10 “I’d like to do a little experiment and see if a large group of people can collectively generate better quality random numbers than an algorithm.” In March HOLO 2’s guest designer Karsten Schmidt launched RND.FARM, a site to farm ‘a stream of human generated randomness’ via keyboard and gesture input of visitors. So far, more than 1.6 Million random digits have been collected and fed into Karsten’s custom genetic programming system that will ‘breed’ our cover. Read more about the latter in our previous post.

9Uncertainty abounds in everyday life and right down to the subatomic level, but its pervasiveness means different things in different disciplines. What better way to frame the scale and scope of randomness than a friendly conversation between artist and scientist? We’ve brought together software artist Casey Reas (beard) and theoretical computer scientist Scott Aaronson (no beard)—the accompanying image shows their vector portraits being penned by illustrator Peter Stemmler. In their conversation the duo discuss what randomness means to each of them and how our perception of it has changed over the course of the 20th century and throughout history. Covering aesthetics, cryptography, and quantum physics, their dialogue is fascinating.

8 We sent photographer Ye Rin Mok to Casey Reas’ UCLA studio to shoot a rare copy of the 1955 book A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates. Why exactly? Spurned by cryptography and nuclear bomb testing in the Second World War, the book was a touchstone in the history of random number generation. In his essay, audiovisual artist Paul Prudence delves into the book’s esotheric ‘making of’, surveys techniques for harvesting ‘true’ and pseudo-random numbers, and questions the limits of knowledge and precision.

7 Google, Netflix, Uber—Silicon Valley giants are embracing ‘prediction science’ in a big way. There is a backstory to data analysis that predates Amazon guessing what you might want to buy next though, and it can be traced back to a semi-obscure Soviet economist’s grand theory about economic cycles. Speculative strategist Scott Smith cuts through ‘big data’ hype and carefully considers a century of predictive modelling.

6 Casting dice, flipping coins, spinning a roulette wheel—inspired by the colourful history of analog random number generation, paper electronics expert Coralie Gourguechon and designer Jacopo Atzori have created a special ‘DIY Codewheel’ (see the early prototypes shown above) that puts our second issues’ fixation on randomness into practice. Use it to create secure passwords, pick your lucky lottery numbers, or engage in DIY divination—it’s a fun little artifact that comes with every copy of HOLO 2.

5 If a butterfly flaps its wings in Mexico then does it trigger a tornado in Texas? If life on Earth is highly improbable, then are we alone in the universe? Data aesthetics expert Mitchell Whitelaw and illustrator Eva Hillreiner examine five scientific conundrums related to randomness and emergence. Genetic mutation, ‘noisy’ brain activity, quantum fluctuations—it seems that a bias towards randomness abounds across nature.

4 Yogi Berra once quipped “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Media art curator Michelle Kasprzak tells the tale of ten futurists who thought they could. Who better to illustrate their failed forecasts than Cedric Flazinski of the ‘anticipatory’ design studio N O R M A L S? The drawing we’ve shared above is his first take on an underwater utopia, as predicted by Alvin and Heidi Troffler in 1970.

3 They don’t build ’em like this anymore—this pixel tunnel (left) is a screen capture from the 1984 space trading game Elite. From its massive universes too large to ever be fully explored to the malleable blocky landscapes of Minecraft that stretch out into infinity, random numbers are central to procedural world building in video games. Writer and game designer Jim Rossignol played his way through a selection of key titles and muses on the experiences and emotional states randomness engenders.

2 There is much more going on in this cascading stack of triangles (left) than meets the eye—the cellular automaton system that derived it is one of the most well known methods for algorithmically generating random form. Renowned educator and Processing contributor Daniel Shiffman provides simple visual examples, commentary, and code snippets documenting the most prominent techniques.

1 Seven artist encounters (above: Dorothy Feaver meeting Ryoichi Kurokawa in Berlin), one thematic inquiry, features on places and tools: Jan Spading and Oliver Griep’s Hamburg-based editorial design studio zmyk is where it all comes together on the page. 226 of them—the magazine in its entirety—currently occupy one of their office walls, and for every layout touch-up a new one goes up to ensure overall consistency and flow. Truth be told, there will likely be a few more of these swaps before HOLO 2 can go to press. But from what we’ve seen first hand in last week’s work and review session on site, every tweak will be worth the wait.

0 Our ‘lift off’ moment is not far off; thousands of magazine copies are scheduled to be sent into the world in August. In the meantime: thank you for your patience and ongoing support!