Reflecting on the Midterms
The midterm projects I thought were very interesting. I really enjoyed the interactive assignment that we were given that allowed us to express our creative ideas. In addition I felt that the project allowed us to fuse the ideas together of art, science, and technology. I have always preferred to do hands on projects. I feel that I learn more by actively participating in what I am studying. That is why I am more of a scientist, because in my experience there have been more hands on learning. For example, in chemistry we did labs in which we got to work with different chemicals and actually got to see the reaction taking place. However, my experiences with art have not been so hands on. A lot of times it involved learning about the history of artists and their work, which I find boring compared to actually working on a project myself.
That is what I found appealing about this midterm (which is weird because you don’t hear too often about people liking midterms). It allowed me to better understand the connection between art, science, and technology by creating a project myself that incorporated aspects of all of these categories. It was really interesting to come up with a project myself and to see what everyone else in the class was able to create. Even more interesting was that most of the projects were really different. Even if the projects were based in the same field, the proposals that everyone created were really unique. From the Terminatrix to the future soldier to the perspective house, it was really interesting to see how other people were able to fuse the areas of art, science, and technology.
The project goes back to the first week, with the third culture. This project allowed us to become members of it. I have traditionally considered myself to be purely a scientist, but now I feel that I am closer to being a part of the third culture. I cannot in any way call myself an artist, for there is a lot about art that I just do not understand. But I can see that there is definitely a connection between art, science, and technology. Thus, I am moving closer to becoming a member of the third culture. Even if I do not understand art, I can at least appreciate it and make an attempt at figuring it out.
Biotechnology: How good is it?
In recent years there has been a lot of work done with genetics and other areas of the biotech industry. Many of these projects and discoveries are wonderful to help the human race. Research to find a cure for cancer, or to be able to clone human tissue and organs will be extremely beneficial to humanity. Countless numbers of lives can be saved with such technology. Nevertheless, there is a definite downside to genetic engineering. With people living longer than they already do, it will only increase some problems that we are already facing. For example, the world is already beginning to face problems of overpopulation, food shortages, and so forth. Having people live longer with birthing rates staying the same will only increase these problems.
In addition, some of the things that people are doing with genetic research I find to be disturbing. For example, in the lecture on Monday we were introduced to a project involving a human ear, grown in a lab, which is going to be attached to the arm of a person. I fail to see the scientific purpose of this or to understand any reasoning behind it at all. To me it is just disturbing. There are many good things that genetic research can be used for, but I do not think that this is one of them.
