The Pessimist's Future

 

The Terminator series portrays a world destroyed but machines and humans hunted to near extinction. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep also has humans fleeing a world coated in radioactive dust. The People of Sand and Slag are unfeeling and have to be engineered in order to be able to live in their ruined world. The Calorie Man shows a world completely dependent on food specifically produced by large corporations. Even in Wall-E Earth is a trash filled and uninhabitable and humans are overweight, completely technology dependent, and controlled. Why is it that the majority of our futuristic literature and movies portray a bleak and destitute world? It seems odd considering that the technologies we look forward to in the future are ideally quite positive. We dream of people engineered to live longer, be free of disease, smarter, and more emotionally capable. The ability to travel in time and space, testing the limits of our knowledge and growing. With all these incredible prospects why are we serial pessimists?

Perhaps we can't stop ourselves from thinking about the drastic consequences that could come about if these technologies don't work the way we want them to or if our own nature and social constructs get in the way. In some of these it is that we become so out of control that we destroy our planet and have to flee to other destinations in space. In others we lose control over our technology and it destroys us, or humans fall under the control of those who possess the technologies we need or desire. Even more insightful are the stories about a world full of wonderful things but none of them can make people happy the way they assumed it would. We fear not only our technological possibilities but the limitations of our human nature. Do you think we could ever be truly optimistic about the future? Or will we always be in fear of our hubris, greed, lack of foresight, or even just poor judgment?

GoldieBlox Makes Engineering Toys for Girls

I recently saw this, and thought it fit exactly along the lines of what we had discussed when talking about women in Engineering. I hope GoldieBlox helps to change the way girls think of engineering. This also reminds me that talking about an issue is the first step to change but the actual action GoldieBlox has taken is a necessary step to change any social paradigm.

http://www.upworthy.com/if-3-little-girls-did-this-to-my-house-id-do-everything-i-could-to-get-them-full-rides-to-harvard-am2-8a

Would Breaking the Cycle Compromise Our Humanity?

The last few weeks we've been trying to understand what is so unique about humans and what makes us human. We've thrown around several ideas and found additional examples in other areas of the animal kingdom to counter our arguments. Compassion, justice, self-awareness, and the like are exhibited in various forms of life such as a system of justice among primates or empathy exhibited by dogs towards people.

One trend I noticed in this week's readings is the idea of a "cycle of life" and the human appreciation for this cycle. We are aware of our own existence in relation to other creatures, and others are aware of themselves in relation to us. We have millions of people studying all sorts of life cycles of different organisms. What other creature puts so much energy into understanding other creatures?

What if what makes humans unique from other organisms is our ability to take compassion, empathy, self and other awareness, and other traits associated with higher level thinking and channel that into the appreciation and self-appointed importance of a "cycle of life" in species other than ourselves? What if humanity is unique because we find the life cycle of others almost as important as our own?

I also find the cyclic definition of revolution and this idea of a cycle of life interesting. Is our studying these cycles a way for us to break from them and create a biological revolution (such as genetically engineering advanced forms of humanity)? How does this go against our value of the cycles created by nature? Would breaking these cycles destroy a part that makes us human much like it did with the characters in People of Sand and Slag?

The Guardian Angels of Tribal Pakistan

This a poem that Kate and I were going to include at the end of our presentation to talk about the human aspect of drones and drone strikes in particular.  It was written by a Mines student in one of Toni's classes and she was kind enough to give us permission to share it.   I hope this brings a little bit more human context to the subject of drones.

The Guardian Angels of Tribal Pakistan

Another white winged whale drifts by. It hums a soft lament, an endless lullaby for sleepless children. Their tears drown in blood-covered bed sheets from sporadic nightmares. Perhaps soon, they will meet their dreams.

The peaceful creature floats along buoyant sky, protecting us like an angel. But your father said not to go outside, lest it thinks you are wandering unsafely. You will only give our friend more work, and humans need to be more considerate.

You hear persistent footsteps of other orphans heading along the rubble-swept mile to math class. Then – an explosion in the distance. You look out the tattered window to where the watchful guardian is, its blowhole billowed in grey stardust. The heavens must be celebrating again.

--Syania Tifiani, CSM class of 2013, Geology Major

Futurescape

I don't know if any of you have seen this commercial for an upcoming show on the Science Channel, but I found it very relevant to our current class discussions.  I have no idea how informative and credible the content of the show will actually be, but even if the informational value is only surface thin, I think that there is still value in spreading these ideas around on TV to hopefully initiate widespread discussions of the ethics that James Woods mentions in the video.

I have seen revolution.

I have seen the smiles;

I have seen the tears.

I have seen the joy of being reunited;

I have seen the fear of being torn apart.

I have seen the exhilaration of learning something new;

I have seen the vacancy of an empty mind.

I have seen the gardens growing tall;

I have seen the soil ravaged, depleted.

I have seen the love and comfort of a family;

I have seen the horror of brother striking brother.

I have seen the elation of freedoms granted;

I have seen the anguish of privileges revoked.

I have seen the praise of a beloved leader;

I have seen the muffled cries under a ruthless tyrant.

I have seen the beauty of a thriving spirit: growing, maturing;

I have seen the writhing pain of a starving child, neglected spirit.

I have seen the opportunities of physical and mental health;

I have seen the blank stare of the sick, past the edge of hope.

I have seen the confidence of a sure path;

I have seen the turmoil of an uncertain life.

I have seen the leisure granted by technology;

I have seen the looming threat of an unmanned drone.

I have seen the tenderness of a generous soul;

I have seen the cruelty of self-indulgent disregard.

I have seen more than I can understand;

I have seen too little yet to answer all of the questions.

Culture and Human Exceptionalism

We spent a lot of time this past week trying to find the key aspect of humans that makes us unique. We discussed sentience, emotion, survival instincts, faith, and nature vs. nurture. Culture didn’t really come up. I recently found a rather ridiculous article about an anthropologist who was “kidnapped by elves” for seven years.

http://freedomshammer.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/anthropologist-held-hostage-by-elves-for-7-years/

This is obviously not a very credible source, but it did get me thinking. Anthropology is the study of humans and human culture. What would an anthropologist make of a transhuman being, aliens, androids, or even elves?

It turns out that there is actually a movement within anthropology that is examining “culture” as it pertains to other species. This movement seems to be primarily focused on other species found right now on earth such as dogs and racing pigeons. One of the main drivers of this movement is Donna Harraway (Harraway wrote “A Cyborg Manifesto” which was referenced in our study guide for Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?).

Culture is defined as “learned values, beliefs, and rules of conduct that are shared to some extent by the members of a society, and that govern their behavior with one another.¹” Culture differs from instinctual behaviors in that it must be learned, and therefore taught. Are human beings unique in having developed “culture”? Do you think that the androids in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? had a culture?

1)      Bonvillain, Cultural Anthropology, 3^rd Edition, Pg. 4.

Close, but no cigar...

In the following YouTube video you can see the android replica of Philip K. Dick. I have also attached a link to a recently released book about the project http://www.pkdandroid.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ930zzYxl8

As you can see, we are a long way off from needing special tests to distinguish between human disguise and our mechanical creations. The speech recognition errors abound and his (its?) movements are jolting; in addition, he must remain stationary. But the realism of the androids' facial features is certainly worth noting.

In his article “The Android and the Human” (1972) Philip K. Dicks writes,  “Perhaps, really, what we are seeing is a gradual merging of the general nature of human activity and function into the activity and function of what we humans have built and surrounded ourselves with….Our electronic constructs are becoming so complex that to comprehend them we must now reverse the analogizing of cybernetics and try to reason from our own mentation and behavior to theirs—although I suppose to assign motive or purpose to them would be to enter the realm of paranoia; what machines do may resemble what we do, but certainly they do not have intent in the sense that we have; they have tropisms, they have purpose in the sense that we build them to accomplish certain ends and to react to certain stimuli.”

After last night’s class I wonder what can we glean from the growing animation of the things that surround us?

Dear Mrs. President

Dear Mrs. President, We Have a Dream…

Dear Mrs. President, We want a change

Dear Mrs. President, We want a change for the betterment of society

Dear Mrs. President, We are the Children of the world

Dear Mrs. President, We can be whatever we want, engineers, doctors, teachers or mothers

Dear Mrs. President, We want equality in the world

Dear Mrs. President, We like to play with dolls and toy cars

Dear Mrs. President, We wish we could have our childhood

Dear Mrs. President, We are trying to change to world for us

Dear Mrs. President, We want to make the world an ethical place

Dear Mrs. President, We want the world to be a happy place

Dear Mrs. President, Can you help us please?

Dear Mrs. President, We are expected to succeed

Dear Mrs. President, We are set up to fail

Dear Mrs. President, We are not a group we are individuals united

Dear Mrs. President, We have a common goal ready to make a change for our children

Dear Mrs. President, We want people to not be suffering and have food on the table

Dear Mrs. President, How long will it take for the world to be a better place?

Dear Mrs. President, We like to play on playgrounds

Dear Mrs. President, We like to have fun with others

Dear Mrs. President, We are scared how the world is turning out

Dear Mrs. President, We like to smile

Dear Mrs. President, We are scared for our future

Dear Mrs. President, Countries are at war with other countries, brother against brother

Dear Mrs. President, We are living in a happy bubble in our own little world

Dear Mrs. President, We have a dream…

Dear Mrs. President, The world is not a place I want to grow up in

Dear Mr. President, We want a Revolution

The Human Tendency Toward Empathy

While thinking about Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I remembered this video:

If it's this easy for us to personify and empathize with a lamp, I can't imagine how hard it would be to prevent empathy for a humanoid robot!

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

I've been reading through a book recently, called The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, which is a collection of short essays about people with rare neurological conditions. For many of these people, their brain deteriorates to the point where they have trouble interpreting reality correctly.

The first story, which the book is named after, is the story of Dr. P. He has a condition where "not only did Dr P. increasingly fail to see faces, but he saw faces when there were no faces to see: genially, Magoo-like, when in the street he might pat the heads of water hydrants and parking meters, taking these to be the heads of children; he would amiably address carved knobs on the furniture and be astounded when they did not reply."

This sounds funny, but the crux of the condition is that Dr. P. is able to sense everything perfectly, but loses the ability to sort visual sensory input properly - he must rely on certain outstanding characteristics, like an unusual nose, to recognize people. As the title suggests, he loses the ability to recognize his wife by sight, though he still remembers her personality and recognizes her voice perfectly. Not only this, but he loses the whole idea of facial recognition, and fails to even try. A more extreme example, mentioned only in passing, was of a patient who became blind after a thrombosis but also forgot what sight was, and had no memories of ever seeing anything.

The second story deals with a man who has almost perfect retrograde amnesia - he cannot remember anything after 1945, even though the story takes place decades later. The author reflects on what this means for the patient, venturing into the moral and spiritual realms. If you can't remember what you were doing five minutes ago, do you have a continuous identity? Do you have a soul? Is our status as "human" dependent on our memory?

These questions resonated with me, and with the questions raised by our recent reading of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The novel is set in the distant future, but I think it's worth remembering that even now, people exist who are turned into "androids" of sorts just through accidents of brain damage. I think that Philip K. Dick, with his schizophrenia, was acutely aware of this. It's my belief that severe enough neurological conditions, ones which cause a disconnect from reality and a lack of empathy, are able to take away people's status as "human." I'm interested if anyone disagrees; is "humanity," perhaps also defined by the idea of a "soul," a fundamental quality bestowed upon the beginning of a human life?

Also, here's a link to a pdf of the book. I'd recommend it to everyone, especially those interested in the medical field. I had trouble not just copying and pasting the whole preface into a blog post, it's really relevant to a lot of topics that we've been discussing.

The Nature of Duality in Revolutions

I have to live with the fact that I'm human.

I live with the fact that I'm human.

I love the fact that I'm human.

I wrote the above poem as I was thinking about what it means to be human and about the things I like and dislike about myself. The book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? addresses the role of empathy in being human, but humans have a multitude of qualities that distinctly make us human. For example, we can read and write and have invented many languages upon which we've constructed our socities. Yet there are undesirable qualities in our humanity. We have the capacity to hurt other people. There is a constant battle inside of us; and I believe this is why we are attracted to movies and stories that pit good versus evil, dark versus light, and right versus wrong.

In class we have discussed whether or not the science or the application of the science is revolutionary. I argue that the scientific knowledge of nuclear physics is revolutionary, but the paths taken in the application of nuclear knowledge are also revolutionary. New nuclear discoveries did not necessitate their application either to bombs or to medicine. Each one of these applications was a separate leap in itself. By making nuclear bombs, we give into the human response of fear and choose death and destruction. By applying nuclear technology to medicine, we follow our human inclination to love and take care of people.

I propose that all revolutions take place when a person--and it just takes one person-- chooses one side of a certain aspect of his or her human duality over the other.

(KNew)clear

I thought I would post my found poem from class last night since it's more of a visual experience.  

(KNew)clear

T

his beca

me the Rad

ium Institute.  It had two sect

ions: the Cur(i)e

Labor

atory, 

head

ed by Marie Curie and en

tire

ly de(a)d

icated to re

search in physics and chemis

try...de

vote

d

to the study of the bio 

logical and med

ical effects of

radio

act

ivity.  

The material for this found poem was taken from my research on Marie Curie's contributions to nuclear medicine.  I emphasized several aspects of her legacy within this poem, notably the challenges she faced as a female scientist (his versus me), the radical nature of her work, the years of devotion to research (labor, tire, search, try, logical), and how she integrated her scientific findings into practical medical applications (Cure, act).  I also tried to capture the physical consequences of her work (head, dead).  The title of the poem is a play on the word nuclear, emphasizing its revolutionary aspect as well as the notion of knowing and discovery.  

Our Social Stigma

This poem is supposed compare and contrast two friends; one struggling with coming out as gay, and another struggling with overcoming depression. While both share similar emotions and social stigmas, the way they react to each other is different.

Technological Revolution in Fiction

Watching Infinity made me think in a broader sense about the way technological revolutions are represented in fiction, which of course made me think of this:

This is an iconic scene from the 1964 black comedy Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.



 The film was made as a satire about the fear surrounding nuclear warfare, and particularly about the theory of mutually assured destruction (the idea that actually using a nuclear bomb would result in both the attacker and the defender being annihilated).

In the film, an out-of-his-mind American general orders a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. The president and his advisers and other top military officials then work frantically to recall the planes, especially after they learn the Soviet Union has a "doomsday device," which will launch 50 nuclear bombs if they are attacked. They manage to find all the planes but one, the one in the clip, which does successfully launch their bomb and essentially ends the world as we know it. Itt doesn't sound funny written out like that, but it's so over-the-top that I promise it is. (The American Film Institute voted it the third funniest movie in the first 100 years of film).

With Dr. Strangelove and our readings as background, I wanted to point out the way people grapple with technical revolution in fiction, especially through humor. I think Dr. Strangelove,"The Calorie Man," and Infinity indicate three separate ways to process technological revolution in fiction:

1. 1. To satirize,
2. 2. To predict, or
3. 3. To ignore.

As described above, Dr. Strangelove takes a very serious and then-contemporary topic (destruction via nuclear warfare) and takes it to its extreme, making it absurd. The viewer is able to see how ridiculous engaging in nuclear warfare would be, and a clear path forward emerges. However, there is also a danger that the viewers will say to themselves, "Wow, that's ridiculous" and not take any action at all.

In "The Calorie Man," the author gives a Christmas Carol-like prediction: "See our path? This highly unpleasant thing could happen in our future if we don't change our ways." Again, the reader is able to see their path forward: do something about environmental degradation and corporate agriculture or we face a dire future. The danger here is that readers will take a speculative prediction as a direct prescription and decide that nothing can be done.

Infinity is set against the backdrop of the Manhattan Project, and it doesn't really care. The film is firmly about Richard Feynman and Arline Greenbaum and everything else is secondary. Though Infinity was made long after nuclear warfare was revolutionary and was not making a political point, in its decision to show but not analyze the Manhattan Project, the film does make a statement about nuclear warfare. It tells the viewer to focus on something else, and deal with the bigger issues another time. The danger here is that, if applied to a more current issue, this technique may downplay the issue at hand to a dangerous extent.

I'll close with a quote, because I can't discuss Dr. Strangelove without it: "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."

Can the world be changed?

For those who choose to change the world,
the plan, daily, must be told.

Guided by reason, but above all love and compassion,
Nonthreatening, Not pushy, Overflowing with understanding,
Unifying, Inarguable. It demands perfection.

The promotion of peace: inner and outer,
Freedom in general, while respecting
The rights of others.

A change made by choice, by the people,
Individually, choosing what's right, gaining
Knowledge, understanding, enlightenment.

Peace, because everybody wants it,
Not because we are all pointing guns at each other.
Threatening to shoot back.

Ways to practice and teach love, and empathy,
The usefulness of being nice and encouraging others.
Because we're all in this together.

Education reform, and health care for all,
Because we are alive, love each other,
And have the ability to do it.

Power to the people,
The plan is their own,
Spread through ideas, never by force.

The goal: to change the world,
To impact history,
That is to say, the future.

To wake someone up.

Found Poem: Kirsten Powers' "Highly Reluctant Jesus Follower"

When I learned this week of the prospect of a "found poem" I was elated because I could think of so many news articles that would make a great found poem.  Today I read one of the more surprising and powerful articles of late from Kirsten Powers in Christianity Today.  As an avid news/politics junky I know her politics very well and enjoy her writings.  To see a headline on Facebook about her converting to Christianity surprised me and reading her article showed that she was far more surprised than I.  As someone who struggles with issues of faith myself I thought I'd take a page out of Toni's alternative reading journal and create a poem to help myself understand what may be going on inside of the author.  The original article's link is below:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/november/fox-news-highly-reluctant-jesus-follower-kirsten-powers.html?paging=off

The question I pose to hopefully tie this blog post back to our class is concerning a topic that we have not talked a significant amount about.  How do you think an internal, individual revolution takes place?  Does it require outside influence?  Is it a necessary prerequisite to external societal/scientific revolutions?

Reluctant Jesus Follower

Just seven years ago

if someone had told me

I came to believe in God

I would have laughed out loud.

especially to evangelical Christianity,

which I held

in particular contempt.

I grew up

my belief

superficial

flimsy

borrowed from my father.

I grew older

he confided doubts.

What little

Faith

couldn't withstand.

Life

actually seemed pretty

wonderful,

filled with opportunity

privilege.

I didn't feel

I was missing much.

So when I began

dating

a man

into Jesus,

I was not looking

for God.

my boyfriend called

"Do you believe

Jesus

is your Savior?"

 My stomach sank.

I started to panic. 

my first thought. 

He's crazy.

When I answered

no,

Then he said the magic

words for a liberal:

"Do you think

you could keep

an open mind about it?"

of course.

Even though I

wasn't at all.

I was creeped

out.

On the other hand,

I had enormous respect

for him. He is smart,

educated,

intellectually curious.

I went to church

with him.

in an auditorium

with a band

playing

"praise music."

then the pastor preached.

I was fascinated.

I had never heard

talk about the things he did.

intellectually rigorous,

art and history and philosophy.

I decided to come back.

I thought

just an interesting lecture—

not really church.

I just tolerated

the rest

he usually brings Jesus

in at the end

to tie points together.

Why did he have to ruin

perfectly good

talk

with Jesus

nonsense?

He expertly exposed

intellectual weaknesses of

a purely

secular

worldview.

I began to read

the Bible.

My boyfriend would pray

with me

for God to reveal himself

to me.

After months of going

I concluded that the

evidence was on the side

of Christianity.

But I didn't feel

connected

to God,

I was fine with that.

Then one night

I awoke

a strange cross

a dream and reality.

Jesus

came to me and said,

"Here I am."

It felt so

real.

I called my boyfriend,

he felt we

were supposed to break up.

we did.

I was more traumatized

by Jesus

visiting

me.

I was lost.

I suddenly felt God

everywhere

terrifying.

unwelcome.

like an invasion.

I started to fear

crazy.

I didn't know what to do,

"You need to be in a Bible study,"

I didn't like the sound

but I was

desperate.

My whole world

imploding.

How was I going to tell my family

or friends

what had happened?

Nobody would understand.

I didn't understand.

I remember walking into Bible study.

knot in my stomach

only weirdoes, zealots

I don't remember what was said

All I know is

when I left,

everything had changed.

I'll never forget standing

outside that apartment

saying

"It's true.

It's completely

true."

The world looked different,

like a veil

had been lifted

I had not

an iota of doubt.

I was filled with indescribable joy.

The horror

the prospect of being

a devout Christian crept

back in, immediately.

I spent the next months

doing my best to

wrestle away from God.

It was pointless.

Everywhere he was.

Slowly

less fear

more joy.

The Hound of Heaven

pursued me

caught me—

whether I liked it or not.