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• 1 2015-12-08T23:21:51-08:00 Final Page 7 plain 2015-12-14T10:16:57-08:00
            When I started this project, I intended for it to be able to solve all the problems of inequality and discrimination in the new world. This game was meant to reflect of the flaws that our professor pointed out in that. Empathy is required for social change, and that is something I truly believe. However, not everyone has empathy since it is an emotion. The EC chip was intended to at least show people's experiences to others, with this, I hoped that people would be more understanding and get along. However this game shows how that is problematic.
  
           Regardless of the fact that people can share experiences with one another, some individuals do not care. Although we do not have the empathy chip in society we have many other ways to express our individual struggles, regardless of our backgrounds. We have film, social media, pictures, music, poetry, books, articles, performance art, painting and much more, that all aim to show problems with structural oppression. Even though all of these things exist in the world that can educate people on the problems we have in society, the problems are still here. The only way to move forward is to keep fighting to equality. 
  
            As far as the game goes, I wanted to chose some people from diverse backgrounds. I picked people from different ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and economic status. I wanted to present how they would react to not only the idea of a government issued empathy chip, but also how they would react to social situations after being forced to know a little bit about a person's experiences. They experienced an interactive design because they didn't even have to chose to get an empathy chip in the first place, the user can flee. The user can also chose not to stick up for the oppressed, even after hearing some of the stories about the oppressed lives. 
  
            I drew on the same course readings that I used in the first two projects, but I also made sure each oppressed character was created based off of different readings, but the three main characters were based off of people I know from my own life. For example, the woman that Karlos ran into, named Elaina was based off of the borderlands text we read from Gloria Anzaldua. I wanted to portray how hard it is for some women to cross the border and how they are usually victims of terrible crimes but they have nobody to turn to because of immigration laws. The transwoman of color that Jonathan runs into, Shaylin, was based off of the ThinkProgress article about Larvene Cox declaring a state of emergency in the transgender community, due to the fact that people in that community are murdered and nobody does anything about the violence used on them. The young minorities that Catherine runs into when working on a new justice system were based off of the readings we have done about Mizzou, because it relates to #blacklivesmatter and speaks to the fact people in these communities are targeted by a corrupt criminal justice system just because of the color of their skin. I think by developing characters based off of the readings and seeing how the class responds to all of this I was able to successfully test out how my Empathy Chip would work in the hypothetical world I created. My conclusion is although it will not work on everyone, I think the chip could be effective on some people and work towards change. 
  
  Bibliography: 
  AnzaldUa, Gloria. Borderlands. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, n.d. Print.
  Cooper, Brittney. "Intersectionality." Speculative Media & Social Change. The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory, Aug. 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <http://scalar.usc.edu/works/speculative-media-and-social-change---fall-2015/media/intersectionality-brittney-cooper>.
   
   Dunne, Anthony., Project Muse, and Raby, Fiona. Speculative Everything Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, 2013. Print. UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE.
   Ford, Zack. "Why Laverne Cox Declared A 'State Of Emergency' In The Transgender Community." ThinkProgress RSS. N.p., 21 Aug. 2015. Web. 04 Dec. 2015. <http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/08/21/3693717/transgender-murders-emergency/>.Harraway, Donna. "A Cyborg Manifesto." Science Technology And Socialist Technology In The 20th Century (1991): 302-10. Web. 5 Nov. 2015. <http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Haraway-CyborgManifesto-1.pdf>.
  
  Lorde, Audre. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” 1984. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Ed. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press. 110-114. 2007. Print.
  
  Miller, Michael. "As Death Threats Spread Fear at Mizzou, Professor Asks Students to Defeat ‘bullies’ and Attend Class." The Washington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fscalar.usc.edu%2Fworks%2Fspeculative-media-and-social-change---fall-2015%2Fexternal%3Flink%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.washingtonpost.com%252Fnews%252Fmorning-mix%252Fwp%252F2015%252F11%252F11%252Fas-threats-spread-fear-at-mizzou-a-professor-asks-students-to-defeat-bullies-and-attend-class%252F%253Ftid%253Dsm_tw%26prev%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fscalar.usc.edu%252Fworks%252Fspeculative-media-and-social-change---fall-2015%252Fschedule>.
  Nakamura, L., & Chow-White, Peter. (2011). Race after the internet. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
  
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  "Middle Aged Woman" Image By Facial Excercise Guide
   
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  "La Transportation Construction Workers" By Colaborfed
   
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  "Empathy" By Relationshp Chips
  Footage for video:
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  From neurons during synapses to a human head by NIMEDIA

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• 1 2015-12-01T02:56:13-08:00 Austin Prasad Final Game Project 7 Home Page plain 2015-12-07T18:39:28-08:00                                                                               Empathy Chip Video Game 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The following was a statement given by scientists when they released the Empathy Chip:
  
  "The world has rapidly changed. The year is 2115. Ever since the water wars narrowed down the population 45 years ago, things have been different. With fewer problems around population, it is time to focus on social justice.  Design in many industries has rapidly changed from being all about profit to being about advancing society. When the water war happened it was the worst war the world had seen. Every country on every continent was fighting for the liquid of life. Communities turned on each other, friends became enemies; even family became competition, all in the name of survival. When we first tried to rebuild the planet, there was so much diversity between us and that will never change. But no longer will we live in inequality.
            I am happy to say what I am about to unveil something today, which will change the way we are able to understand one another. The inspiration for this project comes from readings that date back over a hundred years ago. I am sure that we have all felt the pressure of the world on our shoulders now since we have started to rebuild. Everyone has to have a job and purpose. I didn’t know what mine was but then I found inspiration in an article called Speculative Everything by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. Although this article is 102 years old I find it so applicable to the rebuilding of earth.
            “Using design to open up all sorts of possibilities that can be discussed, debated, and used to collectively define a preferable future for a given group of people: from companies, to cities, to societies. Designers should not define futures for everyone else but working with experts, including ethicists, political scientists, economists, and so on, generate futures that act as catalysts for public debate and discussion about the kinds of futures people really want.”[1] This is one quote that inspired me. What can we do with design in order to make the kinds of futures we really want? I thought about the future I want for the progressive world order. I thought about how bad the past was before the water wars in terms of social justice. 100 years ago there was no understanding of fellow mankind. As Audrey Lorde put it “Racism and homophobia are real conditions of all our lives in this place and time. I urge each one of us here to reach down into that deep place of knowledge inside herself and touch that terror and loathing of any difference that lives there. See whose face it wears.”[2] I see some of these same problems today. It is time to see the diverse faces amongst us, and work together towards understanding.
            For years cultural studies scholars tried to teach all of us about difference. By reading people could work to understand other peoples lives and try to empathize with them and value them as human beings. This worked on some levels but not everyone was willing. People tried to make social movements via social media and protest. Others tried to make art. We must turn to technology to change our future so we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. At this point our planet needs to rebuild. Mankind must understand each other and reading is not enough. Not everyone is willing to be taught. That is why we have created a device that will show you others struggles and experiences. I present to you the future of our society: The Empathy Chip. This device will be implanted on everyone in our society and will be programmed by each and every single one of you. You may choose your life experiences to implant into the EC. We cannot decide the entirety of what you chose to put in the device, it is not intended to be like biometrics, the EC will not label you as a person. Instead you will encrypt your stories within it. This is not meant to share your deepest darkest secrets, but your struggles to be understood in a society that is in ruins. No longer will people be persecuted for their sexuality, race, religion, disabilities, gender or class. Everyone who tries to refuse this device will be shunned out of our society, because by refusing the EC, you are refusing social progress. I encourage everyone to think about what the world is like out there, beyond our walls, before making that decision. You will not survive.
             Once the chip is implanted everyone will have one month to encrypt it by switching it to the program mode and narrating in their head the stories that they would like to be shared with the people they meet. The device will activate when you meet a new person and lock eyes. The data will transfer at rapid speeds and you will know them on an entirely new level. You will understand them and their struggles to be accepted. You will empathize with them. This will help us to move on from the judgmental oppressive skeletons of our societies past. By understanding one another we will not fight like we used to because of difference. We hope that the Empathy Chip will deliver us insurmountable progress in a new world. Welcome friends, to a new age of mankind, the age of the EC and progress. Sincerely, the progressive world order."
  
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  [1] Dunne, Anthony., Project Muse, and Raby, Fiona. Speculative Everything Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, 2013. Print. UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE.
   

  [2] Lorde, Audre. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” 1984. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Ed. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press. 110-114. 2007. Print.