Fake News

The 2016 election was one of the most controversial elections in probably the United States history. It was a full year of negative political ads and several articles that were made up about both candidates, which made it difficult for some people to tell what was real or fake news. Samantha Subramanian focuses on Veles, an 18-year-old boy from the Balkan nation that made thousands of dollars through creating fake news. This story within itself is pretty interesting, but since most people in the United States saw several of these fake news articles everyday shared through Facebook or tweeted it was able to resonate with the audience. That is what was able to give this piece a human element because it was about something we all know about and it gave insight to Veles life. That is similar to the documentary that we watched in class, when they were able to talk to internet trolls. I would say this is a more effective piece then that one because it gave us more information on the guy, so that we could see why he decided start writing these articles. As most people expected it was for money, but it was a little bit more then that. He lived in an underdeveloped neighborhood with limited opportunities and when he got the chance to get some of the material things that he otherwise would not be able to afford he took it. This appeals to the audience’s emotions or pathos, so that they can feel a little bit of sympathy for him. Overall that made this an entertaining piece that I thoroughly enjoyed, along with I am sure the majority of the class simply due to how relatable it was. Most people watch shows or read books because they can relate to a character or the story. In this case, it was a story that we were and are all too familiar with. Even though the election is over just like the article said there are still thousands or maybe even millions of fake news stories that we could find on the internet.

iGod analysis

In an age where almost everyone around the world has some sort of technology in their household whether it is a phone or laptop, most people seem to question how far it will be able to advance. Nicholas Carr tries to answer this in iGod by taking about different companies such as Google and Microsoft plans for the future, which is to create artificial intelligence. A term that a variety of people are scared of or tentative about, but is interesting to learn about. In the past couple of years there have been several advance in technology and yet artificial intelligence is still hard to imagen having. Carr shows us in this article that we are not as far off to making it happen as many people think. That makes this topic relevant and engaging to the audience because he is able to use companies that the reader knows and most likely uses every day and talks about their future goals. Later on he even reveals dates that people have predicted computers and people will be more connected. That definitely appeals to younger audience, who is eager to see what is going to happen next with technology.  Although overall it was a pretty good article I still think that he could add some information about the effects that this advancement in technology might have on society or on people to make it more relevant. He mentions that Bill Gates is not too keen on the idea of making artificial intelligence, but he does not really go into depth about why. It would have been interesting to look more at that side because later on in the article he talks about the benefits of it. Along with going more in to depth about what they are currently doing to create artificial instead of talking so much about the past. It felt kind of repetitive to me at the beginning when he talked about several different interviews where Google talked about how their goal is to make artificial intelligence.

Black Hole analysis

Michael Finkel does an amazing job in “Black Holes” mainly due to his point of view or his take on black holes. He centers his information on what the famous theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein, thought about black holes. Finkel states in the article that although Einstein knew that black holes where a possibility he could not imagine the world producing such a thing.  This sort of grabs the reader’s attention because it was one of the few things that Einstein was wrong about. Now several years later tons of scientific facts have proven that they do in fact exist. A majority of scientists never wanted to claim this because of Einstein’s opinion. That perspective is what helps engage the audience to keep reading it ,while still being able to be factual and portray all of the facts by using Huxley’s 3 directions. At the beginning, he used Einstein as a historical reference that everyone would be able to understand. Then he goes more personal into what it would feel like as an outside observer to experience getting to slip into this black hole. This was one of the most interesting parts because you could picture yourself getting pulled into the black hole and getting ripped apart, yet it was all very factual. I was still able to learn all of the elements that goes into producing and getting into one of them. From this article, I took away not only a ton of information about black holes, but different techniques I could use on my next essay. The most important tip was probably to get the audience involved somehow whether it be putting them into the shoes of someone experiencing whatever I am writing about or by giving them real world examples. Either way I would probably need to do it in a fun and factual way like when he said that some physicists called getting ripped apart in a black hole call it getting “spaghettified”. I also really liked how he kind of did subheadings by bolding important phrases of a paragraph, this made it a lot easier to keep track of the article.

"Overly Documented Life" analysis

In A.J. Jacobs “The Overly Documented Life” he tries another experiment, recording every day so he can look back at every moment and fact check himself. Similar to his “Unitasker” chapter in The Guinea Pig Diaries he chose to write little headers, so he can emphasize some of the steps to the audience. Overall used the dinner conversation method that we talked about in class. That means that he writes mainly informally for entertainment, adding jokes here and there to grab the audience’s attention. While still incorporating a decent chunk of facts, so the reader can understand the experiment better. Some examples are the google glasses and the Bell method. That is the main method that he used to do his experiment. After doing his experiment for a while he realized how he changed psychologically at first, he stopped doing things like peeing in the sink because he did not want to see the recording. Quickly he figured out that it did not really matter and continued doing it. It was pretty interesting how he compared that to reality TV programs. I do think a lot of those shows the people get so used to the cameras that they start acting like themselves again. All to go with his overall theme that life does not need to be recorded. Although it seemed like a good idea it tends to make life more boring because people guard themselves when they see that they are being recorded. Most times it is better to just live in the moment and interpret events the way with think they went. This is something that I completely agree with because I have always felt that experiences are better than pictures and videos, even though those can be nice too. It addresses another major issue that many people have including himself, which is privacy. As I mentioned before many people feel uncomfortable being recorded, when he found out that his post from his mood app was public he was enraged. As many others were when he told them that he was filming them.

"Inequality: Can Social Media Resolve Social Divisions?" Inquiry or not

“Inequality: Can Social Media Resolve Social Divisons?” by Danah Boyd illustrates how even with this new and innovative technology that we have today, race is still a huge issue in the United States. Most people argue that the internet connects people around the world, which gives them tools to be more tolerant. This is not the case in today’s society people do not take the opportunity to utilize these tools. Boyd does tons of research interviewing various students to prove this point. That is why I think that this is an inquiry essay, specifically an exploration. Boyd is engulfing himself into the internet culture endlessly observing the social divisions that the youth has made by taking notes and adding some of his own reflection. Analyzing how Myspace and Facebook in particular has created a cultural boundary between young people. Several people that he talked to did not even notice that there was social division, until Boyd pointed it out by looking at the people that they are friends with or their comments. Most of them where from people of the same race or background as them, due to the simple fact that people hang out or talk to people that they share things in common with. Then reflecting to himself that the internet is not the answer to solving this longstanding problem. People are the only thing that can fix this, because we are the ones who make up the daily norms, so we are the only ones that can change it. It is not enough to rely on endless amounts of information to stop racism anymore because most people do not look at it. Instead the internet has amplified the issue by calling people who use one website “ghetto” or “lower class” then another.

Map out of inquiry essay

For my inquiry essay I am, planning on doing an experiment. For my experiment, I will wake up every day at 8:00am to go to the gym, which should give me a little more free time during the day. Throughout the year, I have struggled with time management. A way that I have thought about fixing this problem is by waking up early to go to the gym, but I have always been too lazy to do it. Now that it is an assignment I will have to do it and note how it effects my everyday life. Hopefully it will help me have a more consistent schedule that will help keep me on track throughout the day. Overall it is a proven fact that exercise has millions of beneficial effects on someone’s physical and mental health. There are also a lot of benefits to working out in the morning. First, it enhances your metabolism by starting off your day working out and eating. That makes your body do one of three things; it can use it as a source of energy, it can replenish your body, or it can store it for later. It can also form some sort of consistency, which just means that if you go later on in the day you are more likely to be tiered or feel overwhelmed and not go. By getting it over with in the morning you are making it a priority and will not have an excuse to not go. This is one that is super important to me because a lot of times when I have a lot of homework or I am just tired from the school day I end up not going. Since I am so use to doing some sort of physical activity throughout the day that if I do not go I feel bad about myself and it is harder for me to sleep. Another positive aspect is that it prepares your mind for the day and works kind of like coffee for some people. Research has shown that it improves your focus and mental abilities throughout the day. Like I said before it helps you get longer and better sleep at night, especially if you go early in the morning like around 7 or 8am.

"Consider the Lobster" vs "the Unitasker"

The main difference between “the Unitasker” and “Consider the Lobster” is that one is an experiment and the other one is exploration. In “the Unitasker” A.J. Jacobs, tried to limit the number of times that he multitasked throughout the day for a month or so, researching different methods to help him like meditation. “Consider the Lobster” on the other hand researched the lobster community by analyzing Main Lobster Festival, the background of the lobster, how they cook them, some controversial issues that people have with them, etc. All of that made “Consider the Lobster” a little more factual and formal then “the Unitasker”, which was more of a dinner conversation. Although Jacobs still had facts and was performing an experiment, he tried to add more comedy then the lobster article. What they both had in common was that the authors had to do research in order to write their article. Jacobs researched different forms of meditation by using the Wii and reading different books about it. Wallace, who wrote “Consider the Lobster”, researched practically all aspects of the lobster in his article. They used different methods to get their point across due to their different audiences. “Consider the Lobster” was written for a former magazine called the Gourmet, so its main focus was on the culinary aspect of the lobster, describing why so many people are against eating it. “the Unitasker” was a chapter in a collection of experiments for a book called The Guinea Pig Diaries. This was made more for entertainment and would probably have a more youthful audience then the lobster article. Both had a definite question and similar responses to their question. In “the Unitasker” Jacobs was trying to see if he could go a full day without multitasking and in “Consider the Lobster”, Wallace was trying to answer if it is ethically okay to eat lobster since they are boiled alive. Neither one of them got a straightforward response to their question. Jacobs never actually went a full day without multitasking, but did learn to stop doing it as much to enjoy the smaller things in life. Wallace, found faults in both sides and concluded that it is too abstract of a question to respond too.