Capitalizing on Biology
Machine Man by Max Barry demonstrates the perils of society’s compulsion to change the world with technological advancement despite the consequences and the disconnection it creates. Technology and biology are interconnected in today’s society. The world is obsessed and dependent on machines and devices to make one’s life more efficient and manageable. The science fiction genre often predicts what may happen in a world where technology is abused or becomes too formidable. Machine Man explores this world of technological evolution through Charles Neumann and the characters he interacts with through his employment at Better Future. Charles is unlikable, unsociable, and unsatisfied. The only true connection he feels to the outside world is through technology. The relationships involving Lola Shanks and the employees and managers at Better Future evolve as Neumann enhances his anatomy. His biology has failed him in life. His revisions have created a new one. Biology is replaced with adaptation.
Lola Shanks is the catalyst that inspires Charles Neumann’s transformation. He loses his first leg due to his dependence on technology. His search for his almighty cell phone leaves him with one leg and a meeting with a prosthetist. Charles should recognize that a cell phone is not as important as a leg. Neumann does not see it this way. Lola shows him the different sorts of prosthetic legs available. He immediately starts thinking how he can improve the
In Larry Lankton’s text, “Beyond the Boundaries” we gradually enter an unknown world that is frightening yet filled with immense beauty for miles. Due to the copper mining industry, a gradual increase of working class men and their families start to migrate to the unknown world with unsteady emotion, yet hope for a prosperous new life. In “Beyond the Boundaries”, Lankton takes us on a journey on how the “world below” transformed the upper peninsula into a functional and accepted new part of the world.
The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells, portrays the struggle that uneven power creates in relationships. The main character, Griffin, develops the power to become invisible. This unique ability provides him with an advantage over all that he encounters, and this imbalance of power corrupts any sense of morality that Griffin has. Griffin is juxtaposed with the protagonist, Kemp, who strives to stop Griffin. Griffin and Kemp differ from one another in their compassion and treatment of others, how they exercise power, and overall how they interact with those around them. These differences set the stage for the struggle between good and evil, and the subsequent demise of the invisible man.
In the short book of “No Heroes, No Villains” by Steven Phillips On June 28, 1972, a Transit Authority patrolman, John Skagen, was on his way home from testifying at court for an arrest he made a couple of weeks prior. Skagen was taking the train home to the Bronx when he saw and stopped James Richardson who was awaiting the subway train which would take him to work at Lincoln Hospital. Skagen ordered him to “put up your hands, and get against the wall”. Skagen’s actions seem unprovoked and unnecessary. After a short tussle the two men exchanged shots and Richardson fled the scene on foot. Two other officers that were on the main street above the subway station rushed to the scene.
Individuality is the quality that people that makes each person unique and distinguishable from each other. It is important to remain distinct from others, even among groups of people that are classified as either the same or very similar. While individuality is a concept that many people agree with and want to ensure, the pressure from most people’s lives, including their environment and the people around them, forces individuals to lose who they truly are and morph in order to fit in. I strongly agree that individuality, while important, is difficult to keep because of outside factors, a concept that was presented by Logan Fey.
A famous short story, “The Quiet Man,” by Maurice Walsh, tells the tale of the protagonist, Shawn Kelvin, who must come to a resolution both internally and externally throughout the story. Shawn experiences a rollercoaster of up and downs during the story, around the 1950’s in Ireland. Shawn finds the women of his dreams and he marries her, but her brother, Big Liam O’Grady, is the man of the town. Traditionally, dowry is given from the bride’s family to the groom's family. Shawn has no respect from Big Liam O’Grady, or the town. Shawn wants to receive his respect from Big Liam O’Grady and love from Ellen. Shawn is willing to do anything for her, even it comes down to a fight. Shawn fights himself and others, internally and externally, to
Would you like to know where and how loneliness can occur through characters in novels and in reality? Well, in the book Of Mice and Men, by Jerry Steinback a commonly occurring central problem is based off of many forms of loneliness occurring through many, if not every character besides sub characters where we do not get a deep enough of an insight to create ideas or inferences about them. Of Mice and Men, is a story mainly focused on two characters, one named Lennie who’s mentally ill and who’s incapable of anything except the needs of physical strength. And another named George, who is smart but caught in the guilt of Lennie’s needs. Meaning, he was and got stuck with Lennie because Lennie ‘s guardian who was George’s friend died so Lennie had no one except his friend George. They together travel as poor migrant workers, and what makes things worse is that Lennie doesn’t know how to stay out of trouble. George works hard in trying to keep a steady life with Lennie, but it’s literally impossible with a man like Lennie. George can’t always be with Lennie to keep him from doing things he isn’t supposed to do. Eventually they get going on a new ranch after an incident with Lennie, and Lennie 's troubles bring him to killing the Master’s son’s wife of their new ranch, where George is later forced to kill Lennie. Loneliness is displayed throughout the book through certain characters who experience it
Runner by Carl Deuker is a book written to describe the life of a boy named Chance Taylor and his dad. Chance is close to starvation and homelessness. He worries about paying the bills, having enough food to eat, and keeping his home, a small boat named the Tiny Dancer. While out on his usual run around the marina and beach, a man asks him if he would like a job. The man says all he has to do is run. Chance will have to pick up a package along the beach each day. The package will be hidden in the recesses of a rock buried at the foot of a maple tree. He then has to leave it in a locker. The man says the job pays a lot of money. Even though he suspects that he is smuggling drugs, he always completes the job and now has extra money in his pocket to spend at the café
Have you ever been forced to pick between right and wrong? Sometimes we are forced to choose between two hard choices, despite the consequences. In the book “Runner” by Carl Deuker, a boy named Chance is faced with a rough life, where his father drinks and his mother is no longer present. He lives on a boat with his father, in Seattle. Soon he is faced to with a offer to run packages around for men he doesn’t know, but get paid in the process. His small family needs the money, but who knows what is in those packages? He takes the opportunity for the money and goes through many adventures throughout this book, such as meeting a girl named Melissa, who lives the opposite life of his, privileged and nice.
The small city of Brownsville is small in both population and mind. Even though there are individuals who commute morning and night from country to country, there is no unity. Growing up, I had never experienced a “diverse” city. In the city of Brownsville, Hispanics are the majority. As a result, individuals who saw somebody of a different race or ethnicity would make negative and offensive comments towards them. At times, these offensive comments were accidental. Other times, the offensive comments were on purpose and intended to appear humorous to friends. Apart from discriminatory remarks to outsiders, this happened amongst people of my Hispanic community.
What would you do if you lost access to running water? That is what the small town of Porterville, Ca is currently experiencing. Water is an essential part of life, a place without water becomes inhabitable. The drought in California is not affecting everybody the in the same way but it has become a bigger problem the longer it lasts. Finding a solution to such a big problem is not an easy task. If you approach the problem from only one direction you might miss something vital. Limiting water to everybody seems to be a simple solution, but if that happens there are many problems that appear because of that. In the book Think Like a Freak, by Levitt and Dubner they explain why looking at a problem from a different angle will yield unexpected results. Although there is no simple solutions, there are ways to fix the drought and to be better prepared for the next inevitable one.
He didn't admit to himself that he was gay until he was 18. He then
In response to police brutality, The Invisible Man was written by Ellison demonstrated that through his life racism was entirely present. Ellison, in fact, was faced with police brutality throughout the novel. Ellison wrote a scene in which his narrator dealt with police brutality after giving a speech at an eviction. The police threatened to shoot him and beat all of them. Ellison wrote that his character had known it was due to the racism during the time period. Even so, the rest of the novel involved rebellion groups in which responded to the police brutality and racism. Ellison wrote the book to demonstrate the racism and brutality within society for African Americans. Even so, the effect of police brutality was involved within the book. This made other African-American questioned their identity as to why they were being beaten and abused. Ellison’s work addressed the response to other police brutalities in earlier times.
As a growing topic of discussion, privacy in our society has stirred quite some concern. With the increase of technology and social networking our standards for privacy have been altered and the boundary between privacy and government has been blurred. In the article, Visible Man: Ethics in a World Without Secrets, Peter Singer addresses the different aspects of privacy that are being affected through the use of technology. The role of privacy in a democratic society is a tricky endeavor, however, each individual has a right to privacy. In our society, surveillance undermines privacy and without privacy there can be no democracy.
In life there are always and always will be similarities and differences that’s what makes us unique and diverse. However what differences and similarities separate us as individuals.. In the series Maximum Ride by James Patterson, it touches on the differences that we have as human beings. Maximum ride and her flock are very different from society.Each of them has a set of wings and since they are different they feel like they don't belong in the world. In the book Pretties by Scott Westerfeld, the society that they have there is separated by uglies,pretties, and specials. Each very different from the other.They believe that if you are over 16 and your are a pretty than you are really beautiful and if you're an ugly than you are an outcast.
The term "mastermind" is a current buzzword among entrepreneurs. Although it might be nice to have a supergenius like Lex Luthor on your side, the term mastermind, in the context of business, has nothing to do with comic book supervillains.