Short Paper #1 Assignment: due in-class on Friday. Feb. 2nd

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Short Paper #1: Society 2.0

“Recognition software doesn’t violate privacy. Recognition software expands privacy. When every machine recognizes every user, the lived environment becomes personal and unique…That’s what it says in the promotional materials my company sends to potential investors. I didn’t write it. I don’t believe it.” (Wolven 276).

For your first short paper, I want you to get your feet wet with the “pale blue dot” approach to science fiction. That is, to make us see our own society from a different perspective, the way an outsider would see it, but we no longer can. To do this, I want you to explain a modern innovation (something introduced into society no more than ten-fifteen years ago) to someone from 1918. It can be anything—Instagram, Facebook, Texting, Siri, Drones, Tinder, etc. The trick is to explain why it was invented, what problem it was supposed to solve or cure, and why people embraced it.

However, as you write, consider your AUDIENCE: this is a person who doesn’t know anything about modern technology. They didn’t have radios, television, computers, or anything other than rudimentary telephones and typewriters. So how can you explain to them why this is “good” when they might think it’s horrible? You might also consider whether you think it’s good, too! Assume that someone attending ECU in 1918 might be horrified that people “swipe” to meet people rather than go up and talk to them. How can you defend this? Why is this “better” or “improved” than dating in 1918?

REMEMBER, too, that the three stories in this conversation, “Openness,” “Caspar D. Luckinbill,” and “On the Fringes of the Fractal” don’t exactly celebrate the future. They’re explaining it to us, the outsiders, but always want us to see what’s wrong with these societal innovations.

REQUIREMENTS
  • About 3-4 pages, double spaced
  • Only choose ONE innovation (don’t move from one to another)
  • Think about your 1918 audience: what would they understand and not understand? What would confuse them? Disturb them?
  • Be sure we know how you feel about this innovation by the time we finish your paper. Are you excited to show this to your ECU ancestors…or ashamed?
  • DUE IN-CLASS ON FRIDAY, FEB 2nd (we’ll discuss them in class!)


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