Final Exam (Counterarguments - Journals 6 and 7)

This final entry contains my counterarguments to Journal 6 (on Stuart Sim and noise pollution) and Journal 7 (on the Kindle).

Journal 6 Counterargument

Stuart Sim sees a problem with our current society’s noise level. The electronics, industrialization, and the hustle and bustle of every day life is apparently too much for his ears. He explains the increased probability of hearing loss and the long term risks such as heart attack. However, can we really safely claim that those who work in noisy environments and suffer heart attacks were killed because of the noise? Personally, I say no. Sim only provided correlations and never accounted for any other possible causes; stress, genetics, poor diets, sicknesses, etc. These studies, although persuasive, can’t make any causal conclusions. Therefore, based on that information, we can’t conclude that the noisy work environments alone are responsible for increased heart attacks.

I think much of this is driven by a very personal distaste for western corporate capitalism. It’s hard to take him seriously if he’s so obviously biased toward life in western civilization. Sim needs to understand that nothing should be done about the noise level because it is not noise to the people producing it. Yes, they are higher decibel levels in a literal sense, but the lifestyles in western civilizations are very expressive. Music, cars, entire industries, and more are all expressed in a very outspoken way. However you word it or rationalize it, you are silencing them by not allowing them to be expressive. It is an insult to our way of life not to be outspoken. People embrace this way of life because it allows for an outing for our personality. This is just a way of life that Stuart Sim has to except. Taking it away would leave our society tragically empty and boring.

Journal 7 Counterargument

The Kindle is a device made by Amazon that is in many ways like the iPod, but rather than holding music, it holds literature. It is like keeping an entire library full of knowledge on your possession at all times. Unfortunately, it is also a very misunderstood device that is often shunned by many readers. It is simply a new and more efficient way of looking at reading, but because of its electronic and new-age appearance, its overall quality is questioned. What these people do not realize is that this device has endless capabilities. Imagine school without carrying those heavy textbooks around and having endless sources on your possession at all times. Imagine all the paper that could be saved by eliminating the old libraries. The experience itself is very similar to that of reading a real book. Some might argue that the experience can never be the same and they may be right, but it’s the contents of the writing that matter, not the feel of the book or the pages.

Some would argue that having an entire library on hand is completely useless, but I disagree. Don’t we already do that now? Why else would we carry laptops and phones with internet on them? It is so that we have access to cyberspace, which has a seemingly endless supply of “information”. However, we all know that not everything on the internet is necessarily true, so this is where the Kindle comes in. We already have compact versions of libraries on our possession, but they are inadequate and often blatantly incorrect. The Kindle would replace these devices with more valuable information; information that has been edited and published with acceptance of experts. People so often rely on the internet as their primary source of information. The Kindle would not only replace that, but also benefit all of us by limiting the spread of faulty information and increase awareness of more reliable sources.

Some people worry about their books being converted to software and having them all in one place because they fear that something might happen to them that would cause them to lose all of their files. It is understandable as to why people would worry about this, but one of the beauties of electronics is how easily files can be backed up and stored elsewhere. This worry of theirs is something that can easily be avoided simply by keeping copies of the files in other places. I don’t know a whole lot about how Kindle works, but it would most likely come with software that would hold all of your files. The files would then have to be uploaded onto the Kindle itself. That way, breaking your Kindle wouldn’t mean you’ve lost all of your files as well because they’d be safe on your computer. Just to be safe, people would most likely back up their computer files too. If they are seriously worried that the files will just one day disappear, they will periodically back up their files. Although, I will say that people who suddenly lose everything on their computers are typically people who are not good with computers to begin with and don’t know how to properly take care of them. That being said, the Kindle shouldn’t be held responsible for people losing files on a completely separate device. It seems fairly easy to use, so there wouldn’t likely be any serious complications leading to any detrimental losses. Even if there were, I’m sure there’s an online record of what you have and haven’t purchased so that you wouldn’t have to pay again. Basically, my point is that these worries and possible bugs in the product can easily be dealt within a reasonably short amount of time.

I would hope that the Kindle manages to overcome these negative views so that we may all benefit from its many uses. A complete transition from our old book style would be unrealistic, but to have the majority on the Kindle would make reading and owning literature extremely more efficient.