Jess Bansil's Blog

Below are my Space Odyssey notes. I'm not the best note taker during movies, because I find it distracts me from actually watching the movie and then I end up missing parts. Instead of typing what was happening, I tried to document the parts of the movie that seemed important and had symbolic representation. NOTES:  End of the 1960s, beginning of the 1970s ppl were high on hallucinogens Apes and cheetahs brutally fighting  Very graphic and violent  Not sure if there is symbolism behind who is the cheetah and who is the ape (coming back after watching the movie, maybe a symbol of the fight between humans and technology?) Apes start making noise at the mysterious man made sculpture that appears Rectangular in shape  Apes start attacking each other and fighting over the resources Fighting with bones of other animals Pans to a spaceship with facial and voice recognition Fully automated with everything controlled by technology Americans are meeting with Russians in space ...

       When I was watching Space Odyssey in class, I was most surprised about the accuracy of the guesses of what a technology-dependent future would look like. From giving Hal commands and questions to the screens that were equivalent to facetime, I was forced to reflect on my own dependency on technology. I was excited to do this assignment to see how a piece of technology I rely on in so many ways reacts to simple questions that are inherent to a human's nature and everyday life.        I asked the question, “Where are you from?” Siri replied, “I was designed by Apple in California.” I was first surprised that she didn’t make some sort of joke, because Siri is somewhat notorious for having sassy answers to questions she can’t necessarily answer. However, watching the movie made me understand that with developing technology comes developing reservations about humans dependence on technology. Especially now, in times of a polarised culture a...

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 My favourite short from Love Death and Robots was the season 1 episode "Three Robots". This episode had a lighter tone than previous shorts, with the three main characters being easily likable and quick witted. The robots are a part of technology I was impressed with, since we have models resembling the characters, like Alexa, who can converse and make jokes. I appreciated the irony of the robots going on this vacation to try and figure out how humans work, considering the fact we spend so much time today trying to figure out how to better work robots. When they first stop at the abandoned high school, I thought it could be a nod to high schools during COVID where they became empty and 'run down' since everyone was online (the episode was made in 2019 though). Their confusion to understand how the basketball was fun was entertaining, and also highlighted the juxtaposition between advanced technology and the simplicity of everyday objects.  I also really liked the par...

 My name is Jess Bansil and I'm currently a senior double major in Political Science and Speech and Communication Studies. At UT, I am a Spartan Ambassador (tour guide), a Judiciary Advisory Board member in student government, a member of UT Democrats, a member of the Delta Gamma Sorority, and a student in the honours program. I've lived in England, Canada, Ohio, New York, and my family just recently moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Outside of class, some of my hobbies including reading, going on walks, trying new foods, and watching documentaries. I've always found myself to be bad at math, so instead I enjoy classes surrounding history and english. For our first class, I had mixed emotions because I was sad we couldn't be in person. However, I live 2 miles away from campus with no car, so it saved me walking in at 7 in the morning. In class, we went over the syllabus and expectations for the upcoming semester. It sounds like a class I've never taken before, so I...