Violence in The Kite Runner Essay Example

Violence in The Kite Runner Paper In The Kite Runner, violence plays a large role to develop both the characters and the story. Scenes such as rape, murder and extremely violent corporal punishments are cheerfully depicted and you can clearly see how those scenes come to affect the character development. The novel describes the life of Amir and his involvement with the violent scenes in the book. The novel also describes how much significance a single event in somebody’s life can have on their future self, especially rape. The first time rape is portrayed in the book is the scene where Hassan, Amir’s childhood friend, are raped by a known bully known as Assef. Amir and Hassan had just participated in a kite fighting tournament and they luckily won. Hassan runs away to find the kite for Amir and finds him being held down by Assef and his friends. Here, Amir can either interfere in the rape, or run and hide, and he chooses the latter one. This choice will come to affect and shape the rest of his life. The memory of witnessing Hassan being raped, and him not helping his friend will build up guilt inside of him. The guilt will continue growing until he cannot handle it anymore and feels like he has to redeem himself. This particular rape is not the first instance where rape occurs, and Amir is later reminded of his choice whilst escaping to Palestine with his father Baba when a woman is nearly raped. His father prevents this and Amir is reminded about his foul decision and also about how different Amir is from his father. About the same time, Amir is told about the rape of Kamal, a boy Amir used to know. These two events enriches the guilt he already felt and it grows even more. Later in life, Amir will look back at the scenes of rape in his life and will compare it to a coin only showing the upside when thrown; â€Å"What was the old saying about the bad penny? My past was like that, always turning up† (Hosseini 2003, p.281). Later in the story, Amir and his father arr We will write a custom essay sample on Violence in The Kite Runner specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Violence in The Kite Runner specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Violence in The Kite Runner specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

I Am Sam Essay Example

I Am Sam Essay Example I Am Sam Paper I Am Sam Paper A developing child should be cared for and nurtured well in the early stages of life. The movie I Am Sam depicts a typical case of whether a mentally disabled parent should have custody of a child. Like any other child, Lucy needs to be in a loving environment that tends to her every need, and it is up to her guardians to understand what those needs are. Sams mental capacity does not exceed that of an eight year old, where once Lucy surpasses that age, she will essentially take on the role of the parent. Although Sam may have won custody of Lucy in the movie, one cannot say the movie accurately portrays the constant parental actions Sam performed by himself or during emergencies. Lucys future can be jeopardized if her development is held back by her father. In a reality setting, Sam should not have custody of Lucy, because he is too dependant on outside sources; not capable of providing the proper care a non-disabled parent would; and will be putting her future at risk of its full potential. Sam is too dependant outside sources. When parents need help, they often turn to people who are wiser and understand the situation. Sams circle of friends is mostly mentally disabled as well, and cannot provide efficient care for Lucy. They make things worse rather than better, because they too do not understand the proper needs of Lucy. Not only is Sam reliant on outside sources, he may not always choose the best source for advice. However, better sources for advice may not always be there to help. Lucys godmother will not be around to constantly help Sam whenever he needs it. He is very dependant on her for information about parenthood, although, if something were to happen to her, Sam would be alone with many questions but very little answers. Although a child needs the care of more than one person, Sam relies too heavily on his neighbors, friends and social workers. With the mental abilities of a seven year old, Sam needs the help of social workers to dictate what Lucy should do. This shows how he lacks in parental instincts, which is one of the most important aspects of being a parent. As a single parent, Lucy is dependant on Sam for everything from food to exercise; however he must learn and remember how to provide proper amounts of for his daughter. Sam must learn how to provide for Lucy on his own, and not rely on others to determine how Lucy lives. In this case, being a good parent does not rely on the amount of love for the child, but rather the needs a parent can properly tend to. Sam has an unlimited amount of love for Lucy; however he cannot provide an adequate environment for her beyond the age of eight. Lucy would most likely not have the proper stimulation for her age once she grows older. She will need to read more difficult books, and challenge herself to grow mentally. As times change Sam will not be able to provide the proper books, because he may chose a book that is appealing to him, which is also appealing to a seven year old. Also, he may not be aware of the other forms of mental stimulation besides books. Foster-care parents will be able to understand and properly tend to the needs of Lucy according to her age. Not only is Lucy in need of mental stimulation in accordance to her age, Sam needs to understand what to do in case of emergencies. If Lucy collapses, Sam must learn how to dial 911 and provide the appropriate information requested by the operator. He cannot rely on calling the neighbors, because a minute can determine whether Lucy lives or dies. One of the ways to prevent Lucy from being involved in emergencies is to avoid the dangerous situations all together. As a parent, Sam must recognize the rules and restrictions Lucy has to live by, and make sure she is always in control. In the movie, Lucy was able to deceive Sam into believing the social worker let him take her to the park. This shows he often cannot question his daughter, letting Lucy the opportunity to run rampant without proper adult supervision. Sam will not be able to comprehend the needs of a child, and thus unable to tend to them like how a non-mentally disabled parent should. Lucy needs to understand she has a right to have an equal future as any other child in the world. Sam in unacceptable of change, and Lucy needs to experience life beyond the weekly events Sam has organized. When they decided to dine at a new restaurant instead of I-Hop, Sam experiences a fit. His unwillingness to change will prevent Lucy from experiencing new situations. As Lucy grows older, she will want to enjoy new events, but Sam is reluctant to provide her these opportunities. While these opportunities are lost, Lucy must also cope with an emotional weight brought upon her in a world of discrimination. Most of the human population will not understand a mentally disabled person, and thus are prone to prejudice. Lucy did not want people to judge her the same way they judged her father, forcing her to tell her friends she was adopted. Lucy will most likely hear harsh words against the mentally disabled throughout her life, and the emotional burden will make it harder for her to live life normally. Also, the burden of having to raise her father once she surpasses his mental abilities, will further force her to live in very different situations than other children. Lucy will have too much responsibility for her age, which can make her feel as if shes losing the supposedly care-free days of her childhood. Lucys future relies heavily on how she develops and Sam may be holding her back with his condition. She has a right to grow as a child, and become her own person regardless of what her fathers circumstances. Lucy is at a very vulnerable age in life, and the actions that involve her can affect her for the rest of her life. Sam is struggling to sustain himself, and for him to take care of another life with his budget as a Starbucks waiter is unfair for the child. He cannot provide everything that Lucy needs and in order to let Lucy have a normal childhood, she needs to live in an environment where all her needs are tended to. Foster care parents are far better than Sam in terms of giving Lucy a home where her requirements are fulfilled, because they have the common sense to figure out what she needs and how to provide them. Love is intangible and cannot provide basic necessities such as shelter or food. The movie may have manipulated its audience into believing that all you need is love, but in reality, love is never really enough.

Back in Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

Back in Shakespeare Essay Romeo and Juliet (446) , Capulet (321) , Montague (266) , Tybalt (192) , Benvolio (113) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints Back in Shakespeare’s days courtly love was a fashionable tradition. What happened was the men saw the women as Goddesses but their love was more often unrequited. But the men would send them love letters in the form of sonnets in order to win the woman’s love, however it usually failed leaving the man feeling melancholic. This is the position Romeo found himself in as he was in love with a girl called Rosaline. Montague and Benvolio notice a change in Romeo’s behaviour due to this and Montague explains how he â€Å"shuts up his windows† and â€Å"locks fair daylight out† this shows that Romeo attempts to isolate himself from the outside world and really is depressed. As Romeo enters the scene the audience can see for themselves his state of mind during his conversation with Benvolio. His replies to Benvolio’s comments are short and subdued and he explains, â€Å"sad hours seem long†. We can work out from this that Romeo is not having a good time so our sympathy wins him over and we hope for his luck to change. As we move onto scene 2, we meet Paris, who is a man hoping to marry Juliet and is trying to convince Capulet to allow him to, however Capulet seems to think Juliet is too young for marriage as â€Å"She hath not seen the change of fourteen years†. The possible marriage between Paris and Juliet is exciting for the audience yet it is an obstacle between the forthcoming relationship between Romeo and Juliet. The scene then cuts back to Romeo and his problems with courtly love. Benvolio who is aware of Romeo’s problem tries to be a useful friend by giving him advice. His advice is â€Å"one fire burns out another’s burning†, this is a metaphorical way of putting; you should find someone else and forget about Rosaline. Then as ‘Clown’ from the Capulet family is struggling to read a party invitation he asks Romeo and Benvolio to read the list out for him. Romeo notices that Rosalie’s name is on this list and the pair therefore decide to find a way of going to the ‘masqued ball’ to give Romeo a chance of fore filling his dream of meeting Rosaline. The fact it’s a masqued ball means they can get in whilst in disguise and probably get away with it and this thought enters Benvolio’s head. In scene 3 we meet the Nurse. A nurse is the Elizabethan equivalent to a child minder, however in these days they were hired out commonly by wealthy upper class families and were pretty much part of the family, they would raise the children and even breast feed them when they are babies. This particular Nurse raised Juliet and the two of them are very close. She is a bubbly character who often tells sexual jokes or sexual innuendo’s and tells Juliet stories about when she was younger usually embarrassing her. From seeing the play myself I remember the nurse being an entertaining character and was an audience favourite which was most noticeable by the applause she got at the end. Her sexual humour is shown where she says, â€Å"dost thou fall upon thy face? Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit, wilt thou not, Jule?† This is a crude joke of falling onto her back for sex and most fourteen year olds would find an adult talking to them like this terribly embarrassing yet the audience find it comical and entertaining. Soon after; Juliet discovers Paris’s desire to marry her and to the nurses delight Juliet replies â€Å"It is an honour that I dream not of†. Again the audience are excited by what is now a probable marriage yet it also questions the possibility of Romeo and Juliet getting together. Whilst on their way to the Capulet masqued ball Romeo predicts the future when saying â€Å"for my mind misgreaves some consequence, yet hanging in the stars†, similarly to what it says in the prologue; Romeo is saying he fears an unfortunate accident. The audience therefore semi-expect this to ironically happen. This is meant to create tension especially when he says about an â€Å"untimely death†, which along with the prologue suggests young death. Scene 5 is set in the Capulet household as it is the location of their ‘masqued ball’. A ‘masqued ball’ was a fashionable party to have in Elizabethan times where everyone went disguised in a mask. It was the equivalent to what a fancy dress party is today and this is why the Montague’s were able to get in with little suspicion from the Capulet’s. Party’s are always a popularity and so Shakespeare made this scene a key one in the play for the entertainment of the audience. From what the audience have seen so far, Romeo is a melodramatic isolated character. He has won over our sympathy and as he is one of the main characters we all want to see things turn around for him. The reason Shakespeare presents him as a melancholic lover is to emphasise the artificial nature of his love for Rosaline in comparison to the genuine emotion he feels for Juliet. We witness the two types of love juxtaposed and recognise that his love for Juliet is positive, energising and less of a ‘pose’. But by presenting him in love with someone else initially, it creates romantic suspense for the audience. When Romeo first sees Juliet, it is described as ‘love at first sight’, this really helps to emphasise how he feels about her. From the audiences point of view, Romeo appears to be shocked by how much Juliet stands out by the way he says â€Å"O she doth teach torches to burn bright†, the reason he says ‘O’ at the start of his speech is purely to emphasise his emotion. The speech as a whole is a type of light imagery and explains how her beauty stands out so much to Romeo. He then goes on to say â€Å"†¦she hangs upon the cheek of night / As a rich jewel in an Ethiops ear†, this is a metaphorical way of saying that she is beautiful, precious and rare to him as is â€Å"Beauty too rich for use†. These are both examples of wealth imagery. The majority of his speech in this part of the scene is imagery and metaphorical to help stress his feelings for Juliet, he also claims she â€Å"Shows a snowy dove trooping with crows†. This is in the category of bird and colour imagery and helps to stand out the point that she really does stand out from the crowd. As explained by courtly love, it was a common thing for men to respect women like they are goddesses, and Romeo uses this kind of ‘holy imagery’ when he says â€Å"†¦touching hers, make blessed my rude hand†. Overall the speech shows strong romantic inte rest due to how Romeo is so intense, passionate and genuine. This is one of the most loving parts of the story; however it is interrupted as the fiery character of Tybalt notices that a Montague is present. He clearly shows his anger by referring Romeo as a â€Å"slave†, which is saying that Romeo is like his inferior. As Capulet enters the scene; Tybalt threatens to â€Å"strike him dead†, however, Capulet bears in mind what the Prince said, in that any more fighting would mean their â€Å"lives would pay the forfeit† and as he wants no violence at the party, he aggressively prevents Tybalt from making any wrong moves. The hatred is then interrupted by the love of Romeo and Juliet as they meet and talk for the first time. Their conversation is set out in the style of a sonnet as of course; these were popular in the Elizabethan and Medieval times. It is very poetic, passionate and filled with religious imagery. The language is intense, memorable and uses rhyming couplets at the end of every other line to help it to sound better and stand out. Juliet is very responsive to Romeo’s requests and appears to want Romeo to kiss her, which was a rarity in the courtly love tradition. Romeo flirtatiously refers to Juliet as a ‘Pilgrim’; this shows how he respects her like a Goddess and this is the start of a large amount of religious imagery. In addition to that, Juliet answers back with her own religious metaphors like â€Å"And palm to palm is holy palmers kiss† this also contains some alliteration due to the repetitive use of words containing ‘palm’. The speech overall is a pattern of Romeo flirting to Juliet and Juliet flirting back, this keeps the flow of the conversation going and on a couple of occasions we witness a kiss. All this comes to a sudden end as the Nurse enters the scene and they discover each others identity. The nurse calls Juliet to go to her mother and when she is gone explains to Romeo â€Å"Her mother is the lady of the house† and of course Romeo realises this is the Capulet house. Benvolio calls Romeo away from the scene explaining â€Å"The sport is at the best† which informs that he knows the best part of the night is over and their identity has been discovered. This means that the Montague’s have to make a swift exit effectively making Romeo and Juliet’s ‘moment’ short with a sudden end. This leaves the nurse and Juliet alone together. Juliet finds out from the Nurse that Romeo is in fact a Montague and is clearly devastated by this when she says â€Å"My grave is like to be my wedding bed† and â€Å"My only love sprung from my only hate. All the way throughout this scene; Shakespeare juxtaposes love and hate. The first sight of love is at Romeo’s first glimpse of Juliet and the whole ‘love at first sight’ event, this is interrupted by Tybalt noticing Romeo and wanting to cause a violent act but he is stopped by Capulet. This allows Romeo and Juliet to have their first speech in the form of the love sonnet although when the two realise each other’s identity, the hate between the two families takes over leaving the audience wondering if the power of their love is strong enough to overcome the hate. In conclusion to the opening act of the play; Shakespeare creates many ‘untied’ ends to the story. This makes the audience want to carry on watching to get an answer to their questions; questions such as will Tybalt fore fill his threat towards Romeo? Are Romeo and Juliet going to die and if so how? Will Paris marry Juliet? And will there be any more fighting? The only possible way for the audience to find an answer to these questions is to carry on watching the play. This was Shakespeare’s objective for the opening act and he has therefore successfully completed it. Back in Shakespeare. (2017, Aug 22). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Chicano studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Chicano studies - Essay Example It is because political power is gained by having good number of followers. In addition, the voting pattern in the USA was more along the tribal lines thus making the Chicano people unlucky when it comes to national resource allocation. Having a political representative would have helped the Chicanos to develop within their area. Illiteracy was also another factor that significantly contributed to the underdevelopment of the Chicano people in Mexico. It is because they did not have the skills and experience on how to foster their individual development ideas that would help them to prosper to be in par with other communities. Moreover, they suffered because of discrimination from other communities who did not give them room to share or exchange ideas. Lack of adequate resources to the Chicano people made them remain behind in development sector. Lack of technological empowerment is also another area that contributed to the underdevelopment of the Chicanos. At the heart issues, dealing with presentation is the human urge to put things into category things, even other humans. One needed to be black or white, male or female, being an American or a citizen from whichever the country, to able to receive fair treatment in the society. The US racial groups were made up of black, white, indigenous, Asian and other. This meant that there was nowhere the Chicanos could fit in these races. The Us government termed them as Hispanics but was not well received by Latinos since it was not inclusive of everybody and they felt it was just top down ethnic identity. The Chicanos did not want to be identified by these dualisms, which was their biggest problem. In turn, the way that Chicanos represent themselves in a daily life did not correspond to the experience of other groups. Thus, it often results to portrayals that are inaccurate when that particular group does not have control of the way that exhibit those

Profiling 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Profiling 4 - Essay Example Technology which causes victimization includes cyber net, cell phones, ATM machines, electronic data transfer etc. However, in the contemporary world the most intense victimization is seen over the internet. Within the last few years internet identity crime has gained enough recognition throughout the world (Gray, 2010). This is based upon an individual’s personal identity numbers, bank accounts, school information or any other security code which is unique to every person around the globe. Online criminals hack or steal this information and then they use it for causing financial, physical or moral damage to the victim. Victimization is now increasing with a stimulating rate as compared to the past. Moreover, the lack of awareness regarding internet identity crime has also facilitated it to a greater extent (Gray, 2010). People suffering from victimization are usually reluctant to contact law enforcement agencies because of embarrassment or due to the chances of further victimization by the offender. It is significantly easier for any cybercriminal to harass an individual by staying at a distance. This increases the complexity of the situation for law enforcing agencies since they fail to trace the offenders. Online criminals do not only harm individuals rather they possess the ability of destroying large corporations, for instance, by simply causing them financial loss or interrupting the bank transactions (Gray, 2010). Victims of online crime belong to a relatively narrowed group of people who are largely neglected by the judiciary system. Victimology was only recognized in the middle 20th century, before that, criminals were the major focus of the law enforcement agencies. There are primarily three factors which initiates victimization in this era of technological advancement. These include the environmental affects, characteristics of the offender and most importantly the precipitation of the victim. Environment

How did the Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde appeal to the collective consciousness of Victorian Society Essay Example for Free

How did the Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde appeal to the collective consciousness of Victorian Society Essay In the Victorian Era many people were indeed superstitious of various issues that were classified by class, for example, becoming drunk would not be considered as normal, or as proper, with people from the upper classes; whereas with people from lower or working class this would have been deemed a standard activity and most likely occurred on a daily basis. In Robert Louis- Stevensons novel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde just about every aspect to do with the fear of a typical upper class Victorian is explored by the life of the unfortunate Doctor. The face of Hyde is described as a criminal from everyones view and one of the memorable first sightings of Hyde, met by a distant cousin of Mr. Utterson, namely Mr. Enfield, claimed he gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running. Its a human reaction on first sightings of someone never before seen to be very stereotypical, as was the case with many upper class Victorians. If someone from a lower class did not look ordinary than they would most likely be considered a criminal. As such, the reaction from the majority of accusers was as follows: I had a loathing to my gentlemen at first sight. So had the childs family, which was only natural. If this was the case, than there was little the accused could do for himself, because the lower classes were never given the benefit of the doubt when there was an important or rich family involved. I saw that Sawbones turn sick and white with the desire to kill him. Even the doctor had been so taken aback by the ferocity and ugliness of this so-called human, despite doctors professionalism not to be judgemental in times when their attention is needed. This only shows the type of opinions that Victorians held from a range of a backgrounds. This appealed to the Victorians in a sense that, by introducing the new police force, they had succeeded with trying to bring in a law abiding country and ridding it of these criminal faces. In the early Victorian years, Charles Darwin produced a theory that claimed we had not been created by God and had instead evolved from nature. He omitted to mention which animal we had evolved from, but many ideas were developed. One such idea was the primitive ancestor reflected the troglodytic actions performed by Mr. Hyde at certain occasions. On one of these occasions Hyde murders Sir Danvers Carew. In killing Carew, Hyde clubbed him to the earth, similar to a caveman, along with ape-like fury, and eventually trampling his victim underfoot. This idea of Darwins had induced a new fear in the hearts of Victorian people, that they and others around them could, perhaps, at any time, lose control of themselves or something akin to the actions of Hyde. A brief point could be made about alcohol. In the tale there are many references to the upper class doctors and lawyers; for example Mr. Utterson, who drank alone and only in small amounts for fear of the alcohol giving him cause to lose himself. He could not be seen to embarrass himself, by drinking too much and losing his social standing. This would have rendered him unacceptable to his fellow gentry. This is very similar to the life of Dr. Jekyll as drinking too much would have lead to the exposure of Hyde and his evil deeds. The way in which Victorian London has been described could have intimidated many into behaviour which avoided prejudice, at all costs, from across the classes. The two characters in the novel divided by good and evil both live in completely different conditions in London. As Hyde is a criminal and as he lives in the dismal quarter of Soho, with its muddy ways and slatternly passengers then it must have caused some relief to the upper classes when they were living in clean conditions and considered to be acceptable places to reside, in turn taking the criminal far away from them. This though, brought around the new danger of these criminals escaping from their filthy conditions and creeping around the streets and labyrinths of those thought to be safe; therefore having access to their private lives and secrets. Also, Hydes flat is illustrated as untidy and disorganized, very similar to the life of a criminal, where they would have only a single night perhaps to lay at rest before they had to be on the move. Secrecy played an important part in Victorian lives and Stephensons novel explores this. within there was another enclosure, like wise sealed and marked upon the cover as Not to be opened until the death or disappearance of Dr. Henry Jekyll and All my drugs were in the cabinet a long journey down the two pairs of stairs, through the back passage, across the open courtyard and through the anatomical theatre. In the case of the letter, Jekyll would rather have his secrets unveiled after he has died. This is due to the good doctor trying to save himself from the embarrassment and mockery he would receive had someone discovered what he got up to when he was alone. This was also a problem with many among the upper classes, as their many distractions in life, like alcohol, were not considered acceptable, so they would have had to be done in secret. In the second quote, it is a surprise to find a doctor with drugs and medicines hidden away in the most secluded part of this house. This links back to the same point of revealing his habits and what could happen to him, living in shame for the rest of his life. Intolerable to Victorians was shame. This relates back to many Victorians regarding their class as imperatively important, not something to lose in the agony of public humiliation, should their private activities be revealed in the public domain.

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II. DIELECTRIC LOADED EXPONENTIALLY TAPERED SLOT ANTENNA DESIGN The ETS antenna is also known as flared notch antenna, is among one of the most promising antenna satisfying all requirements described in the technical challenges [11]. It is fundamentally a planar traveling wave antenna with end fire radiation. This antenna is the preferred candidate for Mm Wave applications due to its wide bandwidth, low cross polarization and highly directive patterns. A major advantage of this antenna type is that the wide bandwidth and maximum gain can be achieved using exponentially tapered profiles with dielectric loading [12]. The proposed dielectric scheme provides an interesting alternative. This antenna is integrated by using a single substrate. It is easy to fabricate and the structure is compact [13]. To eliminate the higher order modes in the waveguide, the thickness of the substrate is restricted. The loaded dielectric slab in front of the antenna can be considered as a dielectric guiding structure excited by the exponential flare resulting in a wider beamwidth and maximum gain. The compa...

Can Machines Think?

Can Machines Think ? This paper regards several points of view on the subject of, what is commonly referred to as Artificial Intelligence, or AI. AI is the attempt to make machines, specifically computers, perform intelligently through programming. Already, this definition has a problem in that the word intelligence can have many interpretations. This essay will attempt to put forward some ideas for how to approach this problem.It could be said that the human brain is nothing more than a machine, and as we know it to be capable of thought it would be fair to surmise that therefore machines can think and it is probably this, or a similar premise that inspired AI. However, within AI there are many schools of thought. Some believe that if a computer can be programmed correctly to emulate certain human processes, then it is to all intense and purposes thinking as we do.One of the early pioneers in the world of computers, Alan Turing, outlined a test in which participants are asked to int errogate a computer terminal in order to determine whether they are communicating with a human, or a computer program. Examples of programs which were put through the Turing test are ELIZA and SHRDLU both of which attempted to emulate one side of human conversation. But even if these programs did appear to be totally human, could they be said to actually be thinking ? John Searle(1984) puts forward a scenario in an attempt to devalue this idea.He refers to a program by Roger Schank at Yale university which, after being given a story will be able to answer questions regarding it. It would seem at the outset that this program would therefore be understanding the story. Searle then argues that despite not being able to understand Chinese, he would, under the correct circumstances, be able to answers Chinese questions in Chinese, relating to a story also written in Chinese. The scenario is summarised as follows; Sitting isolated in a room, Searle is given a wad of Chinese script, follow ed by another. In addition he is given a list of English rules, for correctly correlating the two.By simply following the English rules, he writes a third set of chinese words which he then returns to someone outside the room. If the first set of script was a story, the second a set of questions, he could be said to be answering the questions. In fact, from the point of view of someone standing outside the room, he would be correctly answering the questions, and thus would appear to be conversant in Chinese. This of course is not the case, as Searle would have no knowledge of what the story was about, and what the questions were asking – he would not be understanding the story.This argument is an attempt to demonstrate that although a computer program appears to be understanding a story, it is merely obeying simple instructions, and has no understanding at all. â€Å"In the linguistic jargon, they have only a syntax but no semantics† (Searle 1984) However, depending on hown one observes this problem, it can appear very differently. Regarding the entire room, the person in the room (to whom I shall refer for the sake of continuity of terms as a demon), the scripts and the person outside as a whole, we do have a system that is capable of reading and interpreting Chinese.Hofstadter extends this idea by modifying the scenario so as to shrink it to brain size, the scripts becoming neurons and so on. This effectively creates a system equivalent to the human brain. So what would be the difference between the two. Why would one be acceptable as a thinking system and one not ? Searle frequently refers to ‘causal properties' and ‘intentionality' stating that the artificial system proposed by Hofstadter would lack both of them, and that somehow the human brian has both.It is here where the subject of duality comes into the fore. Are the mind and the brain one and the same, or are they separate entities ? Many religions favour this dualist approa ch and refer to the mind, as it is in this instance, as a persons soul and regard it as being separate to the physical self. Whether the mind is separate or not, Searle's argument implies that the human brain has a mind, because of its natural causal properties, yet an artificial machine does not. But what are these natural causal properties, and from what do they derive ?Are they a result of the biological material from which the brain is made, are they a result of the brain's structure or are they a result of a breath of life from the lips of a god ? â€Å"Machines as simple as thermostats can be said to have beliefs, and having beliefs seems to be a characteristic of most machines capable of problem solving performance† (McCarthy 1979) At what point does a functioning machine gain intentionality ? Here Zenon Pylyshyn is cited from a reply made to Searle, to illustrate the complex connotations involved in the idea of the natural causal property of the brain. If more and mor e of the cells in your brain were to be replaced by integrated circuit chips, programmed in such a way as to keep the input-output function of each unit identical to that of the unit being replaced, you would in all likelihood just keep right on speaking exactly as you are doing now except that you would eventually stop meaning anything by it. What we outside observers might take to be words would become for you just certain noises that circuits caused you to make. Surely, the person in the above example would have conscious, intentional thought, despite being constructed from artificial parts. Or would this person simply be acting in the same role as the chinese room demon ? Another area rapidly developing in AI is Parallel Distributed Processing, or neural networks. These are complex structures that emulate the brains neural structure, and are usually modelled within a computer, although in theory there is nothing to stop them being constructed electronically, or even mechanically !The effect of a neural network is similar to that in Pylyshyn's example – an electronic replacement for a part of the brain. Functionally it operates almost identically to a brain and can be made to do tasks similar to those performed by Schank's story program. Could a neural network equivalent be said to have any more ‘causal properties' than just a computer program ? Searle acknowledges that since we are merely machines, it is possible that machines can think.However he finds the idea of a computer program thinking implausible. However, if we could model a brain, with atomic accuracy in a computers memory, for example in the form of a neural network, surely it would work in exactly the same way and would therefore be just as valid a thinker as a human. It seems that this whole debate rests its most basic principles on a belief; either one believes that our ‘intentionality' derives purely from our brain and its structure or one doesn't.Even if we ever do manage to construct an exact replica of a brain that appears to work identically to the real thing, how could we tell if it really is a conscious entity with true intentionality, or merely acting like the chinese room demon ? Indeed, how can we define conscious, and intentionality in that context. There must be a level of functioning or reasoning that we can use as a cut-off point for deciding whether or not something is alive and thinking. Descartes stated â€Å"I think. Therefore, I am†. But was he thinking, or merely following a mechanical pattern, with no real understanding of the words ? References Can Machines Think? Can Machines Think ? This paper regards several points of view on the subject of, what is commonly referred to as Artificial Intelligence, or AI. AI is the attempt to make machines, specifically computers, perform intelligently through programming. Already, this definition has a problem in that the word intelligence can have many interpretations. This essay will attempt to put forward some ideas for how to approach this problem.It could be said that the human brain is nothing more than a machine, and as we know it to be capable of thought it would be fair to surmise that therefore machines can think and it is probably this, or a similar premise that inspired AI. However, within AI there are many schools of thought. Some believe that if a computer can be programmed correctly to emulate certain human processes, then it is to all intense and purposes thinking as we do.One of the early pioneers in the world of computers, Alan Turing, outlined a test in which participants are asked to int errogate a computer terminal in order to determine whether they are communicating with a human, or a computer program. Examples of programs which were put through the Turing test are ELIZA and SHRDLU both of which attempted to emulate one side of human conversation. But even if these programs did appear to be totally human, could they be said to actually be thinking ? John Searle(1984) puts forward a scenario in an attempt to devalue this idea.He refers to a program by Roger Schank at Yale university which, after being given a story will be able to answer questions regarding it. It would seem at the outset that this program would therefore be understanding the story. Searle then argues that despite not being able to understand Chinese, he would, under the correct circumstances, be able to answers Chinese questions in Chinese, relating to a story also written in Chinese. The scenario is summarised as follows; Sitting isolated in a room, Searle is given a wad of Chinese script, follow ed by another. In addition he is given a list of English rules, for correctly correlating the two.By simply following the English rules, he writes a third set of chinese words which he then returns to someone outside the room. If the first set of script was a story, the second a set of questions, he could be said to be answering the questions. In fact, from the point of view of someone standing outside the room, he would be correctly answering the questions, and thus would appear to be conversant in Chinese. This of course is not the case, as Searle would have no knowledge of what the story was about, and what the questions were asking – he would not be understanding the story.This argument is an attempt to demonstrate that although a computer program appears to be understanding a story, it is merely obeying simple instructions, and has no understanding at all. â€Å"In the linguistic jargon, they have only a syntax but no semantics† (Searle 1984) However, depending on hown one observes this problem, it can appear very differently. Regarding the entire room, the person in the room (to whom I shall refer for the sake of continuity of terms as a demon), the scripts and the person outside as a whole, we do have a system that is capable of reading and interpreting Chinese.Hofstadter extends this idea by modifying the scenario so as to shrink it to brain size, the scripts becoming neurons and so on. This effectively creates a system equivalent to the human brain. So what would be the difference between the two. Why would one be acceptable as a thinking system and one not ? Searle frequently refers to ‘causal properties' and ‘intentionality' stating that the artificial system proposed by Hofstadter would lack both of them, and that somehow the human brian has both.It is here where the subject of duality comes into the fore. Are the mind and the brain one and the same, or are they separate entities ? Many religions favour this dualist approa ch and refer to the mind, as it is in this instance, as a persons soul and regard it as being separate to the physical self. Whether the mind is separate or not, Searle's argument implies that the human brain has a mind, because of its natural causal properties, yet an artificial machine does not. But what are these natural causal properties, and from what do they derive ?Are they a result of the biological material from which the brain is made, are they a result of the brain's structure or are they a result of a breath of life from the lips of a god ? â€Å"Machines as simple as thermostats can be said to have beliefs, and having beliefs seems to be a characteristic of most machines capable of problem solving performance† (McCarthy 1979) At what point does a functioning machine gain intentionality ? Here Zenon Pylyshyn is cited from a reply made to Searle, to illustrate the complex connotations involved in the idea of the natural causal property of the brain. If more and mor e of the cells in your brain were to be replaced by integrated circuit chips, programmed in such a way as to keep the input-output function of each unit identical to that of the unit being replaced, you would in all likelihood just keep right on speaking exactly as you are doing now except that you would eventually stop meaning anything by it. What we outside observers might take to be words would become for you just certain noises that circuits caused you to make. Surely, the person in the above example would have conscious, intentional thought, despite being constructed from artificial parts. Or would this person simply be acting in the same role as the chinese room demon ? Another area rapidly developing in AI is Parallel Distributed Processing, or neural networks. These are complex structures that emulate the brains neural structure, and are usually modelled within a computer, although in theory there is nothing to stop them being constructed electronically, or even mechanically !The effect of a neural network is similar to that in Pylyshyn's example – an electronic replacement for a part of the brain. Functionally it operates almost identically to a brain and can be made to do tasks similar to those performed by Schank's story program. Could a neural network equivalent be said to have any more ‘causal properties' than just a computer program ? Searle acknowledges that since we are merely machines, it is possible that machines can think.However he finds the idea of a computer program thinking implausible. However, if we could model a brain, with atomic accuracy in a computers memory, for example in the form of a neural network, surely it would work in exactly the same way and would therefore be just as valid a thinker as a human. It seems that this whole debate rests its most basic principles on a belief; either one believes that our ‘intentionality' derives purely from our brain and its structure or one doesn't.Even if we ever do manage to construct an exact replica of a brain that appears to work identically to the real thing, how could we tell if it really is a conscious entity with true intentionality, or merely acting like the chinese room demon ? Indeed, how can we define conscious, and intentionality in that context. There must be a level of functioning or reasoning that we can use as a cut-off point for deciding whether or not something is alive and thinking. Descartes stated â€Å"I think. Therefore, I am†. But was he thinking, or merely following a mechanical pattern, with no real understanding of the words ? References

Antivuris Programs Essay

Today, people rely on computers to create, store, and manage critical information, many times via a home computer network. Information transmitted over networks has a higher degree of security risk than information kept in a user’s home or company premises. Thus, it is crucial that they take measures to protect their computers and data from loss, damage, and misuse resulting from computer security risks. Antivirus programs are an effective way to protect a computer against viruses. An antivirus program protects a computer against viruses by identifying and removing any computer virus found in memory, on storage media, or on incoming files. When you purchase a new computer, it often includes antivirus software. Antivirus programs work by scanning for programs that attempt to modify the boot program, the operating system, and other programs that normally are read from but not modified. In addition, many antivirus programs automatically scan files downloaded from the Web, e-mail attachments, opened files, and all types of removable media inserted in the computer (Karanos 201-205). One Technique that antivirus programs use to identify a virus is to look for virus signatures, or virus definitions, which are known specific patterns of virus code. According to Shelly and Cashman (Antivirus Programs), many vendors of antivirus programs allow registered users to update virus signature files automatically from the Web at no cost for a specified time. Updating the Antivirus program’s signature files regularly is important, because it will download any new virus definitions that have been added since the last update. Methods that guarantee a computer or network is safe from computer viruses simply do not exist. Installing, updating, and using an antivirus program, though, is an effective technique to safeguard your computer from loss.

Abortion misc0 essays

Abortion misc0 essays During the past century, abortion has joined race and war as one of the most debatable subjects of controversy in the United States. The issue of abortion causes discussions about human interactions where ethics, emotions and law come together. There are many reasons why women decide to have abortions. Some women have abortions because of health complications, some have marital problems, and some lack responsibility. Whatever the reasons a woman decides to have an abortion, it seems only justified that she should be able to make decisions in regards to her life and body. The decisions that she makes in regards to what she does with her body and the fetus will be beneficial to both the woman and the fetus because it will prevent many problems from occurring in the future. If a woman were to have an unwanted baby, she may neglect or even abuse the child causing the child to go into the care of the government. Bringing an unwanted child into the world is unfair to the innocent child and the woman. The government has no valid reason in bringing an unwanted life into the world. Bringing an unwanted child into the world is not helpful to the parents, the child and the government, because if the parents cannot take care of the child, eventually, the government will be responsible for the child. The right to have an abortion is personal and essential to a womans life, because having a baby in ones life causes dramatic changes. Pregnancy and childbirth can prevent women from keeping and getting jobs. When women are pregnant many employers do not want to hire them because when the woman has a baby, the company or employer must still pay her for the time that she is out of work by law. Also, raising a baby and providing for all the needs that a child has is a lot of money, which can create an insufficient income for many women. Another factor that imposes on women when they have children is the amount of time they have for themsel...

Learning and Talent Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Learning and Talent Development - Essay Example An organization’s ability to cope with the changing economic environment is determined by its people and thus an organization needs to invest in the learning and talent development of its workforce in order to succeed. Learning is necessary as it brings real business results and organizational talent. Learning and talent development empowers employees as it provides them with knowledge, resources and tools needed to perform at their best.An organization’s ability to cope with the changing economic environment is determined by its people and thus an organization needs to invest in the learning and talent development of its workforce in order to succeed. Learning is necessary as it brings real business results and organizational talent. Learning and talent development empowers employees as it provides them with knowledge, resources and tools needed to perform at their best. Learning in an organization is the process through which the organization attempts to improve its p erformance, identifies and rectifies errors and adapts to the changing environment through knowledge and learning (Kandt, 2014). Â  Learning is important for an organization as it enables the organization to perceive and identify changes both internal and external thereby helping it to adapt to the changing environment. Â   Talent is often considered to be an exemplary skill possessed by few people only (Pruis, 2011). Talent in an organization is commonly thought to be that which is capable of achieving high levels of performance.

The History of Pan-Africanism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The History of Pan-Africanism - Essay Example This was one of the greatest racial discrimination of this era, where blacks were being demoralized and oppressed on various grounds. The movement of Pan-African unity was very essential for African Americans. It helped them to identify politics, because African origin was not recognizing its people’s identity (Mayihlome, 2011). This era reduced differences between various people of Africa and supported indiscriminate "African" heritage. As a philosophy, Pan-Africanism represented an ethical system which traced origins from ancient times and promoted values of African civilization. It struggles against slavery, racial discrimination, neo-colonialism and colonialism. European slave trade was another concept used in Pan-Africanism. In past era Africans were forced for slavery from various origins and their descendants were breathing in an environment, where they were being exploited because at that time African origin became a sign of servile status. There were many differences such as political, cultural etc, but this concept of slavery was affecting people negatively. 1.2 Past scenario Africans were being treated as slaves in America, South America, and Caribbean. At this time migration of Africa (born out of the Berlin Conference of 1884 & 85) had begun. At first there was a movement of anti-slavery and anti-colonial amongst black people of Africa and the Diaspora, in the late nineteenth century. Pan-Africanism developed in these decades. Pan-Africanism had provided shelter and created unity, independence, political and economic assistance and created chronological and cultural awareness among people (Young, 2010). The ideology of pan-Africanism  was based on  self-respect  and  so-called  Africa for the Africans. Its alternative  focus was on  ethnic  gathering. It changed colonial procedures without any political power. It highlighted all the  troubles  that African peope faced in this era and aided in the foundation of nationalism (Hakim, 2007). The entire past scenario of this movement and its value is described in the following points: ROOTS Pan-Africanism comprises of rich history, which dates back to eighteenth century. It originated from the New World rather than from Africa itself. People were bound by slavery in America and the Caribbean People of Africa were looking for their ancestral homeland, with missing sense of dignity and freedom. Pan-Africanism also represented those people who were born in captivity. Prince Hall, a black cleric  within  Boston, campaigned with the assistance of 1787 people in order to replace the disputes of  black in  Africa. Another black Bostonian, Quaker shipbuilder Paul Cuffe, took matters into his own hands  and with 1815 people founded a  village  within  Sierra Leone, which British considered as a refuge for freed and led to runaway of slaves, around 1787 people.   This movement was later termed as negritude, which stood to represent blackness (Fors ter, 1994). Past glory The effect of repatriation  was arguable in America in nineteenth century and many people participated in it such as Frederick Douglass,  contested  that black Americans should be given their rights. The efforts of American Colonization Society (largely white liberals) resulted  with another slave refuge: Liberia. Former slaves were replaced  towards Africa from Caribbean and Brazil. Later, in 1930's, the ideology of negritude ("blackness"), increased among French-speaking African  scholars  in France. Those Africans who kept protecting negritude contended that characteristics of the