DESMA 9

 This week, the material I found most interesting in respect to Nanotech was the Nanomeme Syndrome reading.  Unlike the other interactions of science and art we've studied this quarter, nanotechnology is in its infancy. Technology has only very recently been able to observe material on the scale of the nanometer, and going beyond these minuscule limits grows nigh-impossible when we consider the Raleigh limit (vision-based microscopes failing when their scale grows smaller than the length of light waves).  This creates an interesting implication: in some ways, nanotech-focused art forges ahead of its scientific counterpart. Of course, there are other areas of scifi that predict or assume scientific advancements, like space operas or dystopic technological overlords, but the reality of those works is limited by scale. Space infrastructure like dyson spheres or outer world colonies requires natural resources and decades of travel. Nanotech is not limited in the same way, as...

 This week's material was something I found particularly relevant to my own life. To begin with, here's a quote that accurately summarizes my impression of the "Neuroculture" reading: "There isn't a skeleton inside us, we are inside the skeleton (we are the brain)". The "Neuroculture" reading brought back many memories of media addressing the "brain as self" notion; that is, our consciousnesses and personhoods are contained within the neurons that fire, not in the limbs and body parts we may consider our "selves". For example, in Futurama, preserved heads of famous historical figures show up regularly to make snarky jokes, their personalities preserved even if their bodies are not. The Thing , Alien , Prometheus, Dr. Who , etc, are all other shows and movies that depict this same trope.     However, beyond the media representation in horror and scifi, the idea of brain-as-self crops up in many more relevant real life discuss...

Today, on May 12th, I attended the Midterm Presentation event where 3 students from each discussion presented their midterm projects for the class. Although I presented as well, I wanted to cover one of the presentations that left an impression on me. This student presented about AIs and music composition. He started off with a question: "What is the difference between art and craft?" He then proceeded to give some context regarding AIs that created music and poetry in the Classical style, trained on composers such as Brahms and Bach. His project revolved around performing these generated pieces.       After his presentation, the instructors began a conversation regarding how we could view the artistic products of AIs. In fact, could they be considered "art" at all? Although the discussion started claiming that the procedural method of generation couldn't be equated to human art, a TA brought up a very novel viewpoint: given that computers have computation abili...

 On May 7th, I attended the Biotech & Art watch party of the 1997 film Gattaca . The IMDb synopsis of the film reads as follows: "A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel".      This was actually my second time watching the film; my high school biology class watched it, and probably for similar educational purposes. (Specifically, it was during our unit on gene technologies!) Back then, I didn't really have any specific opinions on CRISPR and similar technologies. I had forgotten enough of the plot details that I felt attending this specific watch party would be interesting, as it would allow me to analyze the film from a new perspective.    My first time watching it, I left with the conclusion that the film was a cautionary exploration of the benefits of gene editing. The second time around, I had different schema that affected my opinion. For example, after years of sign...

 This week's material was my favorite so far, in that the readings and questions given were very novel.  The most important conflict I grew to understand this week was the debate over biological art. For example, in "Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications", questions are raised over copyrights, legality, and compensation regarding genetic engineering in art. I inferred that the ambiguity in these debates laid in whether art is viewed as a means to an end. For example, the paper states that experimentation on animals is common, whether it be psychological experiments or drug testing. However, when it comes to modifying biological organisms for display or commentary, protests were raised regarding "ethical concerns about the trivial use of genetic engineering" (Defining Life, 9).        The operative word here is "trivial": it implies that artistic violations of bodily autonomy or animal freedom are more reprehensible than their co...

One of the first encounters I had with medical-related art was learning about Rorschach tests. Subjects would be presented with inkblots that were designed to have no immediate resemblance to any commonly-recognized pattern, and asked to describe what they saw. Based on the answer and its connotations, psychologists were supposed to be able to infer something about the subject's mental state. Rorschach tests were also meant to fill in the gaps where patients were unable to verbally describe their feelings; the Rorschach test capitalizes on pareidolia, or the phenomenon of associating the abstract with the concrete through the influence of one's own experiences.   An example of the pareidolia phenomenon. Do you see what I see?   The first of the original 10 Rorschach cards.   What's interesting about the Rorschach tests' proliferation into the world of art is that the original creator only produced 10 images, but now, if you search for Rorschach test images, there will b...