(est. 2021) explores the intersections of technology, culture, and human experience. From urban phenomena and digital spirituality to the evolving landscapes of creativity, we investigate how modern life reshapes perception, identity, and society.
SUBSCRIBE
#21 — VIOL: the ‘anti-violence’ drug that is spreading through Lisbon by Mark Ellison
#20 — Signal Ghosts: The Cities Where Wi-Fi Never Dies
#19 — Digital Detox Retreats: Escaping the Algorithm by Cassandra Myrren
#18 — The Urban Sleep Crisis by Eleanor Voss
#17 — Cryptic Art: NFTs and the Revaluation of Creativity by Marcus Ellwood
#16 — Virtual Pilgrimages: Religious Experience Online by Mark Ellison
#15 — The Dark Side of Wellness: When Self-Optimization Becomes Obsession by Eleanor Voss
#14 — AI Companions and the Loneliness Epidemic by Isolde Maren
#13 — The Rise of Microdosing in Corporate Culture by Cassandra Myrren
#12 — Sonic Immunity: Healing Through Frequencies by Cassandra Myrren
#11 — The Ethics of Immortality by Adrien Veyra
#10 — Algorithmic Faith: When Machines Preach by Mark Ellison
#09 — Post-Human Erotics: Desire Beyond the Flesh by Elin Vårnes
#08 — Synthetic Memory: The Future of Personal Archives by Caio Navarro
#07 — Neurosprawl: Mapping the Brain as a City by Eleanor Voss
#06 — The Archive Will Outlive You by Liang Wei
#05 — Eternal Scroll: The Infinite Feed as a Prison by Isolde Maren
#04 — Terraforming the Mind by Alessio Romano
#03 — Digital Necromancy by Mark Ellison
#02 — Speculative Hunger: Future Diets in a Synthetic World by Cassandra Myrren
#01 — The Ecology of Glitches by Alessio Romano
_
In contemporary digital landscapes, glitches are often dismissed as errors—mere malfunctions in code, fleeting disruptions in algorithmic flow. Yet, upon closer inspection, glitches reveal a complex ecology, a site where technology, human perception, and the unforeseen converge. These anomalies are not just technical failures but emergent phenomena that expose the fragility, adaptability, and agency inherent in computational and social systems.
A glitch operates at the intersection of control and chaos. In software, it signals a breakdown of anticipated behaviour; in digital media, it disrupts narrative coherence; in human experience, it evokes uncertainty, curiosity, and occasionally aesthetic fascination. One of the most emblematic examples is MissingNo., the infamous Pokémon glitch from the original Game Boy games. Originally a programming oversight, MissingNo. allowed players to duplicate items, distort graphics, and encounter impossible forms. Beyond its technical irregularity, it became a cultural phenomenon: an anomaly embraced by a community, ritualized through guides and speedruns, and celebrated as an unexpected layer of play. In ecological terms, MissingNo. demonstrates how glitches propagate influence beyond code, shaping player behaviour, memory, and collective imagination.
Glitches also function as temporal markers, revealing the layered histories embedded within digital infrastructures. A corrupted image, a frozen video frame, or a misrendered interface carries traces of prior states, usage patterns, and algorithmic evolution. MissingNo., with its scrambled sprite and unpredictable encounters, acts as a fossil of early game design, revealing constraints, assumptions, and unintended consequences of the code. This perspective invites a reconsideration of error—not as a failure to be corrected but as an ecological component, integral to the adaptive life of technological systems.
Culturally, glitches have been appropriated as aesthetic tools, particularly in visual arts, music, and interactive media. Glitch art, circuit bending, and generative composition exploit these anomalies, foregrounding unpredictability and impermanence. MissingNo., while not intended as an aesthetic statement, became a locus of playful exploration, demonstrating how human actors negotiate with machine unpredictability, producing emergent meaning from anomaly.
Ecologically, the propagation of glitches mirrors the dynamics of complex systems. Small perturbations can cascade into widespread effects, akin to keystone species influencing ecosystem structure. Social media algorithms, neural networks, and distributed digital infrastructures are not immune to such propagation; a minor anomaly can ripple through global networks, reshaping perception, behaviour, and even collective memory. MissingNo., propagated through player forums, magazines, and word of mouth, exemplifies this cascade: a single coding irregularity achieved global cultural visibility, influencing game design philosophy, fan practices, and the aesthetics of imperfection.
Ultimately, studying the ecology of glitches challenges assumptions about perfection, control, and intentionality. By recognizing glitches as agents within digital and cultural systems, we open a space for reflection on vulnerability, creativity, and emergence. They remind us that the boundaries of human and machine are porous, and that meaning is not solely constructed through design but also through the unexpected, the imperfect, and the ephemeral. MissingNo. is a paradigmatic figure in this ecology—a reminder that even the smallest error can catalyse ecosystems of experience, imagination, and interaction.
References
- Hayles, N. K. (2017). Unthought: The Power of the Cognitive Nonconscious. University of Chicago Press.
- Manovich, L. (2013). Software Takes Command. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Galloway, A. R. (2006). Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. University of Minnesota Press.
- Parikka, J. (2015). A Geology of Media. University of Minnesota Press.
- Wolf, M. J. P. (2012). Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming. Greenwood.