Visual Technology Changes Us
Saturday,
9:15 to 10:45
Sheraton Hall C, Lower Concourse
Sorin Nastasia, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Employing New Technologies for
Improving Visual and Cultural Literacy
Kevin Moloney, Ball State University
Digital Disruption and
Democratization in Visual Communication
Martin Smith-Rodden, Ball State University
New Possibilities in Engagement of
Empathy
Paul Martin Lester, University of Texas at Dallas
The title of my bit comes from Ridley
Scott’s 1982 Blade Runner.
Rutger Hauer plays a murderous replicant
and gives a brilliant poetic end-of-life performance. After recounting
significant events that his character, Roy Batty witnessed, it/he states,
“All these moments with be lost in
time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”
It has been called “the most moving death soliloquy in
cinematic history.”
Rutger Hauer died last month. Tears in rain.
Roy Batty is the ultimate Artificial
Intelligence being—an organic-based machine that is self-aware. But not the
first—my favorite: Jack Haley’s “Tin Man.”
Is the future of visual technology AI?
Imagine, if you will, a scenario in which you
walk through the crowded streets of
London and tell your eyeglass or implanted camera to take pictures in the style
of Henri Cartier-Bresson or Ross Taylor. Anyone concerned?
History of Visual Communication is a History of Technology
What is technology? Learning to use a
planet’s resources.
And how has visual technology
utilized resources?
The Story of Visual Technology is Long and Relentless
Beetle Patterns on Wood: 150 million
years ago.
Ochre Stone Carvings: 80,000 years
ago.
Cave Walls: 40,000.
Clay Tablets: 5,000.
Papyrus Scrolls: 4,000.
Camera Obscura: 2,500 years ago.
Paper Substrates: 2,000.
Wood/Clay/Metal Type: 1,800 years ago.
Moveable Type: 600.
Etching: 220.
Metal/Paper Images: 180.
Film: 130.
Television: 100.
Computers: 80 years ago.
Electronic Camera: 45 years ago.
Consumer AR 10 years ago
Consumer VR: 5 years ago.
Consumer AI: 4 years ago.
My Theory of the Birth of Awarians
Early humans noticed and were
inspired by
beetle patterns left in tree trunks
behind the bark.
Interestingly, there
are estimated to be 33 million species of beetles on Earth which is 40% of all
insects and 25% of all known life forms. Noah was busy. There are eight mentions of beetles in the Bible. This is
my favorite: Exodus 8:20, Jehovah said to Moses, “I
am sending against thee, and against thy servants, and against thy people, and
against thy houses, the beetle, and the houses of the Egyptians have been full
of the beetle, and also the ground on which they are.” When biologist John Haldane was
asked about god’s preference
among his creations, he answered that the metaphorical being had “An inordinate
fondness for beetles.” Use the keywords “Beetle Wood Markings” in Google.
Visual Technology’s Circle Dance
So, beetle spruce led our ancestors to
rock and cave drawings and paintings and We
Got Woke and awarians were led to symbolic images: pictograms, ideograms,
and logograms and
Led us to writing systems and the
alphabet and
Led us to narrative stories on
pottery, papyrus, paper, tapestries, and books and
Led us to interchangeable letterforms
in clay and metal and
Led us to lithography, illustrations,
photography, and the halftone and
Led us to art movements and
Led us to motion pictures and
Led us to television and
Led us to computers and
Led us to smartphones and
Led us to VR, and AR and
Led us to AI and
Led us back to the beetles.
What is the Price of Technology?
Forgetfulness
(Reduction of Generational and Inherent knowledge).
Isolation (Foods
and goods delivery, Online classes, Texting, VR/AR/MR,
Pay
channels, Gated communities, Class superiority, Intrenched opinions,
and
Apathy).
Threats
(Lawlessness, Climate catastrophes, Natural disasters, WWIII radiation,
and
Fascist roundups).
In the end, some of the only animals
that will survive after humans are gone will be beetles (probably within the
forests outside Puebla, Mexico). They will tell their stories, as always, under
the bark of fallen trees. Will future awarians rediscover their drawings and
start the cycle again?
For now, as educators, we must go
beyond the obvious—the technical considerations of a medium. There are huge
societal issues—climate change, renewable energy, immigration, gun control,
abortion rights, death penalty, crumbling infrastructure, pay inequities, unequal
educational opportunities, prison reform, drug abuse, poverty, health care, the
end of newspapers, and misogyny, sexual assault, bullying, political and
economic corruption, racism, fascism, Trump and his minions.
Students need to use technologies to explain
at their local level these and other issues. However, the stories should be driven,
not by the latest tool or technique, but by curiosity, critical thinking,
passion, spontaneity, inspiration, tenacity, and perhaps most of all, empathy.
Teach students to observe, to record,
to share, to care.
or
All these moments with be lost in
time, like tears in rain.
Time to live.