Critical Issues in Literature

"The popularity of dystopian novels attracted our attention, so we set out to investigate this phenomenon, seeking to understand why teens found this genre so compelling and how we might take advantage of this in the classroom."

"Welcome to the Dystopia Tracker. Our goal is to document, with your help, all the predictions in literature, film or games that have been made for the future and what has become reality already. You can browse predictions by topic or search for a specific title. We also invite you to contribute your own content. Add predictions that are missing, add realisations for predictions that have become reality in some way, or help translating existing content."

"What they found is that one's "locus of control" greatly determines the extent of self-motivation: do you believe you are firmly in control of your destiny or that external events determine your life? Individuals whose locus of control is internal, i.e. they believe they control their own destiny, have a greater impulse toward taking action. New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg explains how the Marines took this data to better train their recruits."

"We've heard a lot about genetic engineering over the past two decades - and, lately there's been even more hype about a new molecular tool called CRISPR, which acts like a cut-and-paste tool for our DNA. But what many of us don't realise is that, after years of talking about it, we're on the verge of a major change for society - one where we can edit genes as easily as we give medication today. As the latest episode of Kurzgesagt so brilliantly explains, just like no one in the '80s believed computers would ever take over everything, most of us today don't really think that genetic editing won't change everything. And we're wrong, because of CRISPR."

"CRISPR-Cas9, the new gene modification tool, which has been heralded as a means for inserting ourselves into evolution, is itself evolving as a technology, even as you read this. That technology itself can evolve means there is greater urgency for how we think of our biology: either as a machine (which can break down and get new spare parts) or as part of ecology (whereby breakdown is not necessarily bad and can be part of growth, renewal or reorganization). CRISPR may be used to repair a gene that has a deficient product, such as an enzyme or receptor, or alter code that merely suggests of risk. Ideas on how to use it change hourly. The method is here to last. The ethics will only get more fraught. But there is a bigger obstacle to the emergence of "designer babies" and Gattaca-type dystopian futures: the principles of evolution."

"Much of the conversation about CRISPR-Cas9 has revolved around its potential for treating disease or editing the genes of human embryos, but researchers say that the real revolution right now is in the lab. What CRISPR offers, and biologists desire, is specificity: the ability to target and study particular DNA sequences in the vast expanse of a genome. And editing DNA is just one trick that it can be used for. Scientists are hacking the tools so that they can send proteins to precise DNA targets to toggle genes on or off, and even engineer entire biological circuits - with the long-term goal of understanding cellular systems and disease. "For the humble molecular biologist, it's really an extraordinarily powerful way to understand how the genome works," says Daniel Bauer, a haematologist at the Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts. "It's really opened the number of questions you can address," adds Peggy Farnham, a molecular biologist at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. "It's just so fun." Here, Nature examines five ways in which CRISPR-Cas9 is changing how biologists can tinker with cells."

"Simply knowing what you need to do is not enough. Success also requires a motor - a driving force to push you forward. When it comes to achieving big gutsy goals, your motor is your mindset. And if you feel stuck in pursuit of your goals, your mindset needs a tuneup. In this post, I'll reveal 7 limiting beliefs that sabotage success and show you how to replace them with motivating truths."

"Autonomous drones are being called the biggest thing in military technology since the nuclear bomb. David Martin reports."

"Please do not get the impression that I am using the popular media trend of fear mongering to try and rally you into a global fight against the evils of technology. I will probably take a nap after this. It's just that I have a terrible habit of looking forward to a brighter side of the future. So to be fair, I offer you five future technologies that might wipe out humanity (or change it dramatically). Have a great day!  "

"Internet pioneer Kevin Kelly tries to predict the future by identifying what's truly inevitable. How worried should we be? Yes, robots will probably take your job - but the future will still be pretty great. Below is a transcript of the episode, modified for your reading pleasure. For more information on the people and ideas in the episode, see the links at the bottom of this post."

"None of the gadgets and innovations we included in our list of 10 scary technologies is likely to rain death and destruction on our little planet, though that doesn't prevent people from being unnerved by them. Read on to find out what weirdness may await in the future."

"The cult TV series explores where technology may be taking us."

"The future looks bright, except when it doesn't. Here are 10 exceptionally regrettable developments we can expect in the coming decades. "

" Safety is extremely important, but when we we do not differentiate between real safety hazards (being run over by a mining machine, handling dangerous chemicals) and normal life (eating bread, crossing a street) what happens is we stop taking the real safety hazards as seriously. It's not that choking isn't a true danger. It is. But, the chances of an adult employee choking are very, very small. Most choking deaths happen to small children and the elderly. It's doubtful that safety conscious companies employee many 3 year olds or many 86 year olds (although, they may employ some of the latter). So, what's wrong with having your employees write down that they took small bites and avoided bread as a way to show how safety conscious they are? Well, not only does it distract them from actual work that needs to be accomplished, it makes us start to believe safe things (eating lunch)aremore dangerous thanthey areand truly dangerous things (operating mining equipment) areless danger than they truly are. If we have to document both activities the same way, we start to think they are equal. They are not. And it should be absolutely critical to remind employees that they are not equal."

"Last month, a headline at Paste Magazine asked: "Did Neil Postman Predict the Rise of Trump and Fake News?" Sign up to the new-look Media Briefing: bigger, better, brighter Read more Colleagues and former students of my father, who taught at New York University for more than 40 years and who died in 2003, would now and then email or Facebook message me, after the latest Trumpian theatrics, wondering, "What would Neil think?" or noting glumly, "Your dad nailed it." The central argument of Amusing Ourselves is simple: there were two landmark dystopian novels written by brilliant British cultural critics - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell - and we Americans had mistakenly feared and obsessed over the vision portrayed in the latter book (an information-censoring, movement-restricting, individuality-emaciating state) rather than the former (a technology-sedating, consumption-engorging, instant-gratifying bubble)."

Many parents feel that their adolescents hardly need them anymore. Teenagers often come and go on their own schedules, sometimes rebuff our friendly questions about their days, and can give the impression that interacting with the family is an imposition that comes at the cost of connecting, digitally or otherwise, with friends. So here's a complaint one might not expect to hear from teenagers: They wish their parents were around more often. I spend part of my time as a consultant to schools, where I see teenagers as they go about their regular days. On several occasions over the years students have explained to me that their parents are rarely home. . The teenagers who say they are longing for more time with their folks invariably seem self-sufficient and independent. Knowing this, I often suspect that the same adolescent who laments her parents' absence might only faintly acknowledge their presence when they are in fact home."

Section within the Family category of The New York Times