Thursday, March 10, 2011

week 6 homework


1) Steve Mann describes his wearable computer invention as a form of ________ for one person (fill in the blank)

a single-occupied space

2) Steve Mann's concept of opposing camera surveillance with "Sousveillance" is described as a form of “reflectionism”. What is meant by this?
(in ReadingsF)

Mann’s concept is in regard to allowing people to survey themselves and face their own lunacy. It allows for society to reflect upon itself.

3) In the section of "sousveillance" called "Performance Two" Steve Mann describes how wearing his concealed device becomes more complex when used in what type of spaces?

He describes how it may become more complex in highly populated, public areas.

4) The final paragraph sums up what Mann considers the benefits of "sousveillance" and "coveillance". What are they?

The benefits of sousveillance and coveillance are that it would allow communities to reinvent the surveillance of their neighborhoods and replace neighborhood watch programs.
 
5) In William J Mitchell's 1995 book "City of Bits" in the chapter "Cyborg Citizens", he puts forth the idea that electronic organs as they shrink and become more part of the body will eventually resemble what types of familiar items?


Mitchell states that electronic organs would eventually resemble clothing as they will shrink and conform to the user’s body.
 
6) From the same book/chapter, list two of the things that a vehicle that 'knows where it is' might afford the driver & passengers.

The knowledge of a vehicle that ‘knows where it is’ would offer the ability to provide points of interest that appeal to the passengers of the vehicle. It would also have the ability to research and look up the history and facts of its surroundings, such as buildings and monuments.

7) Mitchell tells the story of Samuel Morse's first Washington-to-Baltimore telegraph message. What was it?


“What hath God wrought”

8) Donna Harroway in "A Cyborg Manifesto" argues that women should take the "battle to the border". What does she say are the stakes in this border war?

She states that production, reproduction, and imagination are at stake in the border war.

9) Harroway posits the notion that:
"We require regeneration, not rebirth, and the possibilities for our reconstitution include the utopian dream"
What is this dream?


The dream of a world without genders.

10) Many have argued that 'we are already cyborgs' as we use devices such as glasses to improve our vision, bikes to extend the mobility function of our legs/bodies etc, computers and networks to extend the nervous system etc. What do you think? Are we cyborgs?

In my opinion, I do not believe that humans are cyborgs. This is such because, although we utilize many various devices to improve ourselves, we only use these machines as tools for success and adaptation. In order to be considered a cyborg, we would have to integrate the machines into our physical being and run on an electronic process. Some may argue that we do, in fact, use these devices in the medical field to keep people alive, but these devices are controlled by a user who calibrates and sets the electronic machinery to perform under the users control. If we were to be cyborgs, then the entire human identity would be defined by an electronic program, and not by human thought or intellect.

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