Blog 4 - Med+Tech+Art

The human body has been a muse of artists since the inception of art itself, entire artistic movements and terms have been created on the basis of this. Realism and naturalism show what the human body and the perception of it have meant to people for generations.  Mediums like art lead us to discussions of moral concepts, like the article on the Hippocratic Oath shows. What these discussions show is that both technology and medicine, just like art, changes and needs to be developed. 

Throughout our past three weeks within this class, we have seen what the integration of technology and art has done. This integration has aided both sides with developments in art movements and aspects of technology like robotics. Artist and doctor Kevin Warwick has shown this is his work. Through his "Project Cyborg", Warwick asks philosophical questions regarding the future of human life as these mediums become more and more intertwined. People like Warwick and Donald E. Ingber, who wrote "The Architecture of Life", see the benefit of combining these subjects in order to better understand them and their functions. In his article, Ingber focuses specifically on cellular components and how diagrams and structures that represent the microscopic aspects of humans. These diagrams help educate students, as well as, lead to developments in the study of what they represent. 

Imaging is huge in all parts of life and is used by artists, technicians, doctors, surgeons, teachers and more. Sylvia Casini's article on MRI's shows this. Use of these images allows for the development and change that we need as the human race grows. Though images are initially an aspect of art, through machines like the MRI, doctors can learn how to better treat patients. In conclusion, the integration of medicine, technology, and art is beneficial to all the fields. 

Sources: 

    Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations between Science and the Arts.” Configurations, vol. 19, no. 1, 2011, pp. 73–99., doi:10.1353/con.2011.0008. 

E. Ingber, Donald. (1998). The Architecture of Life. Scientific American. 278. 48-57. 10.1038/scientificamerican0198-48.  

Gustave Courbet, Le Sommeil (Sleep), 1866, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris 

Kedmey, Dan. “MRI Scans Detect Parkinson's Disease in It's Earliest Stages, Study Finds.” Time, Time, 11 June 2014, time.com/2860630/mri-scans-can-detect-early-onset-of-parkinsons-study-finds/.

Lasagna, Louis. “The Hippocratic Oath Today.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/hippocratic-oath-today/.

 

Warwick, Kevin. "Project Cyborg 1.0" Kevin Warwick, 1998.