Response to Group Two's questions

On social media websites people seem confident and speak freely about whatever they want. Most of those people will type mean comments or try to influence the public on what they think is right. I call those people keyboard warriors. Keyboard warriors may be confident behind a computer screen but in real life they could be the quietest people on the planet. Keyboard warriors in real life may be perceived as the quiet and nervous person. Social media allows people to comment anonymously on other people’s webpage or profile. This allows people to step out of their comfort zone and say things that they normally would never dare to say in real life. Keyboard warriors in my opinion are a great example of separation between the way we express ourselves through social media and real life. Another example of separation would be the way we write and have a conversation with each other on social media platforms and real life. On the internet people tend to use slag words to minimize the letters they have to type. For example when someone wants to express laughter they use the slag term lol which stands for laugh out loud. In real life a person would just laugh to express laughter. Also when people talk to each other in real life nobody uses internet slag to communicate. Internet slag like lol is only used for chatting with another person on social media platforms.

             Social media uses the four rhetorical approaches to spread news which are argumentation, invitation, persuasion and storytelling. When social media presents a controversial topic it allows people to comment what they think and provide evidence creating an argument. Once two or more people have taken different claims people will use reason to explain their claim with evidence they have given. Also when controversial topics are posted people do not always use argumentation to tell their thoughts on the topic. People use invitation which allows people to comment their opinions and position on whatever the topic is. Invitation is used to clarify intentions. People also use the art of persuasion to change people’s views. People who try and persuade others use their logic and emotions against them. Using other people’s emotions against them could possibly manipulate them into joining what you believe in. Logic is used to make someone understand the persuader’s position. Sometimes when social media posts a news article on something heroic people start to tell stories. The stories people tell are fake but it allows people to give meaning to whatever they are talking about. People envision themselves as a certain character and they usually end up saving the day.

             When I was in high school my English teacher made the class do a presentation that had to be presented to both of her English classes. My presentation was about how climate change effects the earth. Each class asked me different questions about climate change. I realized I had to think about how to respond to each question because each audience was different. My English class was easy going on me and did not really care on what kind of answer I gave them. However, the other English class I presented to asked me very hard questions and even if I gave them a correct answer the students continued to go in depth with what they wanted to know. I realized that I had to tell them everything about what they were asking instead of a strait forward answer. This situation was very challenging and forced me to analyze the audience and respond with an answer satisfying the student who asked the question.

Bicentennial Man

Bicentennial man is about an android named Andrew who was programmed just to help out around his owner’s house. After realizing that Andrew is not just another household appliance the owner Richard Martin started to teach him the human ways. Once Andrew developed his own thoughts and feelings he began on a journey to understand his artificial intelligence kind by searching for other robots just like him. Andrew unexpectedly finds his maker’s son Rupert Burns by following a female robot walking home from the market. Rupert introduces himself to Andrew and they both team up to create enhanced upgrades for robots and humans. Throughout Andrew’s life, he has to fight for his rights and prove society wrong that he is capable of being human. Also in the beginning of his life people give Andrew different reactions when they encounter him. This movie covers those reactions very well. When Andrew was first powered on, Richard Martin was happy to have help around the house, his wife Mrs. Martin was creeped out, Richard’s daughter Grace was upset to see the robot in her house, and Grace’s sister Little Miss was confused on what Andrew was and why her father bought him. After having the android Andrew for a while, Mrs. Martin started to enjoy having an extra hand around the house. Andrew became Little Miss’s best friend for her entire life, and Grace attempted to kill Andrew by ordering him to jump out of her bedroom window. In my opinion the Martin’s reactions to the robot would be similar to those reactions of people who meet an artificial intelligent robot today. Also robots like Andrew would not be accepted in society and would not be free. During Andrew’s lifetime he realizes that he is not really free and asks Mr. Martin to be free. After Mr. Martin allowed Andrew to be free Andrew was forced to leave the Martin’s household. Although Andrew was free he was not accepted in society. Even years later when Andrew received artificial human skin and the ability to feel and love he still was not declared a human being by the government. Andrew was angered that he was not accepted as a human being and could not marry the love of his life who is a human. Andrew changed himself into a complete human being with the help of Rupert Burns in order to prove to the government that he is capable of being human. Years later Andrew and Rupert’s artificial organ technology was being used for replacing bad organs in humans. Andrew attempted again to be recognized as a human being. Eventually he was declared as a human being but unfortunately died before the announcement was made. After watching this movie I realize that if artificial intelligent robots existed today they would have to fight for their rights. Even they can be caring towards humans and the technology they can create could possibly save lives, artificial intelligent robots will never be accepted in society. Artificial intelligent robots will be seen as a machine that helps its owner in whatever it was ordered to do.

Response to group one questions.

Today technology has become very powerful in our society. It helps people interact with each other from a long distance. It can also give answers to whatever question a person looks up. I believe that we have become very dependent on technology and that a new social norm can be created by using the internet. In my opinion there is already pieces of a social norm on the internet that includes all the social media websites. If the social media websites combined into one giant server then every aspect needed to create a social norm would be met. People would express their feelings by tweeting and would show off on Instagram. People also would chat and share photos through the Facebook portion of the super website. Eventually communicating online would become so normal to people that talking to someone in person would seem outdated and odd. The dangerous part about an inclusive society online is the news coverage from the media. The media always makes a story look more interesting then it seems and sometimes even makes people look good or bad. Also the media can influence people by covering videos that go viral. In my experience I have witnessed some of my friends say jokes or dance a certain way due to a video that went viral on some social media website. Also during the presidential elections I have witnessed the media only cover one candidate and make them look good which influences people’s decision on who to vote for. The media only wants people to think what they want them to think. They can make a certain drug that helps a lot of medical patients get better quick seem very bad and dangerous. In order to combat the media’s false claims and biased reports people have to vocalize their opinion. The way to vocalize an opinion in a virtual social norm is to become an activist and get active with the community. An activist can utilize technology by overcoming the challenge of getting their opinion out to the world of what is actually true or not. Also since posting online can be anonymous, activists no longer have to face the challenge of being arrested just for vocalizing the truth about certain things our government uses the media to hide. Also social media can aid activists in overcoming the challenge of contacting other activists around the world that fight for the same thing they fight for. Technology has also allowed activists to influence and recruit other people across the world.  Finally activists can use technology to create blogs and post their opinions and let the world know what type of social norm they can create with the help of a large amount of people.

I thought the movie Blade Runner displayed excellent morality between the Blade Runners and Replicas. Replicas are advanced humans that are stronger, faster, have no emotions and smarter than the regular human. The downside to Replicas is their lifespan of four years which was genetically modified into them because the humans are scared of Replicas developing emotions and thoughts which could allow the Replicas to overthrow the human race. Overtime Replicas eventually develop emotions and thoughts which ultimately pushes the Replicas to violent means against their creator. To combat the Replicas, special policeman called Blade Runners were trained in killing Replicas. In the movie a Blade Runner named Deckar is forced out of retirement to hunt down four deadly Replicas who killed twenty four people in the attempt to travel to earth. Replicas are banned on earth but on the planet Nexus 6 they are free. The law states that all Replicas on earth must be retired (killed) but the Blade Runner does not believe in that law. He says that if a Replica has not done something wrong then it is not his problem. In my opinion Deckar shows morality because he realizes that banning someone from a place just because they are different is wrong. Also in my opinion I think Deckar knows that every species can be violent and evil not just Replicas. But due to the Replica’s actions he ends up killing all four of them. The Blade Runner protects a mysterious Replica named Rachael who he fell in love with. Rachael was a project that the Replica creator created. Rachael was given memories and emotions at birth. Even though she is illegal on earth Deckar does not see here as a threat. In the end, Deckar only killed Replicas if they did something wrong. Rachael didn’t do anything wrong so Deckar ignored the law. However, the other four Replicas commited murder which caused Deckar to carry out the law.