TOW #28 - Industries of the Future

In The Industries of the Future, Alec Ross analyzes current technologies in various subjects such as care, medicine, and coding. Through these different fields, Ross explains how he predicts the world will be changed through our advancing technology. An interesting problem that he mentions is the decline of menial jobs, like delivery or waitressing, could lead to many people being out of jobs. However, I think that he failed to look at the possibility of replacing those jobs with jobs for the maintenance of the technology itself.

If there is a padlet where one can order their food at the table, eliminating the need for a waitress, that would work well for the restaurant until the padlet malfunctions. One could spill their drink on it, a child could hit it, or it could simply wear down. However, there will serve a new line of labor that involves the maintenance of technology. One would need to be able to fix the robot in case of emergency, a field that was never needed until the rise of our dependence on technology and robots.

Automation will never be perfect. There is no possibility of every scenario being accounted for, ultimately suggesting that there will always be machines that do not make mistakes. To account for these, there needs to be people that will work alongside the automation and step in when needed. For example, a delivery truck could be monitored by a driver who would only step in when the truck is malfunctioning. The amount of delivery people may decrease, but they will not be totally replaced by machines, at least not in the near future.

Finally, robots fail to create emotional connections between people. The need for emotional support may rise, creating a new field of work involved with caring emotionally for the elderly rather than physically helping them with everyday tasks. Until robots can be created to artificially match human compassion, there will need to be a way for people to forge emotional connections with others. Ultimately, there will be a need for people to care for others for the foreseeable future and there should be a rise in jobs involved with emotional care.

Although the creation of robots will affect jobs, it will not completely deteriorate the lower working class. There will be new lines of labor that will replace the current ones, but there is no need to fear the rise of technology. As time develops, technology will replace current jobs, the way machines replaced factory work from the industrial age, but there will always be new lines of work. It is the responsibility of the citizens to determine what those lines of work are.

TOW #27 - How to Fall in Love

The text describes a time when the author, Mandy Len Catron, tried an experiment out to see if she would fall in love. She had heard about a study that was conducted on two people in which they answer intimate questions and maintain eye contact for four minutes. She recounts the time she spent answer the questions with a friend and reflects back on it and the ideas that our culture has behind love. She did end up falling in love with the man that she answered the questions with, but she said that she may have fell in love with him without the study. The text was composed for young adults who are facing these questions of love and relationships.

Catron uses a personal tone and first person point of view to effectively create a story that reflects on an important day of her life. She uses a colloquial tone that makes her story sound more like a story rather than an informative article. She recounts that, “It’s astounding, really, to hear what someone admires in you. I don’t know why we don’t go around thoughtfully complimenting one another all the time.” This kind of tone makes it seem like she’s talking to a friend instead of writing in a newspaper, making the topic easier to read about because love is an intimate topic. She also uses first person point of view to be reflective on the study. She says that, “I liked learning about myself through my answers, but I liked learning things about him even more.” She’s honest with how the study went for her, and is able to portray this honesty through first person point of view.

The author sums her article up well when she says, “I’ve begun to think love is a more pliable thing than we make it out to be. Arthur Aron’s study taught me that it’s possible — simple, even — to generate trust and intimacy, the feelings love needs to thrive.” She thinks that love is something that is based off of intimacy, and wants to expose that through her experience with the experiment. I think that she accomplished her purpose. She exposes what factors into her love and explains how she reached the level of intellectual intimacy that she did. She created an interesting piece that made me want to look further into the scientific effects of love.

TOW #26 - Head in the (Instagrammed) Clouds

Isabel Evans writes, “Head in the (Instagrammed) Cloud” to discuss social media, particularly instagram and how it affects the life of a young adult. The author is a student at Harvard who admits to being “guilty of everything [she has] mentioned.” Evans writes the text for students at Harvard. Evans made a few comments relating to life at Harvard, such as studying for finals in the Harvard library or boring Harvard Friday nights. However this could apply to any young adult who uses social media. The text was written to address our dependence on social media as social media is a rapidly growing part of society.

To establish her argument, Evans uses first person point of view and allusions. She says, “Most of the time when I’m staring and scrolling, I’m not engaged in any kind of socially productive exercise.” She uses first person point of view to establish ethos. Through her perspective she can explain that she too is affected by social media and can waste an hour on her phone doing practically nothing. This helps the audience agree with her more, but also shows that she knows what she is talking about because she too experienced it.

She also uses allusions to real world events. She says, “So often sites like Twitter and Reddit offer news quicker and more concisely when stories are just breaking. When the lockdown hit our campus after the Boston bombing, I was constantly checking my different feeds rather than relying on the slower CNN.” By having a real event and explaining how social media spread the word, she shows that social media does serve an important part of society and it can help get the word out about big events.

Evans writes this essay to explain that, “it’s important to remember that we should have accomplishments we can really see and touch, not just ones on a touchscreen.” She wants to reach out to students at Harvard and remind them to focus on their real lives and not their instagram life. I think she did accomplish her purpose. She used rhetorical devices well to explain that social media is not a bad thing; she did not attack social media. Instead she said that it’s a good idea to pay attention to one’s life outside of their phone. I think that through her examples and experiences she argues her point well.

IRB Intro Post #4

I decided to read "The Industries of the Future" by Alec Ross for my IRB this marking period. My dad showed this book to me and I was interested in reading it because it talks about businesses that have recently come out that utilize technology in an interesting fashion. I'm really interested in business and wanted to see what the businesses of the future looked like. 

TOW #25 - WWI Propaganda

During World War I, there were many propaganda posters that were created to push citizens to help with the cause. Many factories focused on only creating materials to help with the war, like weaponry. Even though after the war this loss of a market caused a dip in the economy, during the war it was very important for the soldiers that weapons and food were made in excess to help them fight.

Many of these posters involved saving food so that the extra food could be donated to the soldiers. Without this food, soldiers would starve and die, leaving no one to fight the war for Americans. In this particular poster, the author is asking Americans to donate food to the soldiers that are saving them from a German control.

There is a deductive argument in this World War I propaganda poster. The major premise is that in general, well fed soldiers win the war. The minor premise is that if you donate food, you help feed soldiers. So the conclusion is that one should donate their food to help win the war.

The deductive element helps create a strong argument for citizens to donate their food. It outlines the effects of where the food is going and shows that it is beneficial for citizens if they help with the war cause. There is also an emotional appeal in the poster because it clearly states that soldiers are saving your lives, so you need to donate food for those soldiers.

Ultimately, the deductive element organizes the argument so that it has a clear conclusion: donate your food. It is used effectively as an effort to help soldiers get more food. Through the civilian help, soldiers could fight to the best of their ability. These posters most likely helped Americans win the war, as the Allies eventually did win World War I.

TOW #24 - Killing the Rising Sun

The second World War waged on for four years of America’s direct intervention. The main fight was against Japan, as Germany had all but surrendered towards the end of the war. Japan was weary and close to surrender, but Japanese leaders were determined to fight until the death. Americans believed that the only way for the war to end was to fight with similar determination. This led to the decision to drop the atomic bombs on the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Author Bill O'Reilly writes about the war leading up to the decision and the aftermath of the decision. He argues that it was right for the bombs to be dropped, because no one knows how many more American lives would be lost during the remainder of the war. He describes how many scientists were questioning the morality of the bomb, but ultimately both President Franklin Roosevelt and President Truman had decided to let the bomb be dropped if it meant saving American lives. Truman sympathizes with the many Japanese lives that were lost, but believes that it was ultimately for the better.

I agree with part of O’Reilly’s claim, that the dropping of the first bomb had some reasons to be done, and although in retrospect the war would have probably ended soon regardless of the bomb being dropped, in the moment the president had to make a decision, and it was for the better of the United States. I think that he has some validity in his argument, even if the morality of the decision is not entirely intact.

However, I do not believe that dropping the second bomb was entirely necessary. The first bomb killed thousands of people and wrecked havoc on Japanese citizens. Once the word of the first bomb spread, the Japanese decided to surrender until certain conditions. However, Americans wanted an unconditional surrender, and ruthlessly attacked another city in order to receive that surrender. I think that the loss of lives in Nagasaki was not worth the conditions of surrender, especially if the bombs were only supposed to be dropped out of necessity.

Bill O’Reilly makes a compelling argument for the dropping of the two atomic bombs. I agree that there is validity in his argument, and that in the time that it seemed necessary to drop the bombs. However, in retrospect there may have been a better solution that could have saved two cities from being brutally burned.

TOW #23 - Pilots' Confidence

Many pilot only manually control their plane for a couple minutes each flight. The rest of the time is spent monitoring the autopilot system. However, without the autopilot, many pilots feel unconfident in their flying ability. They rely so much on the system that when it crashes, the plane typically ends up crashing too.

The author, David Learmount, writes an essay arguing for the probable cause of the AirAsia flight QZ8501’s crash. He believes that the crash occurred because of the pilot’s self confidence, not because of the plane itself. To support this argument, he uses 3 similar plane crash stories. He also uses a study that was done about pilots to explain how pilots rely on their autopilot system.

The first story was of an Air Algerie flight that went missing after a change in course. The second story was of an Air France flight that’s black box revealed that the pilots were given control from the autopilot, but they lost control of the plane without having an autopilot to help them. The third story was of a West Caribbean Airways that went out of control after the pilots flew the plane too low. However, there was nothing wrong with the plane, if the pilots had had practice without their computers, they would have been able to lift the plane more and saved their passengers. In every story, with more training, the pilot could have saved the flight.

By comparing these stories to the story of the AirAsia flight, one can see that the similarities point to a common cause. The evidence strongly suggests that the pilot’s training is at fault, instead of the plane or the weather. With this evidence, one can see that more training is necessary in having safe flights.

TOW #22 - Muckrakers

The living conditions for immigrants during the early 1900’s was horrible. Many people were dying of disease, poor, and had harsh work hours. Upton Sinclair wrote a book to expose to the American public how horrid the life of an immigrant was. However, he described the lack of proper sanitation of the meatpacking industry in too much detail, leading to the American public demanding change for their food, but not for immigrants. President Roosevelt did pass acts that changed the meatpacking industry, however was angry that, he believed, Sinclair exaggerated the conditions of the meatpacking companies.

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, wrote “The Man with the Muckrake” which is a speech about journalists. He targeted journalists, especially Sinclair, that over exaggerated what they were reporting, and ultimately hurt the companies they were bad-mouthing. He calls them muckrakers because they focus on the muck of the story. In today’s world, Roosevelt would be incredibly unhappy with how manipulative the media can be.

In everyday life, one can tweet about someone else and create a false rumor. Regardless of the validity of the rumor, the existence of it itself can cause the person that was tweeted great stress; it can make someone seem bad regardless of whether they actually are or not. On a larger scale, a bad review can cost a company customers even if the company did not earn that review. Comparably celebrities can lose fans over false rumors.

All over the world, journalists hold a special ability. Through their words, they can expose bad companies to the public. They can cause real harm to companies that are causing harm in their own way. However, they can also cause harm to fair businesses. Rumors hold enough weight in today’s world to not need facts to support them. The rumor itself can destroy a person or business’s credibility, even if it is completely false. Through writing lies, journalists today can spread the word quickly about a company and have it shut down the next day.

Roosevelt wanted to prevent mudslinging to occur. He wanted companies to be treated fairly if they acted fairly. However, in the world that we are in today, media plays such a huge role that it can really hurt businesses. Roosevelt would disagree with the way that media is used, and would beg people to stop acting like the muckrakers from the early 20th century.

TOW #21 - By Gum

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the author’s central claim?

During the late 1800’s America entered the Age of Imperialism. With it came a thirst for overseas expansion, leading to the admittance of Hawaii as a part of the united states. Another addition to the united states, although not permanent, was the Philippine Islands. The United States won a war with the Spanish and ultimately gained control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. President McKinley decided to maintain control of the Philippines, even though the Filipinos were not given rights as American citizens.

In this political cartoon, Uncle Sam, the representation of America, is playfully putting American flags across the globe. He is casually smoking a cigar whilst selecting areas for the United States to conquer. By saying “By gum, I rather like your looks” he is expressing how much he likes American imperialism. However, this portrayal of Uncle Sam shows the dark side of imperialism. Uncle Sam is being very casual in deciding where America will grow to; ultimately he shows how Americans wanted to expand to expand and they wanted to win other territories because they liked their looks, not because they wanted to help the other countries.

I agree with the author’s central claim that America during the Age of Imperialism was being too casual with the imperialistic powers it had. For example McKinley claimed that by controlling the Philippines he would help the Filipinos, but life for the Filipinos was worse under American control than before. He also decided to keep the Philippines because he said that God wanted him to, not because of political reasons. Making a decision based off of religion is not fair to do while president of a country free of religious tyranny because there is supposed to be a separation of church and state. Finally, America did not need to help the Philippines, they could have granted the Filipinos independence and let the country run on its own, but America instead casually played with a country and took leadership of it, not considering the drastic effects on the actual inhabitants of the territory.

TOW #20 - Killing the Rising Sun

Killing the Rising Sun, by Bill O’Reilley, recounts the horrors of war before the decision to drop the atomic bombs that lead to Japanese surrender and soon after an end to the war. However, it is still hotly argued today whether the decision was right. Even though it did end the war, it lead to the death of almost 200,000 Japanese citizens. The majority of the beginning of the book recounts terrifying stories at war - men lying on grenades to save the rest of the Americans in that area, the ways prisoners of war were treated, and many other details that are hard to stomach. However, I think that these stories were necessary in creating the author’s argument that the atomic bombs needed to be dropped.

The book begins with a detailed description of Corporal Lewis Kenneth Bausell and his American peers. Peleliu, where the Americans want to protect from Japanese invasion, is described as “a living hell.” (10). O’Reilley then spends close to 40 pages describing the hell-like stories that came from Peleliu. Although these pages are hard to read, they give the audience a glimpse of life during war. That perspective is an important part of the book because it helps the audience realize that prolonging war was absolutely awful for the soldiers who fought.

These stories also serve as an interesting hook to the book. They give the readers insight to something that most of the audience has not experienced. That hook may also helps the audience feel interested to read about the decision to end the war through the dropping of the atomic bomb after seeing what the atomic bomb would be stopping.

The stories also create an appeal to pathos through narrative, which helps the audience agree with O’Reilley and the decision to drop the bombs. Although I have not finished the book nor decided whether I disagree or agree yet, the audience may feel more inclined to after finishing the book understand the decision of the atomic bomb drop.

Overall, the stories create an interesting dynamic to the book that would be missing a lot of emotion without these stories. The narratives serve to add perspective for the audience, create a strong hook, and appeal to pathos, which make the book overall better.

TOW #19 - American Flag

One of America’s biggest accomplishments was landing on the moon and putting an American flag on the surface of the moon. However, to see that flag, one would need a really quality telescope. Orion, a telescope company, used this idea to create a creative advertisement for their telescopes.

The text was composed for potential buyers of the telescopes. The author juxtaposes pictures together to create a humorous effect. The author juxtapositions views that the Orion telescope can show. The first is a picture of the moon, the second is a picture of the American flag and the third is a picture of the American flag’s label “Made in China.” These pictures are all very clear, showing that the telescope will give off clear images, even when zoomed in an extreme amount. There is an element of humor that is also used in the advertisement. By having an American flag say “Made in China” on the moon, the advertisers are saying that even one of America’s biggest accomplishments was not fully their own. The advertisers make fun of Americans for their use of products that are not American, but in a playful way that will make their audience laugh and not be offended.

The author’s purpose in creating the advertisement was to get their audience to buy the telescope. The author probably did get more people to buy their telescopes because it is not only a funny picture, but it also displays the clearness of the telescope.

TOW #18 - Argument Against Homework

In “The growing argument against homework,” David McGinn, a journalist for The Globe and Mail, writes about why young students should not have to do homework. He explains that homework does not have many benefits, but it does cause frustration and exhaustion, leading to a lack of interest in learning.

I agree with the author’s argument, however I think that he could have applied the argument to high schoolers as well; he also used other methods of argumentation than appeals to logos.

The main argument focuses on a New York elementary school’s ban on homework. He agrees with the ban, but his argument surrounds the idea of a homework ban on elementary school students. However, I think that homework has even worse of an effect on high school students, including a lack of sleep and extreme stress. I think that his argument should also apply to older students to reach a wider audience and have more of an impact on his audience. I also think that elementary school students are not as impacted by a lot of homework because they typically have more freetime than high schoolers.

He explains that parents are upset with a New York school’s recent ban on homework, but argues with statistics that it is good for the students to have a break from homework. I agree with his argument, but I think that if he incorporated more pathos into his argument he could have parents understand that homework can be emotionally draining in addition to not helping the student’s education.

Ultimately, I agree with David McGinn, however I think that there are a couple of improvements that he could make to his argument to catch a principal’s attention and force a change in education systems.

IRB Intro Post #3

Killing the Rising Sun is a book that reveals the details behind the decision to drop the atomic bomb. I decided to read this book as my IRB because my dad recommended it and I have a strong interest in history and World War II.

TOW #17 - Snapchat

In the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Mims published an article called, “Why Snapchat Is the New TV.” In his article, he argues, surprisingly, that Snapchat is the new TV. His argument is supported by the ideas that Snapchat is a way to spread information quickly, it’s used as a leisurely activity, and has millions of users everyday. Although all of that information is true, I do not agree that it will replace TV.

Snapchat is a way to quickly spread information, however most people do not go to Snapchat as their main source of news. They tend to stick with the news on the TV or online websites like CNN. The news on Snapchat does not provide as much information as TV or online sources. Snapchat is also mainly used for contacting friends, not finding out what is happening around the world.

Mims also argues that Snapchat is a leisurely activity, like watching TV. However, dissimilar to watching TV, in my experience as an avid Snapchat user, most users spend about 5 minutes on Snapchat at a time. I would not sit on my couch for hours watching stories or contacting friends, but it’s a lot easier to spend hours watching movies or TV shows.

Finally, Mims uses the argument that Snapchat has a very wide audience so it is similar to TV. However, Snapchat mainly has teenagers who watch stories or read its news, and older adults tend to stray from Snapchat. However, almost every age feels comfortable using a TV. The TV has a much broader audience and larger audience as it reaches people through multiple companies, Netflix, Hulu, and many other ways to spread information.

Christopher Mims creates a strong argument for why Snapchat is the New TV, however I disagree with his argument. I do think that his message, that Snapchat is important and rapidly increasing its audience, is well supported through his argument.

TOW #16 - The Glass Castle

The second half of The Glass Castle describes Jeannette Walls’ life during middle school and beyond. She moves to New York City with her sister after she graduates. She sees her parents on occasion until her sister gets arrested for stabbing her mom. Her dad dies from a heart attack, and the book ends describing Thanksgiving dinner 5 years after her father’s death.

Jeannette Walls is a credible author, as her instant ethos was established through the story being about her life. The Glass Castle may be written for people who are struggling with their familial lives. The text was written after seeing her (homeless) mom in New York City, reminding her of her childhood.

Walls uses many rhetorical devices. Some of the ones that she uses includes symbolism and irony. Walls uses symbolism with her boyfriend and her family. Her first husband is, “a man who was exactly the opposite” of her dad (268). She later divorces her husband and marries someone who was “more right” for her. This divorce shows that she doesn’t need someone who is exactly the opposite of her dad, because there were some good aspects of her dad that she loved. Just as in every family there are good aspects that are loved. Walls uses irony with her mother’s land. For Walls’ entire life, her parents were poor. They moved around and barely survived. However, Walls later finds out that her mom owned about $1 million in land. The irony is that her mother had all of this money, but was unwilling to use it because getting the money would mean selling the land. If she sold the land, she would be giving up a familial tradition. However, if she used the money, she would be helping her family.

I think that the author wants to show that there is balance between “turbulence and order” (288). She loved her parents even though they were extremely free to the point of being dangerous, because her family found a balance between freedom and danger. She believes that her family, no matter how crazy, was good. She loves her family, and no matter what could not abandon them. Her purpose may be to try to reach out to other families and remind them that familial love is unbreakable. I think that she did accomplish her purpose because she uses her own life to explain how much she loved her family, even though she had a lot of reason to resent her parents.

TOW #15 - Or Drink And.

Ever since we were little students have been hearing about the negative effects of drinking and driving. Many programs are utilized to prevent alcohol-induced accidents. These programs tend to use a scare tactic, which shows the terrifying aspects of one bad decision, and hopes to scare people from performing such actions. Research suggests that shock tactics do work, but they need to be targeted and followed by strong enforcement of driving laws. This advertisement is a perfect example of the scare tactic that advertisers use.

This text was created by Abramet to prevent drunk driving. Abramet published the text, which is the Brazilian Association of Traffic Medicine. The text was composed for any kind of driver, hoping to remind them to not get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol or drugs. The text was written because there are many drug and alcohol related car accidents.

The text uses symbolism and tone to create a powerful image. The can symbolizes a car after the driver has been drinking. The can is crushed symbolizing it is empty, which means that the drinker was drinking. The car is also crushed to show that when one drinks and drives, they have a high chance of getting into an accident.

The text also uses tone in their picture. The colors are all dark and negative, which goes along with a gloomy tone. If the text had bright colors, the message would not be as powerful. But by having dark colors, the text effectively shows how drinking and driving is a bad decision that will not end well.

The author created this text to attempt to stop drivers from driving under the influence. The author uses a scare tactic to show the negative impacts that drinking and driving have. The caption is “You can drink and drive. Or drink and.” The incomplete sentence suggests that the driver would not drink and drive, but drink and crash and not be able to finish his drive.  I think this picture is extremely powerful in showing the effects of drinking and driving. It has a powerful and uses a scare tactic well to remind drivers to only drive sober.

TOW #14 - TrumpCare

There has been a lot of speculation over the successfulness of the new president elect’s presidency for the next four years. With a new president elect there comes a big promise of a revised health care plan for America. The text was written, in the Wall Street Journal, for Americans who are concerned with the president elect’s plan for our health care. The Wall Street Journal is an extremely credible journal as the editors stress having as little bias as possible. However this particular article is an opinion article, which seems to have liberal bias. This was written this week, as many texts are being published on the new president elect as his inauguration day gets closer.

The author uses sarcasm to show in an entertaining way the effects of Trump’s healthcare plan. He said that, “Mr. Trump campaigned on repeal but also left TrumpCare open to negotiation and, well, interpretation (‘something terrific’).” By including the “something terrific” quote, he is saying that having an open health care plan will backfire, and is not something terrific, but something that can harm many Americans.

Appealing to logos helps create a strong argument because it gives a lot of basis to back up one’s argument. The author says, “given the law’s large and ongoing failures on almost every measure: premium trends, enrollment, limited doctor and hospital networks, insurer participation. Affordability, choice and competition are due for another tumble next year under the status quo.” By including all of these different measures that need to be factored into health care, he uses facts to show the importance of the next few months.

The author also uses rhetorical questions. He says, “Does the President-elect have any better ideas on legislative strategy, or is he merely going to toss around the sayings of Chairman Donald from Trump Tower?” By asking this question, he shows that he doubts that Trump actually has an idea of what he is doing, but he will simply toss some sayings around to seem like he does.

Ultimately, this article shows the fear that many Americans have with Trump’s ability to follow through with his promises. He creates a case for the importance of having a proper health care plan and how it needs to be taken very seriously as it could create “creating chaos in our entire economy.” I think the author strongly established his purpose as he effectively used sarcasm, appeals to logos, and rhetorical questions to show the importance of Donald Trump’s health care plan. He ended his text with, “If [Republicans] muff this one, they’ll deserve to be run out of town,” showing how disastrous he feels the TrumpCare plan could be if it fails.