Analysis Of Ted Chiang's 'Understand'

Writer and composer, Aaron Copland, in his book, “How We Listen,” divides listening into three planes: the sensuous, the expressive and the sheerly musical. Copland argues throughout the work that “[listeners] can deepen [their] understanding of music only by being a more conscious and aware listener.” (Copland, 15) Copland’s strategy of breaking the text up with the three planes of listening helps the reader understand his message in a more complete way.

As scientists continue to their research, fundamental questions about intelligence are brought to the surface.

As scientific and medical advances weave their way into modern society, science fiction sketches ways to interconnect the present with the future and to prepare for revolutionary breakthroughs. In the science fiction novella, “Understand,” Ted Chiang creates a world with a scientifically devised medical innovation that can possibly be used to shape and prepare the future of humanity. In this short story, Chiang employs rhetoric to push readers to question their attitude on superhuman intelligence. He uses mimesis in a manner that provides the audience with insight into philosophical issues with extraordinary hyper-intelligence and concludes that the benefits are worth taking on despite the risks. The story follows Leon Greco, a freshly-minted mastermind, as he journeys from a vegetative state to a medical advancement after being treated with an experimental drug. In this context, Chiang uses mimesis to mimic Greco’s growth in knowledge in the dialogue, structure, and diction of the story. As Greco develops a fondness for greater intelligence, Chiang guides his readers to question their philosophy and to understand that intellectual advancement can beneficial to humanity.

Carr utilizes the program ELIZA as an example of technology numbing human’s ability to differentiate man and machine. The connection between man and ELIZA goes so far as to cause humans to “imbue ELIZA with human qualities.” What’s easy to miss is that ELIZA was designed to be a therapist, and a key necessity of therapy is a seamless connection between the patient and the therapist. Thus ELIZA’s value as a therapist is established through this example. The imbuing of human qualities allows a deeper connection between man and machine, and actually points to a strength, not a weakness. The fact that man can begin to blur the edge of himself and his creation shows that man is capable of flawlessly integrating his creation in order to better utilize the machine. If man were always conscious of the numbing effect of technology, and thus stayed hesitant to integrate fully with the machine, man would be too worried to properly use the machine. Carr loses sight of this fact as he worries that human’s “wanted” to give ELIZA human qualities. His worry is ill place, as Carr fails to acknowledge the purpose behind

Eddie Lama, in “The Witness”, believes that diversity in the workplace is essential to a successful business. His view of a diversified workplace is a combination of compassionate people from all walks of life, who come together to make a family. Using the diverse staff as a support and foundation of his business, Eddie believes that his construction business would not function without them.

“When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed”(Rand). This was stated by Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand; the extract relates to the novel William Golding wrote called Lord of the Flies. Golding wrote about a group of schoolboys trapped on an island from a plane crash. The boys had to figure out how to survive without grownups. Trying to survive was difficult because they had to have common sense and order. They lose those traits throughout the book which resulted in selfishness and corrupt behaviors.

Relativism by David Wong address issues attached to moral relativism and common moral values. Wong has a unique perspective when analyzing how we view moral relativism and common moral values that an individual or a society can make a distinction. His arguments begin with him giving us types of moral relativism; Meta ethical relativism and normative relativism. He also talks about common moral values and natural laws, views that counterattack relativism.

Eric Tang’s Unsettled is an ethnographic account of Cambodian refugees in the Bronx, New York that evokes a nuanced understanding of the refugee experience. Unlike many other ethnographies, Tang’s work centers around one individual named Ra Pronh, a fifty year old woman who survived the Cambodian genocide and has lived as a refugee for most of her life. The bulk of his work draws upon two main sources: Tang’s notes that are gathered from his work as a community organizer in refugee neighborhoods and his interviews with Ra Pronh over a three year time period. Throughout his interviews with Ra, Tang often encountered a language barrier with her. There were times where Ra’s children would translate her words from Khmer to English for Tang to

People are looked down upon for having constant assertiveness. A man named Dan Post once said, “Egotism is the glue in which you get stuck in yourself”. In a modern world, egoists are seen as negative figures who are full of themselves. In truth, egoists are the confident leaders and achievers that the world offers. Though they are frowned upon, the egoists of yesterday, today, and tomorrow shaped the human race. Egoist entrepreneurs, scientists, and doctors held such pride in themselves and their work that they changed the world. For hundreds of years, egoism has been seen as a negative aspect to life. This idea has been summarized by the late Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, Carlyle said “Egoism is the source and summary of all faults and miseries.”. Carlyle believes that egoists are shameful to society. In reality, the egotists of different generations are the ones who keep the wheels of life spinning with their curiosity and determination. Both themes of curiosity and determination apply to Prometheus and

I would like to say that I chose the Tao Te Ching, however, it chose me. I was first introduced to this text one Christmas morning, many years ago, and it has been with me (in one way or another) ever since. Due to my lifestyle I was constantly losing my copy, and in my attempts to replace it I had the pleasure of owning a multitude of versions, and differing translations. Today I will be using the 1988 publication of the Tao Te Ching as translated by author Stephen Mitchell (as my primary source). One of the main reasons I chose Mitchell’s translation is because he uses “she” instead of the conventional “he” throughout his text. I found this to be refreshing and Mitchell explains this by in the forward to

Prior to Communism in China, it was known to be a chaotic country on the brink of self-destruction. With the emergence of the party leader Mao Zedong, came a new hope, which filled its inhabitants with the belief that China would return to its former historical greatness. American and Chinese relations before 1971 were in simple terms described as “uneasy”, due to the American, Soviet Cold War. It was not until President Richard Nixon visited China and realized the high value of having China as a ally that relations between the two powers began to become positive. Unknown at the time, it is assumed in the book Chinese Lessons written by John Pomfret, that the relationships he formed with the people he met in China would change his outlook on life and Communist China forever.

In David M. Armstrong’s “The Nature of Mind”, Armstrong praises the field of science and seeks to put the concept of mind into terms that agree with science’s definition of minds. His interest is in the physico-chemical, materialist view of man. Armstrong considers science to be the authority over other disciplines because of its reliability and result in consensus over disputed questions.

In the modern world, patients expect their doctors to aid them and to support them. In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur conducted an intelligence enhancement experiment on a man named, Charlie Gordon and changed his life. With an IQ of sixty-eight, the scientists altered him and tripled his IQ. However, this operation has not been ethical because the procedure was abstruse to Charlie, the doctors were rushing, and Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss were acting selfishly.

In a specific adaptation of the debitor-creditor relation that was discussed earlier, we owe our ancestors a debt of gratitude for making our society prosperous, at least to the extent that we continue to exist. The more prosperous the society in which an individual find himself, the more debt he find himself owing. It is this situation man is forced to suppress his natural instincts, particularly his will to power, in order to be a social animal reaping the benefits of society. This ironically is done for the sake of survival. “I regard the bad conscience as the serious illness that man was bound to contract under the stress of the most fundamental change he ever experienced—that change which occurred when he found himself finally enclosed within the walls of society and of peace... in this new world

In this paragraph, it seem like Moore is trying to explain how hard it is to explain what 'good' is, and that if someone ask what good is, he would simply answer that good is good and it is an indefinable word. He is saying that the word "good' is just a notion that cannot be explained to those who don't know what that is and it can only explain and define what good is [by] describing its physical equivalent. The philosopher is arguing that it can't be word define, but to understand it, we can do that by describing it and set an example of what good is. I pick this passage because I think that most of the time the many author talk about what is good and how do we define it, some of the author believe that good is feeling that make you feel