Transcendence Film Report

After watching the movie Transcendence, I thought it was a really good movie. The movie is about a researcher named Dr. Will Caster who does research in an Artificial Intelligence Facility. It was really interesting and a little scary. This movie made me think about artificial Intelligence a little more. It makes think about what the benefits and risks are of having a human mind put into a robot. When Dr. Will Caster was shot with a bullet that contained radiation poisoning, he told that he has 4-5 weeks left to live. When he was poisoned with the radiation, his mind was working, but his body was dying. At that point, his human mind was put into a computer to save him. It was really interesting seeing what the outcome of it was.

Body Rhetoric

In the 4th chapter in his book Rhetoric for Radicals, Jason Del Gandio wrote about how body rhetoric can easily make an argument. The four ways that bodily argumentation expands the realm of rhetoric are that embodies argumentation is a call to action, embodied argumentation provides more rhetorical options, embodied argumentation is empowering, and embodied argumentation highlights the craft of everyday living, (Gandio 146). They are essential to supporting one’s position because your body is continuously delivering a message. Being aware of your body language gives you more control of what people may think about your position. Your messages should always meet the wants and needs of your audience.

The five steps to cultivating style are to observe your own style and the style of others, to reflect upon those styles, to experiment with different styles, to apply your style, and to take chances with different stylistic choices. 

An individual body argument is using your own body to make all kinds of arguments. For example, you can easily get tattoos or body piercings, wear particular clothes, display buttons or pins, create unique hairstyles, etc to “…communicate social and political messages that others read and respond to,” (Gandio 148).

An collective body argument “…often occurs through protests and actions, which might include: sanctioned rallies, marches, and demonstrations; direct actions; silent die-ins; snake marches; street festivals; both militant and peaceful confrontations; a few people on a street corner or a million people across the globe,” (Gandio 151). Collective body arguments involve a group of people coming together to communicate messages to others.

Moon Film Report

The movie moon was about an astronaut named Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) has a contract for three years with Lunar Industries. Bell spends three years on the moon for a mission. While he is on the moon, he has little contact with humans and starts to hallucinate at the end of the three years. During the three years on the moon, the computer system GERTY, the intelligent computer system, attends to Bells daily needs. GERTY is the only real-form of communication Bell has.

In the movie, there was not only an intelligent computer system, but also there were human clones. It was interesting seeing how there were clones in the future time where the movie was taking place. The movie portrayed what artificial intelligence could potentially be like in the future. As with any artificial intelligence movie, something always goes wrong with the machines. It was really interesting to see artificial intelligence at another perspective.  

The Power of Language

Language is a mixture of words, signs, gestures, and pictures that allow you to be able to communicate in different ways. In each language, words have different meanings to them. I think that language connects with the media to grow an influence because language allows the media to communicate to you in so many different ways.

The five guidelines to language and communication are to be accessible, to be clear, to be respectful, to be provocative, and to be interesting. I think that our generation follows these guidelines today.

The quote “War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength” from George Orwell’s book 1984 represents the totalitarian government that Orwell creates in the book. It “…enable[s] Orwell’s totalitarian government to unleash a continuous war of infinite reach and endless duration. The citizens of that regime are besieged by linguistic power and never think to question the perversity of their sociopolitical reality. They are so enwrapped in their governments language that they have foregone the ability to think beyond their situations, enabling the government to act as it wishes,” (Rhetoric for Radicals 107). In his book 1984, Orwell portrays a totalitarian government that controls the language that everyone speaks. The government controls everything he citizens due and watches them through a screen. Language on social media is influencing us like the language did in Orwell’s 1984 by using language that persuades us to perceive something in a certain way.

The book Rhetoric for Radicals by Jason Del Gandio defines Propaganda as “…any [type] of communication that distorts or obscures people’s understanding in the service of social, political or economic power,” (116). The five basic filters of social media are profit, advertising, unquestioned authority, direct control, and ideological bias. The book states that the media has a profit-driven motive. Anything that would lower their profits is ignored from the media.