Joy Response_Clinton wright

I would characterize Bill Joy’s primary concern being the idea that machines will take over as the dominant race on Earth. He fears that because this will probably happen gradually, humans will just accept the change and then not be able to do anything about it. While I do not agree with what he is saying, Joy explains many examples that have well-qualified individuals backing up the ideas. He uses meetings with friends and other specialists as evidence to set up the problem. He combines anecdotes and examples at the same time when he does this. He tells the anecdote of when he actually talked to the person about what they thought and then follows up the anecdote with the example of what they wrote. He uses this technique when telling the reader about his trip to Los Angeles to meet and talk to his friend Danny Hillis. He also leads into the article with the anecdote and explanation of Ray Kurzweil and his book. A time when Joy just uses an anecdote is when he tells the story about his childhood and the first time he saw Star Trek. The most effective technique is when he combines both the explanation and the anecdote; this is most effective because it provides the reader with a proper background of who provides the insight.

The issues discussed in “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us” are less relevant now because robots are not progressing as fast as thought eleven years ago. Even though technology has greatly increased, it has grown in a different way than what the professionals from the article believed it would. Nanotechnology has grown but not in a way that will quickly lead to robots, especially ones that have consciousness. Technologies invented by Apple and other computer companies are impressive and much more different than in 2000, but are still not able to take over humans as a dominant race. The closest robot or computer being able to challenge humans is Watson, the supercomputer that was designed by IBM. While Watson is incredible, the computer is huge and takes up nearly a room just so that it can function. Machines will have to become much smaller and maintain efficiencies like Watsons’ if they are to challenge human beings. Because computers have not grown as exponentially better as thought they would in 2000, my take is that the problem is now less relevant than as it was eleven years ago.

News_Clinton Wright

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/20/coast-guard-investigating-reports-oil-spill-gulf/

The problem is that there might be a large oil spill in the Gulf Coast that was just discovered a few days ago and is suspected to be leftover from last years BP spill. This is important because it would mean that oil has been drifting around for nearly a year and no one knew about it. If it is oil, it would also mean that someone made a big mistake last year and BP did not do a complete search of the surrounding areas after the spill.

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation/washington/20110319_ap_obamaseekstoresetrelationshipwithbrazil.html

The problem faced here is that the United States has been frustrated with the former Brazilian President regarding his lack of cooperation in Iran. The fact that there is a new president is important because we can now work to regain the lost relationship with Brazil. Another reason that it is important that the United States stays on good terms with Brazil is that there has been recent discoveries of oil reserves that will be available for export off the coast of Brazil.

News_Clinton Wright

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/arkansas-fracking-earthquakes_n_837485.html

Fracking is a technique used in trying to find natural gas wells. The problem is that dangerous chemicals are used that can be harmful to water sources when dumped into the ground. There is some evidence that fracking is causeing minor earthquakes and should be stopped immediatly if the is solid evidence because of the dangers to the wells surroundings.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/18/wisconsin.budget.restraining.order/index.html

The problem is that the Wisconsin law takes collective bargaining rights away from state employees. The exigence would be that the workers lose rights that were previously given to them and do not want to lose their rights completely.

National news_Clinton Wright

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/science/19plume.html?_r=1&ref=us

The article talks about how the radiation from the Japan crisis has reached the U.S, but in very small amounts. The problem is that the radiation can be extremely dangerous to a large amounts of people and needs to be controlled and stopped.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/business/economy/09gasoline.html?scp=1&sq=rising%20gas%20prices&st=cse

The article about rising gas prices talks about how consumers worry the rising prices will end the recovery in the economy. While this will not happen unless they rise dramatically, the problem is that it will most likely not drop much lower. The only way to avoid prices at the pump is to find alternate fuels/energy.

Modest Proposal_Clinton Wright

Some of the issues that Swift discusses are that there are too many poor people in his country and that most of these are women with many children that they are responsible for. He says that sometimes one mother is stuck trying to take care of up to six children and she can barely support herself. The result is that the family is out on the streets begging all the passer-byes for money to try and get by in the hard times. The satirical mode that Swift uses supports the message he is trying to get across because it is a different style of writing than would be usually used for the same information. Most writers would use a serious tone, facts, and quotes from specialists to try and get the point across. While Swift does talk about some facts, the satirical mode leads the reader to wonder if these facts are truly factual. Since Swift does use a different method than usual, the reader is drawn in and finds it easier to pay attention to the message. The satire used by Swift causes the reader to want to keep reading to find out what the next comment that he will make about eating babies. I believe his purpose is to make his fellow countrymen aware of the national issue that they face. He wants people to help out the poor and to try and come together to make the country better as a whole. He comes up with a satirical proposal to try and get people to start thinking of new and inventive ways to help out others.

Over the past few months and especially weeks, gas prices are being heavily debated throughout our country. We depend on foreign oil much more than we should and it is causing a great strain on the pockets of citizens. With prices rising to nearly $4 a gallon, there are not many choices left for people to get around. I propose that everyone goes back to riding horses around. If we all just rode horses, then no more dependence on oil and no more need for gas. Businesses can ship their goods through caravans of horse drawn wagons and therefore no longer need trucks to transport cross country to stores. When companies can pay less to ship their goods to stores, they will be able to lower prices for the customer. This decrease will cause a major shift in the economy which will slowly put money back in the pockets of all U.S citizens.