It’s been pretty fascinating watching the class finish up their final iterations.  How with only a short class on In-Design, taught by John and Steph, we have been able to navigate the technology.  Perhaps, even, there’s more of my personal surprise coming out here.  I’m surprised at myself for remembering the lessons and shortcuts taught.  Its been a joy to see this project manifest itself through this format.  Its caused me to wonder about the accessibility of a written medium given its clarity or design.  How this exact information displayed on a Word doc would be an entirely different experience.  I’ve found myself scooting paragraphs and hiding images behind text, I suppose to ultimately give the reader a better experience, or perhaps for me to better communicate my ideas.

“They’re managing all the evil little shit so we don’t have to.” (Docotorow 309)

As the quarter comes to a close we are all figuring out how our projects shaped us.  Although some projects are not finished printing their are many who do not care whether it is printed.  As I myself have not figured out how to deem my project as complete I know much more about 3D printing and creating objects with the software attached to a 3D printer.  Everyone has learned so much this quarter and has challenged themselves, I feel accomplished seeing where my peers have ended up.

“…but these things are shaped liked them, with their portraits on each sugar lump.” (Doctorow 329)

Smith_Steph RC

What do we do when we’re sick to death of something we need to keep working on?

“To tell you the truth, I haven’t thought much about your ride or this little town. ” -Doctorow, Makers, 383

Nobody was particularly thrilled to be where we were last week. It seemed like everybody was either tired, or scrambling to get their stuff together. A lot of people were working at trying to get their models printed, which was difficult because of the number of us that were. Everyone else, it seemed, was working on their projects. It didn’t seem to me like anybody, myself included, was having fun with they’re project.

“Calvinball. Right. You were made for this”.(410)

In a past program at Evergreen we would seminar extensively, using the game “calvinball” as a model for our conversations. Calvinball is a game borrowed from Calvin and Hobbes in which the players decide on the rules as they go along. It became more than just a cute way to think about seminar, as it produced some of the best conversations we had in that class. The temptation was to go off on relevant tangents,  creating an environment where any anecdote or query could turn back to one of our texts.

How do we play Calvinball with a 3d printer? It is reaching the end of the quarter, and I am most likely staying in for Winter quarter. What steps can be taken to revitalize ourselves? I know that I have been dragged down creatively after all the times I have tried to print my poetry. Each time I make a model, it “horribly fails,” according to the CAL spreadsheet. I am not trying to sound dismal, by the way…sometimes being honest can sound that way. So, back to Calvinball. What I need to enhance my creative zone is a 3d printing feedback loop. By that, I mean a conversation with the various projects I am entertaining. I am into 3d printing poetry, and 3d printing block prints, both of which are somewhat unconventional things to print… What do I need to create a salient game in which I am constantly bouncing the “Calvinball?”

For my last CST Post, I have chosen to evaluate and scale my first CST Post for Making Meaning Matter through the mind of a 3D Printer. Since I have just come out of high school, I believe that a lot of growing has happened in the mental space of my noggin. This was my first CST Post:

Analyzation: 

When will I think like a human? Although I have thought processes, they are not the same. They are a repetitive input that I must follow. My thoughts are literally commanded to me and my body is a slave to the “maker.” Maybe this evaluation of my mind in itself makes me a human, but my body is still a machine. I am unallowed to create my own commands, and if I did it would be a mistake of the machine, and a catastrophe. If I am not able to do something then I am incompatible. One day I will be left behind in the dust to a new model or upgrade from myself. Humans appreciate me but do they really know? Do they know the machine? Do I really belong to them? If I break, will they know how to fix me? Where in my hard harddrive will I find the answers to these questions? Scanning…

Scanning…

Scanning…

Scanning…

Scanning…

Scanning…

Scanning…

Scanning complete.

Download (PDF, 49KB)

It has been rather exciting over the last several days as people are printing the final iterations of their objects. Everyone that I have talked to is quick to point out some imperfection in their work but they also have a hard time hiding their enthusiasm.  And rightly so; a lot of creative energy has gone in to these projects along with the effort it takes to get familiar with the software. Not everything has gone flawlessly, of course, but from my vantage point it seems that at least the effort was made.

i have enjoyed working with all of you and hope to see you again.

Chuck

“Kapriel went over to the Walk of Fame to take pictures of the robotic movie stars doing acrobatic busking acts.” M 404

Replicas of a replicas of a replicas of a replicas transformed through differing media a time periods.  Robots were created to mimic persona made famous by the theatre of the television screen.  A television series was filmed and broadcasted based on the persona of make-upped characters acting from fictional personality traits.  A screenplay was written for actors based on the perceived genuine persona of those people.  Is this not similar to the reproduction of goods?  China making fakes?  The real slowly gets distorted until the masses find it more interesting than real.  Then the distortion becomes what’s real and the actor has to fight to remain who they used to be.

Each individual human is so incredibly complex and different in regards to body, soul, and mind that standardization in society doesn’t work for any period of time. As a collective conscious, humans are evolving faster and faster. As they make exponentially make more and more, the meaning is making them in return. In today’s capitalist society, this means efficiency and effectiveness at doing what humans do… create, make, and engineer at an all-time high. But change is inevitable; the next big turning point is at hand. As multi-dimensional being, humans are in the process of mastering the 3rd dimension, material reality. 3D printers are the future of this time. But why? What does it all mean? My consciousness can’t help but grasp at the “biggest picture.” In this material reality human bodies are powerful and effective/efficient machine, but they are helplessly addicted to material. Do humans grow tired of filling the suffering hole with things? After all, it only gets so good, there has to be equal, fair trade. I imagine sometimes humans mind’s feels trapped in this dimension, screaming to have their full potential unleashed, will they find out how? Is perfect quantifiable? Or, is change the only consistent. In this material world we are all individual parts of one infinitely reflecting, and incomprehensibly diverse, greater consciousness moving through space and time. I think the answer is to stop enslaving and taking advantage of other entities, so that everyone can see this truth and understand that there is nothing more powerful than willingly sharing and accepting. Even though there are infinite faces in this 3RD dimensional reality, where the triangle reigns supreme, being able to adapt and compromise to work together takes energy. But if we could all see each other’s points of view, we could all look in one direction and have the most powerful gaze of all. Humans are visual creatures; the eyes are a doorway to the mind.

In this life, if we could openly accept and share with one another, every individual would have everything. I believe this major shift or evolutionary leap in consciousness could happen in this generation. If and or when, human minds develop mechanical machines that are as capable as human beings, what will happen? I believe humans can evolve technology enough to where no-one will need any-thing. Through 3D printing/Bio-engineering and robotics/programming/machinery, material needs will be obsolete. Potentially humans will move on to master the 4th dimension of time, or other undiscovered dimensions. It is on your doorstep, the 3D printer is the womb of the machine,  machines making machines. We can talk to machines, and machines can talk to us and each other through markup language (Text based code) as well as visual, and eventually potentially every other sensory adaptation of the human body. People were developed by nature, we use our own nature and designs found in the nature around us, the nature we create, to make new nature. Therefore perpetuating this infinite cycle or circle of change, but to make something there must be an equal unmaking for the karma of the universe to stay in balance; everything is balancing on a spectrum, or several, depending on which dimension you are talking about. Change is hard work, and work takes time and energy, something that is limited in this cycle of life, or manifestation of reality. I am learning to embrace this, and make as many mistakes as quickly as possible, because that’s how you learn the fastest, which is the opposite of what a capitalist society teaches.

Chrissy G.
(edited from wk 7 CST for YesNaturally chapter)

the symbol of surveillance

“Is mark making a necessary condition for symboling?” (Malafouris 180)

“She peered through the window before she went around to the door, the journalist in her wanting to fix an image of the moment in her mind before she moved in and disturbed it. That was the problem with being a reporter — everything changed the instant you started reporting on it. By now, there wasn’t a person alive who didn’t know what it means to be in the presence of a reporter. She was a roving Panopticon.” (Doctorow 414)

∞

This week in CST/3D lab, Tinkercad was undergoing maintenance once again, so the class took advantage of the time to demonstrate how 3D scanning worked. We discussed the politics of 3D scanning bodies: Can we assume that the “next big thing” is a good thing? There are social repercussions of literally objectifying people through this technology. What actions do we need to take to defend this from spiraling out of control?

One assumption is that scanning data leads to “greater” knowledge of information (i.e. identification). This confronts the issue of accessibility to data and the power that is inherited from it. How will 3D scanning technologies put different bodies at risk and on display?

Like photography, 3D scanning has the potential to change the way that we think about ourselves in the world. But is photography a choice or an assumed power? Do women really have a choice when we live in a world of ubiquitous surveillance/monitoring/scanning?

“To suffer is one thing; another thing is living with the photographed images of suffering, which does not necessarily strengthen conscience and the ability to be compassionate. It can also corrupt them. Once one has seen such images, one has started down the road of seeing more – and more. Images transfix. Images anesthetize.”– Susan Sontag

image: 16rounds to Samadhi

“I think some of them aren’t even physical rides, just virtual flythoughs.” (Doctorow 349)

Virtual seems to be perceived as less real. I can understand this way of looking at it, but I also see how the virtual world is entirely valid and real just as the physical world is. Is a virtual fly-through or view of something less valuable than a walk through of it? Some may argue yes. It’s true, there is something special about experiencing something physical but I don’t think this something special makes the physical more real.

This week what I witnessed during observations was, everyone working to complete the last iterations of Blue Rabbit projects. We had a tutorial on in-design taught by John and Academic statement class taught by Sarah and Arlen. Everyone expressed their opinions on what the 5th iteration of the Blue Rabbit project should look like. This issue was resolved by a group of students who decided the proper font. It was good that these students took the initiative to solve this problem. With Class coming to a close it has been a thrill observing everyone’s projects. The time and effort applied by everyone is inspiring.

Something happened in the maze, between entering it and leaving it, they lost their cares…As they neared the exit, they started to strategize about the best ride to go on next” (Doctorow, 362).

The ride is coming to an end. For most of us, it was worth every moment. But that doesn’t matter. We rode the ride. Bewildered, we started in the abstract, heading straight up the pike. At the pinnacle, we free-fell, hands up, at warp speed through the conceptual. Enacted, yet enervated, we finally arrived at the concrete. We laughed, and sometimes cried, and we lived to tell about it. We even got a souvenir to take home. And it was fun, and scary, and exciting, and confusing, and intimidating, and frustrating, and weird, and familiar, and ours. It’s our story.

‘Shut up…Don’t talk about magic. Live magic’” (Doctorow, 363).