Natural Glitch

The era of data has been built: every single particle is an elemental description of a fact. Data produced by a large number of devices and sensors contribute to the constant accumulation of information. The morphology of our planet has been mapped by overlapping satellite images and GIS data. The built environment has evolved into the space of flows in which the digital dimension is a new interface that allows us to experience the city and the relation it offers us. In this dataist context, this paper investigates the possible use of big data and artificial intelligence as tools for the transition from a utilitarian and anthropocentric dimension towards an anthropocenic design culture. The scope of the article is to analyse how such tools can be used as amplifiers of the weak signals of climate, social and cultural change in order to create readings, interpretations and narratives of the complex systems in which we live. With natural glitch we hypothesise a metamodel for future experimental research which combines citizen sciences, environmental sciences and humanities. The overground agorà is the substrate that allows the genesis and evolution through time of the natural glitch while the activators and interfaces already present in the environment are the touchpoints through which it manifests.