2041: My Life

Thirty years from now, in the year 2041, life will be incredibly different than it is now. As a freshman in college, I will wake up in the morning to a projected image on my wall, with accompanying music to my favorite band at this time. I will go to my closet and pick out my outfit, hanging it in a glass tall cylinder, where it will be steamed and cleaned for use. I will then go the bathroom and stand in the shower while I am cleaned. Yes, you heard me correctly, I am cleaned. I imagine a futuristic shower in which there are moving jets everywhere that omit tear-free soap, and clean you without any need to use physical exertion. After drying off and throwing my laundry in the automatic sorting washing machine, I get dressed and grab my Gridbase (Modern day iPhone of sorts). This phone not only acts as a computer with a virtual keyboard, it also has subwoofers that allow real bass when playing music. It also houses all of my textbooks and school notes which eliminate the need for a book bag. I head out the door and lock it with a thumb-recognizing pad before entering the Moscalator and typing in the building my first class is in. As I am zipped away, surrounded by snot nosed freshman on a tour of the college, i put in my wireless headphones and allow my thoughts to drift away to Jimmy Hendrix until it begins blasting in my ears. I arrive in the English building moments later, and emerge in to the all white building, listening to my footsteps echo amongst the vaulted ceilings. As I arrive to class, I put my thumb against the pad and hear the click as the door is unlocked. I sit down on one of the many leather couches arranged around the room, and await my professor’s arrival. When she walks in, apologizing for her lateness, she types in a code on the keypad by her desk and a huge projected image of Freud is plastered on the wall. The next hour passes by rather quickly considering I never removed by earphones, and I head to iSovi to grab a bite to eat. I walk in and place my thumb against the pad for payment, and go up to the computer to enter in my order. After finding a comfortable booth, I enter my order number into the keypad on the wall, and suddenly the wall opens slightly and my food emerges. After eating in less than 15 minutes, I go back to my dorm via Moscalator and listen to my textbook through my headphones to study for my next class. As the day comes to a close, I set my alarm for a sunflower along with Baby by Justina Beibett, and go to sleep, of course hooked up to my dreamrecorder to watch the next day. Life is good.

Blog 5 Technology Debate

When the iPhone first emerged, I was not really a big fan of it. I saw how obsessed people around me were becoming with it, to points of no return money wise, and it did not seem healthy to have such a craze surrounding a piece of metal. While I was intrigued by it, I never allowed myself to even try it out so as to not join the mania. I stuck to my Blackberry and became one of the well known “iPhone haters”, becoming vocal about my distaste for the iPhone, without really having any real reason, except for pure jealousy of course (But at this point in time I was still not willing to admit this).



It wasn’t until two of my best friends replaced their Blackberries with iPhones that I started to realize how much I had secretly wanted one. They would download the most interesting apps and the fast internet made it possible to look up anything we wanted, no matter where we were, and view it exactly as it would be on the computer. I was hooked. I began to research just how much money an iPhone would cost me, and my heart broke when I saw the steep numbers.  I was now forced to remain in the iPhone haters club a bit longer than I wanted.

When I finally had saved enough money to purchase the iPhone, I barged from the mailroom where I had just received a check in the mail, and quickly begged my best friend to take me to the store. Of course the first store did not have them in stock, but we were finally able to locate somewhere that did. As I purchased the phone I had my moment of doubt just because of just how much money I was spending, but as soon as I turned it on all doubt faded away. This phone was simply incredible! It literally offered me just about every technology I use, but compacted in to one small device. It really was the best decision I had ever made in regards to a large purchase. I use my phone every day, and get every cent of use out of it, and I can’t say the same of the vast majority of other technological resources I own.  While I will admit it takes over a lot of people’s attention, they are simply getting the most out of a product they are investing a lot of money in. What is the point of putting so much money in to something, if at the end of the month you feel as if you didn’t make the most of it?

The Right to Sell Labor-Immigration Summary/Response Blog

            In Peter Wilby's "The Right to Sell Labor", he discusses the rise in migrant workers who come to America in search of better working conditions, and a better life in general. By allowing immigrants from third-world countries into the United States, we instantly raise their life expectancy significantly, and have a chance for a much more successful future. It is American employers who seek cheap, pliable labor, that take advantage of these migrant workers and pay them significantly smaller wages and in much worse conditions, because they know it is still better to them than their home country would treat them. This creates a much larger competition for jobs between migrants and your average citizen, because the employer can get away with paying much less money to a migrant, who the vast majority of the time is not even paying any taxes. Unfortunately we have reached a point where immigration is nearly impossible to stop and restrict. With such a constant flow of immigrants across state borders, it becomes difficult to regulate and keep track of. Then after these undocumented workers arrive, they are not likely to contact any authorities about their below minimum wage salary, and so the employer gets away with paying them near nothing, and so the job market is extremely affected. Nearly all politicians agree that what we want is regulated immigration, and the best place for this to begin is in the workplace. Migrants would not be nearly as desired by employers if they were to demand minimum wage and proper working conditions.



After reading this article, I found a lot of similarities in my own way of thinking, and the authors. As he states, "Most proposals for controlling immigration are based on keeping out the riff-raff, but exempting those with valuable skills in, say, medicine", I realized just how unrealistic this is. We can't expect to take only the talented and intelligent people from other countries, leaving these countries without any real educated professionals, and sending the "dumb" people back. Unfortunately, it is by doing things like this that has gotten America to be a leading power, but constantly assisting other countries rather than our own. People look to us for everything because we treat them like they are below us, and so they start to believe that themselves. I also find it to be disgusting how employers treat this migrant workers here in America. The fact that some people don't even have the decency to pay them minimum wage is astounding, and honestly so horrible. I completely agree with the author in his statement that, "the best place for regulation is in the workplace".

                                                                       Works Cited

Wilby, P. "The Right to Sell Labor". New Statesman. November 15th, 2007.
http://www.newstatesman.com/200711150019

Dystopian Fiction-I Robot

Dystopian works are incredibly important to remind society that we need to be careful with just how far we allow technology to control our lives. It normally depicts a futuristic society, in which technological advances govern said society, and then things go terribly wrong and the society is threatened or destroyed. This acts as a much needed warning to us to not allow something similar to happen to our own nation that continues to rely on technology as our answer to everything. Some examples of Dystopian films include Idiocracy (2006), and one of my personally favorite movies, I Robot (2004).

I Robot was directed by Alex Proyas in 2004. In this Dystopian film, we are jetted forward to 2035 A.D. where robots are programmed to live alongside humans, and act as protectors and companions. Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith), has never trusted robots and continuously thought that we would one day have them turn on us, causing the end of life as we know it, but no one would ever listen to him.When he was called out to investigate the apparent suicide of the scientist behind the creation of the robots, Dr.Alfred Lanning, he begins to suspect more and more that his death was actually caused by one of the robots, and then covered up. 

When Detective Spooner begins to question the robots and their programming, he meets the scientist Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan), who reassures him that the robots are unable to do anything bad because they are programmed under three laws. Spooner wonders if it is possible for a robot to feel emotions, break the laws under which the are set, and in turn kill. We can only hope his suspicions are false, and that if he is correct, it isn't too late to save us all.

I genuinely enjoyed the movie and found it to be a huge wake up call in regards to our reliance on technology. As each day progresses, I constantly see human interaction being limited more and more. To even speak to someone on the phone is becoming more difficult as automated answering services are becoming more popular. Between the incredible acting of Will Smith who committed to his role, and made me believe in what he stood for with each word he spoke, and the passion displayed by Bridget Maynahan as she fought for what she had worked her entire life for, this movie is definitely a must see.

Argument within an image

When you first think about an argument, the picture that pops into most people’s head involves two people, eyes bulging, voices raised, and fists pumping through the air while incoherent words are being sputtered back and forth in anger. While this may be true in some cases, I am slowly learning that arguments are everywhere and don’t necessarily require any words to be spoken or written to make it so. A simple picture can arise more conflict and public distress then words ever could.

The picture I have chosen to analyze was incredibly ironic to me. It showed a common theme in society now a day’s which is that of this unnatural obsession with weight. It shows a very thin, pretty girl standing on a scale while eating a bar of chocolate. It seems as though she is fighting this internal battle as to whether or not this piece of chocolate will somehow turn her suddenly obese, and so she stands on the scale to make sure nothing changes. Her eyes show this unnatural fear of having any sort of weight change occur, but at the same time she seems incredibly happy to be eating the chocolate, as though she hadn’t really enjoyed food in a long time. It is really disturbing to me just how accurate, although a tad bit exaggerated, this image is. We look through magazines and watch television, and now have it in our heads that the “ideal” body is to be as thin as possible, and usually with large breasts. It now gives normal women this incredibly high standard to live up to if they themselves want to be considered “beautiful”. This has resulted in an incredible increase in women with eating disorders and self-image problems, as well as an influx in cosmetic surgery. It really is a shame to see just how influential the media and society can be on an individual’s outlook on everything, including themselves.

When we look at other cultures, women that are heavier are sometimes considered much more beautiful and are sought after by men. They see weight as a sign of health and wealth rather than as a detriment. This is a perfect example of how the media really controls everything. If we had grown up watching television shows where larger women were featured as beautiful, we in turn would most likely find that to be beautiful and strive to have that body type. Unfortunately we have become very impressionable due to the media and skinny girl propaganda, and have stopped embracing the many different sizes and shapes women come in. There is now only one really sought after body type: skinny. It is a shame to watch as the "lose weight now" epidemic floods throughout America, but it is my hope that this will not cause any more damage to perfectly healthy women. We should strive to be healthy and fit, not to starve ourselves to near nothingness.

Components of an efficient argument

Arguing is something I know that I at least have been doing since a very young age. Whether it was to get a toy I wanted, extend my curfew, or convince someone of my very strong Republican views on politics, arguing has just always been an active part of my life. One may even say that argumentation is a simple aspect of human nature. It is something we have always done and will always do. The problem is, many people do not understand the basis of a good argument. Not just an exchange of heated words that ends in tears or non speaking terms, but rather an exchange of ideas with an open mind that could possibly allow some sort of compromise.

For an argument to be under the best possible conditions it requires a clear issue, an arguer, an audience, common ground, a forum, and audience outcomes. Without an issue, there would no point to the argument. Two arguers are required to present the different sides to an issue, and common ground is needed to allow for some sort of compromise in the end.  A forum makes the arguers feel as if they are important and being heard, which in turn usually results in more compelling evidence and creativity in how it is presented. Audience outcomes should occur if the argument was presented well, causing some people to change their opinions on the issue at hand.

Another very important aspect of argumentation is that of removing all emotion. While there are some issues that you just can’t help but get emotional about, those are the ones you should simply steer away from. Emotion has absolutely no business in argumentation or debates and will only hinder your argument and make it look weaker. By simply sticking to fact and fact alone, as long as there is sufficient evidence in support of your side, there is no way you will not be able to accomplish your goal in arguing and have people listen and possibly alter their own opinions in your favor. Facts with always triumph over emotional pleas.

If the issue is too risqué, or there is too much difficulty establishing common ground, arguments are usually bound to fail. If the issue is too large in scale or involves very emotionally centered issues such as religion or relationships, people tend to stay away from them to avoid having to make any life altering decisions or hurt someone’s feelings.  Also, if there is no common ground, there is no basis to an argument. The point of argumentation is to come to some sort of compromise in the end. If one party already has their own mind made up, and is not willing to listen with an open mind and come to some sort of middle ground, then the argument will remain just a silly yelling match that will never be resolved.  It is important to always come into every argument with an open mind, and be willing to possibly change your own views if your opponent presents evidence you were not previously aware of.