Portfolio

Annotated Bibliography

The University of Chicago

Herrera, Loren. “The Reducibility of The Disembodied Mind in The Context of Language-Games.” The Irreducibility of The Mind, Professor Jason Bridges, Spring, 2024.

In this final paper, Herrera engages with Ludwig Wittgenstein's concept of a language-game but in the context of mind uploading, or whole brain emulation. In short, Herrera builds the case that if a mind could be uploaded into a virtual plane of existence, then it would be an altogether different entity than the mind it purports to emulate. Therefore, the original mind remains irreducible, contradicting functionalist, materialist, and computational theories of the mind.

This final paper encapsulates my passion for Philosophy of Mind; and, furthermore, the direction I will take my doctoral studies in the future. This was my first opportunity in an academic setting to enroll in a Philosophy of Mind course, thus it is especially meaningful to me, for it's been a goal I have been working toward accomplishing for much of my life.

Herrera, Loren. “Description Assignment 3.” Methods and Issues in Cinema Studies, Professor Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky, Fall, 2023.

Herrera, in this description assignment, analyzes a short scene from the feature documentary, Man On Wire (2008). The film is about the life of Philippe Petit, inasmuch as it is about the bringing to fruition his dream of walking on a high-wire between the Twin Towers, in New York City. The chosen scene is a flashback, where Petit comes across a newspaper article covering the construction of the Twin Towers, while he sits in the waiting room of a dentist office. In the background is a Claude Monet piece, "Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies," on the wall that could be interpreted as the realization of Monet's dream, while Petit recounts the time when he had discovered his own.

Man on Wire is certainly a favorite documentary of mine, so it was a fantastic opportunity to not only write on this film but also to watch it on our class screening room, adjacent to the Film Studies Center.

Annotated Bibliography

University of Washington Bothell

Herrera, Loren. “Technoethics Commission.” BISSTS 307. Science, Technology, and Society, Professor Shannon Cram, Fall 2021.

In this report, Herrera surveys the terra incognita of the ethical and moral boundaries involving disembodied minds, as well as their societal ramifications. Working under the hypothetical that the 'Hard Problem' of consciousness was actually just another easy one, scientists were able to successfully upload a person's mind into an old computer on the University of Washington campus. Herrera explores the ways in which humanity will have to adapt and reimagine our laws, values, and ethics in order to accommodate disembodied beings in our shared world, both physical and virtual.

I included this work in my portfolio, because it touches on key aspects as to why I’m studying Science, Technology, and Society as my major at the University of Washington Bothell. This paper largely has to do with the nature of both mind and consciousness. Studying consciousness is what originally drew me to UWB, as Consciousness was once offered as a minor, but the program ended before my arrival, so I decided to forego pursuing a minor. This paper was my chance to have fun with it and explore the subject of the disembodied mind.

Herrera, Loren, et al. “Breathing Exercises Before Studying Decreases Stress and Heart Rate.” BBIO 310. Brain and Behavior, Professor Bryan White, Spring 2022.

In this study, Herrera and his fellow group members sought to find out whether or not doing breathing exercises before studying would bring about positive results. Positive results being both decreased heartrate and decreased stress levels after doing breathing exercises. For nearly every member of the group, practicing breathing techniques undoubtedly had positive results.

This Well-Being Project is meaningful to me in many ways and that's why I've included it here in my portfolio. I’d been practicing meditation for about 13 years before working on this study, so this Project was incredibly fulfilling to me. Off and on from 2016 - 2020 I was an Audio/Visual Technician for Frye Art Museum, so I would help facilitate mindfulness meditation on Wednesdays. Thus, this breathing exercise study came full circle for me. The greatest aspect of this study was working with a group of peers from different backgrounds and learning tremendously from one another's strengths and weaknesses, including my own. Bearing these things in mind, we shared the workload equally amongst ourselves, and our study was a success.

Herrera, Loren. “Open Data: A Solution to Surveillance Capitalism.” BIS 421. Technology Policy, Professor Roger Stanev, Spring 2022.

Herrera makes the case that when people practice a culture of open information exchange, it has historically led to tremendous strides in social good. One such example is at CERN, where Tim Berners-Lee found the inspiration for the World Wide Web. The concept of 'open data' is something that ought to be strived for, Herrera argues, because it is the answer to the problem of surveillance capitalism.

I included this Technology Policy paper, because it’s one of my most important papers, in that it is critical of surveillance capitalism, and it offers the concept of open data as a practical solution. Data science is the way of the future, as it already permeates our everyday reality whether we recognize it or not, and it ought to be shared equitably for a myriad of reasons. Information ought to be shared, because it leads to great ideas.

Herrera, Loren. “A Climate Change Adaptation Assessment of the State of Washington: Industrial Hemp & Building the Evergreen State of our Future.” BIS 386. Climate Change Adaptation Policy, Professor Margaret Redsteer, Fall 2022.

In this policy paper, Herrera charts new territory in industrial hemp agronomy research for the State of Washington and builds the case that, by mixing industrial hemp into regular crop cycles, Washington can significantly combat climate change with the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent that can be absorbed by implementing this methodology.

I included this paper in my portfolio, because it not only reveals some of my best policy work, but it also reveals some of my best resourcefulness, in terms of research, for there is a lack of hemp-related research in academia. However, I was able to make some hopeful calculations, with regard to how much CO2 equivalent Washington could potentially sequester, simply by mixing industrial hemp into already existing crop cycles, statewide.

Herrera, Loren. “High Technoethics for the Smart City of Seattle.” BIS 490. Advanced Seminar: Smart City Seattle, Professor Jin-Kyu Jung, Summer 2022.

Herrera builds upon already existing plans for implementing 'smart' city infrastructure in the city of Seattle, but approaches it from a community-centric and pedestrian-friendly framework, rather than from a corporate one, so as to truly transform Seattle into a place that is not only exemplary for the people and for our communities, but also good for Nature.

Being able to focus my mind on the ways in which the City of Seattle can be improved by smart urbanization and bold sustainability measures is meaningful to me, because it's largely why I'm studying STS, so that I may be able to contribute to improving the lives of everyday people. I want to see Seattle—and every metropolis worldwide—be a greener, more eco-centric city for life to thrive in. So, this is me putting my mind to improving the city I know best, the frontier city of Seattle.

Herrera, Loren, et al. “Four Sparrows & an Abundance of Change.” BES 301. Science Methods and Practice, Professor Ursula Valdez, Winter 2022.

Herrera and his group of peers researched four species of sparrows, which included Brewer's, Chipping, Vesper, and White-Crowned Sparrows, so as to observe their behavior in the State of Washington, and the ways in which their environments affect their behavior. In this project, we each split the workload evenly amongst ourselves, for most part, but Herrera focused his attention on writing the abstract, co-writing the introduction, and helping with regression analyses.

This was a challenging group project that brought together each of our strengths, by which we came together to analyze vast amounts of data concerning the lives of sparrows. The thing is, we were able to learn a lot from the patterns and living habits of sparrows, and the research was very rewarding in that way.

Herrera, Loren. “Final Argumentative Essay.” BIS 304. Introduction to Political Economy and the Environment, Professor Adam Romero, Fall 2022.

Herrera builds the case, in this paper, that although capitalism is unsustainable as it currently stands, it doesn’t have to be. He looks to historical case studies in which ordinary people and communities have risen up against corporate interests in order to pave the way for some of the most significant environmental laws that have been passed to address pollution.

I’ve included this final argumentative essay in my portfolio, because it reveals an aspect of my writing that is cut-and-dried, and it’s on a subject that I find vitally important. Ordinary communities rising up to take legal action against companies that pollute their world. This is very much an optimistic take on how capitalism can be sustainable. Hopefully, one day that can be possible.

Herrera, Loren. “Shining a Light on Dementia.” BIS 384. Health, Medicine, and Society, Professor Laura Harkewicz, Fall 2022.

In this project, Herrera interviewed his mother in order to understand what she may have felt and undergone while being caretaker to her mother, who had suffered a couple of strokes years before and had later developed dementia. This was a project that was deeply personal and, therefore, Herrera put his whole heart into it in order to bring to light what it's like to care for a loved one who suffers from dementia.

I included this project in my portfolio, because it is dear to my heart, for both of my grandmothers have passed away from dementia. Therefore, this assignment was inescapably personal to me. It also utilized my skillset as a documentary filmmaker, because I interviewed my mother about her own experiences being her mother's caretaker.

Herrera, Loren. “Double Slit.” PHYS 107. Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, and the Foundations of our Modern Technological World, Professor Miguel Morales, Winter 2023.

In some strange way, this little yet big assignment represents everything that Herrera has worked toward in his undergraduate education. For this assignment, Herrera used household items to reconstruct the famed double-slit experiment, such as a 3" x 5" index card, a piece of aluminum foil, and a cat's laser toy. However, the laser beams seen in this paper are those from class, and they're from lasers far more sophisticated than it's household counterpart. The double-slit experiment demonstrates a photon's particle/wave nature, which is characteristic of quantum mechanics.

I would be remiss for not including this assignment into my portfolio, because it means the world to me to have been assigned this experiment for class. I was able to run the double-slit experiment not only from home, within my own living room, but I was able to run this ideal experiment with real scientific instruments in class as well. Having read a lot about the double-slit experiment over the years, it was exceptionally meaningful to me to have had this chance to run the experiment, myself, among peers.

Herrera, Loren. “At the Core of the Axion Dark Matter Experiment.” PHYS 107. Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, and the Foundations of our Modern Technological World, Professor Miguel Morales, Winter 2023.

For this Final Paper, Herrera was asked to choose a particular technology that effectively utilizes physics or quantum mechanics, and to break down how it works, exactly. Furthermore, this paper's intended audience is for everyday people who might not be entirely familiar with subatomic happenings but may still be curious. Herrera chose to write his paper on the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX), which is a sophisticated scientific apparatus that utilizes quantum mechanical effects to detect and amplify possible axions as they decay into photons. In each phase of the experiment, it basically combs a range of frequencies within its microwave cavity, coaxing axions to decay into detectable photons with the help of a powerful magnet.

This assignment was selected for my portfolio, because I think it showcases me at my best. In that, I was given the opportunity to explore a piece of technology that best reflected my own sense of wonder and curiosity for the cosmos. I had been a fan of physicist Frank Wilczek's work going into this assignment, having already read two of his books, so, when it was brought to my attention that ADMX is located at the University of Washington Seattle, I knew that this was what I wanted to research for my Final Paper. It's the natural follow up to the research that I had done for the 2020 UW Undergraduate Research Symposium, when I first encountered the axion—a theoretical subatomic particle.