CITIES: Fireworks? Or a New Sky!

Posted on July 4, 2024 by Building The World

**July 2024: month of celebrations and aerial art. Is it time for a new sky?** Image: “Everlasting Fireworks” from Nagaoka Festival 2012, looped by Jahobr, 2020. Creative Commons 3.0 Included with appreciation.

July 2024: a month of celebratory aerial art. It is time for a new sky?

“**Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra**” by Garrett A. Wollman, Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

July 4: In the United States, today marks Independence Day with festive sky illuminations over cityscapes from Alabama (“Thunder on the Mountain”) and Arizona (Scottsdale’s WestWorld) to Massachusetts with the Boston Pops on the city’s Esplanade playing the war-related “1812 Overture ” complete with cannon fire supplied by 101st Field Artillery accompanied by fireworks, and James Taylor at Tanglewood, all the way to Wyoming where Lander hosts a rodeo and celestial conflagration.

“**Fly Over Bastille Day, 2017.**” by Chief Petty Officer Michael McNabb, 2017. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

July 14: Bastille Day follows suit. Fireworks with the Eiffel Tower as background are a classic on this National Day. There a military parade on the Champs-Elysées. Some would observe that many national anthems celebrate war (can we celebrate peace?). Fireworks clog already-polluted urban air.

**“Olympic rings in the Place du Trocadéro”** by .Anja, 2017. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

July 26: the Paris Olympics will feature 10,500 athletes floating along the Seine river in national team boats, with opening ceremony finale at the Trocadéro. Fireworks often illumine Olympic celebrations.

TIME FOR A NEW SKY?

But there are at least two public health reasons why fireworks should no longer be the light show of choice: urban pollution and risk of wildfires. And now, there is a technological opportunity to consider a new sky.

AIR POLLUTION

**Air over cities can improve**. “Fanhe Town, Tieling, China: 10 day interval contrast” by Tomskyhaha, 2019. Included with appreciation.

Air pollution and urban smog are a global problem. But this July, two places may have options for cleaner air. In the USA, many cities suffer air quality issues from ozone with Los Angeles, California the worst, followed by Phoenix, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Chicago, Illinois; and Albuquerque, New Mexico having trouble (descending order). And then there is particulate pollution – deadly to lungs where tiny pieces lodge, causing chronic conditions and also deadly disease. From Bakersfield, Fresno, San Francisco/Oakland, and Los Angeles in California (highest) to Corpus Christi, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada, the health of urban citizens is at risk.

Paris suffers air quality problems well above World Health Organization recommended limits. Levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter have declined since France placed limits on diesel-fueled vehicles, but clouding the skies with explosions, however artistic, stresses the respiratory tracts of viewers, not to mention Earth’s atmosphere. Figures reveal that 7,900 premature deaths could have been avoided in Paris in 2022 if pollution were better controlled. What about 2024?

WILDFIRES

Climate change has brought increasing drought and with it, wildfires. In the United States, California is so prone to wildfires that the state established a tracking dashboard for residents to evaluate daily risk. So far, this summer has seen the Basin fire covering 13,980 acres (26% contained); the Bolt 3-2 fire damaging 10, 353 acres (98% contained). To date, 147,012 acres have burned: up 394%. The site also lists water shortages. Canada also suffered extensive wildfire damage in recent years (see above images from Sentinel-2A).

Did you know that wildfires peak around holidays when local folks set off their own fireworks at their house or area field? According to the US Forest Service, wildfires saw a predictable spike on July 4 during the period of 1992 to 2020. So-called “Roman candles” in Washington, DC burned down a 76-person residential building last week. In 2023, 9,700 people sought hospital emergency treatment for firework-linked injuries: half were children.

A NEW SKY

**Drones offer new sky art**. Image: “Intel Drone 100 Light Show” by Ars Electronica Futurelab, 2015. Photography by Preetam Choudhury, 2015. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

With threats of air pollution and wildfires, some cities are opting out of traditional fireworks and turning to drone sky art. Boulder, Colorado pivoted to drone shows after the Marshall Fire (2021/22) took two lives and 6,000 acres (2,428 hectares). California’s La Jolla and Ocean Beach opted for sky animations six years ago. Napa, a city known for festive toasts, will take precaution in the midst of a dangerous heat wave with attendant fire risks to present July 4th 2024 air choreography by 400 drones. In the UK, at the coronation of King Charles III, the light show was delivered by drones. At the recent Tokyo Olympics, drones ascended to offer sky art.

Drones are becoming a good investment: the market has grown from nil to $1 billion in 2021. Drone stocks are soaring – some as high as the new sky art we may see this July.

**Technology offers an opportunity for a new sky. Is now the time?** “6/60/Dronc gif” by BQ20 H. Vargas, 2020. Creative Commons 4.0 Included with appreciation.

For a light show, by drone, click here.

American Lung Association. “State of the Air: Most Polluted Cities in 2024.” https://www.lung.org/research/sota/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities

Brooke, K. Lusk. “A New Sky.” 4 July 2023. Building the World Blog. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2023/07/04/cities-wildfires-fireworks-and-a-new-sky/

Bogle, Jeff. “The Best Fireworks Displays in Every State.” 27 June 2024. Reader’s Digest.

Calmatters. “Track California Wildfires 2024.” https://calmatters.org/california-wildfire-map-tracker/

Kiszla, Cameron. “Fireworks can be breathtaking in more ways than one.” 3 July 2024. KTLA. https://ktla.com/news/local-news/fireworks-air-quality/

Maggiacomo, Taylor. “You don’t need your own fireworks to celebrate July 4.”4 July 2024. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07’02/opinion/thepoint/you-dont-need-your-own-fireworks-to-celebrae-july-4

Napa, California. “Drone Show to Light Up Napa’s 4th of July Celebrations.” https://www.cityofnapa.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=716.

RFI. “Paris air pollution still too high.” https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20230413-paris-air-pollution-still-too-high-despite-slight-improvement

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich. “1812 Overture – with Cannons” listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUpuAvQQrC0

Williams, Ashley R. “Some US cities are replacing 4th of July fireworks with environmentally friendly drones.” 2 July 2023. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/02/us/drones-replace-july-fourth-fireworks-trnd

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

VOICE OF THE FUTURE 2023: AI

Posted on December 28, 2023 by Building The World

“AI-generated virtual movie star Ornella Muti” by Lasemainecomtoiise, 2018. Creative Commons CC0. Public domain. Included with appreciation.

Is it live or is it AI? The year 2023 saw breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (AI), accelerated by ChatGPT and other wonders. Legal questions emerged, marking the recognition of a significant milestone in civilization. Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, made the news.

Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, made the news in 2023. Image: “Sam Altman” by photographer Steve Jennings for Getty Images/Tech Crunch, crop edited by James Tamim, 2019. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

Legal issues on the rights of AI began in 2019 when the Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience (DABUS) was named as inventor-of-record in a U.S. patent application. But DABUS was developed by a human, Stephen Thaler. Deliberations resulted in the decision that AI is not a person, and patents can be awarded only to those with personhood. In 2022, Thaler appealed; but the Federal Circuit Court issued an opinion on 5 August 2022 that “the invented cannot be the inventor.” (Nemec 2023) What would Alan Turing say?

Many credit Alan Turing as one of the early founders of computer science and artificial intelligence. Image: “Alan Turning” circa 1930. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

In 2023, the Thaler decision led the U.S. Patent Office to express interest in additional guidance on how to handle AI’s contribution to inventions. It’s a question for our times, and for the future. AI not only walks the walk; it talks the talk.

AI not only walks the walk; it talks the talk. AI has a voice. Image: Activemaker2 by Hipocrite, 2006. Creative Commons Public Domain. Included with appreciation to Hipocrite.

AI has a voice. We hear it in chatbots, and we challenge it in strikes like that of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Authors Guild in 2023. AI-generated texts are a worry not only for authors whose carefully crafted language may be providing free training for bots who will later generate texts, but also for professors who must now consider plagiarism in a new way. Copyright law is also expanding to set guidelines for AI.

This x-ray of a hand was read and bone age diagnosed by AI, computer software BoneXpert. Image by Setzner1997, public domain. Included with appreciation.

Did you know that AI is racking up medical and pharmaceutical innovations? AI-driven drug discovery is being carried out by more than 250 companies, half of which are in the United States. The advantage of AI as a research partner is speed: Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and Exscientia developed DSP-1191 to ease a difficult condition in one-quarter of the normal time it takes for such discoveries. (McKinsey, 2022)

“Particle Swarm Seeking Global Minimum” graphic animation by Ephramac, 2017. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

While much of the activity, and controversy, concerning AI stirs the American economy, the European Union may be the first to develop AI laws. The 2023 EU’s “AI Act” forbids AI that threatens public safety and person’s rights. The law developed over two years of discussion, noting chatbots, OpenAI, ChatGPT, image-generation technologies, as well as audio and video. AI images have mesmerized and influenced over 100 million users. Images may include facial recognition, important to law enforcement and immigration, but also perhaps threatening to personal privacy and frequently racially unjust.

Facial recognition software is a form of AI. Image: “Eigenfaces from ORL face data” from AT&T Laboratories, Cambridge. Public Domain. Included with appreciation to AT&T and ORL.

EU and US law both address use of the prompt to generate images through AI. Such images are, by definition, not applicable to copyright law because they do not contain enough material that can be judged as created by a human. Artists, including members of creative communities like HUG, are taking note. Here’s such an image:

AI-generated image, created by prompt. Image: “Snow glove that contains a spiral galaxy,” prompt by Jason, 2023. Because it is AI-generated, this image is in the public domain. It is included with appreciation to Jasin for the prompt.

Fascinated by what’s real and what’s AI? Interested in AI tools? Here is a list of the top 100 AI tools of 2023. Want to create your own images with a prompt? Try this Harvard guide.

Alan Turing. “The Turing Digital Archive.” King’s College, Cambridge University. https://turingarchive.kings.cam.ac.uk/node/2

Devereson, Alex, et al., “AI in biopharma research: A time to focus and scale,” 10 October 2022. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/life-sciences/our-insights/ai-in-biopharma-research-a-time-to-focus-and-scale

European Union. “AI Act” https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20231206IPR15699/artificial-intelligence-act-deal-on-comprehensive-rules-for-trustworthy-ai

Exscientia. https://www.exscientia.ai

Harvard University. “Getting started with prompts for text-based Generative AI tools.” Harvard University Information Technology (HUIT). https://huit.harvard.edu/news/ai-prompts

Nemec, Douglas R. and Laura M. Rann. “AI and Patent Law: Balancing Innovation and Inventorship.” April 2023. Skadden Insights. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates. https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2023/04/quarterly-insights/ai-and-patent-law

Sumitomo Pharma. https://www.sumitomo-pharma.com

Thaler v. Vidal. https://cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-orders/21-2347.OPINION.8-5-2022_1988142.pdf.

United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). “Artificial Intelligence’s Use and Rapid Growth Highlight Its Possibilities and Perils.” 6 September 2023. U.S, GAO. https://www.gao.gov/blog/artificial-intelligence-use-and-rapid-growth-highlight-its-possibilities-and-perils

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). “Inventing AI: Tracing the diffusion of artificial intelligence with U.S. patents.” Office of the Chief Economist, USPTO, October 2020. https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/OCE-DH-AI.pdf

Zuckerberg, Randi and Debbie Soon. “Hug and Stability AI.” https://thehug.xyz

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

Appreciation to Rachael M. Rusting, Cherie E. Potts, Todd H. Ward, and Shira P. White for discussions of AI.

CITIES: Wildfires, Fireworks, and A New Sky

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Building The World

**Will drones replace fireworks?** Image: Nagaoka Festival 2006 by ZorroIII. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Many cities light up the sky during festive occasions. In the United States, today marks a holiday often celebrated with fireworks. But with drought plaguing some areas, the risk of igniting wildfires is causing an innovation: sky art with drones. Instead of traditional fireworks, the city of Boulder, Colorado will feature a drone show (the Marshall Fire of 2021/22 killed two people and devastated 6000 acres/2,428 hectares). Galveston, Texas will also illumine the holiday with a drone display. California towns of La Jolla and Ocean Beach will flash the night sky with animations. It’s a new idea for La Jolla: the city has forgone any fireworks for five years.

**Drone aerial display during coronation of King Charles III.** Image: Department for Culture, Media and Sport, by SkyMagic Drone Shows, May 2023. Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Drones replacing fireworks on this holiday will not be a first. Tokyo used drones during their most recent Olympics; during their first Olympian experience, the city launched the innovation of Shinkansen. And, in 2023, the coronation of King Charles III featured an artistic drone light display.

**Drones are an innovation that has grown to a $1 billion market in the past decade.** Image: Drone Flying Eye, 2011 by Drone Flying Eye. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

For sky art, drones have advantages over fireworks: no smoke, no falling particles, and a quieter display. Drones are an innovation that has grown impressively over the past ten years from almost nothing to a $1 billion market in 2021.

Has your city used drones instead of fireworks? What do you think of this new trend? For a sample of drone light shows, click here.

Hirsch, Lauren and Michael J. de la Merced. “Fireworks Have a New Competitor: Drones.”1 July 2023. The New York Times.

O’Connell, Brian. “7 Best Drone Stocks to Watch in 2023.” U.S. News & World Report. https://money.usnews.com/investing/stock-market-news/slideshows/drone-stocks-to-consider-as-the-technology-soars

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

TRANSPORT: Building urban transit, unearthing ancient treasures

Posted on February 16, 2023 by Building The World

Mexico City is built on the foundation of Tenochtitlan. “Foundation of Tenochtitlan” by Roberto Cueva Del Rio (1908-1988), 1986. Photograph by Jujomzx. Creative commons, public domain. Included with appreciation.

Building an urban transit system in an already dense city is a case study in retrofitting. But what happens when cities dig deep and uncover archeological treasures? During the construction of Boston Central Artery (known at the time as “The Big Dig”) uncovered a 17th century home and a 19th century glass factory.

“Amsterdam: construction of subway station Rokin.” by A. Bakker. Creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Amsterdam is another example. When Dutch engineers began work on the North-South metro line, they unearthed 10,000 artifacts. The Amstel River and banks yielded objects like ancient coins, and the remnants of a furniture craft store from the 1800 era. Working in underwater caissons like those used to build the Brooklyn Bridge, archeologists assembled an archive of objects, and documented the process with film and a . Within the new Rokin station urban travelers can enjoy a wall of stone mosaics by Daniel Dewar and Grégory Gicquel featuring found objects. Eight stations on the new metro line present art as well. The metro has become an underground museum.

México City’s metro goes right to one of the greatest urban archeological discoveries in history: the Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan. On 21 February 1978, electrical workers digging near the city’s main plaza, called the Zócalo, hit a stone. It was no ordinary stone. The object was carved in the shape of disk measuring 10 feet in diameter. On its surface, a relief could be traced to reveal a portrait of Coyolxauhqui, warrior sister of Huizilopochtli, deity of the ancient Mexicas.

On 21 February 1978, Mexico dug for electrical installation and unearthed this treasure, a stone disk carved in the image of Coyolxauhqui. Photo by miguelao,2009, creative commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

An archeological team led by Eduardo Matos Moctezuma excavated the site for the next four years, when the endeavor received presidential support as the Templo Mayor Project. More than 7,000 objects were unearthed, bearing witness to the glories of Tenochtitlan, the Templo Mayor, and a series of temples that once stood as evidence of the great civilization. When Tenochtitlan fell in 1521 to the invasion of Cortés and troops, Aztec temples were destroyed. But now, they are once again part of México’s history and culture. To visit the site, take the México City metro Blue Line to the Zócalo stop, and step back in time.

Lewis, Ann-Eliza H., Editor. Highway to the Past: The Archaeology of Boston’s Big Dig. Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Massachusetts Historical Commission, 2001. Https://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpdf/Big_Dig_book, pdf

Museo de Templo Mayor. https://www.templomayor.inah.gob.mx/

Pinto-Rodrigues, Anne. “How train tunnels beneath Amsterdam revealed a medieval treasure trove.” 13 February 2023. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/underground-amsterdam-treasures-rokin

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

SPACE: Year of the Water Rabbit

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Building The World

“*Lievre de l’astrologie chinoise*,” by Alice-astro (image) and Miuki (character), 2013. Wikimedia CC3.0. Included with appreciation.

Welcome, Year of the Water Rabbit. Seasons may give us the year, but the moon tells us when the year is new. Amidst feasts and fireworks, this year’s water rabbit may also bring scientific good tidings. Did you know that Chinese tradition places a rabbit on the moon? And now that rabbit may have discovered lunar water.

“Chane’e, The Moon Goddess,” Late Yuan or early Ming Dynasty. Courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago, ARTIC artwork ID: 1108 23. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

An ancient myth tells of Chang’e spirited from Earth to the Moon in a lovers’ tangled tale. She became the Moon goddess. But even a goddess can become lonely, so she was allowed to have a pet: a rabbit. Chang’e and her pet rabbit Yutu entered space lore when NASA’s Apollo 11 crew exchanged banter with Houston Mission Control just before the lunar landing in 1969, as the astronauts promised to look for the two lunar mythic figures. When China sent its first lunar probe to the moon in 2007, it was named Chang’e-1: its little robotic rover was name Yutu – Jade Rabbit. Chang’e was just getting started: in 2022, Chang’e-5 and its rover Yutu discovered evidence of water on the moon.

“Chang-e-5 orbiter ascender separation” by China News Service, 2020. Creative commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Water on the moon is a big discovery. Water is necessary for human habitation: carrying needed water into space would severely limit stays. Water could encourage space agriculture: one can consume, and carry, only so much tubular food. Finally, water – yielding hydrogen – might provide rocket fuel. Processing lunar water will be a technical challenge, but having water to start with is essential. Thanks to Chang’e – moon goddess – and Yutu, the Water Rabbit (among other space missions globally), human exploration may open wider, and longer, horizons.

“Water detected at high latitudes on the Moon.” graphic image by NASA, 2008. Public domain image. Included with appreciation.

Back on Earth, Year of the Water Rabbit opens a holiday with a long tradition. In China, as early as the 14th century bce, astronomers began to track solar longitude and lunar phases, forming the basis for a scientific yearly cycle. In China, around the time when the Grand Canal began to take shape, the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 bce) initiated the tradition of honoring the new year. The following Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 bce) continued the custom, now turning its purpose to wishes for a good harvest in the soon-to-come spring. But it was not until the Han Dynasty (202 bce – 220 ce) that a method for determining the date was added, and families began to plan gatherings to feast and celebrate. The ancient lunar calendar was replaced in 1912 by the common, so-called Gregorian, calendar, but by 1949, popular practice prevailed and a public holiday period was renamed “Spring Festival” but is still called by many, Lunar New Year. Across Asia, and around the world, festivities feature feasting by sharing “longevity noodles.”

Noodles are a Lunar New Year culinary tradition. “New Year Prosperity Toss,” by photographer Jayden Teo, 2020. Creative commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

How did the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival tradition become associated with animals? The origins of the practice are shrouded in ancient history, but some folk legends exist. Naming years after animals is surely more poetic and interesting than sequential numbering. Around the first century ce, the zodiac menagerie was grafted onto a 12-year cycle repeating within a 60-year system. Within that system, animals dance through the elements of water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. Behold 2023: Year of the Water Rabbit.

Find the rabbit above. “Chinese Zodiac” by RootOfAllLight, 2018. Wikimedia Creative Commons, 4.0 Included with appreciation.

Brooke, K. Lusk and Zoë G. Quinn. “Thank you and Good Night, Jade Rabbit.” 5 August 2016. Building the World Blog, University of Massachusetts Boston. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2016/08/05/thank-you-and-good-night-jade-rabbit/

Douma, M. curator. “Calendars through the Ages.” WebExhibits.org, Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement (IDEA). https://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-chinese.html

East Asian Studies and Asian American Studies, School of Humanities. “Lunar New Year 2023.” University of California, Irvine. https://www.humanities.uci.edu/news/lunar-new-year-2023

Liu, J. et al., “Evidence of water on the lunar surface from Chang’e-5 in-situ spectra and returned samples. Nat Commun 13, 3119 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30807-5

Timothy S.Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology. “History of Chinese New Year,” Wake Forest University. https://lammuseum.wfu.edu/education/teachers/chinese-new-year/history-of-chinese-new-year/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

VIVA 2023!

Posted on January 1, 2023January 1, 2023 by Building The World

**Happy New Year** “2023” by MUTCD and Freddie. Wikimedia, public domain. Included with appreciation.

“Palette of varieties of magenta” by InfinitePS Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

If 18-1750 sounds like a color to you, you’re either a Cochineal or an AI bot. Pantone’s Color of the Year 2023 is a combination of Natural and Artificial Intelligence. Cochineals are sessile insects from the suborder of Sternorrhyncha, who thrive on Opuntia cactus plants in the tropical Americas. It is from these insects that carmine, a natural dye, is obtained for the vibrant textiles of Oaxaca, Mexico. Imported to Europe after the Spanish arrived in the Americas, carmine colored both the red coats of British military officers who marched across London Bridge and the red regalia of Roman Catholic cardinals. Carmine became Mexico’s second-most popular export, after silver, during the 17th century. Today, the color still enlivens Mexican textiles and art including Oaxacan Alebrijes.”

“*Alebrijes en el Mercado Pochote en Oaxaca, México*” by photographer Nsaum75, wikimedia CC3.0. Included with appreciation.

Leatrice (Lee) Eiseman, originator of Pantone’s Color of the Year concept and arbiter of the tone of the year 2023, commented that after selecting Viva Magenta “a pulsating color whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative” (Pantone 2022), Pantone utilized AI image-generation by Midjourney, to create a Magentaverse.

**Magenta is not part of the visible color spectrum of light. Our brains create it – magenta is virtual.** Image: Linear visible spectrum” by Gringer, 2008. Public Domain wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

Another virtual aspect of Viva Magenta or 18-1750 is that the color does not actually exist. Magenta does not have a wavelength of light: it is a mix of red and purple, the two points on the color spectrum that merge into each other. Magenta is created in our brains that fill in the space to form a virtual color.

As you begin the year 2023, how will you balance two kinds of intelligence: Natural and Virtual?

Brooke, K. Lusk. “How Pantone Colors the Year.” page 132-134. Renewing the World: Water (2022). ISBN: 978-8-9850359-1-9.

Feldman, Ella. “What is Viva Magenta, Pantone’s ‘Brave’ and ‘Fearless’ Color of the Year?” 2 December 2022. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/viva-magenta-pantone-color-of-the-year-2023-180981230

Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. “Cochineal” Read in English and Leer en Español. https://hmsc.harvard.edu/cochineal

Midjourney. https://midjourney.com

Pantone. “Color of the Year 2023 – Viva Magenta” https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2023

Settembre, Amelia. “Magenta: The Color That Doesn’t Exist and Why.” 26 February 2020, The Medium. https://medium.com/swlh/magenta-the-color-that-doesnt-exist-and-why-ec40a6348256

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

TRANSPORT: Metaverse Navigation Coordinates

Posted on June 24, 2022 by Building The World

“Mixed Reality with a Virtual Reality Headset.” by Pierre-Faure, 2017. Dedicated to public domain use, wikimedia. With appreciation.

The Metaverse has established a forum for shared standards. What is the role of standards in technological advancement?

The Grand Canal of China transformed a region into a nation, partly by transport and partly by shared standards. The internal waterway, begun in 600 bce and stretching 1, 118 miles (1,800 kilometers), resulted in a communication network linking formerly disparate states, with a shared waterway. Along with the network came a newly standardized written language to be used for governance, trade, and by all navigating the waterway. Some say the Grand Canal was the internet of its time – both a new thoroughfare and a new standard.

The Grand Canal resulted in a new standard for written language. “Chinese characters for Grand Canal,” by White Whirlwind, dedicated to the public domain. Wikimedia. With appreciation.

Our present internet is also the result of shared communication standards. On 29 October 1969, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn built upon the packet switching capability, developed by the United States Department of Defense’s network called ARPANET, to introduce new standards: Internet Protocol address (IP address) and Domain Name System (DNS), coordinated by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Soon, another standard, World Wide Web, was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee at Cern in 1989, becoming the world’s most used software platform. The World Wide Web entered into to public use in 1991: Cern opened universal access to code and protocols royalty-free in 1993. Berners-Lee is now director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and director of the World Wide Web Foundation.

The term “metaverse” was first seen in *Snow Crash* by Neal Stephenson. Image: wikimedia and Bantam Books, with appreciation.

The term “metaverse” came into parlance (a combo of “meta” and “universe” described in a 1992 science fiction novel by Neal Stephenson called Snow Crash. In that novel, the metaverse is a wide road called the Street. Since then, the term has become associated with virtual reality, and supporting technology and software. Since then, the World Wide Web (that created the familiar “www” letters introducing a website) morphed into Web3. Video games, especially those using the 2003 virtual world Second Life are sometimes referred to as the first actual metaverse. In 2021, Facebook renamed itself Meta Platforms Inc., announcing its direction to exploration of the metaverse. Crypto began to rival paper and metal. Avatars came to life.

“Sintel face morph” from open source Sintel. Courtesy of Sintel and Zach Copley. Creative Commons 3.0. With appreciation.

In the metaverse, time can become virtual. Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts, offers an augmented reality (AR) interface between a live performance of Ted Shawn’s “Dance of the Ages” and archival footage of the 1938 original performance. Ted Shawn is dancing in 1938 and in 2022 – at the same time.

“Ted Shawn lays his head on Jacob’s Pillow Rock” from archives of Jacob’s Pillow, Creative Commons 3.0, Wikimedia. Included with appreciation to Jacob’s Pillow.

Audience members scan a QR code to access footage of the historic 1938 dance masterpiece, while at the same time enjoying a contemporary rendition. Jacob’s Pillow and the Knight Foundation worked with Adam Weinert and Dancers to bring ‘then and now’ into the same moment. For a preview, see this clip.

The metaverse – from VR headseats to QR codes to crypto currencies – works through acceleration and adoption of shared standards, terminology, and interoperability. Like the Chinese scripted language of the ancient Grand Canal, shared standards are the foundations of new eras. That’s why this week’s announcement by the Metaverse Standards Forum of cooperation and coordination of international standards is so significant.Enter here.

Ballentine, Claire and Misyrlena Egkolfogoulou. “The Metaverse Requires a Whole New Vocabulary to Navigate Web3. 8 April 2022. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-08/what-s-the-metaverse-web3-terms-for-a-new-virtual-world

Jacob’s Pillow. https://www.jacobspillow.org

Metaverse Standards Forum. “Where leading standards organizations and companies cooperative to foster interoperability standards for an open metaverse.” https://metaverse-standards.org

Paul, Katie. “Meta and other tech giants form metaverse standards body, without Apple.” 21 June 2022. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-other-tech-giants-form-metaverse-standards-body-without-apple-2022-06-21/

Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. 1992 ISBN: 055308853X.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

WATER: Noah’s Ark for Marine Life

Posted on April 14, 2022April 13, 2022 by Building The World

“Noah’s Ark,” by Edward Hicks. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Public Domain, USA. Image: wikimedia

Coral reefs cover just 1% of the ocean floor but support 25% of all marine life. According to The Ocean Agency’s founder Richard Vevers, even if we meet the targets of the Paris Agreement, we may lose 90% of our coral reefs by mid-century due to ocean warming and acidification that causing coral reef bleaching. Working with the Centre for Excellence in Environmental Decisions at the University of Queensland, The Ocean Agency and a team of scientists selected 50 coral reefs that are most likely to survive climate change with a little help. The reefs chosen are a sample “large enough to allow protection of reefs in all major regions” (UQ 2017).

“Coral planting and reef restoration,” by Profmauri, 2011. Creative Commons 3.0, wikimedia.

Given this ‘Noah’s Ark’ for coral and marine life, how can this precious resource be preserved? Much like the examples of humans helping Nature as in the National Trails System, Roman Aqueducts or the New River, natural coral reefs may get a boost from engineering innovations. Coral can be grown in a lab, where growth that could take 100 years in the ocean can be accomplished in two years under laboratory conditions. Once the tiny corals are ready for transplanting, they can be placed on reefs that are suffering but still able to recover; it’s a process known as “reskinning.”

“The Silent Evolution” by James deCaires Taylor. Photographer, allenran 917, 2014. Creative Commons 2.0.

Another option: forming new coral reefs using underwater sculptures like those created by James deCaires Taylor for the Australia’s Museum of Underwater Art on Great Barrier Reef, and Mexico’s Mesoamerican Reef, largest in the Western Hemisphere, for the Museo Subacuático de Arte. Some debate whether such sculptures are helping or harming marine life. Similar underwater sculpture gardens created by Angeline Chen and Kyle Block, founders of Global Coralition, are located in Koh Tao, Thailand, and in the Dominican Republic, where art honors the traditional water deities of the Arawak/Taino cultures of the Caribbean.

“Blue Spotted Stingray in Koh Tao, Thailand coral reef,” photographer Jan Derk, 2004. Generously dedicated to the public domain by Jan Derk. Creative Commons. With appreciation to Jan Derk.

Vevers worried that coral is an emergency that is invisible to all but divers and the denizens of the ocean. To make the invisible visible (coincidentally the theme for World Water Day 2022 referencing groundwater), The Ocean Agency reached out to Jeff Orlowski and Larissa Rhodes to collaborate on a Netflix film: “Chasing Coral.” During filming, the most dangerous coral bleaching event in history occurred. The film debuted at Sundance and has helped to make coral’s plight more accessible. Watch the film here.

“Coral reef locations,” by NASA, 2006, from Millennium Coral Reef Landsat Archive. Public Domain. 50 are chosen for “Noah’s Ark” preservation. For information on each reef, visit http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/landsat.pl

Art may help to raise awareness, and respect, for the world’s coral reefs. In addition to nurturing 25% of marine life, coral provides 1 billion people with food, jobs, and income that generates $375 billion in economic benefits. Coral reels are not visible to most of us, so they may be out of mind. But there is much each of us can do. Recycling plastic that can harm reels and marine life, being cautious about the use of some sunscreens when enjoying the beach, or by supporting ocean sustainability and coral reef regeneration, we have an opportunity to build a modern-day Noah’s Ark for coral.

Beyer, Hawthorne L, et al., “Risk-sensitive planning for conserving coral reefs under rapid climate change.” 27 June 2018. Conservation Letters, Volume 11, Issue 6, e12587. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12587

DeCaires, Jason Taylor. “An underwater art museum, teeming with life.” TED talk. December 2015. https://www.ted.com/talks/jason_decaires_taylor_an_underwater_art_museum_teeming_with_life?language-en

Drury, Madeleine. “Are giant underwater sculptures helping or harming marine life?” 07/09/2021. Euronews.com. https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/o7/13/are-giant-underwater-sculptures-helping-or-harming-marine-life

Global Coralition. https://www.globalcoralition.org

Netflix and Exposure Labs: “Chasing Coral,” Film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGGBGcjdjXA

The Ocean Agency, “50 Reefs.” Video: https://youtu.be/pFfVpO_q4sg

University of Queensland, Global Change Institute. “Which reefs are the most important to save?” 24 February 217. https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2017/02/which-reefs-are-most-important-save

Vevers, Richard. “Interview,” https://youtu.be/8hMAgr4p7Sg

Wilson, Amy. “Microfragmentation: a breakthrough for coral reef restoration.” 18 September 2018. Medium.com. https://medium.com/@amykwilson/microfragmentation-a-breakthrough-for-coral-reef-restoration-6a2e86c4e2

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

CITIES: Landscapes and Dreamscapes

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Building The World

“I Have A Dream” speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. on 28 August 1963. Photo shows the view from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. Image: wikimedia.

When Martin Luther King delivered a speech that would ring throughout history, “I Have a Dream,” he did so on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in the nation’s capital. King’s words echoed Lincoln’s, who proposed and signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and were framed by the setting of a monument dedicated to equality, freedom, and justice. The crowd assembled stretched from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument, in a public gathering space first envisioned by the country’s founders. Today’s march to urge passage of a law to protect voting rights is part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Peace Walk.

L’Enfant’s plan for Washington, D.C., facsimile, us.gov. Image: wikimedia

With the vision of capital to be both a center of government and a landscape that invited public art and public gatherings, George Washington engaged architect and engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant in 1791 to map out a new city. The plan was inspired by the open boulevards of Paris, L’Enfant’s original home before he at the age of 22 the young engineer volunteered to serve with the Corps of Engineers of the United States Continental Army: it was then that he met Washington. However, the relationship proved volatile and Washington fired L’Enfant in 1792.

“Benjamin Banneker” from image on a U.S. postal stamp honoring the brilliant mathematician and surveyor whom many credit with preserving the design of Washington, D.C.’s design. Image: wikimedia.

Benjamin Banneker, a mathematician and astronomer with an apparently photographic memory, saved the capital. Banneker remember L’Enfant’s design and detailed blueprints exactly. He had been engaged by Major Andrew Ellicott to survey the land. Banneker particularly noted L’Enfant’s design of grand open space for monuments, public art, and common ground for gatherings, and kept the vision in the city’s plan. Others on the capital team included Latrobe and Jefferson. Benjamin Banneker and Martin Luther King, Jr. shared a vision, and some background: both shared an African-American heritage.

“Original Plan for Brasilia” by Lúcio Costa” from O Spaço Lúcio Costa, Brasilia, permanent exhibition: photograph by Uri Rosenheck. Image: wikimedia.

Cities, especially capitals, have an opportunity to be more than an urban conglomerate. In some ways, a capital is public art. When Brazil moved its capital from coastal Rio de Janeiro to the center of the country, the nation gave a new name, Brasilia, to its capital. Recognizing a new era in global perspective and transport, Brasilia was built in the shape of an airplane.

“Drivers, Processes, and Impacts of Sinking Cities” graphic by Wbliss10, 2019. Wikimedia commons.

With global warming and rising seas, we will see the rebuilding of coastal cities. It is a fact that many capitals, especially ancient ones, were ports. Indonesia plans to move its capital because the current one is sinking at a rate of 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) per year due to coastal location exacerbated by aggressive draining of groundwater under Jakarta. Bangkok, Thailand recently reviewed projections that it could be underwater by 2030, due to a combination of heavy skyscrapers built during a real estate and economic boom, and depletion of groundwater resources, despite attempts to slow the process including Thailand’s Ground Water Act of 1977. Dhaka, Bangladesh is sinking at a rate of 0.55 inches (1.4 centimeters) and sea level rise in the Bay of Bengal is higher than the global average. Nigeria moved its capital from coastal Lagos to central Abuja.

“Aerial panorama of Bremen and the river Weser – Bremen von oben” by Moinichbins, 2020. Image: wikimedia.

Sea rise may soon cause nations to rebuild and redesign some cities, especially those located near water. How can capitals be both centers of efficient governance and inspirational gatherings? If you were to design a new capital, based on the virtues and values of a nation, how would you create a city that is both a landscape and a dreamscape?

Brooke, K. Lusk. “Jakarta: first capital to move due to sea rise.” 2019 Building the World Blog. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2019/05/01/jakarta-first-capital-to-move-due-to-sea-rise/

Keene, Louis. “Benjamin Banneker.” The White House Historical Association.” https://www.whitehousehistory.org/benjamin-banneker

King, Martin Luther, Jr. “I Have A Dream.” 28 August 1963. LISTEN: https://youtu.be/vP4/Y1TtS3s

Rosane, Olivia. “8 World Cities That Could Be Underwater As Oceans Rise.” 5 October 2018. EcoWatch. https://www.ecowatch.com/cities-vulnerable-sea-level-rise-2610208792.html

Thailand. “Ground Water Act of 1977.” http://www.dgr.go.th/en/about/391

Washington D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Walk. 17 January 2022. https://mlkholidaydc.org/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

THANKS Giving: Global traditions of gratitude

Posted on November 23, 2021November 22, 2021 by Building The World

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States. Photograph by Derek Jensen (Tysto) 2004. Generously donated to public domain by the photographer. Image: wikimedia commons.

Giving thanks can take many forms including exchanges to strengthen friendships between nations. American presidents sit at the Resolute Desk, given by Britain to the United States in 1880 as a gesture of thanks for rescuing the HMS Resolute from an Arctic ice-jam, repairing and returning the vessel to the United Kingdom. Six years later, in 1886, France gifted the United States with the Statue of Liberty as an icon of freedom and democracy, and to honor Abraham Lincoln. The famous sculpture proposed by Éduard de Laboulaye (French political philosopher, abolitionist, and expert on the US Constitution) was commissioned to Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi with interior designed by Gustave Eiffel, of the Paris Tower fame.

Norway has given a tree to Trafalgar Square, London, annually since 1947, in thanks for the end of World War II. Photo by Anneke-B, “Trafalgar Square Tree,” 2008, the year the tradition switched to halogen bulbs for energy conservation and sustainability. Wikimedia CC2.0, with thanks to photographer Anneke-B.

World War II’s dangers formed alliances later celebrated by partners in thanks for solidarity, including annual gifts of 20,000 tulips bulbs from the Netherlands to Canada for sheltering Princess Juliana during the war, and Norway’s yearly gift of a holiday tree to grace Trafalgar Square in London in commemoration of World War II’s alliances, cooperation, resolution, and peace.

Most festivals of harvest and thanks feature traditional cuisine. Here is a vegetarian feast from Seoul, Korea. “Korea-Seoul-Insadong-Sanchon” by Julie Facine. Creative Commons license CC by SA 2.0, wikimedia. Included with thanks to photographer Julie Facine.

As Americans observe Thanksgiving, it’s a time to recognize traditions of gratitude around the world. Countries celebrating a holiday of thanks include: Barbados (Crop Over Festival), Brazil (Dia de Ação de Graças), Canada (Thanksgiving), China (Chung Ch’iu), Germany (Erntedankfest), Ghana (Homowo Festival), Grenada (Thanksgiving), Israel (Sukkot), Japan (Kinro Kansha no Hi), Liberia (Thanksgiving), Malaysia (Ka’amatan), Netherlands (Thanksgiving), Norfolk Island (Harvest Home Festival), South Korea (Chuseok), and Vietnam (Têt-Trung-Thu). Many world festivals of thanks honor the harvest, the family, and the power of alliance and cooperation.

Received at the White House on 23 November 1880, the Resolute Desk (seen here with John F. Kennedy, President, and son, John) is a Partners’ Desk. Photo by Stanley Tretick, October 1963. Public Domain image. Wikimedia.

Today, we observe an anniversary with a message. The Resolute Desk, that began this discussion, arrived at the White House on 23 November 1880. When the gift was opened, it was discovered to be a partners’ desk: crafted for two people, facing each other, to work together. The design is believed to promote cooperation. Should be there be an international holiday of thanks to honor cooperation and peace?

Deron, Bernadette. “This is how 15 other countries around the world celebrate thanksgiving.” 7 November 2021. All That’s Interesting.com. https://allthatsinteresting.com/thanksgiving-in-other-countries

“Gifts Given Between Countries.” Accessed 22 November 2021. https://visual.ly/community/Infographics/travel/gifts-given-between-countries-weird-and-wonderful

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un