Paper 2: Science and technology

An enormous technological hit in teens society.

By Fernando Núñez Arze

New York, US- For decades, the most awful and hardest part of teen's tasks had been cleaning their room's mess. This, until now, thanks to Dr. Michael Conrad and his invention that will change society.

The SX1-ORDERBOT has the special ability of cleaning a mess in almost every room in a house. Thanks to its omnidirectional wheels is able to move in 360° degrees, and with the multiple claws can grab any object.

"I live with teenagers, and their mess was my main motivation" said Conrad. "I worked for about six years in the development of my creation, and they worth it"

The robot is equipped with multiple sensors which,  basically, recognise waste, clothes, books, etc. It can be programmed to organise your stuff, clean your room and even make your bed. And the best part of it: is cheap! How? It is made with recycled materials and uses solar energy to recharge itself, so it can be very affordable. (Maybe one month of cleaning your neighbour's car).

"I remember when my mom yelled at me because of my mess, now, you can relax and your mother can take care of her throat." Said Conrad between laughs. He also said that the robot will be able for buying in most of the US by ends of 2015, and then spread to the world. "We need to test it first in different environments, and watch how people reacts to it."

Dr. Conrad said that it still has some limitations, and because they don't want people to modify their houses for the robot, they still hasn't released it. Stairs, narrow corridors and heights are some of the problems, so they are working with the purpose of only spending money in the acquisition of the SX1.

The robot has been assigned to some schools and public institutions with wide spaces and no stairs to test the program at first. Until now, everything has worked as planned, and Michael hopes to keep improving it in the future. "Probably the SX2 may have free Wi-fi connection." He laughs.

Mind Map paper 2: Scien e and Technology

Creating a Comic

Poem in the Undergroung

Proud readers
Hide behind tall newspapers.

The young are all arms and legs
Knackered by youth.

Tourists sit bolt upright
Trusting in nothing.

Only the drunk and the crazy
Aspire to converse.

Only the poet
Peruses his poem among the adverts.

Only the elderly person
Observes the request that the seat be offered to an elderly person.

D.J.Enright

Here is my comic about this poem.

So, Where is home?

I'm not from here

James McMurtry

I'm not from here 

I just live here 

Grew up somewhere far away 

Come here thinking I'd never stay long 

I'd be going back soon someday 

It's been a few years 

Since I got here 

Seen 'em come and I've seen 'em go 

Crowds assemble, they hang out awhile 

Then they melt away like an early snow 

Onto some bright future somewhere 

Down the road to points unknown 

Sending postcards when they get there 

Wherever it is they think they're goin' 

I'm not from here 

I just live here 

Can't see that it matters much 

I read the papers and I watch the nightly news 

Who's to say I'm out of touch 

Nobody's from here 

Most of us just live here 

Locals long since moved away 

Sold the played-out farms for parking lots 

Went off looking for a better way 

Onto some bright future somewhere 

Better times on down the road 

Wonder if they ever got there 

Wherever it was they thought they'd go 

Hit my home town 

A couple years back 

Hard to say just how it felt 

But it looked like so many towns I might've been through 

On my way to somewhere else 

I'm not from here 

But people tell me 

It's not like it used to be 

They say I should have been here 

Back about ten years 

Before it got ruined by folks like me 

We can't help it 

We just keep moving 

It's been that way since long ago 

Since the stone age, chasing the great herds 

We mostly go where we have to go 

Onto some bright future somewhere 

Down the road to points unknown 

Sending post cards when we get there 

Wherever it is we think we'll go

I think this song represent at some parts what TCK's feel about. I choose it because if the main idea if the song, the feeling of not belonging anywhere, feeling rootless. This music makes me feel upset because it refers to a man who has got no home. When I hear the lyrics of this song I immediately think in TCK's, because they are constantly moving from one country to another, without an specific home. I relate this song to the feelings that I think a Third World Kid may have each time they are asked from where they are from. The main idea can be found when the songs makes a repetition in "I'm not from here/I just live here", to clarify the idea. "Grew up somewhere far away/Come here thinking I'd never stay long " leaves a message very similar to TCK's lifes. I think that the song's main issue is feeling rootless. One of TCK's challenges is feeling rootless and belonging anywhere. The main reason of this feeling is being constantly travelling from one country to another

Punk for a Month, Connecting with other Stories

In the movie Cars, Lighting McQueen is a famous race car, and lives in a luxurious world. He is a conceited car, and he only worries about himself and winning the Piston cup. after an accident that leads him to an old town, he meets some town cars. He judges them because of their appearance, and tries to escape from them. He thinks that this old cars are all crash, an dare completely weird, but as soon as he gets to know them he realises that those cars are not what he thought. Is very similar to the text "Punk for a month" in the aspect that Julie is judged by her friend by her appearance and not by her feelings, her inner side, which I think is more important. She is considered different (weird) because of her new look, but she is still the same girl she used to be the day before her change. I think this issue is very common in our society, we are used to judge people by their appearance and we let them outside our interest points. 

Punk for a month

1.-What does appearance indicate about a person? in what ways may appearance be misleading? When is appropriate to judge people based on appearance? When is it inappropriate?

 Maybe their social position may be given by their appearance, but it depends on each person. I think that judging because of the appearance being appropriate or not depends on the context. Judging someone that looks mysterious in the middle of the night may be appropiate in terms of your own security, but in other cases is completely inappropriate.

2.- Is Julie fair to her old friends in the change she makes? How might she have handled the change differently so as not to alienate her friends?

I don't think Julie is fair to her friends, because she makes a huge change and didn't gave them the chance to accept her. She should explain them her feelings and the reasons why. Also, she arrived with the intention to have a conflict, instead of talking overtly with her friends.

3.- Julie makes new friends once she changes her appearance. What problems can you predict with these new friends?

 That tis friends will like her because of her outside appearance, ad not by the inner part. Maybe they accept her because she belonged t their group, but they don't know her at all, so probably, when they get to know her, she could be rejected from this group.

4.- Does Julie change internally as a result of changing externally? Can simply dressing differently influence a person's character? Why, or why not?

I think she makes a little change in her inner part, by changing her friends, but she is still the same Julie. A change in the way people dress can make a difference in their character, maybe giving more confidence or security in that individual, because the way you may feel using different clothes can change your life style.

Personal Response

“The Akanksha clinic is at the forefront of India’s booming trade in so-called reproductive tourism — foreigners coming to the country for infertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization. The clinic’s main draw, however, is its success using local women to have foreigners’ babies. Surrogacy costs about $12,000 in India, including all medical expenses and the surrogate’s fee. In the U.S., the same procedure can cost up to $70,000.”

Science has developed considerably in a few years. But this development is facing some ethical issues that can’t be left a side. In this case, the surrogated mother is being a problem. Science has created a way to make unfertile mothers to give birth to their children by a “natural” pregnancy. But this process faces a lot of issues, such as abuse and slavery. The process can be acquired both in the US and in India, but in the last one is importantly cheaper. Why is there such a difference? Is an Indian mother less valuable than a US mother? I don’t think so.

Here we can appreciate abuse in a high level, but Indian mothers don’t feel like that. This is because, with the money they achieve while accepting this job, they can afford higher life expectations. But this is also an abuse, because they are paid less than a fourth than a US mother. Medicine is giving poor mothers the option of selling their body; “rent” their womb to American mothers who can’t achieve a pregnancy.  Because of the desperation of not having enough money, people are able to do anything. Science has opened the opportunity to be used by other people in exchange of money.  But is also an escape way to exploitation, because the amount of money a surrogated mother achieves in one birth is higher to the amount they may receive in another job in India. So it have negative and positive connotations that may affect or benefit mothers around the world.