The Positronic Man :: essays research papers

THE POSITRONIC MAN An extraordinary story about an extraordinary robot. In the twenty-first century the creation of the positronic brain leads to the development of robot labourers and revolutionises life on Earth. However, to the Martin family, their household robot NDR-113 is more than a tool, it is a trusted friend, a confidant, and a member of the family. Through some unknown manufacturing glitch, NDR-113 or known as Andrew has been blessed, with a capacity for love and a drive toward self-awareness and development that are almost...human. This story is set on an Earth, which is just starting to get used to the idea of robots. Even so, it is an earth that was not ready for Robot NDR-113. Andrew, with his ability to assimilate emotions, and an unexpected gift for fine arts, both astounded and worried people. In an attempt to become human, he develops several prosthetic devices, which prove a godsend to humans. Almost, however, is not enough. Andrew's dream is to become accepted as human. Facing human prejudice, the laws of robotics, and his own mechanical limitations, Andrew used science and law in his quest for the impossible, arriving at last at a terrifying choice: to make his dream a reality, he must pay the ultimate price. I must say that I didn't have very high expectations for this book because I am not a very big science fiction fan, but this book changed my mind. There are many reasons why this particular book changed my view on science fiction. One of the major reasons for my enjoyment of this book is the way in which it was written. Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg set this story up wonderfully. I personally liked the way the book is structured. The first chapter takes place at the end of the story so you start thinking about what is going to happen right from the start. Then, as you near then end of the story you return to where you began in the first chapter and finish the story with a thought provoking ending. Another major reason that I liked this particular story is because it touched on many ethical aspects, from different points of view. Such as, what it means to be human, how humans in general would be perceived by an intelligence that has no knowledge about the way we as human’s reason or think. The authors also showed how humans will react when they find out that they can create a being with the ability to not just think in a logical pattern but also be creative and intelligent well beyond their own abilities.

Moving Away

I can still remember that day. If you asked me, I thought the world was coming to a blazing end. Well, at least my world. It was a very humid and hot summer afternoon. Unusually warm for New England, it was the type of weather found in the deep south of our country. It was quite a coincidence actually; since this was the type of weather I would have to be used to. After all here I was on my way down to the south moving to Kentucky. It was a slightly a year before when I was first told by my parents that we would be moving. At first I didn’t believe them. I thought, â€Å"What kind of sick joke is this? â€Å"But after a few minutes I realized they were serious. More serious questions came popping into my mind. Why would we move? What about my friends? Who is going to buy this junky house? These were all questions that initially ran through my jumbled mind. My parents refused to answer my questions however. This got me extremely angry. How could they force such a change in my life and ignore my questions? My parents were being cruel, not because they were making me move but because they were completely ignoring my feelings and questions. My opinions and feelings meant nothing to them because they made the choice on their own. I was a Essay on Moving Away Moving away from all of your best friends can be a real tragedy in a sixteen-year-old teenagers life. It's hard to get up and go eight hundred miles away from everyone you know and everything you grew up around. I had this happen to me about three years ago and it is the largest change I have ever had to adjust to in my life. It wasn't the changes around me that I was bothered by; it was that I did not know one living soul for hundreds of miles and all I wanted was a friend. Two days into the summer after sophomore year at Governor Mifflin High School in the little town of Shillington Pennsylvania I would find out the worse news that a sixteen year old could hear. I found out that in four days my family and I would be moving to a suburb outside of Chicago because of my dads recent job change. I was devastated, I ran to my room and cried for about an hour with thoughts of all my friends running through my head. It was like all the memories I had with all my friends were going through my head at the same time. It was beyond doubt one of the biggest challenges of my life. During the last few days I was there I went out with my friends every night ha Moving far away from family and friends can be tough on a child at a young age. It has its pros and cons. One learns how to deal with moving away from the people they love and also learn how to deal with adjusting to new ways of life. Everything seems so different and at a young age one feels like they have just left the whole world behind them. That was an experience that changed my life as a person. It taught me how to deal with change and how to adjust. It developed me from a young boy into a mature young man. The day I moved away, a lot of things were going through my young mind. As I took my last look at my home, I remembered all the fun times I had with my family and friends through out my life. Now I was moving 800 miles away from all of that with no insight on what lied ahead for me. As my family and I drove away from our Michigan home, I looked out the window wondering what Virginia would be, and what my friends were doing. A lot of things were going through my mind at the time. At the time my main worry was if I would make any friends, and how I would adjust to everything. During the whole drive down, my mother would often let me know that everything would be all right and I would like it. Trying to be strong and hold back my tears, I just shook my head no, wondering why we had to move so far away. Life would be different for me and I knew it would. Adjusting to an atmosphere and new people had its ups and downs. Everybody ta. The effects of moving to a new town or city Nowadays, as a result of looking for better conditions of life many people have been moving from their own city to another city or country. People in all over the world are developing the necessity of find their happiness, education and a better work. Moving to a new town or city can bring some negatives and positives effects to the person who is moving. The first effect of moving to a new town or city can be found in educational life. Since people are looking to a better education, they move to a country that can give them the possibility of be a good professional. For example, in Angola my country, if you want find a great job; you have to have an international certificate. This means that the people who are living in another country have more possibility to achieve the work. Sometimes the companies on my country prefer consider people who are from another country. In short, I am the exactly example because I moved from my country to U. S. A to look for a spectacular certificate. The second effect of moving to a new town or city can be found in psychologist state of a person. For example, when I arrived here I had some mental problems because always I was thinking about my family that I left in Angola. A person who is homesick suffers the consequences alone and thinks a lot about the family that is away from her. In my opinion, think about the family who people left causes serious problem and the person cannot concentrate on her real objective there. In addition, people have to be strong and control all their feelings when they are in another town. The third effect of moving to a new town is that people spend a lot of money. To start a new life sometimes because of work or studies when people move they spend a lot of money with car, house, and school until adjust the new life with the new city. Starting a new life is kind of complicated because at first time you don’t have where buy and find everything†¦.

Benefits Of Attending A Community College - 941 Words

There are many benefits to attending a Community College; Community College allows people to save money on tuition and because of smaller class sizes, students are also able to receive more attention from instructors. Although there are advantages, there are also disadvantages with Community College. Normandale Community College has around 10,169 students enrolled, and a problem students encounter are fees. These fees include: textbooks, classes, orientation and game rentals. Many may wonder if college is worth the cost; according to bigfuture.collegeboard.org, â€Å"In 2011, people with a bachelor’s degree who worked full-time earned $21,100 more, on average, than full-time workers with only a high school diploma†. College isn’t for everyone, some people don’t want to attend, but studies are showing that with a college degree people are making more money than without one. Although, most people choose college based on the benefits, there are downsides and fees are just one of them. There is more than one fee and at different colleges they vary. For example in a Community College, such as Normandale, the â€Å"room and boarding† fee does not exist, because there aren’t dorms available for the students. Two fees Normandale students pay that all US college students also pay, are for classes and class textbooks. At Normandale the estimated costs per semester for tuition and books are around $3,200 per semester and $6,429 annually, according to normandale.edu. The tuitionShow MoreRelatedBenefits Of Attending A Community College897 Words   |  4 Pagesface many challenges when it comes to obtaining a college education. We evaluate an institution’s quality based on what we need the most. The qualities sought out may vary by each person’s personal point of view. However, as a student, I’ve found that most students seek for an institute that benefits them the most. Attending a community college has been an enormous advantage towards my education. I have been attending San Bernardino Valley College for the last two semesters. I have come to respectRead MoreBenefits Of Attending A Community College854 Words   |  4 PagesI would be attending a university like all of my friends in high-school. I never thought I would be attending a community college. I really hated the idea of community college. I thought it was for people who had low ACT score or people who didn t really try as hard as others in school. I always tried hard in school even when things got hard I still tried my best. I never thought it would be for me until I saw the benefits of attending a community college. I attend a two year college because IRead MoreThe Benefits of Attending a Community College Essay example870 Words   |  4 Pagestechnical college or local 2-year school was deplorably referenced to as â€Å"loser’s territory† and if you dared to enroll in one anyway and followed through to gradu ation, well you were congratulated but to a lackluster fanfare. Some community college graduates still receive this reception upon exit of a community college but attitudes are definitely changing. Today more than ever, degree-seeking individuals are paving the path to their careers through the entrance and exit doors of community colleges. TheseRead MoreCollege For The Masses By David Leonhardt933 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"College for the Masses† by David Leonhardt is a great article that displays the many benefits among lower-income students attending a four year college. â€Å"Why Poor Students Struggle† by Vicki Madden displays many examples from hers and her colleagues experiences while providing statistics of the lower-income joining a four year college. The two articles both display the benefits of attending a four year college and that the education pays off. David’s article talked about the different educationRead MoreTwo Year College versus Trade Sc hool816 Words   |  3 PagesCollege (Two year) vs Trade School For some students, the question of what to do after high school may be a burden to even contemplate as it approaches quicker and quicker. The pressure to continue another four (or more) years of education after high school can be overwhelming considering twelve years of schooling has already been completed; why go right back to school again? When’s break time? Some people are simply just not ready for college and they know it, or at least until afterRead MoreBenefits Of Borrowing Money While At The Same Time Should You Borrow993 Words   |  4 Pageseducation whether the funds come from family or student loans its always an issue of is there enough money for expenses while attending college. There are benefits of borrowing money while at the same time should you borrow. Students use loans for various reasons, but for some loans are just a financial burden. This article is researched on twelve students from a community college. All the students had taken out loans for school purposes as well as personal purposes, but in all reality for school purposesRead MorePost Secondary Education : An Example Of Dedication, Work Ethic, And Self Motivation For A Better Life Essay1280 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Families from low-Socioeconomic status communities are less likely to have the financial resources or time availability to provide children with academic support† (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008).This quote difinitively provides the necessary information regarding attending post-secondary education. Even though this quote also seems very logical, it proves to be a breaking point for Americans in their decision to attend a post-secondary education college or technical school. Important mattersRead MoreTarget Market For Hillsborough Community College Essay721 Words   |  3 PagesTarget Market for Hillsborough Community College For Hillsborough Community College to attract the most students and achieve higher retention rates, Differentiated Marketing would be the best practice. Because Hillsborough Community College is predominantly diverse, target marketing groups should include dual-enrolled students, recent high-school graduates, young adults, and career-oriented adults seeking higher education. A smaller marketing group to consider is the mature adult over the age ofRead MoreCollege Education Is Not Granted For Everyone1461 Words   |  6 PagesMonica Sanad Professor Benjamin Bever English 112 26 April 2016 XX TITLE XX In retrospect, college education, in the old days, has been a privilege that was not granted for everyone. Unfortunately, this was a detriment likely to be caused by the inequality at race, gender or wealth. However, as humans have evolved beyond such inane, discriminatory issues, more people were able to go to college and earn a degree for a living, thus improving their quality of life and acting as a driving force to theRead MoreCommunity College : Is It A Waste Of Time?898 Words   |  4 Pages Is it beneficial to attend community college before attending a university or is it a waste of time? There is a huge debate on whether or not attending community college is worth the time, or if it is as wasteful as rumored. While some people argue that it is not worth attending a community college before a university, I believe that it is beneficial. It helps students transition from high school to college life as well as encourage them to further their education. Grubb, W. Norton, and Marvin