Benny_Van_Desma9

The final frontier. Through the content of this week, it's the evolution of our understanding and use of space demonstrates an intimate relation with humanity and art. Space was first correctly understood when Aristarchus of Samos, a an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician, went against his colleagues at the time and claimed that the sun, not Earth, was the center of the universe. [1] This claim, that was later proven, shaped the forever shaped human illustration of space and is reminiscent of Week 2 content where Galileo used details drawing of the moon to prove that it was not smooth. Skipping the renaissance era, the relevance of space spiked again as the Russia sent the first man-made object, Sputnik, into space during the cold war era. This achievement led to space race and ultimately cemented space as a permanent part of humanity. Thinking about this in relation to media, I look none other that one episode of Friends  where Ross dresses up as spud with antenna's and...

To begin my discussion of Nanotechnology and Art, the central question from Professor Vesna that stood out to me was that "Nanoscience reinvents how science works." Through this weeks content, I attempt learn the implications of just how revolutionary Nanotechnology is in the both the Art and the Scientific world. One thing that I think serves as a significant example of the potential paradigm shift nanoscience can have is how it can literally reinvent the wheel. In 1998, an observation regarding the random rotation of a flat molecular wheel as prompted scientists to attempt to recreate that in a laboratory setting. [1] The creation of a "flat" wheel could reinvent our modes of transportation as well as revolutionize how we depict movement in art. The possibility of such a concept is unknown but the potential is limitless. Figure 1. Model of the "flat" Nano Wheel Other instances of this paradigm shift from nanotechnology as mentioned by Dr. Gimzewski are t...

The film Gattaca takes Eugenics, puts it on steroids, give's a jet propulsion backpack, and then catapults it onto a whole another level. The plot revolves around Vincent Freeman struggling to overcome his genetic deficiencies as he works his way up to a career of being an astronaut. Throughout the film, I often found myself thinking more than watching over it's morbidly profound implications regarding the ethics of genetic engineering and elevating the human body into a more perfect form. Figure 1. History of Eugenics Perhaps the most applicable message from the film came from the scene where Anton, Vincent's younger brother, was conceived. In this scene, Vincent's parents are presented with a variety of embryos and they get to pick which one they want to be born into the world. I remember vividly the doctor saying something along the lines of "this baby is still you, it's just the best of you." It's important to highlight that this scene contrasts w...

  The question that Professor Vesna brings up in her introductory lecture "what is consciousness" became the central lens that I looked through as I digest this week's materials. Most notably, the introduction of Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung struck as prime examples of juxtaposition between art and psychology.  Sigmund Freud is perhaps the most famous, or infamous, person in the shaping of modern psychology. Among his various theories of consciousness lies the theory of art as a form of repressed instincts. He thinks of art as the representation of the artist's psyche as its final form is shaped by the chosen medium, the life experience, and the instinctual impulses of that artist. [1] This aligns with more of my traditional understanding of art and it's interesting for me to see where that notion came from. Similarly, Carl Gustav Jung is another famous psychologist who also provides a theory of human art. He suggests that the human consciousness is all conn...

Joe Davis and his work of BioArt has challenged the way I view biology through the artistic lens. As a bioengineer major, I've never really thought how aesthetic biology can be. For example, the concept of his putting a galaxy in the ear of a mouse through the information sequence of 3,867 DNA base pairs was so ingenious to me. [1] Captivated by his work, I researched further of his related artworks and stumbled upon an interesting environmental microbiology report discussing the art of bacteria. Figure [1] Joe Davis in his Interview From Yale Specifically, in this journal report, the art that caught my eye the most was "Petri Art." Started in the early 30's by Alexander Fleming, Petri Art is the use of pigmented microbes to paint various objects such as toy soldiers and ballerina figurines. [2] The reason why this stood out to me was because its a microscopic form of art that can be seen with the naked eye. Ordinarily, a microscope is needed to examine a microbes whi...

This week's topic was interesting me because I found that a lot of what I liked was relevant to my daily my life. As an bioengineer major, one of the main reason why I chose to pursue this field was actually because of how fascinated I was with the human anatomy. In fact one of the exhibits mentioned in this week, Body Worlds, was a big contributor to my discovery of the human body as a topic. [Figure 1] "Body Worlds: Pulse" exhibit at California Science Center I went to the Body Worlds exhibition located at the California Science Center in 2018 as part of a club field trip. I still vividly remember the live surgery videos and all the diagrams and figures that they had. Upon further research, I learned that the exhibit contained more than 200 plastinated specimens which took a variety of forms including whole bodies, body configurations, translucent slices, and organs. [1] This was eye opening to me because I had no idea that what I was looking at was indeed real human ...