Posters

Presentation Location

David Student Union: 2nd floor lobby

Document Type

Event

Start Date

15-3-2024 10:00 AM

End Date

15-3-2024 12:30 PM

Description

  • Anna Rahilly (Davidson College). Wander Your Mind to Find Your Soul: An Exploration of Generative AI’s Implications for Humanity
    The Internet Age has given way to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Age. The newest frontier of automation, Generative AI blurs the line between human and machine. While Traditional AI makes predictions based on data processing, Generative AI analyzes its given data to create new data by simulating human neural networks. What, then, distinguishes the human from the computer? How does Generative Artificial Intelligence challenge the idea of a human consciousness? Based on fieldwork conducted using the Generative AI platform Chat GPT – including interacting with the algorithm, prompt engineering, participating in AI focus groups, applying anthropological frameworks, and conducting interviews – I posit that Generative AI approaches a universal communication tool, but it falters in its institutional execution. I propose that the capability for developing languages through abstract thought, not a disembodied sense of consciousness itself, is what is unique to humankind. Oral, visual, linguistic, and symbolic languages are humanity’s distinguishing trait. Spontaneous neural synapses can only be simulated, not experienced, by computers. Generative AI is a material extension of human consciousness, a symbolic language framework – and it is not universal. AI is only the tool: it is humans who design and precede over the machines. Chat GPT has the capability to dilute knowledge production itself, rendering information generated by it to be monolinguistic – the alchemy of modern American English and binary computer code. This colonizes communication itself in a manner divergent from previous colonial language impositions. We ought to relinquish the desire for a wholly universal communication tool, which has resulted in unfettered development at the cost of humankind and the planet. Instead, we might reconnect with the collective consciousness through symbolic languages such as art and mathematics.
  • Phoebe Salomon (Christopher Newport University). Accepting Change While Defending the Past: A Case Study on the Interaction Between Popular Culture Tourism and Listed Buildings
    Our world is filled with museums. From natural history to art, there is truly a museum for everyone’s special interest. Although they have existed since the 1830s and make up only a small portion of all museums, historic house museums have become a popular way to transport visitors back to a precise time and place. Due to their unique ability to preserve a specific period, these homes have become an important resource to television and movie productions, allowing them to film in a historically accurate location without having to pay to construct the set themselves. One of the most famous examples of this is Downton Abbey. For over ten years, Highclere Castle in Hampshire, England, became Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey saved Highclere Castle, as the historic house was almost bankrupt when Julian Fellowes, the show’s creator, approached Highclere’s owners about using their home as their set, and fans started visiting as soon as the series aired. However, the spotlight comes with a price. Due to Highclere’s status as a Grade I listed building, meaning it has been deemed architecturally and/or historically significant, they are unable to make many of the changes required to give all tourists the best visit possible. This includes everything from installing elevators to putting in proper parking, all things that not only contribute to making visitors’ experiences accessible, but also enjoyable and memorable. Even with the roadblocks they face as a listed building, Highclere Castle has achieved noted status as a memorable site for their visitors.
  • Calvin Sloan (College of William & Mary). Subculture and Symbolic Violence in Richmond, Virginia’s Underground Music Community
    This project seeks to examine the ways in which The Richmond DIY music community represents the conscious construction of culture and subculture through the use of a variety of symbols and practices. Practices such as moshing and the construction of niche music subgenres are components of a loose governing ideology I refer to as “punk ethics.” By examining the practices and aesthetic trends of underground punk and metal, I hope to gain a better understanding of how art and music communities operate in the internet age. My research includes ethnographic methods that help to place the current Richmond scene into its greater historical context as a part of the global DIY movement. This research is part of my undergraduate honors project at the College of William & Mary.
  • Chloe Younce and Atticus Wingfield (Christopher Newport University). Fighting Food Insecurity on a College Campus: The CNU Food Pantry Project
    Many college students struggle to meet their food needs. Food insecurity among college students is an invisible problem, because those who are paying for college are assumed to be financially secure. In actuality, according to numerous studies conducted at college campuses throughout the United States, 20 to 50 percent of college students experience food insecurity. A higher proportion of college students are dependent on food banks and pantries than the general population. The purpose of this project is to determine the food needs of students at Christopher Newport University. Data collected through widely-disseminated surveys, interviews, and connections with student organizations will be used to provide evidence for the benefit of a needs-based food pantry on the university campus. This research will be utilized to formulate a multi-step plan to propose the establishment of a volunteer run, free food pantry made by students, for students. In addition, this presentation will reflect on a previous presentation given at the 2023 meeting of the Southern Anthropological Society and reveal the growth of the food pantry project in the year since the original research began.

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Mar 15th, 10:00 AM Mar 15th, 12:30 PM

Posters

David Student Union: 2nd floor lobby

  • Anna Rahilly (Davidson College). Wander Your Mind to Find Your Soul: An Exploration of Generative AI’s Implications for Humanity
    The Internet Age has given way to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Age. The newest frontier of automation, Generative AI blurs the line between human and machine. While Traditional AI makes predictions based on data processing, Generative AI analyzes its given data to create new data by simulating human neural networks. What, then, distinguishes the human from the computer? How does Generative Artificial Intelligence challenge the idea of a human consciousness? Based on fieldwork conducted using the Generative AI platform Chat GPT – including interacting with the algorithm, prompt engineering, participating in AI focus groups, applying anthropological frameworks, and conducting interviews – I posit that Generative AI approaches a universal communication tool, but it falters in its institutional execution. I propose that the capability for developing languages through abstract thought, not a disembodied sense of consciousness itself, is what is unique to humankind. Oral, visual, linguistic, and symbolic languages are humanity’s distinguishing trait. Spontaneous neural synapses can only be simulated, not experienced, by computers. Generative AI is a material extension of human consciousness, a symbolic language framework – and it is not universal. AI is only the tool: it is humans who design and precede over the machines. Chat GPT has the capability to dilute knowledge production itself, rendering information generated by it to be monolinguistic – the alchemy of modern American English and binary computer code. This colonizes communication itself in a manner divergent from previous colonial language impositions. We ought to relinquish the desire for a wholly universal communication tool, which has resulted in unfettered development at the cost of humankind and the planet. Instead, we might reconnect with the collective consciousness through symbolic languages such as art and mathematics.
  • Phoebe Salomon (Christopher Newport University). Accepting Change While Defending the Past: A Case Study on the Interaction Between Popular Culture Tourism and Listed Buildings
    Our world is filled with museums. From natural history to art, there is truly a museum for everyone’s special interest. Although they have existed since the 1830s and make up only a small portion of all museums, historic house museums have become a popular way to transport visitors back to a precise time and place. Due to their unique ability to preserve a specific period, these homes have become an important resource to television and movie productions, allowing them to film in a historically accurate location without having to pay to construct the set themselves. One of the most famous examples of this is Downton Abbey. For over ten years, Highclere Castle in Hampshire, England, became Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey saved Highclere Castle, as the historic house was almost bankrupt when Julian Fellowes, the show’s creator, approached Highclere’s owners about using their home as their set, and fans started visiting as soon as the series aired. However, the spotlight comes with a price. Due to Highclere’s status as a Grade I listed building, meaning it has been deemed architecturally and/or historically significant, they are unable to make many of the changes required to give all tourists the best visit possible. This includes everything from installing elevators to putting in proper parking, all things that not only contribute to making visitors’ experiences accessible, but also enjoyable and memorable. Even with the roadblocks they face as a listed building, Highclere Castle has achieved noted status as a memorable site for their visitors.
  • Calvin Sloan (College of William & Mary). Subculture and Symbolic Violence in Richmond, Virginia’s Underground Music Community
    This project seeks to examine the ways in which The Richmond DIY music community represents the conscious construction of culture and subculture through the use of a variety of symbols and practices. Practices such as moshing and the construction of niche music subgenres are components of a loose governing ideology I refer to as “punk ethics.” By examining the practices and aesthetic trends of underground punk and metal, I hope to gain a better understanding of how art and music communities operate in the internet age. My research includes ethnographic methods that help to place the current Richmond scene into its greater historical context as a part of the global DIY movement. This research is part of my undergraduate honors project at the College of William & Mary.
  • Chloe Younce and Atticus Wingfield (Christopher Newport University). Fighting Food Insecurity on a College Campus: The CNU Food Pantry Project
    Many college students struggle to meet their food needs. Food insecurity among college students is an invisible problem, because those who are paying for college are assumed to be financially secure. In actuality, according to numerous studies conducted at college campuses throughout the United States, 20 to 50 percent of college students experience food insecurity. A higher proportion of college students are dependent on food banks and pantries than the general population. The purpose of this project is to determine the food needs of students at Christopher Newport University. Data collected through widely-disseminated surveys, interviews, and connections with student organizations will be used to provide evidence for the benefit of a needs-based food pantry on the university campus. This research will be utilized to formulate a multi-step plan to propose the establishment of a volunteer run, free food pantry made by students, for students. In addition, this presentation will reflect on a previous presentation given at the 2023 meeting of the Southern Anthropological Society and reveal the growth of the food pantry project in the year since the original research began.