As I began reading Vicente I started to have my own ideas of what he was saying. In the first assignment we were supposed to take notes. So when I went to write my blogs, I looked back on my notes from reading it the first time. We also had a few class discussions which made me think of things a bit more and in depth than I had before. In the essay the Human Factor was what stood out to me the most and I began to think about it in every way possible. I thought that it had many different ways of showing itself. Then we read Cat’s Cradle and I could just see all these different ways the Human Factor came in to play. Then I thought about how Vicente talked about control and I was thinking that some of the characters in Cat’s Cradle had completely lost control of their lives; which made it all connect for me. I kind of wish I had taken notes on Cat’s Cradle because I had a hard time trying to track down the quotes I remembered. I took a lot of time re-finding them. I chose to talk about the human factor, stupidity, control and technology. I felt that they were all interconnected in this sort of web. I tried to break it down and show how they all connect and influence each other. Basically I was just showing how I put things together in my thoughts.
Peer editing online was pretty interesting. I liked it because you had a bit more time to do it and it was nice to read a variety of papers, even if you didn’t choose to comment on them. The only thing that was a disadvantage was not being able to write something right next to it, instead you had to be like “in your third paragraph, you said this….” I don’t really feel that the online format changed my reading practices because I have been reading things online for quite awhile now. These days, people can get their news online and basically everything else, so it’s pretty common. I didn’t think it was hard to transfer my blogs to my academic essay, I just took pieces of them and fit them in where I thought they should go.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Many Faces of The Human Factor
If you would have told someone in the 1800's where we would be today, they would have put you in a looney bin. We have advanced so far in such a short time. Things that were once unfathomable have become reality. With our advances in technology has come a debate, if you will, of our control on it. Do we have control or does technology have the control over us? Some people think we have a good hold on technology, others would say that these people are in denial. Are we too dim to realize that technology has the control over us? Or do we in fact hold the control comfortably. I personally think that the more advanced technology becomes, the more it becomes in control. Sure the scientists who invented the newest high-tech object will know how to run it, but everyone else may not. So where does this leave us? In control or too unintelligent to realize that the technology controls us?
This leads me to think of the “Human Factor,” a term coined by Kim Vicente. In “The Human Factor” Vicente gives the example of Chernobyl. Toptunov was a senior reactor control engineer in charge of Chernobyl. His job was too simple and he knew what to do. What followed was a disaster because of certain events that Toptunov was not equipped with the knowledge to handle, which lead to an explosion. “The problem was that the plant designers hadn’t paid enough attention to the human factor – the operators were trained but the complexity of the reactor and the control panels nevertheless outstripped their ability to grasp what they were seeing” (The Human Factor, 11). The Human Factor plays a leading role in technology, and sometimes people forget this. The technology was developed and was flawless, but when it was left to Toptunov and his crew to run it, it malfunctioned and turned deadly. No one prepared them for what was to happen; they had no control over it. Many average humans do not have vast knowledge of technology, so when one thing goes wrong they do not know how to fix it. When the technology is smarter than the human using it, it is in control.
Now whose fault is it that these events at Chernobyl took place? I think that the humans involved with it is to blame, they lost the control. When we lose the control over technology, terrible things can happen. First it started with the designers, “The designers had done everything they were supposed to do from a technical perspective: all the hardware and software worked flawlessly” (The Human Factor, 11). The designers made the hardware work, good. But what they didn’t take into consideration was the humans who would run it. They pretty much gave the control to the technology instead of the human. Control is based a lot on knowledge, if one is smarter than the other it can take over. Then it was the workers fault also. Yes they were doing their job and doing it to their best ability, no one can fault them that. But what is there fault is simply their lack of knowledge of the equipment they are using, which could in turn be the fault of the company for not fully training their employees. But if you think about it, I’m sure the company doesn’t even know how equipment works; which brings me back to humans being unintelligent. Why use these machines if you don’t know how to use them? We are just using them for an easier route but we don’t understand them, which gives them the control. For example, let’s say I get the new Blackberry. It does all sorts of things, like email, pictures, instant messaging, phone calls, text message, etc. I just bought it and have no clue how to work it. I can’t even figure out how to call my boss to tell him I am going to be late. I can’t check my email for my classes. I can’t go on facebook to see that my boyfriend wants to go to this concert tonight. So who has the control in this situation? Not me; I have no knowledge of how to use this device which makes me in trouble with my boss, not knowing what to bring to class, and why I can’t get a hold of my boyfriend tonight. The new Blackberry seemed like a good idea at the time, all those applications in one small phone but it turned into a nightmare. Whoever holds the knowledge holds the control. But remember that knowledge can mean many different things.
The Human Factor and knowledge plays a different role in “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut. For instance Dr. Felix Hoenikker is the father of the atom bomb. He was just interested in everything and anything. “And then Father spoke up. You know what he said? He said, ‘I wonder about turtles.’ ‘What do you wander about turtles?’ Angela asked him. ‘When they pull in their head,’ he said, ‘do their spines buckle or contract?’…After the turtle incident, Father got so interested in turtles that he stopped working on the atom bomb” (Cat’s Cradle, 16). Angela then told the other scientists to take away all the turtles and replace it with things about the bomb so that all he had to play with and think about would have to do with the bomb. Dr. Hoenikker was brilliant and would put his all into anything from the turtles to the atom bomb. He may have been easily distracted but once he had a thought or a question, he wanted to figure it out. I see an aspect of the human factor in him. This time Dr. Hoenikker has the intelligence and knowledge of technology but he does not think of the consequences of it. He is just interested in being able to figure things out or invent things. He seems the kind of person who wants to find a way to create everything possible that comes to mind, no matter how ridiculous the idea may seem. This goes along with the ice-nine he created which could freeze the entire earth. After he had created it he left no paperwork of it and just carried it in a bottle without anyone’s knowledge of it. “...the old man played puddly games in the kitchen with water and pots and pans and ice-nine” (Cat’s Cradle, 247). He played with it like it was a game, just converting it back and forth from water to ice-nine. Here again we see this unintelligence in such a smart man who received the Nobel Prize. Ice-nine was dangerous, not some game. He didn’t think of it as an end to the world, he let it control him.
Also the Human Factor comes in to play with Dr. Hoenikker’s children, Angela, Newt and Frank. When Dr. Hoenikker died each of his children took a piece of ice-nine. They did not have much knowledge of it but took it anyways, which ended up controlling their lives. Papa has just taken ice-nine and died when it all comes out that each of them has given away part of their share of ice-nine. Angela was an awkwardly tall and no so pretty girl; she had no friends and never had a date. “The United States had obtained it [ice-nine] through Angela’s husband” (Cat’s Cradle, 244). Harrison C. Connors came to Angela after her father had died and they were married two weeks later. He had never even talked to her before that but she used ice-nine to buy herself a husband in him. Connors could care less about her; Newt mentions that he would come home late at night with lipstick on him. Angela refuses to see anything wrong with that; she refuses her stupidity of buying her husband with ice-nine. Ice-nine is a technology that has controlled her life, lead her into a marriage that is worthless and she ends up dying because ice-nine freezes the world. Little Newt was controlled by his share of ice-nine too. He met Zinka, a Russian dancing midget and fell in love. They had a weekend on Cape Cod together that Newt says was the best time of his life. Angela tells Jonah, “Newt didn’t give it to her. She stole it” (Cat’s Cradle, 245). He was intoxicated by her sexiness and in the end was too stupid to realize that she was just after ice-nine and did not really care for him. Then we have Frank, he got mixed up in problems and fled the country with his ice-nine. He says, “I bought myself a job, just the way you bought yourself a tomcat husband, just the way Newt bought himself a week on Cape Cod with a Russian midget!” (Cat’s Cradle, 243). Frank was found by Papa in San Lorenzo and bought himself a job as General. Here again the ice-nine has controlled Franks life. It is the reason he got the job, was supposed to marry Mona and become the next president even though he didn’t want to. And because of these three children of Dr. Hoenikker the United States, Russia and Papa had ice-nine. Papa had cancer so he took ice-nine, which in turn ended the world. Each of these characters lives were controlled by ice-nine and were in denial of it. Angela just pretended her marriage was a good one, Newt pretended that Zinka really loved him and Frank pretended that it was okay to buy a job. Each one of them symbolizes mankind as a whole. We are in constant denial of our stupidity which allows technology to control us.
Both in Vicente and Vonnegut’s writings we see the web of technology, the human factor, control and stupidity; which is just like our lives. The human factor can be a problem in many ways, from lack of knowledge, too much knowledge, not taking into consideration certain things, and even what you choose to do with certain technology. I think that as technology gets more advance, our lack of knowledge will give it the control. And because of this, our great advanced technology could be our downfall someday.
This leads me to think of the “Human Factor,” a term coined by Kim Vicente. In “The Human Factor” Vicente gives the example of Chernobyl. Toptunov was a senior reactor control engineer in charge of Chernobyl. His job was too simple and he knew what to do. What followed was a disaster because of certain events that Toptunov was not equipped with the knowledge to handle, which lead to an explosion. “The problem was that the plant designers hadn’t paid enough attention to the human factor – the operators were trained but the complexity of the reactor and the control panels nevertheless outstripped their ability to grasp what they were seeing” (The Human Factor, 11). The Human Factor plays a leading role in technology, and sometimes people forget this. The technology was developed and was flawless, but when it was left to Toptunov and his crew to run it, it malfunctioned and turned deadly. No one prepared them for what was to happen; they had no control over it. Many average humans do not have vast knowledge of technology, so when one thing goes wrong they do not know how to fix it. When the technology is smarter than the human using it, it is in control.
Now whose fault is it that these events at Chernobyl took place? I think that the humans involved with it is to blame, they lost the control. When we lose the control over technology, terrible things can happen. First it started with the designers, “The designers had done everything they were supposed to do from a technical perspective: all the hardware and software worked flawlessly” (The Human Factor, 11). The designers made the hardware work, good. But what they didn’t take into consideration was the humans who would run it. They pretty much gave the control to the technology instead of the human. Control is based a lot on knowledge, if one is smarter than the other it can take over. Then it was the workers fault also. Yes they were doing their job and doing it to their best ability, no one can fault them that. But what is there fault is simply their lack of knowledge of the equipment they are using, which could in turn be the fault of the company for not fully training their employees. But if you think about it, I’m sure the company doesn’t even know how equipment works; which brings me back to humans being unintelligent. Why use these machines if you don’t know how to use them? We are just using them for an easier route but we don’t understand them, which gives them the control. For example, let’s say I get the new Blackberry. It does all sorts of things, like email, pictures, instant messaging, phone calls, text message, etc. I just bought it and have no clue how to work it. I can’t even figure out how to call my boss to tell him I am going to be late. I can’t check my email for my classes. I can’t go on facebook to see that my boyfriend wants to go to this concert tonight. So who has the control in this situation? Not me; I have no knowledge of how to use this device which makes me in trouble with my boss, not knowing what to bring to class, and why I can’t get a hold of my boyfriend tonight. The new Blackberry seemed like a good idea at the time, all those applications in one small phone but it turned into a nightmare. Whoever holds the knowledge holds the control. But remember that knowledge can mean many different things.
The Human Factor and knowledge plays a different role in “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut. For instance Dr. Felix Hoenikker is the father of the atom bomb. He was just interested in everything and anything. “And then Father spoke up. You know what he said? He said, ‘I wonder about turtles.’ ‘What do you wander about turtles?’ Angela asked him. ‘When they pull in their head,’ he said, ‘do their spines buckle or contract?’…After the turtle incident, Father got so interested in turtles that he stopped working on the atom bomb” (Cat’s Cradle, 16). Angela then told the other scientists to take away all the turtles and replace it with things about the bomb so that all he had to play with and think about would have to do with the bomb. Dr. Hoenikker was brilliant and would put his all into anything from the turtles to the atom bomb. He may have been easily distracted but once he had a thought or a question, he wanted to figure it out. I see an aspect of the human factor in him. This time Dr. Hoenikker has the intelligence and knowledge of technology but he does not think of the consequences of it. He is just interested in being able to figure things out or invent things. He seems the kind of person who wants to find a way to create everything possible that comes to mind, no matter how ridiculous the idea may seem. This goes along with the ice-nine he created which could freeze the entire earth. After he had created it he left no paperwork of it and just carried it in a bottle without anyone’s knowledge of it. “...the old man played puddly games in the kitchen with water and pots and pans and ice-nine” (Cat’s Cradle, 247). He played with it like it was a game, just converting it back and forth from water to ice-nine. Here again we see this unintelligence in such a smart man who received the Nobel Prize. Ice-nine was dangerous, not some game. He didn’t think of it as an end to the world, he let it control him.
Also the Human Factor comes in to play with Dr. Hoenikker’s children, Angela, Newt and Frank. When Dr. Hoenikker died each of his children took a piece of ice-nine. They did not have much knowledge of it but took it anyways, which ended up controlling their lives. Papa has just taken ice-nine and died when it all comes out that each of them has given away part of their share of ice-nine. Angela was an awkwardly tall and no so pretty girl; she had no friends and never had a date. “The United States had obtained it [ice-nine] through Angela’s husband” (Cat’s Cradle, 244). Harrison C. Connors came to Angela after her father had died and they were married two weeks later. He had never even talked to her before that but she used ice-nine to buy herself a husband in him. Connors could care less about her; Newt mentions that he would come home late at night with lipstick on him. Angela refuses to see anything wrong with that; she refuses her stupidity of buying her husband with ice-nine. Ice-nine is a technology that has controlled her life, lead her into a marriage that is worthless and she ends up dying because ice-nine freezes the world. Little Newt was controlled by his share of ice-nine too. He met Zinka, a Russian dancing midget and fell in love. They had a weekend on Cape Cod together that Newt says was the best time of his life. Angela tells Jonah, “Newt didn’t give it to her. She stole it” (Cat’s Cradle, 245). He was intoxicated by her sexiness and in the end was too stupid to realize that she was just after ice-nine and did not really care for him. Then we have Frank, he got mixed up in problems and fled the country with his ice-nine. He says, “I bought myself a job, just the way you bought yourself a tomcat husband, just the way Newt bought himself a week on Cape Cod with a Russian midget!” (Cat’s Cradle, 243). Frank was found by Papa in San Lorenzo and bought himself a job as General. Here again the ice-nine has controlled Franks life. It is the reason he got the job, was supposed to marry Mona and become the next president even though he didn’t want to. And because of these three children of Dr. Hoenikker the United States, Russia and Papa had ice-nine. Papa had cancer so he took ice-nine, which in turn ended the world. Each of these characters lives were controlled by ice-nine and were in denial of it. Angela just pretended her marriage was a good one, Newt pretended that Zinka really loved him and Frank pretended that it was okay to buy a job. Each one of them symbolizes mankind as a whole. We are in constant denial of our stupidity which allows technology to control us.
Both in Vicente and Vonnegut’s writings we see the web of technology, the human factor, control and stupidity; which is just like our lives. The human factor can be a problem in many ways, from lack of knowledge, too much knowledge, not taking into consideration certain things, and even what you choose to do with certain technology. I think that as technology gets more advance, our lack of knowledge will give it the control. And because of this, our great advanced technology could be our downfall someday.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Mankind is in Denial of their Stupidity
“I bought myself a job, just the way you bought yourself a tomcat husband, just the way Newt bought himself a week on
I thought this passage from the book really laid out what Kurt Vonnegut was trying to say. And to put it simply mankind is stupid. The worst of it is that mankind constantly refuses their stupidity, which in the end will lead to downfall or the end of the world in Angela, Frank and Newt’s case. Angela was an awkwardly tall and not so pretty girl; she used ice-nine to buy herself a husband. Her husband could care less about here; Newt says that he would come home late at night with lipstick on him. Angela refuses to see anything wrong with that, she refuses her stupidity of buying her husband with ice-nine. Frank got mixed up in problems and fled the country. He ended up at
Another way to see is this is stupidity in general with technology. Not knowing how to use a certain remote control, a nuclear plant, etc. This stupidity could end in self-destruction. Most of us are only considering ourselves and our advances, not taking in what could happen by our choices. Just like Frank, he needed a job so he gave ice-nine to Papa. He probably didn’t think that it would end the way it did. He wasn’t concerned at the time with the consequences of his actions; he was just interested in having a job.
Also I can’t help but wonder if Angela, Frank and Newt knew what would happen if ice-nine got out. Did they know what it was capable of doing? They were, in a sense, too stupid to be in control of ice-nine. In the book it says that their dog had a bit of ice-nine, so they must have had an inkling of what it could do. They may have not known that it could freeze the entire Earth but they saw what it did to their dog. Wouldn’t they have realized what they had? If they did realize this, why would they give it away? And if they didn’t realize, would they have done the same things if they did know?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Human Factor and It's Role in Control.
Technology. If you would have told someone in the 1800's where we would be today, they would have put you in a looney bin. We have advanced so far in such a short time. Things that were once unfathomable have become reality. With our advances in techonology has come a debate, if you will, of our control on it. Do we have control or does techonology have the control over us? Now, I do not have the answers to this but I have recently been informed of the term "The Human Factor," a term coined by Kim Vicente. The Human Factor plays a leading role in technology, and sometimes people forget this. When developing new technology, one must take into consideration the Human Factor. Let me explain this more clearly, technology is developed, it can be completely flawless, perfect inside and out but the minute you have an average human running it, it can malfunction and even turn deadly. Many average humans do not have vast knowledge of technology, so when one thing goes wrong they do not know how to fix it. I think this is the point that Vicente is trying to make. That because the technology is smarter than most of us, it is taking the control.
The Human factor can be found in other places too. In “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut the human factor plays a big role. For instance Dr. Felix Hoenikker is the father of the atom bomb. This character was just interested in everything and anything. He was brilliant and would put his all into anything from turtles to the atom bomb. I see an aspect of the human factor in him. I do not think that when he was creating the atom bomb, that he thought of exactly what it would be used to do, instead I think he was solely interested in being ABLE to produce an atom bomb. He seems the kind of person who wants to find a way to create everything possible, no matter how ridiculous the idea may seem. The Human Factor here being that Dr. Felix Hoenikker had the vast knowledge of technology but not so much the knowledge of the consequences of the technology that he created. This also goes along with the ice-nine he created which would freeze the swamps and the mud for the Marines. He was presented with a problem and he was determined to find a solution. The solution was ice-nine but I don’t know if he followed it through and realized that it could be the end of the world. It would freeze one swamp and everything that fed into and out of it and so on until the whole world was frozen.
The Human Factor is present everywhere; from how to fix a car, knowledge of consequences, how to run a nuclear plant, and even how to use a cell phone. It can be an average human or it could be a genius; we all have our flaws which don’t mix well with technology. And because of this human factor we could very well lose the control, if we haven’t already.
The Human factor can be found in other places too. In “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut the human factor plays a big role. For instance Dr. Felix Hoenikker is the father of the atom bomb. This character was just interested in everything and anything. He was brilliant and would put his all into anything from turtles to the atom bomb. I see an aspect of the human factor in him. I do not think that when he was creating the atom bomb, that he thought of exactly what it would be used to do, instead I think he was solely interested in being ABLE to produce an atom bomb. He seems the kind of person who wants to find a way to create everything possible, no matter how ridiculous the idea may seem. The Human Factor here being that Dr. Felix Hoenikker had the vast knowledge of technology but not so much the knowledge of the consequences of the technology that he created. This also goes along with the ice-nine he created which would freeze the swamps and the mud for the Marines. He was presented with a problem and he was determined to find a solution. The solution was ice-nine but I don’t know if he followed it through and realized that it could be the end of the world. It would freeze one swamp and everything that fed into and out of it and so on until the whole world was frozen.
The Human Factor is present everywhere; from how to fix a car, knowledge of consequences, how to run a nuclear plant, and even how to use a cell phone. It can be an average human or it could be a genius; we all have our flaws which don’t mix well with technology. And because of this human factor we could very well lose the control, if we haven’t already.
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