WSC Lecture Outline: An Imperfect World

Words to Light the DarknessLamb to the Slaughter by R Dahl

Evidence by I Asimov

We are aiming

• To explore how these two stories are nodes for provocative ideas on morality, truth, and authenticity.

• To follow on and deepen our consideration of word-level appreciation of language through connotation and The Matrix.

• To consider ideas of authenticity and originality through defamiliarisation and Inception.

•Can a criminal be a hero?

We are aiming• What is a crime, and who decides how serious a crime is? Who should?• Are there countries in which those accused of crimes are guilty until proven innocent?• How can someone be proven guilty of a crime?• What acts are considered crimes in some countries but not in others?• To what degree should citizens be involved in law enforcement?• Should a person be held responsible for breaking laws he or she doesn’t know about?• Should non-citizens be tried differently for crimes than citizens?• Should judges or juries be the ultimate arbiters of guilt or innocence?• What is the purpose of sending someone to prison?• Is it ever just to try one person for another person’s crime?• Is there a difference between a crime and a crime against humanity?• Is crime more common in certain societies or among certain groups of people?• Can a criminal be a hero?• Is there such a thing as “honor among thieves”?• What is the line, if any, between justice and the law?• Should the government be allowed to prosecute someone for a crime even if the victim says not to pursue charges?• What is the difference between terrorism and crime?• Can something be a crime even if it has no victims?• Is anyone who breaks the law a criminal?• What type of acts justify trying someone as a war criminal?• How should countries address crime that occurs across borders?• Should all countries follow the same legal code?

•Can a criminal be a hero?

We are aiming• What is cheating? How is it different from lying?• Is cheating ever justified?• What are the advantages and disadvantages cheating?• How should cheaters be punished?• Are we morally obligated to report any cheaters we encounter?• Under what circumstances is cheating a crime?• Is cheating simply about “breaking the rules”? Or is it about exploiting them?• Should there be special sporting events for athletes who want to use performance-enhancing drugs?• Is cheating more acceptable in some cultures than in others?• Do men and women cheat at the same rate?• Do certain institutions encourage cheating?• Are people born with a sense of fairness?• How can schools prevent cheating?• Is it possible to cheat in war?• What is the economic perspective on cheating?• Should cheating disqualify a politician from winning elected office? How about lying?• Have you ever cheated?

• Lip Syncing, Autotune, and the Limits of the Authentic

We are aiming• How would you define a state? Are nations and states different?• What purposes do states serve in the world?• How different would your life be if you had been born in a different state?• Do “perfect” states exist in the world?• What are the “best” and “worst” states you can think of? How are you measuring them?• Are democracies better states than non-democracies?• What is the difference between a failed state and a fragile state?• What do failed (and fragile) states have in common?• How much of state failure can be attributed to politics?• How much of state failure can be attributed to factors beyond a state’s control?• Who should be in charge of measuring a state’s success—its citizens, or other states?• If you were the leader of a failed or fragile state, whom would you ask for help?• Can there be such a thing as a failed region in a successful state? How about a successful region in a failed state?• What happens to a state after it fails? What happens to its people?• Has globalization made states stronger or weaker?• Do revolutions and uprisings save states, or further doom them?• Is a failed state a failed society?• Are some states doomed to failure?• Is the traditional concept of the state outdated in an age of globalization and the Internet?• Do your best to understand the current refugee crisis, also sometimes called the "Syrian" refugee crisis. Should all nations

open their borders to people in need - or are nations right to reject any, many, or all of them?

We are aiming

• To explore how these two stories are nodes for provocative ideas on morality, truth, and authenticity.

• To follow on and deepen our consideration of word-level appreciation of language through connotation and The Matrix.

• To consider ideas of authenticity and originality through defamiliarisation and Inception.

•Can a criminal be a hero?

Very basic plot outline

• LttS – A housewife murders her husband with frozen leg of lamb: investigating officers eat the evidence.

- Can a criminal be a hero? • Evidence – A politician is considered to be a

robot, but this is never proven. - Should cheating disqualify a politician from winning elected office? How about lying?

Key Questions from WSC

• Further Key questions here:

• Is crime more common in certain societies or among certain groups of people?

More detailed plots…

• LttS

Wife sits at homeHusband reveals he will divorce wifeWife kills husbandWife creates false alibiWife secretely laughs at inspectors eating lamb

More detailed plots…

• Evidence

Quinn and Lanning discuss whether Byerley is a robot – never eats. Robot morality is discussed. Quinn attempts to get Byerley x-rayed: Byerley lawyers him. Byerley punches a man in the face on live TV during a political rally to prove he is not a robot. Byerley laughs at the possibility he is a robot.

A diversion… A tool for analysing: Formalism

• Defamiliarisation.

• Visual thesaurus: interconnections of language.

• https://www.visualthesaurus.com/

A tool for analysing: Formalism

• Intended connotations and possible connotations. Does meaning exist independently of our discovery of it?

Should all countries follow the same legal code?

• Matrix Albino fight: ‘ghosts’ of meaning – become tangible upon belief or recognition.

A tool for analysing: Formalism

• Does intention matter when we interpret a text?

Is anyone who breaks the law a criminal?

• Swearing in Wolverhampton…

• Death of the Author

Word-Level Analysis Diversion

• We are invited to sympathise with a murderer. This is an increasingly common genre in popular fiction and film.

• Where in this story do we familiarise expected connotations (especially as we know the ending?).

• Tired/told/knew

Word-Level analysis in our stories

• Opening paragraph

• Death paragraph

• Discussion of the murder weapon

Word-Level Analysis Diversion

• We are invited to consider not only if L is a robot, but also whether this matters. This is an increasingly common genre in popular fiction and film.

• Where in this story do we familiarise expected connotations (especially as we know the ending?).

• man./human 61 times: robot/robots 81 times.

Word Level analysis• Introduction of Mr Byerley,

• Robots laws of ethics.

• Madness at conflict.

• Harroway trying to prosecute Byerley

• Hostile attitude into the atmosphere

• Robo psychologists…

Further Defamiliarisation (?)

• Being familiar with things is not always a bad thing.

• We need routine and first impressions in order to... Otherwise our minds will…

• Primary recency effect.

Further Defamiliarisation

• In LttS, our perspective is shifted so that we morally agree with the murder of her husband.

• We are invited to connive with her success.

• Is there such a thing as “honor among thieves”?

Further Defamiliarisation• In Evidence, we are called upon to question what it is to be authentic.

• Are we morally obligated to report any cheaters we encounter?

• The zombie question.

• The idea of authenticity.

• http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/prove-youre-not-a-robot-with-the-bot-or-not-poetry-challenge

• Robots in Japan; talk to a robot ai.

• How important is authenticity to us? How important is being original? Lampstand idea...

• Do we want to place ethics in the hands of a robot, who can be blind to justice?

• To Kill a Mockingbird - equal before the eyes of the law, rather than other things.

Inception Ending

• https://youtu.be/XQPy88-E2zo?t=2m44s - it he a robot or not?

• Whirling Top: if it stays spinning, his experience is a dream. If it falls, he is in reality.

• Does it fall or stay spinning in this video?

Final Questions

• Do we believe that truth matters?

• What is more important: truth or effect?

• Final question from WSC: What is cheating? How is it different from lying?

Both stories ending with ‘laugh’ ‘chuckled’ – purposefully playful.

• Light for hope and release?

Or…

• Light for joy and irreverence?