GSSE Blog Daily: Katie Lam

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  American Energy Use: The Effects of Technological Consumerism Recently on a business tour, my tour group was asked the question: Is the world getting better or worse? With the slide being filled with pictures of SpaceX rockets, satellites, and futuristic electric vehicles, my group and I all subconsciously understood that this question was in the context of whether or not technological advancement was for the betterment of humankind. While the internet allows us to learn faster than ever, cars allow us to experience mobile freedom, and indoor AC allows us to be more comfortable than ever, these technological advancements promote us not only to consume a detrimental amount of energy, but also to become concerningly comfortable in excessive energy and technological consumption.   But that is not to say technological progression and how rapidly it has progressed is not amazing in itself; it is amazing how quickly humans have been able to develop into the world we know tod...

  Guest Speaker: Dr. Schuman Today we got firsthand experience in creating data for a machine learning activity. We visited a site where we were able to feed information through series of pictures of either a facial expression, a hand signal, or certain objects. With this information, our machine was able to learn what traits were associated with certain items through an accumulation of mathematical formulas. Additionally we also got to play with an app that learned from other people's drawings and was able to complete our drawings and portray certain prompts (such as dog, cat, mermaid, lighthouse etc).  Overall it was an engaging experience that allowed us to learn about machine learning data and experience collecting data ourselves.  Pictured: Training Data of My Classmate

  What is a ChatBot? A ChatBot is an automated response system that can respond to text messages. Whether it's tech support or frequently asked questions about a certain topic, chatbots are programmed to be capable in answering these messages.  Python Code In this project, I made a bot that could answer simple questions one might have about climbing. Simple questions for total non-climbers like 'What is climbing?' was included in this code. Facebook ChatBot On a similar theme, I made a rock climbing FAQ bot that had premade questions available for my user on my Rock Climbing FAQ page specifically catered towards beginners who wanted to learn more about how to improve, how to start, basic climbing terms etc.  Flow Struggles: A flow is a series of steps a chatbot can follow to respond to messengers. However, sometimes it can get stuck. Sometimes it won't know the answer, and sometimes it might not flow. When creating my chatbot at first, my user had no way to come back to...

  Ijams Nature Park Notes: Indigenous/grounded view: The balance of nature upkeeps the balance of traits and balance of life and death in natural biodiversity.  Class Thoughts: It was interesting to see the impacts of this activity on myself and heartwarming to hear the shared similar feelings the rest of the class had about this activity as well. From observing things we would have never taken the time to watch to being phone free, it was a shared moment of mindfulness and awareness for everyone, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was also enlightening to see how our topics in class connected to everyone's experience of 'observing' our surroundings with human lenses (Inchworm crossing the table, caterpillar climbing to a seemingly unreachable destination). 

  Data Visualization: McDonalds Dashboard I learned how to create a simple dashboard that consisted of sales, charts, and customer satisfactions. With this visualization, users could easily navigate between pages, see raw data compared to visualized data, and have easy access to contact information. With this dashboard data can be more easily understood and more easily analyzed whether it's for company improvement or company stats.  What is AI?     AI works based on data that it is taught whether it is text from a news outlet or a collection of art pieces. With this data, it can use its taught information to provide responses to prompts or stitch together words or images that correlate with the prompt. This technology can be used to generate all sorts of media whether it's a story, a summary, an image, or art. How Humans Determined Who Would Survive vs Code: Similarly to AI, we were given a set of videos to be our clues/our human "data." Based on these videos, we gat...

Discussion Record: Not economically realistic Would broaden class gap. Cheaply produced meat is already a commodity, and restricting it to only high quality/organic meat would deepen issue 'We are in too deep' Need to supply large population and high American consumerism demand  Other opinion: But it's unethical? Are there any other options? CAFOs might have to be considered a necessary evil

If you do not meet all the criteria for personhood, does that mean you are not a person?   A person could be capable of a certain criteria more than another criteria and still be a person. If a person lacks a certain criteria like morality, they could still be highly sentient or highly reasonable. I think 'matching the criteria' is a spectrum. For example, a being that we consider would normally consider capable of personhood (such as a human) can be born uncapable or weaker in a certain criteria, but that does not inherently make them not a person. The idea of these criteria is a blanket term, and the term 'personhood' itself is broad and nonrestrictive. 

  Video Being Discussed: https://utk.instructuremedia.com/embed/5dc6395e-cff0-4bcf-8fd2-33f76d7c21dc This video showcases a pitbull and a baby bunny together. In this video, the pitbull is observed to be licking the baby bunny, and the bunny appears to be rubbing its head.  Personal Explanation : It appears that the pitbull is a domestic dog (collar), and it appears to be in an unalert position (laying down). I think the pitbull is being gentle in this video and helping the bunny clean itself due to the fact that the pitbull is domestic and does not seem to be focused on hunting.  My Perspective Bias: However this viewpoint also seems to be very human. Of course I would like to believe that the pitbull is gentle and friendly, but it would also be useful to take into account other possibilities such as the fact that it may be investigating its prey. Changes to My Perspective: The bunny does seem a bit still and startled around the pitbull, but it also is not running away f...

  My 3D Printing Background: I've had no prior experience in high school, and the last printing job I've done was in middle school with my old STEM teachers, so today was enlightening. What I used and What I designed: I chose to use TinkerCad since I am a beginner, and I had not had the chance to make whatever I wanted before. With that being said, I decided to design a little figurine from the hit video game, Among Us . Pictured: Side View of Among Us  Figure Pictured: Front View + Legs of Figure What I learned: Through a series of videos and tutorials, I learned about the factors that have to be taken into account when 3D designing such as overhangs, wall thickness, and surface area support. Specifically, these factors determine how your design will print out whether it affects surface smoothness or the overall structure. Additionally, I also learned how to navigate TinkerCad and become proficient in resizing and adjusting objects to fit my design.

  Part 1: First Day of Computational Thinking My Prior Experience:     My previous coding experience was very limited before I started. I was once a sufficient programmer able to make designs on Code.org from AP Computer Science Principles with coding tools ranging from variables to functions; I was even able to make Wordle on my own time! However, this was all during my freshman year and in javascript, so as a rising senior, I have since then forgotten how to program. With this in mind, I decided to do the intro to Python on Codecademy to give myself a refresher. What I learned:     Today I learned Python's syntax since I was previously familiar with the syntax of javascript, it was interesting to see the simplicity of Python. However despite the relatively simpler syntax, there were still some new functions that I had to learn, such as the use of %s to recall certain strings.  How Far I Advanced: I reached to step 1 on Functions Part 2: ChatGPT Bias Based...

Is SETI Science or Pseudoscience? What is SETI? SETI stands for Search of Extraterrestrial Intelligence. It is a private search mainly testing different technological methods with the end goal of gathering evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence whether its through microwaves or improving their technology to search farther. Discussion: This discussion was a complete mind boggler; I switched sides twice hearing everybody out. I initially believed it to be pseudoscience, then switched to science, then again back to pseudoscience. I believed it to be pseudoscience on my own due to the fact that the broad claim of "aliens might exist" is unfalsifiable. However, I switched once I heard that technology may just be limiting us and our abilities to falsify or prove this claim; I believed that the process of creating and modifying new technology WAS in fact science.  However, once again I was convinced when another person in class mentioned how testing the actual technology could ne...

KNEX Project: Team members: Katie Hailey Anjani Team Plan and the Engineering Design Process: Our plan was separated into an 8 step process, otherwise known as the Engineering Design Process Step 1: Define the problem       Our goal today was creating a mode of transportation. We could choose what we were transporting and how it would be moved; In our case, we decided to move a penny Anjani had in her pencil bag. Step 2: Research the problem      In this particular scenario we were constrained with a small bag of KNEX pieces. None of us had experience with these parts, so we began to familiarize ourselves with the mechanics of the pieces. Step 3 + 4: Brainstorm     We ultimately decided on a car rather quickly, but we were not completely sure of the ways we could create a car. Through fumbling with the pieces a little bit and researching pictures of KNEX cars other people had made online, we came up with a final plan which leads us to Step 5. Step...

Today we were presented with an scenario and given a personal narrative as a programmer hired to design a self-driving car.  The scenario: Our company's self driving car is driving on the highway behind a semitruck carrying a strapped load, and it's boxed in on either sides by an SUV and a motorcyclist. Suddenly, large boxes unexpectedly fall of the loaded truck, in the trajectory of our self-driving car. In this moment, our car cannot stop in time to avoid the boxes, so we are presented with three choices .  Go straight into the boxes Swerve towards the SUV Swerve towards the motorcyclist My Choice:   Why I Would Program the Car to Drive Straight     Driving a self-driving car ultimately comes with its own risks, one of them potentially being that at times, the computer will make the decision for you. In this scenario, I believe that the most ethical option is taking the hit for yourself without purposefully deciding to involve other vehicles on the road. Speci...

   Hello! My name is Katie Lam, and I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. At GSSE, I am studying Industrial and Systems Engineering and I'm looking forward to the field trips this month! During my free time I love to listen to music (Dominic Fike, Shelly, Slow Pulp, Tyler the Creator and more), cook, and rock climb at my local gym. This summer I've been influenced to try out pickleball, so hopefully I'll be on the UTK courts during my time here! Pictured: SMS Climbing Club in Memphis Rox