Week 3

Robots have been something that have been used in our society as early as the Chinese civilizations printing press. Although its not the image of a robot that we have in our head its one of its earliest forms. In Chinese civilization the printing press made life so much easier and it improved the speed and quality. In our present day society we envision robots more as something that can help us in our every day lives and can take and interpret instruction. A perfect example of this is in the movie Big Hero 6. Baymax, the robot that was originally designed by its creator as a health care robot started to learn and develop feelings throughout the entire movie. This robot is an example of what is currently the biggest obstacle in robotics, developing feelings and appropriate emotions. In a 2009 TedTalk this topic was discussed, they had come up with  a software that was able to identify the emotion that someone was expressing and the robot was able to reciprocate the same emotion. As art and robotics continue to become more intertwined they will continue to develop this software to eventually be able to reciprocate the proper emotion.

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_relate_to_you

Week 1: Two cultures

The divide between the two culture that C.P Snow talks about was caused because of how we defined the term science. These two cultures have grown apart and continue to be separated. On campus at UCLA theres the obvious north and south campus comparison but theres also the separation between the athlete and non athlete culture. Most athletes aren't science majors mostly because we have full and exhausting days, but its assumed that athletes don't venture to south campus. This new theory on the two cultures has made me more aware of how divided and separated we make things. And the assumptions that belong with each culture may not be entirely true. Having this information allows me to view things differently, to not make assumptions but instead try and experience the culture and form my own, a culture that isn't all north campus or south campus one that could be bits and pieces from both. Brockton talks about being able to identify the third culture that does exist, the contemporary scientists. Although their could be other "middlemen" that can connect the two sides of campus. Even though both sides of campus are vastly different they still give much respect to the individuals who excel in one of the two campuses.