Week 4: The Art and Technology of Medicine

This topic is incredibly interesting to me, and everything in this course so far has really grabbed my attention in various different ways. I think the reason this section has particularly grabbed my attention is because The Art Museum where I am from carried the Body Works exhibit a few times over the years and I always went to see it. I also really enjoyed this section because you can continue to see the advancements that scientists have made over the years. Once hand drawn diagrams are now quickly and precisely imaged and produced through scanners and x-rays. 

I think Body Works is so interesting because it incorporates art and a real human body. From tissues and veins, to thinly preserved slices of brains and incarcerated lungs. To be able to visit the exhibit during my anatomy class really helped the understanding and placement of different organs, bones, and muscles. As well as truly being able to appreciate the human body. The exhibit also shows people completely made out of veins or a lung completely destroyed by smoking and where it has turned black from the smoke and pollution. 

Another aspect of this section that I really enjoyed learning about was the x-rays and MRIs as well as CT Scans. Being an athlete, I am well aware of the above. Knowing that our society has progressed to such an incredible level of medical technology blows my mind. I couldn't imagine not being able to see a dislocation or hairline fracture and even a torn tendon. The X-ray "was hailed as one of mankind's greatest technological accomplishments, and invention that would revolutionize every aspect of human existence" (Dream Anatomy). This kind of technology is a contributing factor to why people are able to live longer and healthier. 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx-0emi4m8s#t=17
(If you follow the link above, it shows the process of a CT Scan and what they are looking for in the scan of a brain)

~Claire Felix 

Citations:

"Dream Anatomy." U.S. Nation Library of Medicine: National Institutes of Health. USA.gov, n.d. Web. 27 Oct 2013.
Hagens, Gunther Von. "Body Worlds." More Than A Museum. Discovery Times Square, n.d. Web. 27 Oct 2013.
More Than A Museum. 2013. Photograph. Discovery Times Square, New York City. Web. 27 Oct 2013.
Rontgen, Wilhelm Conrad. The hand of Mrs. Wilhelm Roentgen. 2002. Photograph. nlm.nih.gov, London. Web. 27 Oct 2013
"What is a CT Scan? What is a CAT Scan?." MNT. Medical News Today, n.d. Web. 25 Oct 2013.
Worlds, Body. Rearing Horse with Rider. 2013. Photograph. About.comWeb. 26 Oct 2013.

Robots: Starting with the Printing Press

This week's topic was really interesting to me, because I learned  and realized that my knowledge of robots was really small. My knowledge of robots really only comes from movies like "The Terminator" and "Transformers" and especially "iRobot." All three movies portray robots as evil and as good, but all three promote the idea that robots are a harm to humanity. More realistically in "The Terminator" and "iRobot."

If you follow the link and watch the preview for the  movie i Robot, you will see the ability and promotion of robots to destroy and harm human beings, even if it is against the robot code. I, Robot | KurzweilAI

An interesting point that was brought up was that technology really started with the production line, originating with the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, and even 400 years earlier by the Chinese. The ability of technology to then expand from printing production lines, to Henry Ford's Ford production lines. As well as Leonardo's early cyborg creation, which is also heavily found in "iRobot." Robots had taken on the form of friends or helpers, just like professor Machiko Kusahara touched on, yet in western films they turn on humans and end up being evil. 

I think the views of industrialization and the continuation of the use of robots causes distress for many people. As professor Machiko talked about, people were becoming apart of the machine, they were needed in order to help the machines function. They were replaced and continue to be replaced more and more today. Charlie Chaplin did a great job of representing this idea in his silent film "Modern Times", he was nothing more than a test subject to a machine in order to increase production. We went from a world of doing everything on our own, to a world of us relying on machines and technology every single day. As much as industrialization has helped us, do you think it has also established a fear? I believe it has, it only proves that we can be replaced. We are the ones creating these robots and yet once they reach a certain knowledge and potential could they become and invincible version of ourselves? Could they truly replace us?

~Claire Felix

Citations:

N/A, . I,Robot. 2010. Photograph. KurzweilAlNetwork, N/A. Web. 21 Oct 2013.

N/A, . I,Robot. 2010. video. KurzweilAlNetwork, N/A. Web. 21 Oct 2013.

Charlie Chaplin. N/A. Photograph. Dr. Macro, N/A. Web. 21 Oct 2013.

University, Harvard. "Literacy and the Printing Press."Peabody Museum. Peobody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, n.d. Web. 19 Oct 2013.

Society, Vermont Historical. An Early Printing Press. 2013. Photograph. Peabody Museum, Cambridge, MA. Web. 21 Oct 2013.

Robotics MachikoKusahara 1. YouTube, 2012. Web. 17 Oct 2013.

UNIT 2: Math Really Can Inspire Art

When interpreting art, you can observe many different influences; whether it is nature, people, places, or items. How many times do you see math as an influence however? More often times than not you will see art that is in fact influenced by math or created with the assistance of math. Like the realism in a portrait or scene. Vanishing points are seen in almost any nature painting. The origin mathematics, it gives you a realistic perspective. 


For instance the mandlebrot set, which is one of the most beautiful fractals and is created by the simple formula z=z^2+c. The video shows many different figures and compilations, each very unique in its own, and is made up of copies of its original form 76000 times smaller. For me I have a love for both math and science, but I do not often times connect the two, unless I need to break out a ruler for drawing straight lines in a class or a vanishing point. This Unit further drew me to the conclusion that there really isn't two different cultures, just various forms of both.

Robert Lang, when speaking about the japanese form of origami, explains the newest form and creation of origami. What changed from a simple crane he asks? Formulas. Properties of crease patterns, and the directions they are folded at each axes and the angle measures in between, as well as a sheet never being able to penetrate a fold. These four simple laws allow for masterpieces to be created. When I first started watching the video, I didn't really understand where he was going with his explanation of math's influence. After finishing however, I realized how prominent math was and why it is so necessary in expanding simple creations. Every fold has an angle, every figure is packed with circles, to create shapes. 


Frequency. A term often used when thinking of sound. This term can be defined with algebraic equations, which then turns into the art form of music. For example, it can form the natural frequencies of a guitar string, as well as define the three lowest with equations. 














-Claire Felix 

Citations:
"Guitar Strings." PhysicsClassroom.com. The Physics Classroom, n.d. Web. 13 Oct 2013.
"Incredible Origami." DemocraticUnderground.com. Democratic Underground LLC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct 2013.
Lang, Robert. "Robert Lang: The math and magic of origami ." TED. TED LLC, n.d. Web. 14 Oct 2013.
"Fractals-Mandelbrot." . YouTube, 17 Jun 2006. Web. 14 Oct 2013.Video.
Olejarz, Harold. Drawing in One-Point Perspective. Harold Olejarz, n.d. Web. 10 Oct 2013.

Two Cultures: An Introduction to an Unnoticed Reality

The idea of "Two Cultures" really grasped my attention from the beginning, because I am very passionate towards both the arts and sciences. The topic also peaked my interest because it made me think back to my high school career.  It makes you think, not only of the main topics of the course, but everyday analogies and the various paths of life we have each taken. Like why C.P. Snow had originally wanted to call it the "Rich and the Poor". College is a huge ground to validate many of the points made, yet also challenge them. Snow understood the different walks of life,and with the help of his talk, we are also able to look in on "Two Cultures" with a different view and opinion.


Art and science, they are one in the same and go hand in hand. Art is a science, and science is an art. When you think of science, what  do you see? Without pictures and drawings, we wouldn't be able to reach some of the huge breakthroughs in technology or science. We wouldn't know what cancer cells look like or solar systems look like, without the design of telescopes and microscopes. Design allowed us to be able to look at things trillions of miles away, or on slides.

http://www.igb.illinois.edu/core/artscience

I transferred high schools my senior year. I had attended a small, sheltered, regimented K-12 charter school for eleven years and decided to transfer for my senior year of high school in order to take more AP classes and continue to challenge myself more academically. The idea of "Two Cultures" came to mind here because I had gone to this small charter school for so long where I knew everyone, yet was about to enter a large public school, where I only knew a few, were no uniforms, and was less regimented. They were two completely different cultures from the outside, but from experience they were not all that different. The students were the same, their diploma just had a different name on it.
 
http://www.mojozing.com/lewis-palmer-high-school/    http://www.us-air-force-academy.com/us-air-force-academy-real-estate-us-afa-usafa-co.php?s=40

There are "Two Cultures" here on campus too, and they are formed by stereotypes. There are student athletes, and regular students. In my lectures, the groups sit on opposite sides, but there is always a mixed group in the middle. Is that group that sits in the middle the "Third Culture"? Are they that mix of two groups that appear different, yet are driven by many of the same things? I believe they are. They are the ones that realize that everyone in that room is there to learn. It is just like when we were in elementary school and all of the boys would sit together and then all of the girls or like in separated boys and girls schools. The third culture always exists though of those who don't care what your stereotype is, because they look past it. 

http://schoolinginequality.wordpress.com/2013/03/

-Claire Felix

Citations

Guest. "Schooling Inequality." Schooling Inequality. Word Press, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 Oct. 2013.
Mojodev. "Lewis Palmer High School | Mojozing." Lewis Palmer High School. Mojozing, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
Routman, Bruce. "Northgate Colorado Springs Homes." Northgate Homes. USAFA, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.
"The Institute for Genomic Biology." The Art of Science. University of Illinois, 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.
Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.