Does Technology Drive History? Essay -- History Technology Essays

A theme that appears over and over in discussions about technology is whether or not technology is the cause of major social, cultural, political, and economic changes in modern society. Of course, we can find many, many examples of technologies associated with enormous social changes. The automobile, for example, is often spoke of as "causing" a whole array of social changes, from the creation of suburbia, to the development of the fast food industry, to the paving of farm land, to the imported oil vulnerabilities of the 1970s. The popular media is filled with similar examples of new technologies that are going to change everything, from computers to nanotechnologies to new medical devices. And we are often told that we must find ways to accommodate ourselves to these new devices and to the changes they will cause, that we must strive to ride the wave of social flux produced by emerging technologies, or face the dire prospect of being "left behind." This language and these arguments, whether in the general media or in scholarly analyses, are examples of various kinds of technological determinism, the notion that technology is the most powerful force behind the modern world, that technology "drives" history (Smith, Marx, 1994). Those who support this idea often claim more: technology may well be pushing us in directions we do not want to go, that technology has somehow gotten "out of control." Technological determinism comes in different forms. For some, such as the late French scholar Jacques Ellul (1965, 1980, 1990), technology is the most powerful force in modern life, moving according to its own logic, and well beyond the control of humans. Others, such as political theorist Langdon Winner (1977, 1986), assert that tech... ...equired to maintain and operate technological systems, such as electrical power grids, nationwide telephone systems, television networks, etc. While the people involved in technological systems do have the power to make choices -- as the anti-determinists claim -- they must make those choices in settings that can impose significant limits on the range of choices available, as the determinists claim. In other words, the control of technology becomes more difficult, and maybe ultimately impossible, as we move from smaller and simpler structures and artifacts toward much larger, complex, and interdependent systems. It is much more difficult to change our minds about technologies after they have developed such organizational shells as multinational corporations or public utilities, and after so much investment has occurred (Collingridge, 1980, Morone, Woodhouse, 1986).

The handsomest drowned man in the world Essay

Magical realism is a genre that portrays both reality and fantasy. As defined by Faris (2004) in Ordinary enchantments, magical realism is a genre of writing that includes an irreducible element of magic and details that suggest phenomenon (Faris, 2004, p. 7). He describes the irreducible element as: â€Å"†¦something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as they have been formulated in Western empirically based discourse†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Faris, 2004, p. 7). In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, The handsomest drowned man in the world, the facets of magical realism are rife. He uses magical realism to enchant the reader. The story is of a small cliff-side and coastal community that is inhabited by about twenty people and is barren, flowerless land. This village is forever changed by the arrival of an awe-inspiring corpse. The elements of magical realism start to appear when this body that has washed ashore is of a man who is unimaginably beautiful, tal ler than any person they had ever seen, and is not rotted; although, any corpse traveling through the ocean should have been rotted by then. The villagers immediately take him in as one of their own. They name him Esteban and imagine what their lives would be like with him around. This story is in a realistic environment, but the features of this man they have found are â€Å"magical† almost, and the fact that they so effortless accept him is one of the factors that constitute this short story as magical realism. The elements of magical realism are exposed as Marquez compels readers to question their way of thinking by portraying characters and situations that illustrate phenomenon and extreme faith. The villagers show tremendous faith in their immediate acceptance, instead of questioning and fear, of the astonishing drowned man who has so many qualities that are above and beyond that of a normal human being. â€Å"†¦the drowned man was becoming all the more Esteban for them, and so they wept so much, for he was the more destitute, most peaceful, and most obliging man on earth, poor Esteban. So when the men r eturned with the news that the drowned man was not from the neighboring villages either, the women felt an opening of jubilation in the midst of their tears. ‘Praise the Lord,’ they sighed, he’s ours!’† (Marquez, 1972, p. 3). The town falls in love with Esteban, treating him like one of their own, but even better. The women imagine what his life was like before, being so much bigger then everyone else and being more handsome then the rest. They make clothes and jewelry for him and imagine what their lives would be like having him as a husband. The villagers really seem to come together in their admiration of Esteban. Their faith strongly exemplifies the magical realism elements in this story, seeing as normally a reader would expect society to not so readily except something that is so unnatural and uncommon to them. The villagers later decide they need to hold a magnificent funeral for Esteban and they hope that he will return to them one day, as he is a part of their community in their eyes. â€Å"They let him go without an anchor so that he could come back if he wished and whenever he wished, and they all held their breath for the fraction of centuries the body took to fall into the abyss. They did no t need to look at one another to realize that they were no longer all present that they would never be† (Marquez, 1972, p. 4). They hold Esteban in such high esteem, yet he is only a dead corpse. This shows the characteristics of magical realism, Esteban having the irreducible element of magic that enchants the village. Also, they have this blind faith that this dead body will return to them which is why they did not tie an anchor to him. That phenomenon would likely never happen in the real world, but it makes readers question if this glorious being would actually return and be part of their village. During the grand funeral, the villagers recognize the emptiness and dryness of their streets, land, and dreams. Not only do the people of the village desire Esteban to return, but they want to transform their village to be a better fit for him, and ultimately for themselves as well. â€Å"†¦everything would be different from then on, that their houses would have wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors†¦ they were going to paint their house fronts gay colors to make Esteban’s memory e ternal and they were going to break their backs digging for springs among the stones and planting flowers on the cliffs†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Marquez, 1972, p. 4). Esteban’s marvel has charmed the village into wanting to better themselves. Even if over a non-living body, this village will now not be a bland and flowerless desert. The community is over all bettered through their blind faith in Esteban. Is blind faith really a bad fixation? If a community chooses to become a greater place because of the belief in an unlikely event, then there does not seem to be much harm. And the concept is not only in fairy tales and magical realism stories. In many religions, the people believe in an idea that seems absurd; but, it can bring them together and set a standard for positive lifestyles and actions. Some religions even have beliefs similar to the story line of Marquez’s short story, where there is a magnificent being that has died and the people are waiting on the beings return. While in the mean time they try to better their community and their selves for this individual. An example of this is Jesus Christ, and the Christians belief that he will one day return to this world. It seems plausible that Marquez was making a statement on society’s blind faith in his short story. But also, he fascinates the reader with a tale of a phenomenon, while stilling maintaining the readers feeling of reality. Furthermore, not only is The handsomest drowned man in the world an insightful short story, but it also greatly exemplifies the unique style of writing that is magical realism. References Marquez, G. (1972). The handsomest drowned man in the world: A tale for children. In Leaf storm and other stories (pp. 98-104). Retrieved from http://books.google.com/ Faris (2004). Magical Realism between Modern and Postmodern Fiction. In Ordinary Enchantments (pp. 7-42).

The Study of Human Resource Recruiting and Selection

The recruit and selects is human resources management foundation work, it is the enterprise recruits talented person’s main way. This research intends to compare the human resource planning when carrying out recruitment and selection activities within an organization, as well as the issues of managerial shifts. The purpose of this research is to provide the relationship between the recruitment and selection, no matter it is in traditional firms or high technique company. In addition, some related issues will be addressed to analyze the relationship among variables in the viewpoints of strategic human resource. The aspects of recruiting and selection consistent recruiting methods, the recruiting effectiveness, besides it know how, the supporting staff is more appropriate to be sent outbound of he is more accommodating to the environment. Recruitment and Selection Recruitment is the process of seeking and attracting a pool of qualified applicants from which candidates for job vacancies can be selected. And selection is the linking of selection activities to he organisation’s strategic business objectives and culture. At the first of recruits procedure is human resource planning, make a planning of recruitment involve times, jobs and number of people. The second is recruitment, to acquaintance the market, accepts the application. Then is selecting include preliminary interview, interview and other test, after all of these, the company may consider to make a decision about employ and send a message. At last we should make an evaluation about the programmed decision and efficiency. Recruits and selects contains separately in the human resources plan, takes two important components. ? Recruitment In the recruitment industry there are essentially four ways of recruit new employees. First method: utilization of employment agencies. Which serve as a central location for employers and employees to meet. In an employment agency, one application for employment can be considered for numerous positions with various companies. Second method: recruitment websites. Serve as a virtual employment agency and function in essentially the same way. Recruitment websites have a broader range, however, since prospective employers and employees can be located anywhere in the world. Third method: headhunting Involves the active search for exceptionally skilled, talented individuals for professional and executive recruitment. The â€Å"headhunter† travels anywhere that the potential employee benefits package that is difficult to refuse. Fourth method: in-house recruitment Involves the promotion of employees from lower-wage jobs to higher ones within the same company. Also, in-house recruitment may include the posting of bulletins on lunch room bulletin boards, narrowing the job search to current employees or their families and friends. ? Selection Making the wrong hiring choices is costly and time consuming for organizations of all sizes. An effective way for businesses to identify the best candidates for a position is through a structured, job focused interviewing process, where interviewers have effective interviewing skills and understand the legal aspects of employment practices. For example, the strategy of managerial talent the TCL selects. ? Clear about managerial talent’s quality and ability request: Along with TCL enterprise group's growing strong, is getting higher and higher to all levels of managerial talent's quality and ability request. he final goal, is adapts the high strength market competition, the acceleration and the international market trail connection, thus causes the enterprise to advance to the internationalization. The excavation wisdom, the multi-skill, the highly effective outstanding person managerial talent becomes most important. TCL proposed that , to be a qualified administrative personn el should have the following quality: 1. Specialized quality: Does is faces the world, face future superintendent, must have the high ideological awareness, with good occupational ethics. Has the intense historical mission and the sacrificing spirit, approves the enterprise culture highly 2. Policy-making quality: The decision-making materially is to achieve the organization goal, correct analysis, effective action process. Participates in the critical moment decisive function which in the enterprise competes and grows strong 3. Leadership quality: The leadership is one should say that rallies together to achieve the organization goal the behavior. The outstanding leader has the very strong influence and the rallying point. Has the high prestige in the populace. 4. Intelligence quality: The intelligence is refers to the people to know the objective things, and using understanding actual problem ability. To the administrative personnels, the intelligence quality is engaged in the leadership work the precondition. The administrative personnels pay great attention to strengthen the self-development consciousness, improves own intelligence quality. Thus, can better deal with the market competition. 5. Innovation quality: The superintendent is the enterprise innovative activities initiator. Enterprise innovation including mentality innovation, knowledge renewal and so on. The innovation is the modern competition win sharp weapon. Therefore, the modern enterprise policy-makers should have the very strong innovation ability ? Grasps the science efficient path to select managerial talent 1. Democracy recommendation: The democracy recommendation chooses only then the beginning, it indicates the people to the above-mentioned person to be possible the receptivity. In order to manifest chooses only then the objectivity, fairness, integrity. Therefore, the democracy recommendation throughout chooses only then one of essential methods. 2. Achievement inspection: The working ability determination's most practical method is manifests through the achievement. Usually inspects its work thought to be correct or not, the method of work is whether scientific, working efficiency height. This achievement inspection way, becomes the modern human affairs science inspection the new system. Human resource planning. A human resource plan is a systematic process of matching the interests, skills and talents of individual community members with the long-term goals and economic opportunities in the community. Like all activities, creating a human resource plan needs to involve the relevant community sectors, so that their participation and input will lead to strong community support. A very real need to see results makes planning seem wasteful of time, diverting efforts from doing. Impatience with planning is always a challenge. Public expectations may be unrealistic, looking for jobs as an immediate outcome. Careful assessment may turn up more human resource development needs than the projected or existing resources and funding can handle, and this may require excruciating choices. Conclusion Recruitment and selects has two meanings; first, recruitment with selects is the enterprise obtains the human resources the method; second, recruitment with selects means that chooses the most appropriate staff. Realizes the person hillock match, matches personally with the team, matches personally with the organization. How is the employment recruit work quality to the enterprise the influence often long-term, even decisive. Formulate exterior personnel replacement plan goal is has the plan to buy in the personnel to supplement in the future the vacant job. The exterior personnel replacement plan is not only plans simply needs to introduce any personnel, but also to introduce how many personnel. And must coordinate to work out a series of plans to guarantee that can incur to the appropriate human resources. According to the plan step and the content, may divide into again the exterior personnel replacement plan two sub-plans, namely recruits to plan and to select the plan.

Apple Inc., 2008 Case Study

Executive Overview Apple has been established for over 30 years since Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer in 1976. During Steven Jobs’s tenure as CEO, Apple’s mission was to bring an easy-to-use computer to market. However, Apple was not performing as good as Jobs projected, so he resigned in 1985. In the following 12 years, Apple experienced three different CEO’s and still could not be brought back to life. Under John Sculley, Apple worked to drive down costs by switching much of its manufacturing to subcontractors. But these efforts were not enough to sustain Apple’s profitability. During the Michael Spindler years, international growth became a key objective for Apple. Yet despite Spindler’s efforts, Apple lost momentum. Soon after Gilbert Amelio replaced Spindler as CEO, he proclaimed that Apple would return to its premium-price differentiation strategy. Despite some austerity moves, Apple lost its competitiveness and could not regain its share in the market. In 1997, Steve Jobs came back again as the CEO of Apple. This time he had a new game plan, and Apple started to focus on the digital lifestyle for consumers. Internally, Jobs worked to streamline operations and to reinvigorate innovation. This proved to be Apple’s most successful business strategy to date because a once ineffective company now has ruled the computer world. In order to understand this situation, Apples competitive advantages and industry forces must be analyzed. Competitive Advantages Apple has been in business since 1976, and has built quite a few competitive advantages along the way. Obviously, innovation has been at the forefront of Apple’s ability to compete in the world market. Other than that advantage, brand loyalty, product differentiation, superior quality, and retail strategy are also its advantages when competing with other brands. Innovation Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak sparked the PC revolution, making the world of computers on Apple’s head. The Apple II launched in 1978 drove the PC industry to $1 billion in annual sales in less than three years. Even if initially regarded as a toy by many other businesses, Apple soon revealed itself as a feasible substitute to the traditional mainframe. It continued to demonstrate its ingenuity. For example, it was the first to introduce a computer with color, a graphical interface, and many other firsts. These inventions defined Apple and its business strategies. On the basis of its all bundled package of hardware and software, Apple became synonymous with usability. Brand Loyalty In 1998, Jobs recognized that customers really wanted a Macintosh. Apples brand commitment is strong. Since 1970s, Apple user communities have been founded to connect together with enthusiasms. One of the main reasons to this is Apples ease of use. Adding extra hardware and software to a Mac is almost as easy as plugging speakers into a stereo system. Due to this advantage, Apple forms a strong relationship with its consumers, especially within the education and desktop publishing industries, which accounted for 60% and 80% of its market position respectively during the Spindler years. Product Differentiation Apple’s system continues to be one of the advantages because its closed operating system is not subject to the computer viruses and hacking that often destroy the Microsoft Windows operating system. In marketing its Mac products, Apple stressed characteristics that differentiated them form other PCs while also highlighted their interoperability with other machines. Apple trumpeted the Mac as an â€Å"Everything-ready† device that worked well with other devices. The feature of the closed system while incorporating well with other devices makes Apple more unique than other PCs. Superior Quality Apple’s high-quality bundled software distinguished the Macintosh line, such as iLife suite and iWork. In 2001, Apple introduced MAC OS X, offering a steadier environment than previous Mac platforms. In addition, Apple always urged its users to upgrade OS X every 12 to 18 months, with the aim of always providing a stable operating system to its users. Retail Strategy After Jobs returned to Apple, he revamped Apple’s distribution system, removing relationships with many smaller outlets and extending its presence in national chains. In 1997, Apple also started a website to sell its products directly to customers. Its retail strategy was regarded as a huge success. More importantly, people who visited the stores for iPod products usually checked the Mac too. This â€Å"halo effect† greatly benefited Apple’s Mac business. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of Apple Current Competition Apple’s current rivalry is very competitive and intense. The PC industry has quite low switching costs, so the current competition is pretty high. Apple confronts tough competition from IBM, Dell, HP, and etc. Threat of Substitute Products The more differentiation of the product, the less likely the change to a substitute will happen. Apple’s operating system differentiation can always require higher pricing. However, owing to technology improvement, the â€Å"digital convergence† of PC and CE (consumer electronics) products has become more substantial in the PC market. Many different alternative devices have started to replace PCs. Therefore, this threat is becoming higher to Apple. Threat of New Entrants This threat is low since the existing companies have established powerful brand awareness. The computer industry is very saturated and new entrants would be reluctant to enter this industry. Bargaining Power of Suppliers There are two types of suppliers: microprocessors and operating systems with few sources as well as memory chips, disk drives, and keyboards with many sources. The bargaining power of the former one is high since there are mainly two sources: Intel and Microsoft. The bargaining power of the latter one is low since numerous suppliers exist in this industry. Bargaining Power of Customers As mentioned earlier, the switching costs are low. Such situation places the customers in a strong position that only companies with high product differentiation could increase the switching costs. Since product differentiation is one of Apple’s advantages to compete in this market, the bargaining power of buyers is not high to Apple. Conclusion Generally speaking, the PC industry is an intensely competitive segment. With technology undergoing paradigm changes, it could make life hard for Apple to deal with these shifts. These dynamics does not seem advantageous for Apple but simultaneously Apple has been able to maintain its technological brain and designer approach to walk away from this difficult position. Actually, Apple could transform some of these problematic features into opportunities. We all know that a key factor in bringing people into the stores is the popularity of the iPod. Most of the time, the purpose of People coming to the stores is not for Mac. No matter what brings customers to Apple stores, Apple should take advantage of this chance. This halo effect needs to be capitalized to the maximum extent. In addition, although some people complain Apple’s closed operating system, it is still seen as a secure, safe, and reliable system. Apple should try to make its system less closed, incorporating more other devices. Thus, people can use Apple more easily without too much restriction.

Week One Discussion Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week One Discussion Questions - Essay Example Without these estimates, it would be impossible for the company to make the changes necessary today to keep the companys finances on solid ground tomorrow. By the time the hard data was in, it might be too late. Many stakeholders, internal and external, rely on a companys accounting estimates as a basis for the decisions that impact their business activity. Shareholders may make a decision to buy or sell. Vendors may increase or decrease the production of raw materials. Plans for expansion may be made based on revenue estimates. For these reasons, it is imperative that the accountant provides an accurate, and ethical, estimate based on the information available. There may be a temptation to exaggerate, overlook, or manufacture the data in an effort to unfairly benefit a specific stakeholder, such as the case at Enron and its unethical practices. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed in response to Enrons unethical and deceptive estimates, now requires all publicly held companies to have a "financial expert serving on its audit committee" and have a set of "written standards reasonably designed to deter wrongdoing" (Green, 2005, p.239). 2.) Internal controls are a set of processes and procedures that a company has in place to protect and insure solid management practices, and reduce the potential for unethical activity. Internal controls help prevent a careless, intentional, or malicious act from impacting the company in a negative fashion. For example, requiring that two different people sign all checks can help prevent the unauthorized use of a specific bank account. In addition, multiple experts, that can all agree and form a consensus as to their probablility of being accurate, should review all estimates. Internal controls are generally placed at points of transactions where money and goods are most at risk. The accounts payable account could be at risk if a malicious employee manufactured false invoices to be paid to their personal account. An internal

Analytical reserach paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Analytical reserach - Research Paper Example This debate has been of interest since it attempts to unearth why there is a growing number of social networking sites and users all over the work. As a matter of fact, the last few years have seen a huge growth in the number of social networking cites such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, blogs and Badoo, just to name but a few. Facebook users lead the pack, spending over 10.5 billion minutes on the site. Research also reveals that over a billion people are currently connected to the Internet either via computer and mobile phones, among other gargets. A majority of the Internet users argue that the Internet has brought them closer to other people. Some argue that without the Internet, they would not be able to connect with their friends and families who are spread all over the world. They also claim that social networking has enabled them to make friends and communicate with individuals whom otherwise they would not been able to meet without the Internet (Consalvo and Ess 56). People from the corporate world also argue that the Internet has enabled them manage relationships with their clients more effectively and faster. In this regard, they note that through e-commerce and online banking, they have been able to communicate and transact with a lot of ease with their clients and customers without the hustle of having to present themselves physically (Internet Communication par. 2). Those who oppose the argument that the Internet help bring people together also have a strong point, which must be considered. Firstly, they argue that the Internet has done away with interactions that used to be there before its establishment. In this regard, they state that shopping online or searching information on the Internet has done away with dialogue or face-to-face communication, which used to bring friends and families together. As such, they dispel the argument that the Internet has

The Hardy Weinberg Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Hardy Weinberg Law - Essay Example In the case of a squirrel population containing 1,000 squirrels, there are 2 types of coat colors expressed, red and black. It was determined that 292 squirrels were homozygous dominant, 440 squirrels were heterozygous and 268 were homozygous recessive. The genotypic frequencies are as follows: Let us allow "R" to represent the allele for dominant, red fur. Let us then allow "r" to represent the recessive allele which when presented in a homozygous pair, results in black fur. If 292 squirrels were homozygous dominant, that means that 29.2% of the squirrels were genotypically RR and red coated. If 440 of the squirrels were heterozygous, then 44% of the squirrel population was Rr and red coated. If 268 of the squirrels were homozygous recessive then 26.8% of the squirrel population was rr and black coated. These percentages were simply obtained by dividing the number of squirrels within the same genotype (rr, RR or Rr) by the total number of squirrels. This number is a translation of the actual number of squirrels having the same genotype into a percentage of the overall population of squirrels. To determine the allelic frequency, we will first look at the formula provided in the beginning of this paper.