Reviews for Laying the Foundation - a Resource and Strategies Guide for Middle Grades Life and Earth Sci...

The average rating for Laying the Foundation - a Resource and Strategies Guide for Middle Grades Life and Earth Sci... based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-10-07 00:00:00 Alexandra Linnenbank Consciousness is under threat by the emergence of a worldwide "cyberculture", affecting humans all over. What can people do to counter this phenomenon? William S. Haney II's academic book "Cyberculture, Cyborgs, and Science Fiction" is a philosophical study that explores the negative effects of the impending merger of technology and humans, and how this combination will destroy human consciousness unless people use alternative ways to preserve their consciousness. The author analyzes relevant examples in key works of literature, ranging from Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" to Haruki Murakami's "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World", and some other fiction books. Mr. Haney also discusses the idea of consciousness in fair depth, providing research on the topic found within Indian culture as well as the general view of consciousness. With quotes from several references, he gives an outlook on the very importance of consciousness and how people must regularly be in touch with it to live a happy and fulfilled life, whether via techniques such as yoga or even religious practice. He also strongly suggests that people be aware of the dangers of being overdependent on technology to the point of binding to it and risking damaging or even losing their freedom of having actual consciousness altogether. Although the book is filled with rich exploration on the subject, I noticed several typos here and there. This did not really bother me personally, however some readers may be distracted by the typos. My guess is that since this book was only published once, there were no further editions to rectify the errors. Even with this minor issue, the book is still one of the more interesting academic books to read. "Cyberculture, Cyborgs, and Science Fiction" is a book that was ahead of its time in its subject matter. Published in the year 2005, when technology was only beginning to get more advanced, the book made some startling predictions on the analysis of human-machine mergers even fifteen or so years later after its publication. This is also a rare book that is now fairly difficult to find, so I suggest that you get it if you happen to see a copy at a bookstore or a garage sale. Worth reading especially for readers of philosophy and futurism books.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-06-16 00:00:00 Christopher Johnson | Quotes | FRANKENSTEIN: THE MONSTER'S CONSTRUCTEDNESS AND THE NARRATIVITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS '... the novel and its film adaptation invite radically opposing responses to the monster's identity.' p/78 'Shelley and Branagh both deconstruct the nature/culture opposition and question the fusion of nature and science in the construction of the monster's identity.' p/78 'Shelley placed greater emphasis on the passions as a means of representing human motivation and creativity than on scientific theory.' p/79 'Thus Victor's monster, who is outside the law, continually tries to "find a site on which his case might be heard" (Punter)' 'Like an adolescent, for whom everything inside finds itself on the outside, the monster's subjectivity is entirely projected on the outside as it aspires for its case to be heard.' p/80 'Victor no doubt believes that animation and soul/consciousness are synonymous.' p/83 '... the monster has no recourse but to succumb to the pressures of the world.' p/83 '... the monster's purpose is not to enjoy a sense of autonomous being like its human counterpart; its purpose is merely to satisfy Victor's desire for immortality.' p/85 '.... the objects of awareness: sensations, thoughts, perceptions, memories, moods, images, and emotions, which in the monster's case are primarily negative.' p/85 'As Shelley's novel and Branagh's film suggest, constructing pure consciousness exceeds the power of technology, of whatever paradigm.' p/87 'The inconsistency of Shelley's narrative depiction of human identity hinges on the fact that Victor treats the human brain as a piece of dead tissue, from which as argued here no witnessing self could ever arise.' p/88 Yet paradoxically, Shelley's narrative portrays the monster as a sentient creature that for all practical purposes seems to behave like an ordinary human.' p/88-9 'If ethnicity, gender, and race can influence the constructed self, then modifying our DNA will certainly have an unnatural effect on "what is uniquely important about our humanness." p/91