Tuesday 24 September 2013

POST 3: INDIVIDUAL WORK ON 'THE IDEA OF PROGRESS' VIEWED THROUGH HIGH TECH PRODUCTS




                This is a photo published in the British newspaper called The Daily MailIt was part of an article on the man in this picture: Nigel Ackland.

This article was published on the 5th of November 2012, so it's a rather recent article. It's about this man who lost his arm in an accident and who was given the most sophisticated bionic arm ever made.
       It's been referred to as Terminator-like and is made out of carbon fibre, aluminium and alloy knuckles. It's operated by the movements in his upper arm, apparently by sending the same signal from his brain that he used to send to his normal human arm, he can control this mechanical arm.
            
         This bionic arm is the new Bebionic Myoelectric hand. it moves exactly like a real hand, it can even type on a keyboard. 
       In the photograph shown above, we can see Mr. Ackland holding an egg, so representing fragility. This meaning that this bionic arm so extremely sophisticated that it can hold very fragile things such as eggs. 
       
      Nigel Ackland is one of the seven lucky people who were given this mechanical hand as part of a four-month trial.
      This arm actually costs 25,000 pounds to buy and is worth every penny. Of course it's a serious tragedy if you loose your arm, but this mechanical arm is the closest thing to a real arm, and can help you return to your normal, handicap-free life. For example, you can dress yourself easily and do pretty much anything a regular arm can do.

           This is a good example of the good side of technology. Thanks to the serious progress that has been made in the development of technology, things that were once impossible, can now come true. Thanks to the high quality of technology nowadays, Mr. Ackland can live a normal life with his family.
           This article has no real purpose to advertise this product but more to inform people on the advances being made in the technological world. It searches to show how mechanical arms have improved and are becoming of higher quality.
       It is hard to show the intention of this article and of this photo, seeing as it's main goal really is just to inform, there is no advertisement or influence, making us like technology. It just shows us how technology helped one man, no different than you or me, to live a better life.
       
          There is a real presence of the notion of progress in this article. Although it's not a cartoon or video with a clever and funny joke in it, it shows how new technology can also be seen as a positive thing, instead of always criticising how brainwashed everyone is because of the domination of technology in our everyday lives. 

        I chose this document because I believe that it reflects the good side of technology. It creates quite an impact, because it kind of makes you think of robots, and creating artificial human beings... This bionic hand, that resembles the one in Terminator, makes you wonder if one day they will be able to create a robot, capable of doing anything and everything a human can do. There have already been many people who have attempted to create robot, but they've never quite been as sophisticated as humans, they can only do a few things. But, with the example of this bionic arm, I think one day, someone will be able to create a robot capable of anything...Should we be afraid? Excited? Worried? NO one can tell what the future will bring.
         
           
                               

Saturday 14 September 2013

Post 2: Videos

1


2



1) When technology is too much.

DESCRIPTION:

     This video is structured around three main narrative voices and a character illustrating what the voice-over says while a singer often merely/simply repeats what's just been said.
The setting is a Christian home and church, so this particular context is particularly meaningful.
We can notice on various occasions that the main character is addicted to high-tech products, mostly smartphones. 
He is shown as a family man unable to interact/communicatewith his wife, except through texting.
He is also shown as a church-goer incapable of attending worship without all his phones vibrating all the time, making him look like he's full of the holy spirit.
Finally, he is depicted/described as a computer geek/guru whose life has become extremely complicated instead of being simplified.

INTERPRETATION:

    Basically, this video means that high technology has become a religion for many people, even Christians who are not supposed to be materialistic.
Then, in a Christian lifestyle, quite a few church-goers and believers tend to focus more on materialistic issues than on spiritual ones.
We can add that technology reigns supreme for many people who revere it as a God enlightening his followers.
The question is , is this real progress for humankind?



2) When technology is...missing!

DESCRIPTION:

    Two people are sruck on an escalator in a place that seems literally empty/deserted. The man looks annoyed/upset. He might be an office worker walking to his job. The woman claims that she's already late, so for her this is the last straw (that breaks the camel's back).
At one point, she's about to cry and asks for a phone, and yells/screams for help.
In short, the two of them look helpless/clueless/powerless/hopeless.

INTERPRETATION:

    We can relate this situation to a fairly common one in real life: getting stuck on an elevator.
The difference is, however, that in this situation, people have a right to feel panicky/freak out/panic.
Whereas on an escalator, there is no reason whatsoever/at all to panic/be scared.
 The video points out the increasing dependance/reliance of human beings on technology.
If it goes missing, it is as if a crutch had been taken away, so these two people cannot even climb/walk up the escalator, which would be the normal thing to do.
We could also think that technological progress makes humans lazy or at least less prone to/inclined to take initaiatives/make efforts/think by themselves.





Friday 6 September 2013

POST 1: A Cartoon

             




     This cartoon is by Chappatte, for the International Herald Tribune. There is no precise date, but it wouldn´t really have any relevance to the topic. This document tackles the issue of piracy and the disadvantages of the power of the internet, which is a current issue.
     
     In the background, we can spot a sign indicating that we are at the Cannes Film Festival, where a fan is asking a famous actor for his autograph. This fan seems very excited and thanks to the symbol on his T-shirt we can deduce that he is computer friendly. He is telling this actor about how much he loves his movies, and that he´s pirated all of them. They're standing on a big red carpet and the background is full of photographers, fans and police officers.
       This is a sort of caricatural cartoon,  stereotyping the Cannes Film Festival, in which one character is talking thanks to a balloon, this is happening in the foreground.

     The cartoonist is criticizing the power of internet, through the example of piracy. We could say he is satirizing a common situation considering that it´s quite a funny illustration. He aims to show through this cartoon, that piracy is a serious problem, because everyone does it and no one cares. It´s as if there was nothing wrong about stealing. Setting this in Cannes makes it even more poignant because we're at one of the most prestigious events of cinematography, where cinema is celebrated and rewarded as an art, and this fan has no problem affirming that he illegally downloaded movies, in front of the people who made them.
      The overall message is: piracy is bad, it is theft, yet everyone is pirating everything now, very casually, as if it were nothing.

      This isn't particularly sophisticated, but still has a strong message. It is quite convincing and thought-provoking but I still feel that it is not enough and will not prevent the fact that everyone is pirating nowadays. In some ways I feel like it's too late... It is quite clever and well thought-out but the younger generations don't really care, and have been brought up with this illegal system. I do agree with the cartoonist, and it´s quite a controversial issue, yet it will be extremely difficult to actually stop piracy, seeing as it has expanded so much.

     Every time I think of piracy, I think of this ad that was always shown before watching a movie on a DVD. It was all about how piracy is a crime, and how you wouldn't steal a car or a T.V. so why would steal just because it's on internet. However, recently I feel like they stopped using this ad on every DVD. Have they given up? Am I just imagining things and they're still showing it? And if they've stopped, why? I sincerely feel that nowadays, the  Internet has become such an important part of our lives that we don't really realise how powerful it actually is. People think that they can do anything on a computer, but in reality it's the same thing to steal a movie in a shop than on the internet.