Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Toscano, Aaron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-083: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • ENGL 2116 sec. 083 Major Assignments (Summer 2020)
      • Final Portfolio Requirements
      • Oral Presentations
    • June 11th: Continue with I, Robot
    • June 15th: Ethics and Perspective Discussion
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Homework
      • Ethical Dilemmas to Ponder
      • Mapping Our Personal Ethics
    • June 16th: More on Ethics
    • June 1st: Effective Documents for Users
    • June 2nd: Final Project and Research Discussion
      • Epistemology and Other Fun Research Ideas
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters Better
      • Research
    • June 3rd: Technology in a Social Context
    • June 8th: Information Design and Visuals
    • June 9th: Proposals, Marketing, and Rhetoric
    • May 18th: Introduction to the course
    • May 19th: Critical Technological Awareness
    • May 20th: Audience, Purpose, and General Introduction
    • May 21st: Résumé Stuff
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • May 25th: More Resume Stuff
    • May 26th: Plain Language and Prose Revision
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
    • May 27th: More on Plain Language
    • May 28th: Review Prose Revision
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • February 17th: Verb is the Word!
    • February 24th: Coordination and Subordination
      • A Practical Editing Situation
    • February 3rd: I’m in Love with the Shape of You(r Sentences)
    • January 20th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 27th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Spring 2021)
    • March 3rd: Form and Function
  • ENGL 4275: Rhetoric of Technology
    • April 13th: Authorities in Science and Technology
    • April 15th: Articles on Violence in Video Games
    • April 20th: Presentations
    • April 6th: Technology in the home
    • April 8th: Writing Discussion
    • Assignments for ENGL 4275
    • February 10th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 12th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 17th: Technology and Gender
    • February 19th: Technology and Expediency
    • February 24th: Semester Review
    • February 3rd: Religion of Technology Part 1 of 3
    • February 5th: Religion of Technology Part 2 of 3
    • January 13th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 15th: Technology and Democracy
    • January 22nd: The Politics of Technology
    • January 27th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • January 29th: Technology and Postmodernism
    • January 8th: Introduction to the Course
    • March 11th: Writing and Other Fun
    • March 16th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 2
    • March 18th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 2
    • March 23rd: Inception (2010)
    • March 25th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • March 30th & April 1st: Count Zero
    • March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)
  • ENGL 4750-090 & ENGL 5050-092 Video Games & Culture
    • Assignments for Video Games & Culture
    • August 25th: Introduction to the Course
    • November 10th: Aggression & Addiction
    • November 3rd: Moral Panics and Health Risks
    • October 13th: Narrative, ludology, f(r)iction
    • October 20th: Serious Games
    • October 27: Risky Business?
    • October 6th: Hyperreality
    • September 1st: History of Video Games
    • September 22nd: Video Game Aesthetics
    • September 29th: (sub)Cultures and Video Games
    • September 8th: Defining Video Games and Critical Theory Introduction
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 13th: Umberto Eco & Jean Baudrillard
    • April 20th: Moving Forward on Theory
    • April 27th: Last Day of Class
    • April 6th: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition
      • What is Postmodernism?
    • February 10th: St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
      • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • February 17th: Knoblauch on Magical and Ontological Rhetoric
    • February 24th: Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method
    • February 3rd: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 and 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • January 13th: Introduction to Class
    • January 27th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Book 1
    • March 16th: Friedrich Nietzsche
    • March 23rd: Mythologies and Meaning of Meaning (part 2)
    • March 30th: Derrida’s (refusal to have) Positions
    • March 9th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127
    • August 21st: Introduction to Class
    • August 23rd: Humanistic Approach to Science Fiction
    • August 26th: Robots and Zombies
    • August 28th: Futurism, an Introduction
    • August 30th: R. A. Lafferty “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
    • December 2nd: Technological Augmentation
    • December 4th: Posthumanism
    • November 11th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2)
    • November 13th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2 con’t)
    • November 18th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 1)
      • More Questions than Answers
    • November 1st: Games Reality Plays (part II)
    • November 20th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 2)
    • November 6th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 1)
    • October 14th: More Autonomous Fun
    • October 16th: Autonomous Conclusion
    • October 21st: Sci Fi in the Domestic Sphere
    • October 23rd: Social Aphasia
    • October 25th: Dust in the Wind
    • October 28th: Gender Liminality and Roles
    • October 2nd: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • October 30th: Games Reality Plays (part I)
    • October 9th: Approaching Autonomous
      • Analyzing Prose in Autonomous
    • September 11th: The Time Machine
    • September 16th: The Alien Other
    • September 18th: Post-apocalyptic Worlds
    • September 20th: Dystopian Visions
    • September 23rd: World’s Beyond
    • September 25th: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • September 30th: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • September 4th: Science Fiction and Social Breakdown
      • More on Ellison
      • More on Forster
    • September 9th: The Time Machine
  • LBST 2213/HTAS 2100: Science, Technology, and Society
    • December 10th: Violence in Video Games
    • December 15th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • December 1st: COVID-19 facial covering rhetoric
    • December 3rd: COVID-19 Transmission and Pandemics
    • December 8th: 500-word Essay
    • November 10th: Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 12th: Frankenstein (1818) Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 17th: Frankenstein (1818) Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 19th: Frankenstein (1818) Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 3rd: Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 1-17
    • November 5th: Planet of the Apes (1964) Ch. 18-26
    • October 13th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • October 15th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • October 1st: The Golem at Large Introduction & Ch. 1
    • October 22nd: The Time Machine
    • October 29th: H.G. Wells and Adaptations
    • October 6th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology) Ch. 2
    • October 8th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 3 & 4
    • September 10th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • September 15th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • September 17th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • September 22nd: Collins & Pinch Ch. 5 & 6
    • September 24th: Collins & Pinch Ch. 7 & Conclusion
    • September 29th: Test 1
    • September 8th: Introduction to Class
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2021)
    • February 16: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 23rd: Our Public Sphere and the Media
    • February 2nd: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • January 26th: Introduction to New Media
    • Major Assignments for New Media (Spring 2021)
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2020)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 11th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 15th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 16th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 17th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 18th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 1st: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 2nd: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 3rd: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 4th: “Burning Chrome”
    • June 8th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 9th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • May 18th: Introduction to Class
    • May 19th: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 20th: The Matrix
    • May 21st: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 25th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 26th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 27th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • SEACS 2021 Presentation
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Marxist Theory (cultural analysis)
    • Oral Presentations
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 280F
Phone: 704.687.0613
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127 » October 14th: More Autonomous Fun

October 14th: More Autonomous Fun

Autonomous Themes (con’t)

Let’s just keep going on the themes of the novel. We’ll jump back to Wednesday’s page and discuss Academia vs Industry or school and “the real world.” We should be able to cover everything in class…like always, right?

Globalization

As with many cyberpunk science fiction novels (Neuromancer and Snow Crash, specifically), the governing bodies of the world appear to be corporations. This is a comment on the global reach of companies that might have a “home base” in a particular country, but they do business outside that host country. Globalization has been in the news for quite a while, but it has become a hot-button topic with the rise of nationalism. Free Trade agreements, such as NAFTA, are common targets of those who feel they have been hurt by opening markets to foreign competition. As a brief summary, opening borders to free trade means companies can make products cheaper elsewhere and ship them to the United States without tariffs imposed on goods coming into the country, where the products are sold at a discount. Many manufacturing jobs were “lost” over the past 50 years in the United States, and many nationalist/populist proponents blame free trade.

However, much like all issues, the story is more complicated. Free trade agreements bring in cheaper goods, which saves Americans money, which gets spent on more goods, which drives our consumption economy. Also, and no surprise to this class, automation—technological advancement—reduces a factory’s need for as many workers previously employed, so that reduces jobs.

There is no getting rid of globalization. There might be tweaks here and there with policies, but, unless there’s some major catastrophe, we will be directly and indirectly affected by foreign markets and US policies on trade. Another related aspect to losing jobs because of globalization is “offshoring,” a term I don’t hear as much these days. Here’s an article about the differences between offshoring and outsourcing.

The African Federation, Asian Union, and Free Trade Zone in Autonomous reflect the assumption that globalization, if this continues long enough, will bring about corporate governance that has no need for states (nations). This situation is a prediction based on the contemporary power multinational corporations have. In the novel, the International Property Coalition—IPC (p. 24)—is the legal arm for corporations and enforces intellectual property rules. Big Pharma owns them, and they’re essentially a corporate police force.

Questions for Autonomous

  • Why does IPC vehemently track down pirates?
  • What repercussions are there for Big Pharma companies, such as Zaxy, that sell harmful products?
    • Ever heard of the Ford Pinto and the cost-benefit analysis they did? The Pinto kept exploding, but it was financially better to settle lawsuits than to make safety changes. One thing I didn’t know was that Ford rushed the Pinto into production to try to cut into Volkswagon’s small car market. At least Volkswagon’s never done shady things with their cars…
  • What might Zacuity’s addictiveness allude? Was there ever a company trying to make their products more addictive in order to hook users?
    • Ever heard about old cigarette commercials with doctors?
    • Even the Flintstones advertised cigarettes

Capitalism

The profit motive. Just as there’s no getting around globalization, there’s no reasonable way individuals can avoid capitalism. Capitalism is the key to most world economies. The United States is a capitalist country, and all institutions support the profit motive of capitalism. Supply and Demand; Buy Low/Sell High; Investments. Don’t let ANYONE tell you they’re not a part of the capitalist system. Even if they hate it and espouse communist ideas of worker liberation to overthrow the 1%ers, every member of this culture is part of this system. Furthermore, don’t be fooled by accusations that politicians from one party are communists or socialists (even Bernie Sanders is part of capitalism). You might hear that welfare and government healthcare are socialism creeping in to destroy American capitalism. Capitalism needs people to spend money. Healthcare keeps people healthy, so they can work and make money to spend. Welfare helps people without jobs spend money. Consumption drives the American economy, so these so-called socialist programs support corporations because people can spend money on their products. While we’re on the subject, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (aka Obamacare) is in no way socialism. Nowhere in reading about socialism have I ever come across a program that requires citizens to purchase healthcare from insurance companies, so those companies have a big enough enrollment base to ensure they maintain a profit. It might not be a “free market,” but it isn’t socialism.

Autonomous is asking us what’s not for sale. Following the Science Fiction theme of “if this continues,” Newitz is probably commenting on the fact that we have slowly commoditized many aspects of our lives. In the novel, people are not born citizens; they are born servants. The idea of being a “franchise” in the novel means you can work and accumulate wealth. Those indentured people have to fulfill their “contracts” before they can be free to work. We learn in the novel that robot indentured servitude paved the way for human indentured servitude. After all, why can’t humans enter such a contract? Shouldn’t we be “free” to enslave ourselves?

A note on Capitalism and surveillance: Paying to make sure our identities are safe and secure. What do these apps tell us about our world online?

Questions for Autonomous

  • Why are robots automatically indentured upon reaching consciousness, but humans don’t (usually) become indentured until 18?
  • How is the system of indentured servitude stacked in favor of or against people and robots?
  • What might the author be alluding to when we read that one must pay “franchise fees” in order to own property, go to school, get a job, or be able to move (p. 166)? What comparable system exists today?
  • Why are you motivated to work?
  • How many autonomous keys did Lee, the repair bot, install at the base?

Intellectual Property

Of course, nobody here would violate the intellectual property of others and pirate materials via file-sharing software, but you’ve probably heard of such activities. One of the key factors for our economic system and set of laws is protecting private property. As subjects of a monarch, an individual had no rights and lived in servitude to the monarch. Classical Liberalism (governments protect civil liberties and economic freedom), which emerged from the Enlightenment, is the foundation of American Democracy and espouses the assumption that the State cannot encroach upon the rights of individuals without cause. As a citizen of the United States, one is afforded protections against violations to private property.

The State also steps in the protect intellectual property in order to provide incentives for innovations. Governments award patents to individuals, which allow the individual to profit from a discovery. For X number of years, a patent holder is the sole proprietor of a work of art, invention, or medicine. If another tries to use someone’s idea without getting permission, that person can be sued for violating the patent rights or copyright of the creator. Notice that laws are in place in order to foster competition and incentives to develop new ideas, products, entertainment, etc. This is why many argue that capitalism is the base of society and institutions are built to support it. In this case, the State passes laws to protect intellectual property.

In Autonomous, the IPC is the agency that enforces Intellectual Property (IP) rules (I don’t think “laws” is the appropriate term for the novel). Contemporarily, there are treaties the US and other nations agree upon to protect the intellectual property of citizens and corporations across borders. Various law enforcement agencies in the respective countries agreeing to the treaty are supposed to go after violators. Eliasz used to have a different job in law enforcement, working in Las Vegas. However, he seems to prefer IPC’s approach:

  • p. 266: “When it came to intellectual property, justice was simple and clear.”

Eliasz and Paladin go to Casablanca to track down Jack and overhear a debate on public domain vs IP: “some people arguing that a free lab would be better for social progress, and others taking the view that nobody would have any incentive to invent things without patents” (p. 186).

Questions for Autonomous

  • Who/What is the agency in the United States that enforces copyright laws and goes after violators?
  • Besides competition, what economic benefit do copyright and patent holders provide? Their profitability does what for whom?
  • In the novel, there is a group that pursues “open source” solutions to medicine. What situation does that parallel in our time?

Next Class

Keep on it! Get your reading done. We’ve got more Autonomous fun to come this week. Frankenstein and Autonomous will be VERY important for Test #3.

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