Month: April 2018

Categories
Glossary

Anthropocene

Anthropocene is a proposed name for the current geological epoch, which describes the impact that humankind has had on the planet. “Anthropocene”, derived from the Greek words anthropo for “man” and cene for “new”, translates to “recent age of man”. The name of our current geological epoch, the Holocene, is being criticized by a growing number of scientists as being outdated and inadequately describes the impact humans have had on the environment, such as the pollution of oceans and of the atmosphere, the mass extinction of plant and animal species and other lasting effects (Stromberg 2013).

Human effects on the environment are widespread. Between Agriculture, the damming of rivers and mining, humans are stripping away sediment at 10 times the natural rate of erosion. The burning of fossil fuels has acidified the oceans because of increased levels of CO2 and the nutrients from fertilizers are creating “dead-zones” along coastlines (Monsastersky 2015). Earth’s increasing population, the industrialization of agricultural processes and globalization have only made things worse. Between cultivation and raising livestock, It is estimated that humans have converted nearly two-fifths of the Earth’s landmass for agriculture (Rafferty 2009).

Scientists disagree about the timeline for this new era. While some believe the era should begin with the invention of agriculture, most say it should begin after the industrial revolution. Since the determination of these eras are decided by examining geological markers in the Earth’s rock strata, geologists believe that if there is going to be a new era, it would start with the nuclear age. Nuclear testing, along with plastics, concrete, artificial fertilizers and leaded petroleum have all left the necessary evidence in the Earth’s sediment (Monastersky 2015).

In the novel Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood warns of a catastrophic future, destroyed by unchecked corporate greed and technology run amok.  She explores the selfish attitude that humans have about manipulating nature to sustain their lifestyles.  In Atwood’s world, the commodification of nature led to the destruction of their cloud forests, genetic manipulation of animals would eventually introduce new predators to the ecology, and the desire for humans to remain youthful led to massive amounts of inequality.  By using this apocalyptical imagery in her portrayal of a world in which parallels to our own can be seen, she makes an appeal for us to discard “fake joy” and “to prevent technology from robbing the natural world and civilization” (Bhalla 2014).

Works cited:

  1. Bhalla, Ambika, Bhangu, J.P.K. and Singh, Manmohan. “Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake: An Ecocritical Approach” International Journal of Research, November 2014, edupediapublications.org
  2. Monastersky, Richard. “Anthropocene: The Human Age” Nature, Nature, 14 March 2015, http://www.nature.com/news/anthropocene-the-human-age-1.17085?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20150312
  3. Rafferty, John P. “Anthropocene Epoch” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 February 2009, https://www.britannica.com/science/Anthropocene-Epoch
  4. Stromberg, Joseph. “What Is The Anthropocene And Are We In It?” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian.com, January 2013, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-the-anthropocene-and-are-we-in-it-164801414/
Categories
Glossary

Ecocriticism

 

“Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment”(Glotfelty 1996).   At its most basic level, ecocriticism is the intersection of literature, culture and the environment.  It asks us to examine ourselves and consider the ways in which we interact with the world around us (Brizee 2015).  Ecocriticism examines literature through an ecological lens the same way contemporary feminists such as Anita Sarkeesian examine video games and movies through a feminist lens. Just as Sarkeesian examines how women are portrayed in various forms of pop culture, the focus for ecocritics “is the way that wilderness is represented in literature and popular culture” (Brizee 2015). 

Due to the emerging environmental crisis, Ecocriticism gained popularity in the 80s and 90s.  Scholars believed it was the duty of the humanities and the natural sciences to raise awareness for this cause in order to invent solutions (Brizee 2015).  Beginning as the study of literature about nature, it focused on the works of authors such as Henry David Thoreau, who wrote about the wilderness and the beauty of nature. It was more of a celebration of nature than the more activist approach to ecocriticism we see today. The current wave of ecocriticism is less concerned with the sublimity of nature, and more interested in “breaking down of some of the long-standing distinctions between the human and the non-human”(Brizee 2015). This wave also questions the idea that humans live separate from nature and includes urban areas as part of nature. The more activist approach also examines issues of race, class, gender and ecojustice, which concerns the plight of the poor and the other usual victims of pollution. (Brizee 2015).

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood embodies this new approach in every way. Set in a world decimated by climate change, the dystopian novel also explores issues such as sexploitation, corporate greed and the detrimental way we use nature as an everlasting resource for human consumption. It illustrates the disharmonious relationship between humans and nature and warns of the dangers of unhindered technology and aspiration (Bhalla 2014). Atwood also examines ecojustice issues such as the societal inequalities that disproportionately expose the poor and unprivileged to pollution and disease.

Works cited

  1. Bhalla, Ambika, Bhangu, J.P.K. and Singh, Manmohan. “Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake: An Ecocritical Approach” International Journal of Research, November 2014, edupediapublications.org
  2. Brizee, Allen et al. “Ecocriticism (1960-present)” Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2015,  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/13/
  3. Glotfelty, Cheryll and Fromm, Harold. “The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology”, 1996
Categories
Blog Assignments

The Power of Abjection

Image result for death

Julia Kristeva’s essay is on the concept of abjection. Abjection means where a person or society casts off an entity or set of entities that it wishes to place outside of the self. The individual or society places it “beyond the scope of the possible the tolerable the thinkable (1). the abject has “only one quality of the object that of being opposed to I.” There are various types of abjection. Kristeva says “food loathing is perhaps the most elementary and most archaic form of abjection.” The ego of the individual expels things which are disgusting away from the self.

We are all born unable to distinguish between ourselves and the outside world. We look at ourselves as being one with our mothers. To establish the self, we need to have some way of distinguishing ourselves from our mother. We form our ego by a series of abjections from things in the world. One of the things we need to expel from ourselves is the idea of death. Corpses are thrust aside by the psyche as something repulsive. When you see something dead, you don’t just understand it as a rational thing, but rather it is something you drive out of your psyche. The confrontation with the corpse is a form of abjection. The corpse represents more than just a rational idea of death. It is something that is thrust out of the psyche.

Kristeva holds that when a person expels something from their consciousness, they put in a realm beyond meaning. Abjection functions in a realm where meaning collapses. It is not just that a person doesn’t think about the abject object. They put it into a realm that is beyond symbolic meaning. There are certain concepts in language that are based on subject and object. In abjection, the distinction between subject and object is lost.

In “Never Let Me Go”, Ishiguro paints a picture of a society that creates clones solely for the purpose of using their body parts to fix people as they get older. These clones are called donors because their sole purpose is the harvesting of their body parts. These clones are looked at as being without souls. As the novel says, “and none of you will be working in supermarkets as I heard you planning the other day. Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you are even middle aged, you will start to donate your vital organs (81). That’s what each of you was created to do.” The clones are looked at as being subhuman. They are the Other. This is a form of abjection for the society at large because the clones have no other purpose than to become donors for the “regular people.”

The clones go to a special school called Hailsham. They are separated from the rest of society. There is a parallel between the clones and how outcast people are looked at in society today. Unfortunate people are not looked at just as people who are less fortunate than the people in regular society. They are looked at as being subhuman. This is in line with Kristeva’s idea that abjection is not just a rational evaluation. It is a type of expelling something from the human ego which is the sense of self.

Both Frankenstein and “Never Let Me Go” have themes of abjection. In Frankenstein, the monster is an outcast because of his grotesque physique. In Never Let Me Go, although the clones are not ostracized because of their physical appearance, they are still considered outcasts because of their position in society. They are only considered to be useful for harvesting their organs. They are not considered to have a soul. Although both were created by man to mimic human beings, they were treated with such animosity and repulsion.

However, Hailsham is not just a storehouse to store clones in. It is a special program that tries to enrich the lives of the clones. The program there tries to locate the humanity in the clones. There is an effort to inspire creativity in the clones. For example, the clones produce art work that is later sold at exhibitions. The art work is inspected to try to see if the clones love some particular person. This was important because the experience of love is a sign of their humanity.

The question is if the society doesn’t value the clones as humans, why does it try to find humanity in the clones? It seems that Ishiguro was trying to portray the ambivalent feelings that the society had about the clones. On the one hand, if society denies the humanity of the clones, then it denies its own humanity. On the other hand, society needs to deny the reality of death and continue to use the clones for body parts. This creates a conflict for the human ego. In psychology, there is a concept called cognitive dissonance. The human mind cannot tolerate contradictions in the way it conceptualizes things. It must adjust its concepts to be harmonious with one another. So, society needed to experiment with whether or not the clones possess humanity, but it came out with the conclusion that they really were not human.

Another question is why the clones accepted their fate so readily that they were going to die from the donations. It is true that they were excited about the possibility of deferral but, for some reason, they didn’t protest their fate to die for organ harvest. It seems to be that Ishiguro uses this story as a metaphor as a way to portray the inevitability of society’s attitude. In other words, in order for society to live, they have to consider the clones to be subhuman otherwise society would fall apart. This is symbolized by the strange acceptance on the part of the clones that they are only valuable for the harvesting of their organs.

To conclude, we see that Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” portrays the concept of abjection throughout his book. The book is about the ambivalence that society feels for the other and the outcast. There are two types of abjection that are contained in Ishiguro’s work. There is the social abjection of the outcast in society and also there is the abjection of death. Society needs to have outcast members to build its ego. Also, the clones are looked at as being something like the walking dead because people are repulsed by them. As Kathy says “Madame never liked us. She’s always been afraid of us. In the way people are afraid of spiders and things” (268).

Discussion Questions

1.Do you think the clones are human?

2.Why did the donors have to die to fulfill their job description? Why couldn’t they donate some of their organs which would allow for their survival?

3.Why is the book called “Never Let Me Go”?

Works Cited

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.

Kristeva, Julia, and Leon S. Roudiez. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. Print.

 

 

Categories
Uncategorized

The Power of Abjection

Image result for death

Julia Kristeva’s essay is on the concept of abjection. Abjection means where a person or society casts off an entity or set of entities that it wishes to place outside of the self. The individual or society places it “beyond the scope of the possible the tolerable the thinkable (1). the abject has “only one quality of the object that of being opposed to I.” There are various types of abjection. Kristeva says “food loathing is perhaps the most elementary and most archaic form of abjection.” The ego of the individual expels things which are disgusting away from the self.

We are all born unable to distinguish between ourselves and the outside world. We look at ourselves as being one with our mothers. To establish the self, we need to have some way of distinguishing ourselves from our mother. We form our ego by a series of abjections from things in the world. One of the things we need to expel from ourselves is the idea of death. Corpses are thrust aside by the psyche as something repulsive. When you see something dead, you don’t just understand it as a rational thing, but rather it is something you drive out of your psyche. The confrontation with the corpse is a form of abjection. The corpse represents more than just a rational idea of death. It is something that is thrust out of the psyche.

Kristeva holds that when a person expels something from their consciousness, they put in a realm beyond meaning. Abjection functions in a realm where meaning collapses. It is not just that a person doesn’t think about the abject object. They put it into a realm that is beyond symbolic meaning. There are certain concepts in language that are based on subject and object. In abjection, the distinction between subject and object is lost.

In “Never Let Me Go”, Ishiguro paints a picture of a society that creates clones solely for the purpose of using their body parts to fix people as they get older. These clones are called donors because their sole purpose is the harvesting of their body parts. These clones are looked at as being without souls. As the novel says, “and none of you will be working in supermarkets as I heard you planning the other day. Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you are even middle aged, you will start to donate your vital organs (81). That’s what each of you was created to do.” The clones are looked at as being subhuman. They are the Other. This is a form of abjection for the society at large because the clones have no other purpose than to become donors for the “regular people.”

The clones go to a special school called Hailsham. They are separated from the rest of society. There is a parallel between the clones and how outcast people are looked at in society today. Unfortunate people are not looked at just as people who are less fortunate than the people in regular society. They are looked at as being subhuman. This is in line with Kristeva’s idea that abjection is not just a rational evaluation. It is a type of expelling something from the human ego which is the sense of self.

Both Frankenstein and “Never Let Me Go” have themes of abjection. In Frankenstein, the monster is an outcast because of his grotesque physique. In Never Let Me Go, although the clones are not ostracized because of their physical appearance, they are still considered outcasts because of their position in society. They are only considered to be useful for harvesting their organs. They are not considered to have a soul. Although both were created by man to mimic human beings, they were treated with such animosity and repulsion.

However, Hailsham is not just a storehouse to store clones in. It is a special program that tries to enrich the lives of the clones. The program there tries to locate the humanity in the clones. There is an effort to inspire creativity in the clones. For example, the clones produce art work that is later sold at exhibitions. The art work is inspected to try to see if the clones love some particular person. This was important because the experience of love is a sign of their humanity.

The question is if the society doesn’t value the clones as humans, why does it try to find humanity in the clones? It seems that Ishiguro was trying to portray the ambivalent feelings that the society had about the clones. On the one hand, if society denies the humanity of the clones, then it denies its own humanity. On the other hand, society needs to deny the reality of death and continue to use the clones for body parts. This creates a conflict for the human ego. In psychology, there is a concept called cognitive dissonance. The human mind cannot tolerate contradictions in the way it conceptualizes things. It must adjust its concepts to be harmonious with one another. So, society needed to experiment with whether or not the clones possess humanity, but it came out with the conclusion that they really were not human.

Another question is why the clones accepted their fate so readily that they were going to die from the donations. It is true that they were excited about the possibility of deferral but, for some reason, they didn’t protest their fate to die for organ harvest. It seems to be that Ishiguro uses this story as a metaphor as a way to portray the inevitability of society’s attitude. In other words, in order for society to live, they have to consider the clones to be subhuman otherwise society would fall apart. This is symbolized by the strange acceptance on the part of the clones that they are only valuable for the harvesting of their organs.

To conclude, we see that Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” portrays the concept of abjection throughout his book. The book is about the ambivalence that society feels for the other and the outcast. There are two types of abjection that are contained in Ishiguro’s work. There is the social abjection of the outcast in society and also there is the abjection of death. Society needs to have outcast members to build its ego. Also, the clones are looked at as being something like the walking dead because people are repulsed by them. As Kathy says “Madame never liked us. She’s always been afraid of us. In the way people are afraid of spiders and things” (268).

Discussion Questions

1.Do you think the clones are human?

2.Why did the donors have to die to fulfill their job description? Why couldn’t they donate some of their organs which would allow for their survival?

3.Why is the book called “Never Let Me Go”?

 

Categories
Uncategorized

The Power of Abjection

Image result for death

Julia Kristeva’s essay is on the concept of abjection. Abjection means where a person or society casts off an entity or set of entities that it wishes to place outside of the self. The individual or society places it “beyond the scope of the possible the tolerable the thinkable (1). the abject has “only one quality of the object that of being opposed to I.” There are various types of abjection. Kristeva says “food loathing is perhaps the most elementary and most archaic form of abjection.” The ego of the individual expels things which are disgusting away from the self.

We are all born unable to distinguish between ourselves and the outside world. We look at ourselves as being one with our mothers. To establish the self, we need to have some way of distinguishing ourselves from our mother. We form our ego by a series of abjections from things in the world. One of the things we need to expel from ourselves is the idea of death. Corpses are thrust aside by the psyche as something repulsive. When you see something dead, you don’t just understand it as a rational thing, but rather it is something you drive out of your psyche. The confrontation with the corpse is a form of abjection. The corpse represents more than just a rational idea of death. It is something that is thrust out of the psyche.

Kristeva holds that when a person expels something from their consciousness, they put in a realm beyond meaning. Abjection functions in a realm where meaning collapses. It is not just that a person doesn’t think about the abject object. They put it into a realm that is beyond symbolic meaning. There are certain concepts in language that are based on subject and object. In abjection, the distinction between subject and object is lost.

In “Never Let Me Go”, Ishiguro paints a picture of a society that creates clones solely for the purpose of using their body parts to fix people as they get older. These clones are called donors because their sole purpose is the harvesting of their body parts. These clones are looked at as being without souls. As the novel says, “and none of you will be working in supermarkets as I heard you planning the other day. Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you are even middle aged, you will start to donate your vital organs (81). That’s what each of you was created to do.” The clones are looked at as being subhuman. They are the Other. This is a form of abjection for the society at large because the clones have no other purpose than to become donors for the “regular people.”

The clones go to a special school called Hailsham. They are separated from the rest of society. There is a parallel between the clones and how outcast people are looked at in society today. Unfortunate people are not looked at just as people who are less fortunate than the people in regular society. They are looked at as being subhuman. This is in line with Kristeva’s idea that abjection is not just a rational evaluation. It is a type of expelling something from the human ego which is the sense of self.

Both Frankenstein and “Never Let Me Go” have themes of abjection. In Frankenstein, the monster is an outcast because of his grotesque physique. In Never Let Me Go, although the clones are not ostracized because of their physical appearance, they are still considered outcasts because of their position in society. They are only considered to be useful for harvesting their organs. They are not considered to have a soul. Although both were created by man to mimic human beings, they were treated with such animosity and repulsion.

However, Hailsham is not just a storehouse to store clones in. It is a special program that tries to enrich the lives of the clones. The program there tries to locate the humanity in the clones. There is an effort to inspire creativity in the clones. For example, the clones produce art work that is later sold at exhibitions. The art work is inspected to try to see if the clones love some particular person. This was important because the experience of love is a sign of their humanity.

The question is if the society doesn’t value the clones as humans, why does it try to find humanity in the clones? It seems that Ishiguro was trying to portray the ambivalent feelings that the society had about the clones. On the one hand, if society denies the humanity of the clones, then it denies its own humanity. On the other hand, society needs to deny the reality of death and continue to use the clones for body parts. This creates a conflict for the human ego. In psychology, there is a concept called cognitive dissonance. The human mind cannot tolerate contradictions in the way it conceptualizes things. It must adjust its concepts to be harmonious with one another. So, society needed to experiment with whether or not the clones possess humanity, but it came out with the conclusion that they really were not human.

Another question is why the clones accepted their fate so readily that they were going to die from the donations. It is true that they were excited about the possibility of deferral but, for some reason, they didn’t protest their fate to die for organ harvest. It seems to be that Ishiguro uses this story as a metaphor as a way to portray the inevitability of society’s attitude. In other words, in order for society to live, they have to consider the clones to be subhuman otherwise society would fall apart. This is symbolized by the strange acceptance on the part of the clones that they are only valuable for the harvesting of their organs.

To conclude, we see that Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” portrays the concept of abjection throughout his book. The book is about the ambivalence that society feels for the other and the outcast. There are two types of abjection that are contained in Ishiguro’s work. There is the social abjection of the outcast in society and also there is the abjection of death. Society needs to have outcast members to build its ego. Also, the clones are looked at as being something like the walking dead because people are repulsed by them. As Kathy says “Madame never liked us. She’s always been afraid of us. In the way people are afraid of spiders and things” (268).

Discussion Questions

1.Do you think the clones are human?

2.Why did the donors have to die to fulfill their job description? Why couldn’t they donate some of their organs which would allow for their survival?

3.Why is the book called “Never Let Me Go”?

Categories
In-class writing Notes

In-class work 4/26

 

  1. As a group, select a text we have read that interests you.
  2. Do a Google image search and select a cover image.
  3. Analyze the choices the artist makes to represent the novel. What themes are represented? What themes are neglected? What “argument” is the artist making about the novel?
Categories
Glossary

Galvanism Revised

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, galvanism is a term used to refer to the electric current which is produced as a result of chemical action. Galvanism is a phenomenon that occurs where there is connection between current or a conductor of electricity with another substance. As the interaction between a conducting medium with a source capable of producing current electricity is possible, we also see that the reaction of living thing based on the contact with an external source generates movement in an animal especially in a state of death. For instance according to the theory propounded by “Galvani” who was the first person to discover this phenomenon when he experimented on a dead frog, he discovered a movement in the body of the dead frog when there was a lightning outside the laboratory (Christian et al., 2009).

Galvanism is however linked with electricity and magnetism in that there are fields that surrounds these phenomenon which serves as a medium through which they generates the needed reaction (Houston, 1905). Fishes in the ocean are able to thrive because all that is needed is supplied them through the environment created for them in water. Oxygen and other needed gases are circulated because of the conducive environment in water. In the same way, the phenomenon of galvanism requires a certain field that supports the movement which is made possible via chemical action. We often hear of galvanized iron used in the roofing of houses. This is to achieve the possibility of protecting the surface of the iron due to contact with moisture and other atmospheric substances that are corrosive in nature (Benjamin, 1988). There can only be one thing responsible for this process of galvanism which is the chemical reaction that is taking place from time to time between substances either through direct or induced (indirect) contact.

The good example of where the term “galvanism” is used in literature is in the book titled “Frankentein”, the 1818 edition by Mary Shelley. In the book though fictitious, the process of galvanism was used by Victor to reanimate a female version of the monster, the process which he did not complete (Frankeistein; pp. 202, see chap. 20).  We can see the relationship between the work of Victor in creating a monster to galvanism in this statement, “I sat one evening in my laboratory; the sun had set, and the moon was just rising from the sea; I had not sufficient light from my employment.” The work of Victor depended on the light from outside to the creation of the monster inside the laboratory. This supports the definition that, “galvanism is a reaction that takes place when there is a spark of current in contact with such substances though might not be direct contact according Galvani in the eighteenth century”

REFERENCES

Cajavilca, Christian, Joseph Varon, and George L. Sternbach­. “Luigi Galvani and the Foundations of Electrophysiology.” Resuscitation, vol. 80, no. 2, 2009., pp. 159-162doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2008.09.020.

Edwin James Houston, “Electricity in Everyday Life”, Chapter XXII. P. F. Collier & Son, 1905.

“Galvanism.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 13 May 2018.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein: the 1818 Text. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.

Categories
Glossary

Globalization Revised

Technological advancement has a link with the countries that are dominated by the effect of globalization knowing fully well the implications it has on the skilled and unskilled labor intensive of these countries’ trade and commerce (Cline 1997).  For example in some countries that are well versed with the trend in new technological discoveries within the last few decades, we see the way businesses are being transacted as a result of the global market conducive for their businesses to thrive. Some countries prefer to import goods from other countries as a result of their global market quite favorable due to the effect it has on their own economic systems and policies e.g. clothes manufactured in China are imported by the United States to share trade or business agreement with them in the long-run. In order to control and regulate trading and to ensure security of the economy, some countries are making effort to avoid the threats of globalized economy for instance the United States of America (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Annual Report 2010). In some countries especially in Africa being low income countries, it becomes imperative for many of them to sign memorandum of understanding or bilateral trade agreement with other European countries or Asian countries that will foster their own economy. This will also be effective in allowing free flow of people from these low income African countries to serve as labor force in these other large economy. In a nutshell globalization offers ease of trade between low incomes, middle income and high income economy in that procedures which encourages trade are put in place by these stakeholders.

We cannot but say that while the advantages of globalization are numerous, its disadvantages are also within the reach of people. The advantages are that it improves the efficiency of the global economy through the availability of advanced technology and the presence of human and capital resources (Cline 1997). World Health Organization puts adequate funds out every year to combat certain ailments and they gather data yearly that measures the state of health of low income countries. The reason being that through the tool of globalized economy, they are able to have access to adequate funds that assist in reaching the world as long as they are aware of the benefit it will bring to their own economy in the long-run. World Bank and International Monetary Fund loan quite a number of countries such as Nigeria, Uganda and other Africa countries money to facilitate their trade. In 1993, the then administrative leader, Ibrahim Babangida borrowed a huge amount from IMF to clear the outstanding debt and reinstate the foreign reserves of Nigeria. However, local environment suffer from this globalization in that it creates security threat in the long run (Rodrick, 1997).

The literary piece that contains the effect of globalization from what has been explained can be seen in the United States National Intelligence Council (Global Trends 2015 Report; page 7). The literary piece has in it procedures for the growth of the United States of America (page 12-13). Globalization as a tool of technological advancements helps us to harness these potentials into creating an environment through measures and regulations that will ensure less toxicity in the environment. Hence globalization and toxic disclosure are enmeshed.

References:

Cline, William R., Trade and Income Distribution (Washington: Institute for International Economics). 1997

Coats, A.W., The Post-1945 Internationalization of Economics (Durham, N.C. and London: Duke University Press). 1997

Rodrick, Dani , Has Globalization Gone Too Far? (Washington: Institute for International Economics). 1997

United States National Intelligence Council Global Trends 2015, p. 7, 12 & 13 December 2000.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; 2010 Letter from the President Annual Report 2010

Categories
Uncategorized

Oryx and Crake, Crakers, and the Uncanny Valley

In parts 12-15 of Oryx and Crake, the story is concluded for us. It bounces back and forth from Snowman’s present to his past memories as Jimmy. It starts off as Snowman is making his way to the dome and remembering how he originally got involved there in the first place. The chapter goes into how he ended up leaving his job at AnooYoo to work with Crake. The job was quite the upgrade as his best friend was in charge and they had millions of dollars in funding. It also gives us the backstory to the Crakers creation and how Crake made them immune to disease, die at 30, and are unable to be racist. He claimed he was trying to create immortality, but we see that it is immortality that fell under his own definition.

We take a tour of Paradice alongside Jimmy and see the backstory of how Crake orchestrated the eventual apocalypse. It also goes into the relationship between Jimmy and Oryx. We see how Jimmy grew so attached to Oryx and how their strange love story develops. Part 12 finishes quite violently at the height of the apocalypse with Crake slitting Oryx’s throat and saying “I’m counting on you”, and Jimmy shooting him. Parts 13-14 go into how Jimmy broke back into Paradice in an attempt to try to heal his wounded foot and his experience letting out the Crakers. He takes whatever is left and basically leads the Crakers into the world, sort of bringing Crake’s dream into fruition.

The book ends in Snowman’s present as he realizes that there are people who still exist. It is two men and a woman, interestingly enough, enough people to potentially repopulate the world. Snowman sees them in the distance and is conflicted about what to do. The part of him that remembers Crake’s words that he’s counting on him wants to kill them. The other part of him just wants to walk away.

The reading of “The Uncanny Valley: The Original Essay by Masahiro Mori” is an essay originally written in Japanese by one of the top professors of robotics talking about our levels of affinity towards robots depending on its human resemblance. It goes into what he defines as the “Uncanny Valley”. Essentially, we as humans can connect with things created that resemble humans in some form. According to his figures, the more something is human-like, the more we connect and like it. For example, we will not feel much connection to an industrial robot. But for a toy robot, that is made to look to have human features like two legs, two hands, and a head, people feel much more affinity for it. However, when something begins to look too human, our affinity for it drops aggressively. This is what he refers to as “The Uncanny Valley”.

One of the examples he uses as an example of the Uncanny Valley is a prosthetic hand. At first, you think it is real, but when you reach in to shake it and realize it is fake we are filled with an eerie uncomfortable feeling. This effect is increased with things that are given movement, like moveable prosthetic hands. He talks about how the level of affinity drops when something that isn’t supposed to move, moves, like a prosthetic hand, or when something that should, doesn’t anymore, like a dead body.

Although, I cannot say that I fully agree with all of Mori’s theories of how people react to things that appear too human when they are not, I do think he brings up some valid points. I would personally agree with having an uncomfortable reaction to a robot that appears too human. However, with other things like very human looking prosthetics, I would not feel uncomfortable. I would also imagine many people would not as well. For this reason, his figures seem a little too subjective to me.

The main idea behind his essay is the human reaction that he tries to capture when we think something is human and realize it isn’t. This can connect to many of the readings that we have done in this unit such as Frankenstein or Oryx and Crake. Much like Victor Frankenstein’s reaction to seeing a creature that resembles a human but isn’t, he had an eerie, horrific reaction. In Oryx and Crake, the Crakers are “human-like” creations that can speak and reason but are not human. In his essay, Mori hopes that the future of robotics will include creations that do not fall into the Uncanny Valley. In his essay, Mori says: “To illustrate the principle, consider eyeglasses. Eyeglasses do not resemble real eyeballs, but one could say that their design has created a charming pair of new eyes. So we should follow the same principle in designing prosthetic hands. In doing so, instead of pitiful looking realistic hands, stylish ones would likely become fashionable.”

In Oryx and Crake, I think it can be deduced that Crake made his Crakers to not fall into the Uncanny Valley. He did not attempt to make them seem too human. Just with certain human-like aesthetics like green eyes. Their features were designed to be as practical as possible and he did not get too hung up with making them resemble humans as much as possible, only as much as they needed to be. They looked just different enough that they were not human. The bigger question behind this is: Why do humans seem to be so disturbed by something that cosmetically captures what is natural when it really isn’t? Perhaps it tugs on some inner moral compass that we all have that demands what is natural ought to remain natural and what isn’t ought to stay on its side.

 

 

Discussion questions:

  1. Would humans accept a creation that strongly resembles a human but isn’t?

 

  1. In Oryx and Crake, do you think that the Crakers fall into the Uncanny Valley?

 

  1. Would you prefer to see a prosthetic on someone that looks clearly artificial but stylish, or human-like to the look but not the touch?

 

 

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Blog Assignments

Oryx and Crake, Crakers, and The Uncanny Valley

In parts 12-15 of Oryx and Crake, the story is concluded for us. It bounces back and forth from Snowman’s present to his past memories as Jimmy. It starts off as Snowman is making his way to the dome and remembering how he originally got involved there in the first place. The chapter goes into how he ended up leaving his job at AnooYoo to work with Crake. The job was quite the upgrade as his best friend was in charge and they had millions of dollars in funding. It also gives us the backstory to the Crakers creation and how Crake made them immune to disease, die at 30, and are unable to be racist. He claimed he was trying to create immortality, but we see that it is immortality that fell under his own definition.

We take a tour of Paradice alongside Jimmy and see the backstory of how Crake orchestrated the eventual apocalypse. It also goes into the relationship between Jimmy and Oryx. We see how Jimmy grew so attached to Oryx and how their strange love story develops. Part 12 finishes quite violently at the height of the apocalypse with Crake slitting Oryx’s throat and saying “I’m counting on you”, and Jimmy shooting him. Parts 13-14 go into how Jimmy broke back into Paradice in an attempt to try to heal his wounded foot and his experience letting out the Crakers. He takes whatever is left and basically leads the Crakers into the world, sort of bringing Crake’s dream into fruition.

The book ends in Snowman’s present as he realizes that there are people who still exist. It is two men and a woman, interestingly enough, enough people to potentially repopulate the world. Snowman sees them in the distance and is conflicted about what to do. The part of him that remembers Crake’s words that he’s counting on him wants to kill them. The other part of him just wants to walk away.

The reading of “The Uncanny Valley: The Original Essay by Masahiro Mori” is an essay originally written in Japanese by one of the top professors of robotics talking about our levels of affinity towards robots depending on its human resemblance. It goes into what he defines as the “Uncanny Valley”. Essentially, we as humans can connect with things created that resemble humans in some form. According to his figures, the more something is human-like, the more we connect and like it. For example, we will not feel much connection to an industrial robot. But for a toy robot, that is made to look to have human features like two legs, two hands, and a head, people feel much more affinity for it. However, when something begins to look too human, our affinity for it drops aggressively. This is what he refers to as “The Uncanny Valley”.

One of the examples he uses as an example of the Uncanny Valley is a prosthetic hand. At first you think it is real, but when you reach in to shake it and realize it is fake we are filled with an eerie uncomfortable feeling. This effect is increased with things that are given movement, like moveable prosthetic hands. He talks about how the level of affinity drops when something that isn’t supposed to move, moves, like a prosthetic hand, or when something that should, doesn’t anymore, like a dead body.

Although, I cannot say that I fully agree with all of Mori’s theories of how people react to things that appear too human when they are not, I do think he brings up some valid points. I would personally agree with having an uncomfortable reaction to a robot that appears too human. However, with other things like very human looking prosthetics, I would not feel uncomfortable. I would also imagine many people would not as well. For this reason, his figures seem a little too subjective to me.

The main idea behind his essay is the human reaction that he tries to capture when we think something is human and realize it isn’t. This can connect to many of the readings that we have done in this unit such as Frankenstein or Oryx and Crake. Much like Victor Frankenstein’s reaction to seeing a creature that resembles a human but isn’t, he had an eerie, horrific reaction. In Oryx and Crake, the Crakers are “human-like” creations that can speak and reason but are not human. In his essay, Mori hopes that the future of robotics will include creations that do not fall into the Uncanny Valley. In his essay Mori says: “To illustrate the principle, consider eyeglasses. Eyeglasses do not resemble real eyeballs, but one could say that their design has created a charming pair of new eyes. So we should follow the same principle in designing prosthetic hands. In doing so, instead of pitiful looking realistic hands, stylish ones would likely become fashionable.”

In Oryx and Crake, I think it can be deduced that Crake made his Crakers to not fall into the Uncanny Valley. He did not attempt to make them seem too human. Just with certain human –like aesthetics like green eyes. Their features were designed to be as practical as possible and he did not get too hung up with making them resemble humans as much as possible, only as much as they needed to be. They looked just different enough that they were not human. The bigger question behind this is: Why do humans seem to be so disturbed from something that cosmetically captures what is natural when it really isn’t? Perhaps it tugs on some inner moral compass that we all have that demands what is natural ought to remain natural and what isn’t ought stay on it’s side.

 

 

Discussion questions:

  1. Would humans accept a creation that strongly resembles a human but isn’t?

 

  1. In Oryx and Crake, do you think that the Crakers fall into the Uncanny Valley?

 

  1. Would you prefer to see a prosthetic on someone that looks clearly artificial but stylish, or human-like to the look but not the touch?