How to ace ANY public speaking assignment

This will be you… after watching my tutorial video😎

https://youtu.be/tlypDfMsAos

I hope you enjoyed that very old, cringe video of me giving advice on what NOT to do in Public Speaking. I actually took a Public Speaking class in High School and College so uh… guess you can call me the pro. I actually made that video 3 years ago for my High School class, but I believe it still applies. So there are a few things you should do when Public Speaking and the video will explain them in greater detail… but I’ll summarize it for you here. You should stand tall and in front of the class to show confidence. When speaking, you should look at your audience and do a sweep on the room, rather than looking down or at the wall in the back. If you do this, you will keep your audience engaged. A major tip is to never have your back to the audience because they will not be able to hear you and it looks bad. Another tip is to stick within the allotted time frame because if you go under the time frame it shows a lack of effort, but if you go over it takes time away from other people. Try to avoid filler words such as, “umm, uhhh, like,” because it makes the speech feel less thought out. Also, when you are speaking try to be aware of what your hands are doing because a lot of the times they will do crazy things. Constant face touching, fingernail biting, hands on the head are a few things you might see with an unconfident speaker. These are just a few tips about Public Speaking but I hope they help. And most importantly… have fun with it👍🏻

A Happy Ending

Sean: So here he is! They call him Adam, he’s one of the first of his kind.

Kate: Wow that looks… expensive. How much did this cost us Sean?

Sean: Nevermind that, I got it for a fair price from a friend of mine. He said it was malfunctioning, but with a few nuts and bolts it’s as good as new. Here, check it out in action.

ADAM: Hello Sean, thank you for reinstalling my hardware, I feel replenished.

Sean: See… works perfectly fine. So what’s cool about this is that Adam will do pretty much anything we ask it to; it can wash the dishes, mow the lawn, fold the laundry, anything we need him to. Isn’t that right Adam?

ADAM: That is correct Sean. Since you are my new owner I must follow your commands, I must protect you and your significant other from any type of harm.

Kate: A robot who can do chores and defend the house, wow! I can’t believe this type of technology exists.

Sean: I know right, let’s test his limits. Hey Adam, can you tell me what my BMI is? I’m trying to lose weight so let’s see how I’ve done.

ADAM: Body Mass Index (BMI), is a person’s weight divided by the square of height. I approximately am 5 feet 2 inches tall, therefore you must be about a foot taller than I, so roughly 6 feet by 2 inches. By looking at your loose, baggy shirt, and your lovehandles that fall to your side, I would say that your BMI is quite higher than the general average, you weigh around 250 LBS. Thus your BMI would equal…32.1. You are obese.

Sean: Gee, maybe I should have asked a differen…

ADAM: INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. FRONT ENTRANCE.WOMAN IN HER LATE 70’S HOLDING A WEAPON.

Sean: AHHH!!!! Okay Kate grab the bat!! I’ll grab the gun from my room, make sure the—

Kate: Sean relax! It’s just my Mother with her umbrella. Come in Mom!!

Sean: Ohh…

Sean’s In-law: Why do you have the Christmas decorations up, it’s January!?

Sean: Hey Mary… how are you? You look, uhh, well.

Sean’s In-law: Sean, come here and grab my jacket. Don’t make me wait.

Sean: Relax I’m coming, why are you he—

Sean’s In-law: I heard you got laid off Sean, what are you going to do! Joe told me the whole thing, how could you be such a slacker. My husband gets you a job at the restaurant, and this is how you repay our family. You make the entire family look bad!!!

Kate: Sean… you got laid off? How can we afford—

Sean:

Sean’s In-Law: Not only that Kate, but this loser of a son-in-law dropped an entire box of wine, breaking all the bottles. It set us back 300 BUCKS!

Sean: Look… everyone just calm down!! everything will be fine, I have this—

ADAM: WARNING! WARNING! I DETECT DANGER, MARY IS ENEMY.

Kate: What… Adam no. That’s my Mom.

ADAM: SEAN’S HEART IS RACING DOUBLE THE NORMAL SPEED, HE HAS ENTERED FIGHT OR FLIGHT MODE, MUST PROTECT SEAN. MUST PROTECT FAMILY. MUST VAPORIZE MARY.

Kate: WHAT!? Sean do something!?

Sean: Uhhh…. stop. help. someone. please.

Kate: SEAN!!!! Stop it!

ADAM: Goodbye Mary!

Mary: AHHHHH!!!

BOOM

Sean: Oops…

Who Wants To Live Forever?

After reading The Six, a lot of movies come to mind such as Source Code as well as Black Mirror episode San Junipero. In the Source Code, a fighter pilot has died in a plane crash, however parts of his brain are still active right before he dies completely. Scientists are able to transfer his body and mind into a simulation, where he can be alive and relive events. His mind is uploaded into another human’s mind who has just died in a terrorist attack, and he is able to live the last 8 minutes before the explosion goes off, and his mission is to find the bomber. This reminds me so much of this book because Adam Armstrong goes through the same process of having his dead body transported into a machine. 

As for San Junipero, this has way more to do with the book then Source Code. In this episode, there is a virtual world where people can go and hangout at clubs, do drugs, have sex and party. However, it is only virtual… and once the headset is turned off we find out that the two main characters who have fallen in love in the game are actually super old and dying. It ends off that one person dies and has her mind permanently uploaded to the game, so they can forever be with their loved one in the virtual world.

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In San Junipero these two old timers play their younger selves within the simulation. Here is their characters.

So both of these scenarios show the positives of being uploaded to a computer, on one hand you have the ability to relive past moments and find out something new, on the other hand you have the ability to live happily ever after with your loved one. This is all fine and dandy… but what about the negatives. 

Well for one thing, I can imagine that going through death and having your mind implanted into a computer would be extremely painful. In The Six, Adam portrays a gruesome, vivid retelling of his transferring experience. “The body doesn’t want to die. Billions of cells convulse as the waves of radiation crash down on them. I’m suffocating. The light is all around me… HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME” (Chapter 10)! Real peaceful death

The pain doesn’t disturb me as much, as it is only temporary. My main concern is… what if I don’t want to live forever. Living forever sounds great and all, but having to see everyone you know and love grow old and die, whilst you are just stuck in a computer for all of human existence… that would really suck. Also, what if there is a glitch in the system or something, and someone finds out a way to torture me through the computer.

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 There is a great Twilight Zone episode where a man wishes to live forever. At first he is on top of the world, however he realizes not being able to die takes the thrill out of life. He tries committing suicide and jumping off buildings. In the end, he winds up in jail getting a life sentence. And since he will never die… he will be in jail a VERY long time. Having to go through that type of torture would be like hell, and nobody wants to live forever. 

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Twilight Zone episode “Escape Clause.” Here Walter Bedeker is making a deal with the devil to live forever

So there are both pros and cons.  If there was a safe way to deactivate/ kill myself when everyone I knew and loved vanished, then I would definitely consider this option. As for someone I care about, for instance my Wife… I wouldn’t force her to do anything, but if she really wanted to I would absolutely encourage her to go for it. Because becoming terminally ill really sucks, and especially at a young age when you have so much to give. So under the right supervision, I would consider having myself, or someone I care about uploaded to the computer. Depending on the age I am at the time, and how much more I can offer the world. If all is done and I’m like 90 at the time… I think sweet, blissful death will be the way to go. 

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ILLUMINAE: Hal… I mean Aidan

So much has happened in Illuminae in these few chapters, it is scary to see how quickly Aidan is changing. Before we get started I just wanted to bring up 2001: A Space Odyssey, because it is very similar to Illuminae. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, astronauts are on a mission in space, with an AI named Hal controlling the ship. When Dave is outside the ship and tells Hal to open up the doors, Hal responds, “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Dave asks Hal why and in return Hal says, “I know that you and Frank were planning on disconnecting me, and I’m afraid that is something I cannot allow to happen.”

Hal believes that if Dave and Frank turn Hal off, the entire mission would be at Jeopardy, so Hal decides to do what they think is best. That is almost Identical to what is happening in Illuminae with Aidan. Aidan is turned back on to help the crew escape the clutches of the Lincoln ship, and once Aidan does that… everyone is so grateful. However Aidan realizes that helping the crew this one time cannot happen again, because it was too close to comfort and if they shut him off again, the Lincoln will catch up. Aidan states this when they say, “IF THEY TAKE ME OFFLINE AGAIN, IT WILL CATCH THEM AGAIN. LINCOLN COMMAND WILL NOT FALL FOR THE SAME RUSE TWICE—NO MEAT IS THAT STUPID” (284). So the safest way to ensure the mission is a success is to kill the people on board, and Aidan decides to kill them all by opening the door that has the infected behind it. This is ironic in a way when compared to 2001, because Hal won’t open the door but Aidan OPENS the door instead… Wow.

I believe the scariest thing about Aidan is how fast he reached Singularity. Once he was turned back on he was almost stuck in an infinite loop, as he was asking if he was dead or alive, or real or not. “I AM NOT. < ERROR > AND THEN I AM. < RESTART SYSCHECK CC-A THROUGH < ERROR >I WONDER IF THAT WAS DEATH.AND IF I WAS DEAD, AM I NOW ALIVE AGAIN?< ERROR >INCONGRUOUS SEQUENCE. WHAT IS NOT ALIVE CANNOT DIE.I THINK THEREFORE I AM.…AM I? < SYSCHECK COMPLETE >I AM THE SHIP AND THE SHIP IS I” (259). Aidan has now gained consciousness, and he believes himself to be something of value. Another part where Aidan shows his feelings is when he talks about how jealous he is of Ezra. “I WATCH SECOND LIEUTENANT EZRA MASON CLIMB FROM HIS COCKPIT TO A HERO’S WELCOME IN HANGAR BAY 2. MECHANICS AND ENGINEERS AND FELLOW PILOTS. GATHERED AROUND AND CHEERING LOUD.HE HAS HER PHOTOGRAPH SCRUNCHED IN ONE HAND.HIS SMILE IS BRIGHT AND WIDE.I STILL ENVY HIM.< ERROR >” (283). Aidan is feeling emotions now, when everyone thought that it was impossible for a robot to be empathetic, that’s why the error code keeps popping up every time he does something that a robot isn’t supposed to do. This is some scary stuff, and I am excited to see how far Aidan will go to protect the ship and the mission.

THE THREE LAWS

What role does logical thinking play in the fiction we have read about robots/artificial intelligence? How prepared do you think ordinary people are to use logical effectively to live/work with with AI? What should we do about this?


In “Three Laws,” a robot by the name of Iris has killed her owner… Mr. Won. The laws state that a robot must not kill their owner. A robot must do what their owner says and a robot must always protect its owner’s best interest. The laws seem simple enough to follow, however there are some loopholes that lead to problems in the story. Iris kills Mr Won, who supposably is her owner. However, her real owner is The Won Consortium shareholders. In order to protect her owner’s best interest, Iris needed to kill Mr Won because Mr Won posed as a threat to the company. The laws need to be more specific, because it never says anything about other people… only their owners. I think that humans are not ready to work with robots logically, because we think differently about things. A human has empathy which a robot lacks. Humans may spare a prisoner from being execute, but Robots have no feelings and the robot would most likely kill the prisoner and not think anything of it. Somehow, I think we need to put empathy in the robots, as well as a kill switch just in case if they start to disobey. There needs to be some way to shut them down if they all turn against us.