Artificial Intelligence for Interspecies Communication | Manuel Axel Strain at Vancouver AI
· 37:08
- Recorded at
- Vancouver AI Meetup: September 2025
More from this event
In this recording
- Speaker
- Manuel Axel Strain
- Series
- Vancouver AI meetup
- Runtime
- 37:08
Chapters
- 0:00Cold open: “Incoming transmission” + tee-up for Manny
- 0:36Last month’s sweaty marathon + why we re-built the program
- 1:04Jesse on 221A: who we are + why it matters
- 1:49FAIR data mission (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable)
- 2:10Accelerator news: 221A × Brink + October cohort
- 3:03Introducing artist Manuel/Manny Axel Strain (two-spirit, all pronouns)
- 3:40Language + land: downriver hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, səlilwətaɬ/Squamish/Musqueam; place = sənáḵw
- 4:26Practice + role: Vines Art Society co-artistic director; why this project
- 5:29Richmond Art Gallery work: “Together with Paclitaxel” (AI-assisted imagery)
- 7:28“Lithium over a Forest Fire”: climate, mind, and interconnection
- 9:06Micro-medicine + mycelium networks; grandma, cedar, air
- 11:03How the images were made: raw AI outputs → Columbia River pictograph style
- 12:19“Everything is medicine” + remembering earth in everything we touch
- 12:59Talking with trees: dreams, songs, protocols, and jokes from dad :)
- 15:12Creation story + the Transformer: rocks, animals, plants, kin
- 16:51The spark: “What is that tree saying to that tree?”
- 18:02The plan: sensors, non-invasive signals, singing → interpret → translate (?)
- 20:05Will joins: building a taxonomy of plant communication (9+ sciences)
- 21:58First forest demo + playful plant dialogue; why connection tools help
- 22:45What Manny needs: collaborators, sensors, non-invasive methods, funding
- 24:46Audience mic: offers, memories, community invites
- 25:33Hardware help: “Hypha” lighting company offer
- 26:44Protocol & consent: Indigenous knowledge, AI, and boundaries
- 28:30Elders’ guidance + consent-aware prompting (“it can just say no”)
- 30:09Tension: share vs. be left behind; Indigenomics context
- 30:47Valuing the commons: logic trees, watersheds, desire
- 31:56Intention vs. communication: measuring, honesty, data limits
- 33:41Why Coast Salish leadership matters here
- 35:28Jesse’s context: related works (AI almanacs, terra0), connecting the dots
- 36:06Close: gratitude + open invitation to build together