Writing the Paper Part III and Class Conclusion

Well, the paper is all done. It was a struggle but I got through it. Just as I thought would be the case when I started to get to work on the paper, maintaining a clear focus throughout the paper was a little tough, but not impossible. Postman's style is all over the place; he incorporates lots of good information and statistics, but they don't always seem to be tied together well. Because of this, in responding to Technopoly, as a writer, I had to make sure I didn't address too many of his points, otherwise my paper would've have lost focus and its argument would be diluted. But I think I wrote a quality paper, maintained a clear voice and argument throughout, and brought good points and evidence to support my thesis. I only hope that I'm right, and that, assuming today's college campuses are not Technopolies, we're not headed in a direction where technology takes over our lives and causes us to lose touch with the things we value the most.

This naturally brings me to reflect on the class as a whole. This was one of the most interesting and intriguing classes I've taken at Rutgers in a long time. As a senior, I've found that the best classes are not always the ones that teach you the most information or answer all your questions, but are rather the ones that, on your way out the door and into the world, make you ask more questions - difficult questions, and this class was one of the best at doing that. The open discussions were always candid and evocative, often funny, and when discussing such important and relevant issues that affect my generation especially, it is vital to hear input from so many of my peers. I've found that technology truly affects every aspect of my life, and trying to understand it means trying to understand ourselves and our culture. Some of it is good; some technologies save lives, make us healthier and help us achieve our lives' dreams. Other technologies are down right scary, and make us worry about the not-so-distant future where the possibility of robots and bionic humans and cars that drive themselves taking over the world is very real. I don't think many of us want to live in a world where humans are basically obselete, but this class shows the possibility of these technologies. That's not to say any of us should expect technology to totally save or ruin humanity, but who knows where the possibilities end? I guess we'll just have to wait and see...