Week 9: Final Projects
This week, each group presented their final projects. I had planned to present with my group on our project about bread during our usual class time on Tuesday, but due to the last-minute change of plans to present all the projects related to food during the Fiat Lux class that afternoon, I was unfortunately not able to attend the presentations because I had already made plans and would not have been able to make it in time anyway. However, I was able to make my bread with rice flour and hand it to one of my group members, Collette, which she kindly brought to the Fiat Lux class on the day our project was presented. Luckily, Professor Vesna sent us photos she took during the presentation and I got to get a glimpse of my groupmates presenting our project! I wish I had been there, but I’m proud of Collette and Peyton for holding the fort.
After the presentations, I met up with my group members and was glad to hear that the presentation went well! The rest of our class met up in the classroom, and all the groups that presented their projects also brought the food they made for their projects as well. I really enjoyed getting a taste of the homemade kimchi as well as the cucumber salad, and glad I got to indulge in and appreciate my classmates’ projects.
I also had a great time hearing about the rest of the projects that were presented on Thursday. Every group had such unique project ideas and topics, and I found them all incredibly moving, interesting, and fascinating. What is even more impressive is that some of the projects were about concepts that expanded beyond what we had learned in class, so it was great to see that some groups were able to make projects that they were passionate about but also related to bio and nanotech. A common theme that I saw in everyone’s projects is that they all dive into very present issues and topics that everyone faces at some point in their lives. For example, Alexia and Matt’s project is about grief and loss and how to deal with change in life. I remember during their original midterm proposal, their goal was to directly relate their project to the stars and how each of us individually represents stars, but hearing about their final project make me reflect and think about grief and loss in a more big-picture way.
Additionally, Sue Bin and Ryan’s project about AI was moving and thought-provoking as well. Hearing their thoughts about the dark reality of AI really changed my perspective and the way I think about AI. I personally am torn between seeing AI as revolutionary versus harmful to humanity. In one way, I think AI will revolutionize the way we produce visual and written content. In another, I think AI creates a lot of unethical issues, such as the debate around ChatGPT, that might challenge our progress as a society. I enjoyed hearing about their take on how technology has a much more prominent role in our lives than we think, and we can either do a lot or not do much about it.
