McCabe Week 4: Medicine + Art

This week's focus was on the connection between medicine and art. From what I've saw and learned is that there are many applications of art in scientific technology and it come in a variety of forms. Diane Gromala's TED Talk really helped shape my understanding of some examples like the MRIs, virtual reality, and art and technology relating to senses. 

She explained how she was trying to create a multi media application to invoke inner sensations. One of the coolest examples Gromala gave was when she took an MRI of her torso and used the 3D visuals in virtual reality. I thought this was pretty cool because in my mind it felt maybe this is the future of medical exploration. If there were a way to create more virtual reality maps of the human body or cells in the human body to understand what is going on, using different senses and a new approach of exploration.

Personally, I feel I've had very little exposure to inventions combining medicine and art other than a few MRI scans. I decided to explore another project called MISSION ETERNITY. Their primary focus and goal is to explore the after life. MISSION ETERNITY believes that "the dead continue to exist as biomass and traces in the global memory: in governmental data-bases, in family archives, in professional records, and in emotional data stored as electrical impulses in the bio-memory of our social network." They strive to store these memories and data in an interactive data base, that people can use to connect and communicate with when facing death.

Im not going to lie, I think this project is kind of creepy, but I get what they are trying to do. Death is a very hard thing to cope with so maybe this will benefit some people's lives. I guess the material of the last few weeks in this class have really showed me that most people are combining arts and sciences in hopes of enhancing our everyday lives. I can also see how it is sort of a chain effect, because MISSION ETERNITY is striving to create a digital archive of the dead, but I could potentially see robotics maybe playing a part of this project in the future. 


Resources

Etoy. “Crossing the Deadline.” MISSION ETERNITY, www.missioneternity.org/.

Jack, Gravity. “AR & VR: The Future of Medical Training.” Gravity Jack, 20 Apr. 2021, gravityjack.com/news/ar-vr-medical-training/.

“MRI Scans: Definition, Uses, and Procedure.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/146309#what-is-an-mri-scan.

“The Relationship: Medicine Is Both Art and Science.” Beacon Lens, 24 Nov. 2015, www.beaconlens.com/medicine-art-and-science/.

TEDxTalks. “TEDxAmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty.” YouTube, YouTube, 7 Dec. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdarMz--Pw.

 

Comments

  1. Presley MorenoApril 25, 2021 at 7:26 PM

    Hi Lauren! I also think it was very interesting to hear from Diane Gromala! I have never seen a scan of my own body before in any way, so I wonder what it must be like to see one's torso in virtual reality for Diana! She also helped me learn about the ways that virtual reality can be a part of medical related technology. I really like how you added that you found out about the project of MISSION ETERNITY; I had no idea this kind of project existed! I also think it seems a bit creepy, so I wonder what are the experiences of the people who have participated in it and used it!

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  2. Emily_Lawson_desma9April 25, 2021 at 11:31 PM

    Great job on this weeks research! I feel that we would also really benefit from virtual reality playing a bigger role in today's scientific society. It would make it a lot easier to see certain things using virtual reality on scans that you would not normally see on your average CT or MRI scans. The most I have seen of bodies and stuff are on Grey's Anatomy but again it would be really cool to see where technology and science will be in the future. It is just so crazy to think that we keep coming up with innovations such as virtual reality!!

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