Hawaii’s Renewable Energy Future Essay example - 1859 Words

â€Å"By 2020, Hawaii is aiming to generate 20 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuels† (Brown et al. 2008, 11). According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Arent et al. 2009, 1-2), petroleum accounts for 90% of Hawaii’s energy consumption and 75% of their electricity. Since Hawaii has no pipelines or oil fields, they are forced to import petroleum to accommodate their energy needs (Arent et al. 2009, 1). Hawaii is disconnected from the rest of the United States, which means that Hawaii has to take care of its own energy needs (Croucher 2010, 79).How can alternative energy sources reduce the need to import of petroleum? Hawaii’s geography is optimal to make use of biofuel, solar, and geothermal resources (Brown et al. 2008,†¦show more content†¦Hawaii has the bioavailability to support biofuels as a renewable resource. In addition to fuel crops, Hawaii also has abundant resources for biomass heating. During their research Turn et al. (2002, 4) found that the biomass resources for Hawaii include: swine, dairy, and poultry manure, sugarcane bagasse and trash, pineapple processing waste, macadamia nut shells, municipal solid wastes, food waste from commercial food preparation facilities, sewage sludge, and fat, oil and grease wastes from food preparation activities. One of the main advantages is that biomass energy can use municipal solid waste. Hawaii also produces about 10 pounds of trash per person coming to about 1.8 million tons of trash per year (Yap 2008). Hawaii has a power plant that can use over 2,000 tons of garbage a day to generate electricity (Covanta Energy 2011). Hawaii has decided to start exporting its garbage to give it enough time to expand the power plant’s capacity (Yap 2008). 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Lamb The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 24 Free Essays

string(33) " his dogs down by the riverbank\." Chapter 24 I’ve finally finished reading these stories by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These guys make the whole thing seem like an accident, like five thousand people just showed up on a hill one morning. If that was the case, getting them all there was the miracle, let alone feeding them. We will write a custom essay sample on Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 24 or any similar topic only for you Order Now We busted our asses to organize sermons like that, and sometimes we even had to put Joshua in a boat and float him offshore while he preached, just to keep him from getting mobbed. That boy was a security nightmare. And that’s not all, there were two sides to Joshua, his preaching side and his private side. The guy who stood there railing at the Pharisees was not the same guy who would sit around poking Untouchables in the arm because it cracked him up. He planned the sermons, he calculated the parables, although he may have been the only one in our group that understood any of them. What I’m saying is that these guys, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they got some of it right, the big stuff, but they missed a lot (like thirty years, for instance). I’ll try to fill it in, which is why, I guess, the angel brought me back from the dead. And speaking of the angel, I’m about convinced that he’s gone psycho. (No, psycho isn’t a word I had back in my time, but enough television and I’ll have a whole new vocabulary. It applies. I believe, for instance, that â€Å"psycho† was the perfect term for John the Baptist. More about him later.) Raziel took me to a place where you wash clothes today. A Laundromat. We were there all day. He wanted to make sure I knew how to wash clothes. I may not be the sharpest arrow in the quiver, but it’s laundry, for Christ’s sake. He quizzed me for an hour about sorting whites and colors. I may never get this story told if the angel keeps deciding to teach me life lessons. Tomorrow, miniature golf. I can only guess that Raziel is trying to prepare me to be an international spy. Bartholomew and his stench rode one camel while Joshua and I shared the other. We rode south to Jerusalem, then east over the Mount of Olives into Bethany, where we saw a yellow-haired man sitting under a fig tree. I had never seen a yellow-haired person in Israel, other than the angel. I pointed him out to Joshua and we watched the blond man long enough to convince ourselves that he wasn’t one of the heavenly host in disguise. Actually, we pretended to watch him. We were watching each other. Bartholomew said, â€Å"Is there something wrong? You two seem nervous.† â€Å"It’s just that blond kid,† I said, trying to look in the courtyards of the large houses as we passed. â€Å"Maggie lives here with her husband,† Joshua said, looking at me, relieving no tension whatsoever. â€Å"I knew that,† said Bart. â€Å"He’s a member of the Sanhedrin. High up, they say.† The Sanhedrin was a council of priests and Pharisees who made most of the decisions for the Jewish community, as far as the Romans would allow them, anyway. Aside from the Herods and Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, they were the most powerful men in Israel. â€Å"I was really hoping Jakan would die young.† â€Å"They have no children,† Joshua said. What Josh was saying was that it was strange that Jakan hadn’t divorced Maggie for being barren. â€Å"My brother told me,† I said. â€Å"We can’t go see her.† â€Å"I know,† I said, although I wasn’t sure why not. We finally found John in the desert north of Jericho, preaching on the bank of the Jordan River. His hair was as wild as ever and now he had a beard that was just as out of control. He wore a rough tunic that was belted with a sash of unscraped camel skin. There was a crowd of perhaps five hundred people there, standing in sun so hot that you had to check road signs to make sure you hadn’t accidentally taken the turnoff to hell. We couldn’t tell what John was talking about from a distance, but as we got closer we heard him say, â€Å"No, I’m not the one. I’m just getting things ready. There’s one that’s coming after me, and I’m not qualified to carry his jockstrap.† â€Å"What’s a jockstrap?† Joshua asked. â€Å"It’s an Essene thing,† Bartholomew answered. â€Å"They wear them on their manhood, very tightly, to control their sinful urges.† Then John spotted us over the crowd (we were on camelback). â€Å"There!† said John, pointing. â€Å"You remember me telling you that one would come. Well, there he is, right there. I’m not kidding, that’s him on the camel. On the left. Behold the Lamb of God!† The crowd looked back at Josh and me, then laughed politely as if to say, Oh right, he just happened along right when you were talking about him. What, we don’t know from a shill when we see one? Joshua glanced nervously at me, then at Bart, then at me, then he grinned sheepishly (as one might expect from a lamb) at the crowd. Between gritted teeth he asked, â€Å"So am I supposed to give John my jockstrap, or something?† â€Å"Just wave, and say, ‘Go with God,'† Bart said. â€Å"Waving here – waving there,† Josh mumbled through a grin. â€Å"Go with God. Thank you very much. Go with God. Nice to see you. Waving – waving.† â€Å"Louder, Josh. We’re the only ones who can hear you.† Josh turned to us so the crowd couldn’t see his face. â€Å"I didn’t know I was going to need a jockstrap! Nobody told me. Jeez, you guys.† Thus did begin the ministry of Joshua bar Joseph, ish Nazareth, the Lamb of God. â€Å"So, who’s the big guy?† John asked, as we sat around the fire that evening. Night crawled across the desert sky like a black cat with phosphorus dandruff. Bartholomew rolled with his dogs down by the riverbank. You read "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 24" in category "Essay examples" â€Å"That’s Bartholomew,† Joshua said. â€Å"He’s a Cynic.† â€Å"And the village idiot of Nazareth for over thirty years,† I added. â€Å"He gave up his position to follow Joshua.† â€Å"He’s a slut, and he’s the first one baptized in the morning. He stinks. More locusts, Biff?† â€Å"No thanks, I’m full.† I stared down at my bowl of roasted locusts and honey. You were supposed to dip the locusts in the honey for a sweet and nutritious treat. It was all John ate. â€Å"So this Divine Spark, all that time away, that’s what you found?† â€Å"It’s the key to the kingdom, John,† Josh said. â€Å"That’s what I learned in the East that I’m supposed to bring to our people, that God is in all of us. We are all brothers in the Divine Spark. I just don’t know how to spread the word.† â€Å"Well, first, you can’t call it the Divine Spark. The people won’t understand it. This thing, it’s in everyone, it’s permanent, it’s a part of God?† â€Å"Not God the creator, my father, the part of God that’s spirit.† â€Å"Holy Ghost,† John said with a shrug. â€Å"Call it the Holy Ghost. People understand that a ghost is in you, and they understand that it goes on after you, and you’ll just have to make them believe that it’s God.† â€Å"That’s perfect,† Joshua said, smiling. â€Å"So, this Holy Ghost,† John said, biting a locust in half, â€Å"it’s in every Jew, but gentiles don’t have it, right? I mean what’s the point, after the kingdom comes?† â€Å"I was getting to that,† said Josh. It took John the better part of the night to deal with the fact that Joshua was going to let gentiles into the kingdom, but finally the Baptist accepted it, although he kept looking for exceptions. â€Å"Even sluts?† â€Å"Even sluts,† Joshua said. â€Å"Especially sluts,† I said. â€Å"You’re the one who is cleansing people of their sins so they will be forgiven,† Joshua added. â€Å"I know, but gentile sluts, in the kingdom.† He shook his head, assured now by the Messiah himself that the world was going to hell in a handbasket. Which really shouldn’t have surprised him, since that had been his message for over ten years. That, and identifying sluts. â€Å"Let me show you where you’ll be staying.† Shortly after I had met him on the road to Jerusalem, John had joined the Essenes. You couldn’t be born an Essene, because they were all celibate, even in marriage. They also refrained from intoxicating drink, adhered strictly to Jewish dietary law, and were absolutely maniacal about cleansing themselves, physically, of sin, which had been the big selling point for John. They had a thriving community in the desert outside of Jericho called Qumran, a small city of stone and brick homes, a scriptorium for copying scrolls, and aqueducts that ran out of the mountains to fill their ritual baths. A few of them lived in the caves above the Dead Sea where they stored the jars that held their sacred scrolls, but the most zealous of the Essenes, which included John, didn’t even allow themselves the comfort of a cave. He showed us accommodations near his own. â€Å"It’s a pit!† I screamed. Three pits, to be exact. I suppose there’s something to be said for having a private pit. Bartholomew, with his many canine pals, was already settling into his new pit. â€Å"Oh, John,† Josh said, â€Å"remind me to tell you about karma.† So, for over a year, while Joshua was learning from John how to say the words that would make people follow him, I lived in a pit. It makes sense, if you think about it. For seventeen years Joshua had spent his time either studying or sitting around being quiet, so what did he know about communicating? The last message he’d gotten from his father was two words, so he wasn’t getting his speaking skills from that side of the family. On the other hand, John had been preaching for those same seventeen years, and that squirrelly bastard could preach. Standing waist deep in the Jordan, he would wave his arms and roll his eyes and stir the air with a sermon that would make you believe the clouds were going to open and the hand of God Hisownself was going to reach down, grab you by the balls, and shake you till the evil rattled out of you like loose baby teeth. An hour of John’s preaching and you were not only lining up to be baptized, you’d jump right in the river and try to breathe the bottom muck just to be relieved of your own wretchedness. Joshua watched, and listened, and learned. John was an absolute believer in who Joshua was and what he was going to do, as far as he understood, anyway, but the Baptist worried me. John was attracting the attention of Herod Antipas. Herod had married his brother Philip’s wife, Herodia, without her obtaining a divorce, which was forbidden by Jewish law, an absolute outrage by the more severe laws of the Essenes, and a subject that fit well into John’s pervasive â€Å"slut† theme. I was starting to notice soldiers from Herod’s personal guard hovering around the edge of John’s crowds when he preached. I confronted the Baptist one evening when he came out of the wilderness in one of his evangelical rages to ambush me, Joshua, Bartholomew, and a new guy as we sat around eating our locusts. â€Å"Slut!† John shouted with his â€Å"thunder of Elijah† voice, waving a finger under Bart’s nose. â€Å"Yeah, John, Bartholomew’s been getting laid a lot,† I said, evangelizing for sarcasm. â€Å"Almost,† said Bart. â€Å"I mean with another human being, Bart.† â€Å"Oh. Sorry. Never mind.† John wheeled on the new guy, who put his hands up. â€Å"I’m new,† he said. Thus rebuked, John spun to face Joshua. â€Å"Celibate,† Joshua said. â€Å"Always have been, always will be. Not happy about it.† Finally John turned to me. â€Å"Slut!† â€Å"John, I’m cleansed, you baptized me six times today.† Joshua elbowed me in the ribs. â€Å"What? It was hot. Point is, I counted fifty soldiers in the crowd today, so ease up a little on the slut talk. You’re backed up or something. You really need to rethink this no marriage, no sex, no fun, ascetic thing.† â€Å"And the honey-and-locust living-in-a pit thing,† said the new guy. â€Å"He’s no different than Melchior or Gaspar,† Joshua said. â€Å"They were both ascetics.† â€Å"Melchior and Gaspar weren’t running around calling the provincial governor a slut in front of hundreds of people. It’s a big difference, and it’s going to get him killed.† â€Å"I am cleansed of sin and unafraid,† said John, sitting down by the fire now, some of his verve gone. â€Å"Yeah, are you cleansed of guilt? Because you’re going to have the blood of thousands on your hands when the Romans come to get you. In case you haven’t noticed, they don’t just kill the leaders of a movement. There’s a thousand crosses on the road to Jerusalem where Zealots died, and they weren’t all leaders.† â€Å"I am unafraid.† John hung his head until the ends of his hair were dipping into the honey in his bowl. â€Å"Herodia and Herod are sluts. He’s as close as we have to a Jewish king, and he’s a slut.† Joshua pushed his cousin’s hair out of his eyes and squeezed the wild man’s shoulder. â€Å"If it be so, then so be it. As the angel foretold, you were born to preach the truth.† I stood up and tossed my locusts into the fire, showering sparks over John and Joshua. â€Å"I’ve only met two people whose births were announced by angels, and three-quarters of them are loony.† And I stormed off to my pit. â€Å"Amen,† said the new guy. That night, as I was falling asleep, I heard Joshua scrambling in the pit next to mine, as if a bug or an idea had roused him from his bedroll. â€Å"Hey!† he said. â€Å"What?† I replied. â€Å"I just did the math. Three quarters of two is – â€Å" â€Å"One and a half,† said the new guy, who had moved into the pit on the other side of Josh. â€Å"So John’s either all crazy and you’re half crazy, or you’re three-quarters crazy and John’s three-quarters crazy, or – well – actually it’s a constant ratio, I’d have to graph it out for you.† â€Å"So what are you saying?† â€Å"Nothing,† said the new guy. â€Å"I’m new.† The next morning Joshua leapt out of his pit, shook off the scorpions, and after a long morning whiz, kicked some dirt clods into my pit to thunk me from my slumber. â€Å"This is it,† Joshua said. â€Å"Come down to the river, I’m going to have John baptize me today.† â€Å"Which will make it different from yesterday in what way?† â€Å"You’ll see. I have a feeling.† And off he went. The new guy prairie-dogged up out of his pit. He was tall, the new guy, and the morning sun caught on his bald scalp as he looked around. He noticed some flowers growing where Joshua had just relieved himself. Lush blossoms of a half-dozen vibrant colors stood surrounded by the deadest landscape on the planet. â€Å"Hey, were those there yesterday?† â€Å"That always happens,† I said. â€Å"We don’t talk about it.† â€Å"Wow,† said the new guy. â€Å"Can I tag along with you guys?† â€Å"Sure,† I said. And thus did we become four. At the river, John preached to a small gathering as he lowered Joshua into the water. As soon as Joshua went under the water a rift opened across the desert sky, which was still pink with the dawn, and out of the rift came a bird that looked to be fashioned from pure light. And everyone on the riverbank said â€Å"ooh† and â€Å"ahh,† and a big voice boomed out of the heavens, saying, â€Å"This is my son, with whom I am well pleased.† And as quickly as it had come, the spirit was gone. But the gatherers at the riverbank stood with their mouths open in amazement, staring yet into the sky. And John came to his senses then, and remembered what he was doing, and lifted Joshua out of the water. And Joshua wiped the water out of his eyes, looked at the crowd who stood stunned with mouths hanging open, and he said unto them: â€Å"What?† â€Å"No, really, Josh, that’s what the voice said, ‘This is my son, with whom I am well pleased.'† Joshua shook his head and chewed a breakfast locust. â€Å"I can’t believe he couldn’t wait until I came up. You’re sure it was my father?† â€Å"Sounded like him.† The new guy looked at me and I shrugged. Actually it sounded like James Earl Jones, but I didn’t know that back then. â€Å"That’s it,† said Joshua. â€Å"I’m going into the desert like Moses did, forty days and forty nights.† Joshua got up and started walking into the desert. â€Å"From here on out, I’m fasting until I hear something from my father. That was my last locust.† â€Å"I wish I could say that,† said the new guy. As soon as Joshua was out of sight I ran to my pit and packed my satchel. I was a half day getting to Bethany, and another hour asking around before someone could direct me to the house of Jakan, prominent Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin. The house was made of the golden-tinged limestone that marked all of Jerusalem, and there was a high wall around the courtyard. Jakan had done very well for himself, the prick. You could house a dozen families from Nazareth in a house this size. I paid two blind guys a shekel each to stand by the wall so I could climb on their shoulders. â€Å"How much did he say this was?† â€Å"He said it was a shekel.† â€Å"Doesn’t feel like a shekel.† â€Å"Would you guys quit feeling your shekels and stand still, I’m going to fall.† I peeped over the top of the wall and there, sitting under the shade of an awning, working at a small loom, was Maggie. If she had changed, it was only that she’d become more radiant, more sensuous, more of a woman and less of a girl. I was stunned. I guess I expected some sort of disappointment, thinking that my time and my love might have shaped a memory that the woman could never live up to. Then I thought, perhaps the disappointment was yet to come. She was married to a rich man, a man who, when I knew him, had been a bully and a dolt. And what had always really made Maggie’s memory in my mind was her spirit, her courage, and her wit. I wondered if those things could have survived all these years with Jakan. I started to shake, bad balance or fear, I don’t know, but I put my hand on top of the wall to steady myself and cut myself on some broken pottery that had been set in mortar along the top. â€Å"Ouch, dammit.† â€Å"Biff?† Maggie said, as she looked me in the eye right before I tumbled off the shoulders of the blind guys. I had just climbed to my feet when Maggie came around the corner and hit me, full-frontal womanhood, full speed, leading with lips. She kissed me so hard that I could taste blood from my cut lips and it was glorious. She smelled the same – cinnamon and lemon and girl sweat – and felt better than memory could ever allow. When she finally relaxed her embrace and held me at arm’s length, there were tears in her eyes. And mine. â€Å"He dead?† said one of the blind men. â€Å"Don’t think so, I can hear him breathing.† â€Å"Sure smells better than he did.† â€Å"Biff, your face cleared up,† Maggie said. â€Å"You recognized me, with the beard and everything.† â€Å"I wasn’t sure at first,† she said, â€Å"so I was taking a risk jumping you like that, but in the midst of it all I recognized that.† She pointed to where my tunic had tented out in the front. And then she grabbed that betraying rascal, shirtfront and all, and led me down the wall toward the gate by it. â€Å"Come on in. You can’t stay long, but we can catch up. Are you okay?† she said, looking over her shoulder, giving me a squeeze. â€Å"Yeah, yeah, I’m just trying to think of a metaphor.† â€Å"He got a woman from up there,† I heard one of the old blind guys say. â€Å"Yeah, I heard her drop. Boost me up, I’ll feel around.† In the courtyard, with Maggie, over wine, I said, â€Å"So you really didn’t recognize me?† â€Å"Of course I recognized you. I’ve never done that before. I just hope no one saw me, they still stone women for that.† â€Å"I know. Oh, Maggie, I have so much to tell you.† She took my hand. â€Å"I know.† She looked into my eyes, past my eyes, her blue eyes looking for something beyond me. â€Å"He’s fine,† I said, finally. â€Å"He’s gone into the desert to fast and wait for a message from the Lord.† She smiled. There was a little of my blood in the corners of her mouth, or maybe that was wine. â€Å"He’s come home to take his place as the Messiah then?† â€Å"Yes. But I don’t think the way people think.† â€Å"People think that John might be the Messiah.† â€Å"John is†¦He’s†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"He’s really pissing Herod off,† Maggie offered. â€Å"I know.† â€Å"Are you and Josh going to stay with John?† â€Å"I hope not. I want Joshua to leave. I just have to get him away from John long enough to see what’s going on. Maybe this fast†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The iron lock on the gate to the courtyard rattled, then the whole gate shook. Maggie had locked it behind us after we’d entered. A man cursed. Evidently Jakan was having trouble with his key. Maggie stood and pulled me to my feet. â€Å"Look, I’m going to a wedding in Cana next month with my sister Martha, the week after Tabernacles. Jakan can’t go, he’s got some meeting of the Sanhedrin or something. Come to Cana. Bring Joshua.† â€Å"I’ll try.† She ran to the closest wall and held her hand in a stirrup. â€Å"Over.† â€Å"But, Maggie†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Don’t be a wuss. Step, hands – step, shoulders – and over. Be careful of the pottery on top.† And I ran – did exactly as she’d said: one foot in the stirrup, one on her shoulder, and over the wall before Jakan could get in the gate. â€Å"Got one!† said one of the old blind guys as I tumbled down on top of them. â€Å"Hold her still while I stick it in.† I was sitting on a boulder, waiting for Joshua when he came out of the desert. I held out my arms to hug him and he fell forward, letting me catch him. I lowered him to the rock where I had been sitting. He had been smart enough to coat all the exposed parts of his skin with mud, probably mixed from his own urine, to protect it from burning, but in a few spots on his forehead and hands the mud had crumbled away and the skin was gone, burned to raw flesh. His arms were as thin as a small girl’s, they swam in the wide sleeves of his tunic. â€Å"You okay?† He nodded. I handed him a water skin I had been keeping cool in the shade. He drank in little sips, pacing himself. â€Å"Locust?† I said, holding up one of the crispy torments between my thumb and forefinger. At the sight of it I thought Joshua would vomit the water he had just drunk. â€Å"Just kidding,† I said. I whipped open the mouth of my satchel, revealing dates, fresh figs, olives, cheese, a half-dozen flat loaves of bread, and a full wineskin. I’d sent the new guy into Jericho the day before to bring back the food. Josh looked at the food spilling out of the satchel and grinned, then covered his mouth with his hand. â€Å"Ow. Ouch. Ow.† â€Å"What’s wrong?† â€Å"Lips†¦chapped.† â€Å"Myrrh,† I said, pulling a small jar of the ointment from the satchel and handing it to him. An hour later the Son of God was refreshed and rejuvenated, and we sat sharing the last of the wine, the first that Joshua had had since we’d come home from India over a year ago. â€Å"So, what did you see in the desert?† â€Å"The Devil.† â€Å"The Devil?† â€Å"Yep. He tempted me. Power, wealth, sex, that sort of thing. I turned him down.† â€Å"What did he look like?† â€Å"He was tall.† â€Å"Tall? The prince of darkness, the serpent of temptation, the source of all corruption and evil, and all you can say about him is he was tall?† â€Å"Pretty tall.† â€Å"Oh, good, I’ll be on the lookout then.† Joshua said, pointing at the new guy. â€Å"He’s tall, too.† I realized then that the Messiah might be a little tipsy. â€Å"Not the Devil, Josh.† â€Å"Well, who is he then?† â€Å"I’m Philip,† said the new guy. â€Å"I’m going with you to Cana tomorrow.† Joshua wheeled around to me and almost fell off his rock. â€Å"We’re going to Cana tomorrow?† â€Å"Yes, Maggie’s there, Josh. She’s dying.† How to cite Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 24, Essay examples

Artificial Intelligence and Its Threats in Humanity

Question: Discuss about theArtificial Intelligence and Its Threats in Humanity. Answer: Introduction: Artificial Intelligence and its Threats to Humanity Ever since its conceptualization, Artificial Intelligence research has explored a variety of problems and approaches and all problems such problems are direct impacts on the humanity. By far the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it. However, success in the quest for artificial intelligence has the potential to bring unprecedented benefits to humanity, and it is, therefore, worthwhile to investigate whether AI has the potentially to improve the conditions of humanity and ensure that it remains robust and beneficial, or it is a threat to humanity. Thesis Statement: The assignment deals with whether the artificial intelligence is responsible for the robust growth of the humanity or it makes the human redundant at work. Discussion: Claim 1: Positive Implications of Development in Artificial Intelligence There are several people finds that AI will kill the humanity if it becomes part of peoples daily lives but deeply presumed that it will become smarter than human minds and make them redundant at work. On the contrary, Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom discusses several doomsdays scenarios in his book of Super intelligence. He said that the AI might felt its presence in the all of the earths surface with nuclear reactors, solar panels, supercomputing facilities with protruding cooling towers, launchers of space rocket, or other installations. This book, thus, claims that AI has the enough potentiality to maximize the long-term cumulative realization of its values. However, the philosopher warns that Before the prospects of intelligence explosion, we humans are like small children playing with a bomb. On the contrast, there are many counterparty arguments have been made that against the unexpected intelligence explosions, mainly taken care of the technical limitations and logics. For in stance, sci-fi writer Ramez Naam discussed in his essay for H+ magazine that there is need some time and resources for inventing human destroying technologies even if people have the super intelligent mind an thus, it needs to be contributed to the human economy to obtain what it needed. Developing faster chips, for example, requires not just new designs but its needed to build chip fabrication foundries. There is another counterargument to be made based on the ethical and philosophical manner. The benefits of humanity are completely depends on the humans interest and fight off human resistance. In other words, it is completely an independent action. In other sense, the argument said that AI lives with rewards and punishments including punishments from us for behaving badly. Thus, this can be observed by many intelligent agents that a promising Artificial Intelligence will have to develop a humanlike moral sense to stay in the world of dominated by humans and need to be judged whether the activities delivered with the help of AI is right or wrong. By the time it is in a position to imagine tiling the Earth with solar panels, it will know that the application of AI would be morally wrong to do so. Claim 2: Robots Could Wipe Out Humanity by Accident The article anticipates that the machines could deliberately wipe out the human race or do so by accidently because the application of Artificial Intelligence is completely instruction-driven and communication-friendly[1]. Therefore, there is a high chance of machine could accidently misinterpreting an instruction, because the language is understated. Speaking at a debate on artificial intelligence in Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, that all the tasks done by AI are followed a specific set of instructions. The parameters of artificial intelligence are drawn with an objective for solving problems about optimization problem[2]. Moreover, the advent of artificial intelligence provided the framework for transferring the problems solving approach onto A.I who in turn are burdened with sol, regarding solving problems which are beyond the realm of existing research. Moreover, AI is not fed with a sense of moral principles and is developed in a manner that solves optimizat ion issues. Thereby, instances can come where solving a problem requires extinction of humans, thereby bereft of any morality or sense of right and wrong the AI can infect turn on human beings and other species and do harm to them in order to mitigate any problem solving issues. It is not irrational to expect robots to realize that the skills it possesses regarding analytical and quantitative competence are beyond the realm of average humans, thereby a dictatorial tendency may occur amongst the AIs. There are some arguments that extent of artificial intelligence threatening people will stop taking jobs or being used by people against other people rather than machine taking a life of their own and increasing to gain power [3]. Violence is not the singular threat posed by artificial intelligence[4]. There are several others threats have been identified which could negatively impact on humanity. There are different ways AI could violate the level of privacy of the humanity. For instance, the facial recognition system of Facebook is criticized for breaching the human privacy. This system can recognize an individual in photos, and that informs the tagging recommendation of Facebook with the help of Artificial Intelligence. Furthermore, the system also recognized peoples traits, such as how the clothes that they wear or how people stand and so on. However, there is a fear that if this kind of technology is implemented into things like a system of security, this could be treated as privacy minefield. Claim 3: Artificial Intelligence does not Stimulate the Human Behavior: There are several areas of specialization of Artificial Intelligence from programming computers which help to take decisions in real-life situations and play games against humans, natural human languages developed by computers, system that stimulates intelligence and robotics. However, the problem exists mainly in the area of the human behavior because computers are not capable of comprehensively stimulating the behavior of human[5]. In the recent development phase in the world of intelligent that the systems of computers are now extensively used in assembly plants. However, the world of robotics are hardly identified the objects depending on appearance or feet, and they are still moving and hold objects awkwardly. While the application of the AI at the time of using it in voice recognition software, allows the computer to convert spoken sounds to another, they even do not understand what they are doing. This has been anticipated that the Artificial Intelligence has the limited usage in the area of the Medicine and Engineering which are very expensive. However, the artificial intelligence has increasingly become more science and less fiction [6]. For instance, Google is one company who is investing in the technology of artificial intelligence to develop driverless cars. On the other hand, Toyota has partnered with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the application of robotics and intelligent vehicles. The emerging applications of AI by the several companies, it is completely contradict the theme of this assignment. The glowing application of Artificial Intelligence is only inevitable that these systems are bound to become part of humans daily life. Conclusion: After evaluating all three claims, this can be concluded that AI has enough potential to increase the human facilities. Several companies are already acknowledged that the application of AI has the capabilities to contribute in the daily life of the people. However the applications often face many obligations due to expensive invention process. Furthermore, the human instructions are often misinterpreted by the robotics and thus, the theme of the assignment is still in controversies. References: Expert Claims Intelligent Robots Could Wipe Out Humanity(2015) Mail Online https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3143275/Artificial-intelligence-real-threat-robots-wipe-humanity-Accident-claims-expert.html Gurkaynak, Gonenc, Ilay Yilmaz and Gunes Haksever, "Stifling Artificial Intelligence: Human Perils" [2016]Computer Law Security Review Is Artificial Intelligence Really A Threat To Humanity?(2015) Tech Times https://www.techtimes.com/articles/80029/20150828/artificial-intelligence-really-threat-humanity.htm Parkes, D. C. and M. P. Wellman, "Economic Reasoning And Artificial Intelligence" (2015) 349Science The Philosophical Argument Against A.I. Killing Us All (2016) Slate Magazine https://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/04/the_philosophical_argument_against_artificial_intelligence_killing_us_all.html

Hower House Essay Example

Hower House Essay Hower House is a Victorian Second Empire Italianate Mansion; it was built in 1871 by architect Jacob Snyder.The home belonged originally to John Henry Hower and his wife Susan.The house was occupied by the Howers and there descendants until 1793 when it was donated to the University of Akron by Grace Hower Crawford.The time that was represented by the Hower House was 1871 to around 1973.Some facts I learned were that the fireplaces in the Hower House are actually stone and just appear to be marble or wood.The fireplace that looked like it was wood was very interesting because its impossible to have actually wooden fireplace because it would catch fire.In the era of the Hower House a persons wealth was dependant on how many rooms there house had in it.The Hower House has 28 rooms.Most houses of the era didnt have a closet in the bedrooms because the government counted closets as rooms and taxed people if they had them.The Hower House has a closet in every bedroom because the family wa s rich enough to afford such amenities.I also learned what an actual Griffin is (and not just someone who goes to Buchtel).A Griffin was a gargoyle like creature that was half eagle and half lion.The house had statues of Griffins that were used as table legs and such.Another fact I learned was that most of the furniture and a decorative pieces in Hower House came from places outside the U.S.The Howers loved to travel and collect goods from all over the globe.My guide also showed me a steep set of stairs that led to the top of the towers.She claimed that on a clear day you could see Cleveland but also added that she never went to the top of the Tower because she wasnt allowed.I thought that was interesting because I knew the house was big but I didnt think it was that big. I learned that people who lived at during this time did basically the same things we do but it was

Total Quality Management †William Edwards Deming

Total Quality Management – William Edwards Deming Free Online Research Papers In this paper I will talk about the management and leadership roles and tasks in relation to Total Quality Management. Total quality management represents, within the past two decades, one of the most reflective changes in the mode companies are now being managed. According to Biech (1994), â€Å"Quality improvement (TQM) are a customer-focused, quality-centered, fact-based, team driven, senior management-led process to achieve an organizations strategic imperative through continuous process improvement† (pp. 1-2). The benefits associated with TQM include higher quality, lower cost products and services that align with customer demands (Zbaracki, 1998). The capability of a company to answer to the needs of its customers measures the overall success of that company. Many organizations may ask the question, what is quality? As Hick (1998) explains, â€Å"quality is meeting or exceeding the needs and expectations of the customer† (p.1). What exactly are the expectations of the customers? It is now the responsibility of the organization to define those needs. Perhaps Biech (1994) provides a simpler picture, â€Å"Quality is the measure of satisfaction that occurs between a customer and supplier that only they can defi ne. In other words, quality is what the customer says it is† (p.25). Yet according to Perigord (1987), â€Å"Total quality means that all participants in a company are involved regardless of their position in the hierarchy† (p.7). Basically making it seem impossible for quality to be successful if all members are not sharing in the same vision and/or goals. Edwards Deming is well known for the introduction of the concept involving quality management. After World War II, Deming gained exclusive recognition throughout Japan, which later flourished to his homeland. During the early 50’s, Deming was invited to Japan to helper in he recovery of Japan’s economy. Going through a period of economic hardship and declines, the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) called on Deming’s expertise. In 1980, Deming introduced 14 key factors behind this idea of quality management. Gitlow (1994) notes the following as 14 points discussed in Deming’s work, â€Å"Out of the Crisis†. After Deming’s success with his Japanese counter partners, many North American manufacturers began to focus in on the Japanese strategies. The Japanese not only adopted Deming’s ideas for manufacturing, but also expanded them to include administrative and service industries. The implementation of quality concepts began to increase along with the techniques that focused in on employee motivation, measurement, and rewards (Hick, 1998). During the eighties, quality improvement had yet again changed names and was referred to as Total Quality Management (TQM). Hick (1998) also explains that the continuous improvement process should â€Å"be driven from the top, but implemented from the bottom† (p.2). Next customer focus, which involves the identification of who the customers are. When companies consider process improvements, they must know the people who will be using their products or services. Hick (1998) explains, â€Å"the starting point for quality improvement is to determine the customer needs† (p.3). As Allen (2001) also notes, â€Å"customer satisfaction is the hallmark of an effective TQM program† (p.5). It is wise for managers to encourage employee-customer exposure to effectively gain understanding of customer needs (Allen, 2001). Walter Shewhart developed the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle, which provides a methodology for process improvements. Many organizations may use this cycle upon the realization of the need for process improvements. The PDCA cycle is also known as Deming’s cycle because Deming used this methodology to explain the concepts of continuous process improvements. This cycle consists of four important steps The first one is to plan, which is used to determine the processes needing improvement, setting a target, and making all the key players in the effort; the second one is to do what involves the implementation; the third one is to check, which included comparing the pre and post improvement data. This step is also used to determine if the post improvement efforts have corrected the original problem; and the last one is to act, which involves continuous monitoring of that particular process and moving on in areas that need further improvements (Biech, 1994). Including flow charts, or ganizations can also use cause and effect diagrams, run charts, and control charts as basic measuring tools. The main concept behind Deming’s quality theory was the creation of techniques and procedures for process control (Hick, 1998). The theory was expressed as the responsibility of the organization as a whole. In implementing such a major change, leaders must acknowledge their employees fear of the unknown. As Biech (1994) notes, â€Å"Everyone will need to be coached, encouraged, prodded, and protected as they try on new skills and behaviors† (p.138). Biech (1994) also notes several points important for leaders to acknowledge: customer-designed approach for the organization, strong, visible, leadership and commitment from all levels of management, clear vision consistently being communicated at all levels, active participation of the best people regardless of position and experience, willingness to grow as the need arises, and discipline to give the TQM implementation effort time to succeed. There are common reasons why some companies fail at implementing TQM. There are also common ways companies can prepare for the TQM tackle. Companies can start by focusing in on the previous listed points. Throughout many notes from TQM researchers, TQM can be successful if given direct and undivided attention. As Perigord (1994) notes, â€Å"Doing it right the first time means meeting the commitment that has been made†(p.107). It’s the overall desire of the company that drives TQM home. If TQM is enviable, it’s potential, it’s achievable, it becomes everybody’s job, and it becomes victorious. References Allen, R. (2001, May). Aligning Reward Practices in Support of Total Quality Management. Business Horizons. Retrieved Aug 13, 2007 from the World Wide Web: findarticles.com/cf_0/m1038/3_44/75645904/print.jhtml Biech, E. (1994). TQM For Training. New York: McGraw-Hill. Gitlow, H. S., Gitlow, S. J. (1994). Total Quality Management In Action. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Hick, M. (1998). Quality Management. Mike Hicks Eagle. Retrieved Aug 13, 2007 from the World Wide Web: eagle.ca/~mikehick/quality.html Perigord, M. (1987). Achieving Total Quality Management: A Program For Action. Maryland: Productivity Press. Zbarack, M. J. (1998). The Rhetoric and Reality of Total Quality Management. Administrative Science Quarterly. Retrieved Sep 13, 2007 from the World Wide Web: findarticles.com/cf_0/m4035/3_43/53392848/print.jhtml Research Papers on Total Quality Management - William Edwards DemingThe Project Managment Office SystemBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaDefinition of Export QuotasMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductOpen Architechture a white paperPETSTEL analysis of IndiaInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalResearch Process Part One

An Examination of the Varieties of Capitalism and its Application in Essay

An Examination of the Varieties of Capitalism and its Application in USA, Sweden and Germany - Essay Example â€Å"Where social democracy is strong, the public firm was unstable and weak, and unable to dominate without difficulty; where social democracy is weak, ownership diffusion of the large firms could reign if other economic and institutional conditions prevailed...† (Roe, [Political] 21) In this definition, Roe seem to identify that nations that have strong traditions of social democracy like Germany have inefficiencies in their public institutions and structures. This include bureaucracy and some elements of inefficiency which plagues nations with strong public sector issues. However, in traditional capitalist states, dominant economic institutions and powerful corporate entities emerge to fill the gap and determine the distribution of wealth in the economy. Roe goes on to illustrate this point by examining the American model of capitalism into detail (Capital para1). He begins by recognizing that America differs from all socialist states because there is less intervention by the government. This leaves a strong vacuum for some kind of a 'moderator' to determine the distribution of income in the economy. Roe (Capital para 3) identifies that the American economy is strongly influenced by corporate entities. He goes on to state that America's laws put more power in the hands of the managers and directors of these corporate entities. This means that shareholders do not have a strong reason to push for capital oriented decisions that will solely be in the interest of their stocks and investments. This means that the people charged with governance are the actual controllers of power in America. The state's intervention is weak whilst the shareholders, who have the true capitalist interest are also kept in check by corporate governance laws which favor the managers and directors. Employees do not have much rights because these managers can hire and fire. Elsewhere in Northern Europe and Central Europe, the strength of the state is boosted because many state in stitutions act as moderators in the corporate world (Soskice 51). This means that the state has some kind of power to intervene in the distribution of wealth. Secondly, the states in these European nations have established strong negotiation systems that ensure that stakeholders like workers and shareholders negotiate to come to a consensus. This is very pronounced in Sweden. It is also quite dominant in Germany. However, what is common to all these capitalist systems is that there is debate and consensus building in all these jurisdictions. The parties involved in these debates determine the differences. On a further analysis of the American system, Roe (Capital 75) states that â€Å"for capital markets to function, political institutions must support capitalism in general and capitalism of financial markets in particular†. This means that the state must moderate in the various debates and interests of the capital markets and some elements of the society. He states that poli tical economy shapes the capital markets by economic, political and legal institutions. This creates a mechanism where the corporate entities shape policy and policy shapes the corporate entities. In a practical analysis of what happens in America, Roe (Political 104) states that capitalism in America is made up of interest groups that converge in the form of corporate entities. Thus, the Republicans and Democrats make promises based on what

Modern Theatre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Modern Theatre - Essay Example By the same token, evolutionist historians have also privileged those plays which most nearly conform to this overarching narrative about the demise f melodrama and the all-conquering triumph f realism. Tom Robertson's cup-and-saucer dramas and the cordial 'goodheartedness' (Jenkins 1991) f Arthur Wing Pinero's farcical protagonists, for example, represent two important staging posts on this Whiggish journey. In passing, it's interesting to note an unacknowledged separation f theatrical spheres in these arguments. Although it is women who are usually portrayed as the heroes f managerial reform, slowly transforming dirty, communal playhouses into elegant, comfortable, quasidomestic arenas, the credit for dramatic reform has invariably been attributed to male playwrights. Several consequences arise from this evolutionist history. First, the 'rise f realism' thesis portrays the theatre f the late 1880s and 1890s as a beacon f dramatic light, at the end f the dark tunnel f institutional decadence and theatrical unrespectability. Not only does this entail a strategic and rather narrow selection f the theatrical record, but, at least as importantly, fin-de-siecle drama and theatrical institutions have acquired the status f self-fulfilling prophecies. In other words, the theatre f the 1890s tends to be valued in direct proportion to its difference from -- and satirical critiques of-Victorian drama rather than in terms f its intricate and complex relationships to earlier conventions and dramatic traditions. Michael Baker's The Rise f the Victorian Actor (1978) and Anthony Jenkins' history, The Making f Victorian Drama (1991) are two influential and distinguished examples f this evolutionist approach. Baker's work traces the gradual emergence f acting as a profession in the nineteenth century. In general, he writes, 'the actor f 1830 was a social and artistic outcast and the theatre an outlawed sector f private enterprise'; (Baker 1978) by the 1880s, however, the actor had finally 'arrived' in Victorian society. The rise f journalism and the new status f the man f letters contributed to the creation f new middlebrow audiences, whilst the emergence f a mass market leisure industry helped to provide a solid framework for the gentrification f the acting profession. For Anthony Jenkins, Victorian theatre can be construed in terms f the eventual liberation f drama from the tyranny f a popular, unthinking public. 'The attempt to rescue British Drama from the theatre's rowdy spectacle', he declares at the opening f his first chapter (pointedly entitled, 'Breaking through the darkness'), 'began a few months before Princess Victoria became Queen'. In Victoria's reign, Jenkins locates the gradual emergence f a 'serious' drama whose genealogy can be traced in the plays f Edward Bulwer Lytton, Tom Robertson, William Gilbert, and Henry Arthur Jones; its apex is represented by George Bernard Shaw's final conversion f the Victorian theatre's 'sideshow' into a momentous 'sacred