Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Guillotine, and Modern Ontological Anxiety

Lacefield’s interdisciplinary analysis analyzes motifs of decapitation/dismemberment in Frankenstein and then moves into a discussion of the novel’s exploration of the ontological categories specified above. For example, Frankenstein’s Creature, as a kind of cyborg, exists on the contested theoretical “slice” within a number of antinomies: nature/tech, human/inhuman (alive/dead), matter/spirit, etc. These are interesting juxtapositions that point to tensions within each set of categories, and Lacefield discusses the relevance of such dichotomies for questions of modernity posed by materialist theory and technological innovation. Additionally, she incorporates a discussion of films that fuse Shelley’s themes with appeals to twentieth-century and post-millennium audiences

Can Computers Create Art?

This essay discusses whether computers, using Artificial Intelligence (AI), could create art. First, the history of technologies that automated aspects of art is surveyed, including photography and animation. In each case, there were initial fears and denial of the technology, followed by a blossoming of new creative and professional opportunities for artists. The current hype and reality of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for art making is then discussed, together with predictions about how AI tools will be used. It is then speculated about whether it could ever happen that AI systems could be credited with authorship of artwork. It is theorized that art is something created by social agents, and so computers cannot be credited with authorship of art in our current understanding. A few ways that this could change are also hypothesized.Comment: to appear in Arts, special issue on Machine as Artist (21st Century

SciTech News Volume 71, No. 3 (2017)

Columns and Reports From the Editor.........................3 Division News Science-Technology Division....5 Chemistry Division....................8 Conference Report, Marion E, Sparks Professional Development Award Recipient..9 Engineering Division................10 Engineering Division Award, Winners Reflect on their Conference Experience..15 Aerospace Section of the Engineering Division .....18 Architecture, Building Engineering, Construction, and Design Section of the Engineering Division................20 Reviews Sci-Tech Book News Reviews...22 Advertisements IEEE..........................................

Science and the Scientist in Frankenstein: From Literature to Film Adaptation

In the following study, I analyze the figure of the scientist and the scientific process in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein as well as in five different cinematographic adaptations: Frankenstein(1931), by James Whale; The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), by Terence Fisher; The Young Frankenstein (1974), by Mel Brooks; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), by Kenneth Branagh; and Victor Frankenstein (2015), by Paul McGuigan. I also carry out a review of the scientific background in the nineteenth century and of Mary Shelley’s education and the scientific influences she may have had while writing the novel. Then each representation of the scientist is classified according to Haynes’ classification in From Faustus to Strangelove. Afterwards, I analyze the way in which the scientific process is carried out in each film adaptation. Finally, I conclude outlining the homogeneous depictions of Victor Frankenstein and the free, detailed representations of the scientific process made by the different film adaptations.En el siguiente estudio, analizo la figura del científico y del proceso científico llevado a cabo en la novela de Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, así como en cinco de sus adaptaciones cinematográficas: Frankenstein (1931), de James Whale; La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), de Terence Fisher; El Jovencito Frankenstein (1974), de Mel Brooks; Frankenstein de Mary Shelley (1994), de Kenneth Branagh; y Victor Frankenstein (2015), de Paul McGuigan. Mi análisis comienza con una breve presentación de los avances científicos del siglo XIX relacionados con la novela, así como de la educación y las posibles influencias científicas que Mary Shelley pudo tener cuando la escribió. Catalogo cada representación de la figura del científico siguiendo la clasificación que Haynes realiza en From Faustus to Strangelove. A continuación, analizo la manera en la que el proceso científico se ha llevado a cabo en cada adaptación cinematográfica. Finalmente, concluyo mi estudio destacando cuestiones como la homogeneidad en las representaciones de Víctor Frankenstein y el libre y detallado desarrollo del proceso científico que se realiza en las diferentes adaptaciones cinematográficas.Departamento de Filología InglesaGrado en Estudios Inglese

Knowledge is Knowing Frankenstein isn’t the Monster, Wisdom is Knowing Frankenstein is the Monster: An Exploration on Mankind and Monstrosity

Humans construct their identity by constantly measuring themselves against and creating themselves around culturally ingrained systems of rules governing the social, the political, and perceptions of the physical. I call a system of rules a “syntax.” When a syntactical system is broken, a monster is born. Our monsters are the litmus and definition of our selves. Using Michel Foucault’s Abnormal lectures to inform my theory of the self as “syntax,” I posit that it is essential to understand the monster in order to exert social change and it is essential to understand what a monster is in order to understand oneself

From milgram to zimbardo: the double birth of postwar psychology/psychologization

Milgram’s series of obedience experiments and Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment are probably the two best-known psychological studies. As such, they can be understood as central to the broad process of psychologization in the postwar era. This article will consider the extent to which this process of psychologization can be understood as a simple overflow from the discipline of psychology to wider society or whether, in fact, this process is actually inextricably connected to the science of psychology as such. In so doing, the article will argue that Milgram’s and Zimbardo’s studies are best usefully understood as twin experiments. Milgram’s paradigm of a psychology which explicitly draws its subject into the frame of its own discourse can be said to be the precondition of Zimbardo’s claim that his experiment offers a window onto the crucible of human behaviour. This will be analysed by drawing on the Lacanian concepts of acting out and passage à l’acte. The question then posed is: if both Milgram and Zimbardo claim that their work has emancipatory dimensions — a claim maintained within mainstream psychology — does a close reading of the studies not then reveal that psychology is, rather, the royal road to occurrences such as Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib? The drama of a psychology which is fundamentally based on a process of psychologization is that it turns its subjects into homo sacer of psychological discourse

Friends of Musselman Library Newsletter Fall 2019

From the Dean (Robin Wagner) Library News Cite and Bite Workshops Open Access Week (Janelle Wertzberger, Alecea Standlee, Hana Huskic) Notes at Noon Friends Sponsor Guild Participation (Mary Wootton) Stop the Bleed The Wall Must Go Story Time Table to Farm Pop-up Library Take the Reading Challenge 1,000,000 Grant to Digitize Asian Art Vietnam Oral Histories (Ron Bailey \u2767, Sue Hill \u2767, Michael Birkner, Devin McKinney) Alexander von Humboldt\u27s Secretary (William Bowman) Focus on Philanthropy: Walter Miller Trust A Gift in 3 Dimensions (Richard C. Ryder \u2770) Remembering Richard Ryder \u2770 (Michael Birkner) New Externship - Careers in Library and Information Science (Camille Minns \u2720, Jivan Kharel \u2720) Textbook Affordability is a Workshop Topic (Janelle Wertzberger) Candid Camera (Dwight Eisenhower, Willard Paul, William C. Darrah) GettDigital: Rooted in Memory Uncovering Shakespeare\u27s Sisters (Suzanne Flynn) Touchdown: First Year Athletes Trade Field for Library (Betsy Bein, John Dettinger) Recent Additions: World War II - Photographs and Memorabilia (William Millar \u2754, Walter Lane, Gerald Royals \u2752, Donald Gallion \u2748, Ralph Edgar Peters, Burdette J. Marker) Alumnus Donates Trade Cards (Gary Thompson \u2769