Journey Within The Humanities

Daphnie Koller, a Stanford University professor, demonstrates in her presentation, “What We’re Learning From Online Education”, that technology can fix the world’s lack of accessibility to education. Moreover, Koller proposes her belief that online education can replace physical classrooms while also being more effective. Koller uses logos throughout her presentation effectively through charts, data, and analysis while also demonstrating ethos as an educator herself who understands her program’s power and the revolutionary possibilities. Although Koller’s presentation is well delivered through her blend of ethos, pathos, and logos, I believe she should have dived deeper into one personal story on how Coursera– her educational program– changed the individual’s life to show the actual impact her program is having on individuals. This presentation relates to my future career as a lawyer through the fact that Coursera creates lifelong learning– which would not only help me, but other lawyers to stay up-to-date on new information.

Within Bill Gates TedTalk, “The Next Outbreak? We’re Not Ready”, he demonstrates how tan airborne virus will pose a significant threat to world health. However, Bill Gates also illuminates that a global response system –if established– can use our current advances to combat a microbe threat. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic and the recent death toll make Bill Gates’s presentation extremely convincing. Moreover, the statistical data–logos– that demonstrated the Ebola epidemic’s severity made his argument persuasive. While Bill Gates’s presentation was compelling, his focus on logos didn’t allow the issue’s severity to settle on the audience. I believe Bill gates should have implemented stories of individuals who suffered during the Ebola epidemic to show how real and dangerous microbes truly are. Bill Gates and his concept of decreasing global inequity relates to my future career since I want to be involved with immigration law to make it more equitable. 

Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg, in her TedTalk The Disarming Case to Act Right Now on Climate Change, demonstrates that severity for active hope rather than the introduction to concepts. Moreover, Thunberg demonstrates the necessity for developed countries to act as role models in the fight against climate change. Thunberg’s disabilities and the personal challenges she goes through not only increase the respect she has from the public but demonstrates the importance of climate change. In addition, her activism on the matter and the knowledge that she has acquired outside of the school system show that anyone and everyone can get involved in the change to a greener world. Although Thunberg informed the audience about the facts revolving around climate change I believe she should have provided ways to get involved. This TedTalk relates to me since my future and the future of my children is at stake. In addition to this TedTalk relating to me in a personal level, this presentation also connects to my future career as a lawyer; since I am interested in fighting for a healthier world on the court.

In the TedTalk “What Does it Mean to Be a Global Citizen”, Hugh Evans illustrates the concept of individuals actively working for change rather than merely preaching change. Evans lead through an example in the concert he and his organization held in New York City by having individuals demonstrate their activism to attend. Moreover, Evans reflects the need for teamwork to create systemic change –long-lasting change. Evans personal story and to make a change in the Philippines showed the audience that hard work and mobilization go a long way; however, the demolition of his progress -only a few years down the road- gives depth to his argument for teamwork and the unity between global citizens across the world to influence not only one government but to affect all states. Although I like the fact that Hugh included his misfortune of not being able to create a long term change, I believe he hurt his argument by stating that policies change once politicians change. The notion that changed called by the people will change simply because of a change of politicians contradicts his efforts to call on political leaders for change. Evans’ video was very inspirational and motivating, also very relatable, since my career goal is to be a lawyer and help create these positive changes.  

 Mariana Mazzucato, an economist who works with the European Commission and China to study the relationship between innovation and economic growth, demonstrates the influence connotations have on the market and introduces the idea of giving innovation funds back to the state. Mazzucato illustrates how the media uses negative connotations, such as “leviathan” when referring to the state being involved with the market. Mazzucato’s presentation wasn’t the most convincing; however, she had extensive information and government entrepreneur agencies to research in order to find more information about her subject. My greatest criticism of her presentation would be her broadness regarding the private-public sector idea and her swiftness in moving from multiple issues and ideas. Mazzucato’s presentation and her notion of the state shaping the market and receiving an innovation fund relate to my life since–as she noted– the technological devices I use on a daily were created because of their risk-taking. Furthermore, Mazzucato’s information relates to my future field within law due in part by the way these systems economic systems are created.

One of the main concepts explored within Shivaji Siroya’s TedTalk is the human need for trust to promote progress—progress in a business for example. Siroya’s TedTalk also demonstrates that strangers aren’t easily trusted due to a lack of information. The way Siroya’s breaks down her mobile application and the different criteria they use to determine whether their clients are trustworthy or not increased the persuasiveness of her speech. Moreover, the inclusion of Jenipher’s story and her mother’s story allows the audience to connect with her presentation with shared experiences. Although Siroya broke down the different criteria she uses, I believe she lacked ethos within her presentation which decreased my confidence in her application. Siroya didn’t provide much personal information about herself while her mobile app relies on her clients to give their personal information– location, contacts, relationships, financial transactions– which by itself made me skeptical of the process for these individuals to gain a financial profile. This video relates to my life since my financial profile is fairly new, and it has taught me that the lack of a financial profile doesn’t deem an individual as financially irresponsible, since there are a lot of other factors that can be taken into account. Moreover, many of these same concepts can be adapted to the practice of law which I will definitely be taking into account, when looking into an individuals credibility.

Matt Ridley presents the concept of cumulative-group knowledge—created through exchange. Ridley, moreover, claims prosperity through numbers. The inclusion of David Ricardo’s theory—which Ridley adapted to a stone-age version, makes Ridley’s points persuasive. Within Ricardo’s concept trade inevitably benefits both parties involved in the long run. By adding this concept Ridley exhibits the benefits of trade, which he follows up with more situations such as creating light. The fact that Ridley includes Tasmania, a societal group whose technological advancement wasn’t only slowed down but regressed after being cut off from exchange is also a very persuasive example. In a video that focuses on communication and exchange, I believe that Ridley should have included how new means of communication, Twitter, email, video calls, and so on of the present compare to those in the past. By doing so it would show how the rate of exchanging ideas is linked to how fast change in technology happens. This video relates to my future career since I hope to be communicating my ideas with a law team. 

Within the TedTalk lecture, Is the World Getting Better or Worse? A Look at the Numbers, Steven Pinker claims that progress is a human fact and that intellectuals denounce that it is or that it occurs. Pinker supports his argument by demonstrating and stating facts about the world becoming safer, life expectancy getting longer, illiteracy being nearly abolished, and the spread of democracy being more prominent. Pinker derives his take on intellectuals’ hatred for progress from the morbid news as well as the reaction he received from many individuals on his new book Enlightenment Now. Pinker breaks up his TedTalk into two sections. In the first section, Pinker bombards the audience with numbers and statistics that demonstrate progress, and in his second section, Pinker encourages his viewers to maintain hope created by action and to not be passive pessimists. Although Pinker gives facts about progress, his heavy focus on logos gives him the appearance of an apathetic and insensible cognitive professor that fails to connect to the audience on an emotional level. Although it may not have been his intention,  through his lack of pathos, Pinker gave the impression that he sees humans as numbers and nothing else.  It was odd to see him place happiness as a measurable statistic and not mention the rising opioid epidemic in the west or any sort of mental health issue. By stating that he has written multiple books Pinker demonstrates that he is a reliable source and expressed that he has changed his worldview over the years makes him more relatable to the audience. This video relates to my future career since I hope to one day work at an emigration law firm and will be dealing with issues that can make someone’s life better rather than dealing with more of the same issues.