Code as a Muse.

This chapter seemed to focus on the use of code in an artistic sense. Code is a tool for creation that allows for anything to happen. This chapter gave a wide variety of different good and bad uses of code in order to demonstrate how code could be used. Some projects were interactive while others just allowed for the creation of art in a more tradition sense. The fractal pieces were very interesting because of how they were designed and implemented so well. Just the thought of fractals is very interesting. To see something so complex but still so simple being made would be very interesting. Other sections of the chapter focus on using code on not just what it can do but what a user can exploit it to do. Sometimes using code to do something it was meant to do, produces the most interesting results. The interactive web applications were much more relevant to me at the moment because of what I know of making web sites and such. The shredder itself is concept which takes apart a site and rebuilds it with its own detentions. Doing such a thing outside of using code would be ridiculous.

Within the context of this reading, Cyborgs become useful for exploring identity because they have no real place in society that limits there role. Cyborgs can be anyone and anything. The cyborg identity has no structure or is part of any other group of society other than its own. This allows for the comparison between us and what actual makes us human.

One major cyborg almost everyone should know, is Darth Vader. In some ways Star Wars made him the most famous Cyborg of them all. Most of his body was destroy upon his journey to the dark side. Not much of his

body was left, so in comparison not much of his humanity was left. His power was almost to strong to handle with his human body. Two other famous cyborgs are Robo Cop and the Terminator.

When Haraway states that “The production of a universal, totalizing theory is a major mistake”, she means that every one would have the same thoughts and the same minds. This would be the end of culture as we know it. With no one thinking new thoughts how would anything new exist? We would be at a stand still. Our humanity would be gone, we would be no better than machines. We need to retain the ability for free thought because with that we would be lost.

The cyborg would almost erase all other differences of humans. If everyone were to become a cyborg, wouldn’t we all be the same? Any other differences we have would just be the result of having different parts. We could no longer fight over tiny details while our main being was the same. In a way this is like code art “perversion” because it is a different version of a machine integration art. This brings in more human components and applies technology.

Something liberating about the idea of human/machine symbiosis is the potential it would have for our society. If we all shared the same traits and the same technology how would that change the world we know now? What would be different? What other areas of technology would jump forward as a result of our new being? Something dangerous is the idea that we would be completely dependent on machines. What if those machines stop working? What would happen to us?

I don’t really consider my self to be a cyborg. I do use technology and I do depend on it for my trade but I understand what it is and I know I can live with out it. I use machines and computers daily but they are not a necessary part of my life. I do have to admit though, technology brings me so much pleasure. It entertains me, it evolves me like no other medium can.

Political Design and Hacktivist art are very similar but it all comes down to the purpose of the work. Political design projects often aim to help people. For example Patrick Ball created a database to keep track of track tortured dissidents in Sri Lanka and Guatemala. This project was created to inform while helping all of these individual people. Any one learning about this project sees the people who need help and get a better understanding of the conflict. Hacktivism is less about a political stance and more about the use of the internet to change the way people think about things. The ‘Free Kevin Mitnick’ campaign was an attempt to free the first famous hacker from jail. Both projects require code but the actual purpose of each project differs.

Execution can mean a lot of things. When a piece of computer code executes its values and functions are invocation. Execution can also mean the killing of a human being but thats not really the point. But for the point of this discussion the execution of code refers to the evocation of a piece of code. When showing code there is a difference between its representation and its execution. The representation of the code its just the characters that make up the individual lines of code. Execution of the code has vastly different results in comparison. In some sense the actual program itself could be considered art while the codes actual product can be something total different.

If Hacktivist artists were to only hack things that were deemed social acceptable their carriers would almost be completely pointless. Hacktivists need to change what society deems acceptable by doing things that some people say you shouldn’t. Their skill and their activities are dependent on changing society norms. For the most part if a organization says you should hack it, isn’t that enough reason to hack it? Just by saying no, more people what to try to. Its a part of human nature. One of the more interesting hacks was the barbie and army shoulder voice box hack. Not only was this off line, it had a decipherable result that many people took notice of. This project switched what the barbie and the army doll said so that it was reversed.

The Yes Men project challenged many different organizations around the world. Their main purpose was to show organizations what was wrong with their ways by shocking members. Its an interesting take on such a purpose. The Yes Men seemed to focus on large companies but because of the worlds current structure, changing those companies changes the whole world.

The Yes Men tells the tale of two men trying to fight the wrongs with the world. They acted as modern day vigilantes fighting for the down trodden. This two men trick their way into large meetings and try to make heads of corporations see the errors in their ways. The film told their tale which was one part eye opening and one part entertainment. They try to shock and surprise people with their ideas but for its effect could be argued. There largest effect was a televised broadcast on BBC in which they tried to fix a crisis in Baypaul but in the long run the company responsible did nothing to fix their issues of the past. The company responsible spent more money on an ad complain then they did for the people in India. I really enjoyed their method and my eyes were opened to finding new ways of fighting corporations. Their method was inventive and their attempt was just but I wish more people could have been effected. I fished the movie at my room and I was continually amazed by the amount of greed existing with in our country. I hope more people see and learn from this movie.

1. The Occupy Movement has changed the way people think about the current economic climate and how their lives are being changed by a small percent of the population. It has awoken people to really think about how their money is being used and how no matter how hard they work, they can’t get ahead. The Occupy Movement has also changed the way people think about protesting in general. This group is not demanding anything and has no real power structure within the organization. The structure within the movement is also different as in the way that each group in a city is not dependent on other groups in other cites. The normal person is being exposed by this movement to really think about the way their life is going and how they chose their representatives within government.
2. Within the occupy movement no one has any real power. Within the movement everyone has the same amount of power so that a “leader” can not be removed. Everyone has a whole can take the leader role and anyone else can respond to that. Its a horizontal structure instead of a vertical structure. There is no center of the movement so that if one group of the movement is removed it doesn’t effect other parts of the movement. This new power structure is hard for outsiders to understand because of the way that the horizontal structure is so different from the vertical structure that everyone has. The People’s Mic is a part of the new movement as a new way to convey messages over an entire group of people. Its not really a one to many form of communication but its not a form of many to many either. It starts with one person say something and everyone around that person repeats the message and then the pattern repeats to spread the message all the way through the movement. Its a very new way to spread a message through a group of people.

1. I think the issue of Internet Piracy is a big deal at the moment but I think the media makes it a big deal for the wrong reasons. For the most part big media conglomerates seem to use piracy as scapegoat instead of admitting real issues. Like if a movie studio was to say that the sales for their current movie was bad because of the amount of time it was pirated means nothing. It could be that the sales are bad for the movie because the movie was simply bad. Or that the ten year old kid downloading a movie would have never seen the movie otherwise is not why sales are bad. The music industry is not dying because music is being pirated, the current issues could be blamed on a series of other factors including bad quality, over saturation of the market or just a bad market. Piracy is not as big of deal as the media makes it out to be. Of course, some people use it to steal material but that material is getting out there. More people are seeing that material which is a good thing! The more people interested in a product means that more people are their to support that product when maybe a sequel is released. The media needs to be open minded towards Piracy instead of being so biased. Personally, if I could get the taste of a band by downloading an older album, the more interested I am in the bands next piece of work. But the media doesn’t want to think about that. They just paint Internet pirates as dark evil characters instead of seeing the real picture. The whole entertainment industry needs to stop blaming piracy for their issues and instead realize if they make a worthwhile product, people will buy it. I know I will.

2. For the most part of a persons childhood everything is taken care of for them. They sit back and let others make their decision, until the child is old enough. When that happens they begin to run their own lives. And when that happens, everyone has a choice. Do you sit back and let things happen around you? Or do you make your life what you want it to be? For the most part, people just let their lives pass them by. Others make their lives what they what it to be. This article speaks about several different people trying to change their lives. One person, a journalist Marla Ruzicka, goes out to Iraq in an attempt to help the wars victim just because that person wanted to help those people. She cared about that issue, so she set out to change it. I hope that more and more people start to fight for their beliefs. I am inspired by Marla, and her life, and I hope that someday I will find a cause that I believe in as strongly as she did her’s.

1. The three transportation medias are land, water and sky. The difference between a transport medium and a transport vehicle is that a vehicle is something that brings a person across some distance but a transportation medium is some thing that a transport vehicle goes across. A transportation medium for example is land while a transport vehicle is like a car, that carries a person across land.

    

2. The three communication medias are the Interpersonal Medium, the Mass Medium and finally the New Medium. A communication media could be something like two people talking to one another as in one to one while a communication vehicle is something like a website that facilitates many to many communication. An email can be two different kinds of Mediums. If the email is only going in-between two people, it is an Interpersonal Medium. But if the Email is traveling from one person to many others it becomes a Mass Medium.

3. During interpersonal communication a person can communicate with one person and they can make their point very clearly. Communication between two people is easily understood but it take awhile for the message to be spread. For one person to talk to one person and pass on a message it would take awhile in comparison to a Mass Medium. Broadcast communication has the ability to spread a message very fast but the ability to have comprehension is lost. People listing can no longer ask questions or reply to anything from the speaker.

4. The characteristics of the New Medium are that individual information can be seen by a potentially infinite number of people, but everyone who broadcasts or receives information has control over that content. It gets rid of both of the disadvantages of the mediums that come before it. Many to many communication is not dependent on new technology like the laptop or iphone, it depends on the invention of the internet and how that lets us share information. The laptop is just a vehicle to see this new medium.