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ethelynjapaneseblog · 6 years ago

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B # 4

Blood Type & Kakuri: The Origins of the Japanese Passion for Robots

Blog Entry - Chapter #4

Blood Type

According to the author, it all began with a Japanese Psychological Professor, publishing an article, called “The Study of Temperament Through Blood Types.” The study’s theory became extremely popular amongst the Japanese since it was published in 1916. Today, Japanese people have form opinions and understand each other’s behavior through blood type characteristic. This goes as far as being asked at job interviews and even in match-making situations. Blood type category have been published and commonly recognize as way to tell fortune and compatibility.

“The Japanese believe your blood type determines your character to a great extent. People are very superstitious, and religions are based on superstition.” - H. Garcia, “Superstitious Japan?”

Image: Blood Type Personality Comic: Study Group

✹ In the Western world, namely the United States, there are a few who believe in something that could tell your fortune, compatibility and advice, and it normally originates in a different country. Few believe in Astrology, where they believe the movements in the celestial sky indicates your fate and fortune. For example, a person who is born on March 29th is an Aries, and horoscope originates in the Middle East, tracing its history all the way to the 2000 BCE (1). United States have borrowed the concept of Twelve Zodiac animals as well from China. All these have a few things in common, such as they also believe that your personality, fortune, etc. is something you are born into. The concept of doing so play on psychological analysis on the people. For instance, humans are socially creatures, where we, as an individual, would like to belong to a group. Horoscope, zodiacs and blood types categories most certainly categorize people into groups. However, unlike Japan, the United States, for the most part, does not develop many of their superstitions into a culture-wide, practiced tradition.

❇ Personally, I do not believe in superstitions, from horoscope to blood type, but it is actually quite fun and interesting to indulge and assess what horoscope or blood type category you belong to. It was most certainly a fascinating to read and discuss with friends what your fortune is for the day or whom you are compatible with without taking it seriously. As a group sometimes, friends amongst friends can boast to be the same horoscope or the same blood type. It propel a sense of belonging to some people. From my experience, some people know their horoscope, zodiac and even their blood type, but only few truly believe in them religiously. I have known people as well that cite their blood type, horoscope or zodiac as a reason for their particular behavior. When comes to online, there are few people that obsessed over their celebrity’s horoscope and feels connected to their celebrity if they share the same category as them. There is most certainly a wide range of people. Having grown up in a household that is not superstitious, we never have traditions that we follow outside the ones that has been declared as a national tradition or that is based on our religion

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Karakuri: The Origins of the Japanese Passion for Robots

Karakuri are the famous and iconic mechanized puppets, and its automating mechanics have fascinated Japan since its introduction in the 16th century (2). The Karakuri puppets is based on its simple mechanics and perform various task depending on the creator. There is a tale of Prince Kaya, son of Emperor Kanmu, creating a mechanical doll whose hands hold an empty bucket. When the people pour enough water on the bucket, the doll will automatically empty the bucket of water onto its own face, and it eventually soaked the ground. The doll fascinated the locals as they continuously played with it, leading to the nearby farms to be watered. Prior to the placement of the doll, the farms were becoming barren since the recent drought had dried up the Kamo River that was used to irrigate the farms (3). This contributes to the Japanese’s perspective and opinions towards robotics. Japanese people are generally very receptive of automation and articificial intelligence (AI). Evidently, Japanese have also produces arts, manga and animation that portrays robots with AI as heroes in the stories. Some of these media have gained popularity internationality, and Japan is also well known for its electronics and technological innovations.

“It is thought they are one of the reasons the Japanese have come to accept robots as friends and not enemies. Notice how in American movies robots always end up rebelling and trying to destroy the worlds, whereas in anime series and manga robots are very often superheroes.” - H. Garcia, Karakuri in Society

Image: Real life-size Gundam

✹ As the author indicated, there is most certainly a difference between the Western view, namely the United States’ view when comes to robots, automation and artificial intelligence. The United States are generally receptive of our technological advancement to automate many procedures. As technology progresses, westerners beg the question of what are the possibilities and long-term effects of these changes. Over here, many people call into question of automation replacing human work skills, affecting employment in the long term, while praising its use to make our quality of living better. Artificial intelligence or AI is among the main focus of the United States’ many technological innovations. Movies and other animation raised the concern of what are the possibilities of AI overtaking human intelligence and even as far as existence all together. Thus, media have portrayed robots being an antagonist to humans, and public opinion generally echoes it as well.

❇ I personally love technological innovations. Technology have changed how we live and interact with each other tremendously. I love how technologies can be integrated to our everyday life, enhancing our effectiveness, quality of life and the pace of how we progress. The science, mechanics and configuration behind technologies are equally fascinating. I agree, however, that it is a concern how these technology can be use against us. Therefore, I believe in addressing the changes early and not resist it because technology development is inevitable. As society and as an individual we must find a balance on how we incorporate technologies and ensure its regulation moving forward. I believe in a balance of how we view technologies, such as robots. As a society, we should be encouraging when it comes to the changes but also take precautions as we progress forward.

—————————————————————————————— Quotes from Chapter 4: Curiosities & Symbols - Garcia, H. (2012). Geek in Japan: Discovering the Land of Manga, Anime, Zen, and the Tea Ceremony. Tuttle Publishing. Kindle Edition.

(3) Boyle, K. (2008, January 14). Karakuri Origins. Retrieved from Karakuri Info: http://karakuri.info/origins/index.html

(2) Editorial Committee, & Foley, K. (2018, 12 July). Karakuri Ningyō - からくり人形 . Retrieved from World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts: https://wepa.unima.org/en/karakuri-ningyo/

(1) Karasavvas, T. (2017, April 9). The 4,000 Year History of Horoscopes: How Astrology Has Been Shaped Throughout the the Millennia . Retrieved from Ancient Origins: https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/4000-year-history-horoscopes-how-astrology-has-been-shaped-throughout-021321

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tomogoto · 8 years ago

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授業初日

セメスター制のカーネギーメロンは、クォーター制のスタンフォードと違い秋学期が早く始まるので、今日が授業初日（スタンフォードは9月末）。同学年のHCII1年生は合計14人。男性が5人、女性が9人で留学生は私（日本）、ミシガン大学部出身の中国からの留学生、インドから２名、そしてコロンビアから1人の計5人だ。

授業初日ということで今日はアドバイザーになる予定の教員の授業（Learning Analytics）に出てみたが、カーネギーメロンが5年ほど前に作った修士プログラム、Masters of Educational Technology and Applied Learning Sciences（通称METALS）の学生がほとんどで、ちょっと窮屈であった。

http://metals.hcii.cmu.edu

このMETALSプログラムは、私のいたLDTやハーバードのTIE（Technology, Innovation, and Education）と同じく１年で教育工学・学習科学分野の修士号がとれるプログラムなのだが、留学生には非常に人��と聞く。というのも、LDTやTIEと違って取得学位がSTEM分野の学位として認定されるそうで、OPTと呼ばれる学位取得後米国で働ける期間が3年間もらえるとのこと（通常は1年）。LDTもSTEM分野の学位として認定を受けようと色々努力しているとのことだが、教育大学院のプログラムなのでなかなか難しいよう。特に、中国や韓国からの学生は結構な割合で卒業後米国に残りたい学生が多いので、こういった要素はとても重要なようだ（ハーバードを蹴ってCMUに来る留学生も多いのだとか）。

さて、おなじみHCIIの「初日から研究」ポリシーのせいで、学生は毎年何らかのpublication（Conference proceedingsかjournal article）を出すことを求められるそうなのだが、来年はICLS (International Conference of the Leanring Sciences), AIED (Articificial Intelligence in Education), L@S (Learning at Scale)が6月後半にロンドンで開催されるそうなので、まとめて複数行きたいところ。ネタも複数あるので、どれかに通るように頑張りたいと思います。

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