MedTech + Art : Week 4

Prior to this week’s teachings, I thought that yes, art had some influence on the world of medicine but now, I realize it has a huge influence on the medical world. 

Since the beginning of time, humans have been fascinated by the workings of the human body and specifically, I learned, human dissection. Artists played a crucial role in human dissection during the Renaissance period because they had to accurately draw the findings. We’ve come a long way since that and now have X-rays and MRI machines. 

Technology and knowledge itself builds off of other ideas and without the early workings of those artists and the detailed depictions of the body they provided, who knows where we’d be now. 

Speaking of technology, nowadays doctors can examine what’s on the inside of the body and see what makes up the structure of what the artists drew during the renaissance period. X-rays and MRI machines reveal to the observer what is happening intrinsically and help to solve the problem from inside out. 

Personally, I am very thankful of modern day technology in the medical field because of all the injuries I’ve had with baseball. Surgery is something we take for granted as citizens but what’s interesting is that it’s not always been that way. 

The Hippocratic Oath, an oath traditionally taken by physicians, is one that attempts to uphold ethical standards. These standards include pro life, no surgery, and privacy among patients. However, over time due to various changes in society and it’s standards, the oath has now changed to be much more vague. I am personally a fan of the traditional oath but can see why it has changed over time.

Word Count: 282 

Works Cited

Bambach, Carmen. "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Anatomy in the Renaissance. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

"Kevin Warwick - Home Page." Kevin Warwick - Home Page. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 27 Mar. 2001. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Vesna, Professor Victoria. "Medicine Part 1." YouTube. University of California. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

"X-Rays: MedlinePlus." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Week 3: Robotics + Art

Call me a control freak, but I like to trust myself in performing a task over anyone else. An autonomous vehicle? No thanks.

With the resources this week, it’s made me ponder a lot about the effects that robotics have on the future of mankind. Not only in the way we create art and perceive reality, but even in the way we think. 

Recently, Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceEx, invested $10 billion in “preserving AI friendliness.” With such a prominent member of the futuristic niche investing so much in the public’s safety, it’s worth thinking about the danger of artificial intelligence. 

Even back in 1936 when Walter Benjamin wrote about mass production and it’s effects on society, he predicted the harm it could cause. The problem with assembly lines and mass producing an “original” into “copies” is it takes away the creativity and imagination of the general public to become absent- minded and rely on new ideas of few for the next new thing to produce. This in turn, makes the creator of the thing to be the one in power and the ones making the thing simply absent minded followers. Sounds like a “robot” doesn’t it?

So are we the ones becoming robots? Are machines becoming the ones who are taught to think on their own? It’s an interesting idea to ponder.

When artistic genius comes together with technological mastery, the result is speed. Seamless, efficient, attractive. Human beings love speed. On the football field, on their home WiFi, in getting to one place to the next… As hard as it is to deny that I don’t love speed, I think it’s destroying us. 

If you are one who believes in the Big Bang Theory, the universe didn’t evolve within a matter of seconds. It took time. 

If you believe in God, the creation of the universe didn’t instantly happen. It took God seven days. It took time. 

The point I try to make is that good things take time. Lasting relationships, great businesses, good food, all of them are not based on the principle of speed. Robotics is a matter of cutting down the time it takes for a task to get done in order to make our lives easier. 

Does mankind want things to be easier or do we want something sustainable and wholesome? 

Word Count: 390

Works Cited

Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Www.marxists.org. 1 Feb. 2005. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Best, Jo. "IBM Watson: The inside Story of How the Jeopardy-winning Supercomputer Was Born, and What It Wants to Do next." TechRepublic. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Hanson, David. "Robots That "Show Emotion"" TED-Ed. TED, 1 Feb. 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Mack, Eric. "Why Elon Musk Spent $10 Million To Keep Artificial Intelligence Friendly." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 15 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Robinson, Howard. "Dualism." Stanford University. Stanford University, 19 Aug. 2003. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

Week 2 : Art + Math

As this week’s topic focused on how mathematics has influenced art and science, I have began to realize how important mathematical (specifically, mathematical technologies) are to the creation of art and science. 

A great example of this is NASA’s Hubble Telescope. Within the telescope, two mirrors reflect light off of each other, with the second reflection focusing light through a hole in the center of the primary mirror. Through technology and mathematical workings, we can get a glimpse into outer space and begin to understand it’s scientific meanings. 

The idea behind a telescope is very similar to the idea of a “vanishing point” that Brunelleschi formed in 1413. He developed the idea that there should be a point where two parallel lines converge on a single point. With this idea, the idea of “perspective” in a painting held new meaning because it was backed by geometric principles. 

Perspective, as Piero de la Francesca said, did not simply deal with the three principle parts of drawing, proportion and coloring, but it incorporated lines, angles and proportion; all mathematical concepts. 

Perspective also translates to children and adult favorites, optical illusions. When the brain sees an optical illusion, it tries to process these two dimensional images into three dimensional data. For example, when one looks at a black and white grid, the grid is simply a grid on a piece of paper; two dimensional. However, what the artist does in creating this grid is make the brain use what’s called “lateral inhibition”, a scientific explanation that essentially disables your peripheral vision.

To sum it up, as much as mathematics has been deemed essential for students and art has been taken out of school, there is no denying the two hold equally important to society as a whole and to each other. 

Works Cited

Haring, Lin. Long Ride Into Vanishing Point. Digital image. Fine Art America. Web.

Hermann Grid. Digital image. Wikipedia. Web.

"Hubble Essentials." HubbleSite. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

Jacobs, Nathan. "How Optical Illusions Trick Your Brain." TED-Ed. TED. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

"Lateral Inhibition." Www.indiana.edu. University of Indiana. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

O'Neill, Ian. Our Universe. Digital image. Discovery Channel. 7 May 2014. Web.

Vesna, Professor Victoria. "Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

Week 1: Two Cultures

After reading through the material and watching the lecture videos, what really stood out to me throughout the debate and conflicting views regarding the separation of arts and sciences was the origins of education. According to the "Changing Paradigms" video, the entire idea of public education stemmed from an enlightenment view of intelligence and what that entailed essentially was that there is this "academic gene pool" of non academic and academic people. Ironically, early on, artists and the more creative people of the world were labeled as the non-academic and more mathematical and scientific people were labeled as the academics of the world. 

As a political major myself, I belong to the stereotype of a "North Campus." At UCLA specifically, North Campus majors are labeled as the "stupider, less likely to get a job, and actually have a life" people. When viewing the ballerina video, I saw the ballerina spinning clockwise and this puts me under the category of a creative, right-brained individual. Does that make me a "dumber" person? No. 

I believe, as C.P. Snow did, that the educational system is to be blamed for the separation, stereotypes and ultimately a greater wealth gap between art and science. This major fault within the educational system will never allow for a “3rd Culture” where the bridge is gapped between the arts and the sciences. 

With my educational background and perspective, I think it really benefits me because I follow the philosophy to always follow your passions and the success, whether it be money, love or happiness will follow. If you focus on “what makes the most money” like a south campus major, then your passions will die, as will your love and happiness for things you’re involved in. One of my favorite speeches of all time is Alan Watt’s “What if Money was No Object.” What the speech is about is essentially, follow what you like doing rather than follow what makes money. Going to college in general, as said in the paradigm shift video, is to receive a quality education and that’ll lead to a solid and secure job. However, kids nowadays and their parents view certain majors (South Campus) as the only jobs that college is worth getting a degree for. 

What if we all followed our passions? What if we all realized our creative potential? Imagine the worlds we’d conquer.

Word Count: 396

Citations:

Robinson, Sir Ken. "Changing Education Paradigms ." RSA Animate. , . 16 June 2008. Lecture.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.

Vesna, Professor Victoria . "Two Cultures: Part II." UCLA, Los Angeles. 5 Apr. 2015. Lecture.

Vesna, Professor Victoria . "Two Cultures: Part II." UCLA, Los Angeles. 5 Apr. 2015. Lecture.

Watts, Alan. "What If Money Were No Object?." , . Lecture.  (Video is off Youtube and I do not know the original lecture date, city and venue.)

Media:

What If Money Was No Object?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSyHWMdH9gk

Changing Educational Paradigm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Two Cultures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUr4xxZ_0gw#t=111