Ex Machina

Wow! I really wasn't expecting this movie to be so mind blowing. I was really fascinated by the plot of the story. It actually got me thinking about what can actually happen in life if artificial intelligence was really this advanced. Maybe it already it is. This movie had a lot of advanced technology, that might be already out to the public, but the only one who can afford them are rich people. I would actually find it interesting to have a AI that was conscious, although it can be scary because you never know what it could be capable of. AI can be fascinating to some people because it would be something no one has ever seen before. On the other hand, people can be afraid of it because it can be capable of killing others like it did to its creator in the end of the movie. Overall, this movie was awesome and I recommend to anyone that is fascinated by technology.

1) The four ways that types of body rhetoric are embodied argumentation, street theater, rhetoric style, and vibe as bodily emanation. Embodied argumentation describes how are our body can be used as an argument. Street theater describes political protests such as protests. Rhetorical style describes the overall look and feel of our communicative gestures. Vibe as bodily emanation describes the energy that emanates from our bodies. 

2) The four ways that bodily argumentation expands the realm of rhetoric are call to action, provides more rhetorical options, empowering, and highlights the craft of everyday life. They are essential in an argument because they give normal everyday people more power when it comes to standing up for themselves. 

3) The five steps for cultivating style are observation, reflection, experimentation, and application. Observation lets us just look at yours and other styles of communication. Reflection is the time you need to judge what you observe and consider the pros and cons of the different ways of communication. Experimentation lets you test styles of communication in order to figure out what suites you. Finally, application lets you apply those styles in a real situation where you will have no control over which style you want to use, instead the style will just come out naturally. 

4) Individual body arguments are when you use your body in order to make arguments. Collective body arguments are when you go to protests and commit actions. Many people use individual body arguments in order to raise awareness to the public. I have seen people use tattoos as a way to write a message to the public. 

The Power of Language

1) Communication plays a big role in society. The way people communicate with each other is through language. Language plays a big role because it allows people to understand each other. Language is a verbal sound or gesture movement that allows two or more objects to communicate with each other. Language is different throughout the world, therefore not everyone can have the same perspective on a subject. Sometimes language can be manipulate to the point where someone can say something in order to influence other peoples decisions. The media uses this a lot in order to get people to agree on their view. The way the media uses language is by only covering parts of a story they want others to know about. 

2) The five guidelines to language are to identify the language, address the context, draw out the social and political implications, provide an alternative language, and circulate your analysis. Although those are the simple guidelines to language, not everyone follows them. People don’t follow them because they're too lazy, don’t know how, or are easily persuaded. In my opinion, the only ones how would not be able to follow guidelines are people who are not educated. On the other hand there are a couple of people who do follow them, like myself. We follow them by thinking critically on who and what we choose to believe. 

3) In the novel 1984 the quote "War is peace; Freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength" the author Orwel is trying to show how much power the government has over the people. The government is in charge of everything and the people have no say. The government believe that war would solve everything, but in reality it would lead to an endless war. In addition, the people following the government don't ever stop to think about the actions made by the government. The language in social media follows that quote by allowing people to believe only what that government believes. Popular news show cast only unimportant news in order to avoid people being aware of the actions the government is doing.

4) The media influences the world using propaganda by allowing people to believe what someone is saying just because it is popular. People in the world follow the most popular trends and believe what they see on television or social media just because it is popular. How popular something is can sometimes determine whether something is credible or not. 

Labors of the Multitude

1)     Technology has become so popular that people use it all the time now. Television used to be the main distraction for people but now it has become replaced by the internet. Technology has not only changed the way of living for people but it has changed the way people communicate with one another. Social media is the main source behind the way people communicate with each other. Since people are too lazy and feel the need to not write properly, they use abbreviations or slang words to send a message or write a post faster. People do this all the time that they begin to feel accustomed to it and when they go back to school or anywhere in public, they bring that type of writing with them. People use slang words or improper English when they talk to each other. In addition, people who have to speak in public do not speak in a manner that would get the audience interested due to the choice of words the speaker has chosen. Technology is changing human language and nobody seems to change anything about it.

2)     The four rhetorical approaches are persuasion, argumentation, storytelling, and invitation. Persuasion is when you are trying to change someone’s opinion about something that they may disagree about. The media uses persuasion by asserting ads of some sort to change people’s opinion about something. For example, they can be promoting a vitamin drink that can make people lose weight. Argumentation is when you try to stand behind your point and using different tactics to prove your opinion correct. The news media uses argumentation whenever they want the public to view only their side of any story. Story telling is when you tell a story to someone and they do the same. Story telling usually changes the concept of the story because everyone can tell it differently. Social media uses story telling a lot whenever it comes to sharing and posting things on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Invitation is a non-persuasive approach that just introduces a topic to the public in order to choose the best plan or outcome of any situation. Social media uses invitation by allowing people want a change in the world to be noticed by the public, which will allow them to get support based on the peoples own opinion.

3)     As a male I never noticed how much of advantage had over females just because of my gender. The challenge I had to respond to was the wage gap between genders. I responded to it by supporting women groups on social media and helping get the word out to the public. 

Bicentennial Man

If there is a movie that can possibly show us a theory about how robots can be then it would it be Bicentennial Man from 1999. The movie is about a civilization where robots live among humans. In the movie, robots were introduced to humans as household servants that would work by a command of its owner. Unfortunately, we are in the year 2016 and there are no robots like that in the movie. Andrew Martin the main robot from the film is an extraordinary robot. Andrew is the robot that humans to this day fear. Humans fear that robots will soon begin to build feelings and want to feel more like a human. They also fear that their jobs would be at risk. In my opinion, I am not against treating robots as if they were human as long as they were able to have and feel the same abilities as a human. Andrew thought the same way that is why he went on and starting making artificial human organs. This part of the film shows the benefits of having a robot with such intelligence as Andrew. The science and health field will benefit by all the out breaking discoveries robots would be able to achieve. I would love to live in a world where diseases due to organ failure would no longer be a problem to people. I really loved this movie because it can show us what the future would be like if we actually invested our time and money trying to develop such a thing. This movie also taught me a lesson about possibilities. Andrew fought for his right to be considered human and even though he was welcomed into society by the government that did not stop him. Andrew always fought for what he wanted and in the end, it paid off. This shows that anything is possible; you just have to keep trying and never give up. I really recommend this movie to anyone who wants to change the world. 

A Call to Rhetorical Action

1)      How might technology today help us build a new, inclusive social norm?

Technology can aid us by assisting humans with challenges they face. Technology can help us fill in the gaps where we as humans cannot accomplish alone.

2)      In what ways does the media ignore or falsify our movements and actions?

The media ignores our movements our action by using technology or celebrities to distract the public. Technology is used by allowing people to distract themselves with entertainment found on the internet. Celebrities’ problems are announced more to the public then real-world problems such as war.

3)      How can technology help us overcome the five contemporary challenges activists face?

1.       Creating decentered movements

2.       Developing new forms of leadership

3.       Learning to communicate across contexts

4.       Understanding cultural differences

5.       Dealing with the media juggernaut

Technology can help us overcome the five contemporary challenges by improving on things humans lack. One of the things humans lack is leadership. Leadership can be taught to humans by simple classes by instructors. Technology can help us in this aspect by helping us figure out easier ways to teach people leadership skills. Technology can also make communication between people. If communication between people improves, it can help us with most of our challenges. Better communication can help us with dealing with people with different cultural backgrounds. Many people with different cultural backgrounds seek the same issues to be resolved. Communication can also help unite people so they can defeat the media. The media tries to stop humans facing real problems, therefore if technology advances it will be easier for real world problems to be shared with people.   

Blade Runner

Technology is advancing every day. It is moving so fast that soon enough we will be having artificial intelligence living with humans. It’s weird how we are not there yet, even though people back in the 1900 thought, we would be. In the movie, "Blade Runner" AI has gotten to the level where it is living among humans. In the movie, the future did not look how people would expect to look like. The movie is said to be taking place in the year 2019. In the movie, the setting takes place in the city, but the city looks like it has gone through some terrible times. There is barely any light coming through and it looks dirty. It seems as civilization is going through some type of depression. The main character Decker is a blade runner, which is someone who kills replicants. Replicants are artificial intelligence that look like humans, but do not feel emotions. In order to find a replicant, they are put through a test where a series of questions are asked to them in order to see whether their pupils change shape. If the pupil changes shape, it will indicate if the replicant is human or artificial intelligence. The reason why replicant are sent to be killed, which is the reason why people today fear AI, is that they became serial killers. Although this movie has an awesome plot, people might get the wrong idea about AI. People fear AI because they believe they would eventually try to exterminate the human race. Although this can be a possibility, it is not the only possibility. My reason for writing this post is to ensure people can happily accept AI into society, if AI ever becomes so advances that they look like a competition to humans. In my opinion, AI can actually help improve the human life. They can help us discover medicine, fix economic problems, and possibly make the world peaceful. In my idea of the future, we live happily among AI. Everyone has different views of the future, so we cannot be sure our future would be like in the movie. Let us accept AI with open arms because we never know what happens.