Unit 8: Nanotechnology and Art

Every new fact once was fiction (and some still are).

Hypothetical Medical Nanorobots [Figure 1]
<http://www.arts.rpi.edu/~ruiz/MediaStudio/LECTURES/NANOTEC/Nanotec.htm>

After reading Gimzewski and Vesna’s “The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of fact & fiction in the construction of a new science” my mind began to parse the other materials for this unit on the spectrum of fact or fiction in an attempt to construct my own understanding of the elusive terms. [1] I came to the conclusion that many of the stories, predictions, concepts and patents brought up that reside closest to this ‘divide’ can shift between the two states depending on the scale at which we are contextualizing them.

Robot Maria (aka False Maria) from Metropolis [Figure 2]
<http://www.classicfilmtvcafe.com/2014/06/the-five-best-classic-movie-robots.html>

In “The Nanomeme Syndrome”, Gimzewski and Vesna state that “One thing is certain however – as soon as we confront the scale that nanotechnology works within, our minds short circuit.” [2] I’d like to extend this notion to our concept of ‘reality and fact’ vs. ‘fantasy and fiction’. I believe a large factor in the determination of whether a yet-to-be executed idea is non-fiction or fiction is within the time-scale context of where we place them within. Renderings for an architectural proposal, technical diagrams for a patent application and Kurzweil’s predictions of technological process fall on the “reality” side within ideas that don’t exist or haven’t occured yet. [3] On the other hand, Crichton’s Prey, Jeff Johnson’s hypothetical medical nanorobots [figure 1], and the many dystopia films of the last century fall more on the fictional side of this spectrum. Though there are multitudes of reason’s for this separation, including their own creators intentional placement in that space, another intriguing correlation in my mind is in the amount of time between the inception of the idea, and their eventual manifestations in our lives. In the science fiction novel, Valka s Mloky and the play R.U.R., where the first mentions of robots were recorded, the robots themselves were considered just as fictional as the storylines they were spawned within. [4] However, looking back now from an age where robots are a reality, the robots themselves as an idea are no longer fictitious, while the story remains so.  Perhaps it is our minds short-circuiting, trapped in a human-scale understanding of time. From this perspective we deem certain far out ideas to be fictional until the day comes that they are no longer so.

The Ptolemaic Geocentric Model [Figure 3]
<http://m.teachastronomy.com/astropediaimages/Bartolomeu_Velho_1568.jpg> 

Time does not only bring non-fiction into reality; it can also do the opposite and make what we consider fact into fiction. Many medical practices (Daffy’s Elixir), scientific ideas (the sun revolves around the Earth, figure 3), and religious doctrines (Aeneid of Virgil) that were once considered “real” have now become discredited and placed within the realm of quackery, false information and mythology. [5] [6] [7] Aristotle’s research methods (which laid the groundwork for the modern scientific method) led him to the “discovery” of a cosmological model based upon the notion that all other celestial bodies orbited the Earth. This idea lasted as a scientific fact for nearly 2000 years until it was finally disproved. [8] It is satisfying in some sense that time does not discriminate; it both proves and disproves fact and fiction. The larger the time-scale we are referencing, the blurrier this divide becomes. 

[1] Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. "The Nanoneme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact and Fiction in the Construction of a New Science." Technoetic Arts Technoetic Arts (2003): 7-24. Print.

[2] Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. "The Nanoneme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact and Fiction in the Construction of a New Science." Technoetic Arts Technoetic Arts (2003): 7-24. Print.

[3] Kurzweil, Ray. "A University for the Coming Singularity". Ted.com. Film.

[4] "Robot Definition." Robot Definition. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.jeffbots.com/dictionary.html>

[5] "The Delights of Daffy." Eighteenthcentury Recipes. 20 Aug. 2011. Web. 24 May 2015. <https://18thcenturyrecipes.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/the-delights-of-daffy/>

[6] "Fair Education Foundation, Inc." Fair Education Foundation, Inc. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.fixedearth.com/>

[7] "The Internet Classics Archive | The Aeneid by Virgil." The Internet Classics Archive | The Aeneid by Virgil. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.1.i.html>

[8] <http://m.teachastronomy.com/astropedia/article/Aristotle-and-Geocentric-Cosmology>