Different authors use different methods to show their views towards areas of their concerns. Technology in today’s culture is one of those concerns that are being addressed. It surrounds us every day and is getting more confusing and frustrating. Kim Vicente talks about his feelings towards technology in his book “The Human Factor”. His idea of, “the human factor”, is basically how technology is being made more and more difficult and how is “actually unusable by most human beings.” (17) Vicente expresses his thoughts by using disasters caused by scientist lack of calculating this “human factor”; for example, he talks about the Chernobyl reactor and how Leonid Toptunov wasn’t fully trained to understand the reactors behavior. Toptunov’s naiveté’s caused a terrible explosion causing many deaths including his own at the young age of 26. Vicente uses negative correlations to technology in his words, like calling cell phones, “electronic leashes” (13)
Another technique used to show author’s concerns towards technology is Kurt Vonnegut’s use of irony with the novel “Cat’s Cradle”. Vonnegut writing grabs your attention and I found it very entertaining and at times funny. He mocks the use of science by using a character as a scientist, Felix Hoenikker, one of the fathers of the atomic bomb. Felix also invents a solution called “ice-nine”, a formula that could end the world by freezing all water. Felix makes this to solve the problem of mud that soldier were tired of going through. There is irony in this because when Felix starts to make something that is meant to help, it actually is a solution to end the world.
Today everyone has grown to be so lazy because of technology. For example, we are getting worse at spelling because of spell check (what I am actually using right now). We use technology to find ways out of doing things the hard way. Just like in “Cat’s Cradle”, the soldiers were too lazy to march through the mud that they invented something so dangerous that would end the world in the wrong hands. There is nothing in today’s science that could end the world that I know of but I know that technology can increase disasters and deaths. Both books use disaster’s to show the side effects of science, Chernobyl’s explosion and the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Both books examine “the human factor” in technology but by using different techniques of writing to express their worries towards our generation.
I really like how you're exploring the effects of technology in terms of our inherent "laziness" as human beings. I often wonder how technology is affecting our ability to meet complex challenges and problems because we're so used to having everything "delivered" to us in an easy, user-friendly sort of form. As a teacher, I often see this in the classroom where it seems that students have somewhat lost the ability to sustain their energy towards a long and difficult text. Not so much in English 102, but in my Irish lit. class I find that students struggle with difficult material, expecting that the author should just "get to the point" like a wikipedia entry or a website. This attitude makes teaching something like James Joyce quite a challenge! But worth it in the end, I think. You might want to check out this article: "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google Perhaps this could be the beginnings of a good research essay (?).
ReplyDelete"Today everyone has grown to be so lazy because of technology. " I think that what you said is very true. I strongly agree.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see much passages in your paper. I think if you add some more, that it would be good for your paper. And also it will make it longer.
I also agree that all authors have different methods but many have alot of similaties to them.
I really like your stance on technology in your essay. I also felt like the reading “The Human Factor” was tying to prove that technology is a dangerous thing and is growing too fast. The example in your essay about Leonid Toptunov not being able to stop the reactor from a melt down helps to prove the idea that even the smartest people can make errors with technology that could have huge consequences on the rest of humanity. The part of your essay that I found most interesting was when you talked about the ice-nine that Dr. Hoenikker created. I never thought about how he had actually created ice-nine to help people and ironically it caused the end of the world. Ending on how each writer uses a different method of writing to convey a similar message was a great way to close up your essay. The only question I could ask is what other things might the authors want to show other than how technology is bad.
ReplyDeleteYour first paragraph is really good, in your final draft find a good opening statement and use that as your intro. But definitely follow the intro with the first paragraph. That paragraph flowed really well, until the last sentence. I wasn’t 100% sure where that fit in.
ReplyDelete“Vicente uses negative correlations to technology in his words, like calling cell phones, “electronic leashes”” I think that sentence is very interesting, but you might want to considering making it into its own paragraph and elaborating on it and telling the reader what you mean. Explain the quote a little more instead of just throwing it in there.
At the beginning and end of your paper you talk about the “human factor” and how scientists don’t take that into effect when they are creating new piece of technology…but what exactly is the human factor?
Add some concrete factors from the book, and state your opinion on them.