At the Ready: Preparation for just about anything.

READY AT THE

Preparation for Just About Anything.

JON LUNG

Jonathan Lung

Preparation for Just About Anything

AT THE READY

Š Copyright 2016

by Jonathan Lung All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission in written from the author.

For inquiries, contact jonathanjuhanlung@gmail.com School of Visual Arts MFA Products of Design 136 West 21st Street New York, NY 10011-3213 productsofdesign.sva.edu

sans-serif typeset in New Rail Alphabet Printed by Blurb

Jonathan Lung

Author and Designer

Allan Chochinov

Chair, MFA Products of Design Thesis Advisor

Andrew Schloss Thesis I Advisor

Abby Covert Thesis II Advisor

Ruoxi Chen Editor

CONTENTS

CONTENTS 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

INTRODUCTION GOALS & OBJECTIVES RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY AUDIENCE & MARKETS LENSES PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE FOOTNOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDICES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

01 INTRODUCTION

01 INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

I am a second generation Asian American. My parents came over from Hong Kong with a dream of living in America.

They also brought a paranoia and distrust of their surroundings, a distrust they lovingly passed on to me. This upbringing revealed all the various potential threats that surround us on a daily basis and trained me to be hyper-vigilant, with an unquenchable need to be prepared for everything. Although this may seem like a curse to some, it is a superpower I’d never give up.

Every little gesture, tick, and obsession a person has—essentially what makes them special, what makes them who they are today—can usually be traced back to a single event: the origin story.

My decision to carry a supply of water, food and a multi-tool at all times while trying to remain in a constant state of hypervigilance started back in 2002 when I first entered high school. Everything started on a bright and sunny lunch break like any other. Droves of students scurried around, laughing and being

rambunctious. I was eating my chicken patty topped with ketchup, a side of fries and drinking a low-fat chocolate milk when I noticed three students, large in stature, invading the personal space of a smaller, scrawnier student. As I stared curiously, I heard the words “give me a dollar!” That scrawny student was being robbed in broad daylight, in the middle of a lunchroom filled with hundreds of kids. As the money was being handed over the three students looked over at me and yelled “what are you looking at?”

As they made their way over I was frozen in place, there was no fight or flight reflex. There was nothing. They demanded a dollar from me, but I had none to give them. Suddenly I felt a thump on my back. I remember that punch hitting me so hard my mouth went completely dry, the half-chewed chicken patty like a fist full of sawdust. They pulled me out of my seat and demanded that I find them a dollar. I just followed their instructions and searched for a friend to borrow a dollar from. After being graciously given a dollar by an acquaintance, whom, to

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this day, I have actually not paid back, the three students proceeded to drag me towards the emergency exit for what I was pretty sure was going to be a decent beating. This wouldn’t be the first time something like this had happened in our school. An altercation that ended in a beating was commonplace.

I still didn’t have an effective reaction for my predicament. I was about to be stomped on like a flaming bag of poop on a doorstep and I was still frozen.

Just as the last bit of hope faded from my situation, a hand grabbed onto my wrist. When I looked up, my friend Tim had latched onto me with one hand and firmly grasped the lunch line rail with the other. This was an intense game of tug-of-war and I was the rope. Everything felt like it was in slow motion until the screech of the assistant principal— “PUT HIM DOWN!”—snapped me back to reality. Tim and I are, to this day, lifelong friends, and I will owe him one until the day I die.

I had always walked the halls with my head down. You don’t look an animal in the eyes; it’s perceived as a challenge and that can get you into trouble. That rule had kept me safe for a long time, but I was done. I was done waiting for something to happen to me. I was done with being the prey. I decided that I would take my life into my own hands.

I didn’t tell my parents when I went home, because, weirdly, when something bad happens to you as a child, you are afraid you’ll get into more trouble if someone

else finds out. For the next hour using materials at hand—two pens, a stray bamboo chopstick, hot glue. and a nail—I fashioned two tools of defense.

Let’s be honest, they were shivs. Both still functioned as pens but when you pinched the cap on one, it pulled out into a bamboo spike and when you flicked the other a nail would extend from the back. I am not advocating violence; my younger self just decided it was the best course of action. This experience was not only the origin of my lifelong pursuit to be prepared, but was also my first dive into product design, the subject of my master’s degree. Over time, this feeling of needing to be ready expanded from defending myself against attack to being generally prepared for any possible situation.

At the Ready is my explorative research for my Masters of Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York. This thesis is an inquiry into preparedness in all its forms, from the speculative to the real.

It traverses the many boundaries of design, looking far and wide for answers on how to better enhance oneself to face an ever more dangerous world.

This is a personal journey narrated in the tone of a conversation I would be having with you if I were there telling you about my thesis right now, face to face.

01 INTRODUCTION

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02 GOALS & OBJECTIVES

02 GOALS & OBJECTIVES

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GOALS & OBJECTIVES

This thesis started from a place of fear.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been afraid. Afraid of the unknown, afraid of making the wrong decisions, afraid of regret. I was dead set on conquering fear for my thesis. As I started questioning where this fear was coming from the topic slowly began to shift over to “the perception of safety”. I had read a ton of articles and listened to as many podcasts as I could to pull any themes possibly related to my thesis territory.

Then I started reading “The Martian”, by Andy Wear, a science fiction book about Mark Watney, an astronaut, stranded alone on Mars who only had his wits and limited resources to survive long enough on this barren planet to be rescued.

The adventures of Mark Watney shifted the scope of my thesis away from perceived safety and into the realm of preparedness. I feel that “perceived safety” has an association with a false sense of security. Being too comfortable fosters complacency, which in turn breeds

weakness. I want to be ready—for anything and everything. That is an impossible task, but I want to get as damn near close as I can. I want to be able to help not only myself but, more importantly, also all those around me who mean so much to me. I want them to be able to rely on me, to know that they can count on me. This is my primary goal for this thesis and a life goal as well.

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03 RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY

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RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY With the amount of violence at an alltime high in the summer of 2015 my initial research news feed consisted of a continuous stream of articles on terrorism—both abroad and domestic—the efficacy of its campaigns, and the psychological effects it has on their civilians and our soldiers. Riding the momentum of these current events, I reached out to a dear friend who had just as he finished his military contract. Jeffrey Fong, as close to a brother as you can get without being blood-related. This former US Army staff sergeant shared first-person accounts of being an EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) tech: disarming IEDs on the side of the road; watching insurgents plant trip wires along the roadside; chasing them on foot while wearing 80 lbs. of equipment through a 100+ °F desert; and many other stories from outside the “first world.” I later interviewed him as one of my subject matter experts and got an in-depth view of what it means to work under extreme conditions. This guided my thesis direction for much of the first semester. Many of those explorations focused on the physical and mental enhancement for the purposes of survival.

Besides increasing the strength and agility of the mind and body, I also expanded my research from concentrating on the individual to concentrating on the environment around the individual. We are limited in range our eyes and ears work and mixed with so much external stimuli we can only process so much information at a time. Focusing on surveillance techniques I was interested in collecting environmental data in an effort to boost awareness.

I approached my thesis research by consuming as much information as quickly as possible in the form of podcasts, expert interviews, science articles, current events, tech magazines, field manuals, books, TV shows, movies, and pulled inspiration from fiction and nonfiction alike, letting my work and then interactions between my work and that of my classmates and faculty guide me. I have compiled the most influential of my thesis research below, organizing them in groups of books, interviews, podcasts & talks, and a workshop.

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BOOKS

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BOOKS: THE MARTIAN

by Andy Weir

The book follows astronaut Mark Watney and his journey to survive on Mars after he is swept into the storm by a rogue piece of antenna shrapnel during a massive dust storm. His crew is forced to abort and evacuate the planet leaving him behind, thinking that he is dead. It focuses on journal logs about his survival and NASA’s attempts to get him back. It is filled with DIY, life saving hacks all using today’s existing science.

What separates this from other science fiction is that the author has done painstaking research and math. From real world orbital trajectories to Mars all the way to synthesizing water and cultivating bacterial in martian soil in order to grow crops, all the science is laid out before you.

This book helped me to push past the purely fear/ perception of safety direction of my original thesis territory and made me want to do something about it.

It was about the choice you would have to make in a dire situation. You can either

choose to give up and say “Well I wasn’t going to make it very far anyway”, or you can say “If I’m going to die anyway, let’s see how far I can push it.”

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BOOKS

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BOOKS: LEFT OF BANG

by Patrick Van Horne & Jason A. Riley

The term “Left of bang” describes the moments leading up to a conflict, situation, or event. The goal of this book is to keep you In a timeline of events moving from left to right, “Left of bang” refers to the moments leading up to a conflict, situation or event. “Bang” is the incident itself and “Left of bang” describes the reactionary events that must take place after an incident. This book aims to convey skill to keep you “Left of bang”, avoiding incidents all together. Explaining the origin, techniques and reasoning behind the Marine Corps Combat Hunter Program, this book explains in plain language the skills and mindset to help you navigate a world of conflict. It helps to build a sixth sense through observation, tracking and profiling skills meant to be used in the harshest of environments.

The decision making skills you can learn from this book do not just apply to the battlefield, but they can apply to every-

day life as well. I have always tried to keep my situational awareness dialed up to eleven, but there is so much information pouring in from the world around you. This book helps you parse what is important to notice and what is not.

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EXPERT INTERVIEWS

A distilled selection of experts that influenced my research and approach on personal preparedness and the preparedness of others.

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EXPERT INTERVIEWS

As part of the research process I also interviewed professionals of all concentrations in an effort to understand what preparedness looks like in other fields.

These professions included : Research Analyst Trainer Application Development/ Outage Manager Group Technology Operations IT/ Software Engineer Rotor Design/ Mechanical Engineer Personal Trainer US Army Staff Sergeant/ Combat Engineer Developer Fraud Management Aerospace Engineer NSA Design Researcher Brand Management Documentary Film Maker Exibition Designer

Marketing/ Branding Web Designer Business/ Media Panning UI/UX Industrial Designer Graphic Designer Furniture/ Interior Designer I conducted my thesis interviews without revealing to my interviewees what the focus of my thesis topic was, only after our conversation was over did I describe my thesis territory. I did not want them to be distracted by the theme. We started the interviews by focusing on their professional work, and build the conversation around interesting bits and pieces of their story.

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EXPERT INTERVIEWS

“I need to be able to adapt very quickly to properly train people because they are so different.”

03 RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY

Natsumi Nishio Research Analyst Trainer (Citibank) Natsumi and I talked about the importance of adaptability in her line of work.

“Because I am training so many different people with different learning styles, I have to notice when if I am actually getting through to people,” she explained.

During her process of training new employees it’s important to be consistent in personality, patient and absolutely calm under any circumstance. People are very sensitive, if they think you’re getting restless or annoyed it can really delay the training process. “It just comes down to old-school studying, hitting the books,” was her last tip on preparing.

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EXPERT INTERVIEWS

“Sometimes you’ve just gotta drill it out and slap some bolts on there just to get it in the air in time.”

03 RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY

Joseph Biser Rotor Design, Mechanical Design Engineer (Bell) “Sometimes when the fabricators go on strike, we go down into the shop ourselves and work on parts,” Joe explained to me. He works on rotor design for helicopters at Bell. Prototyping flying machines is precise work, as one would imagine, but “sometimes you’ve just gotta drill it out and slap some bolts on there just to get it in the air in time,” referring to a build he once did. When working on any project, you do not want to stay in your head too long. Of course thinking things through is important, but working with your hands, seeing, feeling the parts and pieces move, offers such rich insight.

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EXPERT INTERVIEWS

“I am constantly running drills and reading up on different departments so when an emergency hits I know how exactly what I need to do, or who I need to contact.�

03 RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY

Sushan Zheng Application Development, Outage Manager (PPL Electric) “I am constantly running drills and reading up on different departments so when an emergency hits I know how exactly what I need to do, or who I need to contact.” As an Outage Manager Sushan explained to me that she is like an EMT, on call 24/7. She has a work station at home just in case she needs to respond to an emergency call that can’t afford to wait the travel time it takes her to get to work. When the predictions of inclement weather come in it is not uncommon for her team to lock themselves in and prepare by checking systems as well as pulling out reference manuals. “They had us on site twenty-four hours preparing for Hurricane Joaquin.”

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EXPERT INTERVIEWS

“I ran up to the overturned car and said ‘Ok mam’ don’t be alarmed, but I’m going to pull out a big knife to cut you out of your seat belt.’”

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Walter Jokiel Personal Trainer, BS Mechanical Engineering, MS, Material Science, worked on building microscopic adhesive surface out of carbon nanotubes for his PhD. Walter was waiting at a stop light while driving with his brother one afternoon.

As the light turned green he pulled out when suddenly a glint caught his eye. He slammed on the breaks as a car traveling perpendicular to them ran their red light, narrowly missing a t-bone collision.

Striking the front, driver side bumper and tearing it clean off the opposing car blew past Walters. With the screeching of the breaks the car swerved and proceeded to flip over. “Oh shit! Should we go...” Walter exclaimed looking over to

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his brother, but his brother was already sprinted out of the car and was half way to the over turned vehicle. Walter proceeded to run over as well. Reaching the driver side door he peered in through the shattered window to discover a stunned woman still strapped to her seat, hanging upside down. “I ran up to the overturned car and said ‘Ok mam’ don’t be alarmed, but I’m going to pull our a big knife to cut you out of your seat belt.’ Walter told her. By the time he had cleared away the remaining glass from window, cut the seat belt, and gotten the women out, his brother emerged from the opposite side of the car holding a child. Walter’s brother, Paul, has served in the US Army for over 8 years and Walter himself has no professional training.

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EXPERT INTERVIEWS

“Redundancies in the system are important, but even with multiple backup loops things slip through, then all we can do is react as fast as possibly.”

03 RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY

Alice Gonzales Cavalcanti de Agruo Group Technology Operations IT, Software Engineer (UBS) Being a software engineer, Alice’s job is to anticipate, and react to system flaws.

“Redundancies in the system are important, but even but multiple backup loops things slip through and then we just need to react as fast as possibly.” In addition to her work she is also a concert pianist, marathon runner, and organizer of a women’s professional development group where she invites women in high ranking positions to give talks to other women on navigating the unique challenges they face in the work place.

When I asked her how she manages it all without sacrificing quality of work she

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simply replied “You would be surprised how hard you can push yourself past what you think you can manage to do.”

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EXPERT INTERVIEWS

“Most of the time it’s like an out-ofbody experience, like you are watching yourself do it. Your body just takes over.”

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Jeffrey Fong Staff Sergeant, Combat engineer (US Army) Over the course of his career as a combat engineer, staff sergeant Jeffery Fong has disarmed bombs and booby traps for all shapes ad sizes. From those meant to eliminate personnel to those meant to decimate armored vehicles, he has disarmed these devices a variety of conditions including blistering desert heat and enemy combatant gun fire.

Through all his experiences one piece of insight stick with me especially well: “Most of the time it’s like an out-of-body experience, like you are watching yourself do it. Your body just takes over.”

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EXPERT INTERVIEWS

“It was crazy that the cafeteria was filled with people but no one would help. They were just standing around.”

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Timothy Wang Developer (Weill Cornell Medical College) Tim is the friend who saved me back in high school. That was the perfect example of what I have personally dubbed the “John McClane” effect, where the inactivity of a group of people causes an individual to act which is the opposite to the “Bystander” effect where the presence of a group of people stops the individual from lending assistance to a victim.

Tim recounts the event, “It was crazy that the cafeteria was filled with people but no one would help. They were just standing around.” I always think about his quick reflexes but more importantly the willingness to put himself in harms way to help another.

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TED TALK: AMY CUDDY YOU BODY LANGUAGE SHAPES WHO YOU ARE

Taking the “fake it till you make it” stance, Amy Cuddy talks about the outward in approach to building confidence, using the body to affect the mind. By enacting power poses, any stance that leaves the user occupying the largest space weather it’s with their hands stretched out, or with their shoulders back and chest out, these stances are show to increase the level of testosterone. During a two minute power posing test, individuals were shown to have a 20 percent increase in testosterone. Individuals that held themselves in submissive, closed poses saw a 10 percent decrease within those two minutes. Power poses are also universal. According to a study done by Jessica Tracy the arms up in a V, known as the pride, is done by people who have been blind all their lives when they win a physical competition.

Even thought they have never seen anyone else do it, it is an instinctive action.

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PODCASTS & TALKS

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TED TALK: BRUCE SCHNEIER THE SECURITY MIRAGE

Bruce breaks down the difference between being safe and feeling safe, the former being based on reason (or models based on facts and science) and the latter being based on intuition and how these two sides of the scale can trip up our ability to make decisions regarding what we are willing to give up for more security. He also talks about the concept of “security theater� where we are shown things that make us feel safe, but do not actually keep us that much safer.

Tamper proof caps for pills is an example given. One would easily contaminate the drugs within with a syringe. Bruce pushes that our perceptions of safety match our security models, that is that our feelings match our reality, in order for us to make better decisions when it comes to security trade-off.

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PODCASTS & TALKS

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TED TALK: PHILIP ZIMBARDO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EVIL

The biggest take away for me on this Ted Talk was that the diffusion of responsibility can turn good people bad. When they are not directly responsible for their actions, human being are willing to commit all sorts of atrocities. “If you give power without oversight, it’s a prescription for abuse.” A quote from James Schlesinger referencing the Stanford prison experiment lead by Philip Zimbardo in 1971.

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PODCASTS & TALKS

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TED TALK: MARK BEZOS A LIFE LESSON FROM A VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER

Any kind gesture, not matter how big or small is important. They all matter. Mark Bezos talks about his time as a volunteer firefighter looking to get his first epic rescue under his belt. After arriving on the scene just a split second after another volunteer firefighter he looses the opportunity to save the victims dog, something that he felt would have earned him many bragging rights. Instead he was tasked with running back into the house to get her some shoes. Begrudgingly he does this, casting away this gesture as a meaningless act. After the incident the fire department received a letter where the women thanked the firefighter that took the time to get her a pair of shoes during the fire. Bezos uses this as an example for us to not wait till we are successful and wealthy to start helping people, we should help any chance an opportunity showes itself.

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FUTURING WORKSHOP: S.H.I.F.T.

The Futuring Workshop is a tool I learned from Elliott Montgomery (co-founder of the Extrapolation Factory) my first year at SVA Products of Design. Through rapid prototyping with hardware or 99-cent store parts and hot glue, people think with their hands and imagine the future through a specific lens. Coupled with instances of research based in current events, participants are asked to extrapolate into the future what they think will happen if the world keeps moving in that direction. Looking to fully immerse my participants, I ran my Futuring Workshop under the theme of a secret government task force, holding my event the back room of the prototyping lab during an artist talk, exhibition and gallery party taking place right on the other side of the large rolling glass door of the space: “. . . under the ALPHA program, you have been brought here to be a part of ‘S.H.I.F.T.’ (Strategic Homeland Initiative Futuring Task-force). We have been given by our analysts a set of possible future

scenarios known as ‘instances.’ Through these ‘instances’ we would like you specialists to come up with the artifacts that may manifest in order to prevent threats on an individual and national scale.”

The “instances” given to them were a mix of technological, political, social, economical, and environmental future scenarios based on facts and statistics from current events. After selecting two, the participants were given free rein over interpreting these situations and the resulting artifact through the lens of future preparedness. The point of all this was to give them a safe space to create freely so that we could glean insights into new areas of our theses.

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FUTURING WORKSHOP

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Instances included: “Currently they are working on a pill that increases metabolism even without physical exertion. Soon a ‘Fit Pill’ will be developed that allows increased metabolism as well as muscle growth.”

“Mind mapping has come a long way and the ability to ‘read’ the brain has opened all new tech possibilities.”

“Servo tech has advanced to have an incredible strength to size ratios allowing even the smallest servos to pack a punch.”

“Disposable batteries are phased out and battery development charges ahead with longer life and faster recharge.”

“Drones are everywhere and are used equally by government as well as civilians.”

“In-home manufacturing is widespread.

There is easy access to 3-D printing, CNC milling, and laser sintering.”

“Stem cell research allows us to grow organs and other body parts specific to the user.”

“After the implementation of Google Fiber, there is high speed access for everyone.”

“Cognitive AI is at its earliest stages, but has shown promise.”

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Participant: Arjun Kalyanpur With universal translation software in existence and drones everywhere Kalyanpur designed against a world where privacy is no more. He created a mini drone glove launcher, which would launch smaller drones to counter and disable larger drones. His second offering was an encrypted voice scrambler to better conceal conversations as well as inhibiting cameras from reading the user’s lips.

The third offering was a cloud cover grenade meant to create a plume of dense, slow falling particulate matter to use as visual barrier between the user and the sky full of drones.

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Participant: Jenna Von Witzlaben With the technology for a “Fit Pill” perfected, metabolism and muscle grown can be achieved even with a sedentary life style. That coupled with unfettered access to in-home manufacturing led Von Witzleben to create a suite of food testing devices to counter the possibility of our in-home food printers from being hacked, and brainwashing drugs added creating an incredibly fit civilian army.

Being able to print any food at home with the help of an internet library fill of recipes is incredibly convent, but the process is susceptible malicious intent.

Jenna designed a special 3D printer head, which can be added to any off the shelf in-home food printer, that detects the presence of the specific combination of chemicals that the user wishes to avoid.

A secondary measure, in the form of a tongue paste, was also created in the event that some chemical or poised was accidentally ingested. Applied to the inside of the mouth, this paste would stop the absorption of harmful chemicals into the body.

If you every find yourself eating on the go Jenna also created a suit of food testing tools that test for chemicals that are on your “do not eat” list.

Another intervention created was the calming pill created to counteract aggressive side effects of a now widely used fit pill. This set of blue pills is taking twice a day every 12 hours in order to reduce the risk of volatile behavior.

WORKSHOP

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Participant: Marianna Mezhibovskaya Enough sensors are installed to make the physical world sentient and the government has finally pushed the ban on guns, but only for civilians. Because every surface can read your emotions, the government has early threat detection and can eliminate targets before a crime is committed.

Eyes being the window to the soul, Mezhibovskaya counters the invasion of the inner sanctum by created the dual

eye-patch navigation system. Although the user is now blind, the sensors use haptic feedback to guide the people through a new, darker, world.

Her second offering takes the fight straight to the system by incorporating the eyewear with a plethora of offensive countermeasures. These products protect the soul offensively and defensively with head mounted balistics.

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Participant: Dana Stirling Based on the instances of wide spread in-home manufacturing and easy access to 3-D printing, CNC milling and laser sintering and one percent of the population controlling 90% of the wealth, Stirling created a scale model of an in-home device capable of creating and replicating pharmaceuticals, hoping to skirt the problems of access of medication and healthcare. It includes: a probe for sampling and decoding existing pharmaceuticals for replication; storage of raw materials for the in-home manufacturing process; a DIY countertop pharmacy.

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Participant: Yoav Friedlander With drones being used by government and civilians alike and cognitive AI in its earliest stages Friedlander created a tool reverting all communication and route guidance back to a completely analog system. He believed this was necessary because the current state of technology enabled all forms of digital communication and GPS use would leave people vulnerable to signal tracking and drone strikes. This all-in-one, off-the-grid kit is for post-apocalyptic communications: a whistle, compass, and smoke bomb.

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04 AUDIENCE & MARKETS

04 AUDIENCE & MARKETS

This thesis started off as an exploration of how I could prepare myself for the the world around me. I focused on creating object that would give me an edge against what seems to be an increasingly dangerous world. As my work progressed I changed my focus on to how I could protect the people I care about.

Using the things I had created for myself, how could I use my preparedness to help them. Obviously there is a limit to how much one person could do, how many places I could be at once, and how vigilant I could constantly remain.

Although cliche the “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” proverb perfectly describes the pitfalls of my approach to try and protect all the people I care about. Towards the end of my thesis exploration I focused on how I could teach people the various methods of mental and physical preparedness they could use to face life’s challenges.

The audience for my thesis is anyone who wants to feel slightly more in con-

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trol. There is no way to counter all the things that life throws at you, but that is not a reason to leave everything up to change. There is no age range, gender, or social demographic; this thesis is people who want to be ready and have the drive to never stop improving.

05 LENSES

05 LENSES

“At this stage there is no such thing as a bad idea,” is they told us when we started our thesis process with 100 sketches of product ideas. Straight from the mind to the paper, without passing through the filter of social norms or political correctness, this was the brain dump that would give me the overview to what my starting options were. To paraphrase our thesis advisor Andrew Sloss, everyone knows what a cup looks like. It’s a roundish container with a handle on the side. When you tell people to draw 100 different cups, they get stuck. How many variations of a cup can there be?

Sure you can change the shape, proportions, color, but to really push the limits of what a cup could be, we need to draw a cup with the handle on the bottom.

What happens when you put a handle on the bottom? You can’t put the cup down, and you have to hold it the entire time.

This is how new ideas and concepts are formed.

Unfiltered preparedness to me at this stage was all about personal protection.

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One series of objects focused on external organs designed to supplement your existing respiratory and circulatory system, helping you pump more blood, faster, to oxygenate your muscle, boosting your physical performance.

Another series turned to transcranial direct current stimulation in order to effect specific parts of the brain to enhance reflexes and learning capability on command depending on the situation. There was also an artifact made of a combination of religious artifacts pressed into a small totem to protect you spiritually

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GHOST PAPER: This item, also known as “Joss Paper” or “Hell Money” is meant to be burnt as a offering to the deceased to ensure the spirit good things in the afterlife.

05 LENSES

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SPECULATIVE: THE TOTEM

Taking a step back and observing, I was able to group my work into three distinct categories of preparing: the spiritual, the physical and the mental. I used this observation in my next challenge of designing three speculative products in response to our 100 sketches.

Focusing on the spiritual first, I looked to the advice of Miyamoto Musashi and his insight on “spiritual bearing in strategy”: “Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm. Meet the situation without tenseness yet not recklessly, your spirit settled yet unbiased. Even when your spirit is calm do not let your body relax, and when your body is relaxed do not let your spirit slacken.

Do not let your spirit be influenced by your body, or your body be influenced by your spirit. Be neither insufficiently spirited nor over spirited. An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. Do not let the enemy see your spirit.”1

He suggests a perfect balance of calm.

In situations that require quick thinking and action, fear tends to freeze people in place. Through a process of acceptance, the Totem is my speculative product/ritual that quells the fear of death, a fear that hinders us from action in a time of distress.

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SPECULATIVE PRODUCT: THE TOTEM

Death is natural part of life. Many cultures across the world have their individual ways of dealing with it. Burning Joss paper (or ghost money) is an Asian tradition where family members burn fake paper money and gold as well as other paper maché items in an attempt to ensure deceased relatives have good things in the afterlife. Instead of waiting to die, then relying on your loved ones to send you the right stuff, this process allows you to take this into your own hands.

By selecting the objects and burning them, you are sending your future self a care package, while acknowledging and

accepting that we all eventually will end up collecting that package on “the other side,” hopefully to the effect of Aleksander Gamme finding his cache in the snow.2 After the ceremony the ashes are stored inside the Totem necklace as a physical reminder of your acceptance.

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The process involving the selection of the object, the ashes created from sending it into the after life, and the Totem where the ashes are stored.

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THE TOTEM: Death has been accepted as the inevitable end to this journey and you have prepared for it. Your gaze has been widened, and the Totem is a physical reminder to keep it there.

THE HIVE & THE STATION: A cluster of miniature flying probes lives inside The Hive.

They are open source and can be programmed to perform aerial formation and gather specific data, sending feedback to haptic stickers adhered to the users body.

All programming, diagnostics and charging are run through The Station.

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SPECULATIVE: THE HIVE & THE STATION

My second speculative product focuses on physical preparedness through situational awareness. Inspired by the research done by the Harvard Wyss Institute on their Autonomous Flying Microrobots (RoboBees)3, the Hive is a device containing a cluster of miniature flying probes. Being open source, they can be programmed by connecting to the base (known as the Station) to perform aerial formations and gather specific data. Each Hive is linked to a set of haptic feedback stickers that can be worn all over the body, each programmable to react to the incoming data.

When all these things come together they provide a cloud of sensory feedback that stretches beyond the range of what you can typically perceive alone.

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THE HAPTIC STICKERS: Can give various feedback from data received from The Hive probes, which all can be configured via our opensource platform.

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THE PROBE: They live within the hive and gather environmental data from the word around them transmitting it all back to the Haptic Stickers.

THE KIT/EMPATHY: Also know as “The Feels�, this kit contains two Neurological Disruptors and a packet of nanites suspended in a water soluble substraight. 15 minutes after ingestion, the nanites transmit a signal to the disruptor.

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SPECULATIVE: THE KIT

The mental lens focuses on understanding people through an empathy device known as the Kit. Tiny nanoscopic sensors are suspended in this watersoluble substrate. Upon entering the body, they make their way into the brain of the person who ingested them—let’s call this person “User 01.” Through a device worn on the back of the neck, the brain and body chemistry of the other person, User 02, are manipulated to mimic that of User 01 allowing her to feel exactly how the other person feels.

Safety features include a lag time between sensing from User 01 and transmitting to User 02, to allow the device to disconnect in the event of some kind of neurological or chemical spike. The Kit allows us to physically and emotionally understand another human being. This device let us see through the veneer we have all learned to hold outward facing to the world and actually feel what another person is feeling.

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THE NANITES & THE NEUROLOGICAL DISRUPTOR: 15 minutes after ingestion, the nanites transmit a signal to the Neurological Disruptor. Worn on the back of the neck, the device intercepts the signals traveling the wearers body and sends signals received from the nanites, altering brain, and body chemistry to allowing the user to feel exactly what someone else is feeling.

SPECULATIVE PRODUCT, THE HIVE & THE STATION

FLEX: A vest that boosts the wearers confidence by gently moving their body into power poses.

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PRODUCT: FLEX Flex is a vest with an inflatable understructure that uses proximity sensors to detect posture in its user. Brought on by the work on Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist, and her study on how body posture can affect a person (as well as the people around them as well), and how specific postures are innate to human nature as power and submissive poses.4 She brings up the example of the celebratory pose of the arms stretched out over the head; even people who have been blind their entire lives, and have never seen it, make the same pose when they are triumphant. She also brings up the fact that standing in a specific pose can actually affect body chemistry.12 Building on that subconscious bond, Flex, after being calibrated to the individual user, can detect the position your body is in based on the distance between your shoulders and the amount of curvature in the spine. Over time, the vest slowly inflates its understructure, pulling its wearer into a more dominant power pose, with the back straight and the shoulders back. This vest seeks to counter bullying through body language.

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A small pump fills the air pockets while the check valve prevents over-pressurizing.

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Using the physical and physiological benefits of power posing, Flex uses and air cushion skeleton to maneuver the wearers body into a upright, shoulders back position while also hugging the sides to create a comfortable safe zone.

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RALLY: A bracelet - smartphone paring used by students to counter bullying at school.

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PRODUCT: RALLY

Rally is a smart wearable that allows students to call for backup from their friends and classmates. It embraces the natural instinct of animals to flock.

Flocking is a natural behavior exhibited by animals on land, sea, and air that can provide safety from predators. Considering that most bullying occurs outside of class and in the hallways, Rally takes advantage of all the students being available to create a safety net against bullies using strength in numbers. When the bracelet is bought, it can be synced with any number of other bracelets and phones within a trusted group of friends.

When someone is feeling unsafe, or feels the potential threat of being bullied is imminent, they can press the button located on the tab of the band. This vibrates all the other bracelets synced to it and send location to the phones.

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PRODUCT: RALLY

Drawing inspiration from the animal behavior of flocking, this bracelet - smartphone pairing allows a group of people to sync their individual bracelets to a group

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When an individual in the group is in imminent threat or in the process of being bullied they can press the call button, located on the flap of the bracelet. This sends a call out to the other group members to rally around the caller, using their smartphone to find the location.

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FUTURE EXTREMES: UTOPIA & DYSTOPIA

Pushing my thesis on preparedness 80 years into the future I looked at the extreme cases of both a utopian and dystopian possibility based off the research and work I had done so far. Choosing the dystopian future, I further fleshed out that world by creating the front page of this future in 2080. The articles reflected on the front-page headlines from one of the stories and then built products from that time period. Lastly, we came all the way back to the present and were tasked to design a product that was the first step in one day reaching that dystopia or utopia.

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Utopia After the consequences of prolonging the effects of global warming, Mother Nature had finally unleashed a torrent of natural disasters that obliterated civilization. The world was thrown into utter chaos as governments scrambled to deliver food and supplies to the few survivors that remained scattered across the globe. People banded together to creating temporary communities until the humanity could pull itself back together.

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Fast forward 65 year and things are starting to pick up again.

Much of the United States remains uninhabited as the survivors band together in a few major cities. International trade is slow, but it’s beginning to get its legs back. Things are almost as they once were, except for one new policy. In the wake of what is now being called WDTO Day, the NLHA Initiative allows people to pick a secondary profession, based on the remaining requirements in their community, in addition to their primary job.

From medics to farmers, from mechanics to soldiers,

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everyone in today’s society is trained weekly on their secondary professions as well as weekly real world experience for prepare for any situation that might arise—natural or manmade.

This new take on communities has created an incredibly social and safe living environment because there is a newfound trust in each individual for their community.

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DYSTOPIA The the year 2080, you can build the body you have always dreamed of, the strongest and fastest that money can buy.

However this opportunity was born from tragedy. After several dirty bombs were set off by religious extremists in key tourist locations around New York City on March 31st 2030, resulting in the largest body count of any terror attack on home soil, the U.S. Government took its counter terrorism initiative to the next

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level. Investing two-thirds of its 3.4 trillion dollar military budget into Unbound Industries bionic and cybernetics program run by Souvik Paul, the head of M.I.T. Media Lab, the first successful human-machine neurological integration trails happened just two and a half years later.

Before the first set of newly capable feet touched the ground in hospitals across America, the enhanced boots of our soldiers had already landed overseas in what was the most successful and efficient rapid democratization of a hostile area in US military history.

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Decades later, the war or terror still rages on as the full adaptation of cybernetic enhancements finally reaches even the farthest corners the world’s military forces. Just as drones became popular in civilian homes back in the 2014-2015’s, the beginnings of cybernetic tinkering in-home began in the 2046. Soon people were gaining bits and pieces of military hardware and software from the much larger and harder to regulate internet.

Violent crimes and robberies became more and more common as newly enhanced took to the streets with their new found capabilities.

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As the technology became smaller and harder to detect, it became impossible to regulate and unsafe to life in the newly cybernetic world as an “unenhanced�. The only option was to evolve or live in fear.

Today the world is even more overpopulated due to the extended lifespan of the augmented, life without augmentations is impossible due to the pollutions caused by the manufacturing and disposal of augmentations and deaths related to self augmentation are rampant. Welcome to the year 2080.

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FUTURE EXTREMES: DYSTOPIAN NEWSPAPER

Following the development of our product, I wrote an entire front page of a newspaper that shows headlines from my dystopian reality through the lens of the New York Times. It contained not only front-page articles, but also the smaller highlights from the other sections of the news and obituaries typically found at the bottom of the front page to give a more completed view of that existence.

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Dystopian New York Times newspaper, front page, from 2080.

Dystopian New York Times newspaper advertisement from 2080.

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Still Human: With 92% of his Largest Illegal Prosthetics Body Inorganic, Eric Denton Bust Since “El Pollo Invierno” Defends his Humanity HOUSTON — Eric Denton leaves the hospital on his own two legs after his 22nd elective surgery, this time replacing his heart. Not much of the original man remains, which has lead many to question: at what point is he no longer a person?

It all began when Denton and his doctors discovered a dark mass on his lung after getting an X-ray for a fractured rib. Over the course of a few months they were able to control its growth and eventually removed it. With the risk of regression always a possibility, a procedure was done to replace both lungs with synthetics. Ssatisfied with the performance of his new augmentation, Eric found himself replacing everything else he could afford.

TAMPA — As several black undercover police vans pull away from Port Tampa Bay, seven open shipping containers are buzzing with fifteen to twenty Homeland Cybernetics Division agents. The dock is lined with opened crates, but this is only the beginning. More shipping containers are being unloaded. As each new crate is opened, what appears to be mannequin arms are being removed to reveal the true cargo: illegally smuggled military grade cybernetics. An HCD source says, “usually these illegal goods are smuggled in tech-heavy ‘boomer crates’ that shield them from our typical methods of detection. I guess this time they tried to go old school.” HCD had been tracking various black market augmentation shipments over the last three years when a sudden slew of illegal arms hit the streets, turning up in armed robberies and gang-related incidents on the East and West coast of the United States.

He says, “I think the most incredible experience was when I opened my new eyes for the first time. I’ve never had to wear glasses, but this was the most clear I have ever seen anything.” His hands gesture in the air, trying to express with form the feelings he has no “Something we are used to seeing is words for. “It felt like I had been blind my Chinese knock-offs or stolen Russian or Japanese designs,” said Anant Gupta, a entire life.” senior HCD official. “They are dangerous Today most of his internal organs are because they are unregulated. That, and SerraTech. “They are modular, and can the fact that they are weapons built for work with organs from other compa- killing.” Once these things hit the street, nies, but they run more efficiently to- they can get re-skinned, stripped and gether, and I like having the set. His limbs sold by component making it impossible are provided by Kambo, but that may to track or manage. Each one that slips soon change as Serra has asked Eric through is a potential loss of life. to be their spokesperson. Continued on The lesser knock-offs can sell for bePage A17

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tween 900 and 1,300 dollars, but an original build can pull up to 20,000 dollars in street value. The main difference between the high and low end lies in its quality of components. Cheaper knockoffs will tend to have sync and integration issues and depending on interface type and how invasive it is. The usage of non bio-compatible metals and plastics can result in a series of health complications resulting in death. With the DIY culture of body augmentations at an all time high, especially in 18-25 demographic, experts say that it is imperative that certified components are used.

Even with certified components there is always a change of infection, enough of one that most larger kits come with an auto injector for administering antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medication, and, in some of the more advanced versions, even blood diagnostics. In the past few years the arms trade has become increasingly hard to manage, with components getting smaller and more powerful. The numbers have risen dramatically since the last major bust over a year and a half ago. Replicating the technology has become increasingly easy. Continued on Page A17

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Understanding Man’s Best Friend: Potential to Share a Deeper Link to Your Dog MASSACHUSETTS — I sit across a table from Chester, a Golden Retriever, staring straight into his eyes. There are two juggling beanbags, one red and one blue. “I want the blue one. Pass me the blue one,” I think out loud in my head.

The dog is staring right back at me.

What I should probably mention is that I am sitting across from this dog inside MIT’s Media Lab, and we are both wearing headbands.

The lab’s Komm9 team, consisting of Michelle Grimm, David Imahara, and Stacy Wiseman, is working on a method of communicating with dogs via primitive brain mapping and signal sharing.

Their first objective is trying to see if they can getting Chester to nudge over the blue beanbag ball.

Before we even get to the ball though we must start with the extensive process of trying to isolate brain signals by having Chester do the same task under a variety of situations and isolating a signal. This would not have been possible 30 years ago, but thanks to breakthroughs from the field of advanced prosthetics and the work done by head of the MIT Media Lab and founder of Unbound Industries, Souvik Paul.

The process is repeated with a human participant and the signals are roughly isolated.

I am not a professional in neurobiology and I am likely grossly oversimplifying the events as they unfold. Everything

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boils down to this moment, Chester and I, staring at each other. His head tucks a few times and after a few minutes he nudges the blue ball over. Success! Not so fast. Unfortunately the repeatability is not yet high enough to confirm or deny the possibility of what’s happening. This project is still in its early stages, but it is still fun to get excited by the little things.

Besides Chester there are a few other volunteers bringing their dogs in to participate. They hold open sessions during the weekend for walk-ins, and conduct their regular lab times during the week. “It’s pretty funny when Souvik Paul drops by the lab to see how things are going,” confides one of the lead research assistants, “it’s a celebrity sighting!” Continued on Page B6

Army Extends Recruitment Age From 35 to 45: Accommodating Surge in Enlistment Applications For years we have seen the average age of the population rise, thanks to the increase in life-sustaining tech. As a result there has been an increase in ablebodied people applying to the military, the catch being that most of them are over the 35-year age maximum.

This sudden boom has lead to the Army raising their age limit for new recruits to 45. Eyes will be on the Navy and Air Force as the first wave of new recruits hit the front lines. As technology continues to evolve that number could go up. The numbers show that not only are they physically more fit, but they are mentally more fit than their predecessors within that same age range. The age increase is a temporary measure to test our how effective these new recruits are in the long run.

Currently there are over 732 new recruits, men and women, across the United States attempting this initial long-term trial. Further advancements may also allow even older and more divers set of new soldiers, just as many previously disabled people joined the military after they were given fully integrated prosthetics and became ablebodied again.

Senior military officials seem to think the the only obstacle is getting the right people on board. Continued on Page B6

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Controversy Arises After White Actor with ShiftTak Face Implant Takes On Black Role: The New Blackface?

United States to Change Policy Regarding Invasive Prosthetic Intervention in Emergency Room Patients

LOS ANGELES — Sitting in the living room with Ryan Stevens while he shows me the capabilities of his new ShiftTak face implants, the actor says, “it’s pretty amazing, I can morph my face into a series of preset faces.” The effect is truly breath-taking because it looks exactly like real skin, real pores. ShiftTak is the newest creation from Seriff Labs. It was originally developed for military purposes, but could not meet performance requirements. In the movie industry, it has proved incredibly convenient and cuts down on make-up time. The downside is that it is obviously an incredibly invasive procedure. And of course, it adds a whole new layer to the thorny question of identity politics and appropriation.

With the increase in available technology a decision is currently being made to decide the amount of invasive prosthetic intervention should be administered.

What seems like an obvious choice to save a life can become complicated quickly. Similar to organ donation, a decision with such lasting consequences needs to be thought out, decided in advance, and highly regulated.

“Here’s the big reveal,” says Ryan as he waves his hand over his face. The amazing thing is that this that this implant changes facial structure, and over the course of 15 minutes he had become a completely different person. “I haven’t really gotten a chance to pay with the voice modulation,” he laughed in a deep, Darth Vader-esque voice, “this will probably never get old to me,” he added with a chuckle. Continued on Page A16

Whether it be for religious reasons or personal preference, there is a consensus that there needs to be a set of rules in place that dictates how far a person is willing to go to continue to survive.

Much of the discussion leads back to the spiritual and religious and the attempt to find out what makes a person, a person. Where does the soul come from? When someone gets a prosthetic leg most are likely to agree he is still himself. A quadrupedal amputee would also be considered himself. When the organs start to get replaced, how many until that person is no longer themselves? Eventually, when we are able to map the brain, what then?

There are many labs right now working on creating sophisticated artificial intelligence that carries the possibility of being classified as a sentient artificial being. How will we categorize those creations? Another avenue of exploration is looking at new techniques

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to repair damaged brains, either from birth defects or injury. If the brain is the last bastion for the soul, what will happen when man conquers it? The root of this problem boils down to what makes a person human, what makes them unique. When we are able to perfect genetic cloning for human beings, how will we separate ourselves from them? Will we even need to?

People currently having a hard time deciding what to have done to them, and if they mind coming out with different parts. Many are cavalier about the decision as long as they live, but it is the other group that many companies are designing for. One option is to have a notification similar to organ donors or people who do not wish to be resuscitated. Others worry that once you are fixed and filled with equipment, what happens if you can’t afford it? Do they take their equipment back? With healthcare still a controversial issue and most prosthetics and replacement organs still premium and elective procedures, many ask what options will be in an emergency situation.

Low-cost temporary prosthetics meant to extend the life of someone long enough to get a real organ or longer lasting substitute are being researched, as well as low-cost permanent replacement parts for people, which will get easier as time progresses and everything gets cheaper and smaller. Continued on Page B6

United States to Change Policy Regarding Invasive Prosthetic Intervention in Emergency Room Patients With the increase in available technology a decision is currently being made to decide the amount of invasive prosthetic intervention should be administered.

What seems like an obvious choice to save a life can become complicated quickly. Similar to organ donation, a decision with such lasting consequences needs to be thought out, decided in advance, and highly regulated.

Whether it be for religious reasons or personal preference, there is a consensus that there needs to be a set of rules in place that dictates how far a person is willing to go to continue to survive.

Much of the discussion leads back to the spiritual and religious and the attempt to find out what makes a person, a person. Where does the soul come from? When someone gets a prosthetic leg most are likely to agree he is still himself. A quadrupedal amputee would also be considered himself. When the organs start to get replaced, how many until that person is no longer themselves? Eventually, when we are able to map the brain, what then?

There are many labs right now working on creating sophisticated artificial intelligence that carries the possibility of being classified as a sentient artificial being. How will we categorize those creations? Another avenue of exploration is looking at new techniques

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to repair damaged brains, either from birth defects or injury. If the brain is the last bastion for the soul, what will happen when man conquers it? The root of this problem boils down to what makes a person human, what makes them unique. When we are able to perfect genetic cloning for human beings, how will we separate ourselves from them? Will we even need to?

People currently having a hard time deciding what to have done to them, and if they mind coming out with different parts. Many are cavalier about the decision as long as they live, but it is the other group that many companies are designing for. One option is to have a notification similar to organ donors or people who do not wish to be resuscitated. Others worry that once you are fixed and filled with equipment, what happens if you can’t afford it? Do they take their equipment back? With healthcare still a controversial issue and most prosthetics and replacement organs still premium and elective procedures, many ask what options will be in an emergency situation.

Low-cost temporary prosthetics meant to extend the life of someone long enough to get a real organ or longer lasting substitute are being researched, as well as low-cost permanent replacement parts for people, which will get easier as time progresses and everything gets cheaper and smaller. Continued on Page B6

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SPORT SUNDAY B9-14

INTERNATIONAL A4-11

MMA Ban On Ottoman Slap

Being “Natural” in GSG 9

After several studies revealed the overwhelming permanent damage caused to the recipients of the Ottoman Slap, the national fight committee has decided to ban the use of the technique, relegating it with similar moves such as intentional eye gouging and strikes to the back of the head. PAGE B9

Grenzschutzgruppe 9 der Bundespolizei, Germany’s counterterrorism and special operations unit, is one of the only operations units in the world, aside from Russia’s Spetsnaz, that still employ a mix of augmented and non-augmented personnel. In order to hold their membership within these elite groups, these men and women must perform just as well as their enhanced counterparts. PAGE A9

“Perpetual Red” Batteries Debut Has the potential to giving athletes extra power with faster charge in limbs while minimizing heat output. PAGE B9

OBITUARIES B7-8

Clint McSavage Dies at 120 NATIONAL A12-20

Solitary Confinement Curbed With a majority of prisoners having eye and other sensory organ augmentations, solitary confinement as a treatment has lost significant effectiveness.

Prison wardens are now looking at possibly adding a “dead zone” these ISO cells, but others argue this technique oversteps the boundaries of personal space and has not been tested for lasting psychological damage. PAGE A12

One of the first volunteers for America’s augmented soldier program, Clint was active for over 40 years before eventually “retiring” and taking a position teaching new recruits on how to successfully integrate with their new enhancements.

He was a huge supporter of the Army’s cybernetics program. PAGE B7

Maggie Santos Dies at 139 An active field surgeon for just over 100 years, Maggie had some of the steadiest hands in the business. PAGE B7

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NEW YORK A21-25

FOOD D1-8

Day 1 in Police Shooting Trial

The Verdict on Tasty Wheat

The trial opened for a police officer charged with the fatal shooting of an unarmed man during last week’s mall riot at the release of Aperture Lab’s SG24X3 upgrade module.

“Maybe what I think Tasty Wheat tasted like actually tasted like oatmeal, or tuna fish. That makes you wonder about a lot of things. You take chicken, for example: maybe they couldn’t figure out what to make chicken tastes like, which is why chicken tastes like everything,” runs perhaps the best explanation of the thoughts that rush through your head when you first try this single-celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins and minerals. PAGE D1

ARTS C1-6

Live, Unenhanced An interactive exhibition created by Charlie Wong allowing participants to experience old technology of an “unenhanced world.” Containing relics like portable music devices and hand held cell phones. Definitely a must-see down in the Old District. PAGE C1

Cynthia.

“Slam poetry. Yelling. Angry. Waving my hands a lot. Specific point of view on things. Cynthia. Cyn-thi-a. Jesus died for our Cynthia’s. Jesus cried. Runaway bride. Julia Roberts. Julia rob-hurts. Cynthia. Mmmmm Cynthia, you’re dead. You are dead. Beeeeeee boooooop beep you’re dead.” PAGE C1

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FUTURE EXTREMES SPECULATIVE: DYSTOPIA AUTOINJECTOR

The autoinjector was the product designed for my dystopia. In a world where tech has merged with the human body and modifications are commonplace, but the high quality parts and pieces are inaccessible to the majority of the population, it is cheaper to provide the general public with an autoinjector that administers pain killers and antibiotics.

They are built cheaply and ruggedly so they can be mass-produced. They also use a needleless jet injector to dose the drugs correctly and have a removable, replaceable cartridge. These auto injectors are handed out with every purchase of cybernetic parts.

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FUTURE EXTREMES PRODUCT: ALPHAKIT

Bringing that level of extreme preparedness from 2080 back to the year 2016, AlphaKIT is a collection of 3 pocket sized products that aid in urban survival including a respirator, water filtration unit, and fire starter (ALL THIS MAY CHANGE!).

AlphaKIT’s PR-01 pocket respirator serves as a mini solution to carrying around the full sized alternative. With replaceable filters and a built in nose clip, the PR-01 can get you our of any situation that has you running through smoke or other particulate matter and will last long enough to get you out of there.

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Several collapsible respirator prototypes.

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Collapsible respirator prototypes were made modular to ease exploration.

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After refining a collapsible model was created in 3D software then printed.

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01 PAGE HEADDER

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APP: “O”

Weather I am sitting in the studio, or at home, or in a car, the whirling sirens and flashing lights from emergency vehicles flying by always peak my curiosity. “What’s happening out there” I always think to myself. Moving this control of information over to apps, I created two app that each give its user access to even more of their surroundings. During the research process two things grabbed my attention: 1) There are a whole host of devices, from CCTV setups to baby monitors, that user 2.4 GHz video transmitters where the signal can be intercepted.5 2) There are apps out there for both iPhone and Android that scan for unencrypted police radio frequencies. Ultimately these findings would be the springboards for the initial creation of my apps O and Heimdallr.

2.4 GHz is the frequency many of our radios, cordless phones, baby monitors, Bluetooth devices, and CCTV’s operate on. They are also typically offered as a cheaper alternative to those that use encrypted signals to protect the video

stream. The O app, which derives its name from the ring shape of a camera lens, exploits the commonality of this across systems and allows to user to tap into various nearby CCTV and traffic cam footage to give you a better perspective on a situation, without putting yourself too close to danger. When the lights and sounds of an emergency vehicle, or a chattering of a gathering crowd catch your attention, you can launch O. Opening up to a map screen, it denotes every CCTV and traffic cam available for viewing near your location. From there you can either choose which camera you want to view the footage from. You can drop a pin in the map, set a radius out from that pin, and use the video controls to flip through footage inside the boundaries you have just set.

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APP: HEIMDALLR

Heimdallr, named after the Norse god of foreknowledge, who sounds the horn Gjallarhor to signal Ragnorak (the end of the world), is an app that warns you of developing crimes around your location. By scraping unencrypted police radio frequencies and transcribing their messages and police codes, the app is able to send you a push notification on your phone. After reading about the crime, you could click the Gjallarhor icon to text message blast friends and family whom you’d like to warn. The app would also gather crime statistics to give you a better idea of the things happening near your work, home, and other places of interest.

After presenting my work to classmates and faculty, Allan Chochinov, the chair of our program asked me “What do people do after they warn their friends and family? What do they do about the crime?”

I had originally planned for this to be an early warning system; I had no intention of interfering with crimes in progress. I also did not think it was a good idea for

random civilians to run head first into a situation they did not fully comprehend.

Legally, logistically, it would be a nightmare, but what if people were presented with the opportunity to help or not?

How would that change the dynamic of the perpetration of pubic crimes?

These curiosities pushed me to evolve Heimdallr into its next iteration.

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APP: RUN&HELP OR RUN&HIDE Growing directly out of the Heimdallr app, RH2 retained the premise of its previous incarnation, still alerting you to a crime happening within a set radius. However, the app now gives the option for people to choose either “Help” or “Hide”. A counter under each label indicates how many people have already elected one over the other. I was interested in how seeing these number would affect the decisions to help or hide. Would it amplify the “bystander effect”, a phenomenon where the presence of others discourages an individual to come to the aid of a victim, or would it inspire the opposite reaction, which oddly has no name other than what I have personally dubbed the “John McClane Effect”.

Swiping “Help” over the map causes the view to zoom in to the shortest path from your current location to the site of the incident. On screen at the same time situational information is being updated to give you the best representation of what you are walking into. Swiping “Hide” over causes the map to display all the places available for you to retreat to including stores, cafés and other places to take shelter. I contemplated using

GPS as a method of keeping track of whether people were actually going to help or not, but decided that it was not an integral part. There is neither a reward for responding to an emergency nor repercussion for avoiding one. The statistics of your helping and hiding are not sharable assets, so lying in this app has no advantages.

While developing the UI for RH2 many iterations on layout and gesture were considered. There was a struggle to make optimize screen space for map and incident information as well as adding a control scheme that was easy to use and intuitive. Building on the gestures made popular by apps like Tinder, the left-right swipe was chosen as the best method of choosing weather to help or hide because it avoided accidental button presses and less active long press options. Further down the road of development it seemed natural to push the app onto the smart watch platform. Both versions of this app are still being developed as this book is being printed.

Bystander Effect: A social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present.

“Because there’s no body else to do it right now, that’s why. Believe me, if there were somebody else to do it, I’d let them do it, but there’s not. So we’re doing it.”* John McClane: Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

John McClane Effect*

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294/274

*

mass shootings

days

*As on October 1st, 2015.

Source: Mass Shooting Tracker (massshootingtracker.com)6

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SOCIAL CHANGE

This thesis exercise explored the field of services in concentrations like disruptive tech, policy reform, bright spot and public perception. I framed my social initiatives with the following statement: “In an increasingly dangerous world, we must protect the ones we love, but must also take into account the psychological effects of this heightened state of living.

By finding creative ways to safeguard their wellbeing we can increase their safety while maintaining a certain quality of life.� This was inspired by the October 2015 release of statistics by Mass Shooter Tracker that showed there were 294 mass shootings during the 274 days of that year.

Living in a day and age where terrorism is widespread across the world, I have felt firsthand how the increased visibility of armed security forces changes my perception of safety. Although I feel safer being able to see our military guarding our buildings, streets, and public transportation with their M16 assault rifles, as more and more security measures

are put in place, the feeling of safety dips into the realm of fear and paranoia, a constant reminder of the ubiquitous threat of attack that looms over us. Many of these services shift into protecting the people we love through a variety of unconventional and hidden means. They range from completely unseen and integrated systems, to projects that prepare the people within the society we are trying to protect, to changing the visual language of what safety looks like.

PREVAIL SOCIAL CHANGE

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DISRUPTIVE TECH: PREVAIL

Prevail is a covert service that combines gunfire locator software with 24-hour air surveillance to provide a city with an enhanced blanket of monitoring and response capabilities. Gunfire locators work by using specifically placed sensors to triangulate the origin of the gunshot.7,8 Coupling that with GPS, they allow police to have better response times versus trying to guess what is happening based on incoming 911 calls.

Persistent Surveillance Systems, created by Ross McNutt and his team, has developed a system and camera array that mounts to the bottom of a plane.

This plane can fly way above a city— out of visual range of people—but can take incremental pictures. When these pictures are combined, they create a flipbook containing the activities of the entire surveilled area and allows its technicians to look back in time to track people and vehicles. This system has been proven to work in the field, helping police to catch drug lords, burglars and robbers in all test locations.9

Prevail looks to combine these two services into one system to create an incredibly efficient tool capable to giving real-time information with the ability to look back in time. Although its real world applications are completely feasible today, the concern with privacy grown in the wake of a post-Snowden world where people suddenly realize they are being watched and don’t like it. It will be an ongoing challenge to find the balance between providing comprehensive protection and maintaining the public’s perception of its civil liberties.

RED INITIATIVE

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POLICY: RED INITIATIVE

During the Cold War, in the event that the United States went to war with Soviet Russia, high school students were required run “duck and cover” drills in preparation for the detonation of a nuclear weapon of mass destruction The first part of a nuclear explosion is a bright flash of light, followed by pressure waves that ripple outward from the epicenter of the detonation site.

“Duck and cover” was meant to teach students the reaction of hiding under a table to protect themselves at the sight of the bright flash, instead of following the more normal reaction of going to the window, where they could potentially get hit by the glass from the shattering windows.10 It should be noted thought that in the event you are within the range of a nuclear explosion, hiding under your desk or behind a rock would not do you any good. This was much more of a gesture to give people a perception of being save rather than actually protecting them from harm.

Continuing this gesture of building the correct response to a dangerous situation, while pushing it into the realm of a useful reaction, Red Initiative is envisioned as a proactive educational policy that requires all high school students to learn basic first aid training as part of their health class. Training the next generation to be more prepared teaches them vital survival skills while simultaneously bolstering their self confidence through this acquisition of concrete, life-saving abilities. This also creates the potential of building stronger communities where people know they can rely on one another’s acquired skills.

Knowing that in any emergency situation, a handful of people are guaranteed to know what to do and help could be a strong social bond. In an ideal world, these education programs would extend to other topics, elevating everyone out of civilian status.

BLUE STAR

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BRIGHT SPOT: BLUE STAR

College campuses around the United States have blue emergency contact kiosks all around campus. These structures are within visual range of one another and allow for direct contact with the school emergency response unit.

Some fancier towers even feature cameras that deliver a live feed. Blue Star is the bright spot program that looks to install those blue emergency contact kiosks all around the city to provide a sense of security as well as immediate access to emergency response units.

This is an upgrade to those old fire alarm boxes that can still be seen across New York City.11 Blue Star kiosks also provide video surveillance and are always spaced within visible range of each other. By dispersing them throughout urban cityscapes, we can provide safe, accessible, recognizable stations for the population to utilize in dire situations.

They provide a sense of safety without the need to distribute police squad cars across the city.

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PUBLIC PERCEPTION: OPERATION QUICK CHANGE

Operation Quick Change is an initiative to regulate the amount of uniformed police officers and servicepeople present in public, even in times of increased threat.

By increasing the amount of plainclothes units in the streets, calm can be maintained by reducing the stress of the general public. Typically, in times of increased danger, the general populace responds to the sight of dense amounts of servicepeople with heightened emotional states. Through Operation Quick Change, we can alleviate this stress by maintaining a balance between uniformed and plainclothes officers during emergencies. By seeing more “regular� people (who are in fact officers), people will be protected without being alarmed.

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The problem we are solving is the rising levels of complacency, and ever growing sense of security is making people ill prepared for the challenges life may throw at them.

Introducing TREAD. TREAD is a service that allows people to live out scenarios in a controlled environment in order to be better prepared for life.

It works like this: The participant/participants choose a scenario they would like to experience, and depending on the challenge level of that experience they will be trained accordingly with the appropriate knowledge.

However, before that process begins, these participant/ participants will live through their chosen scenario with no training whatsoever to understand first hand the experience of being unprepared.

We make money by charging people varying amounts of money based on the complexity level of the scenario.

We will get out first customers/users/members by offering it for free to military personnel, obstacle course and escape room enthusiasts to gain publicity and insight.

Our vision is to prepare the world.

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SERVICE: TREAD

Based on all my previous work and research I knew I wanted to design a service that taught people skills that would better prepare them for life. More importantly I knew I wanted the people who used these service to feel like they were part of a much larger team, surrounded by people they could trust within an environment that they felt safe in.

Tread is a service that teaches techniques on surviving extreme life-ordeath situations, such as being trapped in a sinking car, by giving its lessons in a completely immersive environment. For example, if you’re afraid of being in that sinking car, we would start by teaching you all the necessary skills of being in water, like basic swimming and floating techniques. Then we would acclimate you to being in the water with jumping and diving techniques, to get you comfortable. When you feel that you are ready, we bring you into a large pool of water, similar to the one found at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab where NASA trains their astronauts. There you will find a car

welded to a frame and suspended by sturdy thick chains all hooked up to an indoor crane.

There are towels for when you get out of the water, but for now, it is time for you to hop into a car that is about to be sunk. You get in the car with the coach and a scuba diver. The coach reminds you that the initial impact of the car hitting the water will be rough and that the water pouring into the car will be cold.

As you look down into the pool from the view inside the suspended car, you see a few extra divers just in case anything goes wrong. The car starts to roll forward and tips into the pool and you feel the hit. Water starts to rush in from the cracks in the door, the vents, and the windshield. Some newer cars automatically roll down their windows when the onboard sensor detects that the car is submerging, but the one you are in has no fancy sensor.

Counter to instinct, you open all the windows in the car before it is fully under,

TREAD Business Model Canvas

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allowing water to rush in. You know that if you do not open the windows now, the difference in pressure between the water pushing against the outside of the car versus the air pressure inside the car will make it virtually impossible to open the door to escape. As the water rushes in you take a few more breaths as the car is finally fully submerged. You calmly remove your seatbelt and open the door, exhaling out your nose as you paddle upwards. As you break the surface you hear cheering and clapping from people watching and your coach appears on the surface and gives you the thumbs up. You made it! You successfully escaped from a sinking car.

You get out of the pool and wrap yourself in a towel and the coach asks you, “again?� Perhaps this time you can try it in a low light setting to simulate this occurring at night.

Neutral Buoyancy Lab12

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Tread is an experiential service that specializes in immersing its participants in extreme situations as a learning experience. Participants choose a scenario they would like to experience, and depending on the challenge level of that experience they will be trained accordingly with the appropriate knowledge.

Each scenario is individually tailored so the cost varies depending on level of complexity and supplies required.

Tread offers you a chance to experience life-threatening events in a controlled environment with trained professionals and provides training on how to survive such an encounter. Additionally, being in these high-pressure situations prepares you mentally to deal with other stressful situations in life and teaches you to manage your anxiety and to be able to think clearly.

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TREAD

TREAD

TREAD

TREAD

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Pushing this concept into ad campaigns, I foresee the creation of billboard ads.

Each features an extreme close-up of a situation: crashing waves, thick black smoke, floating in the middle of a vast ocean. Each poster contained the Tread tag line: You can survive this. We can teach you. Each poster’s imagery is left intentionally vague so that the viewer can think of their own worst-case scenario. In this case, being prescriptive would weaken the ad campaign; no single situation will net the same reaction from a group of people. I used Live Surface to realistically set our design in the real world.

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SERVICE: TREAD

Throughout the semester, this service evolved more and more, and I drew insight from my interview with United States Army sergeant Jeffrey Fong. He spent his time in service as a combat engineer finding and disarming IEDs overseas. He explained to me when tensions are high and you are being bombarded by external stimuli (i.e. trying to disarm explosives capable of destroying a heavily armored vehicle while being shot at), “most of the time it’s like an outof-body experience, like you are watching yourself do it. Your body just takes over.” In my interview with him as well as other subject matter experts, a common theme that arose was the importance of muscle memory. Combining this insight and the desire to reach more people with more applicable skills, the second iteration of Tread looked to the model of CrossFit, there they license their name to various gym locations around the country to be official CrossFit training facilities.

Adding situations that have a high chance of happening in everyday life, like being locked out of your house or putting out grease fires in your kitchen, aims to better prepare people for more common situations. The new model bridges the gap between those who have no experience solving problems hands-on and doomsday prepper types who already have a stockpile of ammunition and supplies. When quick decisions need to be made under pressure, human intuition is powerful, but that intuition needs to be honed through various life experiences.

The classes expanded into sections

like “In-Home,” which includes various fire training, lock-picking, water containment, gas containment, and flood prevention. “Urban” includes evading followers and parkour, the exercise in getting from point A to point B the fastest way possible. “Nature” would include escaping from a sinking car, recovering after falling through ice, and trap setting. “Next Level” training includes more extreme situations like kidnapping, dealing with angry mobs, and rioting.

Finally, after running the business through our Business Modeling class the final semester of our thesis year, the business evolved once more from the multiple locations via licensing to become a training camp similar to that of Seal Fit, that simulates the roughest week of U.S. Navy Seal training, known as “Hell Week” and transforms it into a class for civilians. By having people come to Tread, it removes the need to choose a starting location then strategically choose new places to expand that would draw the largest clientele.

Completing camp once would not be enough to build muscle memory, so I was built off the competitive approach CrossFit takes to motivate people to practice. Holding competitions each month and offering cash prized, I hoped to entice people to practice alone and with us, turning their actions into second nature.

In order to get the word out, Tread would start by posting 60-second intense but fun videos on YouTube showing people how to do certain skills. As popularity increased, we would try to get expo-

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sure from late night television by doing example segments on the show.

Eventually, we would hope to become popular enough to have celebrities do our 60-second tutorial videos with us in special guest appearances.

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EXPERIENCE DESIGN

“Confidence”, is what I want people to feel after they attend an event related to my thesis. I created a walk as my first act of experience design, a walk that represented and made the people doing it feel confident. Then I created postcard written by someone who had just finished and event related to the topic of my thesis. Using the creative leverage created by having physical collateral, this process helped to shape what my event could be, similar to the process of naming something and using that to spark creativity on initial ideas. Still thinking about hands on learning and gaining knowledge via visceral experience I created a postcard to an event called “fillet*”.

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EXPERIENCE DESIGN: fillet*

A seafood restaurant, at “fillet*” you would experience the entire process of preparing your meal. It would be held as a small five-to-six person experience inside a warehouse containing a small farm growing vegetables and fish.

As you enter you can see the variations in the garden from natural soil-grown crops to hydroponics. Various large tanks containing fish at different stages of development can be seen. There is a brief welcome and introduction about the events of the evening, and then the aprons are donned and the work begins.

A menu in front of you lists all of the ingredients for the course. As the group travels to the site of each ingredient, you are taught the proper technique of harvesting.

The ingredients are gathered and checked off one by one until you reach the fish-sourcing section. You are given a net and shown how to wrangle a fish while standing knee-deep in water, inside a fish tank. Upon catching the fish you bring all your ingredients back to the kitchen area of the warehouse, where you start to prepare your meal. The dif-

ficult moment has arrived. It was clear when you signed up for this event that you would have to collect and prepare every part. Everyone is shown how to properly kill, gut, and clean a live fish.

There are people going around to give assistance, but the deed is done by each individual who signed up. Everything else is prepped and the lesson continues on to cooking and plating.

This entire event pushes to connect people with their food, a connection that has been lost by the ease and availability of food in the United States.

With “fillet*,” that connection is reestablished.

Although my excitement for this event maintained its high, the lack of feasibility due to time and expense could not be ignored. However, all was not lost. The structure of the experience would remain the same. People come together, we show them something, they try it for themselves, and they walk away having learned something. Remembering the keyword of “confidence,” I went through many iterations.

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EXPERIENCE DESIGN: ACTION HERO

The first one referenced a Mythbusters episode where they were testing the plausibility of shooting someone through a wall based on sound. I was planning on building frames lined with paper to create paper walls, and have two participants hunt each other in a three round bout. After each round, a coach, who had been observing the interaction, would give advice on how the participants could do better next time.

With that came a lot of issues concerning skill level, experience, and the overall objective. But there were too many variables and the scenario always ended with one person “losing,” defeating my goal of having everyone leave feeling confident.

The second idea pulled from classic action, and action comedy, movies and TV shows like Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Rush Hour and Brooklyn NineNine. The plan was to build faux bombs for participants to disarm. They were a series of intricate puzzle boxed that needed specific operations to be done to it in order for it to be considered

“disarmed.” Any incorrect moves and it would trigger a reaction like confetti shooting out of the device or foam popping and oozing all over it. In an effort to add a sense of urgency the participant would be paired with a partner who would defend them in a choreographed “firefight” with paintball guns. Although fun, this design was overly complicated.

It also did not teach anyone any kind of concrete, usable skills. I did not want to create a sense of false confidence.

What this idea helped me to develop was the rough mood board for my final iteration.

A solution to one of the puzzle boxes in the previous experience used a bent paperclip to reach into the device in order to hook a reset switch. This got me thinking about the use of ordinary everyday objects in an unintended manner and there is, of course, no better example of this than MacGyver.

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EXPERIENCE DESIGN: B.A.M.F. ACADEMY

MacGyver is a fictional character, played

by Richard Dean Anderson, who starred in his own 1980s TV show about a secret agent working for a fictional government agency. He specialized in solving any problem with only the everyday objects around him. Urban Dictionary.com defines him as “someone who can jumpstart a truck with a cactus.”13 Even for those who have never seen the show, I am willing to bet that Taking the “something dropped into a storm drain” scenario, I created my MacGyver-themed event called “BAMF Academy,” with BAMF standing for Bad Ass Mother Fucker. It started with a test using a plywood storm grate rested on top of two tables. First, one participant was given one yard of tape and a paperclip to retrieve keys. After ripping the tape into shreds to form a rope and bending a paperclip into a hook, it took no time for her to retrieve the keys that had been dropped into the grate. The second run used a team of two, were given significantly less tape, about only

one foot, and coins instead of paperclips to retrieve a 100-dollar bill. The idea was to have them use the coins’ weight to help stick the tape to the money. After they dropped their entire assembly into the grate I jumped in to help, removing my belt, and using a piece of gum to stick my belt buckle to their lost set of tape and coins. I was able to retrieve everything, including the money. From there, I finalized the details of the event, deciding to have multiple items to be rescued with a variety of everyday objects at their disposal.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted my event to be over-the-top, fun, and engaging while actually providing a learning experience. With the learning aspect throughout I shifted my focus onto creating the right atmosphere.

Continuing to build off the action movie genre I chose to place my event in the space of “pre-heist practice.” These are the scenes where the heroes are at their warehouse preparing their plan, building sometimes one to one scale

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models of the places they will be visiting, and running through their actions in a practice phase. It provides a safe environment for people to test themselves. At the same time, in order to create excitement, I wanted to add in the spectator sport excitement of a show like American Gladiators. Bringing these two things together helped to solidified BAMF Academy.

You enter a space with a large group of

people. There are no chairs, but plenty of standing room. At the center of this room is a platform with two ramps. The host comes out to greet you wearing the signature MacGyver mullet and a vest.

They explain that this is a game showstyle event where participants will be rescuing objects that have fallen into a storm drain. They bring out posters, one by one, drawn with white ink on blue paper, each explaining an everyday object, its properties, and a few examples of its

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secondary functions.

As they are explained they are hung up on the columns surrounding the stage.

Everyone is given an instruction manual for the vest, which lists out all its contents and what pocket each one is in. The first pair steps up and spins a board to randomly chose what object they will be saving. The object is chosen, dropped into the grate, and the participants walk up the ramp to take their po-

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sitions, where they are given a mullet and a vest to wear. The vest contains several everyday items like paperclips, chewing gum, a pen, a lighter, coins, an ID or credit card, a condom, a tampon, and something that MacGyver always in his back pocket: a small roll of duct tape. The rest of the lights in the room dim and only the stage is brightly lit. The timer for 10 minutes starts and the music plays.

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The host narrates what’s happening while simultaneously engaging the audience for suggestions and comments.

This happens over and over as the rescued items are removed from the spinning wheel of choice. After each victory a confetti cannon goes off, celebrating their accomplishment. They come down from the stage for a quick interview about they felt, what they thought, and what they learned. The experience ends with them taking a picture in full costume, which gets sent up on to social media, like Instagram.

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06 PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

06 LOOKING FORWARD

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

At the conclusion of this particular thesis journey, I still find myself hypervigilant as ever. I will continue my rituals of preparedness, carrying my emergency rations and my leatherman. The most interesting part for me was seeing how my point of view could potentially be integrated into the lives of the people around me. I plan to keep amassing knowledge and skills, also sharing it with those who have an interest in learning.

Bonus, I will most likely take advantage of the VFL being open and spend my entire summer finishing person projects that have been placed on hold during this program. Sleep can wait.

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07 FOOTNOTES

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01

From Miyamoto Musashi’s A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy.”

Which talks about the Way of the warrior and its relationship to the acceptance of death.

02

A moment shared to Youtube of hiker Aleksander Gamme as he opens up a cache of food, that he buried away earlier in his trip, and expresses extreme happiness when he realizes that it’s all junk food.

03

RoboBees: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpage/457

04

Amy Cuddy TEDGlobal, “Your body language shapes who you are.” 2/21/2012 Signal

05

Hijack, CCTV hacking: http://jhwilbert.com/projects/signalhijack/research.html

06

Mass Shooting Tracker, massshootingtracker.com

07

Gunfire Locator Company: http://www.shotspotter.com/

08

Gunfire Locator: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/03/ school-shooter-technology/18176599/

09

Persistance Survalance works!: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/new-surveillance-technology-can-track-everyone-inan-area-for-several-hours-at-a-time/2014/02/05/82f1556e-876f-11e3a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html

10

Duck and Cover, advice from US Army Field Manual FM 3-4 NBC Protection, Chapter 4, section under “Immediate actions”

11

Fire Alarm Boxes are those red towers you see that have the fire department and police department symbol on them under a microphone plate. According to the FDNY in 2013, 2.6% of calls come from those boxes. http://untappedcities. com/2013/10/16/cities-101-red-fire-alarm-boxes-nyc-do-they-work/

12

Neutral Buoyancy Lab is essentially a massive swimming pool where Nasa trains astronauts. http://dx12.jsc.nasa.gov/about/index.shtml

13

Urban Dictionary, on php?term=Macgyver

MacGyver.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.

08 BIBLIOGRAPHY

08 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Asprey, David, and Max Lugavere. “MUNCHIES Presents: The World of Dave Asprey.”

Vice, 15 Oct. 2015. Accessed 15 Oct. 2015, https://munchies.vice.com/videos/ munchies-presents-the-world-of-dave-asprey.

Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia. “Why Do ‘Good Guy’ Superheroes Get a Bad Rap?” The Daily Dot, 11 Oct. 2015. Accessed TK 2015, http://www.dailydot.com/geek/marvel-dccaptain-america-superman-debate/.

Barker, Eric. “Lessons From The Samurai: The Secret To Always Being At Your Best.”

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Divine, Mark. Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level (3rd Edition). CreateSpace, 2015. Print.

Giaever, Becca; Farahany, Nita; Walters, Pat. “Blame.” Radiolab. Podcast audio, 17 Sept. 2013. radiolab.org/story/317421-blame/ Greenberg, Andy. “Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway—With Me in It.” Wired.com, 21 July 2015. Accessed 21 July 2015, wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/.

Greenberg, Andy. “I Made an Untraceable AR-15 ‘Ghost Gun’ in My Office—And It Was Easy.” Wired, 21 July 2015. Accessed 20 Aug. 2015, wired.com/2015/06/i-madean-untraceable-ar-15-ghost-gun/ Hamblin, James. “The Paradox of Effort: A Medical Case against Too Much Self-control.” The Atlantic, 16 July 2015. Web. Accessed 17 July 2015, theatlantic.com/health/ archive/2015/07/the-health-cost-of-upward-mobility/398486/.

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Harrington, Rebecca. “You Can Now Get a Flu Vaccine via a ‘Jet Injector,’ Which Shoots It Straight into Your Arm without a Needle.” Tech Insider, 11 Oct. 2015. Accessed 12 Oct. 2015, techinsider.io/how-to-get-a-flu-vaccine-without-a-needle-2015-10.

Heid, Markham. “You Asked: Does Compression Gear Really Work?” Time, 19 Aug. 2015. Web. Accessed 7 Nov. 2015, time.com/4002059/compression-socks-workout-clothes/.

Henry, Pat. “Prepping 101 – Preppers List of Supplies.” The Prepper Journal, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. Accessed 10 Feb. 2016, theprepperjournal.com/2014/02/26/prepperslist-of-supplies/ Janich, Michael. “Tips and Tactics for Neutralizing an Active Shooter.” Personal Defense World, 4 June 2014. Web. Accessed 27 Nov. 2015, personaldefenseworld. com/2014/06/tips-tactics-neutralizing-active-shooter/#active-shooter-takedowns-1.

Janich, Michael. “How to Take Down an Active Shooter with a Knife.” Personal Defense World, 24 Nov. 2014. Web. Accessed 27 Nov. 2015, personaldefenseworld. com/2014/11/take-active-shooter-knife/ Kelley, Scott. “5 Discreet Weapons You Can Carry (Almost) Anywhere.” Graywolf Survival, 19 Oct. 2014. Web. Accessed 14 Feb. 2016, graywolfsurvival.com/47375/5discreet-weapons-can-carry-almost-anywhere/ Kelley, Scott. “The Art of Blending In: 5 Tips from a Counterintelligence Special Agent.” Graywolf Survival, 6 Mar. 2015. Web. Accessed 2 Jan. 2016, graywolfsurvival. com/133872/the-art-of-blending-in-5-tips-from-a-counterintelligence-specialagent/.

MacAskill, William. “This Couple Lives on 6% of Their Income so They Can Give $100,000 a Year to Charity.” Quartz, 09 Oct. 2015. Web. Accessed 12 Oct. 2015, qz.com/515655/this-couple-lives-on-6-of-their-income-so-they-cangive-100000-a-year-to-charity/ Maly, Tim. “Anti-Drone Camouflage: What to Wear in Total Surveillance.” Wired, 17 Jan. 2013. Web. Accessed 24 Oct. 2015, www.wired.com/2013/01/anti-drone-camouflage-apparel/.

Millar, Mark. “How Man Of Steel Traumatised Me So Much I Created Huck.” Games-

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Musashi, Miyamoto. “Spiritual Bearing in Strategy.” A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy. N.p.: Overlook, n.d. N. pag. Print.

Parkin, Simon. “Killer Robots: The Soldiers That Never Sleep.” BBC, 16 July 2015. Web. Accessed 16 July 2015, bbc.com/future/story/20150715-killer-robots-the-soldiersthat-never-sleep.

Robson, David. “The Real Reason Germs Spread in the Winter.” BBC, 19 Oct. 2015.

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Scarry, Elaine. The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), TKTK Siberell, Kate. “How the Navy SEALs Prepare For Extreme Cold Weather Survival, And How You Can Too.” Indefinitely Wild (Gawker), 20 Oct. 2015. Web. Accessed 21 Oct. 2015, indefinitelywild.gizmodo.com/how-the-navy-seals-prepare-for-extreme-cold-weather-sur-1737644998.

Standen, Amy. “Hacking the Brain With Electricity: Don’t Try This At Home.”

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Stetka, Bret. “The Ethics of Exercise Pills.” The Atlantic, 19 Oct. 2015. Web. Accessed 20 Oct. 2015, theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/will-exercise-pills-reallymake-us-healthier/411049/.

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09 APPENDICES

09 APPENDICES

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09 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are many people to thank. Each one of you had contributed greatly to my journey. Without you I would not have made it through this.

Allan Chochinov Gabrielle Kellner Marko Manriquez Alisha Wessler Brent Arnold Emilie Baltz Abby Covert Steven Dean Janna Gilbert Andrew Schloss Sinclair Scott Smith Class of 2016, rockets and biscuits taken into consideration, I have thoroughly enjoyed the last twelve years we have spent together. Weathering this storm together has made us strong as individuals and a family. Even as I sit here in the South classroom at 3:51 am on a Monday, with Onalan making a ruckus in the background as he cleans the lights from filming his Time Off Clock video, I am already beginning to miss you. It will be fun interacting with you all in the real world.

To the Justice League, without you this would have been an entirely different experience. I would be sitting in the Batcave, bathed in the lonely, cold, blue light of the Batcomputer, watching over the Bat-Vitra during the many full-nighters this program entails. But on a more serious note, you guys are the reason I love this program so much. You make the crushing pressure and unreasonable

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deadlines worth it. You make the irreparable damage to my physical form worth it. Those six, seemingly permanent, muscle spasms? Worth it, but I should probably get those checked out. You guys are the reason I never stop sprinting. No matter how far apart we scatter, no matter how many years we end up not seeing one another, I know when we meet up it will be like we never left (also I’m working on Prevail). This love will never die. That being said I hope we won’t stray too far for too long. Eventually we will have to get the Watchtower up and running.

Class of 2015, I have walked two year in your shoes and I have succeeded! Also I miss you guys, a lot. Perhaps I can finally make it to one of those social gatherings now that I’m done here.

Class of 2017, If the day should come and you feel overwhelmed by a project and that oh-so-familiar feeling of dread washes over you, here are two pieces of advice I have always kept in the back of my mind that I hope will help you.

First from Sinclair, “This is not the hill to die on.” Literally, don’t die at school slumped over a model, and don’t die in the VFL or they will close the space down and you’ll all be screwed. Second from the Turk, king of the Ottoman Slap, brewer of the Turkish Coffee, and one of the calmest, but simultaneously most productive people I know: “This is just school!” Sure you may have paid a ton of money, sure this is a masters program, but this is still just school, a small piece of a much larger picture. Also if you’re

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freaking the fuck out or have a question about building something, just call or email me! I’m serious.

The D4 Family, thanks for believing in me, giving me shelter, and always cheering me on. It’s best we stay on frequency code “Panther”.

Friends from back home, thanks for understanding my dropping off the face of the earth for two years, rarely showing signs of life and then showing up to hangouts only to fall asleep on the couch controller in hand.

Mom, thank you for all your support and believing in me. I can finally install the weather strip under the front door and fix that light on top of the gate to the backyard.

Dad, don’t worry, I did good.

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