Friday, October 31, 2008

Why the Future doesnt need us.

What is Joy's thesis? How/can humans avoid becoming obsolete and/or unnecessary? How are institutions contributing to this "inevitability?" How would Huxley respond to Joy's article? What rhetorical strategies does Joy employ in his piece? Do you think Joy is a fear monger? Comment on Joy's use of literary devices. How do they contribute to the message/meaning of the piece as a whole? How does this article connect to BNW?


--Answers--


In the article "Why the Future doesn't need us" Bill joy describes the way the human race will live within the next 20 years or so. Due to the fact that technology is advancing so fast humans will become more dependent on the technology advancement such as the creation of the robots. By taking technology to this extent humans will become obsolete or unnecessary because robots will do all of the work. In order for this to stop before it gets to out of hand humans have to come together to find a better way to depend on themselves more often.

Computers, cell phones and cars are converting into something dangerous right before the eyes of people and the people don't seem to understand. Institutions are contributing to this inevitability because they are not trying to stop it in anyway, in fact they are the ones to blame for the extreme technology in its growing rate. Huxley would be a happy man to know that technology is taking over. In his book he uses the advancement of technology to create the brave new world and he would believe that the progression that it is taking on would lead to what he thinks is the right way.




Huxley would use this to satire technology in his novel. “I already knew that new technologies like genetic engineering and nanotechnology were giving us the power to remake the world, but a realistic and imminent scenario for intelligent robots surprised me.” In the article Joy states those words; to me it seems as if it is a rhetorical strategy. Joy leaves minds puzzled as to what is going to happen next in the world around us.



Honestly I do believe that Joy is a fear monger because he brought up the subject of human extinction as if it was nothing. Joy knows what is going to happen in the future and knows what to look out for, but people like us have no clue and he wanted to have the rest of the humans with fear in their heart because they do not know what is going to happen next to them. Are we going to be alive within the next 20 or so years? What is going to happen to the human race? It’s all in our minds as fear.

Joy uses many literary devices such as foreshadowing and imagery to enhance his article as a whole. He foreshadows the future's progression by describing the robots and the things that will happen to the human race if we depend more on technology. Imagery is used to paint the picture of the future. The two commend on his piece of work because it makes it more intense as to what is going to happen in the future.

Joy's thesis on the article and Brave New World's meaning have many similarities. Brave New World and this article connect because it is all about expanding the technology. Both of them have a scientific break through and the technology is trying to control the society.