Daniel Argueta Period 6 08/30/13 Gardner Summary and Analysis Howard Gardner argues that, in the debate over technological advancement and declining literacies, we might soon be entering a new era of literacy that we cannot now envision due to technologies yet to be invented. Literacy is a concern for some experts but others believe that the Internet is just a stepping stone to a greater age of literacy. According to the doomsayers computers are extinguishing literacy. For instance: low reading scores, less leisure reading time, and half the adult population reading no books in a year support the doomsayers’ claims. However, optimists believe that the Internet will bring in a new culture of words.
Shirky starts by revealing the case about how our new technology has enabled amateurs to make a large number of average grade information and products, lowering our levels of what is considered acceptable. Shirky then provides horrid predictions of the future caused by the collapse of culture. He adds that these fears are actually true and have been around for a long period of time, proving this claim through historical references of the Guttenberg’s press and the Protestant reformation. Shirky shifts to focus on the importance of the innovations that occur after: the new norms are increasingly made the “intellectual output” of society. In the article Shirky establishes the point that we are now going through a similar growth in our publishing capability as we had in our past.
This Fleeting World: A Short History of Humanity By David Christian Summer Reading assignment: Prequel (pp. xx-xxviii); pp. 1-92 Reading Guide The first thing you’ll notice about This Fleeting World is that it moves fast! But don’t worry; it’s not meant to tell you everything you need to know about human history. Rather, this book provides broad brushstrokes, noting the most significant ”threshold moments” that changed the way we have lived on Earth.
I want to work less and enjoy life more—and I’m not alone. There’s a whole movement afoot with the same goal in mind. A Slow movement that, ironically enough, is quickly working its way into mainstream thought. Last year, a London- based journalist named Carl Honoré explored the philosophy in his book In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed . Examining the push to take it easy, from the Italian-born Slow Food and Slow Cities movements to the increasing acceptance of alternative health practices such as Traditional Chinese Medicine, Honoré insists that a slower way of life is a better way of life for anyone determined enough to hit the brakes.
As a matter of fact, Microsoft Word interchanges these words, as if they represented the same idea. For W.E.B. Du Bois, progress and improvement had two completely different meanings, and when he returned to his old community, ten years later, he witnessed somewhat superficial improvements, not progress, which Du Bois defined as having the imagination and the drive to improve the mind. Several families had improved their lives by living in bigger houses or owning more land; these changes did not meet Du Bois’s definition of progress because they were superficial. Both Josie’s family and Rueben had moved into larger houses.
Techniques such as evidence and assumptions are used in this essay to persuade readers. However, though it is an engaging piece of work, it cannot persuade me to support his proposition. "Bring Back Flogging" was published on February 20, in 1997 in the Boston Globe. In this essay, Jeff Jacoby describes the weak points of today's criminal justice system, and claims that flogging should be our option because it is a much quicker, cheaper, educational and effective way than imprisonment. In his argument, Jacoby does furnish a good amount of evidence, yet he seems to choose many wrong proofs.
Josh Haning Mr. Rogers English Final 05/31/2011 Us Stupid Google Making Is As times change, so must our methods of dealing with them. The evolution of media has changed the way we absorb information from writing to radio to television and so on. During these trans-formative periods, skills are lost and skills are gained; but to label the internet as the catalyst for the degeneration of our intelligence goes a bit too far. In his article ”Is Google Making Us Stupid” Nicholas Carr argues that, in its current form, the internet is not conducive to the kind of deep thought required when reading a long article or novel. He feels that while the internet is extremely useful, it is designed to distract as opposed to focus the mind.
Cody Janowski 12/2/10 English Comp Assignment 4 The Internet has undoubtedly changed the way people live their lives. Any information we could possibly want- and more- is at our disposal, and has made life for us incredibly convenient and easy; some, however, might say too easy. One of these people is Nicholas Carr, author of the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” featured in the July/August 2008 edition of The Atlantic. Carr argues that the Net seems to be slowly demolishing our abilities to concentrate on one subject, as well as contemplate information, based on the ease of access to everything the Internet provides today. I agree with Carr to an extent; however I would say that his theory most certainly does not apply to everyone.
MEX Progress Paradox: How Life gets better while people feel worse was a book written by Greg Easterbrook. The book was featured in the Time Magazine for his excellence in writing it. In his book, Easterbrook explains how we have more advanced technology, more freedom, and the highest standard of living in America, but we are still not satisfied and feel worse as the years pass by. One constant theme in The Progress Paradox is no matter what we have, we always want more. When buy things, it may satisfy you for a while, but eventually you will want more.
| Annotated Bibliography | Date of Submission: 17th December 2010 | | | Anza Shaikh42554ENG 204Section 24 | Anderson, S.(2009). In Defense of Distraction. Retrieved from http://stoweboyd.com/post/823625133/in-defense-of-distraction-by-sam-anderson In this article Anderson talks about how distraction could be beneficial to an individual and how it makes a person better than others. He says that distraction and focus are symbiotic. The author hasn’t cited any source but he does refer to a hypotheses where he mentions how ADHD patients are better than the normal people .The author also refers to Dr. Gary Small, a scientist, who says that our brain is changing faster than ever and researchers say that we are picking up new skills