David E. Nye uses many complex terms and provides a great amount of benificial information about why technology matters to the world. His extreme detail and true life statistical information puts the idea that technology is a good thing down in the gutter. In similarity to Vicente and Vonneguts influences on the views of technology, both “The Human Factor” and “Cat’s Cradle” are smaller ideas of Nye’s bigger ideas on technology. Both Vicente and Vonnegut chose smaller things to talk about involving technology and chose to educate the reader in different ways than Nye. All, in which, were great ideas because it did indeed educate the reader, however, Nye really seems to get down to the facts of technology and really plants new ideas in the reader’s heads. That’s atleast what he did for me.
In chapter 11, “Not Just One Future,” Nye discusses many bad things that are going to come out of technology in our near futures if we continue to let depend on it as much as we do. Nye talks about a situation that had happened from technology involving the safety of technology itself to the people using it, a similar situation to Vicente’s opening senerio in “The Human Factor” involving an unexpected explosion due to technological safety failure.
“The inability to understand or fix many modern machines is also linked to issues of safety. Even if each divice functions perpatibilities that can cause malfunctions, accidents, or even disasters. Although each individual machine can be improved and made safer, the overarching system of machines may contain dangerous inconsistencies that manifest themselves only in extreme or unusual circumstances” (Nye: 221).
This information is more straight forward and to the point kind of information, as most of Nye’s information is all throughout thebook. Vicente’s information about the issues of safety of technology. However, Vicente breaks down the information into more simple terms and provides a senerio to the reader so they get a better understanding of what is meant by the issues in the safety of technologyand national disasters.
“The first violent explision unleashed a power spike one hundred time greater than anything the reactor was designed to produce under normal operating conditions. It hoisted the thousand-ton steel and congrete plate covering the reactor, exposing the 1,680 nuclear fuel rods in the reactor core and spewing deadly radioactivity into the atmosphere… The problem was that the plant designers hadn’t paid enough attention to the human factor – the operators were trained but the complexity of the reactor and the control panels nevertheless outstripped their ability to grasp what they were seeing” (Vicente: 11).
Clearly, this is a more detailed quote from Vicente introducing the idea that technology is very dangerous and that it can cause a great majority of problems if you don’t know how to use it or what the possible effects it can bring to our lives. As you can see from the second half of the quote, we may be knowledgable to the technology we are using but not as knowledgable as we need to be. In addition, I think that Vicente and Nye are trying to point out that even the highest of our knowledge couldn’t prevent things like this to happen. Disasters happen all the time whether it involves technology or other things, and we can never be completely knowledgable or prepared for whats to come from these new technologies. In stating this, this information is very valuable because it tells us what can come out of technology in the future, and if the path we are going down with technological uses is the right path for our futures.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
My Writing Style
For the first paper in English 102, I did a variety of things to make what I think to be a successful paper. First, I, as I always do, made an outline for my paper. This actually helps me figure out what I want to cover and talk about in my papers. It's not always the most organized outline, but it's just so I can write down all the things I want to write about and remember them. Next, I started writing the paper just randomly. I just started writing and tried to explain my information in a simple way so I could get all the ideas on my outline into a paper. Then, I went back and looked over my notes. (I also looked at them while writing my paper the first time, but this time I just looked them over again) I thought my notes weren't going to be very beneficial, but they actually did help a lot because I had all the quotes and things right there for me that I either highlighted or marked in the book. I think the notes/quotes gave my paper a better formation and better understanding to the information. Finally, I revised what I wrote the first time and read and reread the paper out loud so I could hear myself reading it and making sure that it sounded good to me. I also made sure I had things in my paper that I usually wouldn't have had if I hadn't taken English 101. I learned a lot about my writing in that class and what I should add more or do more in my papers, so I tried to add in those addition things and think about what I needed in my paper from those things I learned in English 101.
All in all I think that my paper turned out pretty good for a first paper. I was pretty pleased with the factual information and the quality of the paper.
All in all I think that my paper turned out pretty good for a first paper. I was pretty pleased with the factual information and the quality of the paper.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Vicente’s vs. Vonnegut’s Views on Technology
Vicente’s vs. Vonnegut’s Views on Technology
Sara Waldron
2/11/09
A variety of different thoughts, feelings, and ideas could run through a person’s head when it comes to the topic of technology. Technology is something that is constantly changing our world and constantly improving over time. Although many great things have come from technology, some still believe that it isn’t necessarily a good thing. Kim Vicente and Kurt Vonnegut write their own stories to express their own thoughts, feelings, and idea about technology. Kim Vicente’s “The Human Factor” provides a good amount of factual information on technology, and the downfalls that have come along with it. She states very negative things about technology and provides examples of why technology should be thought about more efficiently. In doing so, she hopes that she will open the minds of the reader to see the true outcomes of technology. Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” also amplies his readers to view technology in a different point of view, however, he does this through story telling. It almost seems like Vonnegut wants his readers to actually think about the use of technology and come up with their own conclusions verses just having factual information, as Vicente did. Both writers have good intentions in triggering the readers brains about technology, and provide good details that indicate their personal views about technology itself.
“Technology is the system by which a society provides its members with those things needed or desired” (Vicente: 20). A very interesting way to express the meaning of technology, yet a somewhat very negative way to think of technology. Vicente’s views of technology is in a negative stand point. I believe that the more the reader picks apart Vicente’s story, the more they will understand her intensions of going about it the way she does. Vicente provides many areas in the field of technology that have put a downfall towards the lives of many people. As an example, she first starts off with the safety of technology.
“The six hundred people unlucky enough to be working at the plan that evening received very high doses of radiation and many later suffered lingering or fatal disease. The 116,000 people who were evecuated form the neighboring farms and town received lower but still significant doses of radiation (Vicente:12).
Clearly, the safety of others was put at risk due to a failure of technology in which caused a hurrendous explosion to occur, and cause illness and death for many innocent individuals. Vicente also the quality of technology . “In the end, most people will get out of the car and check the oil the oldfashioned way because they can’t remember the steps and can’t be bothered to read the counterintuitive instructions again” (Vicente: 15). In thinking about one of the ideal purposes of technology, many people love it because it makes our lives easier. If the technological invention isn’t easy for a human quickly then the good majority of the people will just look for a different easy way out. Vicente continuously uses examples such as these all through out “The Human Factor” to pin point key elements of her beliefs towards technology.
Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” seems to present thoughts about technology in a different way. Vonnegut’s story attacks the reader’s thoughts about technology by using a story of a man’s life and his personal experiences involving technology that are presented all throughout his life. Vonnegut’s story also uses analogies, hence the title “Cat’s Cradle,” to help the reader and the characters in the book really gain a better conscienceness of what technology means to our world.
“What’s that from?” I asked. “What could it possibly be from but The Books of Bokonon?” “I’d love to see a copy sometime.” “Copies are hard to come by,” said Castle. “They aren’t printed. They’re made by hand. And, of course, there is no such thing as a completed copy, since Bokonon is adding things every day.” Little Newt snorted. “Religion!” “Beg your pardon?” Castle said. “See the cat?” asked Newt. “See the Cradle?”
Using this analogy, Vonnegut is trying to engage in the reader and characters’ minds to understand the meaning of cat’s cradle. This may not seem to pertain to anything about technology; however, Vonnegut’s intensions for using analogies are good and they do pertain to technology in some way, shape, or form.
“Her husband is mean as hell to her,” said Newt. He showed us that he hated Angela’s handsome young husband, the extremely successful Harrison C. Conners, President of Fabri Tek. “He hardly ever comes home—and, when he does, he’s drunk and generally covered with lipstick.”
“From the way she talked,” I said, “I thought it was a very happy marriage.”
Little Newt held his hands six inches apart and he spread his fingers. “See the cat? See the cradle?” (Vonnegut: 179).
This quote also uses the cat’s cradle analogy to trigger the reader and characters’ brains in thinking about technology. Vonnegut’s strategy here is genius. Very much different from Vicente’s approach, Vonnegut uses life experience in comparison to technology to get his point across of his views on technology.
In breaking it down, the understanding of the cat’s cradle analogy is simple. I believe that the so called “cat” will always be the noun that is being used in the analogy. So, in the examples, Angela and the followers of religion are the “cats” Then, the “cradle” can be known to be the “comfort zone” of the given noun. The cradle for Angela would be her rich husband because he gives her a lot of things, and the cradle for the followers of the religion is the religion itself. This is where the comparison comes in. Vonnegut uses these analogies and compares them to what technology provides to us. If you think about it, technology is, to many people, the “cradle” of the world. Technology, like Angela’s husband, provides us with good things, even if we aren’t fully content with those good things. Technology also gives us something to look forward to and believe in, often like a religion to its followers. Technology causes people to have to think and analyze information to provide bigger and better things to the world, and this is why Vonnegut uses his approach, of story telling and personal experiences throughout his novel, to build a better mindset to his readers about technology.
Both Vicente and Vonnegut had good strategies to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas on technology. Vicente’s good use of details and factual information helped form a bigger and better picture of the downfalls of technology throughout the world. She helped her readers understand her views about technology and that technology isn’t as beneficial to the world as many individuals may have thought. Vonnegut, using a different approach, also gets through to his readers, through stories and experiences, which allowed the readers to built their own thoughts and ideas about technology. In doing so, it eventually opened a new door to their thoughts and allowed a connection to Vonnegut’s own thoughts on technology. Both authors thought of technology in a somewhat negative way, but in fact really allowed the readers to wake up to the idea of technology and really see that it’s becoming a bigger issue than many realized.
Sara Waldron
2/11/09
A variety of different thoughts, feelings, and ideas could run through a person’s head when it comes to the topic of technology. Technology is something that is constantly changing our world and constantly improving over time. Although many great things have come from technology, some still believe that it isn’t necessarily a good thing. Kim Vicente and Kurt Vonnegut write their own stories to express their own thoughts, feelings, and idea about technology. Kim Vicente’s “The Human Factor” provides a good amount of factual information on technology, and the downfalls that have come along with it. She states very negative things about technology and provides examples of why technology should be thought about more efficiently. In doing so, she hopes that she will open the minds of the reader to see the true outcomes of technology. Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” also amplies his readers to view technology in a different point of view, however, he does this through story telling. It almost seems like Vonnegut wants his readers to actually think about the use of technology and come up with their own conclusions verses just having factual information, as Vicente did. Both writers have good intentions in triggering the readers brains about technology, and provide good details that indicate their personal views about technology itself.
“Technology is the system by which a society provides its members with those things needed or desired” (Vicente: 20). A very interesting way to express the meaning of technology, yet a somewhat very negative way to think of technology. Vicente’s views of technology is in a negative stand point. I believe that the more the reader picks apart Vicente’s story, the more they will understand her intensions of going about it the way she does. Vicente provides many areas in the field of technology that have put a downfall towards the lives of many people. As an example, she first starts off with the safety of technology.
“The six hundred people unlucky enough to be working at the plan that evening received very high doses of radiation and many later suffered lingering or fatal disease. The 116,000 people who were evecuated form the neighboring farms and town received lower but still significant doses of radiation (Vicente:12).
Clearly, the safety of others was put at risk due to a failure of technology in which caused a hurrendous explosion to occur, and cause illness and death for many innocent individuals. Vicente also the quality of technology . “In the end, most people will get out of the car and check the oil the oldfashioned way because they can’t remember the steps and can’t be bothered to read the counterintuitive instructions again” (Vicente: 15). In thinking about one of the ideal purposes of technology, many people love it because it makes our lives easier. If the technological invention isn’t easy for a human quickly then the good majority of the people will just look for a different easy way out. Vicente continuously uses examples such as these all through out “The Human Factor” to pin point key elements of her beliefs towards technology.
Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” seems to present thoughts about technology in a different way. Vonnegut’s story attacks the reader’s thoughts about technology by using a story of a man’s life and his personal experiences involving technology that are presented all throughout his life. Vonnegut’s story also uses analogies, hence the title “Cat’s Cradle,” to help the reader and the characters in the book really gain a better conscienceness of what technology means to our world.
“What’s that from?” I asked. “What could it possibly be from but The Books of Bokonon?” “I’d love to see a copy sometime.” “Copies are hard to come by,” said Castle. “They aren’t printed. They’re made by hand. And, of course, there is no such thing as a completed copy, since Bokonon is adding things every day.” Little Newt snorted. “Religion!” “Beg your pardon?” Castle said. “See the cat?” asked Newt. “See the Cradle?”
Using this analogy, Vonnegut is trying to engage in the reader and characters’ minds to understand the meaning of cat’s cradle. This may not seem to pertain to anything about technology; however, Vonnegut’s intensions for using analogies are good and they do pertain to technology in some way, shape, or form.
“Her husband is mean as hell to her,” said Newt. He showed us that he hated Angela’s handsome young husband, the extremely successful Harrison C. Conners, President of Fabri Tek. “He hardly ever comes home—and, when he does, he’s drunk and generally covered with lipstick.”
“From the way she talked,” I said, “I thought it was a very happy marriage.”
Little Newt held his hands six inches apart and he spread his fingers. “See the cat? See the cradle?” (Vonnegut: 179).
This quote also uses the cat’s cradle analogy to trigger the reader and characters’ brains in thinking about technology. Vonnegut’s strategy here is genius. Very much different from Vicente’s approach, Vonnegut uses life experience in comparison to technology to get his point across of his views on technology.
In breaking it down, the understanding of the cat’s cradle analogy is simple. I believe that the so called “cat” will always be the noun that is being used in the analogy. So, in the examples, Angela and the followers of religion are the “cats” Then, the “cradle” can be known to be the “comfort zone” of the given noun. The cradle for Angela would be her rich husband because he gives her a lot of things, and the cradle for the followers of the religion is the religion itself. This is where the comparison comes in. Vonnegut uses these analogies and compares them to what technology provides to us. If you think about it, technology is, to many people, the “cradle” of the world. Technology, like Angela’s husband, provides us with good things, even if we aren’t fully content with those good things. Technology also gives us something to look forward to and believe in, often like a religion to its followers. Technology causes people to have to think and analyze information to provide bigger and better things to the world, and this is why Vonnegut uses his approach, of story telling and personal experiences throughout his novel, to build a better mindset to his readers about technology.
Both Vicente and Vonnegut had good strategies to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas on technology. Vicente’s good use of details and factual information helped form a bigger and better picture of the downfalls of technology throughout the world. She helped her readers understand her views about technology and that technology isn’t as beneficial to the world as many individuals may have thought. Vonnegut, using a different approach, also gets through to his readers, through stories and experiences, which allowed the readers to built their own thoughts and ideas about technology. In doing so, it eventually opened a new door to their thoughts and allowed a connection to Vonnegut’s own thoughts on technology. Both authors thought of technology in a somewhat negative way, but in fact really allowed the readers to wake up to the idea of technology and really see that it’s becoming a bigger issue than many realized.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Cat's Cradle? (REVISED)
Cat's Cradle had to have been one of the most interesting, yet confusing novels I have ever read. Yes, it had a lot of mind catchers that caused me to become more interested in what was to happen next, page after page, until I finally finished the whole book. However, when purchasing the book I already had one question in mind that I was hoping the book would clear up once I finished it: Why is it called Cat's Cradle? Maybe I missed the point of why Vonnegut decided to name the novel that, but I don't think that the idea of a Cat's Cradle had anything to do with the book besides the fact that the brilliant scientist played it while he put himself in isolation inside his house for a good majority of his life. Although I didn't feel that the book did much to answer my question, Vonnegut did have characters imply things that triggered the readers mindset into thinking about the Cat and the Cradle.
“Her husband is mean as hell to her,” said Newt. He showed us that he hated Angela’s handsome young husband, the extremely successful Harrison C. Conners, President of Fabri Tek. “He hardly ever ecer comes home—and, when he does, he’s drunk and generally covered in lipstick.”
“From the way she talked,” I said, “I thought it was a very happy marriage.”
Little Newt held his hands six inches apart and he spread his fingers. “See the cat? See the cradle?” (Vonnegut: 179).
There is also another line like the very last one about the cat and the cradle on page 183. While reading both, I began to think that if I read a few more chapters and got to the end of the book, it would eventually all make sense. I was very wrong. In an attempt to engage the passage involving what Cat’s Cradle meant, there wasn’t much to get out of it, but I still found myself being able to engage it some how.
When breaking it down, I attacked both passages by rereading over and over again to try to gain further knowledge of Vonnegut himself, why does he use the cat’s cradle anology here and what does it really mean? In the passage provided above and in the second passage, both seemed to have one simple similarity that eventually stuck out for me after overanalyzing what was meant by both. From both, I got the impression that the cat would represent some kind of person or realistic living thing and the cradle was the comfort zone for the cat. In the passage above I used Angela as the cat because she is the character being talked about. She has a great husband who gets a lot of money and is very successful, however, she is unhappy because he isn’t nice to her and doesn’t treat her well. Jonah is confused by this and almost seems to be asking why Angela would live such a life with a horrible person. This is Angela’s Cradle. Her rich life and successful husband is her cradle for her long, rather devistating life. My theory works with both passages, however it still did not identify what was truly meant by Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle.
Questions:
1.) What do you (other students) think Vonnegut meant by the analogy "Cat's Cradle?"
2.) Why do you think Vonnegut uses this approach or uses analygies?
3.)What are your thoughts and feelings about the book and the way Vonnegut set it up?
“Her husband is mean as hell to her,” said Newt. He showed us that he hated Angela’s handsome young husband, the extremely successful Harrison C. Conners, President of Fabri Tek. “He hardly ever ecer comes home—and, when he does, he’s drunk and generally covered in lipstick.”
“From the way she talked,” I said, “I thought it was a very happy marriage.”
Little Newt held his hands six inches apart and he spread his fingers. “See the cat? See the cradle?” (Vonnegut: 179).
There is also another line like the very last one about the cat and the cradle on page 183. While reading both, I began to think that if I read a few more chapters and got to the end of the book, it would eventually all make sense. I was very wrong. In an attempt to engage the passage involving what Cat’s Cradle meant, there wasn’t much to get out of it, but I still found myself being able to engage it some how.
When breaking it down, I attacked both passages by rereading over and over again to try to gain further knowledge of Vonnegut himself, why does he use the cat’s cradle anology here and what does it really mean? In the passage provided above and in the second passage, both seemed to have one simple similarity that eventually stuck out for me after overanalyzing what was meant by both. From both, I got the impression that the cat would represent some kind of person or realistic living thing and the cradle was the comfort zone for the cat. In the passage above I used Angela as the cat because she is the character being talked about. She has a great husband who gets a lot of money and is very successful, however, she is unhappy because he isn’t nice to her and doesn’t treat her well. Jonah is confused by this and almost seems to be asking why Angela would live such a life with a horrible person. This is Angela’s Cradle. Her rich life and successful husband is her cradle for her long, rather devistating life. My theory works with both passages, however it still did not identify what was truly meant by Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle.
Questions:
1.) What do you (other students) think Vonnegut meant by the analogy "Cat's Cradle?"
2.) Why do you think Vonnegut uses this approach or uses analygies?
3.)What are your thoughts and feelings about the book and the way Vonnegut set it up?
Monday, February 2, 2009
Technology Good or Bad?
“More and more, we’re being asked to live with technology that is technically reliable, because it was created to fit our knowledge of the physical world, but that is so complex or so counterintuitive that it’s actually unusable by most human beings” (Vicente: 17). Both, Vicente and Vonnegut’s stories were very interesting reads based on the beliefs of technology and what individuals such as themselves think of the use of technology. Both author’s seem to share their different thoughts about technology. Vicente has a very negative view of technology and expresses his opinions very strongly all throughout the story. I think that, indeed, technology does infact take a great tole upon our lives. Without technology we wouldn’t beable to get bigger answers and discover things as well as we can now. However, Vicente talks about medical uses of technolgy and the fact that even though it does help us find answers, sometimes it doesn’t give us the answers that we need or isn’t as useful as we need it to be. It’s obvious that Vicente thinks of technology as being used too much, and I can agree with him to an extent, but we still do need technology in this world to make discoveries and things to keep humans living. Vonnegut’s opinions of technology, on the other hand, to me seem a bit different than Vicente’s opinions. In Vonnegut’s story, he makes his story about a man who goes around and tries to write a book based off smart individuals who have made brilliant discoveries based off technology and science. It seems that Vonnegut is trying to get his readers to see that technolgy brings our the best in people’s minds. Vicente mentioned this kind of information in his story in saying that people are already smart, but technology makes the minds smarter. Both author’s discuss other ideas of technology, and things that allow people to see that without technology, the would would be a lot different.
Vicente talks about “the human factor” to what my understanding means that technology is what makes a person. Technology is the “human factor” of life. Either you are controlled by it, or you control it. This is where Vicente and Vonnegut’s view points differ a little bit because Vicente’s points in her story seem to say that, yes, technology is a great thing, but is it too controlling of our lives? While reading her story, I didn’t come to the realization of how much technologyreally can control our lives to a very high extent. In addition, Vonnegut’s story has a guy that travels around to all places trying to get more information on brilliant people who have dealt with science and technology, and he makes it seem like technology is a good thing based off the kinds of things it has brought to the world. I guess, in my own personal opinion, we absolutely need technolgy. Yes, it doesn’t always give us the answers we need right away and can be controlling, but without it we wouldn’t have half the things we do today.
Vicente talks about “the human factor” to what my understanding means that technology is what makes a person. Technology is the “human factor” of life. Either you are controlled by it, or you control it. This is where Vicente and Vonnegut’s view points differ a little bit because Vicente’s points in her story seem to say that, yes, technology is a great thing, but is it too controlling of our lives? While reading her story, I didn’t come to the realization of how much technologyreally can control our lives to a very high extent. In addition, Vonnegut’s story has a guy that travels around to all places trying to get more information on brilliant people who have dealt with science and technology, and he makes it seem like technology is a good thing based off the kinds of things it has brought to the world. I guess, in my own personal opinion, we absolutely need technolgy. Yes, it doesn’t always give us the answers we need right away and can be controlling, but without it we wouldn’t have half the things we do today.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)