Culture Loves Us

Friday, April 3, 2009

Adam

For the first time ever, a robot has made its own scientific discovery. Apparently, given information about yeast, it devised and tested its own experiment to learn something new about the genetic makeup of the fungus.

It's amazing, I think, and though its yet another disconcerting step to our being replaced by robots (especially considering the ominous symbolism in its name), I think robot scientists could make things like medical breakthroughs much more frequent and fruitful.

What do you all think?

Jenny Holzer: Protect Project

I saw this piece at the Whitney during spring break. It is both visually stimulating, as well as emotionally stimulating. This video clip is interesting because it shows a time-lapse view of the piece as it is being installed, as well as a bit of the piece while it is functioning.

Devil sheep

I know this might appear silly initially, but its it contains deeper implications about group fears which can originate from superficial elements. Maybe humans aren't so different in this context.

Extreme Sheep LED Art

Sorry everyone about posting the LED sheep after someone else already had. I thought it looked familiar, and now I know why.

Cross-dressing prejudice?

If anyone here is involved with the Dragfest event on Facebook, they might have seen this story about a teen boy, Justin Reynolds (below) sent home from school, almost immediately, for dressing as a girl. This very much concerns our culture's freedom of expression, especially in the younger generations and for those who diverge from the mainstream of society. This also becomes a legal issue of individual rights, and there is further discussion in the article link below.

Whitman distribution requirements involve six credits in "alternative voices"; maybe we should start trying to incorporate this in earlier, pre-college institutions.