Personal Transcripts

We are only a brief second in the long history of the universe; many things have preceded us to make us the most complex creatures that ever walked the Earth. We are a “new level of complexity” which makes us different from all other creatures that have come before us. Our species has only been around for 250,000 years, a short time compared to the formation of the Earth at 4.5 billion years ago and the creation of the Universe at 13.7 billion years ago, but the time we have had on this Earth has greatly affected the outcome of history. In an attempt to provide an overview of human history in his book This Fleeting World, David Christian introduces it in the context of the history of the universe and then systematically breaks it down

Imagine a little girl always carrying a fanny pack everywhere she goes. Growing up, I never thought much of a career in nursing, and instead dreamed of becoming a FBI agent. I knew at a very young age that I wanted to take care of others. When I went on school trips I would always carry a fanny pack with my first aid kit. Every time someone was hurt I immediately went to help. In fifth grade I received a “helping hands” award because I would be the girl with the fanny pack always ready to hand in a band aid. Even at such a young age, I was aware of the need to take care of others, and committed myself to a career where I can help people.

Computers in general give people the ability to complete tasks that would have taken days or weeks to complete with the clicks of a few buttons. As technologies continue to grow the amount of adjustments that will be needed to make will be astronomical. However, society is aiming to help people gain the skills needed to push mankind further. In Davidson’s essay, she discusses how computers and technology can be put to many applicable situations. While working with her students, the “Duke students came up with dozens of stunning new ways to learn [and] almost instantly students figured out that they could record lectures on their iPods and listen to them for leisure” (Davidson 52). This advancement took a few weeks at one college campus in the United States when the technology was still being developed. Now, students have adapted to begin working across the globe to further society with new ideas for applying these technologies. These students now work diligently to make technology as effortless as possible so that their programs will be what will be used in the future. Gilbert discusses how when people are judged by a panel of others they tend to feel worse about themselves but, when dealing with computers people are only judged by one computer which tells them

Take a minute to relax. Enjoy the lightness, or surprising heaviness, of the paper, the crispness of the ink, and the regularity of the type. There are over four pages in this stack, brimming with the answer to some question, proposed about subjects that are necessarily personal in nature. All of philosophy is personal, but some philosophers may deny this. Discussed here are philosophers that would not be that silly. Two proto-existentialists, Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, were keen observers of humanity, and yet their conclusions were different enough to seem contradictory. Discussed here will be Nietzsche’s “preparatory human being” and Kierkegaard’s “knight of faith”. Both are archetypal human beings that exist in

The short stories; “All the Troubles of the World” by Isaac Asimov and “I Am...Am I” by Drew Hayden Taylor, have many similarities and differences. “All the Troubles” is about an artificial intelligence named Multivac. Multivac contains all the information about the earth’s inhabitants and eventually has enough of all the troubles of the world. The short story “I Am...Am I” is about two computer scientists who have created an artificial intelligence. The AI evolved faster than they expected and decides it does not want to be apart of humanity. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast both of the short story’s point of views, characters and literary devices to help develop a theme for their stories.

human nature. These three authors show that there is more to people than just the

The film GATTACA and the short story, “Nine Lives,” exemplifies the ethics of altering human life at the genetic level, through techniques of genetic engineering. Throughout GATTACA, the ability to create improved, even superior forms of human life as a positive development through eugenics is shown as well as arousing questions about the moral implications of such engineering. The main protagonist in GATTACA, Vincent Freeman, battles with the discrimination of being an “invalid” in a world of “valids” and comes to realize that he is not an inferior being in the midst of an altered humanity. In “Nine Lives,” a lone survivor of the ten genetically engineered clones of John Chow struggle come to understand itself in relation to unaltered humanity and its individuality for the first time in its life. A dystopian society is produced when unaltered humans and genetically engineered beings coexist and interact with one another due to nefarious social practices such filtering menial jobs only to “invalids” in GATTACA and the emphasis in the value of clones and their worth to society as collective work group rather than focusing on each individual’s contribution to society. The film GATTACA exhibits the adverse nature of eugenics while “Nine Lives” stresses the importance of individualism instead of collectivism and fend off the need to be reliant on others to feel welcomed in society.

The plot in the short story “Hindus” demonstrates how a certain sequence of events can help people better understand themselves. Leela meets many different and unique people on her journey throughout

In the condensed essay, “Getting Close to the Machine”, Ellen Ullman reflects how time becomes meaningless when one is engulfed in a new software program and the importance of coding to create a machine. As the young programmers, ones she hired, and herself work for three days and nights, living off of cheap take out, and not leaving the building, struggle to finish the AIDS software, her emotions begin to play a role. She is so involved with finishing this software that she doesn’t care about what she as accomplished until the software is complete. She says, “I have passed through a membrane where the real world and its uses no longer matter.” Time for her in this moment doesn’t matter because the real world doesn’t exist when she is coding;

In a world that is currently dominated by computers, it’s hard to imagine what it was like before they were invented. Though computers only began having a major influence in the last 60 years, the idea for them was first conceived almost 200 years ago. This technology would not have been possible without the work of Ada Lovelace, who is considered one of the pioneers in the field of computer programming. She had a vision of the possible benefits and capabilities of a computing machine. Even though she would never see her vision become a reality, her legacy and work had a lasting impact on the future of technology. However, during her lifetime she experienced multiple setbacks in pursuing her education

The Unseen World is a novel that explains an unpleasant past story of a brilliant, socially unskilled father with secret information named David, who works as a director in a computer science lab in Boston. David’s disappointment of his past, urges him to create a virtual world where he can express himself and live through artificial intelligence by personifying his desired life through his computer system. The vibrant story of Ada which is told from childhood to adulthood in David’s house portrays as an outsider world that is very memorable, bright with some possible reservation yet full of curiosity and passion. The Unseen World themes are the mystery, heartbreak, and the lack of inhibition that is usually felt in the comfort of one’s own home. The house in the novel represents the place of protection where

Gaby and Mary3 discuss Austrian philosopher WITTGENSTEIN and Mary3 explains that her world is getting bigger just through their conversation. Gabby tells Mary3 that Nikki and two boys named DREW and JAYSON visited her to tell her that Nikki can’t be friend with her anymore because she’s trying to move on. Afterwards, Gaby’s mother YESENIA starts talking to Mary3 while Gaby is sleeping. Yesenia explains to Mary3 why she wants Gaby to return to school and uses memories from her childhood to justify moving Gaby into a safe neighborhood despite the outbreak. She further explains how she lost a great deal in moving to their development so she can somewhat understand what Gaby is going through. She says she does not want her daughter to miss the human experiences she had as a child because she is stuck on the development.

Transhumanism is “a way of thinking about the future that is based on the premise that the human species in its current form does not represent the end of our development but rather a comparatively early phase”. In relation with artificial intelligence, there has been major controversy about the ethics behind combining humans with artificial enhancements in order to improve our condition. Some transhumanists have posed that, by combining artificial intelligence with human cognition, the current state of human intelligence could dramatically increase. Some forms of transhuman artificial intelligence include: universally shared memories, direct access to the internet, downloadable consciousness, and disease

The quotes above and those similar however, begin to lead the reader towards another far less obvious, perhaps even subliminal, moral that underlies this tale, and this is a very human tale that encompasses those individual stories that more often than not remain hidden in the noise. Kidder paints for us a vivid picture of U.S. corporate dynamics in the world of high-tech, but once this background scene is set, he then begins to assemble against it the individual characters who will play out this human drama.

During their conference with Alexi Darling, the Buzzline supervisor, Joanne sees Maureen flirting with another woman. Outside, after being scolded by Joanne, Maureen proposes to her, and Joanne accepts. Forward to their engagement party, where Maureen flirts with yet another woman. Angry, Joanne threatens to leave her, while Maureen becomes angry at Joanne for "making" her be too monogamous They then walk out on each other. Benny has repossessed all of Roger's and Mark's things, but it is revealed that Mimi later had dinner with Benny and he had changed his mind. Roger finds out, and believes that she is cheating on him with Benny. Mimi resumes her drug habit and falls into a state of despair, while Angel gets progressively sicker and eventually dies