MUWinter2014

FACULTY MAKE
TIME FOR
ACADEMIC MINUTE
A century later, at the start of the
television age, John F. Kennedy used
his quick wit and preplanned jokes to
persuade voters. In 1958, Kennedy was
running for reelection to the Senate.
At a Gridiron Club dinner, where all
the speeches were laced with humor,
he listened while other speakers joked
about his family’s political influence. As
Kennedy came at the podium, he pulled
a piece of paper from his suit pocket
that he said was a telegram from “my
generous daddy.” He read, “Dear Jack:
Don’t buy a single vote more than is
necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going
to pay for a landslide.” The telegram
allowed JFK to deflect the charges of
nepotism, and it demonstrated that
the young Kennedy was talented and
capable enough to have the confidence
to laugh about a sensitive subject.
Rhetorical humor cuts through
our planning, expectations, and
calculations. The ridiculous overwhelms
the reasonable and gives us one of the
few authentic experiences in political
rhetoric: it can truly move us.
PROF. EDWIN TORRES
Technology of the Terminator
The 1984 movie, The Terminator,
depicted a futuristic world
where artificially intelligent
machines exterminated humans. The
science fiction movie was simply
entertainment at the time, and it was
not likely to ever come true.
Now, nearly 30 years later,
technologies exist that could make
these artificially intelligent killing
machines a reality. Researchers
from IBM are developing a highly
intelligent supercomputer known as
Watson. According to IBM, Watson
is capable of natural language
processing, hypothesis generation
and evidence-based learning. In
February 2011, Watson defeated two
former champions on the game show
Jeopardy!
All computers require data. With
cloud services like Apple iCloud and
SkyDrive, data is more available than
ever. Corporations, governments
and other institutions also store
data on servers around the world.
And the Internet makes all this data
accessible. Weapons can be created
with 3-D printers. In May 2013,
a corporation in Texas known as
Defense Distributed unveiled the first
ever 3-D printed gun.
Boston Dynamics is an engineering
company that has been developing
dynamic robots since 1992. Its latest
project is Atlas, an advanced, highly
mobile, humanoid robot. Atlas can
navigate rough terrain, climb and lift
objects. As these technologies advance
and converge, the likelihood of seeing
a human killing machine becomes a
real possibility. It seems like just a
matter of time.
Edwin Torres is an adjunct professor of
computer science. He currently teaches courses
in information technology. Torres is a fulltime
software developer with 21 years of
industry experience. His areas of expertise
include Java programming, web development
and user interfaces.
Dr. Phillips-Anderson is an assistant professor
of communication. He earned his Ph.D. at
the University of Maryland College Park.
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