Conversations about ethics and racism, A.I. and algorithmic ideologies

As stated by great Martin Luther King, Jr “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”, I kind of related to this awesome episode of TNG’s ‘The Measure of a Man’. The way Data initially reacts to being told he has no rights. He takes what would for any man be a reason for outrage and instead approaches the situation purely with logic. He has strong opinions on the matter, but he doesn’t get upset, because that’s outside the scope of his ability to react. His reaction is based solely on the logical argument for his self-protection and his uniqueness. And at the end, after he has won, he holds no ill will toward Maddox. Indeed, he can sort of see where Maddox is coming from. Overall, I agree with the fact that all beings are created but that does not necessarily make them the property of their creator and since no one is owned, everyone has the right to make their own decisions regarding their life.

Safiya Umoja Noble’s ‘Algorithms of Oppression’ is interested in the consequences of the cultural transition of digital technology from visionary to the framework of everyday life. Although Noble focuses mostly on Google and its parent company, Alphabet, her argument applies literally to Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress. Noble explains how Google replicates the harsh material history against black women through the mechanisms that operate its search engines and advertising policies. Although her primary focus is on the relationships between Google and black American women, her argument always has an eye on other historical forms of oppression. It may be that the monopoly of Google and similar infotech corporations have grown large enough to creep into all public life or it may be that the racial, gendered, sexual, and classed social life have traditionally targeted black women in America so particularly that there are very few oppressive tactics that have not been applied to black women at some point or another. In any case, Noble always has an eye on a wider public while she attends to the historical differences of American black communities.

References:

https://via.hypothes.is/https://writing4engineers2019.commons.gc.cuny.edu/wp-content/blogs.dir/6105/files/2019/01/SAFIYA-NOBLE.pdf

The Tiny Swiss Company That Thinks It Can Help Stop Climate Change

The New York Times published an article on Feb 12, 2019 on the same topic as above by Jon Gertner where it states that the two European entrepreneurs want to remove carbon from the air at prices cheap enough to matter. Over a period, many scientists around the globe have warned on this very concerning term ‘Climate Change’. It is a change in the statistical distribution of weather pattern, which remains for a longer period around decades of years, in a certain area. Affecting or gradually changing the pattern of life, flora and fauna of that area, and leading towards the destruction of Mother Nature. The reason behind this are some biotic processes, variation in the solar radiation received by earth, volcanic eruptions and one of the major causes is the human interruption or activities.

The research made by various scientists put a light on causes of climate change, in late 19^th century scientists started arguing that human emission of greenhouse gases can be the cause behind climate change, at that time many other theories were there like solar radiation and volcanic eruption. But in 1960’s research results started indicating that the heating effect of carbon dioxide is the major cause. In 1970’s scientific research widely accepted the heating effect of carbon dioxide, in 1990’s with the development of computer systems and other advanced techniques, it was confirmed that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide etc., are the causes behind climate change. After industrial revolution there is 40% increase in these gases, these gases are also produced from automobiles and other sources.

Through this article, I came to know the fact that carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be removed from the air for commercial purposes which safeguards the future of humanity. They have built ‘direct air capture’ machines which collects CO₂  and once trapped it would be siphoned into large tanks and trucked to a local Coca-Cola bottler where it would become the fizz in a soft drink. The captured carbon dioxide from the air is also passed via pipeline to an enormous greenhouse nearby, where it was plumping up tomatoes, eggplants and so on which significantly is very ecofriendly. This process requires huge investment and energy, so they are trying to gain a commercial base to sell their CO₂ to agricultural or beverage companies. The company’s main goal for air capture isn’t to turn it into a product but to pull huge amount of CO₂ out of the atmosphere and bury it.

By these researches people are getting aware of the reasons behind the changing scenarios of climate change and can take measures to have a sustainable place to lead life in future, and conserve Mother Nature.

References:

Click here

Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing, this book seems to be first of its kind in composition and rhetoric which is a writing textbook presented in the form of a comic book. The book bids a contradictory message, while it is composed in the form of a comic book, it tries to teach mostly print-based writing. Understanding Rhetoric suggests an interest in textual, visual, and artistic aspects of composing. It lists four authors: two are teachers and scholars in rhetoric and writing (Losh is the director of the Culture, Art, and Technology program at the University of California, San Diego, and Alexander is director of the Center of Excellence in Writing and Communication at the University of California, Irvine); Kevin and Zander Cannon (not related to each other) are established artists and cartoonists. The illustrations and overall approach as a comic book are visually interesting and informative. In terms of structure, the book presents seven chapters, or “Issues” each chapter is color-coded and includes a three-part structure, first section in which the teachers present an issue and “illustrate” it with examples; a second section, titled “Reframe with Luis and Cindy,” in which two imaginary freshman students work through an assignment; and finally, a two-page “assignments” section that proposes a sampling of possible class projects inspired by the chapter’s content.

The main idea is Rhetoric analysis where terms are, Ethos which is the credibility of the speaker, Pathos which is the use of emotion in debate, Logos which is appeal to reason and Kairos which is timing. In the second section, titled “Reframe with Luis and Cindy, when Luis was writing an email for the class that he would miss, he wrote in an insulted manner where he doesn’t mention why he needs to be gone and instead he was implying that her class time might not be important in insulted manner. But later Cindy tells Luis about the rhetorical writing and analyzes all the proper writing for the email he sent which was much better way of writing.