Saturday, September 7, 2019

Eva Smith letter Essay Example for Free

Eva Smith letter Essay My life is unbearable and torn apart, in his letter I shall leave explanations for you to discover. Once I had feelings and ambitions, all are now destroyed. Why me? I had everything going for me once, I used to look forward to the future and seize every chance. Where am I destined for now? This evil world is not fit to bring a child into. I wish I could rely on someone; at least I can rely on a bottle of disinfectant to end my existence. What you are about to read is what has driven me to suicide. My social superiors have wrecked my life. I came from the country, a girl with so much hope and aspirations but now I wish I had never set my eyes on a place called Brumley.  I worked at a factory owned by Mr.Birling, a fat arrogant cruel man. I lost my job because we, the workers, asked for a raise. The few extra shillings we wanted could have easily been afforded but he was too cold and greedy to give us better wages. I was one the leaders of a strike in September 1910, the strike failed, as we could not afford to stay out of work. The man was so horrible to me; the day that he called me up to his office to tell me that I was fired he told me something that still haunts me. As I was leaving his office he stopped me at the door and said oh Eva, you were about to be promoted, what a mess you have made of that. I now had the reputation of a troublemaker but I was really a hard working popular worker. I was in for two hard months, unemployed and black listed. It was almost impossible to find a job. In those two months I became extremely depressed and very scared of the future. Penniless, I borrowed money from friends and ate other peoples food. I couldnt believe what had happened to me. I had a stroke of luck when I got a job at Milwards, an expensive clothes shop. I had a wonderful time there; I met new people and worked hard. As you will see in this story and I quickly learned, good things dont last! On one fateful day in January 1911, Shelia Birling came into the shop. She took the anger she had against her mother out on me because I looked good in a dress and she didnt; also I think she saw me smile to another worker and mistook it as me laughing at her. She accused me of impertinence and she started to shout at me. She used her family name to get me the sack. She picked on someone who could not fight back; she knew that she was more important to Milwards than I was. Why does it have to be me living the bad conditions? At least she has a family. Why is life unfair? Again I was out of work, penniless and desperate. I wish that I could support myself. Unfortunely the only work I could get was prostitution. It was become a prostitute or starve. I am the type of person who aspires to be something not a prostitute. Unfortunately extreme times lead people to extreme measures. I had no choice.  I was at the Palace Bar, the place I used to pick up men, Joe Meggerty, an awful man who chased prostitutes, was manhandling me. A good looking, gentleman named Gerald Croft rescued me. Gerald was nice too me. He made me his mistress; it was an affair because I knew he had someone else. I loved him but he was just using me for sex. At least I lived in total luxury for six months. He ended it in September 1911, I was an inconvenience. I was absolutely heart broken. I felt so used and abandoned. He gave me money to help me for a while; Gerald was the type of man who thought money solved everything. I enjoyed the affair so much that I went off to the seaside and pretended that the affair was still on. I had been expecting it to end any way, as he did not have the same feeling I had for him. Good things never last for me. I lived on the money he gave me until November 1911. It was then back to being a prostitute, back to the Palace Bar, back to that hellish dreadful lifestyle it was so difficult because I had been away from it for so long. I wish I had never set eyes on Eric Birling. He is the son Arthur Birling. He is a bit shy but that certainly changes when he has alcohol in him. I ended up getting drunk with him. We went home together, I then told him not to come in but he threatened to cause a row. I let him in and he forced me to have sex with him; he raped me. We met often after that. Our relationship was just pleasure, he kept me for sex, we had no feelings for each other. I worked as a prostitute for Eric; it was better, I suppose, than having to work for the likes of Joe Meggerty, as Eric was a young man. I found out, to my horror, that because of Eric raping me I was pregnant with his child. I was so scared when I found out that I was having a child, I fell into a world of despair unable to escape. Where would the money come from to feed the child? I was beginning to really worry about the future. I was stuck, no one would feel sorry for a prostitute, people would think that I had got what I deserved. I was even more frightened when I found out that the money Eric gave me was stolen. I couldnt take the money anymore, as I am a truthful and honest person. I didnt see Eric again after that. I dont hate Eric for what he did; I just think that he should learn that there are more things to life than drinking. I was frightened and alone, my only choice was to beg for money from the Brumely Womens Charity Organization. The chairperson was Sybil Birling, wife of Arthur Birling, a cold-hearted woman. She refused me help because she didnt like me. I told her that my name was Mrs. Birling, I thought I should have the right to that name but she thought that I was being rude towards her. Perhaps she did not want the name Birling being brought into disrepute. She took me to a back room and I explained to her that the father of the child was giving me money but the money was stolen and I couldnt take it anymore. She said that some one as low as me would not have airs and graces like that; she thought that poor people did not have feelings and morals, that we were animals. I deserved that bit of help she could have given me, especially as it would have supported her grandchild. There is now nothing I can do; Im the lowest of the low. I have gone without food for days. Why did they have to reject my plea for help? How can Mrs. Birling be so cold hearted? Why do I have I to live this worthless existence, trapped in misfortune? I am now in total despair.  I have found out that this world is cruel and unfair. This town, this world is not the type of place that I would like to bring a child up in. I must end this for both of us. I am a victim of others lack of morals. I know Ill go to heaven because I have served my time in hell.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Globalization and its impact on the Public Sector Essay Example for Free

Globalization and its impact on the Public Sector Essay INTRODUCTION Globalization can be seen as a new phase of internationalization of forcing companies and countries reciprocally depend on degrees in the past. Here you can have globalization as the third phase of the internationalization of markets, the first of these phases properly called internationalization, ranging from late nineteenth century to the First World War, in which no economic sovereignty and international exchange and the second phase of Globalization, which runs from the end of World War II until about seventy years, time in which multinational companies begin to operate on a truly global basis (Peter, 2006). With the globalization of the modern world, businesses and government entities are forced to confront their results beyond its borders, in the fields of production quality and public administration, being necessary to rethink traditional management schemes within organizations. High competition forces that improve the quality of products and services and modernize the processes required must necessarily create a culture of modernity and innovation, on the staff of the entities in the public and private sector. The goal of globalization is no longer penetration neighboring market, but world trade, and standardizing it is the best instrument to achieve new trade realities. Thus, this brings to light what is public administration, since it is closely linked to what is trade and market. _DISCUSSION_ Administrators agree perceive the organizational environment as uncertain and turbulent of increasing complexity, and draw attention to the shape or style of thinking required to address more effectively the change phenomena. At present, the intensity and speed of global changes in the economic and social environment determines the need to know in advance the direction you point these changes and megatrends. The major changes are slow to form and once installed, its influence is felt for a long time in individuals and organizations. In terms of some management specialists, the adaptability of the organization and therefore their ability to survive depends on its ability to learn and act upon the changeable environmental conditions. In understanding the phenomena that affect the public-private sphere, the State-Society is the major element in understanding the context in which hatch and informational processes and flows of the social world are developed. The State in its historic role as sociopolitical computer centralizer actions and decisions of socio-economic and cultural development of a country, is characterized by being constituted by institutional relevance actors: political parties and groups, trade unions, universities, media communication, among others, all active and engaged in the debate of major national issues participants. In this context, information channels are open and thus in the debate and discussion agendas are present from major structural changes to the discussion of basic problems of society, creating an interaction between all actors identified (Peters, 2001). From the change in the political system two elements characterize the new process: the role of the state comes into question, and the discussion focuses on the redefinition of it. Moreover, the market emerges as a new player with that also produces a redefinition of public-private relationships. The private sector breaks into many fields hitherto proprietary state action, the most notorious health, education and social security, resulting in double circuits of information: public and private. Radical changes in the early affect state-society relations are produced.  The state is directing its own administrative decentralization process and starts a new institutional framework. All these situations create new information flows in new directions and to new target groups. Centralized information becomes part of the State surpassed role. The legitimacy of the information is questionable and of course the reliability of it is also debatable. However, the changes that occur within the state and therefore in society begin to produce positive impacts on productivity levels, service efficiency, technological upgrade that streamlines the bureaucratic processes and a series of other events in the reformulation of the role of the state is designated as a profound reshaping of the state apparatus and at the same time, a substantial improvement of the State, as being able to regulate the production and processing of lead in achieving social equity. _Changes in Management Due to Globalization_ Within this perspective comes hard on the concept of intelligence, applied to the social field in general as well as to a particular organization. Concept defined as the ability to understand and even anticipate the behavior of the various environmental factors that affect or influence negatively or positively the development of a program or project. This advance knowledge is a prerequisite for organizing and planning the activities of organizations and individuals, in order to anticipate, minimize or neutralize impact or influence of changes in the internal activities of the organization and its relations with the surrounding frame of reference . Some organizations have the ability to adapt quickly to change, naturally occurring in the joints between the various work areas. It allows them to survive in the turbulent environment, among other conditions, your creativity or ability to conceive and imagine alternatives and new solutions beyond the traditional frames or thought patterns (Farazmand, 2012). The organization ceases to be regarded as a mechanism and tends to be conceived as a living organism, endowed with intelligence. In this context we can speak of a corporate intelligence internally structure the organizations and allows them to react to changes in their environment also based on the use of information. Such organizations, also known as the third typeenterprises, the authors G. Archier and H Serieyx have the following characteristics: Be constantly alert to events in the environment. Have organizational structures and rules that ensure flexibility and speed of adaptation. Individuals and groups articulate the organization and contribute to their full potential. Each member of the organization is constantly exposed to market pressures and customer expectations. The organizations projects are conceived, shared and accepted by all members of the organization. The work structures are focused on problems without choking the hierarchy. The organization ensures each official smart, useful, challenging work, also investing in the continuing education of staff. _Productive Transformation Process_ The marked acceleration of scientific and technological change brings many challenges in the economic field, the need for flexibility from the production system to make competitive adjustments, to expand trade by way of differentiation. Each country must seek to create in the international market its own space on the basis of new technologies (Farazmand, 2004). In the field of production of goods and services, the world is in one of the greatest moments of innovation and change, based on the knowledge-defined as the most expensive of the products of the modern era. Knowledge management supported by advances in information, computing and communications, offers possibilities of radical change, creating opportunities for new technologies, competitiveness, new markets. In the public sector, production processes undergo changes to adapt to the new demands generated by the private sector in those areas in which the State assumed key roles in development. The scope, variety and extent of the changes, which are generated in the information sector, the new organizational paradigms, should trigger an intensive process of studies and research in the area, so as to make the necessary adjustments in the production processes of information current and / or, when necessary, to design new components in these processes (James Van, 2004). Oriented training human resources policy focuses on the essential aspects of productive transformation: growth and equity. The training of human resources in this context should also increase productivity, support worker flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of the productive sector. Technology policy should aim at strengthening the productive transformation policies and strengthen national and regional innovation system. Must be well integrated with the industrial, agricultural, educational and trade policy. You can achieve your goals if a suitable economic and social environment, since the innovation process has a systemic character and requires several interrelated elements. The strategic dialogue, as proposed by ECLAC, comprises a set of explicit and implicit reaching agreements between the state and the main political and social actors around the productive transformation with equity, and also about the consequences policy and institutional innovations needed to achieve it. The economic transformation strategy posed ECLAC is conceived as part of the conditions of the international economy in the outer and maintaining macroeconomic stability, development financing, maintaining  social cohesion and consolidation of democratic processes within (Gareth, 1988). _Transforming the Work Environment_ Associated with global changes in the organizational structures should be considered external factors: economic, social, political, technological and other as competition, labor market, etc. Such administrative language in examining the opportunities and threats presented by the environment to the organization and its members, comprising also analyze the implications that the forces of change are internal work processes in the organization. The work environment is undergoing major changes due to the impact of external factors among other aspects of the new objectives that organizations are posed by the internationalization of the same, the transition from production companies to utilities, the need for human resources in technologies, by increasing interrelationships of public and private sector, etc. It is argued that the technological revolution affects the levels of employment, working conditions and social organization and the application of computer science, robotics and other automation involving a small group of overspecialized workers and a large number of unqualified workers. However, the forces of change can also arise within the organization or individuals that compose themselves. The work environment of the organization is under pressure from those who want change and those who oppose tenaciously (Robert, 2009). The organization must adapt or fundamentally change strategies and plans created for different situations and contexts. In this scenario, the training of human resources is a must for the new management style component. Learning new technologies and developing new skills conducive to the efficient performance of individuals can not be absent from any policy to improve the work environment. While it is not the intent of this document describe enter multiple situations affecting the organizational structure and respective management approaches in solving  problems, mainstreaming workplace transformation aims to support the understanding of the issues new organizational forms, examining the competitive environment, adaptation to the new, the educational needs of human resources and the occurrence of the information sector in all strategies of the organization. _CONCLUSION_ Globalisation has catalysed the need to accelerate public sector reforms in developing countries and the need to set up correctly-working institutions. The time is ripe for reform. The challenge will be to adapt the model to different social, economic, political, legal and cultural contexts. REFERENCES Farazmand (2012), Chaos and Transformation Theories: Implications for Organization Theory. _Public Organization Review_ 3(4)/2003: 339-372; James Van (2004). Resistance to Change and the Language of Public Organizations:†¦_Public Organization Review_ 4 (1): 47-74. Farazmand (2004). Innovation in Strategic Human Resource Management: Building Capacity in the Age of Globalization. _Public Organization Review_ 4 (1): 3-24. Gareth Morgan (1988). _Riding the Waves of Change._ San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (HR). Robert Golembiwski (2009). _Handbook of Organizational Behavior_, new edition. NY: Marcel Dekker. French and Bell (1999). _Organization Development_ Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall (HR). Connor and lake, _Managing Organizational Change_, 2nd ed. (1994) Peters, Guy (2001). _The Future of Governing_, 2nd ed., or the latest. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas PressSenge. Peter (2006). _The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of Learning Organization._ NY: Random House/Garden City, NY: Doubleday.Skinner, B.F. (1948, 1986, 2005), _Walden Two_ (small paperback$2-3 online), Hackett Publisher.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Analysis of CAN Architecture

Analysis of CAN Architecture In 2016 there were 261.8 million cars registered as they are a pivotal part of the economy and peoples everyday lives. Cars were once all mechanically made with carburetors but after development of technologies cars are now running off of fuel injection. The difference between the two is that a carburetor controls fuel flow with mechanical bits that allow a certain amount of fuel to mix with air to go to the cylinders and fuel injectors use a pressurized rail system controlled by a computer with carious camshaft and crankshaft sensors. In the 1980s cars started using computers called the Engine Control Unit( ECUs), which control basic main engine functions such as airflow, fuel and spark. There are ECUs in every car on the road today because with a computer and a set of sensors, the ECU can dynamically tune the car live, increasing performance and lowering emissions. Cars do this with various sensors including Mass Airflow Sensors, temperature sensors, O2 sensors pre and post catalytic converter. The problematic issue arises from the fact that we went from computerizing basic components to computerizing everything. To understand the issue, look at the diagram below to go over some of the things that a typical ECU has control over. Further increasing risk, cars now come with embedded GPS and cellular chipsets connecting the car to the outside world. With everything interconnected, it would not be hard for a hacker to gain access to the whole system through one point in in the system. The way these components communicate is through the CAN bus. The CAN bus is a really bad system when it comes to security because everything is broadcasted on the CAN, requested or not. This is so when a component needs information from another, it doesnt not need to request it, it is always broadcasting so its efficient. Can you guess why thats a security issue? I will now analyze the CAN architecture explaining its design flaws. The CAN protocol was developed because before it was released, every computer component had to be connected with wires to each other, but with CAN bus, everything connected to that central bus and it reduced the wiring complexity saving weight and money. Another reason for its development was for emissions control, and because data is always broadcasted on the CAN bus, the car can dynamically adjust fuel/air ratios to get the cleanest burn with the least emissions. The CAN bus is really good at what it is designed for, but it was never designed for security. The main security flaws that need to be addressed first are unencrypted traffic on the bus, lack of decoupling and segmentation and no authentication of devices. The major security flaw is the lack of encryption, but it was designed purposely like this. It was meant to be lightweight and encrypting data would go against that, especially in the 80s when computing power was very slow. Today this is a critical flaw because the data can be sniffed. This would allow the hacker to sniff data packets, modify the CAN message and inject it back into the system. Another major flaw is the lack of decoupling and segmenting the CAN network. Since everything in the bus os connected to each other, it is possible to gain access to the whole system through something like the infotainment system. This could be devastating because new cars have electronic driven steering and ECU controlled brakes. The last main flaw is that the CAN interface has no authentication method for attached devices, meaning that a hacker can spoof messages and other parts of the ECU will react. For instance, if a hacker can spoof and broadcast a brake signal on the CAN bus, the brakes will activate without the drivers knowledge. These are just some of the concerns I came across during my analysis, but has anyone exploited the CAN bus yet? The answer is yes and its been done multiple times by various research groups. In 2010 researchers from the Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security published a paper entitled Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Automobile. They exploited vulnerabilities and discovered that it was possible to change a vehicles functions by injecting spoofed commands onto the CAN bus. They showed that an attacker could disable the brakes, the engine, and change the speedometer values (Koscher et al., 2010). This research was dismissed by many because its very unlikely that someone would have a wired connection to the CAN bus. The team responded with a follow up analysis in 2011 with the diagram below. The electric bolts represent possible points of entry into the CAN bus system. Then put emphasis on Telematics as those are ways to gain access wirelessly, dismissing the media and automakers claims that a connection isnt possible to a car without a wire. more recently in 2015, Charlie Miller successfully exploited a Jeep Cherokee remotely and injected spoofed CAN commands, without making any physical contact with the car. This was groundbreaking as it showed cars could be hacked from anywhere with an internet connection. This was the first time an automaker had to take action, as the Fiat Chrysler Automotive group had to recall more than 1.3 million vehicles. Essentially what Miller did was that he exploited the vehicles infotainment system which governs media and cellular functions of the car. The cellular functions is what caught Millers attention because it gave him a remote way into the car. From there he discovered that the communications system had a microcontroller connected to the CAN bus! This was his point of entry, using this door he got access to everything connected to the CAN bus, which we now know controls the entire car since everything in computerized. To access the car though, Miller had to exploit the vehicles cell ular microcontroller, which was supplied by sprint. All he had to do was port scan and find an open service port. According to sprint shortly after they patched this bug, any sprint device capable of 3g had access to this service port. Normally this port is entirely internal, but sprint did not make its scope private. Because of this bug, he used a 3G sprint device connected to his laptop to remotely gain access to the microcontroller and then the CAN bus. Just as we discussed in class, there is no perfect system and there is no single security solution. The recommended solution, although it might take a while to implement, would have to be encrypted data transmission, hardware backed or not; Device authorization protocols so outside devices cant spoof CAN bus commands; And decoupling/segmentation of the CAN bus network. As professor Kathleen Fisher said, the CAN bus is hopelessly insecure. it was developed decades before cars were connected to the Internet and lacks features to blo ck malware programs or reject commands from unauthorized intruders.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

The Decline of the Holy Roman Empire Essay -- Martin Luther, Protestan

The Holy Roman Empire was an empire in central Europe consisting of many territories and ethnicities. Once very powerful, the empire’s authority slowly decreased over centuries and by the Middle Ages the emperor was little more than a figurehead, allowing princes to govern smaller sections of the empire. Though the various ruling princes owed loyalty to the emperor, they were also granted a degree of independence and privileges. The emperor, an elected monarch, needed the allegiance of the princes and other aristocracy to support him, in turn giving them power or money. This tenuous allegiance between powers was greatly strained in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as religious reform dominated Europe and religious tensions divided the empire. Beginning in the sixteenth century, the empire’s power significantly declined because of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation split the empire’s states into Protestant and Catholic divisions, straining the peace between territories. Though the relationship between the princes and the emperor had already been tenuous, the princes, seeing the religious divisions, sensed weakness in the empire and further challenged imperial authority. The Holy Roman emperors battled Protestant princes in Germany into the seventeenth century, where tensions were still high from the Reformation and wars of religion – initially contained to the German territories – began to include other territories and states. As more European states joined the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire continued to deteriorate. From the early sixteenth to the mid seventeenth century, the Holy Roman Empire’s power declined greatly because of its internal religious rifts, conflicts (in particular the Thirty Years War, whic... ...> * Crankshaw, Edward. The Habsburgs. New York: Viking, 1971. Print. Greengrass, Mark. The Longman Companion to The European Reformation, C. 1500-1618. London: Longman, 1998. Print. Hsia, R. Po-chia. Social Discipline in the Reformation: Central Europe 1550-1750. London: Routledge, 1989. Print. Linder, Robert Dean. The Reformation Era. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2008. Print. McElwee, W. L. The Reign of Charles V: 1516-1558. London: Macmillan and, 1936. Print. Scribner, Bob. â€Å"Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation.† History Today 1 October 1982: 10-14. Print. â€Å"The Twelve Articles of the Peasants.† 1525. TS. Marxists Internet Archive. The Peasant War in Germany. Web. 11 Nov. 2015. â€Å"Treaty of Westphalia.† 1648. TS. Lillian Goldman Law Library, New Haven. The Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Isolation in Another Country :: Another Country

Isolation in Another Country Another Country is possibly the only novel of its time in which every character suffers from a feeling of isolation. All the main characters share in the feeling of isolation. Whether the character's isolation is a result of race, economic situation, or even sexual orientation, each character's life is affected. The feeling of isolation causes the characters to lose touch with reality. This isolation is evident in the story of Rufus. Rufus is a young black jazz musician who grew up in Harlem, a young Black man fighting " the system" to attain his dreams. Later in the novel, Rufus reveals his inner turmoil. Rufus feels isolated from society. He knows, yet is unable to accept, the racial barrier between himself and his only close friend, Vivaldo. Vivaldo is a true friend, but despite their friendship, Rufus has a constant feeling of resentment toward Vivaldo. Rufus is tormented by thoughts such as "No one dared look at Vivaldo, out with any girl whatever, the way they looked at me now;...This is because Vivaldo was white" (Baldwin 31). The racial isolation is compounded when Rufus breaks all family ties in order to sustain his interracial relationship. Knowing his family's open disapproval of interracial relationships, Rufus decides to leave his family and live with his girlfriend, Leona. Despite his deep love for Leona, her presence constantly reminds him of the barrier between them. She becomes, in his mind, a symbol of the society that oppressed him. She becomes a symbol of the things he could never obtain in life. As his life becomes consumed, he plunges into the depths of despair, committing horrendous crimes against his loved ones. Rufus refuses the help of his friends. He turns to life on the streets and eventually jumps off a bridge. Before Rufus's death, Baldwin narrates: His own loneliness, magnified so many million times, made the night air colder. He remembered to what excess, into what traps and nightmares, his loneliness had driven him; and he wondered where such a violent emptiness might drive an entire city. (60) Vivaldo, a close friend of Rufus, deals with his own form of isolation. A product of dysfunctional Brooklyn family, Vivaldo felt he was never loved; thus, he forces himself into loveless relationships. In these relationships he establishes a barrier between himself and his girlfriends. Vivaldo seems to be searching for love in all the wrong places--street corners and bars.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Bill Gates :: William H. Gates III Biography Essays

Bill Gates Bill Gates, cofounder of the Microsoft corporation, holds 30.7 percent of its stock making him one of the richest people in the United States. He was the marketing and sales strategist behind many of Microsoft's software deals. Their software became the industry standard in the early 1980s and has just increased in distribution as the company has grown, so much that the Federal government is suggesting that Microsoft has violated Sherman and Clayton antitrust acts. Bill Gates' first interest in computers began at Lakeside, a private school in Seattle that Gates attended. There he wrote his "first software program when I was thirteen years old. It was for playing tic-tac-toe"(Gates 1). It was at Lakeside that Gates met Paul Allen, who later became cofounder with Gates of Microsoft. There they became friends and "began to mess around with the computer"(Gates 2). Back in the sixties and early seventies computer time was expensive. "This is what drove me to the commercial side of the software business"(Gates 12). Gates, Allen and a few others from Lakeside got entry-level software programming jobs. One of Gates early programs that he likes to brag about was written at this time. It was a program that scheduled classes for students. "I surreptitiously added a few instructions and found myself nearly the only guy in a class full of girls"(Gates 12). In 1972 Intel released their first microprocessor chip: the 8008. Gates attempted to write a version of BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) for the new Intel chip, but the chip did not contain enough transistors to handle it. Gates and Allen found a way to use the 8008 and "started Traf-O-Data, a computer traffic analysis company"(Clayton 452) It worked well however, marketing their new machine proved to be impossible. "No one actually wanted to buy the machine, at least not from a couple teenagers"(Gates 14). Gates and Allen had more less successful endeavors in starting a software company. In 1974 Intel announced their new chip: the 8080. The two college students sent off letters "to all the big computer companies, offering to write them a version of BASIC for the new Intel chip. We got no takers"(Gates 15). While at Harvard, the cool thing to do was to slack off on classes for most of the semester and try and see how well the student could do at the end. Steve Ballmer and Gates "took a tough graduate- level economics course together- Economics 2010.

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Anselm’s Monologion

Anselm’s Monologion is at first a detailed expansion of his more famous ontology – the proof of the existence of God – as expressed elsewhere. In this proof God is first equated with the most perfect being, and then it is demonstrated that such a being necessarily exists. The Monologion is concerned more with the nature of the most perfect being, and what else can be predicated about it, in relation to itself, and to created beings. The same line of argument is followed, where the oneness and the perfection of the Supreme Being are emphasized, but after a point we notice that the effort is diverted into explaining the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, so that God is said to be three persons in one substance, and yet indivisibly one. It needs to be remembered that Anselm does not attempt to ‘prove’ the doctrine of the Trinity. Therefore the latter part of the Monologion is really persuasive rather than demonstrative. The aim is to convince us of the reasonableness of the doctrine of the Trinity. It will be instructive to recall Anselm’s ontology here. In order to divert any suspicion of sophism, Anselm introduces the argument as taking place in the head of a fool. This fool denies the existence of a Supreme and Perfect Being. But when he tries to imagine something of the kind in his head, he cannot. Whatever great thing he imagines, it is not final, because the mind soars inexorably past it and imagines something even greater. The mind tries to grasp perfection, but cannot do so. Anselm argues that if there were no perfect being, then the mind chases after nothing, which cannot be so. So there must be a thing called Perfection, at least as an idea. Next he supposes the case where the Perfection is only in the mind and not in reality. If this were the case then it would not be the most perfect thing, because being only in the mind, the mind would then try to imagine something even greater than it. Therefore the Perfect Being has real existence. The Monologion opens with a variation on this ontology, postulating that all things that are good, or great, or virtuous in any way, are so due to the goodness, greatness or virtue of the Supreme Being, which must necessarily exist as the abode or perfection and being whereby everything else derives its qualities and its existence. It then tries to fix the nature of this Supreme Being, and concludes that whatever qualities it possesses it does so by itself, from itself, and through itself. And at the same time all created beings possess their qualities and their existence by, from and through the Supreme Being. So that a person can be said to be just, which implies a comparison. He is just because he has more justice in him then the next person. But with God there is no comparison, so that He is Justice itself. He is said to exist in all places and in all times, and this sense exists in the truest sense. In comparison all created being can be said not to exist at all, and at best that they exist in a limited sense. They are mutable, so that whatever existence they have is fleeting – nothing is ever what it was a moment ago. Therefore, the Supreme Being not only brings them into existence, but sustains their existence too. These are things demonstrated in the first part of the Monologion, and all the arguments follow the same pattern as in the ontology, i. e. it employs the oneness and perfection of God. But then Anselm comes to consider the Expression of the Supreme Being. All created existence is but a manifestation of the Expression. We must next consider whether this Expression is also a creature. But it cannot be so, because all creatures come to existence through the Expression, and the Expression cannot come into being through itself. If it is not a creature then it can only consubstantial with the Supreme Being. Here it is established that the Expression of the Supreme Being cannot be anything distinct from it. It must therefore be sufficient in itself, and need not depend of created beings, having existence before creating things came into being, and even after the final dissolution of things. So we need to find a way to describe the Expression to relation to God alone. Anselm describes it as the understanding of God. It can be seen as a means by which God comes to understand Himself. It is plain that God cannot be in the dark about his own nature, says Anselm, and he points out that even the human mind understands itself. The mind is conscious of itself, can remember itself, can reason with itself. This is but the mind understanding itself. If the mind can understand itself to some extent, there is no doubt that the Supreme Being understands itself, and does so not partially, but wholly. It is indeed the aspect we know as divine wisdom. The next step is to equate the Expression with the Word. In truth, an analogy is here being drawn between â€Å"words†, which are the units of human language, and the essence of expression. In a word is the image of the thing as we sense it. Therefore, in words are the expressions of all things, and as words all things are represented in the human mind. There are, no doubt, other carriers of expression, for example, pictures, sculptures, tastes, smells, etc. But the word is the purest and most powerful medium. It is the building block of language, and thus is the bearer of culture and civilization. We have many words, and these exist so that all things may be represented in the mind, and even then it is inadequate to bring the whole diverse splendor of the universe to us. Anselm asks the question whether the divine expression employs many words. But quickly demonstrates that such diversity would detract from the perfection of the divine expression. If the Expression is one, and the word is made consubstantial to it, then the word is also one, and this is the Word. It is the supreme image of the divine, but it also forms an identity with the divine. From it is derived all other words, and indeed all other images. Since all things are created in the image of the divine, the Word is indeed the source of all Creation. Anselm thus far has arrived at the Biblical assertion, as found in the Gospel of John: â€Å"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God† (John 1:1). Anselm points out a possible difficulty at this point. If it is true that the Word brings all things into existence in the manner of lending to them its own image, then it must be somehow like the things which are created, being in its own image. He considers the three mutually exhaustive cases. Either the likeness is (1) exact, (2) partial, or (3) non-existent. It is obvious that there cannot be an exact likeness, because created things are mutable, and the Word is not. A partial likeness implies that some aspects of the creating being do not derive from the Word, which is also plainly false. If there no likeness at all then there is no creation either. Anselm suggests that we come over this difficulty by using the comparison the other way. This means that we should compare created beings to the Word, and not the other way round. All created things must compare to the Word is some degree. And the degree to which they do compare is the degree of their existence. To elaborate on the theme of ‘degrees of existence’, Anselm asks us to consider the gradated nature of all created things. The rational human mind is certainly superior to the sensual human body; the sensual animals are certainly superior to the non-sensual plants; the sentient plants are superior to the non-sentient and material substances. Each created being is an effulgence of the Word, and it must necessarily be so, because the Word is the expression of the divine. But there seems to be a gradation that rises to make the image of the divine truer and truer. When we arrive at the rational human mind we have self-reflexive understanding, which is an attribute we apply properly only to the divine mind. But then, human reason does not comprehend itself finally, and neither can it come to an understanding of what it sees as God and the universe. On the other hand, the Spirit that is God comprehends itself fully, and this through the means of the Word. Therefore we must conclude that the human mind is an effulgence of the Word, but it is not the Word itself. Through a multiplicity of ‘words’ the human mind can grapple with the infinite expanse that it finds before it, and can come to know of the existence of the Word, thus of God, though it cannot know the Word itself. We may assert that the rational mind is the greatest among all created things, and therefore bears the greatest likeness with the Word, and consequently possess more reality that anything else in the phenomenal world. Though none can deny that it is a created, and thus limited thing. This much Anselm attempts to prove. Much of the latter part of the Monologion is not proof but suggestion. The starting point of such suggestion is when Anselm insists that the Expression be construed as something distinct from the Supreme Being. Having already proved that there cannot be any distinction, Anselm seems to be taking liberties now. He wants to be reasonable instead of rational. It is as if he is encountering God as a person instead of a matter of logic. In the sense that we would not mistake the expression of a person with the person himself, so Anselm describes the Word as distinct from the Supreme Being, And further on he will give the description a more personal character by saying that the Word in begotten by the Supreme Being in the way that the son is begotten of the father. He is at pains to point out, though, that it is an â€Å"ineffable plurality. To be sure, ineffable—because although necessity compels that they be two, what two they are cannot at all be expressed† (Anselm 53). In the end it is an article of faith that he is espousing. To think in this way is to gain a glimpse into the deepest mysteries of the divine, and this is what increases devotion and strengthens faith. Once we admit two distinct beings in God, there issues by necessity a third, with is Love, which is that by which the Son is united with Father and the Father with the Son. This is the doctrine of the Trinity, that which Anselm has been aiming at from the beginning. We draw the following conclusion. In the Monologion it is Anselm’s task to prove the existence of God and to elaborate on the perfection of His nature. The proofs that he provides for the existence and perfection of God are thorough and irrefutable. He elaborates on the Expression of God as the source of all created existence. But even though he establishes that, in a strictly logical sense, we cannot apply predicates to God, he nevertheless goes on espouse the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. He is careful to point out that this latter assertion is not a proof, but is rather the most reasonable predicate that can be applied to God.