From the reading we have done on Stelarc, I feel that he would definitely be in favor of each individual creating a Second Life avatar. Stelarc explains that he feels the body is "obsolete." He doesn't feel the body will be able to adapt and function in the ever changing, technologically advancing society. Through this passage, Stelarc explains his view of the human body and how he believes it would be possible for it to survive and thrive:
"[The body's] survival parameters are thus very slim, and its longevity is limited. So the body with this form and with these functions is not adequate, and we should consider its redesigning, its reengineering. Do we accept the biological status quo of the body, or do we consider alternate enhancements?...This is not about utopian blueprints for perfect bodies but rather speculations on operational systems with alternate functions and forms. Perhaps ergonomically designing technology for the body is not enough. We have to design bodies to match our machines." (page 229-230)
This passage of Stelarc's found in the chapter seven interview leads me to beleive Second Life would be a promising endeavour for this artist. I feel that, while the passage goes on to talk about hollowing out the current body, by creating an entirely new one Stelarc would be pleased. He explains that "this form...is not adequate," relating that the body we have today does not match the technological advances and progress we have reached. Stelarc asserts that the lifespan of the body is quite short and it must be altered to remain functional. While I believe it's a stretch to say somehow perserve the mind and everyone create an avatar on second life, I think Stelarc would agree this would be a step in the right direction. The passage of his concludes with the idea that we need to have "bodies [that] match our machines." Considering the Internet and computerization are basically the main "machines" of today's society, it's easy to see that second life avatars or "bodies" could be ones that fit with the repetiore of machines in the current environment.
I definitely feel, however, that, through my experience with Second Life, I am not entirely ready to commit to a machine-like body or an entirely virtual universe. I have found my Second Life experience so far eye opening and challenging at the same time. The people that I have seen there are so very interesting. I believe the bodies or the avatars each individual creates for himself would impress Stelarc. However, I don't think he would appreciate the creativity behind them. He doesn't seem to focus on the individuality of each person, but the functionality. I definitely cannot imagine a life without a functioning body, but the idea that a person's life could be totally represented through an avatar in Second Life does seem somewhat plausible. From the islands we visited during class yesterday, I realized a person can do absolutely anything on Second Life. It truly is a "second" life and allows the body to take a form that fits more naturally in the ever changing technological environment that we live in today.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Project 3
Turing studied artificial intelligence in the 1950s. Through his essay, he explores the notion of machines thinking. He doesn't necessarily argue that machines have the capacity to think in a nonphysical sense, but he raises the question of whether machines can do what humans do--which could mean thinking. From his studies, the Turing Test was created. For a machine to pass this test, a human administrator must mistake the machine as human. Lacan creates the idea of the "mirror stage," where a person continues to form their sense of their physical self through the portrayal of themselves in interactions. Through these two studies along with other readings and discussions from our course, I can see the way identity is portrayed through chats. I chose to interact with strictly bots. I was interested in seeing the different responses each bot had and how human-like they came across as.
My first chat was with a program called Jabberwacky Chat.
I was unsure of the exact nature and intent of Jabberwacky. I had never heard of it, so wasn't sure what to expect. The website, jabberwacky.com, explained that this "chatterbot" is meant to provide conversation that simulates human interaction. The bot aims to be "entertaining, humorours, and interesting." This bot has the ability to learn, which I feel is important when attempting to pass the Turing Test. The bot takes what its chatters say and stores it to reuse them later. The stored information is used through a "contextual pattern matching techniques." To become more human and "think" like Turing asserts, I feel this is a necessary thing for a bot to do. I, personally, didn't think the bot felt very human. While it did have a sense of character, he (which I'm not sure why I say he...the bot even told me it was a woman) seemed to know very random facts and change the subject frequently. However, this does remind me of Lacan. The bot learns from what the other person says. This, then, reflects my own personality and identity back to myself. Since the bot attempts to be like its user, the user is able to get a sense of one's self.
The next chat I used was Eliza.
It appears the purpose of Eliza is to offer a "pyschiatrist-like" feel. It works like a parody of the traditional therapist session. Whatever one asks Eliza, she repeats back with a question. I definitely do not feel this bot would pass the Turing Test. She seems to be completely unable of doing what it is that humans do, like Turing suggested. Her repetiore of information is completely canned and has no oringiality. When I converesed with Jabberwacky, she was able to give me information about herself, which seemed entirely human. I asked Eliza questions, and she did not understand them at all.
Finally, I talked to Smarterchild on AIM.
I had always used Smarterchild when I was in middle school. I thought it was funny to get a rise out of or annoy a computer. I watned to look more into the Smarterchild phenomenon, so I, of course, checked out Wikipedia. I found that Smarterchild is more than I thought. Oringinally, it had been created to offer advertisements while conversing with users. Smarterchild would have access to the person's previous converstaions to find triggers of what products the user would be interested in. I think this is so much like Lacan, by understanding your persona through your appearance online. I feel that by offering a product to someone reveals to them their personality. Now that Smarterchild isn't strictly for selling and advertising products, it still attempts to find information about the users. During the beginning of my converstaion, Smarterchild asked me a few personal questions. I feel that this is to later keep up a friendship persona. I think this is definitely creating a more human bot. By recalling the things I had previously said, Smarterchild becomes very much like a human. I definitely think Smarterchild has the ability to pass the Turing Test. Their conversation flows very nicely and doesn't seem robotic or out of place. The answers to my questions actually made sense or he admitted he couldn't answer them.
This project definitely showed how human idenitity and the way we think is portrayed through robots. Through these three different "chatterbots," I realized that coversing with a robot can, at times, be very much like speaking with a human.
My first chat was with a program called Jabberwacky Chat.
I was unsure of the exact nature and intent of Jabberwacky. I had never heard of it, so wasn't sure what to expect. The website, jabberwacky.com, explained that this "chatterbot" is meant to provide conversation that simulates human interaction. The bot aims to be "entertaining, humorours, and interesting." This bot has the ability to learn, which I feel is important when attempting to pass the Turing Test. The bot takes what its chatters say and stores it to reuse them later. The stored information is used through a "contextual pattern matching techniques." To become more human and "think" like Turing asserts, I feel this is a necessary thing for a bot to do. I, personally, didn't think the bot felt very human. While it did have a sense of character, he (which I'm not sure why I say he...the bot even told me it was a woman) seemed to know very random facts and change the subject frequently. However, this does remind me of Lacan. The bot learns from what the other person says. This, then, reflects my own personality and identity back to myself. Since the bot attempts to be like its user, the user is able to get a sense of one's self.
The next chat I used was Eliza.
It appears the purpose of Eliza is to offer a "pyschiatrist-like" feel. It works like a parody of the traditional therapist session. Whatever one asks Eliza, she repeats back with a question. I definitely do not feel this bot would pass the Turing Test. She seems to be completely unable of doing what it is that humans do, like Turing suggested. Her repetiore of information is completely canned and has no oringiality. When I converesed with Jabberwacky, she was able to give me information about herself, which seemed entirely human. I asked Eliza questions, and she did not understand them at all.
Finally, I talked to Smarterchild on AIM.
I had always used Smarterchild when I was in middle school. I thought it was funny to get a rise out of or annoy a computer. I watned to look more into the Smarterchild phenomenon, so I, of course, checked out Wikipedia. I found that Smarterchild is more than I thought. Oringinally, it had been created to offer advertisements while conversing with users. Smarterchild would have access to the person's previous converstaions to find triggers of what products the user would be interested in. I think this is so much like Lacan, by understanding your persona through your appearance online. I feel that by offering a product to someone reveals to them their personality. Now that Smarterchild isn't strictly for selling and advertising products, it still attempts to find information about the users. During the beginning of my converstaion, Smarterchild asked me a few personal questions. I feel that this is to later keep up a friendship persona. I think this is definitely creating a more human bot. By recalling the things I had previously said, Smarterchild becomes very much like a human. I definitely think Smarterchild has the ability to pass the Turing Test. Their conversation flows very nicely and doesn't seem robotic or out of place. The answers to my questions actually made sense or he admitted he couldn't answer them.
This project definitely showed how human idenitity and the way we think is portrayed through robots. Through these three different "chatterbots," I realized that coversing with a robot can, at times, be very much like speaking with a human.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
stelarc
Stelarc is a performance artist who uses technological advances to enhance the human body.
He believes the body is obsolete -- which means the body is out of date and useless.
Most of his performances include mutating his body using some form of technology or futuristic idea. He has added a third mechanical arm to his body. He has implanted a third ear on himself.
Stelarc the Monograph is a compilation of essays taking a critical look at his art.
Ch 1
Jane Goodall writes that Stelarc believes "we have brought ourselves to an evolutionary crisis point by generating a technological environment to which we cannot effectively adapt as a purely biological species." (1)
This relates to the World Transhumanist link. This organization is made up of advocates for researching technological advances that can better human life.
This idea is hard for people to grasp because it has been embedded in us through media that the advancement of technology leads to the destruction of the human race. The "paranoid scenario" has stigmitized the development of human-related technology.
Stelarc believes that technology is considered an environment and that the human bodies will be unfit for this enviorment without technological evolution.
He wants to create "hybrid humans" with the "organic and synthetic coming together." He belives that this "parasitic relationship" goes both ways.
The fear of extinction motivated Stelarc's imagination.
The third hand was operated by EMG signals from the abdominal muscles and encorporated a feedback system to create the sense of touch.
He also suspended his entire body by hooks through his skin surrounded by natural objects, such as rocks.
Stelarc's goal is unlike Darwanism because he is attempting to eliminate the struggle between technology and human life. He wants to make them work together.
Avatar: an emissary from a transcendent world--a diety incarnate or a spiritual emanation. Mythologically, it can take the guise of an uncanny double. When avatars break into the "virtual world" hysteria usually ensues. Stelar believes the opposite--"the body performs best as its image."
He split his nervous system so that one side of his body was not controlled by him. He had it wired to a touch screen in a different country and they were controlling it. He later did this via random Internet Activity.
Stelarc believes we must abandon agency, consciousness, and deliberation as we know them to evolve.
Fear and terror, however, are the least controllable instinctual reactions -- and these emotions are conjured through Stelarc's work because it breaks the idea of a "self."
Stelarc also plans to create a "talking head." It is an avatar that greets a person before they speak and then adapts the conversation--sort of like Eliza.
He believes the body is obsolete -- which means the body is out of date and useless.
Most of his performances include mutating his body using some form of technology or futuristic idea. He has added a third mechanical arm to his body. He has implanted a third ear on himself.
Stelarc the Monograph is a compilation of essays taking a critical look at his art.
Ch 1
Jane Goodall writes that Stelarc believes "we have brought ourselves to an evolutionary crisis point by generating a technological environment to which we cannot effectively adapt as a purely biological species." (1)
This relates to the World Transhumanist link. This organization is made up of advocates for researching technological advances that can better human life.
This idea is hard for people to grasp because it has been embedded in us through media that the advancement of technology leads to the destruction of the human race. The "paranoid scenario" has stigmitized the development of human-related technology.
Stelarc believes that technology is considered an environment and that the human bodies will be unfit for this enviorment without technological evolution.
He wants to create "hybrid humans" with the "organic and synthetic coming together." He belives that this "parasitic relationship" goes both ways.
The fear of extinction motivated Stelarc's imagination.
The third hand was operated by EMG signals from the abdominal muscles and encorporated a feedback system to create the sense of touch.
He also suspended his entire body by hooks through his skin surrounded by natural objects, such as rocks.
Stelarc's goal is unlike Darwanism because he is attempting to eliminate the struggle between technology and human life. He wants to make them work together.
Avatar: an emissary from a transcendent world--a diety incarnate or a spiritual emanation. Mythologically, it can take the guise of an uncanny double. When avatars break into the "virtual world" hysteria usually ensues. Stelar believes the opposite--"the body performs best as its image."
He split his nervous system so that one side of his body was not controlled by him. He had it wired to a touch screen in a different country and they were controlling it. He later did this via random Internet Activity.
Stelarc believes we must abandon agency, consciousness, and deliberation as we know them to evolve.
Fear and terror, however, are the least controllable instinctual reactions -- and these emotions are conjured through Stelarc's work because it breaks the idea of a "self."
Stelarc also plans to create a "talking head." It is an avatar that greets a person before they speak and then adapts the conversation--sort of like Eliza.
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