Write your answers to the
following questions in Short Essay Format. Be sure to explain your
viewpoints completely. Total length of response for this assignment needs to be
a minimum of 2 (full) pages; maximum response
is 3 pages. Use MS Word or its equivalent.
Background:
Computers seem to be
everywhere: at work, at play and in all sorts of places in between. There are
perhaps a million large computers, tens of millions of personal computers,
hundreds of millions of programmable calculators, and billions of dedicated
micro-processors built into other machines of every description in use in
America today. The changes these machines are bringing to society are profound,
if not revolutionary. However, our dependence upon technology is nothing new; numerous
previous societies have also depended upon technology in different ways for
their survival and existence.
In Ireland in the
nineteenth century, the predominance and dependence of mono-cropping potatoes
led to massive starvation and one of the largest migrations of that time, all
because of a blight (disease) that wiped out the crop over a series of years.
Much as we have become dependant on computers for our economy, the Irish had
become dependant on the potato for their agriculture and to feed their
families. The entire system of villages and tenant farming was centered in this
one product. Its failure created untold hardship, both in the crop failure
itself and in the political and economic upheavals that followed.
Conditions:
For the purpose of this
assignment, you are to use the scenario that the world has just suffered a
global EMP-based war. Everything that is connected to networks of wire, or uses
transistor circuitry and newer electronics is now unusable and un-repairable.
If you are unfamiliar with the Irish potato famine, you are allowed to do
research to gain a better understanding of what happened.
Assignment:
Answer the following
questions in your own words.
1.
How is this dependence on
potatoes seen as a possible parallel to the events of the early twenty-first
century and our dependence on computer technology?
2.
What would society do if
all computers and all other equipment that uses processors suddenly stopped
working?
3.
What lessons can we draw
from these two examples?
Formatting:
Text Size: All of the text in this assignment needs
to be set in 12-point size Times New Roman.
Double Spacing: For this class select all of your text
and set it for double spacing. This includes the name block, title and body of
your work.
Margins: One-inch margins mean one (1”) on all
sides. The only text that ends up on the outside of the one-inch margin is the
page number.
Name Block: Place the name block in the upper
right corner of the page. In this class, the name block only needs
to be on the first page. Put your name first, then the class
title and then the date. Example:
No comments:
Post a Comment