Echoes of the Prior: A Computational Phenomenology of Forgetting 42
Memory is not merely the storage of data; it is the scaffolding of reality. When biological memory fades, the world does not simply turn black; it regresses into an unrecognizable chaos. Echoes of the Prior is an interactive installation that attempts to visualize this subjective phenomenology of forgetting . By inducing controlled synaptic decay within a Feed-Forward 3D Reconstruction model, we create an artistic analogy for the erosion of the brain’s predictive priors. We position the Neural Network not as a tool for engineering, but as a cognitive proxy - a silicon brain whose structural degeneration evokes the disorienting, poetic, and terrifying experience of losing one’s grip on the world. Ultimately, we offer this framework as a catalyst, inviting the wider community to explore the uncharted potential of neuromorphic aesthetics in visualizing the fragility of intelligence. Interactive demo: https://decart-4d.github.io/.
Authors
- Bernhard Schölkopf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8177-0925)
- Andreas Geiger
- Gege Gao
Institutions
- Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (DE)
- Autonomous Healthcare (US)
- Empirical Technologies (United States) (US)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques
- Published
- 2026-06-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3816072
- Primary Topic
- Aesthetic Perception and Analysis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- KU Leuven