The Tomorrow City by Monica Hughes
The plot of this book centres around two adolescents, David and
Caro and an evil supercomputer which aspires to control the
futuristic city of Thompsonville. Dr. Henderson, Caro's Father
creates the "perfect" computer designed to solve all of the
problems of Thompsonville by gaining almost complete power of the
city. The computer then begins to make rash decisions of it's own.
It decides that humans are incapable of making decisions of there
own and soon devises a method of controlling the minds of everyone
in the city.
Only two young people, Caro and David, are not manipulated by
the computer. They band together and work out a strategy to
disable the computer. The two make a daring infiltration of the
building that the computer is located and after a traumatic episode
in which Caro is blinded, the computer is destroyed and the city is
returned to it's previous state.
The theme of the book is to show that technology is not a
perfect solution to the many problems faced by man. By using a
product of technology, the computer, and showing how it was
supposed to be a perfect solution to the city's problems, yet it
made a grave error in calculations, the author is saying that many
problems faced by man cannot be solved by the use of technology.
Technology played a negative role in this book. The computer,
the major aspect of technology used in this book, used its
capabilities to immorally rule the citizens and the city of
Thompsonville. The computer transmitted hypnotic signals through
peoples T.V. sets and would use them to carry out it's will to
ultimately control the city. It then discarded anything or anyone
who were useless to it's purpose including the elderly and the
sick.
One of the major arguments that the author uses to emphasize the
theme is the significant malfunctioning of the computer. It was
designed to be flawless and solve the numerous problems of the
city. But, the computer's rationing is shown throughout the book
to be poor.
The methods in which it goes about solving the city's problems
... Louis XI to bury her in Angers Cathedral at Chateau Dampiere between her mother and father. Margaret of Anjou died August 25, 1482 at the age of fifty-two years old, Louis did follow her final request and her remains are still there today.
Goddess Gift. "The Goddess Venus, Goddess of Romance and Beauty (Aphrodite)." N.p., Web. 12 Apr. 2014. .
For my second reading selection I chose Where or When, also written by Anita Shreve. There are two main characters, Charles and Sian. Charles sees Sian's picture in the newspaper because she has just released another poetry book. They knew each other 31 years ago when they both attended a camp at The Ridge. Charles (known as Cal to Sian when they were younger) feels compelled to be reunited with her. They correspond with each other for a time and are reunited the Thursday following November 30, about two months from the first letter. Together they find what it is they thought they shared when they were 14 years old. There are many more complications now in their lives such as husbands, children, and tradition. They search for ways to overcome these problems and find the innocent bliss they once had reveled in. The struggle is not easy and ends unfortunately tragically.
Flannery O'Conner has again provided her audience a carefully woven tale with fascinating and intricate characters. "The Displaced Person" introduces the reader to some interesting characters who experience major life changes in front of the reader's eyes. The reader ventures into the minds of two of the more complex characters in "The Displaced Person," Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley, and discovers an unwillingness to adapt to change. Furthermore, the intricate details of their characters are revealed throughout the story. Through these details, the reader can see that both Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley suffer from a lack of spiritual dimension that hinders them as they face some of life's harsher realities. Mrs. McIntyre struggles throughout the story, most notably during the tragic conclusion. Her lack of spiritual dimension is revealed slowly until we ultimately see how her life is devastated because of it. Mrs. Shortley, on the other hand, seems to have it all figured out spiritually -- or at least she believes that she does. It is only in the last few minutes of her life that she realizes all she has convinced herself of is wrong.
Perhaps no other event in modern history has left us so perplexed and dumbfounded than the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, an entire population was simply robbed of their existence. In “Our Secret,” Susan Griffin tries to explain what could possibly lead an individual to execute such inhumane acts to a large group of people. She delves into Heinrich Himmler’s life and investigates all the events leading up to him joining the Nazi party. In“Panopticism,” Michel Foucault argues that modern society has been shaped by disciplinary mechanisms deriving from the plague as well as Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a structure with a tower in the middle meant for surveillance. Susan Griffin tries to explain what happened in Germany through Himmler’s childhood while Foucault better explains these events by describing how society as a whole operates.
The article, “Our E-Waste Problem is Ridiculous, and Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping,” by Christina Bonnington, focused the process of electronic devices to be recycled, the challenges of recycling electronic waste, and making devices more recyclable. First, Bonnington described the recycling process. Depending on the condition on the product will determine if it will be reused or stripped down to be destroyed. According to the author, having a simpler design makes the reprocessing easier to bare the electronics for turning into materials. Next, the author mentioned the challenges of recycling. One challenge is how electronics are becoming more compact and tougher to strip apart to separate the materials. Conferring to Bonnington, batteries are
Steven Hahn’s A Nation Under Our Feet explores the difficulties faced by blacks in America before, during, and after the civil war. He begins in the early eighteen-sixties with slaves on the cusp of freedom, and concludes in the early nineteen-hundreds with the occurrence of the Great Migration. Hahn, in focusing in on the rural south, strives to share the thought that African Americans revealed the complexity in the relationship between labor and politics in America. He believes that in their struggles to define and understand themselves, they also influenced greatly the development of a new nation.
In his essay, Fatwa City, it is clear that Cullen Murphy is ridiculing the idea of legislating moralism, which he explains throughout his writing. Prior to reading this piece, I had never heard of a Fatwa and did not know what it was. Murphy lists various fatwas that he finds ridiculous and uses them to show how he believes legislators are becoming as extreme as the Islamic. He criticizes the fact that legislators are attempting to limit people’s morality. I agree with Murphy because the proposed bills that he wrote about were made to threaten and change people’s lifestyles. The bills not only take away the rights of the people, but also fine them for the way that they live. One of the bills that stood out to me was the bill that would fine
In today’s society, it is not uncommon for people to miss important events and ideas around them. People today tend to be absorbed in their own personal fantasy-land, entrapped by their cell phones to look up and discover the advancing world around them. In “The Future is Now,” by John Achenbach, the author suggests that people live in the present day and don’t see the future coming. Achenbach communicates can that society today is oblivious to the progression toward tomorrow. Achenbach uses diction, logos and irony to portray his message that society should stop in the moment and focus on what the future may have to offer.
People all around agree that technology is changing how we think, but is it changing us for the better? Clive Thompson definitely thinks so and this book is his collection of why that is. As an avid fiction reader I wasn’t sure this book would captivate me, but the 352 pages seemingly flew past me. The book is a whirlwind of interesting ideas, captivating people, and fascinating thoughts on how technology is changing how we work and think.
Friendship. Why is Friendship necessary to people? Can your five senses interact with it? Friendship is important to every lives to communicate, share problems make memories with and stand up for them through their rough lives. First of all a friendship is all about sacrificing your life to get involve with other people problems and help them get through their pain. The novel the perks of being a wallflower written by Stephen Chbosky, illustrates how sam has been a positive influence on charlie. Sam helped charlie become more socialible so he could cope with his loneliness and, helped charlie when he had his disintegeration. This ultimately helped charlie because he was learning new things during his growth.
“Why are you asking me these questions” she said while smashing away at her keyboard, like always. She has an essay due in the morning, it was given to her a couple weeks ago.
many fellow artists never attempted this style. El Greco's art style shows the strong, deep Catholic faith of Spain, which can be see...
The Friday Everything Changed” written by Anne Hart describes how a simple question challenges the
The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about.