The Living Virtual Kinka Kuji Temple: A Dynamic Environment

Our research uses the natural computing power of emergent properties and chaos found in live data streams to bring a "living" element into a heritage environment. Using a live chaotic data stream found on the Internet, we can produce emergent rhythmic behaviors to control artificial life and climatic environmental changes. We constructed a model of the Golden Temple (Kinka Kuji) in Kyoto, Japan for our experiment. We decided to design artificial life "fireflies" to inhabit the neighboring temple gardens. These fireflies are connected in real time to the actions of stocks environments in the Nasdaq stock market. Using live chaotic data streams holds a lot of promise in providing a more natural process for both virtual environments and artificial life. In this research, we've only explored its beginning potentials, searching for the types of data available from users and the Internet. The data can provide new perspectives in making our virtual heritage alive and be closer to interpreting the "magical nature" of the heritage site.