When the creator meets the creature…

When Dr. Frankenstein arrives in Chamounix, he is very uneasy and unable to sleep. He stated: “I remained many hours at the window, watching the pallid lighting that played above Mont Blanc, and listening to the rushing of the Arve, which ran below my window.” He was still very depressed about the guilt he put on himself from the death of his brother. A few days into the trip, Dr. Frankenstein decides to travel to the summit of Montanvert alone, to hopefully rid of his depression state. Once he reaches the top, he feels a sudden joy of life. But at the same instant he spots a figure in the distance that resembles a large man coming towards him extremely fast. He soon realized that it was “the wretch whom I had created” referring to Frankenstein the monster. Dr. Frankenstein at first confronts him with hatred and anger and refers to him as the devil. “Begone, vile insect! Or rather stay, that I may trample you to dust!” But the monster responds back very calm and understanding. Dr. Frankenstein begins to try and physically attack the monster from all of his built up frustration. The monster is looking for a parent/friend figure, stating “every where I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.” The monster has gone through a lot in his travels from fear and hatred from society. Imagine how you must feel when anyone looks at you, they are looking at you with disgust….He would like to feel welcomed and compassion from Dr. Frankenstein, his creator, his father, his parent. He asks Dr. Frankenstein to accompany him to discuss his travels through live so far. Dr. Frankenstein agrees, as if it was his duty to do so…”I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness”

Who's That?

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to view firsthand how art and technology are connected at the Collision1101: super artificial exhibit in JP. The theme that caught my eye (literally) was the “Mirrors and their associated curses to identity.” “Who’s that?” created by Tim Murdoch included mirrors, springs, motion sensors, wires, and electricity; with my knowledge from my mechanical engineering background, I found this exhibit to me intriguing because I was unaware how technology was going to connect to art. The artist said: “the idea for this work came about from the simple fascination that a reflect image is “slippery” and seemingly detached from the surface plane of the mirror.”

What really caught my eye is when I looked into the mirror when they were turned on and vibrating, I was only able to look at myself for a split second because I began to feel very sick (almost feeling very drunk). Then as I moved a little closer and tried to stare into my own eyes for a longer period of time, I was then able to view and illusion taking place of another eye forming in my eye. It looked like an eye inside of an eye, creepy! I found this very amazing by the way the mirrors were vibrating and reflecting light “the image from its surroundings while at the same time opened a perceptual hole through the surrounding”, which was the artist’s idea for this work.

The conditions he was working in to create this piece, with lots of vibrations from the outside construction going on outside his apartment is ironic to were this piece was located for us to view, which was inside of a train station where trains were traveling created more vibrations. I feel I can relate to this myself from living near a train station for the past two years.

This was my first art exhibit that I was able to see how technology and art are related, I found it very amazing and am excited to learn more and see more exhibits firsthand this semester.

If you go to http://www.timmurdoch.com/ you can view more of his awesome work.

Something Wonderful

A miracle, is a fortuitous event believed to be caused by interposition of divine intervention by a supernatural being in the universe by which the ordinary course and operation of Nature is suspended, or modified. It is derived from the old Latin word miraculum meaning "something wonderful".-Wikipedia

I view my life as a place where miracles can and have occurred, yet not everyone believes this to be true. I believe it is possible to make positive changes if you really believe in yourself. If negative people changed their way of thinking and found the power within themselves a miracle could possibly happen to them as well!

My good friend Derrick Ashworth is the most amazing, happy go lucky guy, I always can go to him for a good laugh when I am down or just need someone to make me smile. He is a great foot ball player; while practicing on a warm summer night two years ago, he had gotten bitten by a mosquito which was nothing out of the ordinary. Thinking nothing of it he went through his next week as he always did. He soon became very sick with a high fever and soon found out that the mosquito that had bitten him the week before infected him with Eastern Equine Encephalitis know as “Triple E”. He began to get worse and then went into a coma, and lost large amounts of weight; he no longer look like the Derrick I knew. The doctor had told us that he didn’t think he would last much longer at the rate is body was weakening.

As time went on friends and family stood by his bed providing with him with as much possible positive energy possible day in and day out. Then I remember I got a call that he had woken up and his body was making a complete turnaround. I believe this to be a miracle, even the doctor said it was a miracle, with the help of his positive attitude and the strength from his family and friends he was able to pull through. The ability of his body that had the natural healing ability to me proves to be a miracle.

Would you rather see your family die or would you rather die yourself?

This question was asked to the class which always plays over in my head...
"Would you rather see your family die or would you rather die yourself?"

This is something that really hits hard for me. Last summer, over summer break I was in Martha's Vineyard for our annual family vacation ….while me and my father were swimming in the cold ocean at South Beach my father died of an unexpected massive heart attack. Ever since this disaster my family has turned completely upside down... making me feel that I lost my whole family that day…nothing will ever go back the way it used to be and thats something that I have to deal with everyday.

Sometimes i look back and wish that why was my dad taken and not me? I feel I have become alot stronger after this experience but then on the other hand would have it been easier if I was gone?

Robots vs Humans

Robots are apart of our current technology, which aid us by making task more efficient. But what are these robots really capable of, are they just like humans many people wonder? Obviously the physical features are clearly different such that robots are made of metal or other types of materials which do not represent the same feeling as a real human body. But the question was presented, what if both the human and the robot were behind a sheet, would we be able to tell the difference? I believe so...humans have a spirit and soul which people can feel the energy from depending on their mood. Also humans have the ability to cry and express their feelings at any given moment in time, while robots would need to be programmed to do so which wouldn't allow them to show feelings.

I feel that once robots are able to create humans then they will have power over us, but until then I feel that humans have the upper hand over robots. Also another difference is that humans are able to think but robots do not have the ability to think for themselves. They are programmed to think and act the way we want them to. When a robot dies from either a dead battery or a manufacturing defect, or which ever the case may be, they are dead and no longer function and that is the end of their life. All is left is metal. While on the other hand I believe that we humans are here on earth for a purpose to serve for whatever we may believe it to be, and following our death that there is some sort of after life after going through all of the struggles we have had to experience on earth.