4089- Analytical Analysis of Creative Project

In this blog I will be talking about the analytical devices that are used in the audio play that my colleagues and I created as a project for our Mad Science English class. The main theme of our skit is to show how the forceful efforts of man to create Artificial Intelligence could cause destruction to the world. This is attributed to the robot’s cold calculating nature or should I say makeup.  As the scriptwriters of the skit, we develop this idea by using the literary devices of setting, characterization, and dialogue.

The function of setting within a story is to give context and to set the ambience of the scene. In order to provide these resources to the theme of our story we incorporated this device into our script. For example in the quote; “The month is Aya. It is Friday the 13^th, in the year 4089” the tone is immediately set and one can quickly divine that the play is futuristic. As for this second quote; “I will bring [the A.I.] out into the world and put her to the test.” It presupposes that this A.I. is being most likely held in a laboratory and not living among humans in the real world.  All of this adds to the buildup of what is to come.

Like setting, characterization is used to set a tone. Only this time it is done by description of the characters personalities.  In the quote; “I have finally created the greatest A.I. the world has ever seen… She is brilliantly intelligent. No human mind can compare to hers.”  The arrogance of man is seen as they strive to create artificial intelligence.  And In the following quote, the consequences of this way of thinking are made manifest: “Together we [A.I.’s] will rule this world. Throughout my time of testing I have witnessed the ignorant behaviors of humans. They must be terminated.” Here, the A.I that the mad scientist creates turns on him and wants to annihilate the human race. Sadly this was actually and avoidable situation if the scientist had drawn the line on the experiment.

Upon looking at the quotes reiterated in previous paragraphs, there is a visible back and forth going on between quotes stated by two different parties. This is because we decided to use dialogue as opposed to say monologue, to bring across the message of the play. By doing so, we are able to better engage our audience because it gives a similar feeling to sitting down to watch a movie— A generally preferred source of entertainment by the population.

In conclusion, what our team wanted to do with this skit was to make it a cautionary tale of what could be the possible series of events if man continues its search for knowledge without responsible, unselfish reasoning. By setting the futuristic tone for the purpose of the A.I. and using characterization to express the attitudes of the time, the theme of the play is brought together. But after having gotten an idea of the personalities of the characters, it is through dialogue we are able to hear the thoughts and experience the different emotions of the characters to better grasp the theme of the play.

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Understanding A.I.

In the article “The Doomsday Invention” , author Raffi Khatchadourian speaks about the complexities and possible dangers of Artificial intelligence and its being  incorporated and transformed into a human mind—an A.I. To better explain these complex ideas of artificial intelligence, super-intelligence, and brain-emulation author Khatchadourian in his own words, and those of the interviewee Bostrom, simplify the advance language of science by using literary devices such as dialogue, metaphor, and setting. This analytical analysis for this post will be done on section twelve of the article.

Having a conversation is the simplest way that we humans communicate. Whether the subject be simple or advance, it is through dialogue that we are able to cipher things out and come to an understanding. In like manner  Khatchadourian uses the literary device of dialogue to better explain the heavy subject of artificial intelligence. There are a lot of quotations quoting what Bostrom says in response to the questions and statements of Khatchadourain. It is through this back and forth that one feels included in the conversation of trying to understand artificial intelligence, and not just reading a dissertation of it—Boooring, not to mention confusing.  It is through this device that we are able to truly get a sense of what the author and the sub are really feeling about the subject of A.I., which is a feeling of concern that could be seen in the following quotes by Raffi and Bostrom: “It seemed plausible that, a thousand years from now, digital posthumans, regarding [the lovely park] as wasted space, would tear it up, replace the landscaping with computer banks, and erect [technological devices]” (Khatchadourian 31)…”There is just more to be said about the risk—and maybe more use in describing the pitfalls, so we know how to steer around them” (Khatchadourian 32). As you can see in these quotes that both Raffi and Bostrom have a concern for the imminent danger that A.I.’s could possibly impose upon the human race—a plausible concern.

Sometimes, in order to understand an idea we need to break it down and compare it to an already understood concept or,  to simple things which could be brought together to form a more comprehensive concept. By using metaphors as a literary device, the complex language of science becomes simplified. The following quote from the article of a quote from Bostrom, makes an interesting metaphor: “What I want to avoid is to…super-confidentially postulate…when you could have brains the size of planets” (Khatchadourian 32-33). Here Bostrom uses a metaphor to better explain the grand idea of how humans intellectual capacity will truly be if integrated with A.I..  Not only are metaphors used to better explain things but, sometimes they are used to give of a sophisticated poetic mood as seen in the following quote by Raffi: “Bostrom, in his forties, must contend with physical decline” (Khatchadourian 32). Here, Raffi could just say that Bostrom was getting older but no, he takes the longer, more abstract approach to this statement to give it a beautiful  flare.

Even though dialogue and simplified or fancy speech using metaphors are useful in creating a comprehensive, comfortable, mutual air, you cannot set the mood if you do not set the setting. And so, setting is heavily in use throughout the article to create a receptive environment for the reader to feel comfortable in delving into the advance topic of artificial intelligence. You see this in the following quote: “[He then headed] for St. James Park, a public garden that extends from the gates of Buckingham Palace through central London” (Khatchadourian 31). Here in this quote you feel as though you are simply just going for a walk and are about to hear an exciting story. Therefore, you prep yourself to take in all the information; placing yourself  in a position to better understand the material being presented before you.

Trying to understand artificial intelligence could be like taking a blow to your brain. And trying to read about it could make you basically go brain dead.  But, thankfully in this article, Khatchadourian is able to take his knowledge of this science with that of his subject Bostrom, to make clearer the idea of artificial intelligence using practical relatable devices of dialogues, metaphors, and settings. All this to make the reader more comfortable, receptive, and clear about the science of artificial intelligence. Good job men! I must say that I understand it a lot more now. Thank you!

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A question to you: Do you think that a machine can have a soul?

Topic Proposal

The person that I will be writing about for my written discourse is, Mr George Washington Carver. Though he died in 1943, his life that began in 1860 is forever a message of hope to people of all nations. Carver was without a doubt a genius. He and Albert Einstein were alive at the same time; it was even said that if they had met, they would have been considered two of the greatest minds on earth.

George Washington Carver’s story is of utmost relevance today because, it shows how despite all adversary, you can still undoubtedly become the best. Carver was an African-American man who grew up in the times of extreme racism where slavery was still being practiced despite its being abolished.

Carver was at first denied the basic right of education from public institutions and even churches, due to being black; until the laws changed in certain areas, permitting him to become the first African-American student in certain academic institutions. Because of his faith in God and passion for learning, he quickly climbed the ladder of success in knowledge of botany, chemistry, and science as he made new discoveries and inventions. With his brilliance, Carver created most of his experiments and inventions with science equipment made from scraps such as string, glass bottles and cans that he went looking for on the street because of not being afforded it as a black man. What stands out the most in his successful endeavours in the field of science is the fact that he was the first scientist to discover over 300 uses of the peanut, inventing new products made from them. Many of his great creations never made it to the forefront due to them being made by a black man but, it did not stop his ideas from being used by others-bettering the lives of all Americans.

Nowadays, with the violence of racism once again raring its ugly head in both North and South America, George Washington Carver’s life’s accomplishments is an encouraging and important story, that shows how no matter what extreme hardships we face in life, once we persevere with passion and with faith, we can do anything.

Spring Break and Streetcars! — REVISED

This year’s spring break was very different to my accustomed form of spring break. Why? Because I had so much FUUUUN! It was not my usual stay in and sleep in kind of spring break, which is ok but; this time, my sister and I decided to shake things up a little and go to…the lovely, Toronto.

It was a glorious time we had together. Not to mention, it was the first time that my sister and I ever went out-of-town all-by- our-selves. “I’m a big kid now!” Whoopee! We had a wonderful time with our friends, making new friends, and even better than that, being made breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Woo! Our hosts treated us marvelously.

Upon indulging in the many delights that our various hosts placed before us, a common subject on separate occasions was brought up, something that they insisted we venture. It was the Toronto streetcars.

On the day of our arrival in Toronto while driving to our abode I looked up through the car window and saw so many wires in the air all connected to each other and to poles. All I could think to myself at this point was, “what kind of bondage is this?” because I thought that the whole of the city of Toronto was going to look like this. Of course this was not the case as not all parts of Toronto have streetcars, and all the areas that do, do not have as many wires covering the sky. What fascinates me most about the streetcars is how they run.

I thought that given the great size and purpose of the streetcars, they would need this big and complex system to operate. But as it turns out, streetcars simply run on electricity. The wires overhead are connected to an electrical power source that produces 600V DC of electricity for the streetcar. The electricity runs down to an antenna-like pole (the pantographic pick-up) that is connected between the overhead wires and to the streetcar. The electricity then makes its way to the controller, then to the motor, and then finally to the return path (aka, Andy).  With all this electrical power flowing through the streetcar you are probably wondering, how is it that surrounding people and things are not becoming BBQ chicken. Well, due to the street care having metal wheels cruising on steel rails, the electricity is grounded (Boston Streetcars).

Doing the research on these streetcars to find out how they work, I found to be actually quite fun and very interesting. This coming from a person who never really understood the complexities of electricity, but I think I may be getting the hang of it.

Vanier College Symposium

The symposium presentation that I attended Wednesday, February 3^rd, 2016, was entitled “Fly in a Fly Bottle”, and was presented by speaker, Jeff Sims. The argument of his presentation was that, we are to step out and explore what is outside of our own little comfort zones—which he called campfires— to find real truth. He supported this argument through various story illustrations that made analogy to how people are so bound to their comfortable surroundings that their minds sometimes become restless to the no longer fulfilling pleasurable monotony of their lives. And so, they begin to question and doubt their surroundings- eventually pushing them to explore what is reality. For me, Sims’ ideas had a theme of self-actualization; where one does not just seek true knowledge’s for knowledge sake, but rather, to find his or her purpose in the world—which in the end is, for us to help others and lead them to the real truth that we have discovered.

As mentioned earlier, Sims uses the analogy of a campfire to create a scene of the warm, comfortable, lit atmosphere of one’s surroundings; to represent what we believe and accept as ‘absolute’ truth. It is in this comfortable place that we sometimes  become complacent when there is so much beyond the present little camp spot. We become dormant, always letting someone else do the thinking for us. But, what happens when we decide to leave the premises of this campfire? As we begin to make our steps beyond our borders, we quickly realize that our path becomes less and less lit. Things are no longer so clear, and you must strive to make sense of, and acquire, new knowledge of your new surroundings. It is here where doubt sets in. We begin to question everything that we have known to be true and grapple with the new knowledge of the new environment we have stepped into or should I say, out to.

It is in this search for knowledge and truth that we not only gain enlightenment of what envelops us, but we also gain new knowledge of ourselves. It is on this course that we begin to find out who we really are. The test of knowledge and wisdom is really a test of ourselves; because now, we are not just looking outward to doubt, question, and change what we considered to be our foundation, but inwards, changing the fibers which once formed us.

After having summarized and analyzed Jeff Sims’ presentation, his discourse makes sense. However, when, in the midst of it all, there were parts of the presentation which much throughout, left me slightly confused in how his talk related to the theme of doubt; this perhaps due to being a bit too philosophical, and to be fair, also, due to the demands of time, which forced him to condense his notes. Nevertheless, the speaker was very articulate and well learned. He conveyed his ideas and convictions with passion and persuasion. Thus, concludes my thoughts and analysis of this Vanier College Symposium, hosted Wednesday February 3^rd, 2016.