Event 2 Blog. -- UC Berkeley Symposium -- Phoebe Nguyen

    Early in the quarter, I attended the online Berkeley Symposium on April 7th focusing on “Unruly Machines of the Cybernetic Age”. I heard from three different speakers; all of which had different perspectives on what contributions machinery, tech, and science bring to society. 

UC Berkeley. “Psychedelia and Computing: How to Bifurcate Cybernetics?” Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, & Society, 2023, https://cstms.berkeley.edu/current-events/psychedelia-and-computing-how-to-bifurcate-cybernetics/. Accessed 18 May 2023. 

    Professor of Rhetoric, David Bates, discussed how artists will always bring a human aspect that computers will never be able to bring to the table no matter how advanced tech becomes in years to come. Rather, he discusses how machines can be used as a supplement to help humans come up with more efficient and creative solutions. 

Dreyfus, Hubert L. What Computers Can’t Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason. The MIT Press, 1994. 

    Bates discusses how when a human inevitably reaches a roadblock in academia, we can turn to machines to craft new and innovative solutions brought about by science and tech. His perspective largely draws from Steven Pinker’s idea that having a degree of interrelation between the arts and science will allow humanity to maximize insight and our scope of knowledge (Seed Magazine 1:50). 

    Bates also discusses how machines can not only help us come up with creative solutions, but can also help us resolve technical issues that would otherwise take humans an inefficient amount of time. He argues that new developments in tech can lead to machines being able to reformat themselves when there is a breakage in the system before turning to a human for replacement of a certain screw/bolt. The long term goal is for machines to reflect the model of a human body in which it would be able to repair itself. Similarly, Australian artist Stelarc emphasized the idea of machines as an extension of the body opposed to a replacement in his work titled “The Third Hand” (Vesna 2:44).

Schank, Roger C. Creativity as a Mechanical Process. 7 Apr. 2023. Accessed 18 May 2023. 

    Secondly, Professor of Philosophy Pieter Simmons discussed how psychedelic experiences can bring about new dimensions of thought. His belief reflects Hofmann’s perspective of psychedelics as a tool through psychedelic therapy (Vesna 5:33). Once again, this mixture of the science behind psychedelics and the creative field of the arts/thought are prevalent. 


    Although the speakers discussed different aspects of how the machine and science can bring greater levels of creativity in this symposium, it was interesting to see how much overlap there was in their overall perspectives on the idea of interconnection between the fields of art and science and how machines can help us be more creative without replacing our creativity as a whole. 


Nguyen, Phoebe. Screenshot of Event Registration. 2023. Accessed 18 May 2023.



References

Seed Magazine. “Seedmagazine.com Two Cultures Steven Pinker.” YouTube, Seed Magazine, 18 May 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BUbVc7qVpg.  

Vesna, Victoria. “Lecture Part 4” BruinLearn, UC Online, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/160989/pages/unit-4-view?module_item_id=5946331

Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience pt3.” Youtube, UC Online, 16 May 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5EX75xoBJ0  

Images

Dreyfus, Hubert L. What Computers Can’t Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason. The MIT Press, 1994. 

Nguyen, Phoebe. Screenshot of Event Registration. 2023. Accessed 18 May 2023.

Schank, Roger C. Creativity as a Mechanical Process. 7 Apr. 2023. Accessed 18 May 2023. 

UC Berkeley. “Psychedelia and Computing: How to Bifurcate Cybernetics?” Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, & Society, 2023, https://cstms.berkeley.edu/current-events/psychedelia-and-computing-how-to-bifurcate-cybernetics/. Accessed 18 May 2023. 

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