Spec Tech/Future Culture – Ethical to Life Saving

Inventor, and engineer, Ray Kurzweil, described his goals for inventing as “beating immortality” and “living forever.” He always knew he wanted to be an inventor since he first created his own company at the age of 18. Bill Gates himself has said Kurzweil was best at predicting the future. I think it’s important to examine the factor behind his motivations, and not just his futuristic mindset.

As a child, he would always sit at the dinner table with his family, and their discussions would always pertain to new ideas, inventions, and more insights of that source. Kurzweil’s thoughts on human life are that death is a profound tragedy, and there is nothing good about it. His father’s death impacted Kurzweil in such a deep way, that his pain transformed into his biggest idea yet. Kurzweil always had the mindset of finding ideas to overcome challenges, but when he suggested the “Singularity”, it raised questions on how exactly could that be done?

The Singularity is basically the creation of a future, where technology will evoke rapidly, and humans won’t be able to keep up, unless they enhance their own intelligence, artificially. In order to meet this expectation,  the Exponential Curve must be met head on. The Exponential Curve is the accelerated speed in growth of information technology. For example, we can say the evolution of humans is a good example of an Exponential Curve in itself, as evolution was accelerated from basic micro organisms all the way into the creation of a human being in the physical flesh.

So with Kurzweil’s set goals in mind, he does answer idealistically on how he can achieve immortality.  He believe  in GNR (Genetics Reprogramming) could deter the biology of disease and death. He suggest that with Nano technology (small sized technology), Robotics (gateways of A.I.’s), and A.I. itself (matching human intelligence), are three basic ideals of Kurzweil’s solutions. Eventually, he wants to create machines that stop us humans from aging, of course not without enhancing ourselves first. Yet is it overly optimistic to achieve immortality within our lifetime, or is it just plain dangerous to imagine it?

Let’s say we do reach the era of A.I., now what about if we are eventually replaced by them? A.I. robotics essentially have the same level of intelligence as us humans do, so how can this not be dangerous to our survival as the human race? First off, they can take away our jobs, which is not so far from happening completely. With manual labor such as medical procedures and toll oversights being taken over by robotics, whose to say this won’t extend to every job that once required manual labor?

In this video from the Idea channel, the question of how ethical can it be for us as humans to depend on A.I. is raised. Putting a limit on progress is something yet unexplored, as the idea of futuristic robots doing all of our jobs for us (including staying alive), is all we’re focused on at the moment. If we can harness those ideas for the future, we can perhaps regulate it’s creations so that we safely enter into the realm of A.I., yet I currently think it’s something either not considered, or not favorable to think of by creators.

Wherever the concept of A.I. goes, we cannot become reckless in creating it. Whether it’s Kurzweil’s idea of living forever, or it’s our basic use of A.I. to do hard labor jobs that humans do right now, we cannot rule out the fact that by creating such intelligence, can come with great consequences. That should be what we explore next.

 

 

Cinema & Motion Media – Hybrids

With each passing era, motion media and cinema evolve with the use of different ideas, redefining what multimedia should and could be. Works such as Nam June Piak’s Beatles Electronique, manipulated the use of pop icons into his works. You can say he is the sum of all of his inspirations. The same goes with hybrids in media. The use of still motion, animation, and filters have created trends in the early 60’s-70, and with the creation of these elements, their influences live on in media today.

Beatles Electronique was created with electromagnetic manipulation, as well as live broadcast clips from famous Beatles music videos. The sound behind the three minute film, is by Ken Werner, who’s “Four Loops” were actual distortions of Beatles sounds. Like avant-garde artst, John Cage, Ken Werner’s music was based on manipulation, as well as Paik’s visuals. This method has since been altered drastically, but another example of this type of visual would be Yayoi Kusama’s Self-Obliteration.

Kusama’s work uses realism as well as light manipulation, and the concept of psychedelia. The sound is more ancient sounding than modern avant garde, but like the 80’s-90’s, the imagery is similar in inspiration. We can see how far Kusama was thinking in the future with Self-Obliteration being made in the 60’s, as this trend didn’t really take off until later on.

And with hybrids, the element of stop motion was extremely popular in the 90s. Stop motion animation is the art of manipulating objects with the use of a digital camera, and making them appear to be moving by taking stills to create the illusion of movement. Tools used to create stop motion are often puppets, clay, paint, and people.

Stop motion was used throughout Europe and America in earlier times. Many stop motion animators felt the end of stop motion came in 1993, with the creation of the film Jurassic Park. Yet stop motion can still be seen today in works such as Haley Morris’ short film, Undone.

Fast forward to modern day, and these trends are still being used. In film, the concept of developing a trademark, is key to reaching out to your target audience as far as marketing. We can see older influences in today’s film title brandings such as the use of still motion, animation and imagination mixed with reality.

For example, Jim Helton’s design for Blue Valentine incorporates photographs with blurred out scenes of fireworks seeping through. This is a prime example of lighting manipulation. The feeling Helton was trying to convey was the connection between the main characters was literal “fireworks” in love, although reality may not always portray it that way. By using hybrid art, we can convey messages in countless ways.

The trend of hybrids in media is ever changing, yet the elements remain the same. Whether you’re using stop motion to create a film, or just adding harsh filters to digital photographs, the idea that art is made of paint and canvas is in many ways, ignorant, as art is created with any element an artist perceives to be as inspirational. Hybrid art has survived through the times, and continues to live on today.

MODULE 6— Into Various Mainstream(s)

The 60’s and 70’s was a time when multimedia objects contained vibrant colors, the mixture of cartoons with reality, yet also contained the beginnings of music video elements that progressed over time. This was the psychedelic era, and in historical context, was influenced by what was going on in American culture, politics, and social contexts.

During the late 60’s to the early 70’s, psychedelia inspired music video genres such as pop, progressive rock, electronic rock, heavy metal, and funk, while influencing artist’s music such as The Beatles, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix.

Here we can see psychedelia with the use of imagination, randomized props, and animation,beginning to manifest in the music videos of that time:

(1969) – David Bowie- Space Oddity

(1979) – Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall, Part Two

In the 80’s, neo-psychedelic was the temporary revival of the psychedelic era, and contained similar elements of music video styles that once appeared in the late 60’s and early 70’s, yet changed as far as technological capabilities.

An example of these elements all coming together, is Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, which features stop motion, animations, and the mixture of reality with different lighting visuals:

(1986) – Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer

Finally, as for the progression of this style, here is how MTV kept up with the times from the 80’s to the 90’s, where you can see this influence emerging in their brand commercials:

MTV: 24 years of animation in 24 minutes!

Group Assignment by: Gabrielle Guglielmelli, Rubi Morales, Alexander Solomon, and Ricky Veliz

Trans-modernist approaches to Sound/Music/Noise/Silence: John Cage

John Cage believed any sound can be considered musical, which contrasted greatly with his mentor, composer Arnold Schoenberg’s opinion. After discovering harmonic sounds, Cage realized he wanted to create his own route rather than the tradition sound type.

Schoenberg told him he’d eventually hit a wall in his discoveries about creating melodies, and Cage felt he could move that barrier. Proven to be one of the most influential artists of the 20^th century, Cage became the master of conceptual and avant-garde music, but dabbled in painting art, playing chess, dance, writing, and other aspects of expression, which showed his diversity among the arts.

As discussed in this Idea Channel video, Is Dubstep Avant-Garde Musical Genius, Dubstep became a popular music genre in recent years, and is a form of avant-garde music. Cage’s concept was that if you keep revisiting an art work, whether it pleases the viewer or not, it is beautiful after a while of examination.

Dubstep is in no way traditional, and in many ways conceptual. Cage liked to create different tambers in a sound, and dabbled in instrument exploration. Dubstep is much inharmonic electronic noise, that hasn’t made its way into popular mainstream because most people prefer harmonic sounds. It’s safe to say that Cage would be one of those people likely to appreciate the concept of it.

Cage structured his works by channeling chaotic sounds with the notion of chance, and challenged the way we approach sound. Cage removed the decision-making process of a typical composer. He was in favor of creating a systemic algorithm in each of his pieces with sound and time. Chaotic systems may have a mathematical basis, although they can be complicated. Here’s another example of how Cage’s influence lives on today, with Tallan M.D.’s avant-garde music video.

Cage collaborated with people who believed in his vision, or at least understood it. Marcel Duchamp, a famous French painter, had been a huge influence on avant-garde music. Cage created a film named “Chest Piece”, where he filmed Duchamp’s widow and himself playing a friendly game of chess, proving Duchamp’s influence on Cage was a strong influence on his works.

While Cage’s view that any sound was considered music, Duchamp’s view was that any object, is not disregarded when it comes to being considered an art piece. His longtime collaborator and choreographer Merce Cunningham, emphasized how music and dance were separate, but yet still connected in the expressions of the arts. He felt Cage had the capability to interconnect all literal pieces together.

A great example of avant-garde music meets conceptual art, is Rob Cantor’s “Shia LeBeouf”. Hollywood actor Shia LeBeouf, is the main focus of the song, yet is a cannibal in the song. At the end of the performance, the cameras focus on Shia LeBeouf giving Cantor’s piece a standing ovation, something LeBeouf has been seen doing while watching movies at a theater, and recording himself in the process for the world to see. Taking the idea of Shia LeBeouf the actor, and morphing him into something our imagination can run wild with as far as interpretation, is a way Cage’s influence lives on today.

In his famous 1952 piece ”Four Minutes and 33 Seconds”, Cage pushed every traditional rule of music out the window, and he did it in that time span. A pianist sat at a piano, playing not one second of a note, allowing the audience to indulge in the sounds around them. Whether someone coughed, or moved their seats a little too loud, the point of this piece was to hear just that: the audience’s surroundings, and to challenge what they consider the experience to be. Silence is a form of art, and sound isn’t needed to deliver a message, as Cage explains in the following video.

Though in recent times, Cage felt he has changed his style of musical expression, stating that he’s come a long way since this piece was first performed, proving that music is ever changing. Our idea of music has changed with each passing phase and era, and will continue to do so in my opinion.

Web Review: Multimedia Object as Database/Interface

In order to understand a new media database, you must first understand and integrate the definition of a database onto the new media platform. If databases are collections of individual items that hold equal significance to them, then a perfect database in new media, would apply to digital storage devices (CD-ROMs, Floppy Disks, USBs) to the Web and computerized games.

This video from Idea Channel, expresses the idea of the Internet growing into a better form of an archive. An archive is a database within itself of previous current topics that are filed under that category. Once material is shared through the web, often times it’s there forever.

Yet if technology is always advancing, and every aspect of social media such as a comment, a status update, or a retweet, has been archived, then isn’t that in itself a database with no need for structure of many different interfaces? It makes you think with the changing times. There are different types of databases that correspond to the data is upholds within itself such as: Hierarchal, Object-orientated, Network, and Relational.

Other key components of a database include the algorithm of a piece, the interfaces that compose a database, and the narratives behind each piece. While it’s not always evident of an algorithm within a work, it’s often most prominent in video and computer games. Algorithm is a sequence of command patterns that achieve a goal. So if a video game requires the user to go through step by step tasks in order to reach the end of the program, it is through trial and error, that the user discovers an algorithm.

Yet Algorithms don’t just apply to digital gaming. Sleeping Giant Media further explains in this YouTube video, just what an algorithm means when it’s applied to the Web, specifically the Google search engine. Search engines are used to access a database of websites. There are certain factors such as SEO, and ways a consumer searches an item that will lead to an algorithm.

A narrative is a new media object within a database that tells a story. A narrative and algorithm go hand in hand, because the user’s goal is to find the logic behind them. The user can try to understand the underlying narrative of a material, such as apparent messages or hidden ones being conveyed in the multimedia object. A great use of narrative, is a film or video. Whether the narrative is evident or underlying, it does its job of conveying that through the motions and sequences of a film.

Here’s a prime example of a short film with many different underlying narratives. This short film was created by Greg Glienna, who created the popular film “Meet the Parents”. How we perceive it, is from our own experience with it. If you observe the different perspectives on the elevators of what’s going on, what bothers them, and what’s apparent to them personally, you see that they all experience reality in a very different way. This in itself is the underlying narrative, at least to me.

To me, a Multimedia Object is diverse in itself. Whether it’s a web page, an animation, a film, or a canvas painting, we can safely apply the elements of interface, narratives, algorithms, and database as key components in the makeup of a new media object.