Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Project Proposal
I plan on writing a conventional essay in which I describe the direction that several authors in our class view humanity to being going in. By this, I mean for example, describing how it is that Hawthorne views humanity to be moving (downward spiral), meaning that he sees humans as slowly fading away in meaning by repeating the mistakes of the past. Also, I will use evidence from the text as proof that he portrays this. For McKibben and Silver, although they are similar, I will contrast how they view humanity and the future of humanity. Silver has a linear approach on progress and is only looking straight forward. McKibben uses an ascending spiral to show humans progress as a whole. He sees progression as moving upward, but still holding true to the morals of the past. The thesis of my paper will go something like: All of the literature presented in class has several complex ideas on the direction of humanity and can be simplified with the use of several visual representation, the ascending and descending spiral, linear, etc. For a counter argument- You could say that the connection to the symbol (spiral) is incorrect and is more similar to “blank”. For instance, one could argue that Jimmy Coorigan portrays human progress as linear even though most would see it as a standstill. As far as research, I can use different views from other futurists to refute Silver’s ideas. Or maybe I can do research on a specific view on the future of humans and connect that to a similar view.
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3 comments:
Overall: This is a good starting point. My only question - but it's an important one - is this. Why do we *care* that all of these ideas of progress can be represented visually? What can you *do* with these visualizations or, better, how can you convincingly relate them back to the real work?
One example: you could argue that one of these authors is fundamentally *right*; that with these conflicting theories clearly laid out before us, we can pick the right one and use it to our benefit. Regardless, you should be able to explain what this visualization matters to you.
Nick, I think that it is really important that you include what your views on where humanity is headed are. Which author do you agree with, or do you think that the true answer is going to be a combination of them all? I think that you have a good grasp on what the authors that we read in class have to say about the direction of humanity. As for your counter argument, I feel like it could support your thesis, after all it is another form of an authors opinion of our direction as humanity. Perhaps it would be more striking in your paper if you include a counter argument about the ending of humanity. Perhaps we have hit the end of the line and there is no where else to go. I think there is plenty of evidence in Lilith's Brood that could support that. You could write on the idea that there are no Oankali and the humans don't get saved after they blow each other up. Maybe even do some current even research and find pressing evidence that a nuclear war isn't so far into the science fiction realm. Hope these ideas generate something useful for your paper!
Alright, I like your idea of the whole downward spiral of humanity by the repeat of past mistakes. I think your thesis could use some work though. With your thesis I'm not sure if your trying to make a debate between the different literatures views on the downward spiral or if your trying to argue the downward spiral with suppot from the text. Maybe that sounds confusing, and it probably does, but if I were you I'd attack the idea of a downward spiraling human existence through repeated mistakes by gathering support from the literature. Your idea of bringing futurists into play to argue your claim is also bright. Make sure that you stay focused on one argument because I can see how it might be easy to stray away with this topic. Overall, good job and good luck.
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