Response: Chapter 1: Connections (Ken Rinaldo)

One of the reasons I joined the Design and Technology department was because I wanted to somehow merge my scientific knowledge on computers with things that I love in life: passions, hobbies, feelings, random moments. In my opinion, this chapter is about this, particularly about the people who probably felt similar to how I do now.

There is a passage of this chapter which I've given it thought to a lot before, and it is when Ken Rinaldo compares us to cyborgs. Not that we're becoming killing machines no longer in control of our surroundings, but from the point of view that we're surrounded by technology up to a point in which we take it for granted. We interact with technology all the time and we're not even conscious about it, from the pressing of an elevator button up to the process of blogging this message. Sometimes I stand in the streets of NY, look around, and can't stop to be fascinated by how far humanity has come in terms of achievements and technology. Miles and miles of buildings, lights, circuits, pipes, cables, traffic, etc. An average NY building has hundreds of offices, and each office has a few computers, telephones, electricity, desks, and so on. Each one of these things has its order, a process and a reason for being there. And that's only a building.

One topic that catched my attention was when Rinaldo talked about Haptics, which is the science of using computers with sensors to give humans the sense that they can touch and feel things. Before reading this article, I had no idea this was an official science. I've always been interested in these interfaces, especially when I think on how it would enhance your experience when watching a movie or playing a game. Who knows, this might be the area I'll explore in the following weeks.

I particularly liked reading about Amy Youngs's project "Rearming the Spineless Opuntia", which consists of a hybrid cactus connected to a metal armor filled with spikes which protect it from anyone around it. The plant itself has been genetically altered to not have a defense mechanism of its own, thus depending on the armor to survive. More information on this project can be found here. Click here to see all of her projects.

Hopefully before I'm done with my MFA, I'll build a robot for the department that might do some weird cool things like greet people who pass him by. Or a droid like R2D2, and then I'll program him to repeat a message for Obi-Wan Kenobi over and over. There goes the first Star Wars refence... but hey, at least I'm having fun!