Sebastian Vargas Sanchez

Samantha Bellamy

English 110

13 September, 2019

Rhetorical Analysis Based On Four Technology Sources

Rhetorical Analysis

In The New York Times article, “The Upside to Technology? It’s Personal”, the author Nick Bilton has worked on many other social networks and has seen the dark side of technology. In this News Article he informs the reader of the good side and the bad side of technology. He compares both sides of the spectrum and gives detailed examples as to why technology could be seen as good either by explaining transportation around the world or talking to a loved one far away and by explaining the bad side in which people use social media and other networks for bullying or simply hackers using technology to bring people’s lives down. Bilton also weighs both sides of technology and discusses whether the goods outweighs the bad of technology and if we would be better off without it.

In the article “The Influence Of Technology On Social Media” by Christian Zilles, he explains how technology has been implemented in all of our lives due to social media. Its as if every piece of electronic that is around us has some “magic” to make it work. Technology follows you everywhere you go and even if you go for a vacation, you will still get emails and text messages from your boss about work. You can see someone from across the world with just a couple of taps on a computer or smartphone. Zilles does not see a problem with people from different countries around the world going into a video call and having lunch together.

In the discovery magazine by Jonathon Keats, he talks about how technology has advanced so much that we are now making artificial intelligence. We now have AI robots with intelligence handling human jobs such as warfare and health care. In this magazine, an ethicist from the University of California Polytechnic State Patrick Lin said that in order for us to trust these machines in doing humans jobs, we have to make sure they are equipped with ethical decision making. Lin believes that artificial intelligence can help humans but they have to be built the right way.

In the scholarly article by Aaron T. Blanchard and Khalid Salaita from the departments of  Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemistry respectively, they talk about using technology in scientific ways. They describe different types of tools associated with science and technology combined such as mechanotechnology and nanotechnology. They provide many examples and detailed explanations talk about their important roles and uses in the scientific field.

Rhetorical Situation

Nick Bilton felt the need to write that news article “The upside to technology? Its personal” because he wants to let everyone know that technology is not always good. He wanted to bring to light the fact that technology is because there are many dangerous things that can be done with it. This article covers emotion when it gives a piece of inspiration. It goes over the fact that technology can help humans apart from their own needs, but for problems such as missing a loved one.

Christian Zilles of the social media “The influence of technology on social media” article wanted to inform its readers that technology is so big that if you wanted to be social, you wouldn’t need to step outside of your comfort zone to do that. You can call someone from your house and even see their face through a smartphone. He wanted to give the idea that even if you have a relative that is going on vacation across the world, you could easily see what they are up to with a text message, a phone call or even with a video call.

The magazine “Designing a moral machine” about artificial intelligence by Jonathon Keats came to be written because Keats wants its readers to know that artificial intelligence comes with its pros and cons. They can help humans in doing daily tasks but they need to make the right decisions to do so. If they are going to get a job done, they are going to do it the right way. When the magazine was written, it was made to teach people that AI could be a thing of the future.

Aaron T. Blanchard and Khalid Salaita felt the need to write the scholarly article “Emerging uses of DNA mechanical devices” about nanotechnology and mechanotechnology in order to show the capabilities of technology. The authors wanted to express the idea that they can push science even further than where it is now by mixing it with technology. They have given us studies and ideas as to how they can be used in our lives.

The Purpose:

The purpose of this news article  “The upside to technology? Its personal” is for the author Nick Bilton to inform the reader of the good and bads of technology. It doesn’t want the people to think that only good things come with advancement in technology. There are some who take it for the wrong reasons and we have to be wary of those who do. The author does state that the good things that come with technology are able to be greater than the bad ones for reassurance. 

This social media article “The influence of technology on social media” differs completely with the news article “The upside to technology? Its personal”. It talks about using technology as a means of communication and doing things from your home while the news article talks about its pros and cons. The social media article even mentions that you can pay your bills without having to go to the store itself to complete the payment.

The purpose of the AI magazine “Designing a moral machine” is to inform the readers and explain to them that AI robots come with its pros and cons. This is similar to the news article because they are both comparing things that can be done with technology but also the good and the bad things that come along with it. These two pieces of writing want to tell its readers that with technology, every good needs to have a flaw.

This scholarly article “Emerging uses of DNA mechanical devices” was written to provide information as to how technology has made its advancement into science. They explain how they are using it and the discoveries they have made thanks to technology. They have made many studies with nanotechnology and mechanotechnology and have made much progress. They even talked about making machines with the technology they have worked with.  

The Audience   

The news article and the magazine were both targeted at the same audience. They both depict the good and the bad things that can come with technology. They both give the good things that come with technology and the many things that can be done with them but then they show the flaws of technology and how it can backfire.

The audience for the website that talks about social media is people who are always on their phones texting and checking up on new trends. The way that it is presented shows that it is aimed more for the older version of people rather than the young. It talks about going on a video call and having lunch with someone else and also talking to your co workers and boss from your job. This is definitely aimed for the older version of people in their 24+ of age that are using social media. 

 The scholarly article is aimed towards anyone who is interested in the science of technology. The article wants to give them a guide as to how technology can work with science and the many studies they can do as well.

Genre

The genre of the newspaper article is a personal research that was written in the New York Times. It gives examples on the two sides of technology and we are all able to connect with them. It also gives an example of someone’s personal life and how it stands with today’s technological levels. 

The genre of the social media article is an advice writing. The author is trying to give way as to how we should be using the technology that we hold in our hands nowadays. He wants people to realize that if we wanted to be socially active and talk to people, we can text them from our homes  and have the same conversation we would have if we met them somewhere. Social media to the author connects everyone in the world closer than ever before.

The genre of the magazine is a study. In this paper, the author is examining AI’s and their possibility to be integrated into human society. He is looking for ways to see if AI’s are able to obtain the same morals that us as humans have. In one of the studies he did, an AI was able to get the ability to even steal medicine. 

The genre of this scholarly article is an academic study. This article has had many studies done and has been backed up with evidence and many results that have come out of it. It was done by people who both have some science background and went to the same university.

Stance/Tone

All of the readings have something in common and that is the different ways that technology can be used in our daily lives. The news article and the magazine were on the same stance  and tone that technology has goods and it also brings its bads. One bad mentioned in the news article is “I’ve also witnessed how technology has enabled terrorists to spread their message of hate and incite fear”. The tone portrayed here shows that technology cannot only be used for the things it was made for. People use it to terrorise others around them. On the other hand, some people use it for good things as it states in the new article “The upside to technology? Its personal” it says “They, and other technologies, connect us to people who are not with us, geographically or physically, and make us feel a little less alone in this big confusing world.” People use it for communication and that brings joy to people.  These two depict that there are two dies to technology, one is a good way to use it and the other is the bad way.

The stance of the scholarly article and the magazine are somewhat similar. They both depict ideas that can be used to help humans. One way is to use it for science and help researchers do better in their studies and get better data and the other is to create AIs and help humans in doing their daily tasks. In the magazine “Designing a moral machine” it states “Artificial intelligence now permeates everything from health care to warfare, and could soon make life-and-death decisions for self-driving cars.” We can make machines with the technology we have to provide better help for us. It can improve our safety when we are on the road and make life easier for us.

Work Cited

Bilton, Nick. “The Upside to Technology? It’s Personal.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Mar. 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/fashion/social-media-technology.html.

“The Influence Of Technology On Social Media.” Social Media Explorer, 30 May 2019, https://socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/the-influence-of-technology-on-social-media/.

Keats, Jonathon. “Artificial Intelligence Is Learning Right from Wrong by Studying Human Stories and Moral Principles.” Discover Magazine, http://discovermagazine.com/2017/may-2017/caring-computers.

Blanchard, Aaron T., and Khalid Salaita. “Emerging Uses of DNA Mechanical Devices.” Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 13 Sept. 2019, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6458/1080.