December 5, 2006

Technopolies

Technopolies, as I understand them, are how we as a society rely heavily on technology to survive. The term "technopoly" serves as a term that somewhat scolds the human race for becoming so dependant on technology in our daily lives. A prime example of a technological advancement that is relied heavily upon is the computer. The computer has become a household item, at least in the U.S. It seems today that a student would not be able to function in a school if the student did not have a computer in their home.






The computer is an example of how the world gets information back and forth hence functioning as a means of communication. For instance, email is becoming a more and more common method of communcation.

If one were to try and communicate without the use of technology, they would find it to be very difficult. When contemplating technology it is easy to see that technology has successfully made the world a smaller place in terms of communication. Take my current situation for example, I am living relatively close to home, only having a 1 - 1.5 hour car ride to get back to see my family. However, if I were without technology, it would be extremely difficult for me to stay in contact with my family and if I had an emergency and needed to contact them immediately, it would be impossible. The cell phone, email, and once in a great while the U.S. Postal Service are my means of communicating with my loved ones back at home.







Technology has become so much a part of human nature because it keeps us comfortable, and as we seek to become more comfortable in our environment (as all creatures tend to do) it adapts and takes on new forms all the time. I think that if somehow we were to be without electricity to power our many forms of technology, society would flounder unable to adapt effectively to the change in it's environment. If you think about it, the human race has had to adapt little to shifts in environment, the only thing that has really changed in hundreds of years is technology and our understanding of what we can produce to make us more comfortable. This "characteristic" of the human race, to develop technology in lieu of actually adapting and evolving to suit our surroundings has caused us to become detatched from nature.

As an example of our feebleness as a result of our dependance on technology, an alien race looking to conquer us would simply have to "pull the plug". Finding a way to cutoff power to the world (an Electro Magnetic Pulse perhaps) would sever communications, cause mass chaos and ultimately allow the alien race to run all over us. Granted the aliens weren't somehow defeated by water/ common diseases.






Posted by Ryan Rindahl at 11:06 AM |

November 7, 2006

Design and Mathematics

One obvious connection of design and mathematics can be seen in the design of a column. A column, albeit simple to look at, can be very intricate and complex. A column needs to be designed and placed according to how much weight it needs to support. This involves basic mathematical measurements of weight and height so calculations can be made for the design and placement of the column. As Lance discussed in his presentation, a column is designed differently in gothic cathedrals based on how many beams it is supporting and in what way the beams meet the column. If the column is a central column it has more mass surrounding the column in all directions to bare more of a load, if it is placed a against a wall, less mass is needed and is positioned on the opposite side of the column from the wall for support. Mathematics heavily influence the design of a column. Several examples of columns can be seen below:







Posted by Ryan Rindahl at 9:39 AM |

October 23, 2006

Oppositions and Resolutions

One opposition I see around me is that of land/population.

The opposition present is that there is a decreasing amount of usable land for building and an exceedingly high amount of people present on our fine planet. The amount of people being born each day is greater than the amount of people that die each day, anyone with a basic grasp of mathematics understands that that means the population is growing. The problem is how to house all of these people. Another fact is the American idea of having a large, extravagant home that we fill with children and pets and material goods that give us a certain status and sense of self-satisfaction.

This does not agree with the decreasing amount of usable land. Overcrowding has lead to such things as the "hotel rooms" in Japan that maximize space above all other things.

Very cozy, and a very effective use of space but would someone so used to our Western idea of large and lavish hotel rooms really go for something like this?

One, fairly simple, resolution to this problem is to build up rather than out. This idea has taken root in major cities with the addition of sky scrapers to maximize office space, and places of business. Why can't this idea be utilized for homes? Theoretically a home owner could claim ownership of an entire floor in a sky scraper, or maybe several floors depending on the amount of space the home owner wished to have. This would still give the the person or family plenty of space and minimize the amount of land used by stacking several homes on top of one another.

Another, more complicated, solution would be to utilize the land on our moon. This solution is a bit more far-fetched as the moon would need to be made habitable by humans through the addition of an enclosed area that provided air and a climate that could sustain plants and animals, creating an "earth on the moon". This would not perminently solve the problem, as the moon would become overpopulated just like the earth, but it would provide a period where overcrowding could be looked at more closely and a more permanent plan put into motion.

Posted by Ryan Rindahl at 8:08 PM |

Phenomena


A phenomena that I have observed is the color change the leaves on our trees go through. Everyone knows the clockwork of the season cycle of leaves. They bud in the springs, and open late spring - early summer. Next the leaves grow larger and become a dark green. In the fall, when temperatures start to cool, the leaves are starved of some nutrients and begin to change color due to the different chemicals present in the leaves. We also know that the leaf is dependent on the greater framework of the tree, of which it is a part. Whether the tree is getting an adequate supply of nutrients, water and sunlight decides if the leaves will wilt or become rich and full of life. One thing that we can't readily predict, is what color a leaf will turn, or how long it will stay on the tree before falling off. It is this phenomena that brings people out on brisk fall afternoons to observe the plethora of colors displayed amongst the leaves. Some leaves even exhibit different colors on one leaf. It is this mysterious and beautiful natural occurence that is the trademark of the season and why I chose to document this phenomena.


The Author



Posted by Ryan Rindahl at 7:47 PM |

October 3, 2006

Genius Loci

The place I chose to describe is one that is very significant to me. It is impossible to describe said location without first describing the situation. The summer before my junior year of highschool I chose to go on a month long canoe trip in Canada aptly named Les Voyageurs. This is a program that has been around for over 30 years and was founded by my biology teacher. My crew consisted of 9 men, 7 students and 2 guides. The aim of this trip was to discover something about yourself that you didn't know, how you work with others and hopefully to better yourself in the end.

The trip took us from the western portion of Ontario eventually to lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. We traveled via canoe through rivers and lakes. It should be fairly obvious that by the end of the day your body has suffered some physical strain. What you don't realize is the mental strain from dealing with the same people day after day, their attitudes deffinitely have an impact on yours.

At the end of one of my days I decided I needed some alone time. So I sought out a more secluded spot on the lake that we had camped by. I spotted a rock jutting out into the lake that was surrounded almost entirely by pine trees and grabbed my journal and camera. I sat down and wrote for about 20 minutes and then just sat and observed the light reflecting off the lake and listened to a loon calling in the distance. During this period of reflection I was able to realize that what I missed about home was not all the "stuff" that I had but the people back home. I missed my family, friends and even my pets. I felt that I had taken them forgranted, now that I was alone and isolated from everything I was able to see how much I had depened on them always being there.

The quantifiable information really made no difference, it didn't matter that it was 9:44PM on July 26th, that it was slightly brisk, or what lake I was on. What made my experience was the fact that I was there alone finally, and had time to reflect. The feeling of serenity is what evoked these certain emotions. That's what made this place unique and my experience mine alone... until my crew mate found me and snapped a picture.

Posted by Ryan Rindahl at 3:49 PM |

September 26, 2006

Social Design Issue

A social design issue that I have been aware of and concerned with for some time has been the use of land. Obviously we're a growing country and our population continues to increase. As this happens, buildings continue to go up, farms are bought out to make room for housing developements and the amount of available land is steadily decreasing. As the amount of land available decreases, the cost of land increases. As necessary as it is to create housing for the increasing population, it is also important to remember that we have a finite amount of useable land.



One way that I could be an advocate for change relating to this issue is by creating a petition to preserve land that hasn't been touched yet. I have witnessed a lot of developement around my home in St. Cloud, MN. The farm land and open wooded areas have been replaced by furniture stores and apartment buildings. I could also write a letter to the mayor or any representative that could bring about change on the issue. At the very least I could inform others of the drastic change the area has gone through in just a few years, and how important it is to keep a balance in order to salvage some of our natural resources and wildlife.



Posted by Ryan Rindahl at 3:28 PM |

Midtown Market



The market reminded me a bit of the food court back home in our mall in St. Cloud. I guess I was expecting that it would seem more open like a market that you would see in a movie and less commercialized, but obviously I wasn't expecting a marketplace like you'd see in a foreign country. It was definitely more diverse than what I had experienced back home, however.

Energy can be motion, an action, interaction with others, etc. There are many ways in which to use, produce, conserve, and exchange this energy. The ways that I can see that I'd create, use and exchange energy are that I could start up a conversation with someone in the market place. That would create a situation where I both created energy between another person and myself and also facilitated an exchange of energy as well as knowledge. I could easily use energy in any number of ways. One such way would be to use my own energy to sell something perhaps, or to use my energy to find something to buy.

Posted by Ryan Rindahl at 3:09 PM |