Critical Thinking Blog Assignment #5

For this assignment, I chose to "The Terminator" because I have never seen it before and it might seem interesting. Well since this movie came out about twenty years ago I think it would be terrifying the idea of robots because it was a creation for destruction and murder. Arnold Schwarzenegger played the lead role in this movie as the terminator himself. According to IMDb, he was indestructible robot who was sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress whose unborn son will lead humanity into a war against humans. It is terrifying to me because the waitress has no idea why he was sent to terminate her and now she is fighting for her life from something that cannot be stopped nor destroyed.
I don't think robots become acceptable by people because in almost every film something goes wrong and the bots turn evil and try to dominate the human race which is something anyone can fear. Maybe the people who are actually more into technology than into humanities have some type of hope for robots. As for the humanities side we still kind of have our guards up against the whole idea.
We might accept accept robots in the future and the promise of technology if it would actually benefit us in many ways. Well it maybe will be since humanities depends on technology for almost every single thing on this earth, (communication, electricity, medical, transportation,etc). But it still lurks in your mind the idea of bots taking over and humans are under their hands instead. Food for thought.

Critical Thinking Blog Assignment #4

When General Motors created Futurama, they envisioned a world filled with cars, building and highways. They showed a world filled with great wonders and it's positive effects. But during these grand promotions, why didn't they include the important details like the effect it would have on the planet and us. Based on historical documents, photos and several articles, I will agree that the inventors of the Futurama and similar exhibits at the 1939-40s World's Fair bear some responsibilities to the cause of the problem of global warming by promoting a vision of suburbia that relied on cars and consumerism.
David Gelernter states, "Many people still can't afford the suburbs; but please let's contemplate, just for a moment, the vast numbers who can. Their lives are not sheer heaven on earth. By and large they are merely comfortable." ( Gelernter 28) This is an interesting and important quote because he signifies that the rich that can afford the life style that the Futurama presented aren't even happy about it, they just have it because they can.
Another quote that can support my argument is in Kenneth Buttons article, Transport and Global Warming Gases. "More important, if indeed emissions of CO2 are harmful for the well being of future generations, is that these gases be limited in an efficient way. This may mean more or less transportation. It is quite possible that society, given a choice, may opt for increased use of transport with cutbacks in the use of carbon based fuels else where in the economy" (Button 100). We the people can make a significant difference in the reductions of global warming gases by simply transporting less or using different kind of fuel. But this is the kind of future the Futurama promoted for America, now the future generations must pay the price.