Category Archives: Class Notes

Class Notes – 4/24/2014

opening paragraph / thesis
In this paper, I will argue that
* it should be not overly general
* it should mention the texts you will examining
* ask the “so what?” question and push the thesis one step further

Purdue Owl
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/04/
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/01/

Independent and dependent clauses

I went fishing on a boat. –> independent clause
When I went fishing on a boat –> dependent clause

When I went fishing on a boat, I caught a salmon.

DC, IC
IC DC
IC; IC

WW — wrong word
awk — awkward
fused sentence / run-on sentence – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/598/02/
referent unclear – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/600/01/

make sure that you use quotations in your papers

Never leave a quotation standing alone in a sentence; always introduce it with a short phrase. Ex.: Not “QUOTE.” but As Dekard says, “QUOTE” (56).

blockquote – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/03/

book titles always italicized/underlined
journal/newspaper articles — title in quotation marks

header – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

DISTRICT 9

for next week — first 130 pages (through ch 5) of Brown Girl in the Ring

Class Notes – 4/10/14

[midterm exam]

back to Dawn

language – words say no, body yes
no doesn’t mean no
manipulation / consent / free will

weird sexual arousal
shared feelings – intensified

desire
manipulating desire

genetic info trading
mixing a better race
genetic engineering

how do humans come off in this book?

resistance
self-preservation?

oankali — cf. imperialism/colonialism
look how dangerous these native people are
oankali not as pure as hey would like to think

HAVE A GREAT BREAK!!!

Class Notes – 4/3/14

Octavia Butler, Dawn

In-Class Writing:
Reflect on one of the following themes in Octavia Butler’s Dawn:

Time

Memory

Birth

Time
— Oankali understanding of time vs. Lilith understanding of time
O: have a grand scheme — don’t know how long i will take
— patience — much more than humans
— time = elusive
— no real sense of time
— being on ship — lose track of 24 hour day/night cycle
L: her own lifetime

–> dislocation from time

why do they seem to have an infinite amount of time?
— different life span?

Memory
— songs
— memory vs. access to memory
memory, kinship, community

— writing implements/paper
internal memory vs. external memory

— Oankali destroying ruins
oankali want to control future of humankind, which means controlling the past
–destroying ruins, destroying human culture in general
why do we want to save animals from extinction? how do we do it?
— guilt
— ecosystems — adaptations/change

why destroy our ruins?
— maybe not trying to dominate us, but trying to free us from obsession with cultivating our own traditions/past models — b/c those traditions/models brought you to another end
— cf. intelligence + hierarchical

Self interest/preservation as a central part of species survival
— cf. conserve rain forests b/c we don’t know everything about them yet — save both for earth and for planet. but if big pharma gets

— memory — in the sense of lived experiences
—- altered memories — things that the Oankali have induced humans to forget
— memory — in the sense of a past
— memory — in a kind of mechanical sense — cf. clones/prints

EXTINCTION

REPLICATION / COPIES

Birth as metaphor
biology
genetic experimentation
awakening/alteration — rebirth
Dawn – title — beginning of a new day/era

Class Notes – 3/27/14

* Blade Runner
* From Human / Machine to Future Earth
* Dawn
* Close reading

Deckard’s attitudes towards androids in book v movie
— rachel
— more talkative
— status issue is missing in the movie
— setting — from dusty, dry — to crowded, dim, wet, dark, rainy, gritty, urban (book’s urban = desolate, empty —
— animals — missing — empathy, class division
— movie — owl. snake. unicorn

Human/Machine
Caves of Steel – DADOES — technology advances
technology advances
question of control — can we control technology as it advances

Let’s Enhance” – YouTube video

robots growing past what they were designed for — learning more

can mechanical devices evolve?
self-aware

seems like the androids are more organic than mechanical

replicants — name points to clones, copies

humans had a fear of going extinct

Future Earth

Dawn – Octavia Butler
ship — as organic material
species
Oankali —
from technology back to nature

don’t live unsustainably
don’t tear things down

SYMBIOTIC relationships

artificial/synthetic/mechanical vs. genetic modifications
Oankali — interested in genetic information
building a better race/species
cancer

Lilith’s attitudes towards Oankali

human fear of unfamiliarity
— look different
— sexes – male/female/Ooloi
— sensory organs
— sensory organs — things that allows them to see also allows can kill you
— interact w/environment in different ways
— humans fear motives of Oankali, what will happen when they are modified
— in process of stopping the extinction of humanity, they are modifying humans to not be human any more

— unknown about humankind’s future

Octavia Butler: “[my books] are stories of power [. . .] I bring together multi-racial groups of men and women who must cope with one another’s differences as well as with new, no necessarily controllable abilities within themselves.”

power
humans dealing with a species that has more power

— have Lilith’s life in their hands
— have studied her
— what’s true — untrue

Science/experiment
— cf. Oankali treat Lily as we (in our current moment) treat animals
— make decisions for them
— cf. do androids dream –> giving L. offer to kill herself
— Lilith — role — teaching other humans —
— making decisions that benefit her in long run — but she doesn’t understand how/why
— or humans to other human — parent/child — ex. taking a child to get a shot

spaying cats — ethical dimensions
are oankalis doing to humans what we have done to animals and to other humans?

process of radical inclusion — absorbing everything they run into — we are one peer species — we face being absorbed by them
— they don’t have areas — no gender separation, mixing, families

oankali — absorptive model, don’t see themselves as conquering species
— Lilith — feels that it is invasive
— BODY
— Lilith’s resistance — opposite of Oankali — of what they are — she is very strong, individual —

vast majority of them — mutations

Major topics
— Difference / differentiation
— Bodies — anatomy — tentacles, — alien bodies, human bodies
— Issues of power and resistance — who has power, how is power used, how are characters manipulated?
— ethics of scientific experimentation and observation — cf. treatment of animals by humans
— imprisonment

CLOSE READING
p. 52 “the child hesitated”
— character — touches oankali — come a long way from fear of the unknown
begins to understand imprisonment more deeply
“forest of tentacles”
— what is a forest? what is inside a forest? mystery

Group exercise in close reading:
1. Share passages
2. Focus as a group on one of the passages
3. Think about issues of meaning and language – focus on important metaphors and their meanings
4. Discuss how the passage would be different w/different language
5. Interpret the passage

Class Notes – 3/20/14

In-class writing

1. What was your thesis sentence?

2. Reflect on your paper-writing process. What aspects of the writing process worked well for you? What was the most difficult aspect of the assignment and/or you chosen topic? What would you do differently next time?

3. Name one thing you learned while writing his paper

Blade Runner

Next week’s assignment on course calendar

Class Notes – 3/13/14

intro paragraph
catch reader’s attention
introduce your argument/thesis

subject — what is the essay about?
thesis — what is your take on that subject?

persuasive essay

first paragraph – end –thesis sentence. clear statement of argument of the thesis
“In this paper, I will argue that ____”

Star Trek: Next Generation – “The Measure of a Man”

Class Notes – 3/6/14

Approaching Criticism

— Emerson — we read to start our own teams

Do Androids Dream

— Human/Machine –

Human

living, organic, flesh and blood, feelings, irrational, conscience, compassionate, skilled, spontaneous, greedy, reproductive, self-healing/repairing

Machine

fabricated, artificial, cold, indifferent, mechanical, logical, rational, dispassionate, binary, slaves, predictable, calculated, man-made, assembled

compare moments when a robot “dies” in Androids

— these moments might show us something interesting about how the novel portrays robot sentience, human relationships to robots, and the blurred lines between humans and robots

choose a theme or repeated element to explore — ie., moments when a robot is shot in Androids — and we assemble the evidence — get all of those moments together in front of us, and then compare them

notice similarities and differences

— look at whole scene — person pulling trigger, too

speculate on why you think that is so and what the differences and similarities mean

cf. androids from CS to Androids

why in both books are there new, advanced robotic models —

as robots become more advanced they will effect our society’

1. Moments where androids are killed

2. Moments where the Voigt-Kampf test is administered 

3. Moments that involve animals

4. Moments involving Mercer/Mercerism

5. Moments where people question their own identity 

6. Moments of interaction (or discussions of interaction) between human males and android females

7. Moments in which the main character reflects and becomes merciful

8. Moments where we see physical structures crumbling (kipple)

9. Moments where we see the effects of dust

10. Moments where we see the importance of the TV show/radio

11. Moments where sleep/rest is discussed

 

Group 1

compared moments when robots die in Androids

as each android died — more graphic — new coming —

 

 

Class Notes – 2/27/14

How does Caves of Steel stage the encounter of humans and machines?

begins w/clearly lines that get blurred as the novel goes on?
ex. clear line: when first talking about robots, work robots do
ex. blurred: go to Spacetown

humans and machines together – affect one another

robots – human invention. but more rational, more intelligent, physically superior

finite vs. infinite

Daneel – reasoning/logic – emotionless approach

Elijah – human reasoning

main question book posits: to what extent can robots replace humans or can humans be replaced

does it ask or answer that? answers — robot can’t function on own, human has to be there with robot

does this answer make us comfortable or uncomfortable? why might Asimov have written book in this way?

here’s what books says, here’s why we think the book says that

answer of the book is comfortable, not necessarily true. Author maybe couldn’t anticipate types of technology we have now?

what’s diff between a robot replacing a human in a job and a robot replacing a human more generally?

to what extent does a robot replacing a human at a job = making a human beings obsolete

FREE WILL – make decisions

book showed robots can’t function w/o being told what to do  — ex. R. Sammy. Daneel programmed for investigation?

is book not just about line between humans/robots but about fear that robots will replace humans?

humans find meaning in their jobs

conflict —

plot — where machines have religion

Caves of Steel solves conflict — robot learns mercy — (but do we find that convincing?)

 

What does it mean to be human?

Can machines have consciousness?

Can machines exhibit free will

 

Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

 

HUMAN       ANIMAL       CYBORG       ROBOT

free will

inorganic / organic

cyborg = middle ground between human and robot — Frankenstein

android — humanoid robot —- cyborg –> human enhanced or replaced with mechanical parts

humans / animals — instinct, humans use reason and logic to refrain from instinct

— humans are a type of animal — we’re mammals, just smarter.

disagree that we are smarter. we recognize intelligence in ourselves before others. we see facial expressions. some animals express selves in sounds/ways we can’t understand. about what we are raised to think about intelligence

humans have free will/ animals — repetition

what is consciousness?

being self-aware — knowing that you exist

something can’t be self–aware without having emotions

curiosity

ask why you are alive

what ties us together is that we we seek nuture/tension/need to exist / can be broken

 

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 

 What question do you think this title is really posing?

— animals — status, wealth. do androids have desire for animals, power?

— if there is correlation between mechanical animal
humans:animals :: androids:mechanical animals
are androids able to do anything that connects them in abstract way that connects them somehow — think about mechanical animals
— our conceptual structure is different from androids so we can’t understand them or understand how they understand exactly

— if androids feel that they need a connection to other synthetic animals the way we connect to animals — the way we connect sheep

— ppl try to sleep – count sheep — do androids count off electric sheep — subconscious or do they just turn off. if they have a subconscious they need to turn off

how human are androids

do androids have imagination? consciousness?

animals — empathy

opening scenes — satire of suburbia

what is the role of animals in this society?
— class — rarer animal — shows how much money you have — robot animals cheaper
— stanley’s — blue book for animals — price lists

embarrassing to have a robotic animal

only reason to have a fake animal — to show I have a rare animal — illusion of having the real thing

animals replacing way suburbia sees children — cf. kids — if married, why don’t you have an animal.

animals are an anchor for normalcy — reminds of times

humans v. androids — humans capable of empathy
cf. psycho killer — classic trope – kills animals
in this society, androids mixed
to show your HUMANITY by having an animal
importance of having an animal is your humanity

he wants something that’s real

real / fake

authenticity

empathy

emotion

Voigt-Kampf test — empathy – ch. 5

In-class group assignment –> come up with your own imaginary test to be able to tell the difference between androids and humans

 

 

 

Class Notes – 2/6/14

OpenLab introduction

Open Lab Help Documents

 Ways of analyzing a literary text

FORMAL ISSUES

Characters

  • relationships they have with other characters
  • character development

Genre

  • what genre(s) is the text part of
  • what generic conventions does the text employ or disrupt?

Language of the Text

  • Figurative language of the text – beyond the actual meaning — symbolic language

Plot

Theme / Motif – a reoccurring set of issues/ideas in the text

 

TEXTUAL/AUTHOR HISTORIES

Textual History

versions of the text

manuscripts/drafts

editors

censorship

altered for mass-market appeal

translations

 

Author

  • authorial intention — how do we know the author’s intention? should the author’s intention be privileged over other possible interpretations? —-> multiplicity of meaning. —> is interpretation of a text up for everyone to discuss or should the author have special privilege to adjudicate meanings?
  • cf. movies –> director interpreting a book —-> adaptation
  • is the author just another reader after the text is released? —>
  • line between what is part of the text and what is interpretation?
  • trying to assign motives to the author is problematic
  • how do we know what an author intends? — ask him. What if author misleads? what if author is dead? —> read biographies. rea
  • Author
  • biographies
  • introduction to an edition
  • life/ideas
  • interviews
  • wikipedia???
  • look at records related to life
  • journals
  • historical/socio-economic
  • analyze whole collection of books
  • newspaper articles
  • letters
  • read authors who inspired that authork
  • other authors in genre

 

CONTEXTS

Political/Social/Historical Context

  • what beliefs were generally held about the topic of book? ex. robots 150 years ago
  • social/racial/class issues at time
  • laws, constitutions – what type of government in country
  • economic issues – ex. industrialization of country
  • technological advances/issues/development
  • intellectual climate — what were people talking about, etc.

 

PRIMARY SOURCES — related to original publication. contemporaneous with it.

  • book itself
  • interview
  • writings by the author — journals, letters, manuscripts, published books
  • recordings of author speaking
  • autobiography
  • political documents — ex. presidential speech. text of a law
  • media recordings from that time

SECONDARY SOURCES — comes second/afterwards. provides analysis or intepretation

  • biography
  • critics writing about the book — newspapers, magazines, academic journals, academic books
  • online interpretation — blogs, etc.
  • documentary

 

 

ACTIVE READING

 

DISCUSSION OF CAVES OF STEEL

  • List 4-5 specific themes/motifs you see in the book
  • List 2-3 moments in the book — specific passages — that seem to you worthy of extended discussion (perhaps because they relate to the themes you listed, perhaps because they are really complicated). Look for especially rich/complicated/interesting moments that we can unpack together. Rich mineral deposits of textual meaning that we can break apart and examine.

THEMES/MOTIFS

  • Spacer/Human relations
  • Human survival —
  • Biblical references/allegories
  • Socialism/communal living
  • artificial / natural
  • efficiency – streamlining/regulating human behavior
  • earthmen/women viewed as primitives by spacers
  • classification — social stratification
  • conformity vs. individual expression (architecture/art)
  • human/robot tensions — fear that robots will take over jobs, or that robots will become as human as humans, will eradicate life on earth.
  • innocence of robots — r. sammy’s stupid smile (friendship circuit)
  • earthbound robots (r.sammy) vs. spacer robtots (olivaw)
  • fall of society on earth – Lije looking back at when it used to be better
  • tolerance/xenophobia — earthpeople afraid of spacers. tensions — cf. immigration stances in US
  • relation of spacer planets to earth — issues of power
  • spacer disgust at earthpeople — fear of disease

Prof. Gold’s

  • Foreignness/disease infection
  • line between human and robot
  • colonization – earth to space, space to earth
  • social class / privilege
  • urban space
  • biblical allusions
  • privacy / sexual issues

p. 91 — blood prick
— being treated like an animal — his consent doesn’t matter – because he’s a diseased earthman

— spacers treating humans as human colonizers used to treat colonized people

— issues of power

— themes — spacers/humans —

— spacers as GMO — selected for height, etc.

— spacers view earth as wild and untamed as earthpeople view life outside city walls

— trust — fear

— transgressiveness of pin prick/blood test

— fear of contamination

— border crossings

Class Notes – 1/30/14

Group 5 (Henry, Danny, Mohammad, Sergiy, Steven)

 

  • Favorite Unit: space

Futures:
problems — weapons, decivilization (loss of civilized behavior), King’s Plaza riot – unconrolled. Shortage of resources/overpopulation –

  • in 1000 years – no humans, just machines. cf drone warfare — machines do the fighting for humans (see movie Surrogates)
  • weapons in short term, advancing rapidly from rifle/pistol. now weapons of mass destruction. maybe in 500 years, bombs to destroy planet

Group 3 (Martin, Daiane, Sasha, Rev, Jonathan)

  • Favorite unit: human/machine
  • Biggest problem facing humaniy: running out of natural resources
  • 100 years: won’t change much
  • 500 — tipping point, run out of food. mass hunger, only rich eat well
  • 1000 years — anoher tipping point — make synthetic food

Group 4 (Yingweng, Ori, John, David, Pedro)

  • future earth — depicts a real future — possible future, not just spitballing
  • Biggest problem facing humanity: overpopulation
  • 100 yrs: housing, food shortages
  • 500 yrs:
  • 1000 yrs: only getting worse – move to another planet

(corporations – media, financial crises, weapons — all tied to corporations – power, most money)

Group 6 (Chris, Edgar, Raymond, Carlos, Alex)

Favorite unit: Future Earth/Space

  • Biggest problem facing humanity: overpopulation, waste, no space for waste
  • 100 yrs – launch waste into space
  • 500 yrs – exploring space more, maybe find something habitable
  • 1000 yrs – take stuff we’ve launched into space and mine i for resources

Group 1 (Jenny, Mike, Tristan, Juan, Jamal)

Favorite Unit – Future earth — idea of unknown. no one knows what people on earth will actually do. most relatable

  • Biggest problem facing humanity: depleting our resources
  • 100 yrs — we will adapt as we’ve continued to adapt. will be expensive to use iron, oil in 100 years.
  •  solar energy one day will be more profitable than oil
  • 500 yrs – exxon will be all about solar energy in 500 years. africa — govts growing, will make own food — come up w/synthetic rsources. but maybe carcenegentic —
  • 1000 yrs

Group 2 (Marina, Thomas, Aliana, Michael, Dani)

Favorite unit: future earth

Biggest problem facing humanity: overpopulation, pollution. humanity falling into cycles

100 yrs –

500 yrs

1000 yrs – maybe totally diff situation o similar to what life is like now

 

Frames of reference — how will we look in

100 years

500 years

1000 years

1000000000000000000000 years?

this semester, we’ll be reading authors who have given serious though to past, present, future, and imaginary time