teacher teacher you need to re-charge

Robot teachers.. hmmm well I’ve always imagined life with robots - how would life be if robots exists amongst us. Come to think of it, it’s actually happening right now, with all the advancements and the technology that keeps on innovating, it’s sometimes hard to keep track with all the “futuristic” gadgets, so to speak, right now. But what I’m afraid of, is that when human touch will be gone and these robots will take over our jobs. 

In Korea, there’s this Robot Teachers where they teach children english through telepresence - teachers from the philippines and linked to this machine to where they can see and talk to the students live (you can read the article here: http://singularityhub.com/2011/01/03/south-korea%E2%80%99s-robot-teachers-to-test-telepresence-tools-in-the-new-year/ ).

My reaction? well it’s good to hear and see the advancements now a days, I’m happy that there are innovations that can help lessen the “burden” on humans when it comes to teaching, BUT the difference of having robots/telepresenced over actual human teachers, is that it’ll lack human touch and participation, I mean the actual conversation, etc. though there are teachers present in the classroom, but just to look over the kids and not to teach.

The concept, technology wise and all is good, it helps also the filipino teachers to earn extra income, help teachers etc. so basically it’s good. but my only concern is that the kids might lose the human contact, touch and most of all the emotion of what education really is. 

MAN

So in the excerpt, it classified 3 categories of man and how, I’m not quite sure If I understood it correctly, but here it goes... So I’ll give three types of man - a Soldier, a Politician and an Artist. 

These three are different from one another, they’re all different from one another and they serve a different purpose in society. 

First is the Soldier, from the three, they’re the most valuable and yet they’re just taken for granted. “...they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones” no matter how these people work and risk their lives for the country or for those they’re fighting for, what these people get in return is still not enough and sometimes they die in vain. Just like here in the Philippines, many soldiers die in battle and yet they’re not given praise or any recognition from what they’ve done for the country. With the current state of the country’s soldiers, right benefits are not given - small salary etc. 

Next, the Politician - these people  are perceived as untouchables, with all their fancy things, extravagant offices and obviously over flowing money, but little do we know that these “politicians” barely don’t know a thing they’re doing. Yeah, they pass bills, make laws, do projects for the poor etc. but these are just minimal things; those who say that they’ll help the country rise from poverty, no corruption and all that... But what really is happening, is that the people are blinded from the truth, that these “politicians” steal more money from the people instead of helping them. Well this is evident here in our country, no doubt. As one politician said “I did not invent corruption, I walked into it” (forgot the name though sorry hoohooo). They tend to have no fear from no one, even God. 

Last is the Artist - these people are the minorities - basically, everyone. These type are those who aren’t listened to, the ones who remain silent from all the wrongness of the country, well there are those who speak their minds and express what they feel and what they think is wrong, and sometimes they use different mediums of art, but sometimes they’re left unheard. Well I guess I’m able to say this because it is happening in our country, I am one of those minority who’s afraid to speak his mind, but hoping to gain courage to be able to stand up :)

Science Fiction ain't Fantasy bro :)

So at first I thought Fantasy was under Science Fiction, or is it the other way around? anywaaay, with the discussion in class, I got a different understanding of the two, I managed to determine how a text is considered as a fantasy or a science fiction. Though they may have different meanings, they still work under the same umbrella. When we were asked what genre Jurassic Park is - is it Fantasy or Science Fiction, that’s when I understood the difference of the two; got to explain and answered that Jurassic park is a Science Fiction, it’s a movie based on facts, life and the what could’ve been, I mean the existence of dinosaurs and how they sort of “created” these animals which are extinct million years ago. Though the movie doesn’t have that cool space ranger kind of feel, I defined Science Fiction by comparing JP to Star Wars, which people seems to tag as a Science Fiction film, but I see it as a Fantasy Film, the story’s good and all - it’s realistic, but the idea and the movie itself is just make believe, something we want to happen or wondered of happening, in other words, Fantasy. So by that, I believe that Science Fiction is something we base on facts, what we have now and had, something we can all relate to, something believable and yet, it’s out of this world. I hope I am making sense here but yeah, this is how I understood the two from the discussion last time.

Good Science Fiction

Jurassic Park

I considered as Good SciFi is because they presented and how they explained the re-existence of dinosaurs struck me. For me, the part of the movie where they explained how they got the blood of dinosaurs and how they genetically engineered them wasn’t hard to believe, up until now, I am still fascinated by this movie, and yes I am a super fan not just by the movie but in dinosaurs as well. So this is a bit biased by considering this as a good scifi, cause I am amazed by how they explained in making dinosaurs and (I)thinking and believing that there is a possibility.

The 6th Day

This movie is all about cloning. By now there have been researches about cloning and experiments are made to animals, so I considered this movie a good scifi film. Though this movie pushed a bit outside of the box, like with the laser guns and having the futuristic setting, but the main theme, which is cloning is pretty believable and plausible, just because there is something that will support the idea of cloning, at least.

2012

Okay, I think many people would consider this movie weak and poor, but for me, it’s good. Not that I believe of the “end of the world” thing, but the way they explained of how the world is gonna end, like the earth crust displacement which caused tsunamis, eruptions and earthquakes and not just by saying that there’s this calendar thingy. So yeah, though the idea is pretty unbelievable, I liked how they explained the cause.

Weak Science Fiction

Back to the Future

Time Traveling. Yes, we all wanted to travel back in time or to see the future and go back to the past, but this idea is just unbelievable. The movie was good - the story, the conflict and the characters, no doubt, but there’s no explanation of how the time traveling car was made or by simply explaining how to travel back in time.

Resident Evil

Zombie Apocalypse. Ever since I was a kid and up until now, I can’t still imagine how things like this can happen. Again the plot and the story is amazing (also the sequels) but the way they illustrated how the “disease” spread for me is just unbelievable. There are no studies or even an explanation of this disease so there are no supporting evidences. Plus reflecting to reality, it is unacceptable in science and also in religion for the dead to rise again as a zombie.

Idiocracy

Freezing the body over time. The movie was about a research on freezing the human body and putting them into sleep for years and so they tested it on these two jobless characters. The experiment was a success, but what happened with the people or rather, the world is unbelievable, everyone turned dumb, idiots, mindless and un-rational thinkers, the movie is just insane. I’d recommend this movie for those who wants a good time and just to have a good laugh. This movie us plainly of entertainment, thought here is the idea of freezing the human body, and sort of preserving them, I think nothing can support this idea yet.