Deep Dream, Dark Shadows

I have no idea how Google's Deep Dream algorithm works, but the results can be disturbingly compelling.

In short, Deep Dream is a visualization tool created to explore how neural networks work. This is the system Google uses to help identify the content in photographs, a tool that can not only tell the difference between different kinds of fruit seen in photos, but also different faces. The result is a cybernetic acid trip as the software explores patterns in images to make sense of them.

Folks have been running all kinds of trippy images through Deep Dream, from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY to FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. In my mind, there's nothing more trippy than DARK SHADOWS, so I pulled some select images from the original television series and ran them through some of the more basic Deep Dream filters popping up online. The results were ... interesting.

As you can see, Deep Dream and DARK SHADOWS got along like a house on fire. While the resulting images are probably "safe for work," it's probably wise to use caution when sharing them. If images above aren't enough for you, I dumped a collection of animated images at BLOOD DRIVE, the CHS Tumblr feed. You can find them on the links below:

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