Week 9 – Ashley Brown – SETI and Nanotechnology

What is SETI?

SETI stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. The goal of SETI is to study the sky in order to see if there are any transmissions from possible life on other planets. “Project Ozma” was the first SETI project ever performed. It took place in 1960 by Franke Drake, an astonomer at Cornell University. Using a radio telescope with a 25-meter-diameter, he looked at the Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti stars. This project did not bring about on any worthwhile results. On August 15, 1977, the Ohio State University SETI became quite popular when Jerry R. Ehman noticed a very strong signal coming from the telescope. After noticing it, he marked it with a “wow” on the printout, and because of this, the signal is referred to as the Wow! Signal. This is one of the best indicators of alien life forms. Along with using radio telescopes, SETI also uses probes and lasers to try to detect other life forms.

 What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is a type of science that attempts to govern matter on a molecular and atomic level; it also attempts to create equipment of that size. Important concepts of Nanotechnology were first introduced in 1959, in a speech called “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom.” The performer of this speech was Richard Feymen, a physicist. The word was made popular by K. Eric Drexler during the 1980’s. He spoke about it in the sense of creating equipment that was only a small amount of nanometers wide; they would be so small that a cell would be larger than them. There are two approaches to nanotechnology, bottom-up processing and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing focuses on building complex objects from small parts. Top-down processing focuses on making smaller objects through the direction of larger objects.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

http://www.seti.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology

http://www.crnano.org/whatis.htm

Week 8 – Ashley Brown – Fate and Truth

Is everything based on fate?

For the longest time,  I have been a very firm believer in the fact that “everything happens for a reason.” Now thinking about it, I wonder if it actually really does. I mean if you meet a person who could help you out professionally, but they never actually do, was it really fate or is it just coincidence? I mean it really made no significant difference in your life whether you met this person or not, so why would it happen? What is the reason? Does fate apply to every event that happens in your life or just the significant ones? Fate is defined as something that is inevitably going to happen no matter what. The word fate comes from the three goddesses Kolotho, Lakhesis, and Atropos, which are the daughters of necessity. According to mythologies, these three goddesses were supposed to be the final decision makers to what happens to all living things. I believe in fate, but I just do not know when it comes into play. So after some careful thinking, I decided to change my original thought to “everything significant occurs for a reason.”

What is truth?

The heated debate we had in class got me thinking, what is truth? I cannot decide which side of the argument was right because both kind of made sense. I see Professor Vesna’s point-of-view because it is kind of true that what you believe is true. The whole argument that occurred reminded me of the book The Giver. In the book, the whole city sees everything in one way, and there is only one person who sees things differently. So technically what the rest of the city sees is not the truth, but to them it is, so truth can kind of be about a person’s perspective, well at least the truth that matters. For example, a schizophrenic man can think that the there are demons after him and because of that, he jumps off a building. Now it does not matter that there are no actual demons, because the man killed himself on his personal truth; regardless of its actual falseness, the man is dead. So, I believe that there is some truth in saying that what you believe is true. My opinion follows the consensus theory, which says that truth is whatever people have agreed is true. There are many theories on truth including the correspondence theory, which is the theory that fits the opposite side of the class argument, it basically says that there is only absolute truths. I also kind of believe that the correspondence theory is true because the sky is not purple even if somebody believes it to be. Because I can prove neither wrong, I guess I believe that both sides of the argument are right.

 Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coincidence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth

http://www.iep.utm.edu/t/truth.htm

Week 7 – Ashley Brown – The Space Station and Space Art

What is the history of space stations?

When Richard Clar mentioned the space station in his speech, it made me realize that I do not know much about them. I set out to find more info on them because I find the topic interesting. The first space station was created on April 19, 1971. The first space station proposal was actually introduced by Edward Everett Hale, a science fiction author, who, in his 1869 Atlantic Monthly article, examined the idea of a spacial object that could help navigate boats; he called these objects “Brick Moons.” The first space station was called Salyut 1 and was launched by the Soviet Union. The first crew that went to stay in the Salyut 1 had problems, so they had to come back after just a few hours. The second crew, which managed to stay in the space station for 22 days, unfortunately died on their way home due to a capsule air leak. The United States put up Skylab, their first space station, in 1973, but it fell to earth after just five years. It only had a total of three crews visit it while it was in orbit. In 1995, Valery Polyakov came down to earth after spending a record-making 438 days in space on the Soviet Union’s Mir.

 

Salyut 1

Skylab

Valery Polyakov

What is Space Art and who is Lynette Cook?

In a very broad definition, Roger F. Malina says that space art is art that relies on spacial activity. One space artist I find particularly interesting is Lynette Cook. Lynette Cook paints astronomicals, life in space, cosmology, and extrasolar planets. I find her work very beautiful because she puts a twist on some of her paintings. For example, in her Galaxy Puzzle, Lynette uses a literal puzzle of the galaxy to describe how scientists are trying to solve the mystery of dark matter in space. In her Cosmic Circuits, Lynette maps out a circuit board across the sky to illustrate how the universe changes in an organized fashion. I really like how she uses objects in combination with space to make a point. It makes you have to think about the artwork and find out the mystery of what it actually means.

Links:

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9811/23/station.history/

http://www.mariannedyson.com/stationhistory.html.com/iss.html

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/iss.html

http://www.arttechnologies.com/site-2005/space-art.html

http://extrasolar.spaceart.org/space.html

Week 6- Ashley Brown-Plastic Surgery and Orlan

What is the history of plastic surgery?

In today’s society plastic surgery is a fad with staying power, there was a 48% increase in the amount of plastic surgeries just between 2000 and 2006. Since it is so popular now, where did the idea and practice originate? Plastic surgery in the simplest of terms, is changing a physical aspect of the body. Plastic surgery began in the 700’s BCE. Sushruta Samhita is one of the earliest plastic surgeons, he performed otoplasty and rhinoplasty in 8th century BC. Because anesthesia did not always exist, plastic surgery used to be extremely painful. In 1791, Chopart used the skin from the neck to fix someone’s lips. In 1827, John Peter Mettauer used his own tools to complete the first surgery to repair a cleft palate. The most common cosmetic procedure in America today is breast implants.

Who is Orlan?

Orlan is an artist who has plastic surgery performed on herself in order to go against the typical lines of what is beautiful. Orlan strongly believes in shocking the audience with her art. Orlan, who is now fifty-nine years old has gotten facial surgeries to look like the giraffe woman of Zimbabwe. A lot of Orlan’s work is carnal art, which is the mixture of modern technological advances and tribal art. Orlan actually does an act while her surgeries are occurring.  Even the nurses and doctors dress up while they do their work. Even though most would assume that it would be painful to have the plastic surgeries done, Orlan claims it does not hurt at all. One of her more recent artworks is the addition of a saline pocket above her eye, which is seen in the picture below.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_surgery

http://www.emedicine.com/plastic/index.shtml

http://www.forbes.com/health/2007/10/09/health-surgery-risks-forbeslife-cx_mlm_1010health.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_implant

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4816435/

http://www.english.ucsb.edu/faculty/ecook/courses/eng114em/whoisorlan.htm

Week 5-Ashley Brown-Biotechnology and Midterm Reflections

What is Biotechnology?

Biotechnology is using living bodies to change human environment and health. Biotechnology dates back till the Neolithic Revolution, when humans started to cultivate their own crops. There are four types of biotechnology labels that correspond to prominent industries: red biotechnology (medicine), green biotechnology (agriculture), white technology (processes of industry), blue biotechnology (marine). An interesting Biotech artist is Hunter O’Reilly. His Anthrax Clock shows a woman on a clock that turns from happy to dying as increasing spores of anthrax are layed over the time period. He also shows an artwork called “A Clone is Not a Copy,” which shows a cat and it’s clone and how their fur patterns are not the same. O’Reilly’s work shows how more recent biotechnology works. I find his artwork very interesting because it explains how biotechnology can be both positive and negative.

What midterm presentations most interested you?

I really loved that our midterm was a power point instead of a boring test. Instead of dozing off while answering dozens of multiple choice questions or writing a really dull essay, this midterm project kept me awake and entertained. One project that really caught my eye is the idea of creating human transformers. The thought that our bodies can be made into machines that can change form is fascinating. I have watched movies that have featured that and always thought that it would be awesome if it were real. Another project I liked was the creation of limbs that could be connected with neurotransmitters for people who have had to have parts of their bodies amputated. I think that if we can create those kind of limbs, the next step will be creating regenerating body parts. I looked up bionic body parts, and while researching, I found a website that talked about how two starfish can be created through splitting one starfish in half because they can regenerate. Now that kind of ability for humans might not be possible for decades, if at all, but if it ever becomes possible, that would be incredible.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotechnology

http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/what_is_biotechnology.html

http://bio.org/speeches/pubs/er/timeline.asp

http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/08_02/art_hunter.shtml

http://express.howstuffworks.com/bionic-body.htm

Week 4- Ashley Brown- Driverless Cars and Transgenic Art

What are driverless cars?

In doing research for artificial intelligence, I discovered something I have always been interested in, driverless cars. I have always thought to myself: why do cars have to have drivers? With all the new technology, cars should be able to drive on their own. Driverless cars are cars that use electronic sensors, navigation, and moving plans to drive themselves. In 1977, the Japanese Tsukaba Mechanical Engineering Lab began to work with the first driverless cars, which are also referred to as autonomous vehicles. The first autonomous vehicle could reach up to twenty miles per hour. During the 1980’s, Ernst Dickmann and his team created a robot van that went up to sixty miles per hour on non-traffic streets. In 1994, an impressive feat was accomplished by driverless cars. Three driverless cars traveled at one-hundred thirty kilometers per hour for 621 miles in Paris, during a lot of traffic. The controversy over the use of driverless cars is if they will be able to function as well as humans, meaning they need to be AI-complete. Many worry that they will be too dangerous because the cars do not have commonsense or affective computing. Stanford recently created Junior, which is the driverless car they will be entering in this year’s DARPA Urban Challenge. Junior is equipped with LIDAR systems (shine lights and find reflections to discover distance), GPS system, and tons of sensors to help the car function properly on its own.

Sensors

Junior

Should transgenic art be called transgenic science?

While researching transgenic art, I found myself asking: Why is this called art? I mean, a glowing bunny is pretty, but I think of it more as a scientific experiment than an art form. To me, trangenic artists are more transgenic scientists. Transgenic art is the use of genetic engineering to transfer natural or artificial genes to an organism, in order to create a completely new species. I can say that whatever the scientist envisions as the new species might be considered an artwork, but the whole process seems more science involved. For example, when a Princeton University scientist gave a mouse an extra brain receptor gene, it was able to go through mazes better. Even though this is incredible, I do not see it as an art project. Also, take the Eduardo Kac GFP K-9 project into account. This project will create a dog that will look bright green while in UV-light. I guess this could be considered a work of art, but I think of it more as an awesome science project. I think that transgenic art would be better if it was more focused on creating species that had more useful abilities; the movie “Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves” greatly exemplified this when they were experimenting with a product that would make night road-workers glow at night.

GFP K-9 Project

Links:

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/autos/0702/gallery.future_safety/index.html

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18908/?a=f

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driverless_car

http://www.ekac.org/transgenic.html

http://www.ekac.org/glowrabsf.html

Week 3- Ashley Brown- Kinetic and Robotic Art

What is kinetic art?

Kinetic Art is a type of art which includes parts that are in motion. The moving parts can be operated by a person, wind, air, water, electricity or a motor. In 1913, Marcel Duchamp created the “Bicycle Wheel,” which is recognized as the first piece of kinetic art. Antoine Pevsner and Naum Gabo were the first to use the term kinetic art in their 1920 publication, Realist Manifesto. Perhaps the most familiar and famous kinetic sculpture is the mobile, which was created by Alexander Calder during the 1930’s. The 1950’s through the 1960’s stand out as the most prominent time period of kinetic art. Some front runners kinetic artists at this time were Yaacov Agam, Arthur Ganson, Len Lye, George Rickey, Bridget Riley, and Jean Tingley. Jean Tingly created a very interesting and elaborate self-destructing kinetic sculpture in 1960. Titled “Homage to New York,” the fascinating piece of art, which was composed of junk found in Newark dumps, destroyed itself in about twenty-seven minutes on March 17th, in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art. While searching for kinetic art, I found two kinetic artists that really interested me. One is Bruce Gray, whose “California Dreamin” rolling ball machine I found to be quite striking. I love the way it looks like a miniature version of a mystical roller coaster, something that would be found in “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The second kinetic artist that caught my eye was Tim Fort, who creates playful and colorful projects that utilize the domino motion. I like his work because it is fun and appeals to all audiences, including children.

Robots: Who is Fast Karl?

In researching robot art, I came across an interesting website about a robot artist named Fast Karl. Fast Karl is a robot that designs abstract art without the use of a programmer. Using his tire treads, he paints across a canvas or paper with acrylic paints. As simple as it seems to put tire treads through paper, his work is actually quite beautiful. I find it incredible that machines can create such beautiful works of art. Even though some say they would not consider art created by robots actually art, I believe it is as artful as a painting by Picasso. Just because it is not designed directly by a human, it does not make it any less beautiful or artistic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_sculpture

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0039885.html

http://www.artmuseum.net/w2vr/archives/Kluver/00_Homage.html

http://www.brucegray.com/htmlfolder/html_subpages/dreamin.html

http://www.lunatim.com/kinart/kinpic/kinpic.htm

http://www.stcroixstudios.com/wilder/fastkarl/artwork.html?menuid=2

Week 2-Ashley Brown-Math Rock and the Golden Ratio

What is Math Rock? Why isn’t Math Rock more popular in America?

Until Monday of this last week, I had never heard of math rock. When I first heard the phrase “math rock,” my mind immediately went to thinking that it is a type of music that talks about math, which made me initially turned off from it because I do not particularly like math. Then I thought, it would be illogical to have an entire sub-genre of music based on songs that just talked about math; therefore, maybe instead of songs talking about math, the instrument playing was based on certain math equations. I was wrong both times because math rock is neither of those things. Math rock is actually titled math rock merely because the instrument playing is so precise. To me, the music was pretty similar to a lot of popular heavy metal today, except the drumming was very crisp. Even though it is not really my type of music, I still cannot figure out why it is not more popular because it is still a fascinating musical genre. If you read reviews of math rock bands on Epitonic, one can tell that they are highly respected by their fans, so it is my belief that they should become more popular; however, maybe a part of math rock’s greatness lies in the fact that it is kind of hidden. Lots of once great songs become irritating once the radio plays them every hour of every day; therefore, maybe it is better that a math rock song does not become another make-me-want-to-kill-myself-if-I-have-to-hear-it-one-more-time songs.

What is the history of the Golden Ratio? Why is the Golden Ratio so incredible? 

I had never really thought about the Golden Ratio until this week in lecture. It is incredible to think that so many things can be simplified to one number. Stars, spirals, architecture, perfect facial structures, sunflowers, etc.; it astounds me that so many natural objects contain the golden ratio. The golden ratio first appeared in architecture when Phidias created the Parthenon statues to show the significance of the golden ratio. Mark Ohm first coined the term “goldener schnitt” (in English, Golden Section) in 1835. In the early 1900’s, Mark Berr used “Phi” to represent the numerical value of the golden ratio. This title gave recognition to Phidias, for his important contribution to the recognition of the golden ratio. I still do not completely understand how exactly this number exists, and I think that is where it’s incredibility comes from, that fact that it is such a far-fetched, yet completely realistic phenomenon. In lecture, we were even show that statistically the faces of people that follow the golden ratio are seen as the most beautiful. I guess if we were ever to actually define perfection, which I do not think we should do because I do not think it actually exists, but if we ever were to, I think that the golden ratio would define perfection, at least in the physically beautiful sense.

http://www.epitonic.com/index.jsp?refer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epitonic.com%2Fgenres%2Fmathrock.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_rock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio#Timeline

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatio.html

http://goldennumber.net/history.htm

Repost-Ashley Brown-Week 1-Separation of Science and Art and Stereotypes

Do you see two cultures on UCLA campus? What causes the separation between Science and Arts majors?

Walking around the UCLA campus, there is an obvious separation between the science and art majors. Out of convenience for everyone, the school separates the science and art buildings between the North and South campuses. Although this is easier for the purpose of getting to class on time, I feel it partially makes it more difficult for the two cultures to blend. Obviously, a dividing of buildings cannot stop the two from combining altogether, but it is a very slight cause for the separation. Until this week in discussion, I never really examined the fact that most of my own friends are directed more towards science, which is my major. I guess that naturally I find myself finding friends similar to myself. I think one of the reasons that there is a separation between arts and science majors is that some people, including myself, choose the convenience of similar interests and common areas, rather than branching out and finding people that we are not immediately connected to. Do not get me wrong, I do not in any way intentionally separate myself from art majors; it just so happens that most of my classes are science based so I find myself communicating more with other science majors. I personally believe that the combination of the two cultures creates the most beautiful and useful work. Television, modern music, video games, and most of the best technological inventions today are as fantastic as they are because the combination of art and science.

Stereotypes: Why do they still exist?

Few people like to be pigeonholed to certain stereotypes, so why do people still use them? Like Doctor Vesna said in lecture, most people think immediately of Einstein when someone says scientist. But I personally have never seen a scientist that resembled him. I guess it is easier to use a familiar stereotype to try and recognize a certain individual of a certain career, but wouldn’t it be better if we did not? As a child, I always dreamed of becoming an actress or model, and most boys dreamed of becoming policemen or firemen. I never imagined becoming a scientist because I did not really see very many woman scientists or artists on television or in magazines. Even in the recent movie ”Mean Girls,” the main character Cady is immediately seen as the weaker link on her math competition team, merely because she is a girl. If the media stopped promoting so many typical stereotypes, maybe female children could imagine themselves as a scientist or policewoman. Even though childhood dreams most often do not become the future, it would be great if it was common for woman to say that they have wanted to be doctors or artists their entire life. It is unrealistic to believe that stereotypes will ever completely disappear, but as we have seen through the past couple decades, we can make slight decreases of their uses. And if we cannot stop their usage, we should at least be able to make them fair. For example, promote Elizabeth Blackwell and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson as very important people in the field of medicine, instead of just giving men the doctor stereotype.

Links:

http://www.scicult.com/

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WandersonE.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWblackwell.htm

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_6_30/ai_n16834246

Ashley Brown-Week 1-Separation of Science and Art and Stereotypes

Do you see two cultures on UCLA campus? What causes the separation between Science and Arts majors?

Walking around the UCLA campus, there is an obvious separation between the science and art majors.  Out of convenience for everyone, the school separates the science and art buildings between the North and South campuses. Although this is easier for the purpose of getting to class on time, I feel it partially makes it more difficult for the two cultures to blend. Obviously, a dividing of buildings cannot stop the two from combining altogether, but it is a very slight cause for the separation. Until this week in discussion, I never really examined the fact that most of my own friends are directed more towards science, which is my major. I guess that naturally I find myself finding friends similar to myself. I think one of the  reasons that there is a separation between arts and science majors is that some people, including myself, choose the convenience of similar interests and common areas, rather than branching out and finding people that we are not immediately connected to. Do not get me wrong, I do not in any way intentionally separate myself from art majors; it just so happens that most of my classes are science based so I find myself communicating more with other science majors. I personally believe that the combination of the two cultures creates the most beautiful and useful work. Television, modern music, video games, and most of the best technological inventions today are as fantastic as they are because the combination of art and science.

Stereotypes: Why do they still exist?

Few people like to be pigeonholed to certain stereotypes, so why do people still use them? Like Doctor Vesna said in lecture, most people think immediately of Einstein when someone says scientist. But I personally have never seen a scientist that resembled him. I guess it is easier to use a familiar stereotype to try and recognize a certain individual of a certain career, but wouldn’t it be better if we did not? As a child, I always dreamed of becoming an actress or model, and most boys dreamed of becoming policemen or firemen. I never imagined becoming a scientist because I did not really see very many woman scientists or artists on television or in magazines. Even in the recent movie ”Mean Girls,” the main character Cady is immediately seen as the weaker link on her math competition team, merely because she is a girl. If the media stopped promoting so many typical stereotypes, maybe female children could imagine themselves as a scientist or policewoman. Even though childhood dreams most often do not become the future, it would be great if it was common for woman to say that they have wanted to be doctors or artists their entire life. It is unrealistic to believe that stereotypes will ever completely disappear, but as we have seen through the past couple decades, we can make slight decreases of their uses. And if we cannot stop their usage, we should at least be able to make them fair. For example, promote Elizabeth Blackwell and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson as very important people in the field of medicine, instead of just giving men the doctor stereotype.

 Links:

http://www.scicult.com/

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WandersonE.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWblackwell.htm

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_6_30/ai_n16834246