PROLOGUE
P3 artificial intelligence
This outstanding collection of images by Antonio Romero reveals the advanced technology which supports most of our civilization, underlying recent and current conquests in communications, computer science, control systems, and robotics. The science and technology of information play a pivotal role in our life, from data recording and reading to the complex calculations behind space technology, astrophysics,
or weather forecast.
However, the work of Antonio Romero goes beyond a mere interest in the technical aspects, which can be sated by technical
literature in any case. Beyond the detailed processes of construction revealed by these images, they constitute an
overwhelming show of how far the human
mind has gone so far, and of what it may one day achieve. The results of these exercise in micro-spelunking are an illustration of how matter can be constructed through the application of scientific methods, technical means, and a utilitarian mindset.
A comparison is inevitable between natural and human-built matter. Images of micro-electronics are (for their scale as well as for their computational functions) reminiscent of natural systems like those of neurology, despite their strong geometrical appearance and the Cartesian inspiration of this series of images. Pleasantly and smoothly, the images lead us to the frontiers of knowledge and of the technology derived from it.
Once there we must ask ourselves: How far can we go?, Can the human brain be simulated?, How did nature get to these results?, and Are we following rightly in its footsteps?
In the background of these images a certain aesthetical inspiration can be perceived: this is not a random gathering, where the images were lying around waiting for the hand of the picker to add them to his collection. These images were selected according to a previous concept, a project, sought after and deftly captured.
R. Román
Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Granada (Spain)