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Borders Assigned Reading

All of these readings pointed to the fascinating connection and disconnection between digital space and physical space, and the limbo of living in interstitial space.

A couple of general thoughts:

It’s so easy to forget that “the cloud” does have a real touch-it hold-it physicality, and that because of that, there are legal and material considerations involved. It’s easy to forget what keeps “the cloud” up and running, and how fragile that system is. And that it has a location, a place where it is based, a place where there are laws and regulations. And in many ways, this feels right. Ideally, an elected official should have a say in what happens online, because the consequences of online actions manifest in the real world. But the international nature of “online” makes it nearly impossible. Is it a world-wide elected official? A representative council of worldwide leaders? The UN’s job? And how do we get people that actually UNDERSTAND the cloud and tech to want to go into that role. I don’t want facebook, google, twitter, etc to  be deciding how they should behave.

In some ways, this reminds me of the duality that is playing out across the world with remote work right now. Where are employees, what can employers ask and demand. What can employees ask and demand. What are the responsibilities and rights of each, how does pay scale differ based on where employees physically live, how much privacy, autonomy, oversight should they have… it’s all fascinating.
And both the cloud readings and la frontera bring into focus the people who find themselves in the interstitial spaces. The people who fall into the cracks but do not fall through to somewhere else. In La Frontera, there are geo-political “cracks” or borders between political entities, where entire populations are trapped. These interstices create other cracks and dualities — between culture, ideology, language, and belonging. It speaks to the stabilizing force of identity, home, and belonging, and the turmoil without it. The Cloud readings discusses those cracks as possible places where the system can be either strengthened or exploited. Where the laws of specific areas do not apply, are not iron clad, and therefore there is room for creating the kind of internet space that would be either equitable and desirable, or lawless and independent.

week2_system thinking

Which system (type of stakeholder) that Easterbrook identified did you find your own understanding of GMOs most aligned with? Why? What are some of the stakes of these stakeholders?

I find my own understanding of GMOs most aligned with the system of ecosystems and contaminants that weaken them. Because I am not the scientist or businessman. I live in Shanghai, and I don’t worry about food shortage. I also doubt that GM will affect the ability of the global agricultural system to withstand the impact of climate change. So, for me, what I can feel is the threat of alien species or new species to the existing local ecosystem. When I was young, China introduced many snails. As a result, the snails multiplied in large numbers. Many Chinese local field snails were squeezed. As a result, the snails could not be eaten because they would carry many parasites. Finally, the government spent a lot of time, energy and money to eliminate them. It has caused very bad consequences.

Using your own topic for research, can you Identify 3 stakeholders (groups or phenomenon) with different perspectives, and then describe the system (the stakes) from which they are operating?

My research topic is yoga. I think there are three types of yoga stakeholders. One is missionary, the other is fitness related practitioners (such as clothing manufacturers, fitness bloggers, fitness coaches), and the other is fitness enthusiasts. The missionaries can better spread the teachings of yoga through the fitness effect of yoga, so that more people can understand yoga. For fitness related practitioners, yoga is a relatively simple exercise, which can attract a lot of people to participate and obtain a lot of income and traffic. For the majority of fitness enthusiasts, because of the low threshold, many actions can be done at home with videos, and it does not require too much core training. Moreover, yoga has really improved the body and mind. Therefore, these three systems are complementary. Fitness related practitioners make great efforts in marketing, which just helps missionaries preach, and the enthusiasm of the majority of fitness consumers also makes fitness related practitioners profitable. The three systems complement each other and form a positive cycle.

 

week_2_”System Thinking”

prompt 1.

  • Which system (type of stakeholder) that Easterbrook identified did you find your own understanding of GMOs most aligned with? Why? What are some of the stakes of these stakeholders?

Within eight types of systems, I am most aligned with system 8, the system “of sustainable agriculture, with long time horizons. ”

Speaking from my experiences, as we go into the capital markets nowadays, we usually get one kind of single type of vegetable. We might consider that a certain type that has been provided is grown locally to save distribution costs and once we check the tag finding out is all the way transported from the other side of your country. Instead, when going into farmer’s markets, we find all types of wicked-looking vegetables that are grown locally. The possible action of inserting a centralized, diversity-eliminating agricultural solution into a complex system is an underestimation of our ecosystem.

the stakes of system 8 holders might include the pursuit of eco-sustainability, diversity in seed stocks, and organic farming that request fewer artificial inputs.

prompt 2.

  • Using your own topic for research, can you Identify 3 stakeholders (groups or phenomenon) with different perspectives, and then describe the system (the stakes) from which they are operating? For instance, if the subject is “Safari Parks”, 3 stakeholders could be (1) Animal Rights activists, (2) the region’s Board of Tourism, and (3) the local land itself.   The first operates in a system of ethics around the treatment of animals; the second in a networked system of economic benefits for the community (hotels, food, and attractions), and the third, in an ecosystem that the safari park may put at risk, by introducing pollutants from animal waste and fertilizer, and ecological competitors such as escaped non-indigenous plant products used in the landscaping of the Safari Park.

Kinship | Grafting

3 stakeholders could be (1) domestication of plants (crops),  (2) botanists, and  (3) family farming.
The first operates in a system of human food source supply and sufficiency; the second in the field of plant genetic engineering, and the third, in a small unit of the local food supply chain, which may have less access to advanced grafting techniques.

System Thinking and Salt

Q: Which system (type of stakeholder) that Easterbrook identified did you find your own understanding of GMOs most aligned with? Why? What are some of the stakes of these stakeholders?

A:

At first, I thought it should be “A system of scientists doing research”. Since I’m not a GMO opponent. But after reading the eight systems, I’ll choose system 6: “A system of global food supply and demand”. GMOs are just one of the solutions to solve the problem. The stakeholders here are researchers, protesters, and people, especially people in famine. Researchers care about whether GM trials increase food production. The stakes for protesters in this system are not clear, maybe ethics and risks. And people need food, no matter where it comes from.

 

Q: Using your own topic for research, can you Identify 3 stakeholders (groups or phenomenon) with different perspectives, and then describe the system (the stakes) from which they are operating?

A:

  1. People: Operates in a system of health and daily diet. Humans need salt to meet physical needs and improve dish taste.
  2. Traders: An economic system. Businessman focus on their profit. How to sell and deliver the goods to the destination.
  3. Government: In a country’s system of tax, border management, license to sell, etc.

week_1_”Emergent Strategy”

prompt 1.

  • Q: Have you felt trapped inside of someone else’s imagination? How have you broken free?

Constantly, I feel trapped inside people’s imaginations or expectations. Speaking from my experience, to be able to identify others’ wrong impressions and re-situate oneself takes practice. There are two types of other’s imagination to be trapped within. Growing up, Brown had to cope with white supremacists and racism. The vision loaded on her being aimed for no good within her. She speaks of her younger self looking for other options “where she wasn’t dismissed as an idealist or an inferior.” There may also be an opposite kind of imagination where people firmly believe in others’ potential, which also causes burden.

I don’t think either of those imaginations is psychologically healthy. Some might find maroon space, some just have to confront the problem.

 

prompt 2. 

  • Q: Do artists, designers, and technology have that same or similar responsibility? What are the nuances between those roles?

Indeed, all creators and inventors bear the similar responsibilities of imaging alternatives.

To think writers, artists, designers, architects, etc speak independently from their own field, I would better imagine working collectively as part of world-running systems. Think of any today’s product, simple as a water bottle, which is designed, manufactured, tested, commercialized, and consumed, engages multiple areas of specialists working collectively to bring out. As mentioned in Brown’s article “critical relationships, the strength of collective is more important in a long-term transformation process.”

Artists, designers, and technology, in regard to alternatives’ emergence, are all responsible for thorough research, experiments, and bias elimination. Living in the industrial age, I think some fields are required to be more specified than others. The artist sometimes can be really abstract about their idea, the designer in other words has to make sure the deliverables are more accessible to users.

Systems Thinking and Gardens

  • Which system (type of stakeholder) that Easterbrook identified did you find your own understanding of GMOs most aligned with? Why? What are some of the stakes of these stakeholders?

 
I embarrassingly have to admit that my understanding of GMO’s is limited at best, as it’s not something I’ve spent much time thinking about. If I were to choose though, I would find myself in a mix of systems 2, 7, and 8. I certainly have concerns about engineering more food, largely centering on what the effects will be on the environment, and how healthy these foods will be for humans/animals. Will the costs to the environment be significant? Will the benefits for humans be significant? Will benefits outweigh costs? I am skeptical. I also acknowledge that I don’t know much about this issue, and that I don’t feel great about passing judgement on this issue. This feeling pushes me towards the second system, hoping more than believing that someone more educated on this than myself is overseeing such projects. This is probably a naive thought.

  • Using your own topic for research, can you Identify 3 stakeholders (groups or phenomenon) with different perspectives, and then describe the system (the stakes) from which they are operating? For instance, if the subject is “Safari Parks”, 3 stakeholders could be (1) Animal Rights activists, (2) the region’s Board of Tourism, and (3) the local land itself. The first operates in a system of ethics around the treatment of animals; the second in a networked system of economic benefits for the community (hotels, food, and attractions), and the third, in an ecosystem that the safari park may put at risk, by introducing pollutants from animal waste and fertilizer, and ecological competitors such as escaped non-indigenous plant products used in the landscaping of the Safari Park.

 
There are lots of different kinds of gardens, each with vastly different stakeholders. There are public gardens in parks, suburban home gardens, rural food/kitchen gardens, private gardens, and more. For this question, I will write about suburban home gardens.
Three stakeholders could include
– Homeowners
– Environmentalists
– Lawn care companies
Homeowners operate in a system in which investing in the garden improves the quality of their home and environment either financially, emotionally, or in comparison to their neighbors. Some homeowners with gardens maintain them out of love for gardening, others do it out of obligation or a need to keep up appearances in front of their neighbors, and some (probably far fewer) do it to supplement their food supply. These homeowners end up investing considerable time, money, and other resources into garden maintenance. The reward they get from it varies — some spend lots of time in the garden, some see the value of their homes/neighborhoods increase because of the gardens, etc.
– Environmentalists operate in a system in which gardens are a significant use of resources (like water) for relatively little payoff. Because most gardens are full of ornamental non-plants, they can frequently disrupt the ecosystem. Combined with the amount of water it takes to maintain a garden and the frequent use of fertilizers, some environmentalists would propose different kinds of gardens than those which are frequently seen: rock gardens, native plants gardens, etc.
– Lawn care companies operate in a system of seeing gardening as an economic opportunity. Because gardens are popular and require a lot of work and we live in a capitalist society, there are many people who can’t or won’t take care of their own gardens. Therefore companies are happy to step in and provide the labor required.

Interview Questions About Cosmetics and Skin

Q1：What is the application of skin model in cosmetic efficacy evaluation? What are the pros and cons of current skin mods? What are your expectations and suggestions for its future development?

 

Q2：What do you think of the future development trend of such functional cosmetics such as moisturizing cosmetics, whitening cosmetics, anti-aging skin care products, etc.?

 

Q3： What do you think is the biggest connection between cosmetics and the field of dermatology?

 

Q4： Do you think the development of cosmetics in recent years has given impetus to the field of dermatology?

Topic 1 development: Kinship | Grafting

Kinship

1. Anthropological: Study Socialization of human 

Affinity / Consanguinity ; Family / marriage; Fictive kinship

Entity (border definition): cultural / Ontological origin / historical / social connections and shared characteristics (same-sex parenting / religious / godparents )

Biology: Coefficient relationship/consanguinity or genealogy.
“consanguinity basis for kinship ties is not universal across cultures， it may be a culturally specific symbol of kinship only in particular cultures”

2. Kinship across species/ Primates
domestication & loving kinship with other species
anthropocentric, anthropomorphic perspective of kinships

Human exceptionalism: “What we see in other species, then, becomes a reflection not of their own ways of being in the world per se, but rather a claim to human exceptionalism.” (Riggs, Damien W., and Elizabeth Peel. Critical Kinship Studies: An Introduction to the Field, 2016. )

3. Post-humanist kinship VS western human kinship

Grafting (Science and technology)

Definition by Wikipedia, “graft” or “grafting” may refer to definitions within different contexts. The word may refer to 1. a form of political corruption 2. clinical term of a surgical procedure 3. A process to improve decision trees commonly used in computer science 4. A horticultural technique, etc.

My research is mainly oriented toward its definition’s horticultural and botanical side.

Board aspect: Grafting (inosculation) is the joining of plant tissues

– Tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together.

Natural & Artificial 

  • natural grafting: roots/branches of the same species will sometimes naturally graft
    Advantageous: fire resistance / regeneration / protect from wind damages
    Problems: plant parasitism/transmission of pathogens
  • artificial grafting
    Advantageous: disease-resistant / domesticate plants
    commonly used in asexual propagation of commercially grown plants

Graft chimera
“Such a plant can produce flowers and foliage of both plants as well as shoots intermediate between the two.” ( +Laburnocytisus ‘Adamii’)
– Grafting can potentially make a new species, a form of natural genetic engineering.

domestication of plants
To achieve desired quality (long-live, harvest, etc )

(Some of the examples that I found from Wikipedia)
“By 500 BCE grafting was well established and practiced in the region as the Mishna describes grafting as a commonplace technique used to grow grapevines.[24]” – Fertile Crescent history

“Evidence for grafting in China is found in Jia Sixie’s 6th century CE agricultural treatise Qimin Yaoshu ” – China 2000 BC

“influx of foreign ornamentals to decorate these gardens, grafting was used much during this period.” – Arabic regions

“French Wine Pandemic”, a grafting history of American and French grapevine

progress

Going into branches of these two keywords, I found the concept of “domestication” appears in both and may further lead the research.
– “Domestication of animals” and building kinship with other species
– “Domestication of plants” to achieve better qualities for human usage

 

 

 

 

 

class1：Space and yoga

When I first saw my title “space”, I thought of broad space, such as blue sky, white clouds, sea and universe. Then I went to Wikipedia.” Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction.[1] In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum known as spacetime.” Wikipedia systematically popularizes the concept of space mainly from the physical level. Of course, it also mentions the concept of space in psychology. I think that space can be divided into two types: external, physical space and internal, psychological space. The next topic I want to discuss in detail is yoga, which is a kind of movement combining external and internal space.

connection

At first, I was very confused about the relationship between yoga and space. Later, I went to make an in-depth investigation and found that modern yoga actually originated from a religion with a history of more than 5000 years. The overall philosophy of yoga is about connecting the mind, body, and spirit, creating a space within the body by stretching and lengthening body parts

practice

I have followed the tutorial on YouTube for several sections, and I really have a very obvious feeling. I feel my muscles expand. In the process of exercise, I breathe in and out rhythmically, then empty my brain and close my eyes to feel that the whole world is open, but the space I am in has not changed.

Follow up

The feeling that Yoga brings to me is very unique, which is difficult to express in words. I was wondering whether it could be presented visually, or even in some interactive form.

I have drawn a demo.

Topic 1 Development: Borders | Canals

Definition of a Canal:

A canal is a human-made waterway that allows boats and ships to pass from one body of water to another. Canals are also used to transport water for irrigation and other human uses. While the advent of more efficient forms of transportation has reduced the need for canals, they still play a vital role as conduits for transportation and fostering global commerce.  – NOAA

What characteristics make a Canal a Canal?:

One of the first notable points I found from my initial research was the distinction between Canals and Channels. The biggest point is man-made (Canals) vs. natural(Channels).

This led me to research the use of Canals. As a man-made entity, there is a use or a need that these waterways are built to fulfill.

According to further research Wikipedia lists, that “Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow under atmospheric pressure, and can be thought of as artificial rivers.”

The main uses of a canal are drainage for safety, landscape protection, and transportation of people and goods. How do these topics connect to Borders?

Borders & Connectors:

Photo from my trip in 2017

Reading more on the topic, I was reminded of my trip to Colorado and stopping at the Continental Divide on my drive between Denver and Aspen. The Continental Divide runs from the Bering Strait down the Americas to the Strait of Magellan in southern Chile. This Divide separates the watersheds that drain into the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea.

This creates boundaries in multiple countries and territories, including National Parks like Glacier National Park and, most notably, the Panama Canal.

 

 

 

The Panama Canal – Trade: 

Map/Drawing from Britanica

Finished in 1914, the most notable canal in the Americas is the Panama Canal. It connects North and South America, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and is the lowest point of the Continental Divide.

Most notably used for international trade, cargo ships can pass in either direction, with the most Trade between the east coast of the United States and East Asia dominating international canal traffic. (Britanica)

 

 

 

 

 

Amsterdam Canals – Defense & Protection:

The other area of research surrounds the idea of protection and safety.

The city was founded around 1250 with the building of the Dam that gave it its name. ‘Aeme Stelle Redamme’ is Medieval Dutch for: ‘Dam in a Watery Area.’ The first canals were dug for water management and defense. As the city expanded in the Middle Ages, successive defense moats ended up inside the walls and lost their function. But they acquired an important new one: local transport of merchandise. (https://www.amsterdam.info/canals/)

 

 

Further Exploration of Canals, Usage, Relation to Borders:

  • Transportation – People & Commerce
  • Protection – Defense & Climate
  • Fishing/Food Sources