Class Notes for 3/2/2011 - Imaginary Panel

·      Monday panel members were mostly historical, today they are mainly imaginary

·      How do gender information science and technology look different for imaginary people than they do for real people

·      Consider how these figure may interact with Harroway’s leaky distinctions between human-animal, organism machine, physical – non-physical

·      Imaginary vs the Real – both imaginary stimulation and real stimulation affect the equally.

Panel

·      Arthur Weasley – pureblood wizard exists in the real world (alternate version of England?), cares about equality (critique of the wizard world)

·      Major Motoko Kusanagi – Full Body Cyborg, works in an anti-terrorist unit, both creation and critique: created as a cyborg but also a critique of a male dominated role

·      Wolverine – mutant and government weapon, exist to protect other mutants, cares about the skewing of information of his personal image (he is not a monster), he is a little bit of both creation and critique: he was born (created) and was later altered (critiqued)

·      Vera Chytilova – not imaginary, exist in the real world (more or less than Arthur Weasley?), challenges stupidity and simple mindedness, in the way that she challenges others to expand their thinking she is a creator of critique

·      Renee Montoya – exists in Gotham city – creation in that you have inherited. Critique in the way you bring justice

·      Batwoman/ Kate Kane – cares about justice, exists to help the helpless – creation in terms of training

·      Dr. Robert Ray – not made up, wants to make plastic surgery more natural – creation (born) and creator (as surgeon)

·      Watson – exist in the real world (designed to bridge the gap between communication of human and machine language) - creation

·      Jess Dolkin – NYC performance artist, uses body as a tool – how does this interact with technology – critique

Pencil Sharpener

·      Stewie Griffin – baby genius, “cares about laser beams, time machines, and myself”, exist to kill, lives in fictional Rhode island (creation used as critique – cartoon baby used to model the typical American family specifically a northern family)

·      Agnet Astrid Farnsworth – exists now (creator –create meaning. Work in cryptography and goes through puzzles)

·      Dr. Walter Bishop – Harvard, helps FBI solve problems of Fringe  science, what happens when our world collides with the alternate universe, transfer information from one world to the next (creation and critque – created in the physical way)

·      Pris – replicant, basic pleasure model, exist in 2019 Los Angeles, care about extending stay on earth where Pris should not be (creation developed by corporation to be a replicant. As a replicant she is a critique of humanity and what it means to be human)

·      Rosie the Riveter – Icon that became popular in the 1970 -80s though original created in 1943, care about feminism and the right for woman to work (creation in that she is an icon, produced by image at hand. False icon. Also a critique because “I am an imaginary perception”)

·      Marina Abramovic – real person, exists in meat space (creator - create new understanding in audience)

Notes

·      Do these people who live in multiple realities (Stewie, Arthur Weasley, Marina Abramovic) live in the same reality?

·      Is the question of sphere of influence a version of the power spectrum?

·      Questions of binaries – are you a monster or protector? How do you decide who to protect? Who is innocent. How human are? What is the definition of human? 

·      How does choosing whether we are a creation or critique limit our own identity? Creation seems to take on a more physical component? If you were born, drawn, etc people tend to characterize themselves as a creation. Can creation in itself be a critique?

·      For the cybernetic people, why do you hold onto the human aspect of people?

o   Pris is not created to even want to be human though aware of humanity. Fall in love which is characterized by humanity

·      Do the performance artists and Dr, do you change what it means to be human?

·      What’s natural?

·      Vera – films do the talking for me. Creation that is not physical. Creator of cyborgs. Captures human in film, transforms human into technology.   Wouldn’t get along with Rosie because she is against icons especially one that reduces femininity to one ideal. Do you have a problem with the Doctor? What does shaping into ideal.

·      Rosie – not that different from the cyborgs. Icon rotates around industry. Shows how technology and use of machinery is an extension of me and of my image. Clarkinean cyborg. Helps me do my job

·      Does GIST look any different to imaginary world when compared to actual panel?

·      Monday’s panel seemed more focused on gender.

·      Majority of imaginary figures don’t emphasize gender

·      Connection between imaginary and real characters in terms of conveying information. We all have an emotion that we all want to achieve. More interconnected world.

·      Interesting that imagination is more violent. Real people are more away of gender

·      Fluctuation between what it means to be created. Creation as an alternative or improvement. Doesn’t that mean critique. World of the internet is a representation of the real world.

Ways to organize:

·      Human to Non-Human

·      Violent to non-violent

·      Real to Non-real

·      Power – weakness

·      How much of an impact

·      How people use technology vs. are techonology (in the body rather than an extension outside of the body)

Quotes:

·      “I think therefore I am”

·      “The only thing that makes me feel human is the way that I am treated.”

·      “Cyborgs like me have a tendency to be paranoid about our origins…maybe there was never a real me in the first place and that I am completely synthetic like androids.”