moloch added

content/posts/moloch.md

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+---
+title: Moloch
+type: Project
+year: 2024
+image: moloch.png
+tags: [AI, Unity, Simulation, RL]
+date: 2024-06-07
+showcase: 
+  - name: The OBJECT Itself, Sample-Studios & UCC Digital Art in Ireland Symposium, Lord Mayor's Pavillion
+    year: 2024
+    location: Cork
+credits: 
+  Inwoo Jung: Sound design
+draft: false
+---
+In a simulation sculpted by algorithms, Moloch emerges – a digital artefact crafted to explore the ceaseless training process of an <intelligent> agent. Under the guise of reinforcement learning algorithms, the simulation draws parallels between the relentless optimisation of algorithms and the ancient rituals associated with Moloch, a deity synonymous with sacrifice.
+
+The sculpture contemplates the algorithm’s hidden desires that drive the agent to optimise endlessly in pursuit of a flawless policy - examining the computational sacrifice made in service to its inscrutable objectives. By examining Moloch’s influence, the work reflects on the irrational and self-destructive behaviours born from our digital entanglement with such relentless forces where the boundaries between human and machine desires converge.
+
+The simulation runs in real-time and was created in the Unity game-engine. The simulation observes an agent while it trains to walk using various reinforcement learning algorithms commonly employed in early physically-based animation research. The script includes extracts from Howl (1955) by Allen Ginsberg, with the sound design by (Inwoo Jung)[https://www.instagram.com/_inwoo.j/].
+
+![Moloch](/images/moloch/moloch_3.png "Moloch")
+
+![Moloch](/images/moloch/moloch_1.jpg "Moloch")
+
+![Moloch](/images/moloch/moloch_4.png "Moloch")