Draft:Thomas Barbalet
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Submission declined on 1 August 2026 by ChrysGalley (talk). This draft's references do not show that the person meets Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion for people. The draft requires multiple published secondary sources that:
Declined by ChrysGalley 2 months ago.
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Comment: The new sources do not really hit the independent and significant secondary coverage needed under WP:GOLDENRULE. The new sources are primary (interviews or self published papers). Try to find coverage from WP:RSP before resubmitting. Lacanic (talk) 00:36, 4 August 2026 (UTC)
- Comment: This needs more in-depth reliable and independent sources for notability. The Guardian story is really good, tick in the box there, but under WP:BIO we need ideally three such articles that meet the WP:GOLDENRULE. The other sources here are not independent or are database/self publicity. So two more sources like The Guardian please. ChrysGalley (talk) 08:27, 1 August 2026 (UTC)
Thomas Barbalet | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1976 (age 49–50) Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| Occupations | Software developer, author, musician and podcaster |
| Known for | Noble Ape |
| Website | barbalet |
Thomas Barbalet (born 1976) is an Australian software developer, author, musician and podcaster. He created Noble Ape, an open-source artificial life simulation now developed as ApeSDK.
Career
[edit]Barbalet was born in Adelaide and spent much of his childhood in Canberra. He released games for Macintosh and PC between 1990 and 1993 and began the project that became Noble Ape in 1996.[1]
He recorded the experimental albums Isle of the Apes in 1997–98 and Mind Monkeys and Purfect Beats in 1999.[2] In 1999, Douglas Rushkoff profiled his graphics work in The Guardian.[3]
After moving to the United States, Barbalet received a 2001 letter from Steve Wozniak supporting his work and visa application.[4] Apple engineers demonstrated Noble Ape at the 2003 Worldwide Developers Conference.[5]
In 2003, Barbalet and Tobi Saulnier co-chaired the International Game Developers Association's Intellectual Property Rights Committee and oversaw its white paper on intellectual-property rights in the video-game industry.[6]
Beginning in 2006, Barbalet produced podcasts about artificial life, software and hobby culture. They include the BiotaCast, published as Biota's Artificial Life Podcast at biotacast.org, Ape Reality, Model Rail Radio and Attic Aficionados, co-hosted with Brandon DiCamillo. His website catalogues approximately 1,900 episodes.[7] In 2008, he appeared on episode 31 of TWiT's FLOSS Weekly to discuss Noble Ape.[8]
Barbalet served as the Industrial Relations Chair on the board of the International Society for Artificial Life from July 2012 to June 2018.[9] The society's online Encyclopedia of Artificial Life includes ApeSDK among its soft artificial-life systems.[10]
In 2017, Barbalet objected to organisations promoting Jim Gaffigan's Noble Ape tour, asserting prior commercial use of the name.[11] Gaffigan later released Noble Ape in 2018.
Author
[edit]Barbalet published The Original Manuals of Noble Ape and the tabletop-game book Field of Chaos. A revised edition of Field of Chaos was published in 2024, with production and design by Barbalet's collaborator Craig Wilson Fraser.[12]
Barbalet served as technical editor on John T. Draper and Craig Wilson Fraser's 2018 biography Beyond the Little Blue Box, which discusses Field of Chaos.[13] Fraser later worked on the production and design of the Field of Chaos book series.[14]
Barbalet contributed “The Mind of the Noble Ape in Three Simulations” to the Springer collection Origins of Mind. The chapter describes three interoperating simulation models used in Noble Ape.[15] He also contributed a dialogue to Divine Action and Natural Selection: Science, Faith and Evolution.[16]
In 2009, h+ Magazine published Barbalet's essay “Ape Brain Narcissism Misses the Singularity: An Artificial Life View”.[17]
Music
[edit]Barbalet's later releases include Noble Ape: Project Music, Noble Ape: Last Monkey Standing, the EP Noble Ape: Monkey Freedom, Milk and Medicine and the 2020 EP Last Monkey Standing.[18]
External links
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Tom Barbalet". TWiT.
- ↑ "A Little Monkey Music". Noble Ape.
- ↑ Rushkoff, Douglas (7 October 1999). "Second sight". The Guardian.
- ↑ Wozniak, Steve (2001). "Letter concerning Tom Barbalet". ApeSDK.
- ↑ "CHUD—Performance Optimization Tools in Depth". WWDC Index. 2003.
- ↑ Intellectual Property Rights and the Video Game Industry (PDF) (Report). International Game Developers Association. 10 October 2003. pp. 3–4.
- ↑ "Podcasts". Tom Barbalet.
- ↑ "Noble Ape". TWiT. FLOSS Weekly. 4 July 2008.
- ↑ "Board of Directors". International Society for Artificial Life. Previous Board Members. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
- ↑ "ApeSDK". Encyclopedia of Artificial Life. International Society for Artificial Life. Retrieved 2 August 2026.
- ↑ Barbalet, Tom (5 June 2017). "Noble Ape Intellectual Property" (PDF).
- ↑ Barbalet, Thomas (2024). Field of Chaos. ISBN 9798330281268.
- ↑ Draper, John T.; Fraser, C. Wilson (2018). Beyond the Little Blue Box. FriesenPress. ISBN 9781525505706.
- ↑ "Craig Wilson's portfolio". Twine.
- ↑ Barbalet, Thomas (2013). "The Mind of the Noble Ape in Three Simulations". In Swan, Liz (ed.). Origins of Mind. Springer. pp. 383–396. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-5419-5_20.
- ↑ Seckbach, Joseph; Gordon, Richard, eds. (2008). Divine Action and Natural Selection: Science, Faith and Evolution. World Scientific. ISBN 9789812834331.
- ↑ Barbalet, Tom (28 July 2009). "Ape Brain Narcissism Misses the Singularity: An Artificial Life View". h+ Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 April 2023.
- ↑ "Tom Barbalet". Apple Music.
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