Paper instructions:
Describe the rise of slavery in North America, from the arrival of the Spanish Empire to the American Revolution. Examine both the reasons for imposing different types of slavery, and the opposition to them. Evaluate the ideals of the American Revolution, particularly the Declaration of Independence, with regards to slavery.
Day: April 25, 2018
philosophical positions
Paper instructions:
An important feature of philosophical positions is not simply what they argue for. Rather, especially for this week’s readings, a general attitude, a sort of
worldview combining beliefs, expectations, values, and moral principles, is an important part of considering controversies in contemporary medicine. The questions of
genetic engineering, cloning, and organ transplants require an outlook on the future and a preference for a certain moral perspective, rather than simply getting
various morally-salient facts correct.
In this week’s readings, we have considered a number of different attitudes: the conservative Kass against the more liberal Glover and Brock. In the first part of
your response, try to outline the various concerns of Kass and Glover/Brock, and the sort of moral concepts each uses to project an attitude towards future medical
technologies that could radically change human life. (If you think another attitude is important, such as the Spanish organ donation policy, explain how such a view
could be included as an alternative to Kass, Glover and Brock.)
In the second part of your response, assess which view is best to consider the future of medicine. Does Kass’s conservatism provide the best sort of attitude
concerning possible developments in medicine? Or is a more hopeful Glover/Brock attitude a superior way of accepting biomedical technologies without a limited
conservative viewpoint? Which moral concepts are important that ultimately justify your preference for one view over the other? (For example, Kass emphasizes moral
authority and tradition, against the interest of Glover/Brock in autonomy and innovation.)
Nutrition Requirements
A. How many grams of fat can you consume in a day and not exceed 30 percent of your calories from fat? Use the CNPP recommendation for your daily calorie recommendation to calculate your answer. How did you do in this area for the day you recorded?
b. How many grams of saturated fat can you consume in a day and not exceed 10 percent of calories from saturated fat? How did you do in this area for the day you recorded?
c. For the day you recorded your intake if you ate a serving of a high-fat food, for example, lasagna, how could you avoid exceeding the recommended fat intake for the day?
d. If you could substitute a serving of lower fat lasagna for the higher fat choice, what effect would this have on your other food choices and on your calorie and nutrient intakes for that day?
e. Considering regular lasagna, which ingredients most likely contribute most to the total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol in the higher fat lasagna selection?
f. How could you change those ingredients to reflect a reduction in fat content?
g. How did the day’s recorded total for calories and vitamins compare with your recommended amounts? Did the day’s meals meet or exceed your need for energy? Describe how your actual intake varied from the CNPP recommendation.
h. Did your meals present too little of any of the vitamins and minerals listed in the CNPP materials? Which ones?
i. What changes in your choices among those foods would have improved the energy or vitamin or mineral totals for the day?
j. Did your choices provide enough folate to meet your requirement?
k. What are the sources of niacin in your day’s meals?
l. What about Vitamin C? What percentage of your daily need of Vitamin C did your meals provide? Which individual foods were the main contributors? To what food groups do they belong?
m. How did your total energy intake compare with your energy recommendation? Is this consistent with your nutritional goals?
n. Which of your foods are “vitamin bargains”? Those would be foods which are vitamin-dense, providing the most vitamins for the fewest calories.
o. Breakfast cereals are a great source of vitamins. What characteristic of these foods makes them so rich in vitamins?
p. What can you say about your recorded food intake and the vitamins and minerals that you obtained from the foods you ate that day?
MGT 4472 Written Term Assignment
Application of Chapter 13 Models of
Conflict and Negotiation to a Case Situation
This assignment is a 10 to 12 page written assignment that requires students to watch the 1957 version of a move titled “12 Angry Men” and to apply Organizational Models of conflict negotiations, organizational conflict, and other issues to the people and situations found in the movie case. The assignment is completed by each student individually and all written text must be original. Students many not cut and paste or copy any text into the body of the assignment.
The Conflict and Negotiation assignment is a thoughtful application project rather than a research paper task. Students will first have to seek a clear understanding of the various models and then apply the concepts to situations and characters found in the movie.
BASIC FORMAT AND CONTENT:
Use double spacing, page numbering, one inch margins, and turn off the right justification.
Use 12 point Times New Roman font in Microsoft Word or an equivalent sized font.
Divide your paper into subsections with appropriate titles. Do not skip pages or half pages between subsections. There should not be any large blank spaces in a 10 to 12 page paper.
Begin with title page that also includes the author’s name and student number.
Is important for any document of this length to be well-organized and to be written from an outline. However, the outline should not be turned-in as part of the paper. A table of contents is not required for a 10 to 12 page paper. An abstract may be included, but it is not required nor is it recommended.
References are very important in a research paper. However, this assignment is an application paper and therefore, no references should be included.
Do not describe the plot of the movie, critique acting, or move away from the topic of conflict and negotiations. Also, do not write explanations of the model. In other words, avoid any kinds of filler material and focus on applying the information found in the movie case to the models and issues of conflict and negotiations found in Chapter 13 on the course textbook.
The paper must be completed in Microsoft Word software. Writing the paper using any other word processing software must be translated into MS Word prior to turning-in the assignment. Assignments in any other format turned-in at the last minute will be considered late and will receive a penalty.
Paper must be turned in twice by the due date. Turn-in the paper at the Assignment file on Blackboard and also send the paper as an email attachment to [email protected] .
Edit your paper for clarity of writing and for relevance of the ideas to the case assignment. There should be a depth of thought and application in the course concepts appropriate for a college level analysis. It is best to find a colleague who will edition your paper for readability since it is very difficult for authors to edit their own writing. It is recommended that students do not use fellow students in the same course as an editor, since there could be a temptation for editors to copy ideas or text and use it in their own papers.
MODELS AND CONCEPTS FROM CHAPTER 13:
Pondy’s Five Stage Model of Organizational Conflict
Trace how conflict among the jurors arises and is resolved in the movie.
Five Forms of Negotiation (Ways of Handling Conflict)
Each juror emphasizes one of the five forms of negotiation. Discuss each juror’s way of handling conflict. If a juror’s primary negotiation method changes, this can be described, as well. Include longer descriptions of the jurors playing larger roles in the negotiation and conflict process.
Promoting Compromise
Explain how some of the jurors promote compromise in the film. The discussion can explain how some jurors were successful and others were unsuccessful at promoting compromise.
Sources of Formal and Informal Power
All the jurors have equal power in the jury room. Explain any situations, personal characteristics, or ploys that individual jurors used in attempts to increase their power in the jury room.
Environmental Situations that Increase the Conflict
Chapter 13 does not cover this topic very thoroughly. However, are there any physical conditions and psychological concerns that increase conflict in the jury room?
Other models or concepts from Chapter 13
Thorough coverage of the concepts and models above should produce a completed assignment. However, any other issues related to conflict and negotiation may be included in the paper. Please make sure any other issues included are in addition to covering the models above.
The JURORS and the MOVIE SETTING:
The 1957 version of “12 Angry Men” has been successful used before as movie case for the investigations of negotiations and conflict resolution. The story was a stage play, and then presented live in 1954 and has been remade many other times. The 1957 version is the best version as a conflict and negotiation case, and is the only version that should be used for this assignment. There is a drawback to the move as the characters do not use their names. So, here are some “names” that can be used in the writing of the assignment. Writers have the choice of using the juror number or the juror description. Also, the approximate time that the juror first appears in the movie and some of the actors’ names are included:
Juror Number Description Appearance
1 Jury Forman 5:43
(Martin Balsam)
2 Man with high voice 5:57
3 Carries photo of son 5:57
(Lee J. Cobb)
4 Stock broker 8:10
(E.G. Marshall)
5 Raised in a “slum” 5:35
(Jack Klugman)
6 Working man 5:09
7 Man in hat (baseball fan) 4:10
(Jack Warden)
8 First votes not guilty 4:43
(Henry Fonda)
9 Older man (with 20×20 vision) 10:00
10 Man with cold (own garages) 5:35
(Ed Begley, Sr.)
11 Immigrant with mustache 9:00
12 Advertising man 6:50
MOVIE SETTING:
New York City in the 1950s is the setting of the movie “12 Angry Men.” During this time there was a wave of immigration from Puerto Rico to New York City that has been labelled, “The Migration.” Unfortunately, whenever a large ethnic or national group moves into an area over a short period of time, ethnic biases can show its ugly head. It is difficult to understand in the new millennium, but there was an ethnic bias against Puerto Ricans in NYC during the 1950s. The defendant in “12 Angry Men” is only shown briefly, but viewers in the 1950s probably realized that the young man was supposed to be a Puerto Rican immigrant to NYC. The issue of some people’s bias again Puerto Ricans in NYC is an important environmental concern in the movie. Please consider this situation in the assignment, but resist changing the topic of the paper from the assigned issues of negotiation and conflict management to one of racial or ethnic bigotry. In other words, the topic of the assignment may not be changed to racism or bigotry at the expense of covering the models, issues and topics of conflict and negotiation from Chapter 13.
1. Who should be responsible for preparing the SEMP: Consumer, Producer, Contractor, Sub-contractor, or Supplier? Discuss some of the conditions and interfaces as applicable.
2. Why is it important that system engineering planning commences early at program inception with the definition of overall program requirements? What could happen if system engineering planning is initiated later?
3. How do the system specification (type A) and SEMP relate to each other?
4. What is the purpose of a WBS? What is the difference between a WBS and SWBS, and CWBS? How do work packages relate to WBS?
5. Select a system of your choice, describe the acquisition process, and develop a detailed outline of a SEMP for the program in question.
Operations Scheduling/Sequencing and Quality Management
1. Do you think that Six Sigma is always the most cost effective approach for all processes? Why or why not?
2. Scheduling and sequencing are typically viewed from a technical perspective; that is, they are focused on minimizing quantitative measures such as lateness or cost. However, schedules also have intangible effects on customers, employees, and the perception of service quality. Discuss what some of these intangible effects might be and how managers should consider them when constructing schedules.
3. Select two of Deming’s 14 Points and discuss the importance of them to operations managers (as well as all managers) in today’s business environment.
4. Explain how service quality is measured. Specifically, discuss how you may have experienced each of the five SERVQUAL dimensions as a consumer of services.
Online Discussions
You are required to make an approximately two hundred (200 words) contributions to your Discussion Forum The nature of each contribution can be found on the weekly discussion forum. As a guide, the contributions need to be based on thoughts that arise after completing the week’s reading, video materials, etc. The thoughts may be based on personal experiences in (a not to be named) organisation (past or current), or perhaps from a web-site, journal article or mass media item that is relevant to the week’s module topic. The thoughts that are posted to the forums should be considered and reflect logic and rationale discourse. The intention with this task is to generate discussion about topics in modules to make material in the text come alive.
Assessment Criteria
- Demonstrates careful reading & inquiry into subjects (5 marks)
- Responsible cited: offers examples (5 marks)
- Quality of post ( 5 marks)
Engagement with others ( 5marks)
- (Perception and Individual Decision Making)
Choose a film that you have seen recently, and which you particularly enjoyed. Now find a friend or colleague who has seen the same film, and who hated it.Discuss your views of that particular film. What factors (age, sex, background, education, interest, values and beliefs, political views, past experience) can you identify that explain the differences in perception between you and your friend or colleague? (200 Words)
Visit www.greatplacetowork.co.uk and take a look at the UK’s 50 best places to work, as well as the 100 best workplaces in Europe.
Find out what these companies do to motivate their staff. (250 words)
3. (Organisational Change) (250 Words)
Answers the following questions:
1. Identify three to five sustaining innovations that have affected you over the past year.
2. Identify three to five disruptive innovations that have affected you. Did you welcome these innovations because they were Beneficial’s, or did you have cause to complain?
Case Study (300 Words)
Why Don’t Teams Work Like They’re Supposed to?
Despite years of promises that teamwork will serve as a cure-all for the problems of business, many managers have found that even teams with highly motivated, skilled, and committed members can fail to achieve the expected results. Professor Richard Hackman from Harvard University has been studying teams for years and believes that more often than not, failing to establish the groundwork for effective team performance leads teams to be less effective than if the leader simply divided up tasks and had each individual work on his or her assigned part. As Hackman notes, “I have no question that a team can generate magic. But don’t count on it.”
What are the main factors Hackman has identified that lead to effective teams? Teams should be kept small and have consistent membership to minimize the types of coordination tasks that take up valuable time. Too often, organizations set up project-based teams and then reconfigure them, without considering the stages of group development that might have to occur before the team can achieve full performance. Supports need to be in place, like group-based rewards and clearly defined group responsibilities. Surprisingly, in his study of 120 senior management teams, Hackman found fewer than 10 percent of members agreed about who was even on the team!
Successful teams also have assertive, courageous leaders who can invoke authority even when the team resists direction. Similar lessons were derived from the failure of Ghana Airways, a state-run organization that experienced frequent changes in top management that were disruptive to establishing a consistent leadership team. As a result of excessive turbulence and lack of strategic vision, the 40-year-old air carrier that was once an emblem for the country went bankrupt.
Do these weaknesses mean teams are never the answer to a business problem? Obviously, it is often necessary to bring together and coordinate individuals with a diverse set of skills and abilities to solve a problem. It would be impossible for all the management tasks of a complex organization like Ghana Airways to be done by disconnected individuals. And often there is more work to be done in a compressed time period than any one individual can possibly accomplish. In these cases, it is wise to consider how to best heed the advice provided above and ensure your team isn’t less than the sum of its parts.
Questions
1. What do you think of the elements of successful teamwork Hackman has identified? Do you believe these elements are necessary for effective team performance?
2. Can you think of other conditions necessary for teams to be effective?
3. Imagine you’ve been asked to assemble and lead a team of high-potential new hires to work on the development of an international marketing campaign. What specific steps might you take early in the team’s life to ensure that the new team is able to avoid some of the problems Hackman identified? Is there any way to break down the overall group goal into subtasks so individual accountability can be enhanced?
Academic Level: Undergraduate
Academic Writing Grade for the last semester: 88
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The critique is about the attached text as well as a text of your choice that will be used to compare and synthesise ideas etc…
In this critique you will write a critique on Jabra Ibrahim Jabra’s THE FIRST WELL excerpt. You will synthesize the ideas with those of a text of your choice, but of a different genre. Examples: animation or comic strip, editorial in a newspaper or magazine, an academic article, poetry.
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The critique is divided into 3 sections:
1- Introduction
2- Body : a. content
b. logic
c. language
3- Conclusion
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An introduction should contain a thesis statement that is dry, legal, extremely objective and which reflects the ideas in your writing. The thesis should be simple, clear and not sensational.
Introductions may contain:
– A very specific point which could be an example to precede the thesis statement.
– An anecdote that is a narration of a story (preferably not you own story) from something you have read ( CS, philosophy, literature, newspaper, history, politics, media…) that is related to your topic.
– Quotes : These can be found on online( Google, etc). It has to be related to the theme and it might be philosophical, historical…
– A scientific fact or statistics
– From general to specific/specific to general.
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The body is divided into three parts
a. Content :
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which should be mentioned before the other two parts. It is about what the piece actually portrays. For this part, a summary is needed.
b. Logic:
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it is the argumentative aspect of the piece. While writing this part you should ask yourself: Are the statements used logical or not? Is the writer too prejudiced? Do the ideas and words used provide clues for the ideas in the text? Does the writer gain the reader’s trust (is the idea realistic and believable?) Also check whether the ideas make sense compared to place and time. ( in an argument compare both the First Well and excerpt x) PS. There are lots of logical /illogical issues in newspaper ”journalistic writing”.
c. Language :
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which contains also style, structure, organization . you can speak about the sophistication/simplicity of the language, whether there are figures of speech or not, direct or indirect speech, sentence types, etc
The conclusion: it may contain an academic objective conclusion. This opinion shouldn’t be simplistic or general because being too general or too simplistic are examples of logical fallacies. A too general opinion doesn’t take personal differences into account. To add, you can’t attribute authority to someone who is lacks it( don’t get something from a person who doesn’t know well about it)
What goes into conclusions?
1. Discussion of a topic that might be the next topic.
2. A new glimpse but not a new analysis.
3. It could be about something that you can relate to the audience.
4. Choosing a question of style that you did not discuss in your body paragraphs.
So, a conclusion includes writing about another theme, or a certain stylistic aspect shared or not shared by the writer.
Review Case 21 “How Amazon.com became the leading online retailer by 2011”, and Case 23 “Is Yahoo!’s business model working in 2011?” located in the textbook to complete this assignment.
Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:
- Describe, in brief, the histories of both of Amazon.com and Yahoo.com, and determine the core business of each.
- Determine the key strategic differences that have impacted the relative success of both Amazon.com and Yahoo.com. Provide two (2) specific examples of such strategic differences to support the response.
- Compare and contrast the approach to strategic planning that each company has pursued in order to achieve a competitive advantage. Focus specifically on both intended and emergent strategies.
- Analyze the manner in which each company’s distinctive competencies help to shape the strategies that each company pursues. Provide a rationale to support the response.
- Recommend one (1) functional level strategy for each company which prescribes the essential ways in which each may achieve superior efficiency, quality, innovation, and customer responsiveness. Provide a rationale to support the response.
- Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
- Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
- Analyze the role of a company mission, vision, and objectives and the impact to business strategy.
- Describe strategic planning techniques used to formulate alternative strategies designed to achieve stated business goals.
- Analyze the external and internal environment for opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses that impact the firm’s competitiveness.
- Use technology and information resources to research issues in strategic management.
- Write clearly and concisely about strategic management using proper writing mechanics.
Psalm 82
1. Lay out the full structure of shifting perspectives in Psalm 82. For each part, who is speaking, and who is addressed? Your full interpretation of the text must account for all of these elements.
2. What is the psalm’s sense of time? What is the time of the one speaking/praying? How does this time relate to the time of the divine speech quoted in the psalm? Is there a movement of time within the text itself?
3. Psalm 82 presents a mixed community that includes both divine and human members, even using explicit terms for both categories at different points in the text. How exactly would you describe each part of this mixed community, so far as each is visible in the short text? The divine part is more the focus than the human; why? Is there a change of status? Whether or not you see a change, what is the point of the statement about the gods dying in verse 7?
4. This whole text is about judgment, and every section relates in some way to this theme. What do you learn from each aspect of this motif? Notice that the final line asks God himself to “judge”; how does this fit the overall purpose of the psalm?
Larger interpretation:
How would you characterize the entire purpose of the psalm? What would be the goal of reciting this prayer? The religious perspective of the psalm is unexpected, but you cannot treat its acceptance in the Bible as an accident. How do you account for the view of plural
“gods” presented here? What is most difficult about this psalm, from your point of view – hardest to explain? It is easy to say the religion, but along with that, think about the way question of the prayer’s purpose; how would you provide an answer to the most difficult aspects of the poem? Why, in the end, is this text in the book of Psalms at all?
The paper:
Your papers do not need to represent a list of answers to every detail offered in the above set of questions. This is intended as a framework to help you do your own interpretation. You do, however, need to address each of the four specific questions in some form, and you need to take on the core elements of the larger interpretation offered in the last part of your instructions.
Write a paper of 6 PAGES, double-spaced, normal margins and font (11- or 12-point accepted). There is no fixed structure for composing the paper, though you should treat the questions of detail before moving to the larger interpretation. It is important to begin by setting up the problem for me in a way that either anticipates your conclusions or lets me know something about your priorities and your method, so I understand the logic and structure of what you will go on to present as the main body of your paper.
Sherry Turkle, March 2012
Just a moment ago,my daughter Rebecca texted me for good luck.Her text said,”Mom, you will rock.”I love this.Getting that textwas like getting a hug.And so there you have it.I embodythe central paradox.I’m a womanwho loves getting textswho’s going to tell youthat too many of them can be a problem.
Actually that reminder of my daughterbrings me to the beginning of my story.1996, when I gave my first TEDTalk,Rebecca was five years oldand she was sitting right therein the front row.I had just written a bookthat celebrated our life on the internetand I was about to be on the coverof Wired magazine.In those heady days,we were experimentingwith chat rooms and online virtual communities.We were exploring different aspects of ourselves.And then we unplugged.I was excited.And, as a psychologist, what excited me mostwas the ideathat we would use what we learned in the virtual worldabout ourselves, about our identity,to live better lives in the real world.
Now fast-forward to 2012.I’m back here on the TED stage again.My daughter’s 20. She’s a college student.She sleeps with her cellphone,so do I.And I’ve just written a new book,but this time it’s not onethat will get me on the coverof Wired magazine.So what happened?I’m still excited by technology,but I believe,and I’m here to make the case,that we’re letting it take us placesthat we don’t want to go.
Over the past 15 years,I’ve studied technologies of mobile communicationand I’ve interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people,young and old,about their plugged in lives.And what I’ve foundis that our little devices,those little devices in our pockets,are so psychologically powerfulthat they don’t only change what we do,they change who we are.Some of the things we do now with our devicesare things that, only a few years ago,we would have found oddor disturbing,but they’ve quickly come to seem familiar,just how we do things.
So just to take some quick examples:People text or do emailduring corporate board meetings.They text and shop and go on Facebookduring classes, during presentations,actually during all meetings.People talk to me about the important new skillof making eye contactwhile you’re texting.(Laughter)People explain to methat it’s hard, but that it can be done.Parents text and do emailat breakfast and at dinnerwhile their children complainabout not having their parents’ full attention.But then these same childrendeny each other their full attention.This is a recent shotof my daughter and her friendsbeing togetherwhile not being together.And we even text at funerals.I study this.We remove ourselvesfrom our grief or from our reveryand we go into our phones.
Why does this matter?It matters to mebecause I think we’re setting ourselves up for trouble –trouble certainlyin how we relate to each other,but also troublein how we relate to ourselvesand our capacity for self-reflection.We’re getting used to a new wayof being alone together.People want to be with each other,but also elsewhere –connected to all the different places they want to be.People want to customize their lives.They want to go in and out of all the places they arebecause the thing that matters most to themis control over where they put their attention.So you want to go to that board meeting,but you only want to pay attentionto the bits that interest you.And some people think that’s a good thing.But you can end uphiding from each other,even as we’re all constantly connected to each other.
A 50-year-old business manlamented to methat he feels he doesn’t have colleagues anymore at work.When he goes to work, he doesn’t stop by to talk to anybody,he doesn’t call.And he says he doesn’t want to interrupt his colleaguesbecause, he says, “They’re too busy on their email.”But then he stops himselfand he says, “You know, I’m not telling you the truth.I’m the one who doesn’t want to be interrupted.I think I should want to,but actually I’d rather just do things on my Blackberry.”
Across the generations,I see that people can’t get enough of each other,if and only ifthey can have each other at a distance,in amounts they can control.I call it the Goldilocks effect:not too close, not too far,just right.But what might feel just rightfor that middle-aged executivecan be a problem for an adolescentwho needs to develop face-to-face relationships.An 18-year-old boywho uses texting for almost everythingsays to me wistfully,”Someday, someday,but certainly not now,I’d like to learn how to have a conversation.”
When I ask people”What’s wrong with having a conversation?”People say, “I’ll tell you what’s wrong with having a conversation.It takes place in real timeand you can’t control what you’re going to say.”So that’s the bottom line.Texting, email, posting,all of these thingslet us present the self as we want to be.We get to edit,and that means we get to delete,and that means we get to retouch,the face, the voice,the flesh, the body –not too little, not too much,just right.
Human relationshipsare rich and they’re messyand they’re demanding.And we clean them up with technology.And when we do,one of the things that can happenis that we sacrifice conversationfor mere connection.We short-change ourselves.And over time,we seem to forget this,or we seem to stop caring.
I was caught off guardwhen Stephen Colbertasked me a profound question,a profound question.He said, “Don’t all those little tweets,don’t all those little sipsof online communication,add up to one big gulpof real conversation?”My answer was no,they don’t add up.Connecting in sips may workfor gathering discreet bits of information,they may work for saying, “I’m thinking about you,”or even for saying, “I love you,” –I mean, look at how I feltwhen I got that text from my daughter –but they don’t really workfor learning about each other,for really coming to know and understand each other.And we use conversations with each otherto learn how to have conversationswith ourselves.So a flight from conversationcan really matterbecause it can compromiseour capacity for self-reflection.For kids growing up,that skill is the bedrock of development.
Over and over I hear,”I would rather text than talk.”And what I’m seeingis that people get so used to being short-changedout of real conversation,so used to getting by with less,that they’ve become almost willingto dispense with people altogether.So for example,many people share with me this wish,that some day a more advanced version of Siri,the digital assistant on Apple’s iPhone,will be more like a best friend,someone who will listenwhen others won’t.I believe this wishreflects a painful truththat I’ve learned in the past 15 years.That feeling that no one is listening to meis very importantin our relationships with technology.That’s why it’s so appealingto have a Facebook pageor a Twitter feed –so many automatic listeners.And the feeling that no one is listening to memake us want to spend timewith machines that seem to care about us.
We’re developing robots,they call them sociable robots,that are specifically designed to be companions –to the elderly,to our children,to us.Have we so lost confidencethat we will be there for each other?During my researchI worked in nursing homes,and I brought in these sociable robotsthat were designed to give the elderlythe feeling that they were understood.And one day I came inand a woman who had lost a childwas talking to a robotin the shape of a baby seal.It seemed to be looking in her eyes.It seemed to be following the conversation.It comforted her.And many people found this amazing.
But that woman was trying to make sense of her lifewith a machine that had no experienceof the arc of a human life.That robot put on a great show.And we’re vulnerable.People experience pretend empathyas though it were the real thing.So during that momentwhen that womanwas experiencing that pretend empathy,I was thinking, “That robot can’t empathize.It doesn’t face death.It doesn’t know life.”
And as that woman took comfortin her robot companion,I didn’t find it amazing;I found it one of the most wrenching, complicated momentsin my 15 years of work.But when I stepped back,I felt myselfat the cold, hard centerof a perfect storm.We expect more from technologyand less from each other.And I ask myself,”Why have things come to this?”
And I believe it’s becausetechnology appeals to us mostwhere we are most vulnerable.And we are vulnerable.We’re lonely,but we’re afraid of intimacy.And so from social networks to sociable robots,we’re designing technologiesthat will give us the illusion of companionshipwithout the demands of friendship.We turn to technology to help us feel connectedin ways we can comfortably control.But we’re not so comfortable.We are not so much in control.
These days, those phones in our pocketsare changing our minds and heartsbecause they offer usthree gratifying fantasies.One, that we can put our attentionwherever we want it to be;two, that we will always be heard;and three, that we will never have to be alone.And that third idea,that we will never have to be alone,is central to changing our psyches.Because the moment that people are alone,even for a few seconds,they become anxious, they panic, they fidget,they reach for a device.Just think of people at a checkout lineor at a red light.Being alone feels like a problem that needs to be solved.And so people try to solve it by connecting.But here, connectionis more like a symptom than a cure.It expresses, but it doesn’t solve,an underlying problem.But more than a symptom,constant connection is changingthe way people think of themselves.It’s shaping a new way of being.
The best way to describe it is,I share therefore I am.We use technology to define ourselvesby sharing our thoughts and feelingseven as we’re having them.So before it was:I have a feeling,I want to make a call.Now it’s: I want to have a feeling,I need to send a text.The problem with this new regimeof “I share therefore I am”is that, if we don’t have connection,we don’t feel like ourselves.We almost don’t feel ourselves.So what do we do? We connect more and more.But in the process,we set ourselves up to be isolated.
How do you get from connection to isolation?You end up isolatedif you don’t cultivate the capacity for solitude,the ability to be separate,to gather yourself.Solitude is where you find yourselfso that you can reach out to other peopleand form real attachments.When we don’t have the capacity for solitude,we turn to other people in order to feel less anxiousor in order to feel alive.When this happens,we’re not able to appreciate who they are.It’s as though we’re using themas spare partsto support our fragile sense of self.We slip into thinking that always being connectedis going to make us feel less alone.But we’re at risk,because actually it’s the opposite that’s true.If we’re not able to be alone,we’re going to be more lonely.And if we don’t teach our children to be alone,they’re only going to knowhow to be lonely.
When I spoke at TED in 1996,reporting on my studiesof the early virtual communities,I said, “Those who make the mostof their lives on the screencome to it in a spirit of self-reflection.”And that’s what I’m calling for here, now:reflection and, more than that, a conversationabout where our current use of technologymay be taking us,what it might be costing us.We’re smitten with technology.And we’re afraid, like young lovers,that too much talking might spoil the romance.But it’s time to talk.We grew up with digital technologyand so we see it as all grown up.But it’s not, it’s early days.There’s plenty of timefor us to reconsider how we use it,how we build it.I’m not suggestingthat we turn away from our devices,just that we develop a more self-aware relationshipwith them, with each otherand with ourselves.
I see some first steps.Start thinking of solitudeas a good thing.Make room for it.Find ways to demonstrate thisas a value to your children.Create sacred spaces at home –the kitchen, the dining room –and reclaim them for conversation.Do the same thing at work.At work, we’re so busy communicatingthat we often don’t have time to think,we don’t have time to talk,about the things that really matter.Change that.Most important, we all really need to listen to each other,including to the boring bits.Because it’s when we stumbleor hesitate or lose our wordsthat we reveal ourselves to each other.
Technology is making a bidto redefine human connection –how we care for each other,how we care for ourselves –but it’s also giving us the opportunityto affirm our valuesand our direction.I’m optimistic.We have everything we need to start.We have each other.And we have the greatest chance of successif we recognize our vulnerability.That we listenwhen technology saysit will take something complicatedand promises something simpler.
So in my work,I hear that life is hard,relationships are filled with risk.And then there’s technology –simpler, hopeful,optimistic, ever-young.It’s like calling in the cavalry.An ad campaign promisesthat online and with avatars,you can “Finally, love your friendslove your body, love your life,online and with avatars.”We’re drawn to virtual romance,to computer games that seem like worlds,to the idea that robots, robots,will someday be our true companions.We spend an evening on the social networkinstead of going to the pub with friends.
But our fantasies of substitutionhave cost us.Now we all need to focuson the many, many waystechnology can lead us backto our real lives, our own bodies,our own communities,our own politics,our own planet.They need us.Let’s talk abouthow we can use digital technology,the technology of our dreams,to make this lifethe life we can love.
Thank you.
