critical Thinking Blog Post #5

After the reading we have done in ENG 101, I have become more informed about the issue of human cloning, robotics and other technology since the texts we read, even thought they were very entertaining, were informative on the subjects. This made me think more critically on the matter and how these can be used in the future. Some texts showed very optimistic views, and some pessimistic views showing us that up to today, there are still some disagreements on these subjects.

I have come to appreciate how stories and films can undertake serious issues like these in a less tedious or somber ways. It may not be as informative as some serious new papers articles, but they inform the spectators in more interesting and exciting way.

After reading some of these texts and watching the movies, I have realized that even though cloning can be a very useful method, some people will find ways to use it in a negative way. Therefore, in my opinion, if this is legalized in the future, only certain people should be allowed to use it, and for only for particular purposes. In addition, these movie and texts have made me realize how far technology has gone, and has also given me the idea of how far it will go in about 20 or 30 years since it is moving in such a fast rate.

Critical Thinking Blog Assignment #3

Cloning had been a very debated topic in our society. A lot of people can see the positive aspects of cloning, such as the author Ray Kurzweil who says "Perhaps the most valuable emerging application is therapeutic cloning one's own organs." (Kurzweil 122). This shows that he has considered carefully how cloning can be used in the future and is very optimistic about it. On the other hand we have the author Caryl Churchill who may not be as optimistic as Kurzweil. In her text A Number, one of the characters says "they've done they've damaged your uniqueness, weakened your identity" (Churchill 151). Here we are presented with some of the negative sides of cloning.
In the trailer of the movie 'Never Let Me Go', we are shown a preview of a story about clones who simply exist to donate their organs. This movie relates to Ray Kurzweil's idea of therapeutic cloning but is not as optimistic since we are shown the clones point of view which is not so great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kymQcM4ej3w

Critical Thinking Blog Assignment #2

Different people have different things to say about AI (Artificial Intelligence). Some very pessimistic and some very optimistic that we will be able to build one in the future. Ray Kurzweil is one of the optimistic people. In one of his articles he says "The most powerful impending revolution is "R": human-level robots with intelligence derived from our own but redesigned to far exceed human capabilities." (Kurzweil 116). This shows that he is really believes that robots with AI will be built in the future, and that these can even be made to exceed human intelligence.
The video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeVUOauMawg shows us that we are not so far from building a robot with intelligence close to ours. In this video we are shown a robot called Asimo, and he is learning to identify new objects. This shows how far we have already gone, and if we keep moving at such a fast pace, we might actually build robots with the type of intelligence Kurzweil was referring to.

Final Blog

In order to complete a successful research paper in ENG 103 I would advice new students to researching early; do not leave everything for last minute. Complete the milestones, these are very helpful and they help you be more organized; you will have a better idea of what u have done and what still needs to be done.
Take your time writing the final paper, go over it, and then give it in to the teacher.

Critical Thinking Assignment #4

Imaginative texts like Never Let Me Go by Caryl Churlchill give us a humanistic insight into the cloning topic. In this story we are presented with a world where therapeutic cloning is highly practiced, and this has become an ordinary thing to the society. However, this story makes us think more carefully about the consequences of such a practice because, on the positive side, there will be many advantages to having new organs donated to you whenever needed but, on the negative side, where will these organs come from exactly? And how will they be raised? In this story, the organs come from fully grown human clones that have no rights; these are raised to donate organs and that is all they do. These main clones in the story are Tommy and Kathy, these have been raised in a “school” where they were raised in good conditions. But in a conversation with one of the teachers responsible for them, they find out that there are clones being raised in horrible conditions in that world, and that seemed to be the majority of the case.

 This text gives us a possibility of how the world could turn out to be like if cloning becomes a legally practiced art. Thus, making us more aware of the consequences of such a practice.

My research paper status!

I used this last class to finish my research.
Now that I am done gathering information, I will concentrate in deciding the order in which these should appear and how to connect them with my argument.
In general, my next step is to organize my ideas.

The Sample Research Paper

With this research paper I learnt that I should pay more attention to the citations when I am quoting, and even when I am paraphrasing. When the page number is not available I can simply write the Author's name. Also, it is very important to write a sentence after the quote to explain it.
In conlusion: pay more attention to details.

Critical Thinking Blog Assignment #1

I see myself both as an optimistic and pessimistic about the new developments in robotics. I feel like there will be many advantages when using robots instead of humans to do certain things. But on the other side, I can imagine the threat robots can later become to humans. Not only in a dramatic way like movies show eg: I robot but in more every day like way, like the decrease in jobs for humans since robots will be able to do the same things but with fewer expenses. In my opinion Kurzweil is only concentrating on the good effects artificial intelligence will bring, and being oblivious to the negative ones. On the other hand, it will take a long time for us to make machines that think like us since we are not 100% sure of how our own minds work, so I hope that up to then scientists examine carefully the side effects of this creation.

I usually consider myself both a humanist and a science person. But in this case, looking back at the way I feel about how technology is developing in such a fast pace, and the fact that I am planning on working on psychology field in the future, I think it would be right to consider myself more of a humanist.

I hope it is not too later already to change the future.

My Thesis Statement

Although the movie 'A Beautiful Mind' by Ron Howard has a very touching and intertainig story, it does not portray the reality of Schizophrenia in terms of its characteristics and even treatment methods as it is treated today.

I am sticking to the topic I chose ealier!
Right now I am working on my research (which is almost complete), and will start writing my essay soon.
I will be using mainly LexisNexis, JSTOR and Gale for my research.

Good luck everybody!! =)

Research Paper

"Portraying Minds" is the topic I have chosen to write about.
I am very excited for the outcome. But, not that excited to do the actual research.............. =P
The movie 'Beautiful Mind' is the reason for why i chose to write on this topic.

For my English Essay on "Reading Human Minds" I will be writing on Temple Grandin's story.
I agree with the statements that "Human beings do not really need emotions to connect with other human beings or animals to behave morally with the sense of right and wrong"
Although there are some challenges to this statement, I mostly agree with it's idea.
Temple's affection for the cattle is clearly shown in Oliver Sacks' essay. We are given a glimpse of  her sense of right and wrong by the fact that she takes very seriously the last minutes of the cattle's life. Even though she accepts the fact that it is necessary for the these to be killed for food, the act of killing should be done as humane as possible.
She is an inspiring figure for autistics and for all of us.

1st Post!

Hellooo everybody!!
This in my 1st post! on my 1st blog!
Hope this works...
Beijinhos (kisses in Portuguese)