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?

 

 

Categories
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?

 

 

Categories
Blog Assignments

Timothy Morton: Dark Ecology (excerpt)

 

The excerpt from the book ‘Dark Ecology’ by Timothy Morton is a complex, philosophical, often confusing piece about ecological awareness. It is anything but your cookie-cutter environmental diatribe about the evils of capitalism causing global warming.  While capitalism doesn’t get away scot-free, he sees it as more of a symptom than the root cause.  He contends that if capitalism were the cause, “then Soviet and Chinese carbon emissions would have added nothing to global warming”.  The root cause is that humans consider nature a separate entity, as something that can be managed.  This “command and control” approach, as he puts it, can be traced back to the origins of agriculture.

THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE

Morton refers to us as Mesopotamians.  Although agriculture was discovered by different people in different places, this is a reference to the development of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent.  For most of human history, until about 12,000 years ago, humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers.   Learning to grow plants in soil, then harvest and replant them, allowed people to obtain and store large amounts of food, eliminating the need to gather.  Domesticating animals eliminated the need to hunt and this permitted them to stay in the same place.

Now that they no longer had to drag children around for years, until they grew old enough to keep up, they were able to have twice as many children.  Food became abundant and they could sustain a much larger population.  This led to villages, city-states, money, markets, trade routes and the invention of the steam engine to move things from place to place.  The estimated population grew from an estimated 5 million to the 7 billion we have today in only a fraction of the entirety of human existence.  Some historians blame agriculture for setting off the chain of events that led to famine, disease, wealth inequality, sexism, slavery, war and of course, the current predicament of climate change.

 

ENTER THE ANTHROPOCENE

The Sixth Mass Extinction Event: caused by the Anthropocene, caused by humans.  Not dolphins; Not jellyfish; Not coral.

It turns out that things like polluting the air, nuclear waste, industrial wastewater, the use of poisonous agricultural chemicals, the decimation of forests, bodies of water and other systems needed to sustain life in an unending quest to obtain global influence and wealth, are extremely bad for -all- of Earth’s inhabitants.  Morton uses the term ‘Anthropocene’ to describe the current geological time period where humans became a “geophysical force on a planetary scale” who had a substantial impact on Earth’s ecosystems.

Some scholars quibble that this term is too human-centric and hubristic and infers that humans have “godlike powers to shape the planet” or they argue that the term unfairly marks all humans when they believe it is Westerners or Americans who are responsible for climate change.  Morton points out that that “Humans and not dolphins invented steam engines and drilled for oil” and that actual hubris or arrogance is using other lifeforms as prosthetics for agricultural purposes.  He also argues that this cannot simply pawned off on a particular group of humans since it is humans in general who desire environmentally unfriendly things such as air-conditioning.  “Neanderthals would have loved Coca-Cola Zero”, he writes.

 

Morton argues that we will not be able to use science and geoengineering to get out of this, nor can we pollute the planet in a more responsible way.  He writes that the argument: “We have always been terraforming the planet, so let’s do it consciously from now on” is pointless and no more moral than what we’re doing now.  In order to avoid ceding the entire biosphere to big science and technocrats, which would cause an even further impact on the planet, humans are going to have to think of the concept of species differently.  Humankind will have to include the entire planet. We can not live in an “ostensibly privileged place set apart from all other beings”.

Becoming a geophysical force on a planetary scale means that no matter what you think about it, no matter whether you are aware of it or not, there you are, being that.

He maintains that people believe their actions are meaningless, since they cannot possibly pollute the entire planet all by themselves. They don’t mean to harm the Earth as they go about their daily lives.   They presume that a single key turn to start an engine is statistically meaningless, but when you scale up these actions to include “billions and billions of key turnings and coal shovelings, harm to the Earth is precisely what is happening”.  The necessary ecological thought a person needs to inhibit is that “every time I turned my car ignition key I was contributing to global warming and yet was performing actions that were statistically meaningless”.

NOIR

 

“Ecological awareness is that moment at which these narrators find out that they are the tragic criminal”.

Morton claims that we Mesopotamians are both the detective and the criminal.  He compares ecological awareness to noir, a genre of fiction where the protagonist or narrator is also the perpetrator.  Margaret Atwood’s novel also warns us about the dangers of humans believing they exist separate from nature.  In ‘Oryx and Crake’, the story was narrated through the thoughts of Snowman, the last person presumed to be alive in a world decimated by both climate change and a virus created by an out-of-control corporation.  He is also someone who was unwittingly complicit in both releasing the virus and participating in a society that allowed these destructive corporations to thrive.

Although it’s not obvious why anyone would choose him to guide the next generation of Earth’s inhabitants, he was the perfect choice for Margaret Atwood to represent humankind and it’s complacency.  Snowman (Jimmy), was once concerned about the way animals were treated.  He saw them as creatures much like himself and was “confused about who should be able to eat what”.  He also questioned why society valued students of science, but not those who studied humanities.  Jimmy would eventually go along with everyone else and forget about these concerns, frequently eating genetically modified chicken and taking a more prestigious job writing propaganda for one of the scientific corporations running society.  This appears to be a commentary on our current situation by Atwood.

I disagree with some of the Morton’s ideas.  He uses the phrase “the myth of human progress”, insinuating that everything humans have ever done is pointless and should have just went on living like animals.  Humans are self-aware and curious, not simply a bunch of self-destructive animals.  I’m not sure that natural curiosity could ever be contained.  We’re the only species capable of asking questions about our origins and the universe and through science, fill in the missing pieces and find the answers.  We don’t -have- to use science and technology to destroy everything.

I also question why he chose to write something he obviously considers important in a style that is inaccessible to most readers.  The book is full of obscure pop culture references and abstract philosophy concepts which makes me wonder whether he is interested in solving problems or simply pointing them out.  He may want to expand on what an environmentally responsible future looks like.

Questions

  1. Did Crake overlook anything when designing the Crakers or with his plan in general?
  2. Crake stated that he did not believe in God or Nature with a capital ‘N’.  What did he mean?
  3. What warnings do you see from Atwood pertaining to our current climate crisis?

 

Works cited:

Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. 2003.

Diamond, Jared.  The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race. 2 May 1987,

http://www.sigervanbrabant.be/docs/Diamond.PDF

Morton, Timothy. Dark Ecology: for a Logic of Future Coexistence. Columbia University Press, 2018.

National Geographic. The Development of Agriculture

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/

Categories
In-class writing Notes

4/19 in-class writing

What do these words mean?

Why does Snowman collect them?

What is their significance in the context of the novel?

 

Group 1: pp. 84-85 “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…” OR “sere” and “incarnadine”

Group 2: “cork-nut”

Group 3: p. 148 “mephitic, metronome, mastitis, metatarsal, maudlin”

Group 4: “bogus” and “awesome”

Categories
Glossary

posthumanism

“Post humanism” is a term that means “beyond humanism” or “after humanism” and it has almost seven different meanings according to one of the great philosophers of the twenty first century named Francesca Ferrando. In one of his definitions, he said that Post humanism is any theory that is critical of traditional humanism and the traditional ideas about humanity and the condition of humans which he associated with “antihumanism”. He also mentioned it as a branchof theory of culture that is very critical of the assumptions made right from the foundation of humanism and its legacies. This he said questions and examines the historical notions of “human” and “the nature of human” which often confronts the typical notions of human subjectivity and its embodiments and thus strives to move beyond old-fashioned concepts of “human nature” to develop ones which constantly adapt to contemporary knowledge in science and technology (Francesca, 2013). However, he didn’t stop at defining post humanism but went further to point to us that it is a philosophical direction which draws on cultural post humanism in which such philosophical strands examine the ethical implications of expanding the circle of moral concerns and thereby extending subjectivities beyond the scope of the species of humans. Furthermore, he points out that post humanism is an ideology and movement which seeks to develop and make the technologies available which eliminates aging and greatly enhance the intellectual, physical and psychological capacities of humans in order to achieve a post human future.

A very good example of the way he defined post humanism is found in the book “Oryx and “Your friend is intellectually honourable,” Jimmy’s mother would say. “He doesn’t lie to himself.” Then she’d gaze at Jimmy with that blue-eyed, wounded-by-him look he knew so well. If only he could be like that – intellectually honourable. Another baffling item on the cryptic report card his mother toted around in some mental pocket, the report card on which he was always just barely passing. Jimmy would do better at intellectual honourableness if only he would try harder. Plus, if he had any fucking clues about what the fuck it meant. “I don’t need supper,” he’d tell her yet again. “I’ll just grab a snack.” If she wanted. Her effort was geared towards developing the intellectual capacity of her son as can be seen in the way she addressed his friend in her expressing of wish in this word that is intellectual honourableness. This is related to one of the definitions of Francesca Ferrando. Jimmy’s strived to ensure that her son became acquainted to developing his intellectual, physical and psychological capacities like that of his friend. Another example is the one in the book “Frankenstein”. After two years I had discovered many things and I built a scientific machine that was better than anything in the university. My machine would help me answer the most important question of all. How does life begin? Is it possible to put life into dead things? To answer these questions about life I had to learn first about death. I had to watch bodies from the moment when they died and the warm life left them. In the hospital and in the university, I watched the dying and the dead. Day after day, month after month, I followed death. Crake” as can be seen in the way Jimmy’s mother addressed her son, It was a dark and terrible time. Then one day, the answer came to me. Suddenly I was sure that I knew the secret of life.

REFERENCES

  1. Ferrando, Francesca. “Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations” (PDF). ISSN 1932-1066. Retrieved 2014-03-14.

 

  1. Jump up^ J. Childers/G. Hentzi eds., The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism (1995) p. 140-1

 

  1. Wolfe, C. ‘What is Post humanism?’ University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, Minnesota. 2009

 

  1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley published online https://www.goodreads.com/ebooks/download/35031085-frankenstein

 

  1. Atwood, Margaret Eleanor. “Oryx and Crake.” Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data, 1939. 1st ed
Categories
Blog Assignments

Toxic Disclosure

TOXIC DISCLOSURE IN THE UNITED STATES

The same way buyers or consumers would like to have good information about what they buy and eat is the same way the government goes around manufacturing companies to ensure that the necessary procedures have been followed to see that the risk of exposure is reduced to a sufficient level not to cause harm to the consumer. In most cases it is the toxic substance produced and released during production is what is monitored to prevent pollution. In other cases, it is required of the manufacturer to give a detailed description of the product he or she is offering and what was done to ensure the success of the product before release to prevent health hazards.  Every country has an empowered board that Oversees this. Like in the United States, the

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) requires companies to disclose amount of toxic substance released each year. Of course this is required as it helps prevent depletion of the ozone. This is a major step to ensure the reduction of waste and reduce the already kicked of global warming situation of the world. So far in the world today the Petroleum companies have been Known to be one of the highest contributors to global warming due to their excess release of toxic gases. Most of this companies that release a significant amount of toxic waste are unaware of the danger and harm they are causing to the biodiversity of the ecosystem. In such cases, a specific amount of waste should be allowed above which there should be a fine.

With recent advancement aimed to reduce this toxic wastes, there are has been a successful impact on the world’s global Health. Emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide, Sulfur dioxide are very dangerous to the atmosphere. This could result in falling of acid rain. Not only this but there have been several cases of Chemical spills in the United States which have resulted in the death of many.  One instance was that which happened in Bhopal India as a result of chemical spill from a chemical plant that ended up claiming the lives of many. For the purpose to prevent this, TRI was developed for the public scrutiny of some companies that pollute the water we cook with, drink etc. This program creates a good disincentive to pollute. An emergency planning act was established which stated the need to report the amount of toxic chemicals released to the environment every year which the which have been publicly available by the TRI program. The solution to this was announced by EPA (environmental protection agency) which permits companies to use shorter, less detailed forms to report little quantities of stubborn or non-transient bio accumulative toxins that are harmful at low levels along with the release of chemicals stipulated by the TRI up to 2000 pounds.

Instead of going back or slowly withdrawing from public disclosure, it would be better to continue with the success of the TRI program. This exposure approach applies to not only to the conservative economist who very well believe that the toxic information that has been disclosed can help promote consumer or citizens as a whole, empowerment and as well encourage firms to reduce harmful activities. Adhering to these instructions by the TRI and EPA comes from the ill-desire to be viewed as a negative company by targeted consumers or citizens (in other words, to avoid a negative public view), including reducing the trust of the people on the company. TRI is cost effective. They impose a minor cost on industries so that they adhere to the program. They do not determine how the companies minimize cost but as long as they do not release excess toxic chemicals, they are good. TRI promotes democratic decisions by helping citizens to be more aware on their stand with regulated entities. EPI on the other hand spends less budget implementing their programs. Both arms have the same aims and are very effective in carrying out their work. This country is ours, we should try to do our best to make the country better for us. For one it is not better when too much toxic chemicals are released to the environment.

 

Questions

  • What’s your take on the recent activity of toxic disclosure?
  • What do you feel as citizens can be done to help the TRI program to see it’s full implementation?
  • Do you think the recent advancement has helped the world and it’s environment?
Categories
Glossary

Prometheus

“Prometheus” is a term popularly attributed to tricks. In the Greek’s mythology, we found out that Prometheus was one that was referred to as a “titan” whose reputation wasn’t far from cleverness and trickery as was seen in how he gave the human race the gift of fire and the skill of metalwork. The action of him being a trickster led to his punishment by Zeus who ensured every day that an eagle ate his liver and was changed to a rock leaving him with no help. He was also a great fore thinker and championed the cause of victory by Zeus to gain mastery of the heavens which according to history lasted for a decade. A very common ambiguity of Prometheus is his “double sidedness” as was narrated by Coleridge in his essay titled, “The Composition and Revision of Coleridge’s Essay on Aeschylus’ Prometheus”. Coleridge explained that Prometheus switched sides and supported the victorious Olympians when his advice of using trickery failed. An example of Prometheus being a trick is seen in his double sidedness in the way he refused to die when being punished by Zeus. Here Prometheus was chained to a rock (or pillar) and Zeus sent an eagle to eat the Titan’s liver. Even worse, the liver re-grew every night and the eagle returned each day to perpetually torment Prometheus.

Further example of the trickery or double-sidedness of Prometheus is also seen in the conversion I have picked from the book Oryx and Crake. “Crake wasn’t Crake yet, at that time: his name was Glenn. Why did it have two ns instead of the usual spelling? “My dad liked music,” was Crake’s explanation, once Jimmy got around to asking him about it, which had taken a while. “Henamed me after a dead pianist, some boy genius with two ns.” “So did he make you take music lessons?” “No,” said Crake. “He never made me do much of anything.” “Then what was the point?“Of what?” “Of your name. The two ns.” “Jimmy, Jimmy,” said Crake. “Not everything has a point.” Snowman has trouble thinking of Crake as Glenn, so thoroughly has Crake’s later persona  blotted out his earlier one. The Crake side of him must have been there from the beginning, thinks Snowman: there was never any real Glenn, Glenn was only a disguise. So in Snowman’s reruns of the story, Crake is never Glenn, and never Glenn-alias Crake or Crake/Glenn, or Glenn, later Crake. He is always just Crake, pure and simple. Anyway Crake saves time, thinks Snowman. Why hyphenate, why parenthesize, unless absolutely necessary? (pg 41)

REFERENCES

  • Cartwright, Mark. “Prometheus.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History
    Encyclopedia, 20 Apr 2013. Web. 18 Apr 2018.
  • Bibliography Carabatea, M, Greek Mythology (Pergamos, Peania, 2007)
  • Bibliography Carpenter, T.H, Art and Myth in Ancient Greece (Thames & Hudson, London,
    2012)
  • Atwood, Margaret Eleanor. “Oryx and Crake.” Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication
    Data, 1939. 1st ed
Categories
In-class writing Notes

4/17 notes

  • More accessible and modern
  • Picks up on the theme of creator and creation that we’ve seen in other texts
    • In other texts, creators were trying to prove a point, but it this text it’s to eradicate a problem
  • What do you notice about the structure of the narrative?
    • Separated into different segments – each one has a theme; jumps around a bit; hard to follow
    • Not chronological
    • Organized according to Snowman’s train of associations; almost stream of consciousness
    • Thinking aloud rather than structuring a narrative
    • Story told in a broken way – makes sense if you’re him, difficult to follow for us – disorienting
    • Setting: there’s nothing else to do but remember
    • Reminiscent of Catch-22: jumps around
    • Trying to show chaos: reflects the chaos of the post-apocalyptic world
  • Old world and new world coexisting – things are repurposed; new meanings in new context
  • What is the significance of Snowman’s name?
    • Snow is a sign of death – everything dies in the winter; but of course we expect spring to come – and snowmen to melt
    • So maybe it’s reflective of humanity’s demise
    • Snowmen could not exist in the post-apocalyptic world because of climate change
    • Abominable is a secret joke – but snow is as imaginary to the Crakers as the abominable snowman
    • Abominable has a negative connotation – reflects his true nature (or feelings about himself) – powerful stance to be able to say it – he’s telling them that he’s bad, but not telling them
  • What’s going on with the “feathers”?
    • He’s different from the Crakers
    • He’s also messing with them; he knows something more – they take everything seriously; the power of knowing
    • Almost like a god or god-send; he has the answers; he creates the answers
    • It’s almost like they’re making up a religion – they make things up to explain the world; the explanations are simplistic; rationalizing why he’s here and so on; but never questioning the source; reconciling the “facts” he gives them with what they know of the world; generating cosmology and trying to keep it consistent
    • Human nature to try to explain the world, to make sense, to make a narrative
  • Could lack of consistency reflect the unreliability of the narrator? We don’t have any evidence that he’s not lying to us as well as the Crakers
    • Fragmentary narrative
  • Are the Crakers human?
    • Maybe not? Something new? Theme of making up a religion – restarting again – parody of creation – new
    • Have characteristics of “human nature”
    • Might be? Next version of humans?
    • does it matter if they’re human?
      • We perceive humanity based off ourselves; they could be intellectual dinosaurs and it wouldn’t change the novel
    • Clearly capable of learning
  • Is Frankenstein’s creature human?
    • No, he’s a monster
    • He had the mental capacity of a human, ability to learn and grow – he had an identity, intangible humanity
    • He’s made of human body parts, so he’s anatomically human
  • Are the pigoons more or less human than Crakers?
  • Were the Crakers looked down upon?
  • Similarity to I Am Legend – last man narrative
  • Chapter headings
    • Seem to be random
    • “Flotsam”
      • she might perceive himself as human flotsam – debris left of humanity’s shipwreck
      • literally debris that the Crakers go through
    • importance of words
      • holding onto words; once the words are gone, the meaning will be gone too – tend to relate to art, music, myth sense of destiny, hope, sex – or he just likes the way they sound