Future Eng 103 students - Highly Important.

So managing your time is HIGHLY IMPORTANT. I can't even begin to express how important it is. These assignments are pretty easy and short - yes that's a benefit but at the same time don't underestimate them. They are easy tasks but it is honestly best to get it done with as soon as the assignment is given. The work load is not too hard, just as long as you manage your time. Always try and get things done ahead of time. The blogs aren't difficult - as long as you understand the readings. The Research paper requires a LOT of time and a lot of your attention. Devote yourself. It will be worth it in the end :)
Lexis Nexus and Gale Virtual Reference library will be your best friends for this class. All the information that you need can be obtained through these cites. Good luck :)

Blog Assignment 8 - Course Reflection

During my first semester of college, I had taken English 101, English 103, Philosophy 101, Psychology 101, and Liberal Arts 110. In English 101, we were given many assignments to write and read about. Before this class, I never used to even think about robotics, human cloning, or any other technology. However, during the duration of this class it was bought to my attention that things like this are possible. Beginning this class, I was leaning more towards humanities rather than the sciences. It still remains that way but with a different approach. While taking philosophy with Professor Brown, it dawned on me how much of an interest I have for this class. Psychology is also a passion for me, but not as much as philosophy is.

English 101 has helped improve my writing skills as well as helping me use more responsible source cites, rather than just using Google. Essays and imaginative texts can actually be helpful in a scientific approach – something I would never have guessed. Before this class, I used to think scientific essays were boring and that it wouldn’t interest me as much. However, now it actually does seem quite interesting and does appeal to me (not a lot but definitely more than it used to before). I feel as if now, my writing is maturing and not just words – my essays actually have meaning into what I say now. My writing has improved a lot if I must say so myself. I used to jump from one topic to another and leave the first topic unexplained; very bad habit.

College level writing is no joke – it’s not like I can just put a bunch of words together and make it work, I have to follow a format now. Sometimes it’s difficult to remember this but it’s worth it in the end. :)

Blog Assignment 7

The text that I chose was A Number by Caryl Churchill. This imaginative text dramatizes cloning and how nature vs. nurture plays a role. Salter (the father) cloned his own son for his own reasons and purposes. He figured by cloning his son, he would be able to fix the mistakes that he had committed in the past. However, things did not end as well as Salter predicted nor wanted it to end. There were many questions that this play questioned.  Two of the many questions that A Number brings upon are: 1) Is cloning ethical? 2) What are the real benefits of cloning if there are any?
For question number 1 Churchill seems to think cloning is sufficient as well as harmful. The ending of this play is upsetting. Churchill seems to believe that cloning someone without their permission is nothing but disaster. He does (in some ways) leave it up to the readers to decide how to feel about cloning and whether it is ethical or not. It is an intriguing question; there never seems to be a correct answer.
For the second question, Churchill does not really show that there are any benefits of cloning. It almost felt as if he was pessimistic about cloning – especially without the persons’ consent. Churchill seems to view cloning as a danger to society because of the things they are capable of after finding out they are clones. It is not a settling topic to find out that the life you were living was due to an unnatural cause.

Blog Assignment 6

"...machines can readily share their knowledge. As unenhanced humans we do not have the means of sharing the vast patterns of inter-neuronal connections and neurotransmitter-concentration levels that compromise our learning, knowledge, and skills, other than through slow, language-based communication" (Kurzweil 138).

In this quote, Kurzweil is stating that robots are better to have due to their ability of memorizing things. He believes they will help humans in numerous ways and help us with numerous things. Here he is saying that a robots memory will already be programmed and we won’t have to worry about memorizing anything because our memory is faulty anyways. He truly believes that humans have a weak memory since our memory is based on speech while machines are programmed to memorize things, as stated earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clW2ySP_6MA&NR=1

In this video, it is showing how having robots can benefit us. This man had lost his hand and it had been replaced with this robotic like hand. However, it does not fully feel as if though he is even without a real human hand. The robotic hand actually helps the name with things that a human hand can do. It helps him eat, write, cook, grab on to things, etc. It benefited him in a lot of ways. It helps him feel as if though he did not even lose a hand. Maybe robots or machines are a good thing for this world, but then again maybe they are not. It all depends on how you look at it and what you believe.

My ENG 103 Research Plan # 1

My thesis statement is . . .

Based on several sources, I will argue that the portrayed version of John Nash's schizophrenia in A Beautiful Mind is largely accurate in its' protrayal of his symptoms and treatment.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

I really need more cites from articles and I need to use the proper MLA citation. That's pretty much it.

Blog Assignment 5

I am somewhat in the middle when it comes to robots. I mean they can benefit us in many ways but at the same time, they can do more harm than good. The positive attributes of robots is that it can help us in difficult tasks or tasks that most of us humans now-a-days just wish not to do anymore. Pretty much be our cure to our laziness :) However, I am truly terrified that robots will take over man kind one day which is why I am pessimistic about robots. Yeah, I do believe in some of the things that happens in movies - it's crazy.

In The Singularity is Near written by Ray Kurzweil, he is an extreme optimistic person about robots. He feels they'll benefit us in numerous ways. He feels that, " the 21st century will be characterized by three overlapping revolutions -- in Genetics, Nanotechnology, and Robotics" (Kurzweil 115). His main thoughts when it came to robots was how they could benefit us with medicine. It's true; robots would be a great use for biological purposes.

However, not everyone feels that robots are all that great. in Dream-Logic, The Internet and Artificial Thought written by David Gelernter, he believes that robots will do more damage than good. He feels that they are going to take over our mind.

Sample Research Paper Thoughts

I will be careful about using sentences like "I believe..." or "I find..." on my research paper. Pretty much try and stay away from "I" all together. I liked that this research paper was pretty well organized and it was easy to read. Most research papers are usually all over the place because of all the thoughts people come up with. I will try to refrain from going down that path with my research paper. I liked how this research paper carefully used the quotes and explained the quotes using proper terms.

Blog Assignment 4

The Internet has changed the way the world and mind think today. it has evolved to benefit us as well as corrupt us. the Internet alone is not the only product that is evolving; technology is as well. With these two evolutions in our daily lives, our mind is being vastly affected. The Internet is damaging our attention spans and interfering with our ability to think. I agree with this statement because in the article "Is Google Making Us Stupid" by Nicholas Carr, a lot of good points were made to prove this statement to be true. The internet, in this modern time, is distracting us humans and affecting us greatly. The internet seems to  be taking over our ability to think for ourselves. Nicholas Carr states, "I'm not thinking the way I used to think" (19). Here Carr is explaining how different his mind is ever since he began using the internet. However, not every write believed what Carr believes about the Internet "tinkering with his brain" (19). Steven Pinker would disagree with Carr's beliefs that the internet is taking over our mind and affecting the way we think. "The most interesting trend in the development of the internet is not how it is changing people's ways of thinking but by how is it adapting to the way that people think" (Pinker, 31). Basically he is stating that as we humans are evolving and changing, technology is as well in order to "keep up" with our changes. However, Pinker does believe that the internet is changing many aspects of our lives. According to Pinker, "Our physical folders, mail boxes, bookshelves, spread sheets, documents, media players, and so on have been replaced by software equivalents, which has affected our time budgets in countless ways. But to call it an alteration of 'how we think' is I think an exaggeration" (31). He does believe that the internet is changing our world around us, not our mind.

Lab Activity #1

The research topic that interested me is Research Paper Idea #4 - Portraying Human Minds in Film.

For this topic, I am going to work around the movie A Beautiful Mind. The main character in this movie suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. When I was in high school, my psychology teacher showed us this movie. I remember how surreal things seemed/felt for him - especially with his "job". I should probably re-watch it again since I barely remember any of it.

Blog Assignment 2

For essay #1, I will use Temple Grandin as my topic. The statement regarding this essay topic is: "Human beings do not really need emotions to connect with other human beings or animals or to behave morally with a sense of right and wrong." Do you agree or disagree?

I disagree with this statement because in order to have a certain sense of connection with an animal or human being, one does have to have some sort of "connection" which requires understanding and some sort of feeling. In order for one to even consider acknowledging how an animal or human being feels, they have to feel themselves. Even though Temple Grandin was diagnosed with Autism, she was able to have some sort of connection with the cattle. Temple may not be aware of her emotions of necessarily feel them, but she does acknowledge that she has some sort of connection with the cattle.

Eng 101 Blog Post # 1

Introduce Yourself / Are You a Science or Humanities Person?

:)

My name is Fariha and here at LaGuardia I am studying liberal arts - for the time being. Next semester I am looking forward to changing my major and going into Business Administration or accounting. Even though I am interested in majoring in Business or accounting, I am extremely fond of psychology. The way the mind works and functions fascinates me. I have had an interest in psychology since I was a Sophomore in high school. Psychology and philosophy both allow me to explore the mind and get a better understanding of why people are they way they are, why people think the way they think. I get to understand others better as well as myself. Also, I have a passion for writing. This may sound very cheesy but, writing helps me calm down. It allows me to enter my own personal world where whatever I say goes. Writing allows me to express myself in ways that I am unable to do so in reality. If I say so myself, I am very content with my current schedule because it is an introduction to the real world (in my eyes).

 I am more of a humanities person. Science does not really appeal to me as much as humanities. I do believe that psychologists, philosophers, and writers can get together and have a meaningful conversation. A psychologist and a philosopher can sit down and discuss their scientific beliefs and the writer can briefly write down whatever appeals to him/her. The writer can also interview both the psychologist and philosopher and see what similarities and differences they each have. I believe that philosophers and psychologists do have a lot in common with their beliefs. They all tie together at the end of the day.

In this cluster, Body, Mind, and Consciousness, I am looking forward to getting to know how the mind works and how certain diseases are developed. I have been highly interested in illnesses such as schizophrenia, Multiple Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, etc. I hope to learn about most of these illnesses and many more. I always question why the mind works a certain way and what makes us choose our decisions. I really do feel that this cluster and with the classes it provides me, will allow me to understand everything that comes through my mind when it comes to understanding the human mind.