I found San Junipero to be so interesting especially because it seems to be set in the 80s and I LOVE 80s movies. The music was well curated and even though I didnt live in the 80s it still felt nostalgic to me. The premise of San Junipero is that the dead can live in a simulated reality where they are their younger selves. It was a very interesting concept and reminds me so much of the matrix in a way. Its also so interesting to see that Yorkie is experiencing all these emotions and feelings while in this reality which makes me wonder how this is any different from true reality. The Entire History of You was more exciting for me because it felt way more closer to reality and what is possible. Contact lenses that record your entire life is absurdly scary especially because they dont allow you to be in the moment and enjoy yourself. You go back and relive terrible experiences or moments that worry you because you’re trying to figure out what went wrong just like Liam was doing in the beginning when his work appraisal went poorly. The story escalates tremendously through the course of the episode and it feels like the essence of life which is all about living in the moment and NOT allowing the past to haunt you is gone. Although the Grain helps Liam find out his wife cheated on him it brings more issues up than solutions. This made me think about my life and whether I would want to have a Grain and I definitely would not. I prefer to live my life knowing what I am supposed to know and if i had the grain my curiosity would ruin me.

The authors of Understanding Rhetoric walk us through the history of the word and its deeper meanings. What is rhetoric exactly? Rhetoric comes from the greek word Eiro which means to say. But it is far more than just speaking. It is a culmination of logic, memories, and feelings. It is as they say “ a way of THINKING about how we talk that takes into consideration the entire situation in which that talk takes place”. They walk us through the understanding of rhetoric through two lenses one which posits it as a negative state of thinking who Plato so famously believed that teaching rhetoric was to instruct a student in ways of deception rather than betterment of their state of conversation. Luckily Aristotle came along and flipped the script. Aristotle believed that rhetoric was a vital tool in putting across a broad range of ideas. I agree with Aristotle and believe that rhetoric is a integral tool of thinking and speaking so as to persuade and enlighten an audience to your thoughts and claims. Rhetoric is split into three categories. Ethos, logos, and pathos which respectively represent ethics, logic, and empathy. These three concepts need to be considered to be an effective communicator because they target the most sensitive parts of our psyche when listening to a claim somebody is making. I like to think of rhetoric as a structurally sound plan. You must target all important aspects of the idea from different perspectives so that you cover all grounds for which somebody may try to challenge your claim. If an idea of yours is of value and you strive to convince somebody of it then you should make sure it comes across logically sound while also ethically intact. The last aspect of your claim that needs to be clear but a bit more difficult to quantify is the empathetic chord it strikes within the person receiving this claim. If you cover all three concepts then you can rest easy knowing that you presented a complete argument.

The Offspring is a quite interesting episode about the development of a new artificial intelligent life created by Data who itself is the first android in the Star Trek series. He creates what he calls Lal from a series of neural network copies of his system and knowledge database. Lal is referred to as his child as Data feels that he is passing on his legacy and uniqueness as a species but Picard feels this was a grave mistake. Creating a new life form bothers him because Data was once a unique being and now that he has created life it brings up a slew of ethical questions. The step forward in technological AI development is what worries the admiral of the Starfleet because it is a huge stride in the field. This stride has been done in secret by Data and it primarily worries the Starfleet that this transition will end their control over all technological development. More importantly they understand how dangerous it can be if there are more androids which can be stolen by enemies who may use them for destruction. This relates so clearly with how technology is developing at this very moment in time. Artificial intelligence is highly researched and developed but where can a society begin to draw the line on the ethics of the matter. How can we teach a system to think for itself and expect it to abide by our strict system of behavioral mannerisms and ethical judgments. The more developed as a society the more control we lose on the things we create. In my field AI seeks to help aid in the processing needs we require to read and analyze data. There are many things that programs aid us in completing exponentially faster and ultimately i can see a future where AI should focus on improving those practices. It worries me that AI could become destructive that is why it should be monitored closely so that it functions within the parameters of what we require it to do.