Friday, April 24, 2015

Week 4: Medical Technology + Art

             Paintings of the human body without the outer skin cannot compare to were technology has taken us today. Many artists were fascinated by the way our body works. Today technology has driven the medical field to do unbelievable things with the human body.

Artistic paintings of the human body are not enough to show what is really under our skin. With the help of technology there a human body tour was established as an educational experience showing off real bodies. This exhibit is shown to millions of people each year. The exhibits are meant to help people understand what goes on inside their bodies and the affects of bad habits such as smoking (Benedetti, 2006). Attending one of these events has been one of my goals, I want to show my friends who are involved in bad habits aside from smoking, but alcohol abuse, and how their bodies will be affected in the future.


             Alcohol abuse, and abundant cigarette smoking cause some horrible diseases such as liver and lung cancer.  Thanks to new technology, doctors can identify these diseases at an early stage (Lee, 2013). Having the technology to take an x-ray of body via a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine helps medical specialist find diseases and prevent fatalities (Loyola University Health System, 2014). Finding cancer, tumors, and other similar diseases at an early stage is critical for the survival of the human body. Medical technologies are the new innovation that artists centuries ago could not have done.



            An artistic way to connect a living being to the arts is via plastic surgery. Human defects and war injuries were often the case why plastic surgery was needed. Today, it is commonly known as an expensive beauty fixer that consequently may have an affect on mental states (Baum, 2014). Plastic surgery is often connected to Hollywood icons and controversial to the meaning of true beauty. The pressure of getting older and competing with the younger generation often triggers Hollywood icons to use plastic surgery (Lee, 2015). There are those who want to look beautiful and need the help of art and technology to achieve this.  


              As we have seen, the use of art and technology has taken our human nature to a whole different level. With the help of this modern medical technology new disease are found and our life expectancy has increased. Who would’ve known how far technology would have taken medical technology, from artistic paintings to visually seeing the human body in person and filmstrip.

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Work Cited

Benedetti, Winda. “Education or freak show? ‘Bodies… The Exhibition’ cashes in on our own curiosity.” Hearst Seattle Media. Seattle PI. 27 Sep. 2006. Web 24 Apr. 2015.
Baum, Gary. “Plastic Surgery Suicide Puts Spotlight on Beverly Hills Patients’ Desperation, Lies and Mental States.” THR News. Hollywood Reporter, 24 Jun. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
Lee, Ellen. “5 Ways Technology Is Transforming Health Care.” Forbes Brand Voice. Forbes, 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
Lee, Esther. “Halle Berry: Plastic Surgery Is Pushed ‘Like Crack’ in Hollywood, Pressure Is Constant.” Celebrity Beauty. US Magazine, 13 Feb. 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
Loyola University Health System. “Technology developed to improve lung cancer detection, treatment.” Science Daily. Science Daily, 13 Nov. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2015

2 comments:

  1. I agree with you on how so many Hollywood stars are routinely getting plastic surgery nowadays. But, is getting plastic surgery truly an artistic way? Shouldn't it be used in medical way? Have you seen one of this week's videos about Orlan? She had 9 plastic surgeries so far and it was pretty disturbing and disgusting to me to watch her so called "performance." I think people, including Hollywood stars, should have more self-esteem and not obsess too much on how they look, and use plastic surgery for better cause.

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  2. Hey Antonio, as what you wrote that the use of art and technology has taken our human nature to a whole different level, I'm strongly agree with you on this point. You first of all explain the way technology facilitate our life by how x-ray helps showing the inside structure of human body and how this relates to your personal experience like how cigarette, drugs and alcohol do harm to our body. It's interesting. However, I don't really see any relationship between this and art. It is like the sole influence of technology. Later you use the plastic surgery as an example of how art and technology relate to each other. You've presented the point that people use technology to achieve the goal of beauty. But you may can go deeper on both sub-topics and add some bad influences of how plastic surgery affects people' s apparence. I like your blogs;)

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