Blue Man's Society

I would like you all to first watch this video then proceed to what I’ve written.




This video is essentially directly emphasizing people’s initial reactions to technology. The way I see the video is that the Blue Man Group is directly related to the population. They see a new piece of technology, aka the funky pipe thing. When they first start using the pipe thing it is very new and strange to them and as they use it they start to learn what it can do. As this progressed they learn to master the new thing and harbor its abilities. This is when they become (no pun intended) in tune with the new technology.
This video to me explains how the human race works with technology. We first see the technology and question its uses or practicalities. After we are comfortable with that we start to experiment and eventually we thrive and learn what all is possible with that technology. Just like the Blue Man Group once we master one technology we build another to keep our ever-growing desire to find new products that we start the process over and over. This video just put that in perspective for me as I watched it and me hope you all got the same reaction.

Science vs Technology Transformer Style

Hey!!
As I mentioned in Angel, I am a huge fan of the Transformers movie. I think that it is a great example of how we, as humans, look at technology. While I was watching this trailer for the movie, I noticed even more how much technology does affect every day living. I know that it is extreme, but in this movie, the robots are in charge of keeping Earth in one piece. This means that the humans need to compromise with them in order to save their planet. If the robots (technology) didn't exist, then everything would have gone completely down hill in the movie, but because the humans realized how much they needed technology in order to survive, the plot ensues the way it does and of course it has a happy ending. I think that these movies give great examples of technology in our culture and how much we depend on it. From simple things like a dishwasher or lights to hybrid cars, cell phones, and massive robots, technology is everywhere and we depend on it just like it depends on us to create newer and better things.

Here is the movie trailer that I was referencing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhtGnCa8x2k

Ethics and Science...

Hello, while pursuing information for this topic, I came upon a document on the history of ethical issues related to scientific research. This document outlines how many scientific organizations have undergone questionable and blatantly immoral experiments, and the relations they have culturally. A leading example of this are the Nazi Germany experiments conducted behind the veil of internment camps. While the Nazi’s experiments were all unquestionably wrong, they also had an impact on Germany’s culture by dehumanizing other races, while simultaneously boosting the ego of their own. (Proctor) Another interesting topic in this document is how research on animals has become a very taboo issue. A few years ago, I remember seeing a shampoo commercial which proudly stated that they didn’t participate in animal testing. From my perspective, it would seem that the general American culture disagrees with animal scientific research. Although animals are not humans, (in my opinion, mind you) it still relates to how scientific research and the culture around it influence each other. Thanks for reading; the link to this document can be found here.

Works Cited

Proctor, Robert. Racial Hygiene Medicine Under the Nazis. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1988

Mad Scientists Playlist

What do these selection from YouTube tell us about societal and cultural reactions to science?

WELCOME

Throughout this semester, our classes studying Scientific Revolutions and Aesthetic expressions will create posts that elaborate upon course content, explore connections between disciplines, and enrich our discussions through links to outside sources such as images, articles and videos.

We hope you will approach this blog as an opportunity to show your unique perspective on the material we read and discuss, to be creative, and to personalize what we are doing in class in a way that interests and excites you.

A few things to remember:
1. You are writing for a very public audience (the world!).
2. Always annotate your blog appropriately by all citing sources and giving proper credit where credit is due.
3. Have fun.

Getting Started:
I will send an email to your Champlain address "inviting" you to blogger as an author on our blog. Once you sign up, you are ready to go.

If you need help posting, blogger can offer plenty of assistance. The general help page is found here. Information on how to post is located here. You can also find details on adding links or videos, and even directions on how to post a video from YouTube.

Important Instructions
In order to receive course credit for your blog postings, be sure to follow these instructions:

1. Include YOUR FULL FIRST AND LAST NAME IN THE LABELS for your post. This is how we will keep track of your postings. If your name does not appear, your post will not count.
2. Include a descriptive title.
3. Each post MUST INCLUDE a link to outside content: an article, a blog post, video, music, etc. The content is up to you but if you do not include a link, your post will not count.
4. Each post MUST INCLUDE proper citations for any content that is not uniquely your own. If you refer directly to course readings, you should not only indicate author and page numbers, but also a full MLA citation.