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Here are my thoughts about the video. It seems that the speaker is propagating the idea that there is an alternate reality of bacteria in the world around us. This reality is as real as our reality but operates on a micro scale which is beyond our daily perception. This is the same as the reality of light. Light is everywhere and reveals to us a reality that often goes unnoticed in our daily lives, until we stop and notice the what the light has brought to light. It is not until we see the light that we gain a new perception, and begin to interact and engage with what was there all along, but was hidden from our reality.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Natasha. Ms. Bassler presents this idea that bacteria is everywhere, comprising 99% of our body and thus creating a different reality than we have currently. Looking at humans and life in general this way completely changes the view of life that we have. In the same way, changing light can reveal a multitude of different realities than we know of, sharing with us knowledge for the better.
DeleteI like how this relates to my quantum physics class, which has almost exclusively focused on the topic of light as waves and photons. It is a quantum concept that light - and technically all matter - can exist as both a wave and a particle. This somewhat explains the phenomenon of alternate realities of bacteria. It is actually our "unobservation" of light that causes interference (a single photon can interfere with itself by having the uncertainty of existing at more than one place). Similarly, it is our observation of matter, bacteria in this case, that causes it to actually "exist."
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ReplyDeleteWhile watching the video, I remembered the idea of different perspectives given different spatial positions. The bacteria, for example, appear to emit a single light when groups, which gives the impression that the light comes from one being or that there is effectively only one light. This reminded me of the changing characteristic of the image with different apertures. At large apertures, the image may seem to be consistent, but the diminishing of the aperture revealed an increase in the sharpness of the image. Together with the contrast between the two (differently-positioned) light entrance points, this revealed that the image was in fact composed of many different light rays, forming an imprecise range of pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe grouping of bacteria shares the same concept: the image (or light as seen by an observer of the octopus) is actually a grouping of individual rays (the bacteria) rather than a single source. This made me question the impact of this grouping in the characteristics of the image. What about the light, for example? The light from the octopus looked fairly white (white light is actually a mixture of light rays with different color), but do the bacteria actually all emit the same color or do they emit all different light wavelengths? Is the whiteness of the image similar to a larger aperture (more rays) that removes sharpness from the image? This implies that the bacteria are all indeed different and not alike, much like the idea that shifts in light represent shifts in perspective.
Okay, I have to start off by saying that the video was super cool. The fact that they figured out how bacteria "talk" and that this communication might have been the precursor to multicellular organisms is amazing. I also thought the new types of antibiotics were really neat and an incredible breakthrough although I wonder what would happen if you stopped taking them.
ReplyDeleteAs far as relating the video to the class goes, the fact that there are more bacteria on your body than human cells reminds me of the discussion we had about hidden worlds/realities. There seem to be a lot of similarities between that and the pinhole camera that we made out of the room because both showed us a reality that most people never see or think about.
On another related note, I think that the squid with the bio-luminescent bacteria was very cool. It relates really well to photography because the adjustable covers for the bacteria function like an aperture in a camera.
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ReplyDeleteVery intriguing TED talk. I found it so strange when Bonnie told us we're basically 1% human. This really makes me look at people in a new way, more as living organisms.
ReplyDeleteThe way that bacteria communicate can easily be compared to how we as people communicate. We have our own ways of talking to each other that are specific to our generations. This is just like bacteria receptors that allow them to communicate with their species.
It's incredible to me how complex such tiny organisms can be. I never knew that bacteria operated in such ways. The way she explained how there was a tipping point when it came to population levels leading to actions was especially interesting. It reminds me of a military coup; some underground opposition stays under wraps until it knows it's strong enough to take over. The part about the squid and its counter-luminescence was brilliant.
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