Project One Research

The issue or component of the future I would like to focus on is the limitation of the human body; I would like to explore the possibility of cyborgs becoming a regular part of society.

According to an article on Phys.org, Professor Maciej Henneberg and Dr Aurthur Saniotis from the University of Adelaide, discuss their book The Dynamic Human, and the realm of possibilities that could emerge from morphing human bodies and artificial computer technology.

“While they believe that future humans will more readily combine their own organic material with technology, the authors caution that such enhancements must not ignore humans' highly complex biology,” the article states. “Among the future directions highlighted by the book is the wide range of mind and body enhancements potentially available to humans – from cybernetic implants that could connect our brains directly to computers, to nanotechnology, and a variety of medical prosthetics,” the article continues.

Cyborg technology would allow humans to replace parts that no longer function as they need to – failing organs, broken bones, disease, and brain damage could all be repaired or replaced, allowing the human race to push their limits and advance as a society.

"We are becoming increasingly dependent on such devices and it can become easy to think of the body as a kind of machine with parts that need replacing. Of course, the body is not a machine but an evolutionary organism of enormous complexity. The human mind is not a logical machine, it is a product of organic interactions. That complexity should not be underestimated," Dr. Saniotis claims.

By allowing cyborgs to become part of our culture, we are allowing the human mind to expand its knowledge of the world, which could lead to advancements in better human life and a better understanding of our world.

Ellis, David. “Cyborgs closer to reality in future stages of human evolution”. Phys.org. 27 May. 2016. Web. January 17. 2017. <https://phys.org/news/2016-05-cyborgs-closer-reality-future-stages.html>

Project 1 Proposal

I thought I had posted this before surgery, but apparently I didn't (sorry!).  Here is my proposal:

For my project, I want to focus on the consequences (both good and bad) of social media.  As a communication and design art technology double major with a minor in digital media, I have a strong interest in how media will impact our lives in the short and long term.  The promising and strong side of having and using social media is that you can learn so much about the people around you, you can express yourself more easily, you can feel a sense of satisfaction and confidence and more.  The hurtful and negative side of having and using social media is that one can easily become addicted to using it, people can learn about you and use it to their advantage (which can be a pro and a con), you lose some privacy in what you do when you post and use geotags and more. Media growth and use of media can have a good and bad impact on a person’s everyday life, and I want to create a site that shows both of these sides and impacts.

Project 1 Idea

My project focuses on the event known as the Singularity. It is the point when humans create technology so advanced it will trigger an uncontrollable growth in technology; both good and bad. It is entirely possible that we could create a learning AI that could improve itself and build a better version of itself, then that AI could build a better version of itself, and this cycle would repeat ad infinitum. An AI this intelligent would prompt scientists to attempt to shut it down and be killed by the AI acting in self-preservation, then commit genocide as a way of protecting mankind (literally Skynet from Terminator). While the Singularity may also hold the key to immortality, many top names in science have expressed concern including Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Steve Wozniak (the other Apple guy). If at all possible in the project, I want to include a parody of Skynet's logo and call it "Airmesh." I'm not sure about how the images will look, however.

Project One Ideas
          For project one I have the idea of focusing on technology and environment in the future. I believe in the future our Earth will have suffered significant damage due to human impact. Because of this, our Earth will lack the necessary vegetation to sustain human life. Due to this, I believe we will have to use biomimicry to simulate the environments beneficial effects. We will do this by using technology to create trees, plants, flowers, etc. This type of vegetation will be completely virtual. We will be able to completely control its growth and development. By creating this virtual vegetation, we will hope to save our Earth. Below are pictures of flowers and plants that are completely electronic. I hope to design an image that displays electronic plants like the first image. The second image displays an out of the box way of placing plants and I believe I can incorporate this idea into my project. In the future if global warming continues, sea levels will rise. This will force us to place our vegetation higher up so that it is not submerged. The second image shows plants on the wall and by doing this, we could avoid the issue of high sea levels.

Project 1 Initial Idea

For my project, I have started exploring the possible combined effects of global warming, pollution, and overfishing on the ocean and marine life population. Aside from the probable rise in sea level due to glacial melting, contributors from NASA and the Smithsonian explain predictions for a much hotter, more acidic ocean. In the realm of possibilities, this could result either in a vast extinction of animals, or in various adaptations. Interestingly, certain species have already started adapting. Craig Welch of the Seattle Times describes the beginning alterations in creatures like mussels and urchins. In a Smithsonian article, Helen Thompson indicates table coral's biological attempts to withstand bleaching caused by temperature changes. If these adaptations are already happening, I believe that animals will likely survive, but may take mutated forms of themselves. Similarly, I would like to imagine that humans will adapt to these conditions. In areas where sea levels are expected to consume cities or island nations (like the Marshall islands, which are already suffering), future architects might find themselves constructing high-tech undersea facilities that can withstand changes. I am trying to decide between illustrating a futuristic aquatic city (maybe not as polished as the one below--something that shows more consequences and survival issues), or focusing on pollution by creating an image that shows progression of negative effects through mutated marine life.

Project One Ideas

Project One

My idea for my project is to have a series about advertisement and how it has gone from a few ideas put up here and there, to mass overdose of ads to the point of inefficiency.

My first picture is going to aim to depict one or two advertisements with people looking at them or the advertising depicted as being attributed to the success of the company or sales.

These are are decent examples of the limited advertisement back then.

My next picture is going to show how the advertising is growing and may start being coming unsuccessful. Prime picture would be a few people looking at the ads that are displayed and one to two people blowing by them, giving them no notice due to there bring more of them now.

My last picture is going to show the mass advertizing that is used today and the overdose that society is being exposed to all the time. It will show that due to the mass amount of ads, people are paying less attention to them. 

Project One

       The issue that I would like to explore for Project One is rising sea levels.  Climate change is a hot topic in today’s media.  It’s discussed and deliberated on everything from daily talk shows to political debates.  We’re living in an age when technology is propelling our culture into the future, and making our lives more convenient.  The downside to this industrialization and technological expansion is that a lot of waste and pollution is added to our already fragile ecosystem.  While there are those who dispute the legitimacy of the climate change threat, it is hard to ignore all the facts scientists worldwide are sharing. 

National Geographic explains that rising sea levels are the result of “burning fossil fuels and other human and natural activity” over the past one hundred years.  Gasses that trap heat are being released into the atmosphere, therefore, increasing earth’s temperature.  As water warms up it expands which adds to the accumulation of melting water from glaciers and ice caps (NOAA).

Rising sea levels create an innumerable amount of problems to those living by the coast.  Homes are lost, land is eroded, agricultural soil is contaminated, massive flooding ensues, and there’s loss of wildlife habitats.  It is projected that if the seas continue to rise most U.S. cities on the coast will be flooded, and if a “complete meltdown” happens then London could be completely submerged (National Geographic).

I would like to explore the idea that in the future, due to rising sea levels, humans have had to adapt to their environment by altering their way of living.  I will create compositions of stilt houses in water that will document how people will have to live more eco-friendly and self-sustainably.  Instead of letting a dire situation get worse, we will have altered our lives in order to protect the earth we have and save ourselves.

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/sea-level-rise/

http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/sea-level/

Idea for Project One

     For this project, I drew a lot of my inspiration from the initial discussions of Venice's way of transportation. For many it is considered a tourist attraction, but for others it might be the way they commute to work everyday. I know a lot of our class is considering a project based on the environment, but I hope to put my own twist on the topic. I also drew inspiration from the Postcards from the future, London by Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones.
     I have decided to focus on what tourism and hospitality will look like in the future. If the ice caps completely melt, then the Earth will have an influx of water. Cities on the coast will be overrun by water and the history and culture of those cities will be lost. Will we be visiting city monuments on aqua-buses and look at only part of a monument? Will we be looking at monuments through glass like we do at aquariums? Will sea life find new homes in monuments? Will these beautiful pieces of art waste away under the constant presence of water?

Project 1 Idea

Global Warming/Climate Change


The more I think about this project I think about how drastically our climate can change due to global warming.  My end result would be the "Lost City of Asklantis," where the city of Juno would be completely underwater due to the melting of the ice caps.  I would probably start with something similar to the first image of people leaving the city due to a impending flood with the person on the right instead holding a sign saying how the flood is coming or something.  I'm not sure of the images in the middle but I feel this concept is a good start.
 

Initial Idea for Project #1

Donald Trump's presidential campaign and victory have been the kindling to a large fire that has been lit underneath the people of our country, as well as the world. For some people this fire has made them believe that they have free reign to "speak their mind" like Mr. Trump has done so many times, by acting and speaking in ways that should be deemed unacceptable. Racism and bigotry of all kinds has started coming from more and more everyday people in day-to-day situations, likely due to the example set by Trump during the past year. For others, this has ignited a very real need and desire to take action against the behavior that so many activists have fought against over the course of our country's history. For many, especially the youngest generations, the Obama administration seemed to spoil us with the feelings of hope, security, compassion, and unity. We are facing possibly the most extreme change of power in our nation's history, and it is unsettling not knowing in which direction our society is going to lean.

Will we as a country go back to our pre-Civil Rights Movement days, where bigotry and hatred are socially acceptable? Will we come together and unite as one nation, and fight to maintain the rights that we have fought for for so many generations, and create a society that isn't based on Red vs. Blue? Could we actually become the "promised land" that can set the bar for other countries to aspire to imitate? Will we lose all the momentum gained toward reaching equality?

Initial ideas for project #1

 One of the ideas that struck me as a particularly interesting topic when addressing the future is how the environment, and society by extension, will change. While the topic often conjures up ideas of a future where the earth is a barren dessert, this is not the only symptom of a changing climate. Heat induced desolation scenarios such as drought in the American West, continualy poor yields of rain in the Horn of Africa, and soaring temperatures in the Persian Gulf. For the purpose of a 3 frame progression they might appear like this:

    Another possible future may involve increased flooding due to melting ice. This is a looming reality in some parts of the world (like the Maldives which is attempting to buy land in other countries to house its citizens, Venice whose old wooden frames are rotting giving way to increased flooding, and the small nation of Kiribati which is sinking so quickly it is pleading with Australia and New Zealand to accept its citizens as refugees. A progressivley flooding future may look like this:

Despite this dim future, there is the possiblity that society may adapt to climate change positively. This is the case in Tokyo where a tunnel system has been built under the city to counter floods and generate electricty while in post-Hurricane Sandy New York officials have officials are instating new policies and building up flood preventions to keep the United States cultural heart afloat. For the purpose of this project it may be interesting to create all 3 panels split in half to show the development of society either heeding climate change's problems or not side by side. 

Another interesting topic for the future is Balance of Power. As a topic it is as old as society and the rule of law itself. In this way the future seems somewhat foreseeable. This process is as old as it is because it goes on ad infinitum. This can be seen in many places in history but two particular instances stand out. The first is soon after European countries were liberated during WWII they released their own colonial territories. These former colonies then had many more shifts of power resulting in conflicts between India and Pakistan, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Congo War, the 6 Day war and many others. The second instance would be the Soviet revolution which replaced the Tzarist government of Russia in the early 1900s only to fall 100 years later to inner revolutions that would create power conflicts like the Yugoslavian wars, Chechen Wars, the Georgia incursion and the current conflict in Ukraine. To illistrate this cyclical revolution I would imagine showing a group with a flag liberating the people only to become a dictatorship that is overthrown by another group with a flag. The concept looks something like this: 

I would title this "Via La Revolution", a play on words of the catch phrase Viva La Revolution used in the French Revolution. Instead of Viva, meaning to long live, Via, meaning road or way, is substituted.  A little further research into this yielded a good source of inspiration for art in both Goya and Diego Rivera. Also Inspirational would be depictions of the French Revolution and early Soviet propaganda. Thankfully all countries do not follow this cycle since after further thought the US had a successful revolution and after the Spanish Civil War as well as the death of Franco Spain was able to somewhat peacefully become a modern nation, even going so far as to join the European Union.

Another interesting topic not listed would be Space Exploration as the development of a shared terrain over three blocks with varying levels of settlement may make for an interesting subject matter.

I hope you all find these interesting. I am somewhat torn between the three so please feel free to comment as to which you prefer.