Sawyer Smith CE 3 Professor Field 21 April, 2010 The Wonders of Technology: Advancing Human Stupidity Technology is an amazing thing. From black and white to HDTVs, from landlines to smart phones, and from microscopes to atom smashers, technology is advancing in a way that humanity’s older generations could never have dreamed of. Most people claim that technology is making humanity smarter. After all, it’s giving us access to an infinite amount of information, and it’s giving us access quickly. With all the attention given to the benefits of technology, too many people are ignoring the simple fact: technology is making us stupider. It’s making us cognitively stupider, and it’s making us socially stupider. Before we can explore the negative ramifications of technology, we must first identify the positive aspects. To completely ignore the benefits of technology would be unwise; technology has opened doors to knowledge and allowed humanity to discover an incredible amount of information. Health care breakthroughs, biological discoveries, space exploration, and information exchange have all drastically benefited over the years as technology has advanced. To disregard its impact on our understanding of the world would be illogical and ignorant, but to disregard the potential it has to negatively impact humanity’s intelligence would also be foolish. The danger in the advancement of technology comes in the form of human laziness. As technology becomes smarter, people are more inclined to rely heavily on machines and artificial intelligence to complete menial tasks. With things like dishwashers, cars, remote controls, microwaves, and countless other life-simplifying technology, it’s simple to see that we are gradually becoming more reliant on machines, and less reliant on ourselves. It would be a simple argument to claim that technology is making us lazier. A harder point to argue; however, is the idea that technology isn’t just making us lazier—its making us stupider. Some people would argue that the completion of menial tasks by technology is beneficial to humanity. In some cases, it is. Technological advancements have introduced us to the idea of mass production. Things like food harvesting and mechanical assembly lines have increased our output capacity for production and consumption. The problem with relying on machines to complete menial tasks becomes a more important issue with those menial physical tasks evolve into menialcognitive tasks. For example, instead of memorizing a friend’s phone number, address, or birthday, more and more people are relying on their computers or cell phones to remind them. Our mind is like a muscle. If we don’t use it, it goes away. If we don’t regularly use our memory for simple things like phone numbers and birthdays, we aren’t exercising our minds—we are letting technology do it for us. Some may say that the small exclusion of phone numbers and birthdays from our memories is not enough to worry about. This may be true, but at the rate technology is advancing, it may be altogether too soon when we rely on technology to remember more and more, and we remember less and less. The Internet has no shortage of websites that help people remember important things. Giftelephant.com is a website that keeps track of all the gifts you have given, all the gives you have received, and who gave you the gifts. It also has a service that reminds you to send thank-you notes, which you can personalize and send from the website. Applications can be bought from apple’s online store that function as to-do lists, alarm systems, and bill reminders. Easybib.com offers a free service that creates MLA style bibliographies for works cited pages so that students don’t have to remember the uber-complicated process of proper citation. The list goes on. As new websites and applications are invented, the idea of mental memorization and organization becomes considerably less valid. The ability for technology to inhibit our intelligence is directly related to how much we rely on that technology. For a prime example of common over-reliance on technology, look no further than Microsoft’s spell check. The feature is included in Microsoft Word, arguably the most popular word processing program in existence. The ‘spell check’ feature scans entire documents for errors in spelling, then either auto-corrects the misspelled words, or gives suggestions to what the intended word may be. Think for a moment: this means that a college student can write a paper using only misspelled words, and then with the help of a computer program and a few mouse clicks, can replace all the incorrectly spelled words with correct ones. We no longer have to rely on our own brains to spell correctly. Long gone are the days of proofreading and spell checking without a computer program; long gone are the days of looking up words in physical paper dictionaries; long gone are the days of rifling through countless books in the library to find the information you are looking for. True—we now have access to an infinite amount of information with the touch a few keys—but at what cost? If we rely on technology to complete simple cognitive tasks, how long will it be before we forget how to complete these tasks by ourselves? Not only does technology have the potential to make us cognitively stupider, it also has the potential to make us socially stupider. Throughout most of history, in order to have a conversation with another human being, one would have to actually be physically near that person. In today’s world, that is not the case. People can be called, text, IMed, e-mailed, paged, and facebooked. Although ‘snail-mail’ has been around for a while, it still did not offer the opportunity to have a real-time conversation with another person. Technology is affecting the way we interact with people. In some ways, people are becoming more reliant on communicating electronically and are losing their ability to communicate effectively without a technological medium. By relying on things like social websites, IM, and texts, people become more comfortable with the idea of simply communicating their ideas electronically. One could argue that the Internet is a means for introverts to interact with other people who they may not have interacted with otherwise, thus strengthening their social skills. This may be true in some cases, but the opposite is also true. It is also quite relevant to assume that introverted people use technology as a means of supplementation for human interaction. An article in CNN provides a prime example of a man who has quite obviously supplemented the human interaction in his life with technological interaction. The article is about a 27-year-old fellow from Japan who claims he fell in love with a character in his video game. He decided to profess his love for the ‘girl’, and have a marriage ceremony. The couple broadcasted their marriage over the Internet via live web cam streaming (Lah). To some, this story is just a humorous case of an extreme technology lover—the idea of a man actually marrying a character from a video game is rare and comical. The article includes the opinion of an author named HiroshiAshizaki. Ashizaki is a writer who deals with the subjects of the Internet and game addiction. He believes that this case isn’t an extreme one, but rather, more common than you might think. According to the article, “’There are many others who can’t express themselves like Sal can, and those are the cases we worry about,’ saysAshizaki. What’s important to note, Ashizaki says, is that Sal is a representative of many of Japan’s young gamers” (Lah). If cases of humans marrying fictional video game characters are slowly becoming more prevalent, it becomes a little more difficult to ignore the possible detrimental effects of technology on humanity’s social abilities. The achievements of technology cannot be ignored: humanity has undoubtedly benefited from the advancement of technology. What also cannot be ignored, however, are the potential consequences of over-reliance. Technology is making us lazy, which in turn is making us cognitively and socially stupider. Humanity is gradually becoming more reliant on technology not only to complete the most menial of cognitive tasks, but also to provide an exclusive medium for interaction with other human beings. As technology advances, humanity will continue to abuse it out of sheer laziness. All the technological advancements in the world will never overcome the power and magnificence of human stupidity. Of this we can be sure. Works Cited Lah, Kyung. “Tokyo Man Marries Video Game Character - CNN.com.” CNN.com. 17 Dec. 2009. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. <http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/16/japan.virtual.wedding/index.html>.
…I thought Godshall treated the film’s religious themes with unexpected tact. It’s hard not to seem like a fundamentalist or a satirist when making a film that deals with divine inspiration, especially on a college campus. I tend to radicalize people and ideas into definitive…
I agree. Even though a major theme of the film was ‘religion’ or ‘divine inspiration’, I didn’t feel like I was getting religion shoved down my throat (which is honestly what I was expecting). I liked the fact that Godshall simply allowed the personality of each of the subjects to shine through. Some of my favorite moments came when the reverend was involved, and I appreciated the fact that Godshall stayed objective in his presentation of the religious themes. All in all, I enjoyed the movie. It did drag on a little at the end, but I would recommend it.
In this poem on Major Henry Wirz, Jill McDonough uses vivid imagery and gloomy diction to create both a sense of hostility towards Major Henry Wirz and a sense of sympathy for his Union victims. Background information on the poem may be enlightening, but it is not necessary: Jill McDonough incorporates all essential information into the 14-line sonnet. Although the sonnet form is usually associated with Shakespearean love, McDonough uses the form to paint a picture of death, filth, and resentment. This sonnet is not divided into stanzas. Instead, it is grouped into three separate sections—lines 1-6, lines 7-10, and lines 11-14. The first six lines describe the atrocities of the Andersonville Prison, lines 7-10 recount the trial of Wirz, and the remaining four describe his death.
Jill McDonough begins her poem by creating a picture for her readers through her use of vivid imagery. The first six lines of the poem describe the disgusting image of the Wirz’s prison. The poem begins with a reference to “the pictures of Andersonville prison:” (line 1). The author then goes on to list the horrors of the prison, describing the men of the prison as “emaciated” and depersonalizing the dead men by referring to them as “naked corpses…stacked like cordwood” (lines 2-3). By comparing the dead men to inanimate objects, the author implies that the men are considered just another number or just another item waiting to be unemotionally tossed into the ground and quickly buried. The bodies are not respected, and the poem implies that death is a regular and normal occurrence in the prison. The corpses are considered unimportant, and the dead are stacked like wood. The author makes an emotional appeal to her readers by putting such a heavy emphasis on creating a picture of these pitiful prisoners. She writes, “gangrene, scurvy, maggots, diarrhea, lice” (lines 5-6). The Andersonville prison is hell on earth; with all the disgusting imagery, McDonough unmistakably paints a depiction reminiscent of Hitler’s concentration camps. By choosing to include descriptive imagery of the Andersonville Prison, the author is clearly emphasizing the extent of Wirz’s actions against the Union soldiers. The poem also evokes emotions and images comparable to those of concentration camps made prevalent in a future war.
In the next four lines, McDonough briefly describes the trial of Wirz, introducing the trial with “WIRZ BOASTS OF KILLING MORE YANKEES THAN GEN. LEE:” (line 24). The author includes a quote that displays Wirz’s attitude towards the results of his prison. Wirz was obviously proud of the deaths caused by his prison, and McDonough chooses this quote for her poem to display Wirz’s unapologetic attitude towards the dead Union soldiers. Rather than introducing Wirz’s trial with a more objective quote or sentence, the author gives a line that allows readers to sympathize with the fallen soldiers. The author also emphasizes the line by writing it in all capital letters, and as a result, it reads like a newspaper headline. The poem is calling attention to the pride of Wirz, and the inclusion of the line hints at a bias on the author’s part. As argument for the charges brought against him, Wirz said that “he simply obeyed the legal orders of his superiors” (lines 9-10). Again, with these lines, readers are able to draw similarities between Wirz and the Nazi movement of World War II. The leaders of some of the most terrible concentration camps blamed their superiors for the violence at their respective camps, and McDonough includes Wirz’s argument to draw more parallels between these two places.
The last four lines of the poem describe Wirz’s death. The unapologetic manner of Wirz continues until his demise. McDonough writes, “He was calm on the scaffold…but had no last words” (lines 11-12). Even in the presence of “His former prisoners”, Wirz is unrepentant (line 12). He then “prayed”, implying some sort of relationship with God, and however insignificant that relationship may be, the idea that he spends his final moments conversing with God shows that Wirz believes he has God’s approval. Wirz did not ‘ask God for forgiveness’, or ‘repent of his sins’. Wirz “prayed”. He conversed with his God like any other man would—not hysterically; not desperately; and not in any other way that admits his wrongdoing. The tone of indifference that Wirz shows throughout the poem is compounded in nearly every line, and Wirz’s decision to pray is a prime example of his attitude towards his impact on the Union soldiers. As the poem comes to an end, the author abandons the partial rhyme she uses throughout the work for a strong-rhymed couplet. This strong rhyme strengthens the powerful final sentences of the poem and provides one final climactic image for readers. McDonough writes that the prisoners “climbed trees to see, so they could say they were there and the Andersonville jailor was dangling in the air” (lines 13-14). The imagery that McDonough relied on so heavily during the first six lines of the poem returns in these last two lines. By ending her poem with a strong rhyme, the author emphasizes the death of Wirz. The final lines of the poem provide an incredibly thematic ending.
This poem is divided into three main parts, with the first six lines giving an image of the prison, the next four describing Wirz’s trial, and the final four describing his death. The poem contains all the crucial information of Wirz and his actions so that research beyond the poem itself isn’t necessary. Although the extra information is interesting, it plays no part in understanding the poem. Throughout the sonnet, Jill McDonough injects imagery that creates a sense of resentment towards Wirz and a sense of sympathy for the dead soldiers. She chooses words that highlight Wirz’s unrepentant attitude, and she ends the poem with a strong and clear picture of Wirz’s demise.
For some odd reason, I find these sentences incredibly entertaining.
I read. Then re-read. Mostly because I like to read. I read in the reeds, but I can’t read red things.
I’ll stop.
Please enjoy.
Somebody let me know if you find them entertaining. I need to know I’m not the only one who can waste nearly half an hour reading these sentences out loud. Giggling to myself all the while.
Of course, I may just be odd.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2Sgr96/www.beautifulperth.com/dumbenglish.html
Now that I think about it, half and hour does seem a little long. I probably am the only one.
Yes yes yes.
I too am addicted to stumbleupon.com.
A word of caution to those of you who have not yet discovered stumbleupon.com:
Steer clear. Do not visit this website. You will be surfing the internet for an extended period of time. No homework will get done. Life will pass you by. Stumbleupon will slowly degrade your mind. Also your gpa.
For those of you who have not yet discovered the addictive (addicting?) qualities of Stumbleupon.com, I highly encourage it. One of the most entertaining pages I found while stumbling today…
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1Rt9Pj/www.insurance-quotes-for-you.com/A_must_read_Way_too_funny.html
Not sure if you’re diggin’ the English major?
Consider this simplified chart. Totally accurate.
I mean, I hate money.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2HUGJl/www.ozini.com/%253Fp%253D9667
I stumbled upon this the other day and I was pretty impressed by it.
If you have never seen this guy do stand-up, you should check it out. He’s a pretty funny guy. Pretty intelligent too.
Enjoy.
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/02/demetri-martins-palindrome-poem.html
Not completely irrelevant.
If you have other things to do friday night, at least tune in to WSBF for a while and enjoy some good music from Allison Weiss while you’re getting ready to go out.
88.1 or http://www.wsbf.net
Be there.
Andrew is a wise fellow, and everybody should heed his words.
Don’t be a communist. Support independent artists. Support WSBF.
Allison Weiss, singer-songwriter of Athens, GA, will be in Clemson this Friday. She will be playing a live session on our very own WSBF 88.1 from 7-9pm, followed by a FREE concert at Friends Café on College Ave at 10pm.
Support independent artists. Support WSBF. Enjoy good music, fo’ free!
Allison’s Tumblog (Yea, that’s right. She’s so cool she has a tumblog.)
Schpiel: that’s mine.
On Wednesday, we discussed how Orwell points out that many times, writers don’t think about what they are writing. Writers sometimes put sentences together that don’t make sense. Although George W. Bush may not exactly be a writer, I feel it is appropriate to put a few quotes of his on tumblr that highlight the type of thoughtless dialogue that would make Orwell turn over in his grave.
Did you see that?
“Turn over in his grave”. Sue me.
