TOW #25: Bose noise reduction headphones advertisement

      Sometimes exaggeration is necessary to sell a product. In this advertisement marketed by Bose,  the creators employed extreme exaggeration. After all, in a world with such loud noises, a person practically needs Niagara Falls-strength noise cancellation, right? Clearly, the purpose of this advertisement is to convince the viewer to buy a pair of noise-reducing headphones from Bose. The audience includes almost anyone, particularly people who are frequently in noisy areas. To convince viewers to buy from Bose, the creators had to make sure they sent a strong, bold message to the advertisement's viewers, which they accomplished through their use of symbolism, the threatening color scheme, and their appeal to the average buyer.
       The main use of symbolism lies clearly with the Niagara Falls, arguably one of the loudest places in America. Anyone as close to the Falls as the man in the advertisement would be overwhelmed with how loud the Falls were. However, he is not. He's rowing along happily, not hearing the rumble of the Niagara Falls just feet away, all thanks to his Bose "noise-reducing" headphones. In this way, the creators use the viewer's previous knowledge of Niagara Falls to their advantage. Any headphones with enough strength to block out the roar of Niagara Falls should be good enough to cancel just about any sound. This creates the sense that these Bose headphones are well worth whatever cost, helping the viewer to justify his or her potential purchase.
     Additionally, the advertisement's color scheme effectively adds to the overall mood of the advertisement. The dark greens, blues, and white of the image suggest that something is lurking, that something is dangerous. The man in the advertisement, however, does not notice any of this because of his headphones and sunglasses. Only very powerful headphones could convince this rower that his surroundings are not threatening.
     The creators also attempted to appeal to the average buyer by using someone who the buyer might be able to relate to. Since the man in the advertisement is wearing khaki shorts and is paddling, barefoot, a little row boat, along with his very own Bose noise-reducing headphones, potential buyers will not believe that these headphones are over their budget. As a result, the buyer will not feel isolated from Bose; thus, the average viewer is more likely to become a Bose-buyer. The creators of this advertisement effectively presented the viewer with several feasible reasons to buy their product, so I would consider this advertisement successful.

TOW #24: "What Makes an Alien Intelligent?"

If there are aliens out in space, why would we think they would be comparable to us?

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/04/what-makes-an-alien-intelligent.html

What if in our great search for other intelligent life, were being a bit... narrow-minded? In an article titled "What Maes an Alien Intelligent?", the author, David Berreby explores that question. He begins by referencing a new discovery of a possible "twin" of Earth only to question how NASA began that search, by which he introduces the idea of a different type of intelligence, maybe one different from the human view of intelligence. Then, Berreby brings in Acta Astronautica by Denise Herzing, a dolphin-behaviorist researcher. Herzing says that what NASA really needs to find new intelligence is not new technology or more advanced spacecrafts, but rather a different way of defining and measuring intelligence. Herzing has five ways of measuring intelligence: size of the organism's brain relative to the size of the rest of its body; how well it sends and receives information; how different each organism is from the other; "the complexity of the being's social life"; amount of interaction, particularly with members of other species. Herzing's list makes one wonder how intelligence was classified beforehand. Also, what if the last point, about amount interaction with other species, was zero for all other forms of life? Berreby points out that a lack of interspecific communication would make contact with other forms of life nearly impossible. Whether the search for new life will be successful or not is unknown, but Berreby's purpose is to convince the reader that it is "better to wrestle at the edges of comprehension" than to naïvley accept that all other species are like ours and that we should rethink how we search for other intelligent life. To accomplish his purpose, Berreby uses examples from experts, inclusive language, and rhetorical questioning. As previously mentioned, Berreby cites information from behaviorist researcher Denise Herzing, who is more credible on the subject of intelligence than Berreby himself. Additionally, the author uses "we" to unite readers against foreign intelligence so to speak. This creates a sense of us-versus-them, further emphasizes Berreby's idea that human intelligence (us) and alien intelligence (them) are to be measured differently. Lastly, Berreby uses a rhetorical question to lead into a quote from an Wallace Stevens, a poet. Overall, I believe Berreby showed why we need to change how we approach alien intelligence differently. 

IRB Intro: "Antifragile"

The book I chose as my fourth marking period is called Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I chose this book because it was recommended to me by several people as well as on Freakonomics Radio. Antifragile explores the world of things that benefit from shock, such as "volatility, randomness, disorders, risk, and uncertainty," or the opposite of fragility. Nassim Nicolas Taleb is a Lebanese American scholar, essayist, and author who focuses on the cause of fragility or antifragility: uncertainty and randomness. He also wrote the The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbably, another book I would like to read, which was praised as one of the twelve most influential books published since World War II by the Sunday Times.