1D | Interview

Interviewee: Amy Wen
Occupation: Medical Student
Location: Paramatta Restaurant
Time: 4pm

The interview was conducted at 4pm on a Tuesday afternoon in a quiet Paramatta restaurant. The interviewee was Amy Wen, a medical student at the University of New South Wales who is currently in her final year doing research on Crohn’s disease at Liverpool hospital.

Initially I asked her how her day was and what she got up to and she responded with her travelling to the hospital to continue with her medical research. She sounded excited so I asked her what interests her the most about studying medicine. She responded with a heartfelt ‘human relationships’ and through that, bringing value to her occupation. Therefore, I approached the interview on a social level seeing the past and present views on society as indicators on one’s perspective on the future.
Amy was born in Australia and has first generation Chinese parents. Her chosen career path was influenced by the cultural ideals shared by many Chinese parents of medicine being the ultimate occupation. She attended primary and high school with education at the focus of her childhood. In February 2016, Amy went to Beijing to visit family and has been five years prior. When asked if there were any dramatic changes in China, she stated ‘no, but primarily cultural shifts’ which included ‘increased focus on fashion, globalisation and western culture’. Beijing has also taken a turn to use renewable energy, which was noticed by Amy while she was taking a train from home to the city. Products that China has been known to produce have improved in quality. There is also an increase in the education of the English language as a conversation with Chinese youth could be held compared to five years ago when English was rarely spoken.

Currently in Sydney, Amy lives about one and a half hours away from the city and therefore, much of her views on the future were focused on improving transportation. During the discussion, I asked what kind of future she saw and she responded with hopes for a society that becomes more environmentally aware and envisions a sustainable means of energy use.

Amy lives with her parents and when asked about her sleeping habits she commented that they were standard, she has the freedom of a private bedroom in a two storey house, brushes her teeth and showers before bed. However, due to assessments and procrastination she has been sleeping from ideally a nine-hour time frame to seven hours per night. Due to the lack of sleep she has noticed shortness of concentration and lack of energy during the day. Her father suffers from severe sleep apnea for most of his adulthood and uses a cpap machine. He finds it difficult to sleep at night and therefore asks his children to sleep earlier. If he is not well rested, this affects his moods during the day and he complains during the day to Amy in which sometimes she becomes aggravated.

Through much of this interview, I realised much of an individual’s background, culture, education and environment influences their perspective on the future. It is these aspects that shape what the individual values in the future and where efforts are placed to see change in the world.

1C | Scenario Analysis: Children of Men

‘Children of Men’ (COM) is a science fiction thriller film set in the near future of London city 2027, in a world where women are infertile. The film poses a dystopian world with humans in a state of outrage, despair and fear as a result of a dying human race, but a beacon of hope arises when the protagonist finds and delivers a pregnant woman to scientists who are establishing a new society.

COM suggests a possible future scenario focusing on the fifth concept of a disowned future described in Inayatullah’s journal by speculating on the state of the world when it is denied its right to give life [Inayatullah S. 2008]. The director situates this idea in a world of wreckage, anarchy, driven by fear, emptiness and war. However, the director provides a realistic speculation of this concept by placing its narrative in a context that is real to contemporary society through its London city location and references to issues of modern society. The film presents a war zone as the everyday reality whilst raising current social concerns such as the rise of terrorism, government control, immigration issues, human anarchy and poverty [World 2016]. In doing this, the director proposes to the audience an almost plausible future scenario [Inayatullah S. 2008].

The film visualises its dystopian future through primarily relatable outfits, spaces and objects through its similarities to present society. Outfits separate characters within the plotline, with ordinary people dressed in warm and unclean clothing from jackets, knit to suits and the military wear the assumed khaki attire. However, there are also advancements in specific technology and additional objects such as advanced gaming technology and cow milking systems. Many people in war stricken countries have guns highlighting the social uncertainty of these areas. People sleep in standard rooms on beds but those in war situations sleep on mattresses on the floor.

COM has been a valuable film that has brought awareness to potential social outcomes if current issues are not resolved. Filmed nine years ago, critics are beginning to see similarities between scenarios of COM and modern society [Tribeca 2016]. Although it may not be at the same extremities, COM addresses social issues such as the terrorist, refugee and immigration crisis seen in Europe and the Middle East [Tribeca 2016]. With the film and these issues highlighted in society, many are waking up to this current state and seeking to find hope within it again.

Social

Technology

Economic

Environmental

Political

· Complete uncertainty about the future of human life where values are questioned.

· Social classes still exist but are not distinct. Many are in middle to lower class due to war situation. Absolute wealth sees people with extensive art possessions and self-admiration.

· Extreme lifestyles from people living in rural areas appear to have a ‘hippie’ lifestyle. City dwellers are slaves to their work. Unstable lifestyle for migrants.

· Key groups include the government, secret society (terrorists), religious groups, farmers/rural inhabitants and civilians

· Primary emotions are fear, sadness, anger, depressed, emotionless, distractions, isolation and confusion. Public discourse. Many uproars and protests throughout the city.

· War zones see rise in the use of weapons including guns, grenades and military tanks

· Everyday life includes box television, coffee machines, skyscrapers, telephones

· Plasma billboards surround cityscape and small plasma screens are located in coffee shops.

· Transportation includes buses, boat, motorbikes and cars

· Advanced technology seamlessly planted into various settings such as mechanised cow milking facilities in rural areas, sensorial gaming systems, hovering computer screens

· Research and development into the ‘Human Project’ scientific society to develop a new society.

· Economic uncertainty/obsolete with primary societal focus on combating fear and war

· No scenes showing the exchange of money, rather more pre-historic forms of trade systems put into place

· Many of the industries in war zone countries are unoccupied such as the hotel or been extensively occupied for safety shelters

· High air pollution due to rubbles from destroyed buildings

· Waste dispersed throughout the city. No thriving vegetation, plantation only in the rural areas.

· War zone environment with people dispersed within and between countries

· Governmental authority exists but focus is on enemy elimination (terrorists) rather than country establishment or growth. Potential for government uncertainty and therefore instability and shifts.

· Security and protection lost by the government. People immigrating to the country literally locked in cages.

· Society is on their own, with some individuals isolating themselves from the public.

Text References

Children of Men 2006, motion picture, Universal Pictures, United States

Tribeca 2016, Are we living in the dawning of Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men?, weblog, viewed October 5 2016, <https://tribecafilm.com/stories/children-of-men-movie-alfonso-cuaron-immigration-issues>

World 2016, Revisiting eerily prophetically Children of Men, weblog, viewed October 5 2016, < https://world.wng.org/2016/07/revisiting_the_eerily_prophetic_children_of_men>

Inayatullah, S. 2008, Six Pillars: Futures thinking for transforming, Emerald Insight, New York

1B | Technology and Data – A Definition

When we discuss technology in contemporary society, we tend to associate its definition with complex and automatic products such as computers or phones. However, technology has a broader functional definition that describes an application of knowledge to achieve a purpose [Ihde 1993]. Technology is a found or modified tool that has experienced a period of critique, investigation and reflection before it has become an established tool within society. These periods encompass the observation of daily practices to ultimately uncover suitable methods to improve or aid in activities. The outcome of this technology is influenced by its nature, cultural context and the accustomed standards of product use within a certain context [Ihde 1993].

The nature of technology highlights the function and purpose of the object or system and considers whether humans use the newfound technology for good or bad [Ihde 1993]. These intentions can be influenced by the traditions and values in certain cultures. The Chinese invented papermaking using silk and hemp fiber as a lightweight material in contrast to the existing bones, tortoise shells and bamboo strips as writing surfaces [Travel China Guide 2016]. However, invention of paper is an objective form and what is written on this paper and for what purpose determines the nature of its use. Paper can be used to write letters to revive relationships or posted on a public arena as propaganda. It is the meaning we place on the technology that determines its function whether good or bad.

In contemporary society, products for human use have been designed by set standards. These standards are called ergonomics that evaluate the human form to improve the design of the way things are used and work [American Psychological association 2016]. Ergonomics are used to improve the quality of human use with office equipment, technology for disability, educational material, consumer products and medical devices. These standards vary between cultures such as in Europe, ergonomic standards were invented to improve work physiology and productivity whilst in the US these standards were implemented to improve the performance and safety of military systems [American Psychological association 2016].

Data is individual pieces of information collected for the purpose of analysis and in a digital form, allows for convenient transfer and process of information [Search Data Management 2016]. The information can be stored in any character and stored on a hard drive or other storage device. Once data is analysed, the information can provide knowledge on a specific subject. However, without context data has no meaning to either human or computer.

An example of data use is seen in the recent product invented by Ken Kawamoto, the Tempescope. It is a product that visualises various weather conditions using data from wireless internet [My Modern Met 2016]. Once the computer receives the data, the product transforms the data into physical weather conditions, providing immediate access to meteorological information before leaving home.

Technology is an objective tangible or intangible article in which its form is influenced by human understanding of use. It only has meaning or function when humans place value on it determined by daily circumstances and/or culture.

tempescope1 tempescope2

References

Ihde, D. 1993, Philosophy of Technology: An Introduction, Paragon House, New York

My Modern Met 2016, Incredible Compact Device Simulates Changing Weather Forecast in Real Time, viewed 1 October 2016, <http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/ken-kawamoto-tempescope>

Search Data Management 2016, data, viewed 1 October, <http://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/definition/data>

http://issues.org/23-3/wolff/,
http://www.cio.com/article/2862014/big-data/5-big-data-technology-predictions-for-2015.html?page=2

American Psychological association 2016, Ergonomics: The science of better living and working, viewed October 1, <http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/workforce/ergonomics.aspx>

Travel China Guide 2016, Four Great Inventions of Ancient China, viewed October 1, <https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/focus/inventions.htm>

Re-public of Air

Natalie Jeremijenko

‘The environmental commons belong to all of us. This ownership invites us to re-imagine our collective relationship to natural systems; to re-design and improve our shared environmental health. This is the grand challenge of the twenty-first century.’

Museums are places that attempt to exclude the natural environment. They are an example of the desire to control and therefore neglect important role museums play within the ecology of the city. Natalie’s projects PhenologicalxClock and FarmacyxAgbags attempt to re-build the connection between nature and culture.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/designandpubliclife/projects/natalie-jeremijenko/

1A | The Sleeping Habit

Throughout history, established sleeping environments did not exist until human requirements such as growing crops became necessary. Even then, the importance of sleep was not always acknowledged as certain civilisations like the Egyptians and the Romans devoted very little space to rest [Van Winkles 2016]. However, there was a period when humans prioritised sleep through segmented sleeping patterns, with people sleeping for two hours, waking up and then continuing their second sleep [BBC 2016]. Though during the industrial revolution, people saw the importance of time, which resulted in eliminating the need to sleep in segments and introducing the seven to eight hour sleeping pattern [BBC 2016]. As seen through time, factors such as human advancement and culture are key factors that determine the importance we place on sleep.

In contemporary society, technological advancement and the culture of efficiency and productivity remains a priority. As a result, shifts in sleeping patterns and environments are seen in certain cultures, especially in China. In recent years, China has experienced a booming economic growth that has seen new job opportunities throughout the country such as technological innovation. The result of increased opportunities has seen the need for workers to stay up late to finish tasks, making it a city that never sleeps [Huffington Post 2016]. In the article, ‘Tech Workers who have to sleep at the office’, we begin to see a shift in the places we sleep as a result of long hours in the office. Some companies are beginning to install bunk beds and couches to accommodate midday naps and even provide sleeping areas and beds for workers to rest during late nights [Huffington Post 2016]. Another growing trend in China is sleeping in public spaces as revealed by Eric Leleu’s photographic collection titled ‘Day Dreamers’ [Slate 2016]. In his travels, he noticed that it was a common practice for people to wake up early and nap during the day “It’s just a different perception of body rhythm. People go for a break when we go for a caffeine boost in the Western world.” [Slate 2016] Through Leleu’s work, the activity of private sleep is revealed as an almost desperate communal public need.

As a result, many artists are beginning to highlight the importance of sleep by exploring the effects of limited sleep on the human condition and how far we can push these boundaries before we are unable to function. One example of these artists is Tehching Hseih, who explored time through his work ‘Time Clock’ where he did not sleep for twelve months. Through the art experiment, Hseih realised the lack of sleep presented both physiological and psychological challenges, commenting “It was like being in limbo, just waiting for the next punch.” Therefore highlighting the importance of sleep to a functioning human. [The Guardian 2016]

In all, much of the factors that contribute to the habits of sleep that we see in society have developed from human advancement as we accustom to these changing normalities much of our sleep culture is dictated. Will we ever priorities sleep over our physical doing in the environment?

day_dreamers-jpg-crop-promovar-mediumlarge