Critical Thinking Blog-Assignment #5

The Promise and Peril of Robots in Film, Tv and Real Life: friends or Foes?

When looking at The Terminator and the trailer for this movie, Terminator is actually after this one women who he is trying to kill and he is  determined to do so no matter what. Terminator in this trailer is described as: "as machine, underneath he has a micro processing controlled system, hes fully armed, tough,outside its human living tissue skin". Also it is stated how is it possible to make something like this?? Something of this sort shouldn't be made until the next 40 years they imply, they think its something of the future that was sent to there time. The main reason for them to come is to fight and to save the one women which can save their future meaning the robots future! How ironic is that ? This indeed is something that is very terrible, seeing that robots do not have a future such as humans do, and terminator is coming to fight for his own? Its so interesting because I see it as robots are trying to be as much as humans in several ways but reality is that robots differ from humans.
Now Looking at ELEKTRO The Westinghouse Motor Man, all you have to do is speak into this microphone and Elektro does as he is told. He then tells Elektro to tell the audience his own story: "he is a smart fellow, as he has a very fine brain, of 48 electrical relays, it works just like a telephone switch board" He than counts on his finger just as a human would and also smokes!? He also states how Elektro is only two years old and still learning. This on the other hand is very appealing to me, seeing that this occurred during the New York's Worlds Fair of 1939, where they have a robot that does what you tell him by speaking into the microphone. Very interesting and appealing.
 I can say that today during the 21st century most people are acceptable of robots. Most people have given their fear up of robots seeing that now today robots are be portrayed as something that will benefit the human race, such as helping out around the house or make the simple things in life more easier for us as Americans. The one thing that people do not realize is the down size of it all, what happens when robots are fully productive and can work on their own without humans telling them or directing them what to do and how to act?  I personally see that as one of the down falls of robots, also the fact that robots are being made to now do things such as much would do in there everyday life, just looking at Elekrto for example he is smoking a cigarette? Since when are robots capable of doing such a thing? The difference between robots of the past and future robots are that future robots are being portrayed as a benefit to humans and to accommodate our lifestyles, unlike robots of the past which were evil and killed.

Assignment #4- Midterm Practice

Prompt #1: The Vision of the Future in the New York's Worlds Fair of 1939: Utopia vs Reality


When looking at the worlds fair that occurred during 1939, the vision that was being portrayed to the people was a "perfect" tomorrow, where the advances of technology will heavily impact the future which was to happen in the next 20 years. The worlds fair portrayed this picture to the public of a perfect lifestyle with superhighways, advances in technology and suburbia a perfect tomorrow. The two text which I will be referring to are: The Gm "Futurama" and David Gelernters 1939: The Lost Worlds Fair. Even though the Worlds Fair portrayed this vision of the future being "perfect",I do agree with this vision because myself living during the 21st century I have eye witnessed these advances.

Taking a look at the 'Futurama" text the main message from this text was simply all about General Motors and them persuading the public with their idea of increasing car sales which will benefit them as a company but also the public since the future was going to consist of superhighways and suburbia. General Motors made superhighways the answer to all the problems of the future which was to occur. Things such as traffic, people rushing to and from work seeing that people were going to be living in the suburbs which meant people were going to live in one place and commute to another. Mutilates on highways which will allow people to travel faster and get to where there going as quick as possible. Looking at this text, it backs up my agreement because in todays world we now have suburbia areas, superhighways/ expressways and a advances within technology on a daily basis.

Now looking at 1939: The Lost Worlds Fair by Gelernter, this story basically is told through diary entries and is describing ones experience of the Worlds Fair. The building of the Futurama exhibit was to show the public the promised tomorrow.

Critical Thinking Blog- Assignment#3

Research Paper Topic Brainstorming:

The Promise and Peril of a Science and Technology.
 "The promise of new computers vs the problem of e-watse"
I chose this topic for my research paper because its something I want to personally gain more information about and I think this topic will not only give me a better look on e-watse vs new computers but also to my peers and who ever reads my paper. Its something that is definitely a current issue in today's world. Seeing how companies keep coming out with new models of computers and there are so many advantages with technology, where do all the old ones go? And my job is that I'm going to figure this out and see the real issue behind e-waste.

Critical Thinking Assignment #2

"Popular Science" in a nutshell is basically about outer space and the universe outside of earth. Many people think about what is space, what is really out there, is there life outside of earth. All of these questions we all ask everyday. The tv show "Cosmos" basically describes space and our reactions and emotions towards the outside universe. The tone of this show is very optimistic because it makes the viewer feel as if they want to know more about the universe. This show definitely argues a science point of view because it explains and gets right into every detail of the universe and outer world. The tv show does in a way offer a different view on science, in the way that they explain the different theories and founders and really explain things from a different perspective. Perfect example is like Giordano Bruno, I mean he discovered that the earth was not in the center of the universe. Even though many criticized him, and he read books which were banned from his church he still discovered something and his story isn't told as much. Watching this show "Cosmos" has really opened my eyes and made me even feel I should get into learning more about our world and universe. This show I can definitely  say has made me see that there is more behind every story from which we have known since childhood. I mean not having seen this show I would have never known about Bruno and what he has done.