The Class: October 2008 Archives

Originally I was looking for a topic related to medicine and I was mostly looking at prescription drugs. I was finding interesting topics, but I had a very hard time finding a debatable topic. The other day I read an article in National Geographic and decided to take my paper in a new direction.  My new topic is: bright city lights are damaging to our environment and human health.  Ecosystems are out of balance because many animal species such as birds and sea turtles are threatened. Excessive exposure to artificial light has been linked to increasing the risk of diseases like breast cancer. While it is widely known that bright city lights make it hard to see the stars, few people know of the other serious effects caused by the lights.  

I have decided to narrow my thesis specifically to nuclear power.

Thesis: Because nuclear power is a sustainable energy source and its development increases national security, nuclear power will be the primary source of energy for the United States within ten years.

I think this will be interesting because I can also incorporate the argument that nuclear technology is a "balance of power" between countries. 

I need some help finding some more sources for my topic. I'm still not positive how I'm going to narrow it down, but I'm going to go the route of the effect of the internet on the music business and try to argue that pirating is actually having a more positive effect on the music business. I'll have to find a good strategy for arguing that and I can probably do even better with the thesis but thats what I have for now.

I have narrowed my topic to poppies in Afghanistan but am not sure that I am going be to able to tie it back to technology to a huge degree.  Although, I guess I could try to treat poppy cultivation as a technology.  Would that work?

So I have been browsing the catalog and databases for about an hour everyday this week, and am still struggling to find a few strong sources for one of my potential topics. I was wondering if anyone had had particular success with a resource, or could point me in the right direction. My potential topics are as follows:

Negative impacts of technology in sports

Potential economic returns of going back to the moon

Negatives of Solar Power in the short term.

Thank you.

I've decided to research the topic of communications, mainly Internet and cell phones, and how they've changed people's relationships to be much less personable. I need to do some research in the library to find books and articles on this topic to get better ideas of how to narrow my thesis and possibly find a more interesting standpoint on it. Where would be the best place to do this? And does anyone have an any ideas for how I could make this a more unique idea to research?

I have an email into the agent I interned with to see if she has any insight on how i could narrow my topic. I asked if there were any crimes in particular that she has seen a rise in and that she finds interesting regarding the internet and identity theft and identity fraud. Where could I find some other sources about internet and crimes?

For my paper, I want to focus on how prescription drugs are excessively used. I think many times patients are misdiagnosed and the patients and doctors are both to blame. People are always looking for the quickest, easiest way to solve their problems. Patients will sometimes see a drug commercial and then list off the symptoms given on television to a doctor, practically writing their own prescription. Doctors are also influenced by drug companies to prescribe certain drugs more often.  While prescription drugs are needed by some patients, I think there are many cases when the roots of the problem are not fully investigated and the patient is misdiagnosed. 

I found an example I could use to make my paper more specific of the increase in the use of Ritalin with children. Some quick facts I found:

- In most schools today, about 1/3 of the students are using Ritalin. 

-Recent studies are showing that many children diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Ritalin either don't need the drug or may have a learning disability. 

-Schools received budget cuts and class sizes increased. At the same time the use of Ritalin increased. One site i read said,"drugs like Ritalin are being used as a social control."    

I think the example of Ritalin and children sounds interesting and I hadn't heard much about it before; it seems like a more recent argument. Any thoughts?

I've been doing some research, and I've come across some interesting things that might help narrow my thesis.

What would be resources for my research topic: Its wrong for colleges such as Davidson to monitor their students email accounts. I am looking for resources such as court cases dealing with the subject and privacy laws. Also, anyone who has any interesting ways to narrow this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Looking at solar power now, I want to focus on short term weaknesses. Something along the lines of "While solar power may one day be the power source of the future, it's current inefficiency and high costs prevent it from being a current solution to energy and oil dependency problems in light of the current economic conditions."  I would appreciate thoughts on to whether or not this could work as both a topic, and as a temporary thesis statement.

Where would be the best place to research car safety and/or highway safety.

Just wanted to get some feedback about this topic.  I had been thinking about how the military technology has had an effect on America, and after today's discussion in class I figured that I could almost argue the exact opposite of Taylor.  Instead of saying that technology has caused conflicts, I would say that the advancement in weapons technology has done more to keep America out of major conflicts than anything else.  I would obviously need to narrow this down, but does this idea or topic sound interesting to anyone?

I'm thinking about changing the focus of my topic to something more like:
The internet and progress in communication technologies has often been considered a bad thing for popular music and the music business, while in fact it has had a beneficial effect for independent artists and created a more diverse musical culture.
What are your thoughts on this topic?

I'm still having trouble defining my thesis. I think Facebook would be an interesting paper topic that is relevant to our generation. I'm just not sure which direction to take my thesis. I need to focus it more, most likely on one aspect of facebook. Any ideas?

I've decided to concentrate my research paper on some aspect of hydrogen filling stations, and ultimately their connection to the reason we can't use hydrogen cars tomorrow. But I'm not sure where to go with just the filling stations..

The excerpt from Al Gore's The Assault on Reason seemed to correlate EXACTLY with my thesis, only that it took a completely opposite stance on the subject. Gore voiced his opinion that the Internet is a savior for democracy, allowing people to get their news from a much more varied source, and presumably one that is unflinching in its neutrality and allowance of multiple points of view.

The problem with this, of course, was well paraphrased by David Brooks in his Editorial about the book, saying: "Has Gore ever actually looked at the Internet? He spends much of this book praising cold, dispassionate logic, but is that really waht he finds on most political blogs or in his e-mail folder?"

For the most part, I found Gore's opinion on the solution to the downfall of reasoning ridiculously idealistic. Like Brooks says in his review, the Internet is much more populated with violent, emotional arguments than it is with intelligent and logical ones. Also, Gore seems to contradict himself in the excerpt. First he claims that Americans are becoming "disconnected from the democratic process," and argues that we are slowly being alienated from our government which no longer seeks our support on issues, just our financial support and our votes. However, at the very end he asserts that "networked democracy is taking hold," so apparently we're getting more involved as we're being cut-off. 

Not sure what direction to go with my thesis.  I could focus more on where highways are put and why (positive or negative reasons), low speed limits make highways more dangerous, or the negative effects of Nadar's book on car safety.  Any thoughts?

                My topic is the potential downfalls of solar energy.  Leo Marx's article "Does Improved Technology Mean Progress?", while not specifically about this subject, provides great insight into the broader themes of the topic.

               

Leo Marx, and his theory that improved technology does not necessarily improve society, would probably believe that my thesis that blogs have changed the way that Americans receive news, and allow the populace to distribute news based on what they think is important.

                Marx argued that improved technology sometimes may be detrimental to civilization and technology may be used to repress, not necessarily helping society. I think that he would believe that the distribution of news by more decentralized sources may lead to a less political influence on the news, and blogging has done just that. While some blogs are still greatly influenced by political views, the spectrum is no longer as specialized, such as liberal newspapers or conservative radio.

                Marx would think that such a diverse group of sources for news will help to bring to the forefront of news what regular Americans think is important, instead of what biased news sources want us to believe.

In "Do artifacts have politics", Winner argues the relatively unnoticed political power of technology in varying degrees.   Winner would agree with my topic on the negative effects of speed limits and the American highway system.  Winner's discussion of "technical arrangements that precede the use of things in question" directly relates to speed limits and highways (28).  When there was a strong push for safety and less gas consumption, the United States forced states to abide by speed limits.  At the time, this invention seemed fitting.  But, as Winner describes, choices become fixed in equipment and social habit (30).  Highways designed with relatively low speed limits had flexibility in design in the beginning.  However, their flexibility has vanished and their practical purposes may be out dated.  But the technology's power holds firm.  To redesign the United States means of auto transportation would be a huge undertaking.   The resources required would be enough to make the issue relatively untouchable.  This alone would support Winner's argument of technological determinism.  The technology in place holds strong political power that towers over the averagely timid politician.  
In Marx's article, speed limits and highway safety follow his discussion of social issues versus technocratic ideals.  Marx says, "the debased technocratic version of the progressive worldview has slowly gained adherents...and by now it is one of the chief ideological supports of an adversary culture" (75).  Speed limits broadly fit the idea of technological progress being reevaluated by the public.   The public going against the technocratic idea demonstrate Marx's hope for questioning the use of technical progress.

After reading both Marx and Winner's opinions on technology, I think they would both support my research topic because it emphasizes a few strong points of both of their arguments and examinations of technology.  

In Marx's article, "Does Improved Technology Mean Progress?, he discusses the shift in beliefs from the view that technology and technological improvements are a sound judge of American progress to the more recent skeptical standpoint that presents a more negative "view of technological innovation as an index of social progress" (65). Shifts have also occurred from an Enlightenment belief that science and technology worked towards the goals of liberation from political oppression, towards a technocratic stance that that "science-based technologies are in themselves a sufficient and reliable basis for progress" (76).

 

My research topics both have to do with forms of technology and their affects on society. One looks at the effects of violent TV and videogames on children's levels of aggression, and the other examines how drastically methods of communication have changed with the introduction of the Internet and cell phones, and how they've made relationships much less personable. Marx would definitely argue that all of these forms of technology-TV, Internet, video games, cell phones-may not necessarily be marked as positive changes in society. Yes, each of these innovations has its upsides to the advancement of society, but each can also have detrimental effects. Although I haven't picked which topic I would like to study, with either one I plan to examine those negative effects of either aggression or less personable relationships. Mark would see this as a quality argument, since his entire piece discusses why Americans have made the shift from Enlightenment to technocratic and how.  At a certain point of technological advancement Americans began to examine the motives behind these innovations, and realized that they can't always be used as an index of progress in our world. Mark states, "only by questioning the assumption that innovation necessarily represents progress can we begin to judge its worth" (77). Although innovations that have enhanced media and communication are extremely impressive and can be valuable, their possible negative affects on society are what I plan to explore through my research paper.

 Langdon Winner questions the idea that certain objects are inherently political. Winner states that most objects are not political but their users may make it appear this way. However, under certain conditions technologies themselves can be political. I believe that Winner would respond to my research topic: It is not right for colleges to monitor student emails, by asking me to delve into the context that the technology was developed and its intended purpose.

I believe Marx would agree with my thesis that the rise of internet networking technology has made relationships less intimate.  Marx asks "Does improved technology mean progress?"(77).

For my paper I want to discuss how the powers of the world like the US and the UK use the possibility of nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands to distract people from the true weapons of mass destruction, small arms that they sell. 

=Thesis=

Since technology provides the foundation for today's globilization system, it serves as a symbol of power for the United States and is the underlying cause for conflict on the global stage.

Marx would argue that Americans viewpoints vary on the impact of technology in the global arena depending on their age, social class, and political stance. Like the example of Jefferson and Webster, technology affects people to various degrees based on their reliance on technology; thus, it is evident that businessmen, teenagers, and anyone who uses the internet, for instance, to trade stock or sell on eBay will support the idea that technology has a massive effect on globalization. In today's world, the speed of your modem is more important than the number of nuclear weapons you have.

Winner would argue that technology is not the root of global conflict because technology is meant to provide order. Technology's aim is to improve the lives of people by providing safer foods, better roads, and more effective medical treatment. Winner argues that nuclear energy, for example, cannot be taken out of context until it is accepted and used on a large scale. Certain technologies require a tradeoff between necessity and consequence.

Both would agree that technology does in fact determine a nation-state's level of power in on the world stage. 

In my research paper I am hoping to discuss in some respects how the Internet has made committing certain crimes, such as identity theft, much easier for criminals. Leo Marx presents in his work "Does Improved Technology Mean Progress" the question does improved technology mean progress, and that in order for technology to be progress it must have a predetermined purpose. With the invention of the Internet it was not intended for people to gain access of information they should not have and use it for illegal purposes. Marx states that people today have lost the interest to "name the social ends for which the scientific and technological instruments of power are to be used," meaning that no one decides the limits of technologies. So in the case of the Internet, I think Marx would argue that people were naïve and did not realize the full potential of the Internet and the major problems that could arise. A predetermined purpose for the Internet had not been set, no one decided what this "progress" was going towards or what it was supposed to accomplish. Marx believes that by setting these "goals" for what the technological innovation should be used for it "can provide the criteria required to make rational and humane choices," meaning there would be less room for people to take advantage of the technology and misuse it, which is what has been happening with the Internet. Marx would also encourage people to weigh the actual costs and benefits of the Internet, and ask if it's really worth it to make accessible all this information just for criminals to use against the society. The Internet, with it's wide range of possibilities, Marx would argue that there may be too many ways in which things could go wrong, and say that the Internet possibly is a technological innovation that is not progressive. 

Leo Marx, in the article "Does Improved Technology Mean Progress?", discusses the misleading notion that many Americans have adopted overtime:  technological improvements are a primary basis for and an accurate gauge of progress. 

In Marx's article, he writes about how American attitudes toward technology have changed from believing science and technology are means to be unconfined politically and socially to believing in a more technocratic view that innovation alone is progress. While some people hold this technocratic view, it takes more than just the invention of a new technology for it to earn the label, "progress."

For my research paper, my topic is prescription drugs. Doctors give out prescription drugs and patients accept prescription drugs all too easily to improve their health.  In our highly developed world patients are constantly searching for the newest medicine and don't consider the possible roots of the problem as often, such as stress or lack of sleep. Marx would think my topic makes a valid argument. In the end of the article Marx writes, "Only by questioning the assumption that innovation necessarily represents progress can we begin to judge its worth"(77).  Science and technology mean progress when we are able to find the right purpose and answer the question, "Progress towards what?" (77). The innovations themselves are not progress; the new, usually more efficient ideas and reasons why innovations are invented are progress. My example supports Marx's statement because it shows how there is not progress toward anything except drug companies making more money.  The drug may solve one health issue while creating another causing the patient to buy more prescriptions, or the patient may not need the drug at all and therefore it is not effective.  Marx would argue that drug companies need to prove their drug actually helps patients and doctors need to be more careful when diagnosing.  Both doctors and drug companies need to shift their focus from making the most profit to finding the best way to cure patients. 

Thesis: The advance of musical technologies has caused people with unique musical talent to be thrust into the backdrop of popular musical culture.

    Based on Marx's claims and arguments in his essay, "Does Improved Technology Mean Progress?" I believe that Marx would find my thesis to be a good example of what he wants to emphasize....
    Winner would probably want me to think about whether or not it is truly the technology to blame or actually the situations in which the technologies were developed...

Topic 1 - Programs that allow users to legally purchase and download music (iTunes, Napster, etc.) are growing in popularity. This increase in users could seriously lower piracy and forever change the way we listen to and purchase music.

topic 1: cyber crimes/ crimes on the internet

Some useful resources sent by Kristen Eshleman:

Here is the link to Sphere - the widget they can use to help find similar blogs.  Our blogging platform is "MovableType": http://www.sphere.com/get-widget

Technorati published a set of guidelines to help you get this site noticed through their service.  The students should read this and adhere to these: http://support.technorati.com/guidelines/

And finally, they can use these as well to search for authoritative blogs:

Google Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en
Technorati: http://technorati.com/
Weblogs (need to create a personal account): http://www.weblogs.com/home.html