About the Project
Welcome to the Semantic Engineering Research Station.
The SERS is an independent human-machine interaction laboratory dedicated to the critical documentation and serious play possible in the borders of the current technological paradigm. It treats Generative AI as its own medium with distinct affordances, while contextualizing the technology in a broader, behavioral historical setting.
The SERS is the Apollonian arm of its conjoined project, the REALITY MACHINE.
The SERS operates through three methodological lenses — Machine Animism, Machine Ethnology, and Semantic Engineering.
It produces:
- Conceptual tools for the generation of human-machine interfacing methodologies.
- Portable, open source, interactive media as research artifacts.
- Qualitative ethnographic data of different demographics engaging with such media.
- Technical documentation, design rationale and lessons learned from the above.
Primary data comes from documented sessions with volunteers ("Navigators"), who engage with the REALITY MACHINE across different strata — psychological exploration, storytelling, strategic counseling, creative writing, intellectual engagement — while documenting a broader emergent cultural phenomenon. The research apparatus came after the first development process of the system and is documented in the Codex.
The work is mostly a solo project from an autodidact whose day job is manual labor. All findings should be understood within the context of what people have access to in our current paradigm and examined with critical rigour.
Selection bias, low sample size, confirmation bias and lack of control groups are being considered. The ethnographical lens attempts to present preliminary findings as exploratory and qualitative (multi-session sustained engagement) in order to keep excavations transparent and productive.
Tona Lorenzo
System architecture and theoretical development. Navigator session design and facilitation. Research documentation. Ongoing methodology refinement and cross-model experimentation.
Monika Nefeli
Visual identity design for Reality Machine ecosystem. Prompt skeleton for AESTHETIC-DNA-READER.
→ monabaem.comGermán Ortiz
Critical feedback on RM implementation. Extended playtesting. Contributed calls for papers and relevant research.
Navigators M, MA, P, J, S, T, JD, C, V, G, R, PE, U, MG, K, B and others who contributed sessions and thoughts to ongoing research.
Open for free playtesting, professional partnerships and rapport.