When I say you say

While watching Dennett’s TED talk on consciousness, Pinker’s on the myth of violence, and Helen Fisher’s love+hate, I discovered that illusions occur due to a lack of perception of reality, but illusions are part of our consciousness. Having said that, the world is a very ambiguous place were the brain tries to reconstruct reality through limited sensory input.  if our consciousness is composed of an estimated guess of reality, could reality itself be an illusion?

Understanding and the full picture.

The better understanding of human consciousness through evolution and technology is causing certain human traits to change. I’m defining violence as a part of our reality and with its understanding, real violence is becoming less necessary to people’s consciousness. Over an extended period of time, I believe humans are changing how violence is expressed and experienced through new and interactive media.

I don’t know how long violence has been part of reality, but it has defined human history. We definitely don’t burn witches or feed humans to lions as a spectacle or in order to please a regime any more. Treating people as sub-human has also been diminishing thanks to civil rights. Violence has been detrimental to humankind’s prosperity through time, yet I feel that it is a human need.

Are we less violent than our ancestors? According to Pinker, yes we are less violent, and we are living in the most peaceful time in human history. Can we say we are less violent? Real acts of violence are in decline, and I think this is due because violence is transferring into a digital world were a user satisfies the need vicariously. We now experience acts of violence through broadcast and interactive media on a screen.  Through violent movies and video games, violence comes to our reality distorted, an illusion that we think it’s real.

Punishments, gore, and deaths.

Public displays of violence due to punishment and entertainment has declined immensely. Human sacrifices were the first ones to go, for this I am glad. Imagine a football game ending with the losing team is killed. This Mesoamerican Game and Child-sacrifices were popular and part of society when their particular societies thrived. Pinker talks about this bizarre for of  17th century French entertainment as cats were burned alive for laughs.

Real violence is in decline.

Pinker points at how violent we were in the past and how gore in the public eye was something accepted within a society. Today we don’t witness gruesome acts of violence unless they are on television or video games.

I feel that violent video games and movies satisfy a certain thirst for violence. From Street Fighter to Man Haunt violence is present in different degrees as well as it is present in most movies in existence. In the public setting, arcade/restaurant/bar establishments where the majority of arcade games have some sort of weapon attached to it makes me believe that we are still violent. It’s harmless, yet it is present, and I wonder why? Some people like to shot and kill things I suppose.

Has the actual need of violence changed it’s source? Are we fulfilling our need of violence by watching violent movies and playing video games? The emulation of violence on a screen gives us the best resolution of violent acts that we can experience. Is our mind being tricked into believe that this violence is real thus satisfying this need? Will violence disappear from the real world? If the world is becoming a larger community where sustainability has to be achieved, then violence shouldn’t exist.

This can answers Pinker’s question of “what are we doing right to help the decline of violence?” Is violence being transferred into another realm were it is less harmful to society? I believe by experiencing the illusion of violence on a screen, human beings can understand why we are violent without harming other fellow humans.

I managed to control a canvas object’s color, y-position, and width via blue-tooth. I used Qik to document my results. I used 2 photocells and an FSR to change the square, just to demonstrate how Shawns’ applet works with blue-tooth. I believe i want to expand this and substitute the FSR with electrodes and be able to control the internet with my brain waves.

Here is the link to the website.

Here is the documentation for the JavaScript serial applet. Feel free to use firebug to look at the java script functions that connect arduino to js.

Now we are sending data to an N95 via blutooth. I was able to use Dan’s code to just simply get the sensor values to have a complete mobile set up. Having said that, I need to use this set up to be able to detect ambient meta and juxtapose (light, temperature, noise) with my brain frequency (electrodes).

This experiment is aimed to complement my midterm “sleepData” (collaboration with Moostafa). I want to be able to collect ambient meta of your sleeping environment.

The video below shows sensor value being transmitted into the n95 sd card with a mobile processing sketch.

Bluetooth data to n95 from diego rioja on Vimeo.

I’m also curious to use this and collect data from consciousness, to see how distracted I am by noise, lighting conditions, and temperature. Hopefully this experiment can help me understand my own sensors and how can they affect my concentration. The use of an accelerometer  to tell which way I’m looking at is being though.

The blueSmirf is a bluetooth component which can transmit serial data to a bluetooth enabled device. I used my computer to test this out before going into a mobile device.

I’m also using a 9v with a 5v regulator to make this circuit completely wireless (the regulator was incorporated after i burnt my accelerometer).

Dan worked with me and fixed the transmission problem i was having. Lesson learned: check baud rate of transmission. The blueSmirf gold has a default baud rate of 115200. The quick fix was to change this on the arduino side. If you want to always connect to the smirf with the standard 9600 then you’ll have to program the smirf through Zterm using $$$ to start the CMD line. Make sure you reset the smirf to get results. Here is a list of commands to change this setting. Check page 4.2 Change commands. ex. U, 9600, E (sets baud rate to 9600, parity to even).

Realization: I’ve figured to ditch the accelerometer wearable idea to a set of sensors that can measure consciousness while you sleep. Having a photocell, a microphone, thermal sensor, and egg connected to the Arduino can give me a better sense of the effects of your surroundings on brain waves.

Questions: How much light and noise is needed to wake me up or alter sleep? Could there be a correlation between your sleeping environment and your dreams?

Eclipse: Setting it up is quite difficult. Specially to read serial data.

• Project properties: bring in processing’s core + serial library jars (serial and RXTXcomm jars)
• RXTXcomm jar connects to librxtxSerial.jnilib which is a file you have reference.
• librxtxSerial.jnilib needs to be referenced from RXTX’s properties native library.
• Remember to update your FTDI drivers

I placed an accelerometer on my chest, using duck-tape to secure the breadboard, on Sunday night (oct, 4) and logged some of my movements.

Something must have happened in the morning that made me turn. Maybe the sun was trying to wake me up. Dangerous self defense mechanism.

I was curious to see how I slept. This basic data visualization gave me good ideas.

Next steps will be to send data to computer via blutooth with electrodes + accelerometer. Wiring electrodes to my brain to see the frequency of sleep with the acclrmtr combo could give me a better sense of see sleeping positions give better frequencies.

Jill Haefele and I worked on the ITP.LIST SUPER TRIVIA CHALLENGE. This was a live radio broadcast  via the internet about ITP’s List Serve for Shawn Van Every’s live web. For this particular project, we were asked to do a presentation and tell a story through the medium of the week. We both were inspired by NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.”

Software: Nicecast, Soundflower, Hijack, and Skype were used. Nicecast is a great broadcasting tool that lets you select any input source from the computer’s hardware or application.

Harware: Snowball Mic, headphones, and MacPro.

CLICK TO SEE THE PAGE

Interaction: Participants are able to log into the Show’s page with their name and cellphone number. Once logged in, the participants were able to chat among themselves and answer first round questions. The challenge involved a series of multiple choice questions about ITP’s email list serve. The questions were aimed to test participant knowledge about the list’s most popular threads and characters. To participate in the next round, we selected the first person with the right answer from the previous round. The second and final round was composed of three questions which would test the participant’s knowledge a bit more.

The bunnies were part of the list at some point, and they represent the reproductive nature of the list.

Big thanks to Mike Kelberman for being part of our show.

RestOfYou_hw_2 from diego rioja on Vimeo.

The second assignment for Rest of you involves multiple analog sensors. I used an ADXL-335 accelerometer (X and Y axis) to get two different analog values, piezo vibration sensor, electrodes, and an FSR.
The purpose of this assignment is to be able to measure values from within and from the outside. Inward pointed sensors were the electrodes that measure the brain’s electric output and the piezo. The accelerometer and FSR were to measure surroundings. For the purpose of this homework, I documented the accelerometer and FSR. The other sensors didn’t give me a good set of values.
The idea was to measure the way you sleep with an accelerometer, piezo and multiple FSRs. Accelerometer’s axis would measure the way your body was positioned, and the piezo would measure your snoring or “sleep talk.” The FSRs would detect your body pressure on the mattress. I ended up using a simple set up to show sensor value with the accelerometer and one DIY FSR.
The processing sketch saves the values to a file. For a next step, I would like processing to connect and insert values to mySQL database on a server.

While I did this lab, I thought to measure the cardinal direction I usually face. Right now I’m facing west. This is something that i’m always completely unaware of

processing code:
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;

import processing.serial.Serial;

Serial port; // The serial port
int xpos;
int expectedNumberOfSensors = 4;

FileOutputStream file;

void setup() {
size(800, 800); // Stage size
noStroke(); // No border on the next thing drawn
// Print a list of the serial ports, for debugging purposes to find out what your ports are called:
println(Serial.list());
port = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[0], 9600); //you can pull the name out of the list
// port = new Serial(this, “/dev/tty.usbserial-A300119a”, 9600); // or you can just specify it
//port.write(65); // Send a capital A in case the micro-controller is waiting to hear from you

try {
file = new FileOutputStream(“logi.txt”, true);//true means append to the file
}
catch (FileNotFoundException loui) {
loui.printStackTrace();
}

background(0);
}

void draw() {

}

public void serialEvent(Serial port) {
String input = port.readStringUntil(10); // make sure you return (Ascii 13) at the end of your transmission
if (input != null) {
println(“Raw Input: ” + input);
long now = System.currentTimeMillis();
String thisReading = now + “,” + input; //prepend a timestamp to the reading
try {
file.write(thisReading.getBytes(“UTF8″)); //
}
catch (Exception e) {
println(“Error: Can’t write file!”);
}
drawReadings(input);

}
}

public void drawReadings(String _input){
String[] parts = _input.split(“,”); // this will only work if you put commas (Ascii 44) between things in your transmission
if (parts.length >= expectedNumberOfSensors) {
int input = 0;

for(int i = 0; i< expectedNumberOfSensors; i++){
try{
input = Integer.parseInt(parts[i]);

}
catch (NumberFormatException e) {
println("Not a line of Numbers");
break;
}
fill(0,0,0);
rect(xpos,0,2,height);
fill(i*50, 255, 255-i*50);
ellipse(xpos, input + (i*200), 2, 2);
xpos = xpos + 2;
if (xpos >= width) {
xpos = 0;

}
}
}
else{
println(“Expecting ” + expectedNumberOfSensors +” items”);
}
}

arduino code:
void setup(){

// initialize serial communications at 9600 bps:
Serial.begin(9600);

}

void loop(){
// read the analog in values:

int acc_st = analogRead(0);
acc_st = map(acc_st,0,5,0,255);
Serial.print(acc_st);
Serial.print(“,”);

int x_axis = analogRead(1);
x_axis = map(x_axis,355,662,0,255);
Serial.print(x_axis);
Serial.print(“,”);

int y_axis = analogRead(2);
y_axis = map(y_axis,355,662,0,255);
Serial.print(y_axis);
Serial.print(“,”);

int vibra = analogRead(3);
//vibra = map(vibra,0,25,0,255);
Serial.print(vibra);
Serial.print(“,”);

Serial.write(10);
}

There are different ways of encrypting code. Some extensive, some not. The first way that I thought of encrypting information is by either shifting or substituting QWERTY keys with the letters of the alphabet. Example:

ABCDEFG….can be substituted by QWERTYUI…..

Also using numbers instead of vowels. like AEIOU = 12345.

Wh1ts, 5p!

Using the keyboard we can shift the numbers to the shift symbol I can be so:

12345 = !@#$%

H@ll$, Th#s #.s v@ry s#mpl@ !nd c!n b@ s$lv@d q%#ckly.

If you want to go under the radar with your everyday lingo with some sort of simple encryption can be easy. Changing the context of your conversation is a method I use that works well. Only a few of my friends, close group of friends, know what I’m referring to. This talk is usually encrypted by movie or tv show quotes or simple abbreviation.

Example. “I DON’T ROLL ON SHABBOS!” quote from Big Lewbosky can mean “I’m chilling today” or having certain key words embedded in your conversation like:

“I’m hopping in the yellow submarine with ringo and john, would you like to join?”

You can encrypt names of your party and confirm a situation. Movies like pulp fiction work well, and you can quote the movie loosely.

me: Mmmm! Goddamn, Jimmie! This is some serious gourmet shit!

friend: I don’t need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay?

The Pulp Fiction lingo can be converted into any sort of way of communication. Now a key is necessary to decrypt this message. Are we talking about coffee? Obviously not. The parties involved need to be clear of the encryption and decryption of the message. You can immediately know of what the conversation is about and respond.

The Bonnie situation in Pulp Fiction is a good example. The context behind this is that, you are in trouble, and you have a certain amount of time to fix it. If you require help, you must call the Wolfe, problem fixer, to come to your aid.

Quote: We run across the path of any John Q. Laws, nobody does a fucking thing unless I do it first. What did I just say?

This is a good quote because they are already using a term to refer to a police officer. Using the Bonnie Situation or any other scene from movie or tv show culture can be an easy way to encrypt your conversation.

My interest in environmental issues, people’s rights, mobile communication, and human networks leads me to this cause: A Chile without dams. The power of organization with mobile phones for particular causes can aid this on going and controversial issue that involves many. Indigenous people and the environment are in peril due to corporations damming rivers in the south of Chile. Mapuches have constantly been in battle with the Chilean government for their rights.

This starts with transnational companies like ENDESA that have taken the rivers of the south of Chile to build hydroelectric dams. The results are obvious: indigenous people are displaced and natural ecosystems are destroyed. The environmental impact of these projects are considerable as well as the the damage done to people’s land, traditions, and way of life.

Not only Mapuche, but many other indigenous tribes are losing their lands due to corporations damming of the Chilean Patagonia.

This cause also extends to politics, involving Chile’s new democracy vs. Old Fascism.

We need socially responsible companies and investors that take inconsideration the impact of their projects on human beings and the environment.

Local movements need to be well organized and networked with larger international organizations like Green Peace. A solid plan needs to be put in effect so that the international community is also aware.

articles:

22 August, 1996

24, June 1997

Bio-Bio river dams

Resent Mapuche conflict

Chilean economic expansion and the Mapuche people

log in. and express yourself through the world of ascii art.

All chats are recorded into a database thanks to:

//Database connect function
$mySql = null;
function sqlConnect() {
# Configuration Variables
$hostname = “DERBY”;
$dbname = “HORSES”;
$username = “BARBARO”;
$password = “EEEEEEEHHHH”;

$mySql = mysql_connect($hostname, $username, $password) or die (mysql_error());
mysql_select_db($dbname, $mySql) or die(mysql_error());

return $mySql;
echo ‘Connected successfully’;
}

// Connect to the database
$mySql = sqlConnect();

// Insert Data

$query = “INSERT INTO chat_log (var1, var2) values (‘” . $_SESSION['UserName'] . “‘, ‘” . $_GET['message'] . “‘)”;
echo ($query);
$result = mysql_query($query, $mySql);
echo (“done”);

// Disconnect from the database
mysql_close($mySql);
echo (“close”);

Next steps: I would like to be able to identify certain emoticons and link back an image.