Links for April 4, 2017

The CIA uses board games to train officers—and I got to play them

This is a two-team versus affair, Ruhnke says, because analysts need to be aware of how their targets work. “It’s a real brain-on-brain affair,” he says. “The fugitives we’re analyzing, they’re analyzing right back.” While I, unfortunately, didn’t get to explore all of the methods that each team uses to react to the other in this game, I did spy a “facial surgery” option on the board for Chapo’s side—which goes to show that Ruhnke’s game has made room for a vast range of response possibilities.


The Best Art

The Best Art is an ongoing artistic collaboration between the computer (MacBook Air, 13-inch, early 2015), and the human (Nicole He). The computer queries the universe and uses an algorithm to objectively calculate the best art for any given moment in time. The human executes the commands.


Strange Beasts