Vonnegut and Technology

Using examples from “Harrison Bergeron”, “The Euphio Question” and current events evaluate the statement:

“Do you know what a Luddite is? That’s a person who doesn’t like newfangled contraptions. Contraptions like nuclear submarines armed with Poseidon missiles that have H-bombs in their warheads, and like computers that cheat you out of becoming. Bill Gates says, “Wait till you can see what your computer can become.” But it’s you who should be doing the becoming. What you can become is the miracle you were born to work—not the damn fool computer.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

I don't agree with Kurt Vonnegut about computer is a damn fool thing that make people less human. Firstly, as the technology helps us to live in comfort, we are able to do things that we can't do with just things that we have that are not related to technology. You can find different information easily by just typing a few words in internet, and you can make things quicker and do things faster. We are able to think more when we are not busy with the help of technology. Secondly, technology helps us to communicate with one another. By using internet, phone, and other communicating devices, we can communicate with people far away quickly, meet people we haven't met before, read other people's thoughts and opinions, and etc. That helps us think of other sides of opinions and thoughts differently, which teaches us many more things. Lastly, it's technology that does everything for us or help us do things faster like I said before. If there is no technology, we would have more diseases, wouldn't be able to learn more than now, travel to other countries or cities, get information we want, etc. Technology actually helps us survive in this difficult world.

Though Kurt Vonnegut disagree with my thoughts and wrote stories that shows the cons of technology, I think it's exaggerated too much. Even though the people use technology nowadays to do almost everything, we won't be using it as a dangerous weapon or for uncomfortable use. Technology is actually designed to help people live in comfort, therefore, I do not think it would be used like that in the story or in a sort of similar way.

End of Quarter 3 Feedback

My first goal for Quarter 3 was speaking more in classes and discussions. I think I reached that goal quite well because I got a good grade in Socratic Seminar and the PowerPoint presentation. The second goal was to improve my reading skills such as speed and understanding the story. I think I reached that goal as I got a good grade on my total grade for reading. My last goal was to improve my vocabulary skills. But I think I did not reach that goal as I do not think I used variety of vocabularies and got some wrongs on Animal Farm Vocabulary Quiz. Overall, I think I did quite well this quarter though my grade was not as good as last quarter's because I finally reached the goal I could not meet last two quarters.
My first new goal for Quarter 4 is to improve my vocabulary skills. I'm trying to meet this goal because I could not meet it last time and also, I think I use same vocabularies too much (as you can see in this post). My second goal for Quarter 4 is to use my time well. In Quarter 3, I did not use the time given to me very well; I actually played before doing my homework. I will try to sleep earlier than before after finishing all of my homework. My third goal is to get an A in humanities. I am trying to meet this goal because my overall grade was worse than before.

Feedback March 2-6

An oxymoron is two words that don’t belong being used together. Why is the phrase “Holy War” an oxymoron? Why is it that so many conflicts in the world today are based upon religious differences yet all major world religions condemn killing?

As an oxymoron is two antonyms that are used together, "Holy War" is absolutely an oxymoron. The phrase "Holy War" is surely an oxymoron because holy means sacred and war means a conflict that involves violence. They cannot be used together, however, "Holy War" is a real phrase that is used and means a struggle between different religions. There are many conflicts in the world today that are based upon religious differences; however, most religions actually condemn killing. I think that is because the people might think they are killing the devils that are trying to wipe out their own people who believe in one god. They might not think of them as humans or even living creatures. Or they might think it's okay to kill people to protect their god.

Feedback February 16-20 - World War III ???

I do not think that a World War III will be in my lifetime. There are so many things that prevent the war from happening. First of all, many countries are allies with many other countries, which prevents the world not to split in half. Even though there are still some communist countries, as there are more capitalist countries, I think they would not be able to win the fight between communism versus capitalism. Additionally, the countries help each other when there is a problem. Therefore, I think the countries are most likely not to involve in a war. Second of all, the world can get the resources they want by trading with other countries. The countries do not need to get into a war to get resources they want now. Third of all, there's a huge depression now so the countries would not be in any condition for any war as they have to solve this depression in the world. Last of all, the world is now a united world. Many people from variety of many countries go to other different countries for tourism, for business, to live abroad, or for any other reason. As long as there are not more countries changing their government to communism, the countries do not stop trading, and the countries are well united, I think a World War III will not happen.

World War II: A Letter from the Battlefront

King George Hospital

Royal Air Force Base

Colchester, England

September 30, 1940

Dear mother,

Hello, mother. How are you doing? I hope everything is fine with you. I am rather well. I'm writing to you from one of the recovery rooms in our base hospital. I had quite a few injuries on my hands, arms, and chest. Most of them have healed. Yesterday, the doctors performed a grafting on my burnt arms. Even though the battle had ended, there was scarcely any food left in London and nearby cities as the Nazi had bombed London so many times and the supply lines were disrupted. Therefore, the rations here are very low. We have barely any food here, but I feel energetic when I think of seeing you in a few weeks. I have been granted to leave and will be home about next week or so.

Mother, when I left to join the Royal Air Force (RAF), I know you were very worried and tried your best to stop me from joining. But today, I am proud to have fought got my country. I am glad to be in part of protecting my own country, even if the conditions were harsh and needed some sacrifices. I can still imagine the battle vividly. The war between Britain and the Nazi started on July 10, 1940 as you might remember; it was the day when the Nazi air force called the Luftwaffe started attacking us for control over the Straits of Dover. The attack continued for weeks. But guess what, mother. The RAF guarded Britain quite successfully from the Nazi. From August 23rd to September 6th, many Nazi's bombing planes reached Britain and bombed the cities such as London, Coventry, and Plymouth. Thank god, you have fled to the country side or else I would have been worrying about you till now.

The battle finally ended on September 15, 1940 as Hitler's threat of invading Britain ended. The Nazi realized that they couldn't defeat the RAF with Luftwaffe. I heard that they turned to the next target, Russia. Therefore, I don't think you need to worry anymore about the Nazi invading Britain, I will tell you more about the war with more descriptive details once I get back, mother. I miss you so much, and I love you.

Love,
James L. Harper

Information Sources:

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battleofbritain.htm
http://www.raf.mod.uk/Bob1940/background.html
http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/britain_40.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/94/a4171394.shtml

Image Source:

http://www.barryweekleyart.com/aviation/Lucky%20escape%20Battle%20of%20Britain.jpg

Feedback February 9-13

In The New York Times the writer Anna Quindlen asked, “Would our understanding of the Holocaust be quite the same if Anne Frank had not taken a small plaid diary into hiding with her?” Respond to this question and explain your answer.

If Anne Frank had not written a diary during the Holocaust, we would not have been able to understand the Holocaust like now. As the diary is from a real Jew who had experienced the Holocaust as a young girl, we can know and see how the Jews had been like and how they felt about the whole Holocaust. Also, we wouldn't have known how hard for the Jews the Holocaust was, especially for little children, and we would have just thought it was horrible, not knowing the real horribleness of the Holocaust.

A Recipe for World War II

A Recipe for World War II
By HyeJin

People cried from the roof tops,
On the roads, in the narrow streets,
In the grass dead fields.
The sounds burst like grains of sunshine,
The war is over, the war is over.
The future brightly shines.

But was the war really over?
No, in a room sat sinister ambitious politicians
Ready to cook the goose.
Cooking began with cutting the meat.
Each fought for larger share,
Becoming greedier and greedier each second.

Politicians each mixed failure of the Treaty of Versailles
With Failure of the League of Nations.
One applied Fascism, other applied Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin,
other Appeasement, German Aggression, Japanese Aggression.
Their faces stretched in malevolent grins.
Who said the war was over?
The future brightly shines!