5th of November I graduated for my MSc Computational Intelligence and Robotics course together with Chaekith and Jonathan. On the photo you see me in my graduaton dress with Chaekith next to me. The ceremony was a nice experience.

Although my father is not in very good health he still decided to join us for some days to England so that we could be present there altogether. We did not stay in Leicester itself but at a farmer’s B&B. A good choice, nice rooms, and an excellent typical English breakfast of choice (see the photos that come soon) with sausages, eggs, fresh fruit, bacon and baked beans.

Besides the graduation ceremony we visited Stratford upon Avon, Cambridge and we had a glimpse of Ipswitch. The graduation itself was in De Montfort hall. A nice sight with all the people dressed up. And now I am graduated its time to get employed. I already had some job interviews and visit companies now and then.

Weet je wat pas echt handig is? Juist ja, een wasmachine op je WC. Dat is precies wat Sevin Coskun in Turkije heeft bedacht, wel ja eens een keer niet de japanners voor de verandering. Niet alleen bespaard het je ruimte in de badkamer, het is bovendien milieuvriendelijk doordat het waswater wordt herbruikte voor het doorspoelen van het toilet. Bovendien is het makkelijker inladen daar je niet hoeft te bukken om bij de klep te komen, wel moet je je was natuurlijk niet in de toiletpot laten vallen, alhoewel, daar zit natuurlijk ook waswater in.

Coskun dingt met dit concept mee voor de duurzaamheidsprijs ‘Greener Gadgets Design Competition 2008′. Of hij zal winnen, ik denk het niet. Schone was met een toch doorgaans smerig toilet, dat gaat volgens mij niet samen. Je kunt natuurlijk je wasmachine ook gewoon een verdieping hoger plaatsen en hetzelfde concept implementeren bij je in huis. Volgens mij gebeurt iets dergelijks ook bij sommige gebouwen.

Behalve washUP zijn er meer slimme gadgets die meedingen naar de prijs. Zo is er de stekkerdoos met een pedaal om je stekker te ontkoppelen, de zichzelf opladende mp3 speler, een intelligente douchekop (die je waterverbruik aangeeft) of de koelkast die met de restwarmte je eten ook kan opwarmen. Voor deze en overige gadgets kun je kijken op de core77 website.

Since it is hard to find a good name for a daitng site that has not been taken I registered the following domains which were still free. Unfortunately some people have no clue what AI is about (well it is Artiificial Intelligence), which I used in the names www.aidating.nl and www.aidating.co.uk, as an alternative I also registered datingatmosphere.com. If anyone knows an original name thatis not taken, please let me know.

After a long time I tried my luck on a coin shifting machine, something I last did when I was young at the carnival in my village. Luckily it took just small coins and I therefore spended just a small fee of a few pounds on it altogether. The weather was beautiful als you can see on the picture, where Chaekith is wading through the sea.

Also near the coast there was an enourmous crowd of mini cars. The modern ones but even more classical ones and many of them were adjusted by there owners. There was even a limousine version built by someone. These cars are quite cute, and who else drives one as Mini Mouse himself. A really nice trip, though quite a long journey from Leicester, however that gave me some time to study my exam in the coach.

The photos of the Brighton trip can be seen on the web site: Gallery for Brighton Pier.

Robotics have come a long way, but they still often miss that innate, nervous sense of reluctant touch. Intel researchers have achieved something similar with a robotic hand that uses electrolocation to create a robotic hand conform to the shape of an object before interacting with it. Shown at Research@Intel Day, the hand uses fish-like electrolocation to bounce electric fields off of objects and then conform the hand to that shape in real time. They call the dynamic “Pre Touch,” and it could prove useful for configuring robotics before they interact with objects without, say, damaging them or missing the interface completely. We’ve been aware of the technology for some time, but as you can see in the video after the break, Intel finally has something to show, and the results are what can only be described as a strangely nervous robotic hand.

(source: engadget)

1. First off, everything’s done from scratch, by hand. The plastics, circuitry, robotics, creatures, all of it. From clay to mould, to casting. No large or expensive machines, just blood and sweat. Check the How-to page if you’re curious.

2. Secondly I’m not against bioengineering, I’m simply hesitant towards where and how and by whom the technology will be used. That’s what this art sums up. Read on if you’re curious.
I don’t ever want to be confused for as a crazy activist, nor do I want to appear as endorsing this technology. Bioengineering could lead to medical breakthroughs that save lives, but will it? This is more a critique of corporate ethics than of technological ethics.

What are Genpets? I don’t know. You tell me.

Genpets seems to create a reaction wherever they go. While in the store window of Iodine Toronto, the shop owner began sleeping in the store at night for security reasons.
Many nights, people would bang at the windows furiously. Some in protest of the small Bio-genetically engineered creatures trapped in plastic, some wanting to wake them up or buy them. Hordes of teens wanting a bioengineered pet met confused, baffled, or even shocked looks from parents.
Some Parents even caught on to see where things were leading. That while something like this bothered them, it did not bother their children. For an upcoming generation, through our own marketing techniques, life has become a disposable commodity.
It’s easier to dismiss Genpets as a hoax or exaggeration when you’re not faced with a wall of them. The experience of a grainy photo is different than standing face to face with a breathing, sleeping creature.
The question surrounding bioengineering is not in it’s positive or negative ramifications, or where it can take us; it is whether or not we are ready to go there.

Artist Statement (V1.3)

“In 1985, the US Patents and trademarks Office (PTO) affirmed the legal precedent, ruling that genetically engineered plants, seeds and plant tissue could all be patented”1. Today, agricultural crops are being modified and organisms with built-in obsolescence are being sold as commodities. Life itself is quickly becoming a processed commodity in the privatization of nature. Biological engineering by large companies, outside of nature has become a terrifying reality for my generation to contend with.

Today, we are well within the process of desensitizing an upcoming generation towards accepting bioengineering as “natural”. I see this generation slowly and systematically being desensitized towards owning and manipulating life through toys such as Tamagotchis, and Furbies. Toys that mimic living creatures but carry no weight of responsibility with them. Individually these objects are harmless, however when analysing the trends in consumption on a larger scale, we can see that with every new toy the envelope is pushed a little further. Bioengineered pets could not have been acceptable yesterday, but they are today. Boundaries have been eroded.

I fear that this is leading us onto a dangerous path of objectifying living matter even more than we do so today and Genpets is my interpretation of how such a relationship would look. We have artificially separated ourselves from nature and refer to the organic as ‘product’.

Any new technology can bring with it both positive and negative ramifications. However we must ask questions every step of the way. I see how we treat the life already surrounding us that we have no moral claim over and I fear for any life brought into the world through the act of genetic manipulation; Life that would inherently have patented DNA. It would not be far fetched to assume that any such creation would have no rights of its own and be subject to whatever treatment deemed necessary upon it. Whether by testing, or packaging, this life would be a commodity of less value than any we have today. Genpets is meant to ask questions about a great deal of issues by providing a tangible example of a possible future.

*1 (Science, Seeds and Cyborgs, pg93)

[source: http://brandejs.deviantart.com/]

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