No Cap

In the past few years we have all heard of the growing use of artificial intelligence in our day to day life. Whether it be from the automated voice that directs you when you call your bank, the computer that tells you to take a different route home to avoid traffic or our personal AI assistant thats on all our phones. There are two schools of thought regarding these improved technologies. The "boomer" perspective and the "zoomer". The idea of implementing AI in our daily life appeals to the zoomers, who grew up with smartphones, and have seen massive improvements in the technology that we live our lives around. They rely on maps to get places and don't know their crossroads, choose what they watch based on Netflix recommendations and know how their phones work. Because they have not grown up in a world where technology wasn't around they are far more likely to be accepting of changes that would be implemented, such as AI. On the flip side there are the boom...

The dictionary definition of anthropomorphism describes it as being the "attribution of human characteristics or behavior to animals or objects". Continued discussions in class have brought the question "can dogs run", "can birds fly", or "can fish swim". At first the answer seems like an obvious yes. However it's important to acknowledge the fact that actions like running are human attributes that are given to animals. A writer might describe a mountain as trembling, but mountains cant literally tremble. However when you start dealing with more literal phrases like the ones above, its harder to say. Videos like  this ,  this , or  this  answer the literal definition of the question with other animals doing human things like  lobsters writing . Although a fair point is made by saying that those are human characteristics given to animals I think that if there is intent behind what an animal is doing (such as the dog running through the obstacl...

The culture of the Naciremas continue to pique the interest of anthropologists around the world. Their unique social structures are unlike any other observed culture yet. In their market based economy the Nacimeras hold signs of wealth in a high regard. They have an entire subculture dedicated around their material wealth, with their vehicles representing their social standings. They view it as a competition, to see how lavish or high tech they can go. There’s also a large emphasis on their garments which reach exorbitant prices, depending on what name is written on the garment. In fact while I was studying them, I realized that they would be willing to pay a much higher price simply because of the highly respected shaman who makes them.

Reading “I want a wife” raised an interesting question to me. What if I wrote the same essay for my parents. It made me think, I want a parent. I want a parent who cleans my room and does my laundry. I want a parent that lets my go where I want and stay out past curfew but not question me about who I’m with. I want a parent who doesn't expect me to do the dishes, or not stay up too late. I want a perfect parent. But on the flip side, I’m sure my parents want a son. They want a son who tells them exactly where he goes. A son who stays home for dinner and comes home before curfew. They want a son who does what they ask exactly when they ask; like the dishes or laundry. They want a perfect son. One of the biggest takeaways I got from reading the essay was how much of a double standard that people hold for the people around them. We feel that others owe us a service that most of the time we don’t even want to offer to them.

In ‘Disability’ by Nancy Mairs, the author talks about the different ways she can relate to people in society, and how she isn’t different from other people who tend to look down on her. Using words such as “crippled”, “multiple sclerosis”, “illness-of-the-week”, and “disabled” invoke strong emotion on the reader since those are words that they would only think of, not actually say to a disabled person. She also says “ours is the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at any time” (Mairs 3). By doing this, she builds pathos with the reader, since Mairs was obviously unprepared to be diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Mairs also heavily criticizes the media for helping this stereotype take shape since their portrayal of a disabled woman escaping her problems was stopped by a “young, fit doctor” and into his “manly, protective embrace” (Mairs 2). By doing this, Mairs is showing how people can easily stop the dreams of others and can take control of them as they ple...

The biggest theme that my group has been exploring in our book groups is weather the morally right option is the best course of action. One of Elwoods defining features in the novel is his moral compass which never wavers; There are countless examples of this such as when the author said "He couldn't stand by and let things be" (Pg 24). Not only are his morals a feature of him but they are one of his biggest flaws. They cause him to be unliked and gets him in situations like the dish washing contest. Its clear that if he learned how to keep his head down and mouth shut he'd do fine, but he feels the need to get involved in issues that he dosent have to like when the boys were shoplifting the candy from the store (Pg 26), even tho he knew Mr. Marconi didnt care about it, or when he tried to break up the fight at Nickel (Pg 64) which he got accused of being a part of. Although keeping his mouth shut would solve a large amount of his problems it goes against who he is th...