Annotated Bibliography

Dyson, George B. Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence. Basic

Books, 2012. Web.

Dyson goes in depth into Oliver Selfridge’s Pandemonium, a creation that pioneered the development of artificial intelligence. Dyson describes the simple hierarchy that is used in Pandemonium to help it learn, which consists of smaller, unequipped programs speaking to the levels above it. This system allows these nearly useless components to all have a part in the hierarchy. Dyson speaks about how this advancement led to the development of complex data networks for the military, which shows how a small factor can have a large benefit on a system.

Lethem, Jonathan. “The Ecstasy of Influence; A Plagiarism.” The New Humanities Reader 5th

Edition, edited by Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer, Cengage Learning, 2015,

211-231.

Johnson’s essay talks about how seemingly disorganized systems have sort of element have an element that keeps them organized and, consequently, produce exceptional results. For example, Oliver Selfridge used a system of individual, unintelligent “demons” to create a self-learning system by implementing a simple system to tell the demons if they recognized a character correctly. A system such as this shows that there is potential in the collection of unintelligent individuals, but there needs to be some sort of guiding force to organize them and develop a greater whole.

Moss, Michael. “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food.” The New Humanities

Reader 5th Edition, edited by Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer, Cengage Learning,

2015, 259-275.

This essay focuses on how people’s desires and needs are exploited by companies which

produce large profits as a result. Elements that are exploited include a need to pack a quick meal for one’s children or a desire of more delicious flavors for one’s favorite snack. Such small needs produce millions of dollars of profits for companies, but these products are driving American obesity rates up, bringing up the debate of the cost of fulfilling human needs.

Schulz, Kathryn. “Did Antidepressants Depress Japan?” The New York Times Magazine, 22

August 2004, 39. Web.

The article specifies the differences between American and Japanese perceptions of depression. Mild depression, a well-known disease in America, did not exist in Japan previously. However, with the simple introduction of anti-depressants and the culture of depression, Japan soon realized that many personality traits people have are related to depression, and the people changed their views on personality as a result. The country was known for people’s reserved lifestyle because of the influence of Buddhism, but all of a sudden many started to reveal their feelings, and the culture changed drastically. All of this was just because drug companies wanted to spread their market to other countries.

Watters, Ethan. “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan.” The New Humanities Reader 5th

Edition, edited by Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer, Cengage Learning, 2015,

513-531.

The late 1900s was an era of drug development, of which selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) made a breakthrough in depression treatment. As companies such as GlaxoSmithKline tried to sell these drugs to other countries and open up new markets, they could not do so because other countries’ definitions of depression were different. What we call mild depression in America is sometimes referred to as a melancholic personality in Japan, a personality that is sometimes admired. Additionally, these SSRIs had different emotional effects on Japanese people in clinical studies due to the difference in culture. The limitation of culture proves to be a significant factor in marketing new products. What is interesting is how a simple marketing decision was able to drastically change Japanese culture.