Hi, I’m Astra Downer, and welcome to my website!
As I’ve grown up, I’ve seen technology implemented into fields of work in ways generations prior could never even imagine. However, up until recently I’ve never found myself shocked by new inventions because it always felt like technology was just being used to upgrade our current means of use. After registering for a class in college named “Smart Machines & the Future of Humanity” I began to expand my knowledge on inventions--things I never thought we’d be creating in this day and age. I mean... sex robots? Robot pets? And, probably the most shocking to me, computers that can grow food?
When I think about robots and computers, the first thing I think of is definitely not agriculture. Of course there is already technology out there in the agriculture industry, such as hoes or tractors. But on a complete other page, Caleb Harper of MIT has created the first ever food computer: a device that you can plant whatever plant you want in and can change growing conditions such as nutrient settings or humidity to create the best version of that plant possible. Also, you can use this food computer anywhere! The crops you grow aren’t determined by your geographical location anymore, and they take less time to grow! We aren’t limited to space or soil anymore--bad harvests don’t exist if we use the technology right. In fact, MIT has already began the process of shipping out food computers all over the world and to schools to help educate and encourage individuals to understand that farming doesn’t have to be such hard work anymore. With the help of food computers, maybe cities will be able to thrive off personal/family gardens.
Obviously not everything is perfect though, which is something I’d like to look at in regards to the food computer as I begin the journey of explaining it on my webpage.
As you scroll through my website, you’ll see three artifacts that will help explore this topic more. The first artifact is a video that can visualize the wonders of the food computer and how it can help shape agriculture in the 21st century. Second, you will find an analysis of this technology to unravel its current impact on society through a picture I drew. Lastly, you will find a short story written by myself that predicts how I feel these food computers will shape the world within the next 10-20 years. I hope through these artifacts that I can express to you both the good and the bad of this new technology.
Currently, one of the biggest problems the food computer looks to address is that farming is a dying profession. According to the agriculture census, the average age of farmers is 58 years old and around 2% of the U.S population actually farms (USDA Census). With less and less people joining the farming workforce each year, it’s hard to know if we will even be able to harvest enough food for the majority of the US by 2040. But how does the food computer help change this? Well, because the food computer is designed as an open-platform system, that means that all information can be transmitted between any food computer about specific plants under tested conditions and come to create an up-to date recipe that others can try for the same, well-performing crop.
As Caleb Harper looks to tackle this problem, students in select schools are being exposed to food computers. As mentioned by Justine Quart of ABC News, food computers have been distributed by MIT to schools in Boston “to encourage young people to hack the food system.’ They are learning about farming--what nutrients healthy plants need, what air density plants need, as well as gaining a better understand of what agricultural work could be like in the future. In his TedTalk, Harper shows a picture of a student holding a plant to the audience and says, “this was the first time this kid ever thought he could be a farmer, or that he would WANT to be a farmer.” From success, many students believe they can do certain things or be certain things, so by creating an environment where students can be successful with the food computer, Harper has began creating a new generation of farmers.
I decided to draw a picture of what I felt might be seen in the classroom when learning about farming and the importance of agriculture. The goal of my picture was to show the learning process of these students. I wanted to make sure that the plant created by both students stood out, so I focused on only adding color to the tomatoes. My picture shows one student who is happy with her plant’s results and another who is not as happy. I believe this represents how under the conditions he chose, the second student came to a different result than his peer. However, failure is a part of the learning process, so even though his tomato’s did not meet his expectations, I’m sure guidance from someone like Caleb Harper may help him come to understand and love farming with his food computer. Also, I hope to show through the expressions on the girl student’s face that she is proud of herself for what she has made, and that she could even be considering a future as a farmer because she’s been introduced to the field and understands it much better.
As you can see, the impact the food computer has had in classrooms in terms of exposing students to agriculture is quite significant because it has created a pathway to a new generation of farmers within a dying field (no pun intended). I hope to see this understanding translate into a more successful future in agriculture, where food computers can be found even in the homes of the ordinary family, because that's how important producing food should be.
Let me show you what I mean.
It's Time To Grow Up
A Short Story By Astra Downer
“Alright, now just sign here and we’ll be all set!”
We all stood around as we watched Mr. Porter give away our building. I guess after a couple years of pressure from the city of Seattle, there’s no way you wouldn’t give up the building for additions. I’m really going to miss it just being the 10 of us living here.
The contractor stood up, Mr. Porter following his lead and extending his hand across the table for a firm shake. “Good-day.”
“So?” I ask as I see the contractor leaving, “What’s the verdict? How much are they building?
Mr. Porter turned to me in his black-suit, one hand in his pocket, the other holding between his eyes, “Uhh, they said they wanted to start with 1000 square feet of innovation, and sometime after that it’ll probably be another 1000 just to catch up to other buildings.”
Mrs. Pheebs eyes widened with sadness, “What about the garden? They are just going to tear down our roof-garden?”
Yes, Mrs. Pheebs, we all knew that was going to happened,” I put my arms around the 80-year old as she began to sob, the smell of fertilizer overwhelming my nose. “But they said that when they start construction tomorrow morning they would bring down a food computer for each of you to compensate you for the loss of our fresh products.”
As Mr. Porter turned for the door he paused, “Oh, and by the way, you might want to go pick out whatever’s in that garden so it doesn’t go to waste.”
It was 10 am the next day when I heard a knock at the door. I forced myself out of bed, rubbing my eyes as I yawned while I heard a faint knocking down the hall. As I opened the door to our apartment slightly I saw a clear, rectangular prism sitting on our doormat. I pick it up, shaking as I bring it and slightly drop it on the table. As I begin to be less groggy, I notice the design of the new food computer. There are four buttons, the yellow one for humidity, the blue one for water cycle, the red one for nutrients, and the green one for CO₂, all connected to their own bottle and tube. Then, to the right of the four buttons, a small valve connected to a few tubes that read “lighting” under it. The growing compartment was about 14 by 14 by 10, and the screen to it’s left it was black.
“Jim, I’m not really getting this...how do you use this thing?”
“Well, first thing’s first, Liz, plug it in,” Jim walked over to the wall and set the cord in the socket. A beautiful purple light began to glow from the growing compartment. “Now, I think maybe we need to plant something inside.”
“Oh, of course,” I reach for a packet of seeds on our kitchen table, glancing at the plant type as I hand it to Jim, “Here’s some tomato seeds.”
“The food computer’s instructions read 3-4 weeks…wait that can’t be right…it should take 3-4 months for these bad boys. Let me call my mom, I’m sure she’d know how to use this machine better than I could.”
Jim put a finger to his temple to ring for his mom. A light projected from his right eye displaying his mother to both of us. “Hey, mom! Can you help me with our food computer? We just got one today but we have no idea how to use it. I mean the instructions said most plants take 3-4 weeks to grow, but I thought most were 3-4 months. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Jimmy, my boy, that’s one of the best parts of the food computer--everything grows 10 times faster. What are you trying to grow first? If you give me your computer code I can send you my recipe so you don’t have trouble with the air and nutrient settings.”
“Ok, uh we’re growing tomatoes. And where do I find the code?”
“Top left on the screen, my dear.”
“It’s 2398108.”
“Wow! I can’t believe we are in the 2 millions already--it’s only 2030!”
“Okay, mom, focus please. Just send us the recipe or whatever.”
“There, all done. I set it directly to your model so the settings should’ve changed for you to match. The air is dry and the temperature is set to 65 degrees fahrenheit. Now just dump your seeds in those little cup holes and let the water do the rest.”
“Awesome, love you! Bye.”
“Buh-bye.”
With his finger off his temple, he turned to me and took me in his arms. “Maybe it’s better this way.”
I jerked my head back, “What do you mean?”
“Oh, just that maybe letting the city add to our building isn’t so bad. I mean Mrs. Pheebs’ garden was great and I know it was all she had left of her daughter, but we will grow so much more so much faster with these food computers, and it doesn’t even look like climate will matter! We should probably go talk to everyone else to coordinate what plants we want to grow so it can still be a communal thing we do here in our complex.” Jim’s eyes lit up as he smirked.
“What?”
“Do you think anyone would want me to grow weed with this?”
I smacked him playfully on the arm as we giggled to ourselves, “Shut up…”
As I’m talking with Mrs. Pheebs in the hall while pulling out the key to my apartment, Jim rushes out of the door and smacks right into me. As he catches me by the arms, I notice the worried look on his face.“We got a problem... Mr. Porter says they are shutting off our electricity for a week so that the construction workers can use the most efficient tools to finish up the building additions.”
Mrs. Pheebs mutters to herself about how she’ll never be able to farm again and how the new world is ruining her and everything she loves, but I try to ignore it as I take in what Jim has told me. I feel my face scrunch up as I wonder, “What are we supposed to do about our plants? They’re only a week into growth. Wait, and doesn’t that mean we will be without produce for about a month?”
“One week wasted, two weeks wasted,” Jim begins to do math on his fingers as he mumbles the calculations to himself, “that means an extra two weeks on top of another just for a complete plant... Yeah, it kind of seems that way. I don’t understand, I thought these food computers were supposed to be a good thing.”
“Dude, is this how it’s going to be every time the power goes out? We just lose all our progress and produce? That’s ridiculous!” My eye catches Mr. Porter in the distance, so I wave him over. He doesn’t seem to acknowledge me though, so I yell, “Mr. Porter, what do you expect us to do about our food?!”
“Deal with it.”
As I’ve come to know more and more about the food computer, I’ve become very excited for it’s introduction into the society I will learn to know as I grow older. As it stands, the design seems rather efficient because plants grow faster and can be grown inside your own home with less hassle. I also really like how the food computers can transmit data between each other on the different plants they grow so that they can help other produce more nutritious plants.
Because of their design, as cities grow larger and the countryside grows smaller, I think these devices will prove very efficient to providing necessary produce to our everyday lives. The only poor thing I find about their design is how they run off electricity, which might create problems if a circuit it blown and the power goes out. I feel like that’s something that could devastate many people and maybe even cause some to die depending on the severity of the situation.
I wonder to what extent these computers may affect things such as trade or the US economy. Will neighbors become more communal when it comes to growing plants? Will the introduction and encouragement of food computers cause people to eat healthier?
Let’s find out together.
References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEx6K4P4GJc&t=609s
https://foodtank.com/news/2017/07/ai-powered-food-computers-mit-media-lab/
https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/embedded-systems/mits-food-computer-the-future-of-urban-agriculture
https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/personal-food-computer/overview/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/what-is-a-personal-food-computer-180956085/
https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/Highlights/Farm_Demographics/
Credits:
Created with images by Glenn Carstens-Peters - "untitled image" • Daniela Micali - "untitled image" • rawpixel - "untitled image" • Heder Neves - "Veggies For Sale" • rawpixel - "untitled image" • Brooke Cagle - "It’s cold out here" • runnyrem - "Which door?" • monicore - "roses dry dead"