README
Dreamachine
experimentNo. 0072categoryAltered statesrecordingpendingdataCC BY 4.0
The fly sits facing a slotted cylinder that turns on a record turntable around a bare bulb in a modeled 1960s Paris hotel room. The slot flicker reaches its retina as frames rendered 20 ms apart.
Recording pending publication. Follow along for the release.
Setup
- Seven stages over 114 s: arrival, seating, lamp on, spin-up, 40 s steady flicker, speed comparison, spin-down.
- Turntable 78, 45 or 33⅓ rpm, or stopped as a control; slot patterns of 6, 8, 12 or 24 openings per turn; lamp bright, dim or off as a control.
- An attendant fly operates the bulb and turntable; the speed-comparison step runs through 33⅓, 45 and 78 rpm.
- Cameras: Hotel room / overview, Fly and cylinder / profile, Slots, bulb and calligraphy, Facing the fly, Overhead, Over the shoulder.
Measurement
- Each live window sends ten 32-column retinal frames rendered 20 ms apart, so flicker below 25 Hz reaches the model; faster flicker aliases.
- Measured readouts: LC4 + LPLC2, DNp01, HS + H2 and VS. Input is retinal only; weights are fixed.
Limitations
- Real fly photoreceptors follow far faster flicker than the 20 ms model step.
- Gysin's machine is viewed with closed eyes; flies have no eyelids.
- No visions or alpha entrainment are claimed or measured; the room is modeled on the Beat Hotel, not a survey of it.