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I don’t have any experience with medical technologies other than taking x-rays at the dentist. However, I’ve always found hearing implants interesting.  Fig 1. Cochlear Implant. I don’t personally know anyone with hearing implants, but the idea of sending audio directly to the nerve that contacts the brain is really fascinating (Mayo). It’s like glasses in the sense that we’ve bypassed our natural aging process to restore one of our senses. A pattern I’ve noticed is that there is a lot of focus on curing a disease rather than preventing it. Other than polarized sunglasses and blue light glasses, there doesn’t seem to be technology that actively prevents harm to one’s body. Polarized glasses and blue light glasses help prevent eye strain (Healthline). Something that happened as I watched the lecture about body modification art is that I felt a little uncomfortable (Jefferies). I think that the individual reactions the artists elicit are why they do art. I respect the artists for doi...

  Fig 1. McCoy,  Untitled .  Fig 2. Phan, Zoom Link Confirmation I attended the event Alchemy + Art hosted by Ann McCoy. As a person who enjoys looking at art and going to museums, it was really enjoyable to see an artist explain the different pieces herself. What I liked about McCoy was her inspiration. Unlike other artists that take inspiration from the world around them, McCoy looks within her own mind and experiences to produce an art piece that is utterly and completely hers.  Fig 3. McCoy, Bog People . Along with her unique style and motivations, McCoy allowed herself to draw what she wanted despite losing her art dealers. Her depiction of the Bog People and her subsequent work allowed McCoy to become a Guggenheim fellow! She inspired me to look deeper into alchemy as a whole, and I found that alchemy also deals with turning metals into gold, searching for a panacea, and perfecting the human body (Anapur).  The interesting thing about alchemy is that it re...

  It was pretty cool to see Professor Kusahara talk about robotics in anime. I remember the humanoid robots from some anime I’ve watched, but I never really knew why anime had humanoid robots more frequently than American cartoons. An example of this is Transformers. In transformers, the robots are humanoid and can transform into vehicles (Ebert).  Fig. 1. Transformers , 2007. Although Transformers is an action movie that is designed for enjoyment, what Walter Benjamin has to say about the loss of art’s traditional aura is pretty interesting. He believes that the line between an original work of art and a copy of it has become blurred (Benjamin). This is the case with mediums like photography because the first print is just like 50,000th. A modern example of attempts to distinguish between the original and a copy are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)  Fig 2. Bored Ape Yacht Club, 2021. Backed by blockchain technology, NFTs can provide proof of authenticity through tracing the ow...

In this week’s lectures and readings, I’ve learned that math has influenced art in many ways. For example, perspective and proportions are utilized in art to make the subjects and background appear more realistic. Examples of this are Filippo Brunelleschi's and Leon Batiste Alberti’s respective development and usage of the vanishing point in their work. The vanishing point has continued to be studied in modern society, as shown by Marc Frantz’s article that explains the vanishing point to readers. Left: Brunelleschi's famous The Dome of Brunelleschi . Right: Alberti's book On Painting Another interesting way mathematics has influenced art is through Edwin Abbott Abbott’s novel Flatland . The novel uses polygons and the first, second, and third dimensions to satirize Abbott’s view of modern society. Perspective, proportions, and vanishing points can be seen in one of my favorite paintings — Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.  Above: Edward Hopper's Nighthawks ...

Growing up in the Bay Area, my parents wanted me to go into a STEM-related field because they believed it would give me the best shot at being ‘successful’ in life. I really enjoyed it, but I felt like something would be missing with a purely engineering-focused education because I enjoyed the other subjects like history and literature. As a result, I applied to UCLA as an economics major. I think I subconsciously knew there had to be more than just being in STEM, but I didn’t understand why until doing the readings and watching the lectures.  As an economics major, I think that it’s a compromise between STEM and the humanities. As an economics major, I was able to take literature, philosophy, political science, and history classes rather than taking solely course requirements. This has allowed me to navigate the two cultures as a person who is interested in both sides and wants to bridge the gap between them. In the reading, the part of C.P. Snow’s Two Cultures that impacted me th...