Tom Barbalet
Tom Barbalet is the creator of Noble Ape, editor of Biota.org and chair of the IGDA Intellectual Property Rights SIG.
Born in 1976 in Adelaide, South Australia, Barbalet developed a series of interpreters, compilers, anti-viral programs and the Schmuck Quest series of graphics/text adventure games in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In June 1996, as an undergraduate Barbalet put a collection of his landscape viewing and cognitive simulation demo programs together and created the artificial life development Noble Ape (originally called the Nervana Project).
The Noble Ape development was attributed to;
- Barbalet's travels around Malaysia and observation of wild monkeys living on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
- a dare with another student in creating a true cognitive simulation in stark contrast to the academic views of the university Barbalet was attending.
The Noble Ape development continues on to this day.
Tom Barbalet also created the I Am Darwin website, where people can post video clips of how Charles Darwin and his teachings influenced their lives.
Barbalet moved to the Bay Area in 1999 following an article by new media theorist Douglas Rushkoff. There he spent time with Steve Wozniak and John Draper, before moving to the United Kingdom and settling in Wilmslow in 2001. Barbalet lives in the Bay Area with his wife.
Podcasts
Barbalet is the host of the Biota.org podcast, which interviews developers and thinkers in the Artificial Life community, and of the Ape Reality Podcast, which focuses on the development of his cognitive simulation Noble Ape. He co-hosts the Stone Ape Podcast with futurist linguist Heron Stone. Barbalet is also the host of Model Rail Radio.
Field of Chaos
In 2011, Barbalet published a compilation of his 1993 writings called Field of Chaos.
External links
- Tom Barbalet's Page
- Rushkoff Article on Barbalet (circa 1999)
- Noble Ape Official Site
- Tom Barbalet's podcast, Ape Reality
- Field of Chaos
- I Am Darwin
- Tom Barbalet interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Material World, March 2003
- Tom Barbalet interviewed on FLOSS Weekly, 5 July 2008