3 Writing Prompts

1. How does an active pursuit of fulfillment through religion differ from a more passive approach?
2. Why have the original goals and purposes of religion changed so much in the modern era?
3. How important is it for individuals to abandon the idea of "self" when hoping to achieve a religious type of self-realization?

Research Prompts

What do you make of the complex economic impacts associated with "free music"?

What kind of bias do you have in writing this, specifically as a young millennial who has grown up in a society of illegal music downloading? Is this something you should account for in your writing?

While your paper may be relevant in pointing out an unconsidered aspect of an everyday topic, how could this translate into action? How could it affect the way that people live their lives on a daily basis?

Research Prompts

Prompt 1:

What responsibilities should the citizens and government take to make a political process work? Why should these responsibilities be distributed this way? What is the impact of members of the political system neglecting those responsibilities?  

Prompt 2:

Why is a political process necessary? What happens in societies where the political process completely fails? How does a failed political process impact members of society?

Prompt 3:

Why is cynicism necessarily bad for the political process? What amount of cynicism can be considered healthy or manageable? How does cynicism affect the mentality of its citizens?

Research Prompts

1. How does communication between humans happen on the emotional scale and how could it be applied to AI?

2. How does the Turing Test fail to account for AI that merely imitates emotion and intelligent responses?

3. How does the implementation of emotions make AI any more alive than any other computer?

Research Prompts

How does society's perception of women's sexuality affect other members of society, besides women?

What role does the emergence of online dating have in the decreasing marriage rates?

Why is the impact of technology on how we trivialize women's sexual freedom a relevant/important issue?

Research Prompts

Economic inequality effects who information is disseminated. How does it do this and what implications does it have for society as a whole?

How does economic inequality play a role in social inequality?

Why is this an important issue? How big is the impact on society?

Research Questions

These three prompts are for my research paper.

How does culture interact with other effects that ultimately cause corporations to suffer? How significant is culture in general?

How should corporations respond to how Hostess is shown to have suffered due to a misunderstanding of cultural change?

How would critics respond to the claim that simply practicing better risk aversion would help corporations avoid the effects of culture?

Research Questions

How has the philosophy of self- identity affected the way individuals see this concept in present day life?

What are the implications of the existence of identity disorders on how the philosophy of Heidegger is interpreted?

Is Heidegger's philosophy justified in considering those unable to form an identity as inadequate?

Research Prompts

1. What makes technology important in the education system?

2. What are the consequences of the resistance to technology in education?

3. Is this resistance likely to change in the future naturally or is a push necessary?

Research Prompt Questions

1. Is creativity an effect solely due to the addition of technology to education, or does technology simply add on to how creative a student can become?
   
   
2. Why have funding to the arts been cut, who exactly finds them unimportant? What are the implications?
3. What do you make of Cathy Davidson's claims on the use of crowdsourcing? How do these claims relate to technology?

Research Questions

1. How is the growing self esteem culture of the past 3-4 decades directly influential over the implementation of educational standards?
2. How do you account for high achieving students who meet educational standards who end up being successful? (A question for myself which brings into question the correlation between high test scores and later success in life)
3. What are the implications of the self esteem culture and standardization as they relate to college education and work thereafter?

Research Paper Introduction

Religion is one of those things that inevitably bring about discord and argument- throughout history, but especially today. This is especially ironic considering that religion was created by us as a means to grapple with unanswerable questions and as a tool for us to connect and speak with something much greater than ourselves. The role of religion in human life has changed over time and seems now more than ever to be fading, seemingly on attack by science and logic.  Religion for many people is still something they hold dearly to, for comfort, for answers, and for a deeper spirituality. Karen Armstrong, in her essay “Homo Religiosus” argues in favor of religion, acknowledging that its primary use is not one as a definitive answer guide, but rather as a tool that enabled individuals to live with that which they did not understand and perhaps even connect with the higher powers which explained those phenomenons. Even though religion has evolved into something that seems excess in pomp and pageantry and sometimes even resembles the governments which we have become so disenfranchised by, they central goal of religion remains the same as it was for our ancestors drawing fantastic beasts in caves only to the light of the torch. Religion for many is so intertwined with their day to day activity that spirituality for them is less an pursuit active than it is passive state of being. Research shows how an active pursuit of fulfillment and happiness is ill-fated, rarely leading to the satisfaction that individuals so desire. A belief in religion, I believe, allows individuals to achieve a happiness and fulfillment that is simply unattainable by “earthly means”.

Research Paper Intro

While the United States has historically stood as the world’s beacon of progress, American educational ideals threaten to hold back the next generation of students. Even though the public school system has had marked success, it now serves as a barrier for certain students who are unable to conform to its standards. In this case, the educational standards are at fault as opposed to the students. The current educational environment which promotes standardization in both education and in developing the personalities of the students is short sighted. Students who move from the American educational system into the real world are inadequately prepared for what is expected from them. In “Project Class Makeover”, Cathy Davidson points out the flaws in educational standards in terms of what the students are taught specifically. Such narrow standards end up leaving certain capable students behind. At the same time, while the students’ talents may not be fostered, they also are raised in such a way that their personalities are not compatible with the working world. As Jean Twenge describes in “An Army of One: Me”, schools excessively raise the self esteem of students which ends up having detrimental effects on their performance in the future. In order for the American educational system to improve, the nature of standardization needs to change to better foster talent and create more capable individuals for the future.

Research Paper Intro

As time progresses, many entities like technology, laws, and nature tend to progress, or at the very least change, as well. In the twenty-first century, there has been a significant focus on the changes that take place in technology specifically, and how we as a human culture can focus on advancing it, however do we truly analyze its implications, especially on our relationships and views of marginalized groups? As technology becomes better and more efficient, there is a plethora of new opportunities emerging for such groups, women in particular, to thrive and be more included in society. However, concurrently, there exists a paradox between women being successful in the professional world, but not having equality in the realm of sexual freedom and sexuality. This paradox exists for various psychological, societal, and scientific reasons, and as a direct result intimate relationships are harder to experience.

Research Paper Intro

Free is always better; few will argue that. From free shirts to free food, who would not want free stuff? With the internet making free music so readily available, why would anyone ever pay for music? The answer to this question must lie in the true cost of the music. In the words of poet Roger Hancock, “Nothing is ever free, though to you it be. Somewhere, somehow, someone paid.” Assuming this to be true, it certainly has to apply to illegal music downloading. This cost goes way beyond the traditional monetary value that people first think of; in fact, monetary cost may be the least of concerns.  Where the impact of illegal downloading really makes its mark is in the realm of creativity. There certainly exists a creative impact on both the production end consumption ends. As a result, illegal downloading creates a complex moral dilemma. Despite the illegality of online music downloading and its impact on the artists, the morality argument of it lies in its promotion of the creative process on the consumption end. 

Research Paper Intro

Over the past two decades technology’s everyday applications have grown exponentially, leaving certain parts of society behind. The education system has struggled to keep up with the rapid change, but as can be seen in Cathy Davidson’s essay “Project Classroom Makeover”, there are examples of success in incorporating technology into teaching and learning. The iPod Project at Duke, that is discussed in her essay, is one of the major pieces that will be examined in this paper because it was revolutionary, laying the groundwork for iTunesU and even the first Podcasting event. On the other hand, there are salient challenges posed by the introduction of technology into the large traditional education system. Some issues such as fiscal issues can be easily identified but here the focus will be on the human side of the challenges and resistance of a 21st century education that incorporates technology. Linda Moerschell describes in detail the resistance from within academia itself in her article “Resistance to Technological Change in Academia”. While the aforementioned texts focus are more narrow, Raymond Horn tackles the bigger picture in his book Understanding Educational Reform: A Reference Book  where he examines the problems with any restructuring of education. After looking at the challenges and the resistance to technological restructuring in the education system it becomes clear that the implementation of technology into education faces challenges due to human resistance, rather than limitations of the technology itself, and needs to be approached through a more collaborative methods in order to make the transition effective.

Research Paper Introduction

It is widely accepted that the success of a product or an idea is how well it is marketed. Companies use psychological, social, and cultural concepts in order to optimize the success of their products. Extensive research has been performed to discover all of these optimizations, making marketing one of the most studied fields in the financial realm. Through a simple internet search, on can find literature spanning all aspects of how cultural dynamics are used to market products, yet, interestingly, there is little to no research on how marketing decisions affect cultures. The limited literature does show, however, that there are drastic effects on culture as a result of marketing decisions; these effects have changed the identity of cultures from the bottom up. Furthermore, through further inspection, these effects, seem to be a result of a lack of information. Decision making in general is fueled by the collection of information; the more information n individuals, he or she would generally be able to make a better decision. Likewise, Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” argues that such effects, called “Black Swans” are due to us not preparing ourselves for the unexpected. Through the collection of information, companies and individuals would make better marketing decisions, and consequently protect the sanctity of cultures; companies and individuals should adopt this strategy since the effects on culture may ultimately come back around and harm them.

Research Intro

Going back to the roots of philosophy with Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, the importance of the establishment of self- identity has always been emphasized and evident. Every great philosopher in history has capitalized on this subject, discussing how an individual’s development of an identity for him or herself and acknowledgment of one’s true self is crucial to a fulfilled life. Someone who addresses this issue fairly in depth is Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher of the early twentieth century. By Heidegger’s philosophy, self- identity is the ability to differentiate yourself from common life, (“das man”), and be able to form and acknowledge who you are as a person introspectively through experience, openness and caring. Personal growth is achieved through being open to experiences, which then allow for a more well-rounded formation of an identity. This sort of process is shown in Jonathon Lethem’s essay, “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism” as well as Andrew Solomon’s piece, “Son”. Where Lethem supports the importance of experience to build an identity, Solomon discusses the idea that no one’s perception or idea of another person can shape how that individual forms his or her own identity.  In contrast, Heidegger defines “das man” as being the inauthentic man who is ever present in society who cannot fulfill his life due to lack of care and ignorance through life, thus incapable of forming a “self-identity” and falling into the pattern of common life (Heidegger 256). Heidegger looks down upon such a lifestyle, as differentiating oneself is one of the most important point Heidegger highlights. He believes that in society everything exists in order to distract one from fulfilling life. To apply this to present day, this would include social media, public radio, reality television, talk shows, anything that ultimately engages in banter that Heidegger would deem “stupid”. While much of recent generations have been shown to fall into this pattern and and lose sense of their true self, Heidegger sees this as simply a product of neglect, ignorance, and carelessness. This sort of attitude and personality is exemplified in Jean Twenge’s essay, “An Army of One: Me”. However, in certain cases, it is unfair for Heidegger to look down and demean people who cannot form a self-identity. People with Dissociative Identity Disorders have a biological impediment to being able to establish a self- identity due to the implications of such disorders which can include memory loss, dissociation from reality, and altered consciousness, such as the character in Martha Stout’s “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday”. The philosophical approach of Heidegger, among many other philosophers, in regards to self identity fails when it comes to people with a dissociative identity disorder as it does not take into account that the implications are biological and cannot be helped. 

Research Paper Introduction

Many people in the world today feel the effects of the harshness of social and economic inequality. In society, inequality creates hierarchies. Those with wealth and power are at the top while the general public suffers at the bottom. The consequences of economic inequality can best be summarized by Oliver Goldsmith: “Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.” Society’s wealth is concentrated at the top, owned almost entirely by a wealthy few, while those at the bottom suffer. In America, the top 1% holds more wealth than all of the bottom 90%. In this hierarchy, the top 1% has an astounding amount of control over the bottom 90% as a result of their wealth. Much of this control is through their ability to use their wealth to manipulate and control the information that the general public receives. The top of the hierarchy gains more power and wealth by using their resources to control the masses, strategically sharing only certain aspects of the truth to skew the public’s perspective. Not only is this an issue in the United States, but throughout the globe as well. Those at the top of society’s economic and social ladders, regardless of country of origin, use their existing resources to further their own interests and gain even more power and wealth. This manipulation is shown in the following works: Joseph Stiglitz’s “Rent Seeking and the Making of an Unequal Society,” Ethan Watters’ “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan,” and Beth Loffreda’s “Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder.” Specifically, these works detail how exactly those at the top manipulate those on the bottom. “The Mega Marketing of Depression in Japan” exposes the greedy nature of the pharmaceutical industry and how they social stigma surrounding mental illness to their advantage for their own economic gain. “Losing Matt Shepard” looks at the darker side of the media, revealing how information is often manipulated to control the public and their opinions. This paper will explore how those on top of the economic and social hierarchies use their wealth and power to control how information is disseminated throughout the general public while also exploring  the effect that this manipulation of information has on society as a whole.

Research Paper Intro

Currently, technological advancement is increasing at an incredible pace. Computers become obsolete after merely one or two years, and newer versions of software are outperforming the older ones, doing twice as much in half the time. In the field of artificial intelligence, newer, more developed AI are able to perform “human” tasks with greater and greater accuracy: driving cars, recognizing handwriting, and identifying voices to name a few. As technological progress inevitably marches on, AI interaction will inevitably reach a point where it can no longer be distinguishable from human interaction. This will inevitably raise the question: when do these AI stop being “programs” and become “alive,” full-fledged living beings which should be treated as sentient equals? Research in the area suggests sentience is tied to emotion, as evidenced in the article, “Emotion in Human and Artificial Intelligence” written by Juan Martinéz-Miranda and Arantza Aldea, which talks about the relations between the two and some of the practical applications of human emotion in artificial intelligence. However, some argue otherwise, such as Sherry Turkle in her essay “Alone Together,” which insinuates that technology can be considered “alive” with human interaction and time, much like how a stuffed animal becomes just as real to a child as any living animal. However, this view ignores emotion, which is an integral part of what makes people and other living creatures “alive.” More specifically, the ability to empathize is what allows humans to understand others’ emotions and to be “alive.” This claim is supported by O’Brien’s essay “How to Tell a True War Story,” which emphasizes the ability to empathize as a concrete part of human interaction. What this means for AI development is that emotion is a definite requirement along the path to becoming “alive,” moreover research in the area of neuroscience has been able to isolate the processes which generate emotion as described in “Love 2.0” by Barbara Fredrickson. The application of this research into AI development paves the way for AI to begin to learn how to feel, and more importantly, how to empathize, which will allow it to hold “human” interactions with others. Though, just possessing the ability to empathize would be a huge achievement for AI development, it doesn’t mean the AI has truly become alive just yet. For the AI to become “alive,” it must form a unique consciousness using its ability to feel and empathize. Much like how biology gives humans the architecture, then experiences build character, these basic abilities must be programmed into an AI, then and only then will the AI be able to develop a personality and consciousness, becoming “alive” beyond the basic biological meaning.

Intro Paragraph

One of the most important traits to gain from school is creativity. Creativity leads to new creations and innovations. It is what allows technology to improve and move forward instead of staying stationary. It for these reasons that technology should be integrated into music education. Music education without the use of any programs or technology already form creative minds and children who can make connections between the sciences. Science students are creative in a more practical sense--- they can construct buildings and models. While on the other hand, music students are more imaginative in their creations and problem solving. A study done by John L. Vitale proves that “music makes you smarter” (Vitale). After doing extensive research he found learning how to perform music leads to increased general cognitive abilities and cognitive abilities in the fields of math and science. Therefore, the advent of technology into this type of education would spur creativity immensely in the sense of problem solving and music. Traditional education is failing in the arts so it is important to add in technology to these classes. Technology will engage the students more and lead them to being more creative than they are right now. For some reason, once a student figures out how to play an instrument, they can draw connections between problems to solve them. They can easily see how the idea of an atom mixes with atomic numbers through the use of mathematics. Therefore, I hope to prove in this paper that music education with the use of technology is capable of making children into more creative thinkers musically and have improved problem solving skills in comparison with non-musically inclined students. To do this I will discuss the studies of Luc Nijs, CARLabs, and Hatice Selen Takin. All of which display how art spurs creativeness and argues that the use of technology improves upon that function.

Research Process Evaluation

The research process overall has been quite enjoyable for me. My paper topic pertains to religion and human emotion. In order to fully understand the relationship between the two I plan to look at religion's role in human life through various time periods in history and how religion plays a role in human happiness and fulfillment. When I began looking through the New Humanities Reader, I was surprised to see how many of the essays in it actually were quite related to my subject matter. I found that actually reading the articles in the New Humanities Reader was quite enriching and provided arguments and viewpoints that were formative in my ideation process. The online research seminar we had one week ago was also quite helpful because it provided me with a look at the online resources and databases Rutgers has to offer. Before I began looking through the online databases, I expected few scholarly, peer-reviewed in the specific topics I was researching, but I found a wealth of publications that extended far beyond the scope of my paper. Understanding that there were so many resources out there to enrich my paper was quite welcoming.

Research progress

So far I have been very surprised at how well the whole research process is going. I may have left out quite a bit of information in my first draft but the presentations last week showed me what I needed to add in. I now have a much more concise thesis and frame for my project. Finding information for my topic, affects of technology in music education, is surprisingly much easier than I thought it would be. However, it is a little difficult to find solid connections between the NHR and some of the studies I found. I think I found a connection too Davidson and a possible one to Lethem but it's still a little fuzzy. All I have left to do is pick out quotes that are important to my topic and analyze them. Hopefully after some analysis I will come up with stronger connections. As of right now there is once source that I feel is important but it does not have quite enough data to make any assumptions. I'm not sure if I should replace it or try and see if there is a connection.

Research Process

For this draft of my proposal, I took out a significant chunk of my original idea which ended up streamlining my proposal. In writing a research paper from scratch, I realized that I cannot make assumptions when I make a claim. Even though this is the case for any normal paper, in a research paper the sources used are perhaps not familiar to the reader. As a result, I have to back every claim I make with direct evidence. While I make assumptions in crafting my argument, I find that there is trouble in actually finding the sources which agree with those loose assumptions. For example, I still need to find a source that shows that privileged students from wealthy backgrounds are naturally more capable as they come out of high school and have more achievements. Once I find this source, I can link the wealth the positive factors such as high self esteem. In creating this argument, I am questioning the importance of self esteem in different contexts which might not end up being consistent. Furthermore, I encountered a problem when trying to compare the way more “expensive” education differs from “cheaper” education. Expensive education refers to private schools or wealthy public schools in rich towns while cheaper schools may refer to inner city public schools. In my paper, I want to make the claim that the education itself is the variable which changes a student's self esteem, not other factors that may come from privilege such as parents pushing their children in certain ways.

Research Process

The more research I conduct, the more I am finding it difficult to make my points conceptually complex, yet concise. Additionally, it has been difficult thus far to choose which articles and pieces of information to reference specifically. The topic of feminine sexuality and technology's implications on it, so far, has been really interesting to research, however so much so that I am I am beginning to get lost within my bibliography of sources and am becoming overwhelmed with all of the information that currently exists. Finally, a decent portion of my sources is composed of books, so highlighting the most important information from, while also being able to adequately read the books, has proven to be a challenge, but within the coming days should become an easier task.  

Research Process

I am finding it difficult to guess how long it takes me to explain topics in my research paper. I also find it difficult to narrow down to a few articles to reference, when I want to use multiple articles once, rather than a few articles many times. I think I still need to remove one of the sources I have in my research proposal because I think I should only have 2 or 3 journal articles and I have 4 there currently and I am considering using 2 more, so I am not sure which I should prioritize. I am also surprised that there are no articles already directly exploring AI and empathy already. AI is a huge field with lots of growth to be had so I am sure that this idea will be explored more fully in the next coming months or years. Also I am still not sure if my topic is too narrow. But I will not be sure of that until I have my first draft completed.

Research Process

So far the research process has been difficult because for me it has been more about narrowing down a topic than anything else. However, I think that I have some good core sources for my research paper now I need to get some more sources to make sure that my paper flows as a scholarly debate and doesn't become too one sided. The sources I have are substantial, but probably need to be reinforced if I am going to be able to make a compelling argument. I definitely have more research to do in order to add more substance to my argument, but personally I think it will be easier to realize where I'm lacking facts or knowledge once I have started writing my rough draft. Once I have began writing I also think that a thesis will be easier to produce, because in my opinion it is hard to write a thesis or an introduction without having any body paragraphs to go off of.

Research Process

Since I have written a number of research papers in the past, nothing about the process was all that surprising. Of course, this paper requires a higher demand for quality and the sources I draw from are a much higher level, but the processes are almost identical to the ones I have done in the past. The most difficult part of this research process so far is finding the specific research question. It’s really difficult to narrow down my topic when even I don’t have a clear view of how I will address and tackle the topic. Another difficulty is the greater amount of information available to me. Although this means I can more easily find materials relevant to my topic, it also means that many more things to sift through. Right now, I still need to look for more sources which could help guide my paper. Moreover, I still need to formulate a coherent argument to address my question with. I definitely have a few arguments I’m leaning towards, but I’m sure that as I write my paper and synthesize my sources, I will be able to find a solid point to argue.

Research Process

The most surprising part of the research process so far is how little information there is out there on how economics has affected culture, yet there is a slew of sources on how culture is used to improve economics decision making. This has led to me spending a lot of time simply finding sources that are relevant to my research question. I already have the plan for my paper laid out; I just need to find a sufficient number of sources for my paper so I can move on and make an outline. I have tried using many different keyword combinations and databases, yet I still see the same pattern wherever I search. I am currently looking for different ways to research. Right now, I am looking at the references of papers that are slightly related to my research question in order to find sources that are related. I am having a little success with this method. I am worried that, after I start writing my paper, I will have to find sources to fill holes in my arguments, and I will have to go through the research process again where I will likely experience the same problems I have currently.

Research Process

So far, the research process has been a bit overwhelming. There is just so much information out there that is related to my topic in some form or another, so it becomes hard to sort through it all and really stay true to one specific focus. I know that I am going to have to decide to cut some sources that do not truly fit my specific focus, and this is something that will be difficult for me. Additionally, I have found the sheer volume of some of the works to be a bit much. For example, my book that I took out from the library has relevant information, but I am not sure that I can truly read hundreds of pages in the limited time that we have. As a result, I am fearful of missing out on information that would be useful in my paper. All of this is both a blessing and a curse. Despite the negatives that I have mentioned, they all stem from the presence of a large quantity of information. As a result, I think that if I can figure out away to better organize the information that I find, it will not be too hard to accumulate relevant sources. This gives me confidence in the topic that I chose, but there is still more work to do in the research process.

Research Process

What surprised me about the research process so far is how much information there is on this topic and how difficult it was to narrow it down and find a focus. There is a lot to be said about this topic, and there is a lot of information from many different perspectives, so it was difficult to find works that were helpful and specific to what I wanted my paper to focus on. On the other hand, I was surprised at how easy it was for me to find connections between works. At first, I thought it would be very difficult to connect some of the essays, but after reading them through a couple times it was very easy to spot connections between the works that would be helpful for my paper. I'm still not sure about how I'm going to structure my paper. I have a frame and cases, but I am unsure about how I can tie all of these things together to have a research paper that flows and supports my claims. I don't know if I should keep my focus specifically on the economic aspects or if I should focus on the social implications as well. As to what I still have left to do, I need to find more sources and cases to support my paper, and then narrow down which sources will be most helpful to me when writing my research paper. I also need to find a way to organize my thoughts so that the writing process will be as efficient as possible, so I will need to create an outline to help plan out what points I want to make throughout my research paper.

Revised Research Question

How does the advancement of technology affect the way we form and view relationships? Additionally, how does it morph our view of the sexuality and sexual behavior of women?

Research Process

The research process for this paper has been very in depth and takes time and effort. It's easy to find articles that mention certain topics of my paper, such as identity or dissociative disorders but its difficult to find articles where they are talked about in a manner where it relates to my thesis so that i can connect it to philosophy. The process takes time to find the perfect article and multiple sources are needed such as one that discusses the science side of it vs one that discusses the experiential side. This actually surprised me as I expected finding sources to be fairly simpler and more straightforward, and while it could've been, I would rather have had more in depth sources that I can use a lot of information from as opposed to many different sources where I can only really get one or two quotes. As far as further steps I have to take, I definitely need to do more research in terms of the dissociative disorders and try to tie them in with the identity theories of philosophers in a fluid and coherent way. This part is a little difficult since most of sources in terms of dissociative disorders are very scientific and finding one that looks at it from a philosophical perspective is very difficult to do. What I think I will end up doing is simply logically drawing the connection from the scientific to the philosophical perspective through my own train of thought. Overall, however, the process has been fairly interesting in drawing connections and learning more about the subjects.

Research Question

Can computers, human level AI specifically, emulate human empathy? What are the principals that make empathy possible and how computers could emulate that feeling? Computers can learn by emulation, but what separates that from understanding another separate entity?

Revised Research Question

How does the philosophical standpoint of self- identity fail in modern day society with disorders such as multiple personality and dissociative disorders?

Revised Research Question

My research question:

How has the feminist movement used the advancement of technology to further their message? Has there been a significant improvement in the use of technology over time? In what ways does the increasing participation in the feminist movement detract from the cause, and how has technology improved or exacerbated these problems?

Revised Research Question

My research question is: how do simple economic decisions or changes have massive effects on cultures and how can we offer methods of protecting the sanctity of such cultures? 

Revised Research Question

How does inequality affect the dissemination of information? How do those at the top of the social structure use their power and wealth to control what knowledge is spread to the general public? How does this manipulation affect society as a whole?

Revised Research Question

To what extent has the illegal downloading of music impacted the artist? How much of this impact is the result of wrongdoing by consumers versus a mere product of technological evolution?

Revised Research Question

Under what circumstances can an AI be considered “alive?” Does the qualitative versus quantitative definitions of emotion have any bearing on the answer? What exactly is it about emotion that makes us “human” and how does it affect the development of AI?

Research Question

What is the best way to educate a musician? Is it better to solely rely on a program, a live instructor, or a mixture of both? Also, what type of technology is already in use today and which types are more proficient than others?

Revised Research Question

Does the plagiarism of a work follow Johnathon Lethem`s proposal where it helps a plagiarized work, or harm the author who was plagiarized, and by extension is plagiarism a moral or immoral act? Do all authors plagiarize work from others, and if so does that mean that all authors who have plagiarized should be punished for their 'cheating', or should authors applaud others when they borrow ideas and build upon them to extend the original idea or make a new one?

Updated Research question

topic- education and the economy

How does the shift from an education system that promotes hard work to one that focuses on a student’s self esteem affect the rest of the student’s life in terms of employment and general success? Furthermore, how does this new type of education system perpetuate itself and as a result create different social stratifications in society? What is the effect of our modern educational culture on our society in a time of rapid technological change?