Horgan Seminar Blog

Unlocking the Vault Stacy Shang A pattern of forgetfulness crept into my daily existence, intricately linked to my experiences of trauma. This isn't merely about misplacing keys or forgetting what I ate yesterday; it's a profound alteration in how my mind processes and recalls memories. Trauma has reshaped my mind, leaving vast patches of obscurity where clarity once resided. I've found that moments of intense stress and emotional duress have had a significant impediment on my memory retention, leading to a phenomenon where much of the trauma seems to be locked away, inaccessible through normal recollection efforts. This personal observation has propelled me to explore deeper into the realms of psychological and neurobiological research to answer a pressing question: How do traumatic experiences influence memory formation and recall, and what are the underlying neurobiological processes that contribute to these changes? This essay seeks to unravel the complex interactions b...

Matthew Feroz John Horgan 5/4/2024 Breaking Down Apple’s Walled Garden With Open Source Software In a time where our lives are dominated by tech giants lying atop the clouds of the digital landscape, Apple stands tallest as the biggest shareholder in the smartphone market. Yet, beneath its mask of sleek innovation and all-in-one platforms, Apple not only stifles innovation but also utilizes monopolistic tactics and consumer manipulation. Their actions serve to lock users in their ecosystem and create a "walled garden" in which nothing else in the market can survive. Because of this, Apple is being sued in a landmark monopoly case and will hopefully receive justice for its actions. As a consumer, it is important to understand why things cost the way that they do and why things are the way that they are. This is because we spend thousands of dollars on technologies, specifically smartphones, which make up a large portion of our lives. According to research conducted on the conn...

  Aidan Munoz   Professor Horgan   Seminar in Science Writing   4 May 2024   Deharmonizing or Dehumanizing: A.I. in Music   With each passing day, humankind dives further and further into the innovation rabbit hole of artificial intelligence. Machines and programs are constantly getting smarter, more intuitive, and in all honesty, more humanlike (at least enough to pass an average human’s “Turing Test”). With all of these advancements being made in academic and scientific fields, such as training robots to do surgery, what does this mean for our entertainment and creative industries? Have the capabilities of A.I. advanced enough to become autonomous creative entities, or are they merely a tool that can be used and abused by those with the ability to do so? This brings up the point of my research: Can the music industry ethically use artificial intelligence when creating music? Now, as a preface, I would like to submit my answer to the question as yes, h...