strategy
  • Technical Writing
  • Open Science

Previously

  • ⟠ Early contributor to Ethereum
  • 🦊 Early MetaMask architecture contributor
  • 🚀 Founder of multiple startups and research initiatives
  • 🎤 Speaker at MIT Media Lab, Stanford, Harvard Berkman Klein Center, Institute for the Future, Singularity University, and other research organizations

Research. Software. Art.

Building systems that help reveal how intelligence emerges—from cells to civilizations.

Pinned Loading

  1. morpholib morpholib Public

    Morphospace / morphogenesis analysis toolkit with scientific visualization, simulation, image-analysis, and structured-publication utilities. Developed with Levin Lab with initial financing from th…

    Python 3

  2. distributed-governance distributed-governance Public

    Definitions and bibliographies for governance, blockchains, law, and consciousness

    TeX 59 13

  3. jQuery-for-Salesforce jQuery-for-Salesforce Public

    Set of scripts and classes that implement jQuery UI and other jQuery plugins with native Salesforce bindings

    18 11

  4. Hacker-News-Filter Hacker-News-Filter Public

    Chrome extension that provides filter for hacker news on karma score and keywords

    JavaScript 10 3

  5. hypermuse hypermuse Public

    Deterministic visual scoring system including audio reactive VJing software based on higher order math

    JavaScript 3

  6. bioinformatics-eval bioinformatics-eval Public

    AI-powered bioinformatics paper evaluator — evidence-first multi-agent pipeline scoring data transparency, dataset resolvability, code availability, and computational reproducibility.

    TypeScript 2