Free Write- 11/29/11

Before Steve Job dropped out of college, he took a calligraphy class; it was one of the most important class he ever took, why?

Calligraphy requires a lot of patience, strength and a lot of mental brain power in order to write calligraphy. Because of its artful appearance, it is very rare for someone to pick up this type of writing quickly. One must write in this style everyday or multiple times a week, in order to excel at it.

Therefore, Steve Jobs probably saw this as one of the most important classes he took because of its time requirement on the mind, body and soul.

TED video: Ignorance of Simplicity

What is simplicity: coffee cup, scissors, glasses, books

Another class of simple things in function but not constructed: cell phone and birth control pill

(fundamentally changes the structure of society)

Tea pot problem: if its filled with hot water and ask why is the water hot? One answer is because of the kinetic energy etc./ Because it was sitting on a stove with a flame/ I wanted hot water with tea/ It is part of our plan for the universe

-Complexity is highly evolved and simplicity is not answered

Complexity is a system that interact with each other and dissipate energy Ex: chemical reaction in cells given at any moment

Ex of a particular kind: internet (binary number)-simplest possible way of representing numbers. Light switch uses binary-and physicists made the transistor to make it easier

Extraordinary simple idea requires layers of complexity in order to make it reliable.

-Simple things: behavior is predictable (know what it is going to do); cheap; high performance/ value or cost; serve and have potential to be building blocks

-Took technology that is available everywhere, made it cheap to be used in places of need

-If you take too much out of something simple it looses its function; when you have nothing to take away, that is when you have simplicity.

Second video:

-good visually tools are important

-want to predict one part of a system, it becomes more complicated

-the more you step back, the better chance you have of finding simple answers

-complex problems may not be complicated: simple answers may emerge

11/17/11-What is simple about the class project is.../What is difficult about the class project is...

This class project has put a lot of stress on my brain (a.ka. the muscle between my ears!) Knowing that we are responsible for making blankets for the South End of Albany is truly a nice feeling to have but at the same time, it is a lot of responsibility; especially as a first year freshman who is still adjusting to the new school atmosphere and schedule.

One thing that is simple about the class project is planning events and understanding how a system works. One thing that is difficult about the class project is actually finding the man power to want to follow through with all these plans, the materials and the time! Basically, half the project is incomplete because of the lack of 'want' behind this project.

Yes, this is a project that would be a rewarding experience in the end; but at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on us students who are still adjusting to the 'first year experience'.

Free Write 11/15/11

In writing my class project report that was due today, I learned all about how the system we are currently trying to work in requires an enormous amount of effort and time in order to make a change; and that can be said not just for this project but for any particular system.

As far as the project is concerned, I realize now that our class project will not work unless all parts of the system are working together. When one part of the system fails, depending on which part, it may force other components of the system to be at a halt or fail also; especially if it depends on the failing portion.

Specifically, I find that the one part that seems to be failing with this project is the motivation to go out and get materials to actually make the blankets for the outreach center. For this project, we did an enormous amount of planning but no action has been taken.

College Students Enacting Social Change Presentation

Her paper argued that a college student can make a non profit organization to enact social change

Defined social change-can be done through non-profit

Difficult to try to make social movements: established through non-profits

Larren Poole? Invisible Children quote-if you want to make a change, going about it through the 'system' isn't always the best way

5 components:

1.) adaptablity and determination

2.) Utilization of resources in college

3.) Interconnectedness

4.) utilization of web intermediaries of social...

5.)

Showed us an approval letter-(have to have an idea of what the organization looks like)

Profound impact on wanting to change it

-People who want to have an impact, have to change with the world

-Used advice from faculty members (in college), sometimes high school teachers aren't the best to give you advice

-College provides an audience for students

-Interconnectedness- our generation have grown up in a really small world; have instant news (like google alert)

-Facebook effect (500 million people actively using FB, now 800 million)

-It helps expand a person audience

DoSomething.org workshop series

2 conclusions:

1.) Social change is important for people who want to live a life of meaning

2.) College students do have the ability to enact social change

Free Write-11/1/11

This man believes that our building will be able to fix themselves.

Currently, the machines take a long amount of time to build and construct, however, we have machines in our natural system that are more efficient.

4 key factors:

1.) decode complexity of our machines

2.) programable parts

3.) energy that allow them to activate

4.) error correction redundancy mechanism

Macrobot-large scale robots (proteins); when given a message, can be able to configure itself to what the message is

Each unit in the chain is programed to do whatever it is programed to do.

The future: has the ability to compute (bricks for example)

Artificial Life?

When it comes to artificial life, I do not know whether or not it is a good idea for humans to make these sort of machines that have the ability to function like a human would or components of what a human part would do. It is a scary thought to think that something that was not born 'naturally' can have the ability to function like anyone could. Ethically, I do not think it is a good idea. I believe being a 'human' is a gift; something very unique and special. I believe that we have been put on this Earth as humans, (rather than an animal) because we have a purpose. By creating artificial life, it takes away some sort of uniqueness away from us.