Final Presentation - Villanova University

Zukunftsmusik by Stephen Kane and David Kaplowitz Group #3

Stephen Kane My goal is to take certain well-known musicians’ songs/albums and relate them to the technological atmosphere. Each picture is kind of a cover for a “single”. For example, Rolling Stone’s song “Start Me Up” and rework it to “Boot Me Up” displaying a picture of the band booting up from an electrical output source. • Stephen Kane Pictorial Essay • Group 3 Pictorial Essay

Stephen Kane

Image 1 •

The year is 2042 and the Rolling Stones just recorded their latest groundbreaking record. The hit song off their latest album is entitled, "Boot Me Up", an universally catchy rock anthem about being reliant on personal computers. The single will be available in stores at the end of the month, released globally. The cover of the single, featured above, shows the band performing live with each of their personal computers aiding them on stage. The performance was graced with rave reviews.

Image 2 •

Bruce is back with another track dedicated to the lives of the American workforce. In a day and age where producing goods is vital for a community's livelihood and technology is becoming more efficient, comes a song to reflect and respect the current state as well as the historical formation. Bruce Springsteen's song "Manufactured In The USA" shines a light on the production business's techniques and provisions that form us as a society today. The cover art for the track is depicted above, with the setting of Bruce Springsteen performing in front of a factory's assembly line.

Image 3 •

In a recently discovered archive of home demo tapes comes another socially charged song by John Lennon. Surprisingly written way before it's time, the song is a light hearted reflection on the piracy aspects, convenience, and overall accessibility of the new future of listening to music from the computer. The objective of the song is to embrace formats such as mp3 as an effective method to sharing and appreciating music. John Lennon's, "I'm Only Downloading" also serves as an insightful ballad dedicated to the modern musician using technology in of writing music. The cover of the song finds Lennon writing on the piano, while uploading recently recorded music to a file sharing site via laptop. Until recently Lennon's knowledge of recording and writing music using personal computers was unknown to the public.

Sources • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Title Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/BruceBorn1984.JPG Image 1: http://www.goldminemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/RollingStones641.jpg http://www.swag-inc.com/shop/devo/devo-energy-dome-red.html http://nyconvergence.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/r2d2_robot.jpg Image 2: http://media.cleveland.com/business_impact/photo/assembly-line-697f975601a24560.jpg http://media.salon.com/2012/11/bruce_springsteen_rect-460x307.jpg Image 3: http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/images/2007/12/11/lennon_imagine_416x300.jpg http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a06/jq/gs/connect-laptop-hd-tv-800x800.jpg http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a06/jq/gs/connect-laptop-hd-tv-800x800.jpg

Das Unheimliche A Stroll Through Uncanny Valley by David Kaplowitz

Definition The uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of robotics and 3D computer animation, which holds that when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The uncanny (Ger. Das Unheimliche - "the opposite of what is familiar") is a Freudian concept of an instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange or uncomfortably familiar.

Repliee Q2, an uncannily lifelike robot, developed by roboticists at Osaka University.

Repliee Q2's progenitor, Repliee Q1-expo, an actroid, at Expo 2005 in Aichi

Some theories about what causes this revulsion or aversion: • Mate selection, avoidance of selecting mates with low fertility, poor hormonal health, or ineffective immune systems based on physiognomy. • Fear of death, consciously or subconsciously, fearing reduction, replacement, or annihilation by soulless, automatons • Pathogen avoidance, defects indicate disease. • Violation of human norms • Religious definition of human identity • Conflicting perceptual cues

Who worries about this stuff? It's a problem that faces people who make video games, animated/CG-driven films, toymakers, and the makers of robots and cybernetic organisms. For commercial acceptance and popularity, many characters either need to look more fake, cartoon-y, or more real -- thus they need to get beyond the limits of uncanny valley.

So to have fun with this interesting subject, wouldn't it be interesting if well-known celebrities or musical icons were themselves cyborgs or robots in disguise? Some might be better at hiding their true natures than others.

Many attempts to fit in and just act like normal will be made… All will happen with varying degrees of success.

But someday the gap will be bridged and these cyborgs may successfully assimilate to a level of acceptance, or outright assimilation...

Thank you for listening!

Citations: • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Unheimlich e • http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/10/uncannyvalley-will-always-be-a-problem-says-squaretech-boss/