I see men as clouds, walking
I am of the opinion that many of our most acclaimed fashion designers are actually deeply disturbed persons who resort to fashion as therapy. These individuals find a twisted satisfaction in seeing their creations worn in public by sane and rational humans. However, they reach the height of their troublesome god-ship complex as they manipulate masses of these same rational beings to covet attire which will get them mistaken for clown/clouds, or the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, or someone without the motor skills necessary to dress himself, or even someone who lived before the age of sewing – a caveman perhaps. (Or, a combination of all four.)(Yes, I could go on.)
Case in point:
UAVs and military drones represent, to me, an increasingly ominous cloud of destructive technology, which threatens to blur and obscure ethical and humanitarian boundaries. UVAs and military drones are particularly troubling to me. With this technology, we have put into use killing robots, and almost completely remove ourselves from the human aspect and toll of war. “War, even if justified, is a horrible thing.”
I believe that technology should be science, applied for the betterment and sustenance of life. One might argue that, through the use of UVAs, we keep our troops out of harms way and protect our freedom by destroying our enemies. I argue, that, through the use of UVAs, we further disregard the sacredness of life (human life). Not only do we take it upon ourselves to decide who lives and who dies, but the destruction of life is indiscriminately and mercilessly carried out by a non – living creation, devoid of passion or compassion and without the ability to choose to spare life based on circumstances. I believe that these uses of technology (which no doubt will continually be developed at an accelerated rate) threaten many of the more noble, core elements of human interaction.
And then there are the beautiful uses of technology:
Roomba Robots light painting
Or the ones that help preserve life:
An interesting WIRED Magazine article on Feedback loops used to reinforce positive driving behaviors and care for the elderly.
I spent a significant portion of my day making sense of, and arrangements to fulfill my “New Students” checklist from Wentworth. Besides paying various amounts of money (so that they know I’m serious) I have to make at least one doctor appointment, finalize and submit my homeschool transcript, take an English placement test, take and send them a (good) picture of myself, acquire and read a book (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), and a gazillion other things. See, sometimes you think that once you reach a goal, you deserve a break, or at least a little something to help you maintain your sanity, health and well-being (wait, what am I saying – I’m American. And an engineering student. Shucks.). Lesson: Learn to enjoy the rat race. (I’ve had this lesson before – when will I learn?)
To be honest, I’m psyched about starting college. Especially Biomedical Engineering. When I was about 14 I decided on what I wanted to do – and now I’m doing it. Feels good. I’ll post later on some of the awesome stuff Biomedical Engineers do.
Yes; here is the picture I’m sure you all have been waiting for (or at least that I’ve been dying to post 🙂 )
My acceptance packet!
In parallel with college preparations, I’ve decided to retake my SATs. I got a perfect score in one section – and I think I could do that in all of them. I’m focusing on math primarily. I’m also doing some sciences and French over the summer (which, hopefully will translate into awesome subject tests scores this fall – and awesome grades once school starts).
Ambition: 2400 SAT super score
I made a contact for a summer job today. We’ll see how that turns out.
Today’s big news: we can pick up machines for installing the temporary Fab Lab next week!!! (Translation: you really, really need to flesh out and complete the lab schedule for the summer, determine, plan and design the classes and project, find some volunteers, train them to run the place – and a few other things I won’t bother to remind you of right now.) For which I’m excited! 🙂 Go TIE Project!
Ambitionz
Day 3
87 Dayz to go
Ambition. Among Other Things. 