If you want to survive out here, you've got to know where your towel is

Dollhouse Bodies: Real or “Plastic”

sandradoig — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:07:25 +0000

Can clones be considered real people? Dyens thinks not. He thinks anything seperated from a part of the biological or natural processes of life, should be considered plastic bodies. For example: clones are artificially grown humans, they are made scientifically, not naturally, therefore they would not be human. But there are flaws in this. Following that theory, a child produced from artificial insemination would not be considered “natural,” because their conception was made artificially. So are the dolls of Dollhouse people or some sort of hybrid clone/cyborg that can take on any personality or position that they need to? They were, at one point, natural human beings. Perhaps, if the show were not cancelled, we would find out if it was possible for them to revert back to their natural human state. But from the episodes screened in class I would assume that they are forever plastic from that point on. Amy Acker’s character does not age from the pilot to the “ten years later” episode we saw. They only changes are that her scars are gone and she has reverted back into the Whisky persona. The process, that according to the show, takes the girls and removes their memory for 5 years, and in those 5 years they belong to the Dollhouse. I would assume that after the 5 years are up their original personalities would be uploaded into their minds, and they would go back to normal. Clearly there are issues with this though, seeing as Caroline’s peronality peaks through her “Echo” character. Having only seen two episodes it is difficult to guess what has happened and what will happen, but their technology is obviously flawed if original personalities come through. The Dolls (or Actives) are not real, not only because of their bodies that do not age and are reworked with every new persona, but also because they have no mind of their own. It is as if the real person has been put in stasis. Every day they are different people. And the idea becomes more harmful as the show goes on. In the beginning fake personalities were uploaded so that they may be of use to those with enough money, but by the end the Dolls have real people uploading themselves. This is the ultimate avatar, and it will have its costs. As was seen in the 10 years later episode, when a person is uploaded into a doll, their inhibitions are significantly lessened. They will kill without a second thought, because, since they are not in their real form, they believe they will not suffer reprecussions. The women in the Dollhouse, who were once natural made the choice to sacrifice that part of their life. They are, and a part of them always will be what Dyens describes in his article: plastic.

Robot Babies vs. Designer Babies: Showdown

sandradoig — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:49:07 +0000

Some stories about technology’s effect on the naturalized world grab the reader and pull them in, making the technology seem like it is a powerful source that will eventually replace humans. Other stories are seemingly harmless, yet extraordinarily strange. And then there are the technological innovations that are just plain creepy. Why do we react to technology in these ways? Technology can educate, save lives, and produce new opportunities for the human species, so what is the line between brilliant and creepy?

Why is it that we are so drawn in and sympathize so much with Jaimie Smith-Windsor in her article “The Cyborg Mother: A Breached Boundary?” While reading it I thought that it was probable it was fictitious, or at least an over emphasized version of a story of a mother and her premature baby, but still I could not help but jump forward to the next diary entry between the theoretic talk and find out what has happened to her baby. It’s comparable to horrible soap operas and teen movies: Yes, they’re bad. Yes the script, actors, everything about them screams at you not to even start watching, but theres that nagging curiosity about it. If so many others are watching this, there must be something exciting going to happen at the end. Nope, there is, as usual, a happy ending. No surprises, no real twists, just a boring happily ever after. The article, while creating the idea of the incubator as a robot mother who, by nursing the human baby back to life turns the human baby into a cyborg baby, and steals the agency away from the biological mother, completely ignores one thing: Yes, this machine makes it difficult (but not impossible) for the mother to have a relationship with her child which she is not somewhat disconnected because she cannot hold or read to her child without something bad happening, but the machine, while cold and emotionless, is a miraculous piece of technology that is saving the child’s life.
People focus on what scares them. It is amazing and frightening that we have a machine where, when a baby rejects staying in the maternal womb, the child can then be placed in an artificial womb. Of course the mother would feel disconnected and useless, her agency is completely ignored in favor of a lifeless machine. If this were a story about a man and his pacemaker, there would be a whole lot less to explore and it would probably be less interesting, but because the article is strong with feminist imagery and is about the life-or-death of a premature baby, the reader has a whole lot more to think about.
However, Smith-Windsor’s article about a mother losing agency to a piece of technology bothers me a whole lot less than the recent Designer baby controversy. This is a opportunity that gives hope to some parents and horrifies others. The argument is basically one of those “Don’t play God” debates. Parents now have the opportunity (I should say financially able parents) to choose genetic traits for their children to inherit. If you can afford it, you can make it so your daughter or son, if there is a high chance of them inheriting a genetic disease, has less of a chance of developing Spinal Muscular Atrophy, or any number of diseases. So far, so good. Its a quality of life argument. But it doesn’t stop at diseases. With Preimplantation Genetic diagnosis the artifically conceived embryo is examined and screened for diseases before being “installed” into the mother. You could compare it to scanning a file for viruses before you open it. But they don’t just screen for diseases. This is where the controversy begins and in my opinion this should not be much of a debate. If they want to shop for their babies, they should probably just buy a car or a pet. People can design a lot about their children with this PGD system. If the parents have a preference in what gender they are hoping for, no problem. Little Susie or Jimmy is on the way. And soon you can choose hair and eye color. It wouldn’t surprise me if eventually you could design height, bone structure, and intelligence levels as well. These children will be perfect little cyborgs. The cyborg children of the technological age.

Like usual, a technology which started off as something to help those who need the help (artificial insemination and helping parents who can’t conceive, conceive), has become a commodity.

Article on Designer Babies

http://singularityhub.com/2009/02/25/designer-babies-like-it-or-not-here-they-come/

Robots vs. Cyborgs vs. Humans

sandradoig — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:08:26 +0000

Many people have different opinions on what constitutes a cyborg. Donna Haraway, in the excerpt from “A Manifesto for Cyborgs ” defines cyborgs in a way that distances them from humans but at the same time likens them to gender stereotypes while presenting a feminist argument. Kevin Warwick thinks of himself as a cyborg because of the technical implants he has installed into his body to “advance” himself as a hybrid. Which is the correct definition? Or are we all already cyborgs?

Haraways cyborgs are sexual, not innocent, intelligent but artificial. Their intelligence is artificial and therefore not credible. The entire excerpt likens cyborgs to the stereotypical woman in the response they both initially receive. If power were to fall to the hands of cyborgs chaos may ensue, the status quo should be preserved. Cyborgs are the post-modern, virtual “other.” Their definition distances them from humans, but since we created them, shouldn’t we accept their existence and not just assume they’re evil because they are different or because their intelligence, while artificial, has the capacity to far outstretch our own?

It is really difficult to look at Warwick’s work without cynicism. On the one hand, he seems to have all the best intentions at heart, wanting to create a new way to communicate for those who have lost the ability, on the other hand he sometimes comes off as an attention seeking, wannabe-robot. Warwick has big plans for his experiments, but his implants so far seem to be just for spectacle. What he placed in his arm would have gotten the same results were it on a pin on his shirt. He basically put a tracker into his system, a sensor that, with the correct programming, other computerized objects will recognize. His experiments in installing a multi-electrode array, which reads the signals that go through his arm while moving it, are admirable for their capacity for helping us learn more about the neural signals, and how we can use this information to help people with diseases like Parkinsons.

Warwick talks about cyborgs as hybrids stemming from machines and biological organisms. This is certainly true of Warwick, seeing as he has actually integrated a machine into his body. If this definition of cyborg is the correct one, everyone with a pacemaker or even an artificial limb would be considered more than human. He believes that robots will eventually take over, and that if humans take steps to become more robotic, to become cyborgs, that these humans will have a better chance at survivial than those who remain pure human, but the problem with that is, even though most humans these days have not phyically placed technology inside of us, we do have an equivalent. Warwick looks at the hypothetical robot take-over problem with a solution of “if you can’t beat them, join them!” But I would argue that we already have joined them. We already have buttons or sensors that open doors for us (car remotes to unlock doors/open trunks, sensor operated doors in grocery stores, garage door openers, etc), we already have automatic maps (GPS) to help us get wherever we are going, and information at our fingertips anywhere (3G). As for his theory of faster communication through thought, as annoying as it is we do already have a quicker way to communicate: internet slang/speech used in textual communication on the internet and through cell phones. It does not take that much time to type “lol” and hit send, Mr. Warwick, although that’s probably not exactly what you were so excited about. His goals for faster communication and general enhancements of the human body which becomes a cyborg hybrid seem unneccessary with the non-invasive technology we have that can create the same results.

Warwick has great intentions, especially with his intentions of discovering new information about how to prevent/help cure or learn more about diseases like Parkinsons, but his experiments seem to go the opposite way of his goals. It is as if he is in a stage where its way more important to get attention through spectacle than results.

eXistenZ: The Game that’s Alive

sandradoig — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:40:07 +0000

What struck me the most about eXistenZ was its constant reference to the various games being played as alive, as something to kill. Within the film, the game of eXistenZ is played through a console that is bio-engineered out of animal parts. There is an umbilical cord connecting the player to the console. They have created whole alternate realities in these games, but they still aren’t “wireless.” Inside eXistenz (game), their updated, smaller pods (the consoles) are still biological matter, these do not have a cord, but are instead directly installed into the bio-port. Even the pods can die. They are vulnerable to disease. They are treated like pets, or even children. The female protagonist, Allegra Geller, treats her pod like it is the most important thing in the world to her. While it contains her newest accomplishment, she does not treat it like a work accomplishment. She is constantly showing affection for her pod, treating it as if it were a baby. These feelings of affection for the game somewhat dissipate in the conclusion of the film, when it is revealed that what we thought was the real world was in fact a game called tranCendenZ, which is played with mechanical controls.

There is a lot of reoccurance of the game within a game concept in this movie. The readings mentioned other films such as The Matrix and The Thirteenth Floor. These films and eXistenZ all have this theme. The negative connotation of the game, which is mentioned at the end of eXistenZ, is interesting. It is as if they are sending the message that the video game world is dangerous and will consume your life, but the video game alternate reality is so similar to that of film. Escapism is a big factor in both film and video games. eXistenZ is very concerned with the destruction of the video game world and how video games consume the lives of their players, both virtually (in the game) and physically ending their lives and the lives of the game.

The Uncanny Fantasy

sandradoig — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:55:15 +0000

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and the Nexus Project both address the issue of the Uncanny Valley. One of the four hypotheses we discussed in class struck me the most during the screening: the mismatch of cue realism. In Final Fantasy, while the main character’s hair was very well done, there was something off about the characters actions. The technology was amazing for the time, very realistic, but the behaviour of the characters was just off. It reminded me of how, as we have discussed in class, in Surrogates the robot bodies would sometimes make little movements that were just slightly out-of-place. Movements that seemed mechanical, not human. What I thought was strange in Final Fantasy was the facial expressions. It seemed like, when the characters were interacting, communicating or spitting witty banter back and forth, it was just wrong. The conversation should have been funny. If it wasn’t animated I would probably blame bad acting. But this was as if there were puppets being filmed instead of animations. This same thing struck me in the romantic scenes in the film, their behaviour and movements were just too robotic to be realistic. It was as if they concentrated so much on how the film looked, but didn’t concentrate on how the characters themselves looked and acted. Of course it did not help that I kept getting distracted by Alec Baldwin and Donald Sutherland’s voices coming out of characters who just didn’t fit the voices, but that could be a factor of, while those actors were big deals then, they’ve only gotten bigger.
Other than the issues of the uncanny behaviour, the world in Final Fantasy was relatable. I found the debates centering around religion and the military very interesting. The focus on Gaia in place of God, and the military’s insistence on seeing proof is comparable to the science vs. religion debates constantly going on in reality. What I found most interesting though is that in this film religion and science were working together. The doctors were scientists who believed the most in the religion of spirits and Gaia. The use of the recording device to record dreams, and how we got to see the dreams which constantly showed Aki’s premonitions or visions about how the planet of the spirits died, is similar to the television that shows Max Renn an image of himself committing suicide. They both tell the viewer, Aki or Max, important information about how to proceed. For Aki, her dreams, through the technology that allows her to record them and the other technology that allows Aki to share her dream experience with Captain Gray Edwards, and the technology keeping the spirit contained within Aki helps her learn about the spirits and how they are not invading. This is a much more optimistic message than what Max in Videodrome gets to see. Max gets to see himself die. Both Aki and Max have technology reveal important plot details to the spectators, and but the messages varied greatly. Also Max’s technological vision was more of a death sentence, while Aki’s message helped her save the planet.

Seeing Technology Reliance

sandradoig — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:24:38 +0000

Today we probably rely more on technology than we ever have before. By “we” I mean the privelleged minority of the Western world. The majority of people would define anything to do with computers or anything that has a computer chip in it to be technology, while ignoring the other things that have been upgraded with the help of technology that are a part of our daily lives, and can eventually become a part of ourselves. We rely on computerized technology more and more. Try walking campus or downtown and see how many people you see who are holding a cell phone or using an ipod. Or listening to an ipod while texting someone. Look around a classroom and count the number of cellphones you see sitting on desks. There a building you can go to at school that does not have at least one computer per classroom. There is internet access practically everywhere. Most people can get onto the internet with their phones, and if they have a new iPhone they can even get on the internet without needing to use the wireless available on campus. But the communication aspect of technology, while a highly popular one and one we rely on immensely, is not the only one we as a priveleged population are reliant on.
Technological innovations in cosmetic improvements is something that we as a population are heavily reliant on. Optic technology is something we are very reliant on. Over 3/4 of U.S citizens wore eyeglasses in 2006 (http://www.allaboutvision.com/resources/statistics-eyewear.htm) . Contact lenses are also very popular. As a wearer of contact lenses I can say that they are not purely used for aesthetic improvements. With the lense so much closer to the eye (actually sitting on it) vision is improved more than with glasses. If our eyes are not satisfactory, we can get an “upgrade” through glasses, contact lenses, or laser eye surgery. If our teeth do not please us, we can get braces or a retainer to fix them. The same can be said for most areas of the body. If you don’t like it, upgrade it (with surgery). In 2007 it was reported that 240,763 people in the U.S had elective corrective surgery on their eyelids (http://www.cosmeticplasticsurgerystatistics.com/statistics.html#2007-FACTS). This is an age of upgrades: communication upgrades, physical upgrades to the human body, and with all the innovations in technology there are probably more upgrades coming.

The Consequences of Facebook

sandradoig — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:54:57 +0000

The internet has had many positive and negative effects on the privileged population of the world that has access to it. We can now communicate instantly with others across the world, send photos and letters with the click of a button all through networking sites like facebook or myspace. People can even attend school online if they are for some reason unable to attend. These are all positive effects of the lengths and strides technology has gone through over the last few decades. But with these advances come the risks.
TEntire lines of work have been phased out. In Stanley Ronowitz’s article, “Technology and the Future of Work,” he explains how the improvements to technology in the workplace actually diminishes the oppurtunities for the workers. Jobs, like drafters in the engineering field, have been reduced to the point that they are unnecessary due to the virtual advances of technology.
Social network sites like Facebook have also had their impact on the workplace. Aside from the distraction of the website, information is often posted carelessly on these networking sites that can negatively impact the employee’s reputation. In class we discussed rumours about people being fired because of their actions on Facebook. Most of those rumours might have just been rumours, but the actions taken on these networking sites can have serious consequences. There are plenty of real stories about people getting into real-life trouble due to their virtual identities/lives. A group of workers were fired from Farmboy in Ottawa because of comments made in a Facebook group about the company. A woman in Tennessee was accused of breaking a restraining order against her by sending a “poke” on Facebook to the person who she was forbidden to communicate with (although she claims someone broke into her account). On the other hand, police, through Facebook, can figure out where the underage parties are and stop underage drinking. (Links for all these stories found below)
Facebook, as a social networking website, allows people to sign up and create their own online identities. An issue we discussed in class, privacy with online identities, is a problem on these websites. If a member does not know how to properly secure their profile, their information can be available to anyone who searches for them. Information generally readily available to any searcher includes name, birthday, photographs, workplace, education, relationship status, hometown, school, religious views, likes and dislikes, and who the searchee has added as their “Facebook Friends.” This is a lot of information available to complete strangers. There are dangerous risks in letting that much information be available for anyone who wants it. Whether you are worried about your professional reputation and the risks of losing your job, or getting your party stopped by the cops, people need to be a whole lot more careful about what they post on a public forum, and the first thing they should do is click “Privacy Settings”…at least, that’s what I did.

Farmboy Facebook Firings (bonus points for alliteration)

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/01/17/3394584-sun.html

Facebook Arrest article:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/tennessee-woman-arrested-facebook-poke/Story?id=8807685&page=1

Underage Drinking article

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=5890815

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

sandradoig — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:49:22 +0000

The virtual reality presented to us in Surrogates (Mostow, 2009) is not virtual realities like the one described in Anne Balsamo’s “The Virtual Body in Cyberspace.” Instead of a vast emptiness ready to be explored, through a floating eye point of view (124), in Surrogates the difference is in how the people explore the world, not the world itself. The difference is in the body. When you think about virtual reality and the body it is a common idea that you can have whatever appearance you like, just log in and make your new identity. While this could be received as a freeing experience, the idolization of the ficticious, virtual body, results in a dangerous repression of the real body (123).

An example of this denial of the physical body is seen in Surrogates. The majority of the population has robots that represent how each individual wishes to be seen by the world, and they control them from a remote, safe environment in their homes. They log in to these surrogate bodies, and live their lives the way they want to look. Characters in the film express how dangerous it is not to go out in their surrogates. They use danger as an excuse for their addiction to hiding away and controlling a copy of themselves. The real world is dangerous, it is filled with crime and disease, but the virtual world is free of those things and therefore an ideal escape.

These virtual realities and technologies that repress the physical body are often depicted as something that will help those who are physically or mentally disabled. In Surrogates the robots start out as a way for the physically disabled to walk again, to live out their lives and, once the technology became more advanced and realistic, not be seen as different from everyone else. In The Lawnmower Man (Leonard, 1992) the advances in virtual reality technology helped a mentally handicapped man become smarter. While these are good intentions, the films warn us about the dangers of too much technology. The new technology is addictive. One of humanity’s goals has always been to recreate or make a copy of reality. Film is a prime example of this. The closer we get to recreating reality, the further we get from reality itself. In Surrogates the robots look so real, so human, but in their perfection there is a sense of alienation. They are too perfect to be human; they are the dream of perfection, immortality, and youth. Those who refuse to use surrogates isolate themselves, away from those who have forgotten what it is like to walk the streets without being safely tucked away behind a door. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. The surrogate is the ultimate, ideal self.

Closer and Further Away

sandradoig — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:05:18 +0000

It’s quicker to sign online and talk to someone than to travel to where the person you want to communicate with is. Speed is a necessity thanks to technology. While the telephone made it possible to instantly communicate with someone across the ocean, the innovations in technology have also made it possible to send an instant message to someone across the room. Why get up when you can simply send a text message to your roommate? Why go to a mall when you could go to an online store? Technology has made it almost unnecessary to interact with the world face-to-face. These technological innovations concerned with communication have gone to the extreme and further. If you absolutely needed to talk to someone face-to-face, there’s always Skype. Something that was built to bring the world closer together and make it seem smaller has achieved its purpose and then some. Now we can communicate with anyone at anytime, anywhere. And we don’t even need to speak.

In Caprica hundreds of people sign in using their holo-bands to escape into a world where they could do anything from party to kill. They would see each other, face to face, using avatars that looked exactly like the users wanted them to. Zoe, the daughter of the creator of the holo-band, makes a copy of herself, for purposes unknown to the audience, and soon Zoe dies. The grieving father, Daniel Graystone, attempts to bring his daughter’s avatar to the real world by downloading it into a robot. Zoe’s avatar, indistinguishable from the real Zoe in the virtual world, is brought into the real world as a terrifying robot that does not look remotely human. The difference, while almost non-existent before, now stands out in a bulky, obvious fashion.

Spectacle is a big commodity in the world of technology. In film with every new technological innovation there is a period where the most attractive part of going to the theatre is to experience the new technology. While 3-D films have been around for decades, interest in the technology, as seen in the films released for theatres in the past year, is high. Interactive rides and films at amusement parks where the seats move and the audience is sprayed with water or cold air are becoming more popular. Audiences want to identify with the technology so much that they feel like they are immersed in it. In Caprica the teens are immersed in their virtual lives, they find every opportunity to go to that alternate plane of existence. We are shown people logging on during school, after school, and sneaking into others rooms just to sign on. We have created something that is so close to our reality, but when you look at it closely, like an image that has been made for the screen on a computer, it almost fools us. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it strikes us as something that is so real that it’s fake.