 |
Click for the story via the Daily Mail... |
Sunday, May 05, 2013
...Yet Another Entertaining Chapter in the Saga of the Ersatz Human
Monday, September 17, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Friday, June 01, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
"Makies": Diving Headlong into the Uncanny Valley! via boingboing.net
source: http://boingboing.net/2012/05/23/makies-custom-made-3d-printe.html wikipedia on the "uncanny valley"...
"The uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of robotics and 3D computer animation,which holds that when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The "valley" in question is a dip in a proposed graph of the positivity of human reaction as a function of a robot's human likeness. The term was coined by the robotics professor Masahiro Mori as Bukimi no Tani Genshō (不気味の谷現象) in 1970. The hypothesis has been linked to Ernst Jentsch's concept of "the uncanny" identified in a 1906 essay, "On the Psychology of the Uncanny."Jentsch's conception was elaborated by Sigmund Freud in a 1919 essay entitled "The Uncanny" ("Das Unheimliche")...Mori's original hypothesis states that as the appearance of a robot is made more human, a human observer's emotional response to the robot will become increasingly positive and empathic, until a point is reached beyond which the response quickly becomes that of strong revulsion. However, as the robot's appearance continues to become less distinguishable from that of a human being, the emotional response becomes positive once more and approaches human-to-human empathy levels. This area of repulsive response aroused by a robot with appearance and motion between a "barely human" and "fully human" entity is called the uncanny valley. The name captures the idea that an almost human-looking robot will seem overly "strange" to a human being, will produce a feeling of uncanniness, and will thus fail to evoke the empathic response required for productive human-robot interaction."
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Two More Chapters in the History of the "Ersatz Human" | Body Modification Edition
Labels:
Barbie,
ersatz human,
ersatz humans,
the ersatz human
We're back--after a couple of sequences where this blog was given over to various undergraduate and graduate courses I teach at SDSU, I am back to posting materials here that document recent marvels concerning the simulacrafication of the human (gracias Baudrillard), the transmogrification of human subjectivity through technology and camouflage (gracias Sarduy).
click the images for the original postings...
click the images for the original postings...
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friday, December 09, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Monday, October 03, 2011
CYBERHIVE: Durex Edition
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 09:44:39 -0700
Subject: Re: the new blog is live...: MALAS600B-01-Fall2011
From: Heriberto Vasquez
To: William Nericcio <bnericci
I would like to share this commercial on the blog.... and I will be sharing in class a quick scene from the play "In the next room: The vibrator play" it was performed at the Lyceum theatre last semester but sadly enough I couldn't get any vids from that exquisit performance.
until class!
eddie
Subject: Re: the new blog is live...: MALAS600B-01-Fall2011
From: Heriberto Vasquez
To: William Nericcio <bnericci
I would like to share this commercial on the blog.... and I will be sharing in class a quick scene from the play "In the next room: The vibrator play" it was performed at the Lyceum theatre last semester but sadly enough I couldn't get any vids from that exquisit performance.
until class!
eddie
Monday, September 19, 2011
CYBERHIVE HIATUS!!!
Subject: CYBERHIVE..... You Broke Me....: MALAS600B-01-Fall2011
All,
You know how I was complaining that there
was NOT enough activity on the MALAS facebook
page????
thankfully, that is no longer the case...
there is, however, loads of activity for the
cyberhive blog for our technosexuality class....
.... AND.... I can't keep up..... SO, if it's not a bother,
would you mind now posting your course-related
updates on the MALAS program facebook page...
if, however, you have something good, and you
want to post it anonymously, i will be happy to
continue doing so on the technosexualities blog...
thanks!
yours besieged by your amazing,
brilliant, technosexual researches,
bill
CYBERHIVE 44: Technosexualities | TOMORROWLAND
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:25:42 -0700
Subject: Blog posting for our Technosexualities class
From: Devina Sindhu
To: Bill Nericcio
Hi Professor Nericcio,
I wanted to bring to our class's attention the amazing conference that will be taking place at UCSD on the weekend of October 14 called "Tomorrowland Forever." There will be amazing scholars, writers, and artists presenting including Carole Maso, Rae Armantrout, V.S. Ramachandran, and Bhanu Kapil. Here is the link for it.
One of the presenters that will be at the conference is V.S. Ramachandran, who is a neuroscientist who connects sciences and the humanities through his research and empirical evidence of how the two intersect. In the TED video below "The Neurons that Shaped Civilization"--discusses how we learn social behavior systems through mirror neurons.
"For the longest time, people have regarded the sciences and humanities as being distinct. C.P Snow spoke of the two cultures: science on the one hand, humanities on the other; never the twain shall meet. So I'm saying the mirror neuron system underlies the interface, allowing you to rethink about issues like consciousness, representation of self, what separates you from other human beings, what allows you to empathize with other human beings, and also even things like the emergence of culture and civilization, which is unique to human beings."
Subject: Blog posting for our Technosexualities class
From: Devina Sindhu
To: Bill Nericcio
Hi Professor Nericcio,
I wanted to bring to our class's attention the amazing conference that will be taking place at UCSD on the weekend of October 14 called "Tomorrowland Forever." There will be amazing scholars, writers, and artists presenting including Carole Maso, Rae Armantrout, V.S. Ramachandran, and Bhanu Kapil. Here is the link for it.
One of the presenters that will be at the conference is V.S. Ramachandran, who is a neuroscientist who connects sciences and the humanities through his research and empirical evidence of how the two intersect. In the TED video below "The Neurons that Shaped Civilization"--discusses how we learn social behavior systems through mirror neurons.
"For the longest time, people have regarded the sciences and humanities as being distinct. C.P Snow spoke of the two cultures: science on the one hand, humanities on the other; never the twain shall meet. So I'm saying the mirror neuron system underlies the interface, allowing you to rethink about issues like consciousness, representation of self, what separates you from other human beings, what allows you to empathize with other human beings, and also even things like the emergence of culture and civilization, which is unique to human beings."
CYBERHIVE 43: Technosexualities | More meditations on technology and human behavior...
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:14:08 -0700
Subject: "Connected" trailer
From: Amelia Ortega
To: memo@sdsu.edu
Hey Bill,
One of the reasons why I decided to take this course was because, for a while now, I have been interested in how technology is affecting our international community and human relationships.
Over the summer, I was devoting some of my time to the South Bay YMCA in Chula Vista. During one of my training courses, my instructor told us this story about how her niece was acting very bratty during a lunch date at the Olive Garden. On the ride home, her niece asked, "Tia, did you check your text messages?" and my instructor told her that she hadn't. So, her niece leaned over towards the front of the car to show her a text message she had just sent. Instead of apologizing to her aunt face to face, she felt more inclined to show her apology through a text message (even though her aunt was with her in person). This story sparked a conversation on how technology has been affecting our youth in this day and age. Children and teens are becoming so consumed with their cell-phones, video games, facebook profiles. It's interesting and a little scary to see how technology is affecting their view on the world and the way that they choose to socialize and engage with others.
I have also noticed how from time to time, when you go out to a restaurant these days, it's not uncommon to see a group of people sitting at the same table looking through their cell phones rather than having conversation and engaging with one another face to face. And on campus, it's typical for students to just stick their earplugs in and disconnect themselves from the outside world with their iPods. I remember watching the film "Wall-E" and observing how the human race had become so disconnected from one another in the film's version of the future. Each human individual was so absorbed with their portable TV's, advertising, and self-indulgence that they didn't even notice the other people around them. From what I can tell, in reality, it seems that humans are going down a very similar path.
It's also funny that after the huge black out we had recently, a news anchorman on NBC had commented on how families had sent in emails about how they were able to spend more quality time with one another because they weren't distracted by the technological devices that usually pull them apart- TV, internet, video games. Through that experience, a lot of families were able to acknowledge the significant effect that technology has made on family dynamics in this day and age.
With all of that said, I came across this movie trailer over the weekend. The film is called "Connected" and it's a documentary that explores the effects that technology has made on the human social sphere.
One more thing, here's a funny article I found on 12 ways that Women have replaced men with technology: 12 ways women have replaced men with technology
Subject: "Connected" trailer
From: Amelia Ortega
To: memo@sdsu.edu
Hey Bill,
One of the reasons why I decided to take this course was because, for a while now, I have been interested in how technology is affecting our international community and human relationships.
Over the summer, I was devoting some of my time to the South Bay YMCA in Chula Vista. During one of my training courses, my instructor told us this story about how her niece was acting very bratty during a lunch date at the Olive Garden. On the ride home, her niece asked, "Tia, did you check your text messages?" and my instructor told her that she hadn't. So, her niece leaned over towards the front of the car to show her a text message she had just sent. Instead of apologizing to her aunt face to face, she felt more inclined to show her apology through a text message (even though her aunt was with her in person). This story sparked a conversation on how technology has been affecting our youth in this day and age. Children and teens are becoming so consumed with their cell-phones, video games, facebook profiles. It's interesting and a little scary to see how technology is affecting their view on the world and the way that they choose to socialize and engage with others.
I have also noticed how from time to time, when you go out to a restaurant these days, it's not uncommon to see a group of people sitting at the same table looking through their cell phones rather than having conversation and engaging with one another face to face. And on campus, it's typical for students to just stick their earplugs in and disconnect themselves from the outside world with their iPods. I remember watching the film "Wall-E" and observing how the human race had become so disconnected from one another in the film's version of the future. Each human individual was so absorbed with their portable TV's, advertising, and self-indulgence that they didn't even notice the other people around them. From what I can tell, in reality, it seems that humans are going down a very similar path.
It's also funny that after the huge black out we had recently, a news anchorman on NBC had commented on how families had sent in emails about how they were able to spend more quality time with one another because they weren't distracted by the technological devices that usually pull them apart- TV, internet, video games. Through that experience, a lot of families were able to acknowledge the significant effect that technology has made on family dynamics in this day and age.
With all of that said, I came across this movie trailer over the weekend. The film is called "Connected" and it's a documentary that explores the effects that technology has made on the human social sphere.
One more thing, here's a funny article I found on 12 ways that Women have replaced men with technology: 12 ways women have replaced men with technology
Cyberhive 42: Technosexualities | Nurse Robot, to the Rescue
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2011 20:59:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: Francisco Miramontes
Subject: CYBERHIVE
To: bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu
Bill,
I came across this video which I found to go well with our seminar. It is of a robot developed in Japan that is used to comfort patients at hospitals. I find it to be one of the most intriguing displays of current robotics. Maybe we are much closer then we think to the integration of lifelike robotics into mass culture. Here is the video... I hope you all enjoy.
Francisco Miramontes
From: Francisco Miramontes
Subject: CYBERHIVE
To: bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu
Bill,
I came across this video which I found to go well with our seminar. It is of a robot developed in Japan that is used to comfort patients at hospitals. I find it to be one of the most intriguing displays of current robotics. Maybe we are much closer then we think to the integration of lifelike robotics into mass culture. Here is the video... I hope you all enjoy.
Francisco Miramontes
CYBERHIVE 41: Technosexualities | FEMALE ROBOTS
Original-Recipient: rfc822;memo@sdsu.edu
To: memo@sdsu.edu
Subject: MALAS600B - Fembots
From: Jenna
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:59:05 -0400 (EDT)
Technosexualities Colleagues,
I was looking up some things of interest for the class and one thing lead to another (as it invariably does) and I started to think about our culture's seeming obsession with all-things-Fembot. I remembered that "back in the day" I used to watch a popular sitcom called Small Wonder, starring a gynoid named V.I.C.I (Voice Input Child Identicant) whose "father" created her and passed her off as part of the family. She was equipped with an AC outlet, a serial port, an access panel, and superhuman strength. I distinctly recall her picking up the sofa with one hand while vacuuming underneath it with the other, the ultimate "Domestic Goddess" in pseudo-child form. I believe she was originally created to be a domestic servant.
And who could forget Rosie from The Jetsons? The cleaning-obsessed robot that was both matronly and took orders flawlessly. No futuristic household would be complete without one!
Then I remembered the favored Fembots from Austin Powers, with their "machine gun jumblees." Part machine, part sexpot, these femme fatales used their breasts as cannons to try and seduce and kill the International Man of Mystery. Ah, fond memories of Halloween 2000 when I dressed as one of these... but that's a different story...
Body parts disguised as machines led me to Rose McGowan's character Cherry Darling, from the movie Grindhouse/Planet Terror. Now I haven't actually seen this film but the images of the actress with her minigun prosthetic leg kept popping into my head.
Continuing in the same fashion... I came across cyborg images from Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. I haven't seen this television series either, so I'm not sure if the main character is actually part-robot/machine or if the images are merely a marketing ploy. Maybe someone else in the class knows more about this?
Lastly, we have the Bionic Woman (old and new television series)... a woman with bionic surgical implants, including an enhanced arm, legs, and hearing.
This cultural fascination with gynoids seems to be parted into two camps, viewed as either servant or sex object (a technological reformulation of the virgin vs. whore dichotomy?). In addition, these recreations of the female form appear to be an extension of the "perfect woman," either dutifully submissive or existing for sexual consumption (whichever floats your boat and according to your particular desire). They all embody and reinforce femininity, each to a certain degree. It would be interesting to investigate this further, perhaps as part of a research paper...
-Jenna
To: memo@sdsu.edu
Subject: MALAS600B - Fembots
From: Jenna
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:59:05 -0400 (EDT)
Technosexualities Colleagues,
I was looking up some things of interest for the class and one thing lead to another (as it invariably does) and I started to think about our culture's seeming obsession with all-things-Fembot. I remembered that "back in the day" I used to watch a popular sitcom called Small Wonder, starring a gynoid named V.I.C.I (Voice Input Child Identicant) whose "father" created her and passed her off as part of the family. She was equipped with an AC outlet, a serial port, an access panel, and superhuman strength. I distinctly recall her picking up the sofa with one hand while vacuuming underneath it with the other, the ultimate "Domestic Goddess" in pseudo-child form. I believe she was originally created to be a domestic servant.
This cultural fascination with gynoids seems to be parted into two camps, viewed as either servant or sex object (a technological reformulation of the virgin vs. whore dichotomy?). In addition, these recreations of the female form appear to be an extension of the "perfect woman," either dutifully submissive or existing for sexual consumption (whichever floats your boat and according to your particular desire). They all embody and reinforce femininity, each to a certain degree. It would be interesting to investigate this further, perhaps as part of a research paper...
-Jenna
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