Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Trurl’s Machine Essay Example for Free

Trurl’s Machine Essay As a boy Stanislaw Lem showed an early interest in science as well as in the imaginary worlds of fantasy and science fiction. The young Lem’s interest in tinkering mechanical devices of all sorts was put to use by secretly damaging the German vehicles during the Nazi occupation. Later on, he became a full time writer establishing himself as leading science fiction writer in Eastern Europe. This writer from Lvov Poland (now Ukraine) worked on serious themes as the purpose of life and relationship between human beings and technology. Once upon a time Trurl, a constructor built an eight-story thinking machine. As always, he asks it a ritual question of how much is two plus two. Every time he asks this question the machine always says seven that make him so disappointed. He collapsed in despair at the foot of the machine, and sat there until Klapaucius found him. Klapaucius asked what was wrong, for Trurl looked as if he had just returned from a funeral. Trurl explained what happened and Klapaucius said that there still a good side to everything. Trul keeps on kicking the machine until he is warned by it; they notice that aside from being stupid it is also sensitive. Instead of stopping what he is doing, Trul keeps what he is doing, that’s why the machine shuttered, shook and without any word lift itself from its foundations. The machine was swaying like a high tower, advancing slowly; at every step sinking to is second floor, but stubbornly doggedly pulling itself out of the sand and heading straight for them. This left broken concretes behind. They ran straight and soon saw houses before them. The streets were practically deserted at this time and the construction had gone a good distance without meeting living soul, when suddenly an awful crash, like an avalanche at the edge of the town, indicated that the machine was coming after them. The machine is tearing down all the houses! It is plowing all the building. There are dreadful screams, confusions in the streets. The mayor pleased the machine to stop what it is doing and the machine said that it will only stop if they give up Trurl. The mayor pleases the machine to have mercy on them. The mayor said that the damage made by Trurl’s machine will be answered by Trurl. Trurl and Klapaucius went to the machine and escaped by going in the cave but the machine has closed the cave with the rock. They are trapped. They talk to the machine and say that all of its answer is correct that two plus two is seven. They ask if they can go now but the machine said that it will think about it, but first they need to answer what is two times two. Trul fell into a rage, and he said that two and two is four, from the beginning till the end it is four. The machine had begun to ram its eight-story hulk again and again into the wall of stone, hurling itself against the mountain side until huge boulders broke away and went tumbling down into the valley. Thunder and sulfurous fumes filled the cave and sparks flew from the blows of steel on rock, yet through all this pandemonium one could still make out, now and then, the ragged voice of Trurl. They heard an explosion and saw the machine, lay smashed and flattened, nearly broken in half by an enormous boulder that had landed in the middle of its eight floors. With the greatest care they picked their way down through the smoking rubble. In order to reach the riverbed, it was necessary to pass the remains of the machine. Without a word, the two stopped together in the shadow of its twisted hull. The machine still quivered slightly, and one could turning, creaking feebly, within. Yes this is bad enough you’ve come to, and two and two is—as it always was—â€Å" began Trul, but you just then the machine faint, barely audible croaking noise and said for the last time, â€Å"seven. † Then something snapped inside, a few stones dribbled down from overhead, now before them lay nothing but lifeless mass of scrap. The two constructors exchanged a look and silently, without any further comment or conversation, walked back the way they came.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Changes brought by the Age of Imperialsim :: essays research papers

The Age of Imperialism brought many changes that caused suffering and improvements in countries. The domination of Europeans in Asia and Africa brought benefits and sufferings. When reading in between the lines, it is clear and obvious that the European?s domination gave Asia much to benefit from and Africa more to suffer from. Asia gained tons of economical power and was educated with Western ideas, but in the long run they turned Western literature it into Chinese matters. On the other hand, Africa lost economical independence. Asia?s population greatly benefited economically because European colonial rule led the Chinese to the modern economic system. In the mid- 1800s Westerners coming in Asia introduced new ways of transportation, communication, and it created export markets. Better transportation brought in new crops and influenced the growth of Asia?s population which led the Chinese economy to become more industrious than it has ever been. The Europeans turned the Chinese market into the 19th century world economy. Europeans introduced the Chinese to better systems of money and banking which created the base for a money market in China. The coming of Westerners inspired new ideas in the education of the Chinese. Even though Confucian social ideals were quickly changed by radical reformers in the cities, a new China was restored and accepted by the modern world. Western literature in the 20th century was well known in rural areas in Asia, but there were still traditionalists who worked on Western art showing Chinese culture. After World War I, Western literature was also transformed into Chinese matters. Economically, Africa paid a large price for British colonial rule because it lost its economic independence. France took control of the largest part of West Africa and in no time Africans became dependent on European textiles. Another reason why Africans suffered from European Imperialism is they were enslaved. They were also tortured in the Congo if they disobeyed in anyway. Those who disobeyed were tied to stakes outside in the scorching heat without food or water for days. African?s who suffered from gangrene had their hands cut off because the soldiers tied it too tightly to the stakes. By 1855, Britain and Germany had become the main chief rivals in East Africa. At the Berlin Conference, the Europeans agreed to how they would claim Africa?

Monday, January 13, 2020

Managerial Leadership Essay

Managerial Leadership is establishing direction and influenciing others to fallow direction, but I feel there is so much more to this difinition. The reason being is because leadership has many variations and diferent areas of emphasis. A common definition of managerial leadership is that Leaders are individuals who, by their actions, facilitate the movement of a group of people toward a common or shared goal. Leaders want and expect from followers competency in their skills and time span for accompishing tasks. Additionally respect for the person of the leader. The Leader has an expectation that when value is offered to the subordinate, training and learning work their capabilities to complete a task. There are many styles of managerial leaders, not all managers are the same, and some types are: * Vsisonary Leader articulates where a group is going, but not how it will get there. They tend to set there people free to innovate, experiment, they let them take risks. * Coaching Leader focuses on developing individuals, showing them how to improve their performance, and helping to connnect their goals to the goals of the organization, the feel that coaching works best with employees who show initative and want more professional development. But it can backfire if it’s; some may feel its like â€Å"micromanaging†. * Affiliative emphasizes the importance of team work, and creates harmony in a group by connecting people to each other. This style can be valuable when trying to heighten team harmony and increase morale, improve communication or repair broken trust in an organization. * Democratic draws on people’s knowledge and skills and creates a group commitment to the resulting goals. It may work best when the direction the organization, should take is unclear, and the leader needs to tap the collective wisdom of the group. This style can disastrous in times of crisis, when urgent events demand quick decisions. * Pacesetting this leader sets high standards for performance. This manager is obsessive about doing things better and faster, they ask the same from everyone else. This way should not be used alone, because it can undercut morale and make people feel as if they are failing. * Commanding is the classic model of â€Å"military† style leadership – probably the most often used, but the least often effective. The reason being it’s rarely involves prasie and frequently employs criticism; it undercuts morale and job satisfaction. This style is only affective in a crisis, when an urgant turnaround is needed. Managerial Leadership is a very important to a company, employees and the future of an organization. There are many types of leaders, and each type is can play a very important role. I feel that with great leadership and organiztions can go far, if you have great leaders you’ll have happy and motivated employees.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Why Don t More Men Make Their Own Sandwiches - 1104 Words

Why don t more men make their own sandwiches? An evolutionary perspective on the sexual division of labour and the feminization of domestic labour Alice Miao Introduction Sexual division of labour refers to the different tasks delegated to men and women in a society. It has persisted in throughout human history, and one of the modern manifestations is the cross-cultural observation that women do the lion’s share of domestic labour. How can our evolutionary past help us understand the roles of the men and women in the home today? Division of labour by society Hunter-Gatherer Steve Kuhn suggests that a flexible division of labour evolved in the Upper Paleolithic.2 There was a tendency towards â€Å"man the hunter† and â€Å"woman the gatherer†,†¦show more content†¦It was thought that the â€Å"public sphere† (including political leadership and participation) belonged to men, the breadwinners, whereas the â€Å"domestic sphere† belonged to women, the homemakers. There was little flexibility in the corresponding socialization that prepared children to take on their predetermined roles in society. Fig. 1. A man returns to a home in shambles after his wife decides that women should be able to vote Fig. 2. A caveman uses sexual division of labour to help him identify which restroom to use. Are there evolutionary advantages? There are numerous hypotheses that, although not mutually exclusive, provide different perspectives on the answer. Specialization/Cooperation Hypothesis This is one of the most common explanations for the evolution of division of labour. It states that when men and women split their tasks, they are able to achieve a higher overall provisioning rate for their family, increasing offspring survival. Steve Kuhn suggests that this increased efficiency in accessing food sources in hunter-gatherer societies allowed H. sapiens to outcompete Neanderthals.1 Hunter-gatherer societies with division of labour were also thought to eat a more well-balanced diet, also increasing offspring survival.4 Conflict Hypothesis Another explanation has been suggested based on sexual conflict in