Strange Loops: A Study of Computation in Art and Consciousness

Humans use devices to expand their empirical limits. Observations of astronomical objects as well as other aspects of the universe--previously out of reach of human observational capabilities--have become ubiquitous. By design, these technological devices experience fundamentally different qualia than their human creators; and yet through them humans are able to gain access to those qualia. This thesis and its accompanying visual work explores the limits of observation and experience, and highlights the contrast between the advancements of humans and their relative insignificance within the context of the greater cosmos.