Inoculated
Inoculated is born out of the symbiotic relationship between fungi and network devices.
Can nature evolve to thrive on technology infrastructure?
Inoculated questions the possibility for a hybrid organism to be born out of deep entanglement between nature and technology infrastructure. It imagines what might happen after billions years symbiosis leading to mutual co-evolution.
Can there be an organism that mutates to take advantage of the ubiquity of radio waves in the 2.4GHz-5GHz spectrum as a source of nutrition or communication?
WiFi Eaters
Inoculated is rooted in the scientific concepts of endosymbiosis, the evolutionary history of photosynthetic eukaryotes, and the adaptive strategies of composite organisms. It is inspired by real-world symbiotic relationships, such as those seen in lichens and photosynthetic sea slugs. Inoculated grows on the possibilities of symbiogenesis and the creation of organisms beyond organic and the inorganic kins.
Extrapolating nature's past evolutionary feats, Inoculated envisions a future where fungal organisms integrate with technological devices, evolving over millions of years into a composite life form capable of harnessing radio waves as a source of enery and sensing.
Life on earth is 4 billion years old, since then, the slow but unstoppable pace of random mutations has lead to the biodiversity we see today and all of it that came before us. Evolution continues to adapt life though climate epochs, and today as humans continue to drive the Anthropocene, we can’t help but wonder what organisms will come next.
As humans, we have transformed our environments in both visible and invisible ways, among the dramatic changes we have caused, we have introduced a new source of energy in the form of radio waves. Our cellular antennas, 5G networks, and WiFi routers are constantly radiating electromagnetic waves and have colonized our living spaces, our rooftops, our sky, and our orbits.
Composite image showing initial stages after inoculation and the growing organism 10 days later.
Initial Tests of mycelium growth over inorganic substrates