lunes, 25 de noviembre de 2013

#edcmooc WEEK 3 VIDEOS

It is amazing when I watch a new video, the way I feel: I have nothing to say about it... It takes time, a while, and then I start writing and lots of ideas come to my mind. Maybe it is not the way it should be, who knows, maybe I do not have an important background to give my opinon about a specific topic, but I finally do. And I feel great as I can do it and because I have things to say.

TOYOTA GT86

In my opinion, this advertisement shows the desire of men to escape from a world dominated by technology, where we, sometimes, see ourselves without our own identity, but being part of a technological world, depicted in the video when the man is living in a virtual world. In this sense, we feel the necessity to find our place in this kind of world. I don´t think this videos depicts a desire to escape from that society surrounded by technology and a break out to nature, but a break out to human nature, feeling real emotions and being humans. What we see at the end of the video is a real field but there is still a road which divides it into two, and the man is still driving a brand new car, so, what I think this video shows is that we can still use technology to live and still feel humans.

On the other hand, and as I see it, technology is made by humans, designed by humans and it is supposed to serve humans, as a tool to live more comfortably but nowadays, technology seems to have a great importance and our world is completely immerse in technology.
Regarding to technology-mediated education, I think that the controversial point rises from the discussion of those who think that we would lose our human essence if we even have to learn with the help of technological advances, as opposed to the traditional ways of teaching. What we used to teach in the past years were pens, books, notebooks, etc. and we still do it that way but we are involved in a world in which if you are not part of a technological world you are left behind, as you are not being modern enough and soon your resources will be obsolete. I think there are advantages and disadvantages when using technology for teaching but the core of the problem is that even books, notebooks, pens and pencils were human´s inventions and we have used them since they were invented. Now, there is a cultural shock in which most people are not ready to understand that things are changing and that we should adapt to that new situation. It happens in every period of modernization and I think it is completely comprehensible that people need time for that transition.



To finish, I would like to highlight that technology in any sense in our society is not something else but consumption. So, we are told to use it, to buy it and have a real need because is what we are expected to do to keep on buying and consuming in this capitalistic system. And I think that the video shows how the publicists want people to think that even if having a brand new car, we are still living in a world of nature and human environment but also make us think that we need high-tech products to be involved in the present society.



BT: HEART TO HEART ADVERT

In this advert, all the conversations maintained are through technologies: whatsapp, facebook and mobile phones. It sounds real for us, as if they were talking face to face and taking place in the same room. I think we got used to it and it is mainly the way we communicate.

The message is: talk on the phone as if you were talking to that person yourself, face-to- face. But they are not. Obviously the conversations are real but as most of us know, there are lots of aspects involved in communication that are lost when using a mobile phone or when we use social networks, for example the intention of our words, intonation and the sound of our voices, which can be really meaningful in some situations as they show the emotional state of a person at some points. That is why emoticons are used as part of the texts we send.

I think that we accepted using those means to communicate as part of our daily life, we changed our views on communications, but we still have face-to-face conversations so we still do it the way we have always done it.


I think that sometimes, we do not have the opportunity to talk to the person we want face to face and then we use the tools we have at the reach of our hands to make it possible. In the recent years, communication has been one of the most important features depicted in technology advertisements: mobile phones, web pages to find partners, computers, applications, pc programs such as skype, messenger… and then, we still have a way to communicate without using all these means but we have been sold the idea that the more you communicate, the more you are loved, cared and important for others. That makes us feel better and needed. So I think that lots of important values of humans are involved in this issue. 



WORLD BUILDER

On the one hand, I think the message of the film is that if you can feel emotions, then they are true, even if the input or what it makes you feel does not exist, in this case it is a virtual input.  

And on the other hand, this video wants to transmit how powerful we can become when using technology. We can even create a new world, we become creators and inventors, real builders of virtual realities, as the one in the film.

How is human depicted in this video? In my opinion, the human is depicted as an almighty being capable of creating and building life, in this case a tree and a flower, and he can do it with only a touch of his hand and using technology. He can select, change, build as a real creator. I think there is a comparison to what a god can do: he can create a world the way he wants out of nowhere.

But humans are also depicted as weak, our nature makes us weak as we pass away, become ill and can be quite vulnerable, portrayed by the woman who is in hospital. And technology cannot help with that, and the almighty human can barely do anything about it, just simulate that he can do it. Then, there is a dualism in what a human is in this video: everything and nothing at the same time. The means a person can have to play god is technology and science. In my view I think it has been one of the most desirable goals for a human being.


THEY`RE MADE OUT OF MEAT

"Omigod"!!! I really enjoyed this one! This is just fantastic! 

I think it is the first time I see how a non human being (even if it is fictional) talk about humans the same way we talk about animals.

What make us humans? We are just flesh... are we? Well, I think we are in a sense, of course. There are so many discussions about what will happen when we die, for example, and I say: we just die, our flesh will disappear and that is all. But we have got a brain, a brain which is so powerful that we can create defense mechanisms and say that we will go to a heaven where everything is just perfect and we will live in an immaterial way forever. We have a got a brain and we can think, invent, create, talk, communicate... But yes, it is also flesh, we are "thinking meat".

I think this story wants to highlight how basic we are. In the same line as the previous video, humans are depicted as weak and inferior compared to technology itself, even if technology is an invention by human brains.

And again, what makes us humans are emotions: "Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat (...)". We are just meat but we can think, we are concious and we can feel love, hate, passion, sadness... Our brain works as the technological device used in the "world builder" video, creating a common reality throught thoughts and feelings. 

I think that as humans cannot explain what we are, why we are the way we are, how things started and why, we just have to state something, a beginning, an idea which makes us feel humans, not just flesh, but something else, something which makes sense in our reality and identity. We think: there must be something else, we are not just meat... And then, the search for identity starts. There are religions giving acceptable explanations for those who cannot accept we are just meat. Some thinkers said that is art what made humans being humans, others say that nothing but us can think. In the video, technology is portrayed as the "one" which thinks, as the aliens wonder: how can meat think? Well, we do. Science explains the way a human brain works, and we were able to know that thanks to the improvements in science.  The same way we can also know more about ourselves, our nature and our world thanks to technology.

Let me say something else. I have read one of my partner´s opinion of this video I would like to share: http://pursuingmoocs.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/hey-lets-meat-up-edcmooc/ . Rajiv Bajaj is surprised by the way the extraterrestrial sees humanity because the alien chooses a ridiculous outfit to be unnoticed by humans. And I have just remembered one of my favourite speeches ever in a film. I shared the link where you can read the speech. The film is "Kill Bill Vol. 2" by Tarantino and it has the same core idea as Rajiv´s note.


I am sorry, people, but I had to do some research and share the original story. I think the writer deserves some recognition: http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html


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