Marco Polo Perez HON 255

                      I'm very glad we've been able to watch Star Trek this semester, it changed my mind over the series! I think I was biased prior to watching the movie, due to the fact that I've always been (and always will be) a Star Wars fan (only for its first 6 movies and Clone Wars TV series). For some reason when I was young, I thought that Star Trek was boring and just about politics, oh boy, I was wrong. Look, even if the movie is a cheesy one at best (with a normal plot and not the greatest acting), when doing research about its origins and creation, I was taken aback by how fascinating and influential these series were and are in today's date, especially on the cultural and societal aspect around the world, and how illustrative was the showcasing of an optimistic diversity, followed by tolerance, and of course: technology! I was amazed to discover that most engineers and space operators at NASA were inspired b...

            When I first started my research on this following question: "Are we living in a simulation?", the first article that showed up was Nick Bostrom's titled  article "Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? ", where he explores scientific and philosophical arguments around the idea that we live in a virtual simulation. In this article, Bostrom proposes that advanced civilizations could create simulations so realistic that inhabitants within them would be unaware of their artificial nature, and that we may, in fact, live in such simulations as we speak at this very moment (Bostrom, 2003). Throughout this discussion, Bostrom mentions a race of posthumans, which are simulated beings--people--that are capable of being conscious entities amongst this simulated reality (like Neo, from The Matrix ). However, such hypothesis is counterargued after asking the question: "if there were a substantial chance that our civilization will get to the post...

  Collage + Reflection: Themes: Life is about feeling pain, otherwise worthless Idea of Collaboration I didn't ask to be created(slaves) Sacrifice of our way of life through urbanization (trash) and AI development Peace can be achieved but in the end it could be rotten(wings and trash in bottom) Tears represent memories dying Ideas for collage: The background is space with Orion constellations to represent the hunter Box with wings on the side Eyes in the middle with on the bottom arms connecting with nail going through it Tears with the wings Flowers on the wings   We wanted the project to have 3 different posters with the one in the middle attaching the other two sides. So we bought poster board paper and some glue. I then made some AI images for the eyes which we put on the middle poster board and Michael printed out wings attached to the side poster paper. The eye is supposed to represent the eye of Roy, the villainous replicant, and how it is different from the eyes of a ...

            A good and trustworthy friend of mine had recommended this movie to me a long time ago, describing it as "the best movie he's ever seen" and "one of the most influential movies ever." When finally watching it, I couldn't agree more with his statements. The cinematography (especially the opening shot, the images of the desert, Hal 9000 watching and placed in the background as both protagonists plot against the computer, etc.), soundtrack and special effects were definitely avant-garde and spectacular, despite the fact that the movie was published in 1968! Just seeing the movie's opening shot with the iconic soundtrack of  "Thus Spake Zarathustra"  and how influential it became for all other movies (like the beginning of Barbie ) and commercials including an image of the moon and an astronaut is simply astonishing! It's quite fascinating to see the source of inspiration for all the other movies of the same genre that came afterwar...

          For this blog, I'm going to write about Zima Blue,  and how its story reflects the mind of a human artist through the lens of a humanoid robot. Zima Blue  was one of my favorite episodes from L+D+R, since the animation was exquisite, the paintings from Zima Blue himself were extraordinary, and the characterization and backstory of Zima Blue was interesting and formidably well written (good plot twist too). Even so, what stood out to me in  Zima Blue  was its existentialist approach: a piece that makes us reflect about purpose and desire, which is non-other than a desire to find ourselves, to leave our mark and to make an impact in life through the concept of free will. This existential aspect is well exposed after Zima Blue himself hints his backstory. While speaking in the third person about himself being that robot that cleaned swimming pools, we see that bit by bit, he becomes more human. His story is representative of what ...

           Metropolis  is an avant-garde movie that addresses several themes such as slavery, revolution, hierarchy, ethics surrounding machinery and robotics and marginalization. After doing some research on Fritz Lang, who was a pioneer of German Expressionism, he was inspired in the city of New York when he had visited it in 1924, describing it as a city of the future (which was mainly due to the presence of the skyscrapers). Fritz Lang was an architect, which gave him an advantage when designing his mesmerizing sets, such as the ones we see when watching Metropolis .       During the period the movie was shot, both Mexico and Russia were marked by their respective revolutions: The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) and the Russian Revolution (1917). In 1917, specifically during the Mexican Revolution, a new constitution was brought where they addressed land reforms, labor rights and the separation of the church and state, which...

       Hi there! I´m Marco Polo Perez, I´m a Spanish Undergraduate student currently enrolled in the Honors Program while pursuing a double degree in Writing and Fild and Media Arts at UT. I was raised in Canary Islands, Ghana and Cabo Verde while studying in French schools for most of the time in West Africa. During my last years in high school in Ghana, I pursued graduation by specializing in both Chemistry and Biology with a minor in Mathematics. It was only during the ending months of this stressful period of my life (when COVID occurred), that I discovered my passion in Writing, since I wrote every fictional story that came from my creative mind during each break (most of the stories' plots back when I started were military, but now I like to experiment with nonfiction, fantasy, western, etc.).       Thanks to my experience in living in other countries than my beloved Spain, I have the privilege to currently speak five different languages (Sp...