William's English Journal

Title: What are the possible implications of Artificial Intelligence rivalling that of a human intelligence

Sources of information:

Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep

Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot

Article on the Turing test

Ex_Machina

I, Robot the movie

Notes:

Definition of Artificial Intelligence in this conversation is a man made computer system able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.

The Turing test is a test in which a judge needs to determine if he is communicating with a human or a form of artificial intelligence. The interviewer does not get to see who or what he is talking to. The test is designed on the AI’s ability to think as this is thought to be a key feature of all human beings. If the AI is able to make more than 30% of the judges believe it is human it will pass.

Recently a computer programme imitating a 13 year old boy has passed this test and is called Eugene Goostman.

Include the implications of the possibility becoming reality for example, would the AI be entitled to the rights humans are entitled to. Will a majority of humans be against this and try to fight, for example the Brixton riots of 1985.

• Carol Ann Duffy is supporting the rejection of the government’s proposal to prevent prisoners from having parcels sent to them whilst in prison.
• Carol Ann Duffy is against the new policy as it will stop prisoners from gaining access to reading material which she believes is important as she states it is “the soul of the country”
• This is a protest which has taken place at Pentonville prison in North London
• Many poets, authors and other important figures associated with literature have supported this protest along with human rights campaigners and civil rights groups.
• The ban on parcels being delivered to prisoners whilst in prison has been put in place since November of 2014 by Chris Grayling
• The ban is being opposed by chief prison inspector Nick Hardwick who believes that is a mistake that should be reversed
• The ban includes the delivery of books, subscription magazines and clothing however it allows for medications to be delivered for medical conditions
• Lette is severely against the governments plan and has dubbed Chris Grayling an “evil protagonist” as well as stating “books should not be a privilege: they are a staple”.
• Grayling has responded to the opposition by stating he is for the movement as he wants to punish those who do the wrong thing more by restricting such commodities.
• Chris Grayling also believes that by preventing the delivery of parcels will reduce the possibility of illegal materials.
• Chris Grayling has given details that on the first day inmates will recieve one parcel and after that only cards unless in other circumstances

George Orwell presents his views on the inhabitants of the town by using descriptive language. “windows were flung open on every side and half the street joined the quarrel”. Using the word quarrel to portray the way the community communicate my imply that it is a close community in which every resident may know the other. This is due to the fact that larger communities in which the people do not know each other as well may not feel as inclined to join such a dispute. Therefore I believe that by using descriptive language George Orwell portrays the inhabitants of the town to be associated with one another through the use of descriptive language.

William Hendrys’ English Coursework

Analytical Response to “Our plea to pubs, shops and fans:

Don’t give Gazza drink

Dear Editor, 

I am writing on the subject of one of your journalists, Tom Wells, and how he portrays the issue of alcoholism through the article ‘Don’t give Gazza drink’. I believe Wells is being direspectful towards the issue of alcoholism, as well as Paul gascoigne’s relations concerning alcohol.

The article is an appeal from The Sun to stop bar tenders and off license owners from serving Gascoignes alcohol. However the article overall is shown to be disingenuous, the reason for this is because Wells has chosen to use colloquial language throughout the article. For example “Our plea to pubs” can put across a lack of sincerity which discourages readers from reading the article.

Well’s choice of vocabulary belittles Gascoigne’s alcoholism which makes his article seem unprofessional and insensitive. In Wells’s article he talks of Gascoigne’s alcohol abuse in the week that the article was written. He describes one of Gascoigne’s events involving alcohol abuse to be a “Mammoth booze binge”. This, referring to how large gacsoigne’s alcohol intake was. This is more worrying rather than comedic. The term ‘Mammoth’ would be the incorrect term to use as it sounds like a joke. Addressing such a sensitive issue is unprofessional and insensitive.

Wells inclusion of colloquial language may give the impression that The Sun is trying to send across to the public to be disregarded as it is too informal and insensitive. The use of colloquial language such as “calls on” or “guzzling bottle of gin” is inappropriate as the issue it is discussing has very negative impact on many of the UK’s population. It is because of the presence of colloquial language in an article discussing a very sensitive issue that may encourage people to criticise the article rather than acknowledge the message it puts forward.

Wells presents us with a timeline from 1998 to 2013 of Gascoigne’s alcohol abuse. “FEB 2008: Sectioned after answering hotel room door naked with mad written on his head”. This is an invasion of privacy and is humiliating. “JULY: Nicked for alleged drunken assault on ex-wife Sheryl”. This is very damaging to Gascoigne’s public reputation. You would not want other people to know of your private matters, have personal issues publicised with the result of severely exacerbating the issue. Your newspaper is being read by many across England which means the impact it will have is large. And most likely negative as many people may think of Gascoigne as nothing more than what you have written about him.

The article may also have an impact on Gascoigne’s personal life by openly publicising his friend’s and family’s contribution to preventing Gascoigne from further abusing alcohol. This is because Wells has clearly given details to Ronnie Irani’s views on stopping Gascoigne’s alcoholism “said too many pub staff are willing to sell the tragic star booze”. People finding it hard to rid themselves of an addiction such as alcohol may become increasingly assertive towards other people who encourage them to stop. Because of Wells exposing contributions towards the prevention of Gascoigne’s alcohol abuse relations between Gascoigne’s relatives and friends may deteriorate.

However, going against my own point, this article is helping to raise awareness of how serious alcohol abuse is. It is also helping to lessen the impact that Gascoigne’s alcohol relapse is having on him and his family. By asking shop owner’s, pub owners and fans alike to not supply Gascoigne with a drink “off licence staff to refuse to serve him drink” is protecting him and may help him to prevent going through this again.

To summarise my argument, by using the newspaper to spread the message that Gascoigne’s alcohol relapse will probably help him and notified the public of the issue of alcoholism, however by using inappropriate colloquial language you have made the issue sound like a joke, by using Gascoigne’s personal information you may have further weakened his social reputation. Furthermore making worse his friend’s and family’s relations you will have most likely made him feel insecure as you have also publicised most of Gascoigne’s personal events that have made alcoholism sound more appealing than life threatening and have an overall negative impact on Gascoigne’s life. As a hole this article that Wells has written has more mocked the issue of alcoholism than helped prevent it and also damaged Gascoigne’s reputation publicly.

I hope you will understand from this letter why I regard the article to be insensitive unprofessional despite the message it is try to get across to the readers.

Regards, William Hendry

English Coursework January 2015

Are we being kicked out of London? My point is how can the ordinary people who get the average income of £26,500 yearly be able to afford one of the new “modernist” style apartments which range from around £200,000 for A two bedroom apartment to around £1,000,000!

This is a problem because these new towers of glass and a bit of shabby architecture will be springing up everywhere as part of the governments’ skyline project.  Vauxhall, Hackney, Stratford and Brixton will all be facing renovations. This is most likely where some of your family or friends may reside now because the rest of London for example parts of Pimlico and Kensington are simply too expensive. These areas will be rebuilt to make way for the richer 0.01%.

I may sound like a person whose hung around Russell Brand too much, as my views may come across as quite left-wing. But this is simply because it is obvious from the prices, the honest workers and their families will not be able to stay in London. But is it worth it?

£200,000 will probably get you a small two bedroom flat with just enough space to move about in, and within the ideal world where you are a smart businessman, single, with a lot of time and freedom on his hands this may be perfect for you. However most of us aren’t. So you may have 2 children who you want to provide room to grow in and you’ve got a fairly good paying job. The upshot is, some of these will be pretty small so it may be the case of simply moving out to the suburbs of London.

Well now to balance things up lets go over the upsides. You won’t have to get up so early in the morning to be stuffed into a mobile box of everything unpleasant (train) or a smaller one that sort moves with lots of other ones (car) to get to work on time. Furthermore there will probably be a Tesco just round the corner for you to grab that one thing you know you need/want. Another upside is that you will have more schools to leave your kids and not have to worry about trying to find meticulous ways of delivering them a mile away from where you live and some how also make it to the workplace somewhere far, far away.

To be brutally honest you’re really just paying for the convenience. However it is a HUGE convenience, it’s like the remote control for your TV imagine if you didn’t have this luxury and blessing, think about it. Now that I hope you have done this I am sure you understand what I’m getting at. It may seem quite daunting but you will get used to it in the end.

So, I am quite biased in my argument and perhaps may have exaggerated on some points however, what isn’t an exaggeration is that these flats will be overall un-affordable and impractical convenience. But quite a large convenience at that. And it doesn’t look as if the plan will change any time soon as no one in the cabinet has even talked of remembering that there’s almost 10 million people in London, a majority of which cannot afford these new developments. Well perhaps someone might think of us however don’t count on it and so my advice to you is… Find somewhere else, easier said than done but it may be necessary soon.

 In my essay I will be exploring the devices and language used by Shakespeare to present flaws of characters in the play ‘Othello’; I will also be doing this for two of Robert Browning’s poems I have analysed which are ‘the Laboratory-Ancien Regime’ and ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’. Flaws are used to dictate what will happen further on in each piece.

Shakespeare shows one of Othello’s flaws to be pride which is best displayed in his objectification of Desdemona. This is shown in the quote “I am charged withal-I won his daughter”. We can see that Othello is talking of winning Brabantio’s daughter, Desdemona, as if she is an item and by saying “I won” is to reiterate it is his success and showing his status as well as pride. This is why I believe this is one of Othello’s own personal flaws, which has an adverse effect on the rest of the play. Through cuckoldry, Othello’s sense of pride leads him to become humiliated. This is why I believe objectification is a device used to show Othello’s’ pride which is his flaw.

In Robert Browning’s poem ‘the Laboratory-Ancien Regime’ he shows one of the narrator’s flaws to be jealousy which is used to decide what will happen in the poem. “He is with her, and they know that I know”. We know that the narrator is implying that she is being betrayed by her lover. As a result the narrator plans on making a poison that will kill this woman. Jealousy has caused her to want to poison this woman because she is jealous of her lover’s wanting of the other woman. “For only last night, as they whispered, I brought my own eyes to bear on her so”. The use of the word ‘whispered’ implies the narrator believes that the two are in a close relationship as whispering is normally an intimate thing between two people. By saying that the narrator witnessed the two whispering to each other and stared at them is showing her jealous flaw again.

Shakespeare uses soliloquies to show Iago’s’ intentions and plans to the audience. The audience learn of his plot of betrayal by using Othello’s flaws against him.  Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony is his way of revealing Iago’s intentions to the audience. Iago’s soliloquies allows us to understand his character.  Iago manipulates Othello to doubt Desdemona’s loyalty. Iago knows of Othello’s sense of pride and how by having this flaw he can use this to his advantage. Iago’s ultimate goal is to succeed in socially destroying Othello. This is because he would be socially shunned and lose his pride as well as his status. This would make him want to kill Desdemona in order to prevent this from being discovered.

In the Robert Browning poem ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’ one of Childe Roland’s flaws is anger which is shown through the use of emotional language. “I never saw a brute I hated so”. By using the noun hate, Browning is trying to tell the reader of Childe Rolands strong feelings toward the horse. Emotional language is used to help to describe the character and give the reader a better understanding of what the character is feeling. “Out went my heart’s new fire and left it cold” Childe Roland is talking of how he had started to regain his sense of love but it was again destroyed. ‘Out went my heart’s new fire’. This quote uses emotional language to show Childe Roland’s feelings which is what draws the reader into a book and engages them.

Othello’s mistrust is best shown when he refers to Iago in Act 3 scene 3 ‘This honest creature doubtless sees and knows more, much more than he unfolds’ which is a form of dramatic irony. ‘This honest creature’ We know Iago is not honest as we have heard of his intentions and understand his character from soliloquies, however Othello is not aware of this and trusts him when he is told of Desdemona’s deceit. Shakespeare wants the audience to know of Iago and his intentions in order to create a sense of tension. He does this by showing the audience of Iago’s plot to ruin Othello out of jealousy and revenge. Shakespeare then goes on to show Iago manipulating Othello to believe Desdemona is cuckolding him. Out of pride and desperation to know more of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness he trusts Iago. The audience witnesses this and also knows that this is a tragic story and they will begin to wonder what Iago will do next, this is what creates tension within the audience.

In the poem Childe Roland can be seen to have the consistent personal flaw of being pre-judgmental similar to Othello’s mistrust. “My first thought was he lied in every word”.This is an opinion that Childe Roland feels strongly about. Browning’s authorial intent is to show us this to then lead on to explain why he thought this as it makes for an interesting opening sentence and helps to give us a pre warning to Childe Roland’s judgmental characteristics. “his lies, ensnare all travelers”. Childe Roland is implying that the man with the staff captures travelers with his lies.

Othello’s paranoia is created out of Iago hinting to him of Desdemona betraying him. Shakespeare does this by using dramatic pauses whilst talking to Othello of this subject. ‘As worthy cause I have to fear I am-And hold her free’. In this quote we can see clearly Shakespeare has used dramatic pausing but he has also used reverse psychology on Othello. He is telling Othello not to worry because Iago is worry on his behalf. Iago uses Othello’s paranoia against him by pausing, this causes Othello to estimate what he is trying to say. Iago reassures Othello of his own loyalty and trust by telling him not to fear as he is fearing that Desdemona is cuckolding him. “If I do prove her haggard”. This is said as a result of Iago telling Othello of his thoughts of Desdemona’s secretive relationship with Cassio. The reason for believing he is paranoid is because Iago has only given Othello word of mouth and not ocular proof. We can see this as Othello states “I do prove”. With this Othello can be seen to regard Iago’s argument as truthful.

Robert Browning also presents one of the narrator’s flaws to be paranoia through repetition in the poem Laboratory-Ancien Regime. “they laugh, laugh at me”. The narrator is paranoid as she believes her lover is with another woman. The narrator believes she is being mocked due to her lover and the other woman laughing at her. Browning has chose to put emphasis on the word laugh by repeating which will share her anger with the reader. Browning also uses pauses to show that the narrator is thinking about the situation to reassure herself of her decision to poison the other woman.

I will now provide my conclusion to this essay by summarizing the similarities and differences between the way Shakespeare in Othello and Robert Browning both present personal flaws. I have that both Shakespeare and Robert Browning use jealousy as I have gathered that Othello regards Desdemona as a prize which is being taken from him by Cassio which relates to Laboratory Ancien Regime where the narrators jealousy which was a consequence of her paranoia enticed the narrator to poison the other lady. Another similarity is the use of personal flaws to dictate