rconway – The Cyborg Apocalypse

Biohazard: Syndicate Final Presentation

Aaliyah Robinson, Arlene Butler, Isadora Fink, and Rachel Conway

Proposal:

Intro/Purpose

Our product is called Biohazard: Syndicate and is a Virtual Reality simulation that puts the player in the shoes of a young, single parent who is a lab tech at the start of a zombie apocalypse. The main idea of Biohazard: Syndicate is to educate college and pre-med students on the spread of diseases through a “hands-on” experience. This Virtual Reality will put the players in a lab at the beginning of a zombie apocalypse and allows them to study and learn about the spread of diseases with the feeling of urgency of the zombies surrounding them. This product is important and something that schools would benefit from because it allows students who are studying the transmission of pathogens to experiment with the bacteria and causes of the diseases without putting themselves in a harmful situation.

The background research consisted of looking into the different ways diseases can be spread, in order to know what needs to happen in the game. The information found consists of direct and indirect viral pathways, the importance of discovering a pathway, how to properly analyze a sample, and recognizing patterns within the data.

The target audience for the Biohazard: Syndicate is the science departments of Colleges and Universities.The schools are our target market because the program is designed for the use of college and pre-med students that are studying the spread of diseases because they will benefit from being in a virtual setting where they get to collect samples, analyze those samples, and then test different treatments. This will be conducted in a safe environment being that it is all virtual. The fact that it takes place during a zombie apocalypse will also teach the students how to deal with the pressure and time sensitivity.

Learning Outcomes

The main objective of the application is to educate students on pathology and discover new ways to facilitate learning. The students will be able to know how disease spreads, use laboratory tools and, understand how to conduct data collection. In the Experience the user will learn differentiation on the spread of disease. The player must decide if the spread is direct or indirect in order to inform the the public on methods to avoid the contagion. If the spread of the disease is direct the student would need to analyze the what makes the pathogen unable to spread without a host (Cortez).

The application is not just about just surviving the zombie apocalypse but to teach scientific methods and the study of pathology. The students will come out of the experience understanding how to use specific laboratory equipment properly and comprehend what it is to be used for. The application itself allows the student to interact with expensive equipment without the risk of damages or chemical hazards. In order to become proficient at a skill, one must practice with a hand on learning experience allowing for more neuron connections to occur and create a memorable experience (TÜRK).

In order to assess the students understand of the information given, the player’s must demonstrate the tasks in game. The accuracy of their work would be assessed by a point system such as a scoreboard. The score could appear on the in game avatars wrist, as well as, game achievements. The achievement represent player’s ability to specific objectives. These objectives would be the proper usage of equipment, determined how the disease spread or completion field data collection. The completion of the achievement describes that the student has the ability to correctly follow procedures and has payed attention to the applications information.

User Experience/ User Interface

There are currently no real marketable applications that truly teach the students about the spread of disease and the ways to stop it. Scientists at the Virus Research Center currently employ an application that permits them to view viruses and their weak points (Gates). This allows them to determine what can be used in order to stop the virus; this application is not readily available to the public. It is likely too complex for any ordinary person to fully comprehend. Using the HTC Vive the user can view the virus in a 360 view. Any noted weak spots could then virtually be tested to see if a certain drug would be able to denature the virus and thus create a vaccine.

While this technology is being used for groundbreaking scientific advancements, it does not educate undergraduate students, and it is incredibly boring. Looking at a colorful blob in order to stop a disease is not something the students may want to do. Our application, Biohazard: Syndicate, provides the undergrads with the knowledge of disease. It allows the user to experience lab work and data analysis, but also have some fun. At the start of the Zombie apocalypse, the user must gather samples from the undead and come up with a vaccine. As the user progresses through the game, they receive notification of their successes; the more achievements the better the user played, and the more the user learned. The user will be guided through the application, but not told if their conclusion is correct until the very end. The vaccine is tested on a child and the user will receive a notification if it worked.

Biohazard: Syndicate will be formatted for use on the HTC Vive. The visuals will ideally be realistic animation as to imitate the graphics of an actual video game. The HTC Vive can be used sitting or standing up. A room-scaled play area can be created in order to provide the user will a fully immersive experience. There is a built in safety system that warns the user as they approach the boundaries of their play area. This function provides the user with a sense of comfort. The headset is also equipped with a front-facing camera so that the user can still be aware of their surroundings outside of the headset. The headset is adjustable and fits over most glasses. The hand controllers are exclusively designed for VR and are equipped with HD haptic feedback. The wireless base stations are used to track the user throughout the play area; it has a 360 range.

The basis of the application is to provide the user with a fun way to learn about disease. The user is a lab technician at the start of the zombie apocalypse. They will work with a team of 6 under a lead pathologist. The user must fight zombies to collect samples, and use lab equipment to identify the pathogen and how it spreads. Near the end of the user’s experience the character’s child becomes sick with the disease. The research performed will determine whether the child is saved. The user will analyze the pathogen found in the samples with a computer and microscope, determine the necessary information, and finally vaccinate the child.

Storyboard

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Implementation Strategy

Overall, specific issues that occur with this technology will be cost, availability for consumers, and making sure the focus of the game is pathology and is not overshadowed by zombies. In order to combat the issues we set an idea of what systems would be most effective to use for the experience as haptic feedback is a necessary part of the application, we looked at the systems HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. To accomplish the main point of the application of being more than just a zombie apocalypse game, the focus of the must be labeled throughout the simulation and have limited interaction. By grouping the zombies as a labeled contagion without a first person shooter perspective the user would focus on the specific task more than trying to destroy all zombies.

The main target of our product is universities and college students. The application can be used as a resource in college classrooms to facilitate a hands experience without the risk of becoming sick. The application allows for a more interactive lecture requiring the students full attention. Our secondary target audience is students of any level of education such as high school students. The objective of the application is to create a learning experience that will establish an interest in the user. The way which we choose to advertise the product would be through social media sites commonly used by college students. The sites we believe to be most beneficial to advertise on would be Twitter,Youtube, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook.

App icon:

Long-term Vision

The initial prototype focuses on identifying what is causing the zombie disease. The players are motivated to find the cause by the knowledge that if they fail, their child will contract the disease. The first episode we are pitching is focusing on finding the cure, so that the player is not overwhelmed with too much at once. In the future of Biohazard: Syndicate, more episodes can be released that deal with finding a cure for the Zombie disease as well as one where you prevent further spread. The next episode released can use the information you developed when you found the cause of the disease to figure out how to further prevent the spreading of the disease so you will then be able to find a cure to the disease all together. Another expansion option is that the cure you developed does not work on everyone, so you then have to adjust the cure you found to help those who were not cured.

The 5-year plan for Biohazard: Syndicate begins with the release of the initial game, which includes finding the cause of the Zombie outburst. Once the game is released, we will then work on any bugs in the initial release, and promptly fix them to give the players the most realistic experience possible. We will take a year or so to gain feedback from the public on what they like or do not like about the game and develop the next episode, establishing the cure, taking into account the feedback from the players. We want to make sure the next game will be well received. If the feedback from the new episode is positive, we will then move forward with the third episode which will deal with the cure previously developed failing in some people, and the player will then need to adapt the cure to work on every person.

In conclusion, we hope that this pitch will be something that many of you consider for the future. With new diseases developing every year, this product will be beneficial to younger generations that are still learning and developing. This virtual reality experience can be a fun way of learning, while the users are still retaining useful information. According to Sandra Piovesan, virtual reality presents an opportunity of learning with a real situation, but artificially created, facilitating the visualization and the interaction sensation with the study focus. This virtual reality experience allows students to be dangerous situations while not actually being in any real danger. Furthermore, the virtual reality permits students to learn about real diseases in an interactive world based on images that are computer generated. This experience will be something that can be used for years to come, and it can fit in with the technology of today.

Work Cited

Balcarek, Kytia B., et al. “Neonatal Screening for Coenital Cytomegalovirus Infection by Detection of Virus in Saliva.” The Journal of Infectious Diseases, vol. 167, no. 6, 1993, pp. 1433–1436. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30112750.

Cortez, Michael H., et al. “Distinguishing between Indirect and Direct Modes of Transmission Using Epidemiological Time Series.” The American Naturalist, vol. 181, no. 2, 2013, pp. E43–E52. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/668826.

“Discover Virtual Reality Beyond Imagination.” VIVE™, HTC Corporation, www.vive.com/us/.

Gates, Bill. “Here’s How Virtual Reality Can Help Fight Disease.” Gatesnotes.com, The Gates Notes LLC, 11 July 2017, www.gatesnotes.com/Health/How-Virtual-Reality-Can-Help-Us-Fight-Viruses

Piovesan, S. D., Passerino, L. M., & Pereira, A. S. (2012). Virtual Reality as a Tool in the Education. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED542830.pdf

TÜRK, Cumhur, et al. “An Experimental Study on the Teaching of Seasons: Model Transformation.” [“MEVSİMLER KONUSUNUN ÖĞRETİMİ ÜZERİNE DENEYSEL BİR ÇALIŞMA: MODEL DÖNÜŞÜMÜ”]. International Journal of Eurasia Social Sciences / Uluslararasi Avrasya Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, vol. 8, no. 27, June 2017, pp. 531-561. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.stevenson.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=124908259&site=ehost-live.

Demo:

https://cdn.instavr.co/html/8Sxz9qHC6ihagXCMn80n_app.html

Presentation Link:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qZNbWfCU0HnHu-iA8PSrnf4or9zPYbT5Jj2H9vSD-kk/edit#slide=id.p

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VR Pitch: Making Cents

Overview:

I want to use a Virtual Reality application to teach elementary age kids currency math. I think it would be beneficial for kids to learn this skill. The number of young adults who cannot do money math is growing. I have a close friend who has trouble counting the different coin amounts because they are unaware of the different monetary values. To me, this is something that we can and should be fixing. The ability to count out money is something you cannot get by without in the world we live in. I believe this problem needs to be addressed at the elementary level so that kids are exposed to the math from an early age and continue to practice and get better as they grow up. I believe that teaching kids money math through the use of VR equipment is the best way to go about it because kids are intrigued by video games and combining the two will help keep their attention. There have been studies conducted about the relationship between video games supporting learning and educators agree with this statement (Jonker and Wijers, 2008).

VR Breakdown:

There will be multiple levels that vary in difficulty going from first graders up to fifth graders. The beginning level will teach the kids the different names and values of each coin and dollar bill so they can begin to familiarize themselves with each. As the kids move up in school, the math problems will coincide with what they are working on in their math classes so they are getting more practice with everything they are learning. As the child moves into fifth grade, they will be put into virtual scenarios where they gain experience purchasing different things in virtual store settings so they will be able to count out the money they owe and it will increasingly become more difficult, depending on the individual level of each student. In the Th!nklets article, they mention a money math game that is on the computer, and this is the mathematics I would like to incorporate into the VR world and make the game more immersive for the students. This will make them feel less like they are learning and more like they are simply playing a game (Jonker and Wijers, 2008).

Target Market:

My target market is elementary students, starting with first graders and going to fifth graders. However, the software can be adapted to provide more difficult scenarios and be implemented in middle schools as well. I want students to be able to count their money and not have to rely on calculators, or solely the use of debit and credit cards when they grow up because they never learned the different coin values or feel embarrassed to count out the money on their own. This skill will also come in handy for any high school student that wants to get a job in any retail store, or any job that deals with the exchange of money.

Empathy:

As the student submits answers to the different math problems in the game, there will be levels when they are given different amounts from other “students” and they have to count the money to see if they were correct or not. The “students” who are a part of the game will have times when they give the incorrect amount and if the player tells them the amount is correct, the student will laugh, letting them know they gave the wrong amount on purpose to teach the player how it feels to be picked on. In the higher levels of the game, when the player is in the store environment, there will be other “students” around them if they get their amounts wrong again. This is not to make the player feel embarrassed or bad, it is to teach them that everyone makes mistakes and that that is no reason to laugh at someone else.

References:

Vincent Jonker and Monica Wijers. 2008. Th!nklets for mathematics education: re-using computer games characteristics in educational software. In Proceedings of the 8th international conference on International conference for the learning sciences – Volume 1 (ICLS’08), Vol. 1. International Society of the Learning Sciences 406-413.

Cybernetic Bodies Comparison

Recently in history, artificial intelligence has been a big theory of concern among people. The concept of human-like robots is a new and unfamiliar idea and it has a tendency to make people uncomfortable. It has been an interesting experience to read and watch the different accounts of what people believe these creatures will be like in the future. We have gotten many different examples through different mediums and each one have been both unique, yet still similar in some ways to the other examples we have been studying. Throughout all of the works we have read in this class, there have been similarities and differences about the cybernetic bodies between each of the different mediums. The three different works I will be focusing on are the movie, Stepford Wives, the play R.U.R. and the television episode of Black Mirror.

In the movie, Stepford Wives, the women in the town of Stepford have all been replaced by the “ideal wife” the men in the town dreamt up. All of the women once they have been replaced with their robot counterpart are obedient, have the perfect, ideal body, genuinely enjoy household work such as cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children, and grocery shopping. The women do not have careers or jobs outside of the home and they are the paper definition of the “perfect woman”. The men in Stepford have clearly been working on the concept of creating the perfect wife for sometime and they have all of the means to do so. The men’s club is used to have the opportunity to draw perfect likenesses of the women to be used for the designing of the robots they also get a recording of the women’s voices to use. The fact that the men in this town see nothing wrong with killing and replacing their wives shocks me. Why would anyone want to give up the option of having a real conversation for someone who does the work of a maid but is still willing to have sex with them and please them in any way they can. The fact that this is what the movie suggests is all men care about speaks loud and clear.

In the episode from Black Mirror that we watched in class, the idea behind the intent for the cyborg is to aid in the grieving processes. This idea seems more humane than in Stepford Wives due to the fact that when Martha’s husband dies and she has been communicating with a computer program that used information about Ash, her deceased husband, she is fully aware the person is not real. And, when she reaches the point of the cyborg being introduced, she still knows he is not the real Ash, just an incredible likeness. Throughout the episode, the cyborg does or says things that upset Martha due to the fact the reaction was not what Ash would have actually said or done in that situation. This is different from the men in Stepford Wives because they wanted their wives to be obedient, they wanted them to change and be different which is why they killed and replaced them with cyborgs in the first place. However, Martha did not have a choice in the matter and if she had the option she would prefer the real Ash to the fake one who wishes to please her anyway she wishes. Both of the cyborgs in Stepford Wives and Black Mirror are obedient, they are lifelike and they can do anything their human version could do, they just do not have the thought processes of humans or the ability to react certain ways to things. For example, in Black Mirror, Martha becomes overwhelmed by the differences between cyborg Ash and the real man he was and she orders the cyborg to jump off of a cliff, Ash is willing to do so because it is what she asked of him. This upsets Martha more because she knows the real Ash would have fought her on it. In Stepford Wives, Joanna says that she bleeds when she cuts herself and asks Bobbie’s counterpart if she bleeds and stabs her in the stomach. Bobbie says, “Joanna, how could you do a thing like that?”(Katherine Ross and Paula Prentiss, 1975) and pulls the knife out of her stomach. Then Bobbie’s robot starts acting strange and repeating the same movements over and over, showing that her systems were malfunctioning.

In the play, R.U.R., the robots are very humanlike once again. When Helena first meets Sulla, she cannot believe that she is not human. In the play, Domin asks Sulla to let Helena have a look at her, “HELENA: (stands and offers her hand) Pleased to meet you. It must be very hard for you out here, cut off from the rest of the world.

SULLA: I do not know the rest of the world Miss Glory. Please sit down.

HELENA: (sits) Where are you from?

SULLA: From here, the factory.

HELENA: Oh, you were born here.

SULLA: Yes I was made here.

HELENA: (startled) What?

DOMIN: (laughing) Sulla isn’t a person, Miss Glory, she’s a robot.

HELENA: Oh, please forgive me…”(Capek, 1921). This encounter shows how these robots are much like the ones in both Stepford Wives, and the episode of Black Mirror we watched in class. The robots are also very content with being left to do their work. They do not seem to mind it too much, however, in the play, the robots realize they are sick of being ordered around and as a result they decide to kill every human on earth. They succeed in this plan as well, they manage to kill every human on earth, except one. They decide to let Alquist, the builder and chief of construction, live because, like them, he works with his hands. These robots are different in that they have thoughts and minds of their own and they use them to decide to kill the humans. In the end, Robot Helena and Robot Primus develop feelings toward one another and Alquist leaves the world to them knowing they will be the start of the next race on earth.

All in all, the robots tend to share a lot of the same characteristics between the different examples we have studied in class. The largest difference between the movie, play and episode would be that the robots in R.U.R. Revolt and kill the humans for the way they are treated. In Black Mirror and Stepford Wives, the robots do not seem like they would have the means to want to change the way they are, they know nothing else and are built in a way that they do not have minds of their own. The thought that one day these creatures could be considered the “norm” is an interesting concept to grasp. It is even more interesting to imagine which kind of cyborg they would most likely resemble. I think that, out of the three we’ve most recently looked at, the cyborgs from the episode of Black Mirror would be the kind I would want to see. The other two seem too odd for society. The damage that could be done from either one of those cyborgs is not something pleasant I would like to imagine.

Are We Really All That Different?

“What makes us human?” This question has been brought up quite a bit, especially throughout the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Phillip K. Dick. Figuring out what makes us human is a difficult task, all humans are different and there is not one sole trait we all share. The differences we have as humans should be the traits we celebrate, not things we can use as reasons to think that we are better than anyone else. Being human is a beautiful, complex affair and it is something we take for granted. Humanity is also not something that can be tested for. Humanity is accepting all of the things that make us unique and not putting others down for their differences.

In the book, Do Androids Dream of Elecrtic Sheep, they have a test to figure out who is human, and who is an android. The test they use is one that measures empathy, because evidently, being empathetic is what makes a human, human. In the book, Rick, has to give the empathy test to Rachael, to see whether or not he can test to figure out who are androids. The test consists of scenarios that refer to animals and questions on how you would react to the different scenarios. One of the scenarios is, “You are given a calf-skin wallet on your birthday.” This test has no proof behind it, you cannot tell who is human solely based on an empathy test. And, you cannot determine who is empathetic or not based on questions that all deal with animals. There are lots of outlying factors that could cause someone fail an empathy test. For example, some people have social anxieties and other neurological diseases that would keep them from being able to pass the empathy test. This is shown in the book due to the fact that John Isadore did not pass the empathy test and is considered a “special” and not allowed to reproduce, as if him not passing an empathy test makes him less than other humans. However, throughout the book, we are shown different examples of how Isadore is actually the most empathetic character of them all.

Determining what makes us human is not something that can be figured out by taking a test. One can come up with arguments for different tests, because what makes us human is not a single thing, it is a combination of different things. There is no single thing that makes us human; being human is a complex manner. All of us are different, and in a bunch of amazing ways. It is great that we are all different. We, as humans should be celebrating all of the differences we have, not tearing each other down for it. Unfortunately, the reality is that one of the main traits that makes us humans, are the fact that we are insecure, and we do not accept the fact that being different is not only okay, but that it is normal. In order to better ourselves as humans, we need to start being accepting of those that we consider “different” from us.

In today’s day and age, people have slowly become true to themselves, and started showing the world who they truly are. This generation has been more accepting of differences in people, however, there is still a good deal of backlash among older generations, and they can have quite the influence on their children. Bullying is still a large issue, and with the technological advances, cyber bullying makes the whole ordeal even worse. There are bullies that tell the people that are different than them that the world would be a better place without them, so they should just killed themselves. This is exactly the kind of behavior that we need to do away with. We should be celebrating the differences in everyone and building each other up. We cannot expect to be our best selves until we all realize everyone is the same, there is nothing about anyone that makes the any less of a human than the next person.

Like there are many ways we can determine what makes us human, there are many definitions of “different”. Lately, the majority of people would think the main difference we have from one person to another would be the fact that more people have been “coming out” and sharing their true sexual orientation. There are more people than ever now who are openly gay, and this is something we should be celebrating. It is amazing that people now feel comfortable enough to be themselves; this is what we need to be celebrating. However, being gay is not the only difference humans can have. There are many different mental and physical differences people can have. These differences need to be celebrated all the same. Every difference that a human has is one that cannot be changed; they are the exact person they were always supposed to be and we should never make anyone feel any less because of a difference, especially one they cannot change.

In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, John Isadore is outcast by society due to the fact that he did not pass the empathy test that the government gave to all citizens in order to determine if they had the values and morals they wanted to have passed on to the next generations. Due to the fact that John Isadore had a lower IQ than the majority of society at the time, he was forced to live alone. John Isadore was left to fend for himself in an environment where the majority of the population had left Earth to go and live on Mars or on a space shuttle in order to escape the radiation left over from the war. Being exiled to live in an abandoned apartment building made life hard for John Isadore, who enjoyed the company of others and was quite the caring, sensitive man. He was forced to live a life alone, even though he was one of, if not the, most caring, empathetic character in the book. John Isadore was what someone would categorize as “different”, and that is true, he is different than everyone else in his society. However, the difference in John is what makes him the most human in the book, and his difference actually is a good thing, but the knee-jerk reaction for all humans when something or someone is different from them, is for them to shun it. In cases like with Isadore though, we get a look at how we, as humans need to be more open and understanding towards the differences we have.

There have been horrible tragedies that go hand in hand with the recent trend in the gay community of more and more of them feeling comfortable enough to be themselves. One of these tragedies being the shooting that occurred last summer in Orlando, Florida. In the article, What Becomes of Empathy by Tim Recuber, he says, “Like so many others across the country and the world in the wake of the Orlando massacre, I experienced an intense form of empathy for the victims and their families, made possible in part by increasingly timely and intimate forms of news gathering in the digital age.” The fact that humans can hear these stories and feel such a sense of empathy towards the victims and their families makes me wonder if acceptance of everyone and their differences, can be something we all accept and do not look down upon others for choosing to be their true selves. I have hope that one day, all humans will be able to boost each other up for their differences, not tear them down and commit awful crimes, much like the one at Pulse Night Club last year.

Throughout human history, there have been many occurrences where the differences of people have been hidden due to the feeling of shame they get from being different than the mass majority. In A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway, she says, “The cyborg is a creature in a post-gender world; it has no truck with bisexuality, pre-oedipal symbiosis, unalienated labour, or other seductions to organic wholeness through a final appropriation of all the powers of the parts into a higher unity”. The fact that cyborgs are going to be able to look past sexuality differences is something we as humans should move forward to adopt. There is nothing wrong with having different sexual preferences and we should encourage those who do to feel comfortable enough to go out in the world and be themselves. Throughout Haraway’s article, she mentions the changes we as humans have gone through in different aspects of life. For example, Haraway mentions the changes that women have gone through with jobs and in the economy. Women used to be expected to get married, have children, cook and clean the house, and it was looked down upon for them to even consider getting a job. Humans should learn from our past to realize that wanting to step out and do things differently than have been done normally is something that we should adopt in modern times.

Overall, I believe that we as human beings need to come together and celebrate the differences we all have. The best part of being human is that we are not the same as anyone else. That is something that we need to be proud of. Humans need to start boosting each other up instead of tearing down anyone who shares their differences instead of hiding them like the majority of people have been doing for all of their lives. Humanity is not something that we can test for; humanity is accepting all of the things that make us unique and celebrating the others who are confident enough to share their differences with the world.

Works Cited

Haraway, Donna Jeanne. “A Cyborg Manifesto.” A Cyborg Manifesto: science, technology,

and socialist-Feminism in the late twentieth century, 2009, pp. 291–324.

Pages, The Society. “What Becomes of Empathy?” Cyborgology, 26 July 2016,

thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2016/07/20/what-becomes-of-empathy/.

Dick, Phillip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Del Rey, 1968.