Char Davies a visionary ahead of her time

After seeing the presentation today about Char Davies i feel that she is a visionary ahead of her time. In the middle 90s she was creating 3D worlds that would become common place in 10-15 years and beyond. The ways in which she was thinking of the compilations and space and the movement through leads me to think of my architectural training. This is the here and now and this is the technology that we are employing. Almost all studio projects and ever increasingly in the office setting, things are being conceptualized and drafted in 3-dimensions using similar technology employed by Char. 

By me saying shes a visionary i ment that in the middle 90's she had this software that very few architectural and engineering firms possessed. Thus she created something and watched the curve slowly catch up, and eventually pass her. Which had me thinking what does the future hold in store. 

Im sure within the next decade games will be played with this technology, but im wondering when rooms and worlds are created to house these games. When are moving floors and infinite rooms going to pop up on the gaming grid. Makes me wonder. 

Manson's "Posthuman"

I was just sitting here trying to write this paper when itunes throws an old song at me that fits perfectly to our class discussions. Marilyn Manson's "Posthuman". Now i let the song play through and then played it again and listened carefully. Listened to the lyrics and tried to interpret what they meant and what he was trying to say.

this isnt god

this isnt god

god is just a statistic

what does this mean, what is the underlying message to the song. The way i took it was that god is dead to modern society. God is no longer the force which governs our life, he is just a statistic. Now weve always been told the god created man in his own image, so if god is dead then what does that make us. God created "man" in his image so everyone born post downfall of religion is not truly "human" they are "posthuman".

Basic Elements of "Humanity"

We as a class have been having lots of conversations on what differentiates a person from a robot or a cyborg. Are there any differences? or has the line gotten so blurred that the two species are interchangeable and we intermingle unnoticed.

 

With modern science the possibilities are almost endless, things can be done that have never been done before and they can and are being done in the most seamless ways imaginable. Which lends the possibilities any physical or mental attributes null and void. So i was thinking on a more primitive and more basic human level. Desires, what does the "heart and soul" truly want. Sexuality, it drives the modern world, everything revolves around this simple act. Promiscuity is something that is undoubtedly human based. We may be able to program robots to have feelings for another person and/or object be we cannot program anything to truly love, for we dont even know or understand the true reason. Another attribute that separates humans from robots and cyborgs is anger, aggression and fear; "the passion for violence". Again this is something that we understand little about; we know the triggers but we dont truly understand what the tipping point is and why for no reason we can snap. 

So i have come to the conclusion that the only true way to separate a human from a robot/cyborg is through its truest and deepest emotional desires. Although we can program them to have feelings and desires we cannot program them to have these things from their own emotions and their own experiences. I do however fear that soon there will be a machine or something that will take its inherited data and background information and interrupt it to create its own true emotions and desires. 

Summer Break in Quonset RI

Break was extremely relaxing and it gave me time to catchup on the simple things but it also gave me time to go and see the Quonset Point Air Show. This was an amazing experience and something that i will remember forever.

At the show there were  the British Red Arrows, F-15, F-18, Harrier, C-17 and Blackhawks; Unreal. You pitch your seat on the tarmac just some 150-200 yards from the landing strip, and then you sit back and enjoy a phenomenal show. the F-15 and F-18s we both flying 50 yards above the landing strip, which was again 150 or so yards infront of use, and they were doing so at break neck speeds 400-500 mph+. Then one of the base reserves walked by and i stopped him and asked how fast they were flying; he told me that the F-15 was hitting .96 of mach 1, they could go faster because they wouldve broke all the windows within a 5 mile radius. Now you can only imagine the speed and the sound created by these planes. They also had a Harrier there, which is know for its vertical takoffs and landings. Now the Harrier couldnt do this at Quonset because the runway is asphalt and it wouldve melted it, so instead they had the pilot fly the plane backwards and do a hover  for about a minute. They also had several Blackhawks that would fly in formation and drop people cars and supplies from them. But the main event was the British Red Arrows, who blew my mind. They were a group of nine planes and they would be flying at 450 mph and they would be 4-6 feet, 4-6 FEET at 450 MPH, and they would break and do roles and acrobatic maneuvers that would make anyone smile and clap with amazement. 

Going down as one of the best things ive ever done or witnessed in my life has to be going to see these amazing pilots and their breathtaking acrobatics. I strongly encourage everyone, even if you done like planes, this is something everyone must see at least once. 

George Lucas and the Brave New World?

Did George Lucas derive some of the themes in his widely and extremely famous "Star Wars" from outside sources? In Star Wars Ep 2 attack of the clones there are parts that are eerily similar to those written in BNW. Now im not suggesting that Lucas wrote scenes in his books based off BNW or any other novels or books for that matter, but im also not saying that this may be a mere coincidence. Im just giving the facts and telling what ive read in BNW and what i saw in Ep 2 of the Star War series. 

Now to set a little background knowledge, a jedi that had turned on the Jedi order had placed and "order" for an army. This was done behind the Jedi order's back so that when the Sith lord took power of the congress he would have an army awaiting him. Now delving into the similarities between the two. The army that was order had two classes Clones and droids. There are extreme differences between the two mainly being the clones are humans and the droids are robots, but for all intensive purposes they are both created but an outside force to serve a specific purpose. This is much like that of BNW where there are Alphas Betas and so on who are also created to serve a specific purpose in society. 

In both Ep 2 and BNW the genetics are taking from single host and they created for all intensive purposes an entire race. In Ep 2 the genetics were given by the Jedi who had turned his back on the Jedi order. His DNA was taken and modified to create the army while keeping some DNA as is so that they could recreate him as he was. This is similar to what we read in BNW. The lower classes are of a single DNA and then they are broken and split into many thousands of individuals, which the upper levels like Alphas are not split because it could alter the perfection that is.

Furthering the mass production of humans in both the genetics are altered to give the desired affect. In Ep 2 the clone army is dumbed down and is given growth accelerants. The clone army was purposely dumbed down so that they could not use there position with the republic and possibly form a coup. Also the clones were created using growth excelerants so they were able to fight sooner. This tampering and controlling of human genetics is similar to that in BNW where we have the creators depriving oxygen  and giving alchol to the lower classes so that they are not to the same intellect of the higher classes. Also the lower classes are restricted in the things they like so that they are not questioning what they are told/programmed to do. 

These are just some interesting similarities  and correlations i found between the two stories.

Cyber Classes, Good or Bad?

Are classes being held on over the internet better or worse then those that take place in a physical classroom? Are they more convenient? Are they a better learning environment? Are the the future?

I feel that its hard to argue the fact that they are more convenient. People can take these classes wherever they choose, there is no travel or no hassle to it. You simply sit in your favorite chair sit back login and go. But is this a better way of learning. If we are sitting in our houses or apartments with distractions all around us how focused can we be. Now i know that we are a generation of multitaskers and that we can handle many operations and activities at once, but is that suitable for a learning environment. I feel that the more uncomfortable we are in an environment the more we asses and analysis that place and the information given to use there; just so we can focus our attention off the actual dullness of the place. To me typical personal meeting with a professor or professors in the optimum way of learning, second only to being at a place and experiencing it first hand. 

All this being said is this the future? People are growing more and more computer based and more antisocial as a result. This is a ever so evident with second life. People are "to shy" to go out and meet people in the real world. So instead of doing something about it and trying to alter their future, they sit back and accept that they are not social people and the lock themselves up and sit by their lonesome infront of a computer screen. I have a feeling that online class are going to be the wave of the future, but not because of their ease of use but because people are losing their personable skills. As we grow farther and farther apart from human interaction forms of communications are all going to be using this medium.

With my feelings out of this new wave of technology and the "future" to which we will be entrapped i am glad that i am towards the forefront of this revolution. Not to say that i have anything against technology, i fully endorse the pursuit of further knowledge all be it through the computer or whatever; but i am more then fine with falling behind on this fad or cultural phenomenon. 

Emergent Architecture

For those of you who remember i mentioned how last fall i volunteered for the LA Forum, well one of the best lectures of the series was by a man named Tom Wiscombe and his firm Emergent. I would there work to be simple amazing and the methods of deriving the form to be even more amazing. enjoy

Founded in 1999 by Tom Wiscombe, EMERGENT is dedicated to researching issues of structure, tectonics, and materiality through built work. EMERGENT is a platform for experimentation, leveraging techniques and logics from fields outside architecture including biology, complexity science, aerospace engineering, and computation. EMERGENT’s directive is to move beyond categorical thinking in architecture and the stratification of building systems. This involves a re-examination of heirarchies and discreetness of systems toward coherent but differentiated constructions. Ultimately, the results are understood both in terms of performance and spatial and atmospheric effects.

EMERGENT’s approach is informed by contemporary models of biology and systems theory rather than by the arts, toward an architecture based on structural pattern formation and emergent behavior. The work is part of a larger contemporary movement in architecture referred to by Detlef Mertins in 2004 as ‘Bioconstructivism’, where a bias toward material intelligence begins to produce an architecture characterized by its variability and responsiveness to local forces.

The work questions the dialectic of excess and efficiency in architecture, in favor of a more complex understanding of both through biological thinking. The recursive process of random mutation and natural selection in nature provides a model for how a dynamic feedback between excesses and efficiencies can create innovation and elegance. This feedback logic is executed in the office using both generative and analytical algorithms as well as hands-on design techniques.

Key to the work is the phenomenon of emergence which offers insight into the way apparently isolated bodies, particles, or systems exhibit group behavior in coherent, but unexpected, patterns. The animated beauty of emergent organizations, such as in swarms or hives, points to a range of real architectural potentials where components are always linked and always exchanging information, and above all, where architectural wholes exceed the sum of their parts.

Biological thinking has led EMERGENT toward the exploration of new methods of systems integration, construction documentation, and fabrication. Recent co-ventures with international engineering companies, including Buro Happold and DeSimone Consulting Engineers, have begun to reveal new working methods which establish active feedback loops between engineering and design disciplines, ultimately pointing to a redefinition of AEC territories.

www.emergentarchitecture.com

The contagious blog

So I was in the library this afternoon blogging about the topics covered in class today and a couple of my friends were sitting near by watching me express my thoughts. The were intrigued  with the concept of keeping a blog for class; so much so that they decided to create their own blogs so they can document their daily events and happenings.

The Combination Rule

Today the topic was brought up of whether there is such a thing as new at anymore, or is everything just taken in some form or another from past works? Well after hearing this it made me think if a saying that i had heard in relation to the same subject only to the design world.

The Combination Rule

Designing is basically the practice of combining stuff; ideally in ways that haven't been seen before. So the more stuff you know (about everything), the greater the chance you'll find a relevant and distinctive, and therefore effective (and original) combination.

The Plastic Surgery Debate

I don’t support or condone plastic surgery; people can do with their bodies what they please. My take on the whole matter is that its becoming an epidemic in this country; being spurred on by the publicity given to people on reality tv shows and on internet websites. This very clear when you look at the numbers, in 1948 there were 300 board cert. plastic surgeons, today there are over 4000 in the US; and in 2004 there were 12 millions cosmetic surgery operations.

Again I have no real sway to either side, I don’t think that its something that people should have I think that doctors could better use their time helping the sick or victims of accidents crimes or fires but then again people work to make money so they can spend it as the please, and if that’s what makes them happen who am I to say that they should not partake.

A childs mindset

Also at the MFA while in the impressionist room there were tons of kids sitting and sketching their views of the paintings. I walked around and looked at the paintings and then looked at the interpretation that the kids had drawn, and I couldnt help but to wish I were a kid again. I loved the way the kids didnt think to hard about what they were drawing they just did it, the scale didnt have to make sense and the forms were more expressionistic then representational. I often wish that I to could just get into the mindset of a kid.

I once heard a story of a lady sitting on a bench with her dog lying on the ground infront of her. A kid walked by, stopped and asked her if it was dead.

Kids don’t have anything in their brains that stop them from saying or doing anything that want. 

Dormition of the virgin

I chose to write about the Dormition of the virgin, by an unknown Bohemian artist because it clearly demonstrates the evolution of perspective. It was painted around 1350-1360, which puts it towards the beginnings of the renaissance. If you examine the painting you can still the two dimensionality of the medieval painters in the people; while seeing the new advancements of perspective and the figure ground.

Being on the cutting edge of anything you take from what you have and you push the boundaries. The artist tries this with his representation of people. They are still as a whole two dimensionally drawn, but they all have hints of shape to the face. Also a major advancement is that people are become expressionistic.

The perspective/axonometric is the part that draws me in the most. If you look at the ceiling you can clearly tell that the artist is trying to give depth and a three dimensionality to the space. Looking closely at the painting it seems almost axonometric rather than perspective, which to me shows the evolution of the though. They knew that object were moving away from the viewer but they didn’t know how to show that in a diminishing fashion, so what they did was they took the forward measurement and then replicated that at the rear of the painting.

I personally like this painting a lot due to the fact that this is a freeze frame in time. Commonly people look at either medieval or high renaissance paintings and they do not take the time and look at the missing links between the two; which are the ones that I like the most. The in between paintings show the artists who are pushing the limits if what is possible at the time, and this process and evolution is what I like. 

Lets play a game

I was online earlier and i came across a little game and i thought that it would be interesting and could tie into discussion of what Mary was reading while writing Frankenstein. The game goes like this:

1. Pick up a book that you are reading (not Frankenstein)

2. Open the book to page 123

3. Find the fifth sentence

4. Post the next three sentences

Perpetuity?

Perpetuity? is a digital image that questions the directionality of time and the inevitability of cultural friction using the interplay of historical perceptions of space and time. The lack of perspective is the same as in early cave paintings and medieval divine art, periods which percieved time as non-sequential. The geometric perfection of light in the scene (done using modern computational tools) borrows from Rennaissance to pre-modern artists' rigid adherence to Euclidean space and linear time. Finally, the warped geometry represents the change of thought within science and art in the late 19th century toward curved space and its intimate relationship with time. In the image, multiple implied time dimensions (movement of the sun, translation and warping of the geometry) leave no clue to their future progression and add layers of complexity to even the modern perception of space and time. The weaving together with light of space, time, detail, and emptiness invite careful contemplation of the component interactions.

mark.technolope.org/image/

Building the real Iron Man

The topic of robots is a continuing theme in the class discussions. Whether in the future robots will be fighting our wars, joining our labor force or even becoming our spouses. Well I came across an interesting article about some new technology that could make us, humans, robots. Thus far we have only spoke to the topic as though robots are their own being, but what if in the near future robots are everyday people that can put on a suit and become a robot? In the article “Building the Real Iron Man” they discuss a suit named XOS Exoskeleton which uses takes the human movements and strengths and then mimics and amplifies them in machine form.

 

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-04/building-real-iron-man

 

My thoughts on this Exoskeleton are mixed, I feel that this could be a great advancement for all of mankind, but I also feel that this may be changing the human identity to much. I see tremendous benefits to the use of the Exoskeleton. Along with the obvious benefits of moving heavy objects and handling of goods, I feel that this could benefit us in times of crisis. After Hurricane Katrina swept through Louisiana the humanitarian aid was slow, to say the least. What if we could have put these suits on and cleared the streets of houses by hand, we could have blocked the broken levies briefly by hand, and we could’ve helped victims trapped under debris by hand. The benefits to this technology are endless, but there could also be some drawbacks.

I feel that this could almost be an evolutionary step. If this suit get put into full blown production then what stopping everyone from buying it. People everywhere would have these suits and they would never take them off; once you buy a car you don’t go back to a horse and carriage. So I see this as a possible evolutionary change that could change the human race profoundly.

Living off the grid

Just watched a video about trying to live off the grid. Interesting to see what it takes to become free of the "system". I found it interesting thought i would share with everyone else

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7740441619915152822&q=off+the+grid&ei=Cmc3SK-dKJSe_AHRsMTVAw

Are miracles real?

the question posed is do miracles really happen? what is a miracle really? Is there only one type? Must one be religious? Who do they happen to?

Well to me there are two kinds of miracles, there are the miracles of "life" and then there are the "divine" miracles. 

The miracle that i call the miracle of "life" happenes on a daily bassis, actually by the minute even by the second. I consider the birth of a child a miracle. For two people to come together and create another living being, is something that completely amazes me. The fact that a man and a woman hold to power to grant life is nothing short of the miracle of life.

What i consider to be the second form of a miracle is the divine miracle. I was going to sit here and type that i dont really feel this miracles happens, but i just took a break and went on CNN and there was a story about a woman having the plugs pulled on her and then she woke up and asked for the nurse[see link]. Right now im at a loss of thoughts, i dont know if this is a miracle or if this is just a scientific anomaly? Does the divine really occur, or is this some even that is played up to make it seem as though theres more then there really is?

http://www.newsnet5.com/health/16363548/detail.html

Celts advance to conference finals

Celts advance to conference finals

Bostonian

AIA was in Boston this weekend so the city was flooded with people from coast to coast; including a former boss of mine from LA. I went and met with her and gave her the grand tour of Boston since this was here first time to the east coast. Walking the city with her and seeing all the other members of AIA walking I noticed how different the cultures were from the different parts of the country. For example she was amazed how how the buildings were situated on the sites and how they played off one another. Boston is a dense city, especially compared to that of LA which is very spread out. The ornamentation of buildings and the diversity also was something that she was not used to. She said that the buildings are all mixed in with one another, there is no system to which style goes where. Buildings new and old modern or classical would be touching one another and influencing one perception of both buildings. As the day went on we meandered through half the city walking from the fens down the charles to Copley and the commons. The entire time walking she was making observations which she found strange and that seemed perfectly normal to me. She was asking about the randomness of the streets and how there are no grids or how the roads angle and turn. Also, Boston is very much a walkers city so she was dumbfounded at how many people actually walked [and walked wherever they wanted]. I found it very comical when she was asking why people were not waiting for the crossing signs and why people were not crossing in the cross walks; people in most other parts of the country only cross in the designated areas and they only go when the lights say they can. So my Saturday was spent being a tour guide to the great and new appreciated city of Boston. She learned many things about the ways of life in the northeast and i got a good laugh at things that she found strange.