Homework #10

What is the first thing that you do when you wake up?

The information and communication technologies (ICTs) revolutionized the relationships between men, machine, and other men. From the beginning of the modern era, with the advent of the Gutemberg's press, up to contemporary 1970's, the machines changed our lives in a plethora of aspects, such as locomotion (with fast trains and airplanes), the economical system (massification of manufactured goods), politics (with the weapon industry advance) and so on. But arguably, no field saw such an incredible change as communication. Although this change is not recent - in fact, it started with the press itself, evolving to radio, telephone and television - it evolved for a new level with the popularization of the personal computers in the 1980's. 

In this period, called by some of communication era, the machines changed the way man communicate in every level. If the telephone allowed two persons spatially separated to communicate by voice, now it is possible to stay in contact 24 hours per day, to talk by video, to share media, to watch a movie together. The centralized content produced by broadcasters is now shared with individuals and small production teams on youtube, or steam, for example. Dozens of devices can be replaced by a smartphone. Much beyond than a communication device, the actual ICTs provide diverse entertainment options and utilities tools. This shift was so deep, that it changed not only our communications, but they way we live itself.  

These communication machines also acquired a social meaning. The advent of capitalism, the development of marketing campaigns transformed them into expensive status symbols. The days-long lines for iphones, the advent of e-sports. It is hard to foresee where this tendency goes. And is also ironic to see the quantity of loneliness cases in such a connected world. It raises questions as if this isnt in your nature itself.

“..inventamos una montaña de consumo superfluo, y hay que tirar y vivir comprando y tirando. Y lo que estamos gastando es tiempo de vida, porque cuando yo compro algo, o tú, no lo compras con plata, lo compras con el tiempo de vida que tuviste que gastar para tener esa plata. Pero con esta diferencia: la única cosa que no se puede comprar es la vida. La vida se gasta. Y es miserable gastar la vida para perder libertad”.

Fragmento de la entrevista al expresidente José Mujica en Human.

Papercall

The strange machine

machine, absurd, stranger

The universe is a chaotic succession of events, encounters and misencounters. The complete absence of rational meaning is the rule from atoms collisions, to lives, and human existence in general. What doesn't prevent  humanity’s attempt to find order where none exists. The machines are our most passionate attempt to achieve such meaning. They allow us to build, to make, to destroy. To run, to submerge and to fly. But more than that, machines change our way of living and, commonly, become themselves the meaning that we aimed at first. This paper examines to which extent the machines influence our lives, passing from enabling tools to the core motivator for our actions.

Homework #9

I believe that in homework 7, I already did what was asked to homework 9 :)

http://x232390.blogspot.it/2016/02/homework-7.html

Homework #8

Advertisement for offices of 1912. Back there, "modern" offices should have a Remington typing machine.

"A splendid Remington model 1912 machine justly considered the world's best typewriter. A solid Paulista table, suitable for typewriters, and a spring seat"

In portuguese: “Uma máquina esplêndida Remington modelo 1912 com justiça considerada a melhor máquina de escrever do mundo. Uma sólida mesa paulista, própria para máquinas de escrever, e uma cadeira de mola”.

Homework #7

The Stranger by Albert Camus is a novel about the absurdity of the Universe.  Camus asserts, aligning with another existencialist philosophers (although himself denied this title), that individual lives and human existence in general have no rational meaning or order. The term “absurdity” describes humanity’s futile attempt to find rational order where none exists.

The first chapter of the book follows a complete logic structure. The protagonist, Mersault, follows an ordinary life, until un incident directly involving a machine changes his life:

"As soon as he saw me, he sat up a little and put his hand in his pocket. Naturally, I gripped Raymond’s gun inside my jacket. Then he lay back again, but without taking his hand out of his pocket". Camus, Albert. The Stranger (Vintage International) (p. 58). 

After shooting a man dead, the protagonist Mersault goes to the jail. After following an unbelievable trial, that considers all the little details of his life presented before, Mersault is condemned to die in the guillotine (again, a machine):

"For by giving it some hard thought, by considering the whole thing calmly, I could see that the trouble with the guillotine was that you had no chance at all, absolutely none. The fact was that it had been decided once and for all that the patient was to die". Camus, Albert. The Stranger (Vintage International) (p. 111).  

Finally,  after being condemned to die in a machine, by using a machine, the author conclude about the absurdity of the life, in a beautiful metaphore with a machinery system, in which it is impossible to scape. 

"What really counted was the possibility of escape, a leap to freedom, out of the implacable ritual, a wild run for it that would give whatever chance for hope there was. Of course, hope meant being cut down on some street corner, as you ran like mad, by a random bullet. But when I really thought it through, nothing was going to allow me such a luxury. Everything was against it; I would just be caught up in the machinery again". Camus, Albert. The Stranger (Vintage International) (p. 109). 

Homework #5

The logo of the game company steam resembles a steam-powered mechanical pipe.

The logo of the national brazilian company for air flights, represents its main focus, the airplanes.

Homework #4

My main research field includes interactive devices. Here I present three:

Haptic devices. From Greek haptikos ‘able to touch or grasp’. In the context of my research field the haptic devices can transmit haptic feedback of 3d environments on screen. Which means that ables the user to "sense" the virtual environment.

Touch devices: the verb touch comes from Old French tochier, probably from a Romance word of imitative origin; the noun originally from Old French touche, later (in certain senses) directly from the verb. In my research fields touch devices are devices that you can interact directly with your finger, by touching it.

Smart devices. From Old English smeortan (verb), of West Germanic origin; related to German schmerzen ; the adjective is related to the verb, the original sense (late Old English) being ‘causing sharp pain’; from this arose ‘keen, brisk’, whence the current sense of ‘mentally sharp’. In my research field, smart devices are the ones able of doing any kind of processing. If they have processing, they can support games.