Fahrenheit 451 Persuasive Speech
Persuasive Speech
Subject: Encouraging Students to take Mnemonic Training DATE \@ "dddd, MMMM d, yyyy" Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Imagine a world where all media is in electronic form. Printed books, magazines, newspapers are no longer available in paper format. Everything is stored on server hard drives, flash drives and other storage media. This is what was realized in the Science Fiction Book “Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury”. An authoritarian Government was responsible for all media. In this future all books were forbidden and when discovered burned out of existence. We are moving in the direction of this dystopian future where all media is now becoming available only in electronic media format. This future is one where people are dependent on the Government to help them think and be entertained. This is a future where the Government can control media and rewrite history to best suit their needs. We are …show more content…
not there yet but it is possible given the current technical trends. Citizens and students need to think independently and be able to retain vast amounts of information to make informed choices. Information in electronic format however can be fragile.
The problem with cloud and electronic media storage communication system is that it is vulnerable. It is vulnerable to such electronic disturbances such as Coronal Mass Ejection by the sun or a military strike involving an EMP weapon. A Coronal Mass Ejection is where the sun sends a plume of electronically charged particles hurling towards the earth in a focused manner. Our satellites would be severely damaged and crippled for years. It would wipe out our banking, military, and communications leading to an economic collapse. An Electromagnetically Pulsed weapon is a weapon that creates a high intensity pulse of electromagnetic radiation. These waves are harmless to humans but highly destructive to mechanical circuit boards and magnetic data storage. Damage to this infrastructure would render all electronic devices useless and have a severe impact on city centers.
It is conceivable that areas of the world could be cast back in time to and age prior to the modern information age. Computers GPS devices, cable TV would all be rendered useless. Conceivably mankind would be again dependent on printed material. But since printed material in the future would no longer available that would pose problems. Books and the information they contained once again would be a valuable commodity. Back before books were printed mankind relied on printed material only as place makers, as an aide solely for memorization. Printed material during the time of Homer was not meant to act like a portable encyclopedia but as a means to memorize this information and transfer by way of mouth and performance.
Today we write things down precisely so we don’t have to hold them in our memories. But through at least the late Middle Ages, books served not as replacements for memory, but rather as memory aids. As Thomas Aquinas put it, “Things are written down in material books to help the memory.” One read in order to remember, and books were the best available tools for impressing information into the mind. In fact, manuscripts were often copied for no reason other than to help their copier memorize them. (P.116 Moonwalking w. Einstein}
Printed material was valuable it was not available to the masses. Mass produced Printed books would come later.
The ability of man to retain vast amounts of information has been shown not to be unique. There have been humans who have shown extraordinary ability such as the character in the motion picture Rain Man modeled after an actual person in the U.S Kim Peak. Usually person of this nature are labeled “Idiot Savants”. They greatly excel in certain areas of memory retention but very low in other areas such as emotional empathy or social communication skills. It has been found that the ability to learn vast amounts of information is possible. The ability to be a mental athlete is a fully capable skill which can be learned and developed.
The ability to use the human mind to memorize vast amounts of information is now known as Mnemonics.
Many methods have been employed, such as “The Peg system”, “The Major System”, “The method of Loci” or “Memory Palace” amongst others. Persons who study these systems for many months sometimes take part in what are known as Memory Championships. These contests which have started out small in USA and have grown over the years are very popular in Europe. A journalist who investigated the requirements to enter these contests, Joshua Forer, actually participated and won one such championship in 2004. He went on to write a book about his experiences called, “Moonwalking with Einstein”. His training took many months in order to acquire these skills. In his book he included countless passages on the History of memorization by Humans since the dawn of civilization up to modern times. Joshua pointed out that there is a Little Bit of Rain Man in all of us. He repeatedly emphasizes this fact thereby providing support for any “would be” Mnemonic Mental Athlete.
(P.194)
Joshua Forer, debunks a common misperception on photographic memory. Basically no one has this capability. At least it has not been scientifically proven. P.30 “only one case of photographic memory has ever been described in the scientific literature: Photographic memory is often confused with …. eidetic memory, which occurs in 2 to 15 percent of children, … An eidetic image is essentially a vivid afterimage that lingers in the mind’s eye for up to a few minutes …. Children with eidetic memory never have anything close to perfect recall, and they typically aren’t able to visualize anything as detailed as a body of text.”2
Students attempting to learn long lists of Foreign language words find it useful to use the keyword method, also known as the keyword mnemonic, is among the most widely researched mnemonic strategies. It is one of the most powerful methods for learning the meaning of foreign language vocabulary, and can also be used for remembering the pronunciation of a foreign language word when given a word in one’s native language.3 For example http://remembereverything.org/keyword-method/When you see or hear the German word “Fallschirm”, you are likely able to recall the keyword “falling chimp”.
This in turn should trigger the scene where the chimp fell off a cliff, but was able to open its parachute, and safely sailed to the ground. Ah – Fallschirm means parachute.
The effectiveness of the use of these mnemonic strategies is well documented. Research shows that students, including secondary and college level, remember 2 to 3 times as much factual information, maintain information over delayed recall periods, and enjoy using them. Other research findings “provide evidence that instruction involving the use of mnemonic devices does enhance a student’s formal reasoning skills and that this has the potential for application of knowledge to more varied tasks” 4
Bibliography:
1 Foer, Joshua. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. New York: Penguin, 2011. 30+. Print.
2 Stromeyer, C. F., and J. Psotka. "The Detailed Texture of Eidetic Images." Nature 225.5230 (1970): 346-49. Web.3 Raugh, Michael R., and Richard C. Atkinson. "A Mnemonic Method for Learning a Second-Language Vocabulary." Journal of Educational Psychology 67.1 (1975): 1-16. Web.4 Bakken, Jeffrey P., and Cynthia G. Simpson. "On Mnemonic Strategies: Success for the Young Adult Learner." The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning 7.2 (2011): 2. Web.
Subject: Encouraging Students to take Mnemonic Training DATE \@ "dddd, MMMM d, yyyy" Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Imagine a world where all media is in electronic form. Printed books, magazines, newspapers are no longer available in paper format. Everything is stored on server hard drives, flash drives and other storage media. This is what was realized in the Science Fiction Book “Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury”. An authoritarian Government was responsible for all media. In this future all books were forbidden and when discovered burned out of existence. We are moving in the direction of this dystopian future where all media is now becoming available only in electronic media format. This future is one where people are dependent on the Government to help them think and be entertained. This is a future where the Government can control media and rewrite history to best suit their needs. We are …show more content…
not there yet but it is possible given the current technical trends. Citizens and students need to think independently and be able to retain vast amounts of information to make informed choices. Information in electronic format however can be fragile.
The problem with cloud and electronic media storage communication system is that it is vulnerable. It is vulnerable to such electronic disturbances such as Coronal Mass Ejection by the sun or a military strike involving an EMP weapon. A Coronal Mass Ejection is where the sun sends a plume of electronically charged particles hurling towards the earth in a focused manner. Our satellites would be severely damaged and crippled for years. It would wipe out our banking, military, and communications leading to an economic collapse. An Electromagnetically Pulsed weapon is a weapon that creates a high intensity pulse of electromagnetic radiation. These waves are harmless to humans but highly destructive to mechanical circuit boards and magnetic data storage. Damage to this infrastructure would render all electronic devices useless and have a severe impact on city centers.
It is conceivable that areas of the world could be cast back in time to and age prior to the modern information age. Computers GPS devices, cable TV would all be rendered useless. Conceivably mankind would be again dependent on printed material. But since printed material in the future would no longer available that would pose problems. Books and the information they contained once again would be a valuable commodity. Back before books were printed mankind relied on printed material only as place makers, as an aide solely for memorization. Printed material during the time of Homer was not meant to act like a portable encyclopedia but as a means to memorize this information and transfer by way of mouth and performance.
Today we write things down precisely so we don’t have to hold them in our memories. But through at least the late Middle Ages, books served not as replacements for memory, but rather as memory aids. As Thomas Aquinas put it, “Things are written down in material books to help the memory.” One read in order to remember, and books were the best available tools for impressing information into the mind. In fact, manuscripts were often copied for no reason other than to help their copier memorize them. (P.116 Moonwalking w. Einstein}
Printed material was valuable it was not available to the masses. Mass produced Printed books would come later.
The ability of man to retain vast amounts of information has been shown not to be unique. There have been humans who have shown extraordinary ability such as the character in the motion picture Rain Man modeled after an actual person in the U.S Kim Peak. Usually person of this nature are labeled “Idiot Savants”. They greatly excel in certain areas of memory retention but very low in other areas such as emotional empathy or social communication skills. It has been found that the ability to learn vast amounts of information is possible. The ability to be a mental athlete is a fully capable skill which can be learned and developed.
The ability to use the human mind to memorize vast amounts of information is now known as Mnemonics.
Many methods have been employed, such as “The Peg system”, “The Major System”, “The method of Loci” or “Memory Palace” amongst others. Persons who study these systems for many months sometimes take part in what are known as Memory Championships. These contests which have started out small in USA and have grown over the years are very popular in Europe. A journalist who investigated the requirements to enter these contests, Joshua Forer, actually participated and won one such championship in 2004. He went on to write a book about his experiences called, “Moonwalking with Einstein”. His training took many months in order to acquire these skills. In his book he included countless passages on the History of memorization by Humans since the dawn of civilization up to modern times. Joshua pointed out that there is a Little Bit of Rain Man in all of us. He repeatedly emphasizes this fact thereby providing support for any “would be” Mnemonic Mental Athlete.
(P.194)
Joshua Forer, debunks a common misperception on photographic memory. Basically no one has this capability. At least it has not been scientifically proven. P.30 “only one case of photographic memory has ever been described in the scientific literature: Photographic memory is often confused with …. eidetic memory, which occurs in 2 to 15 percent of children, … An eidetic image is essentially a vivid afterimage that lingers in the mind’s eye for up to a few minutes …. Children with eidetic memory never have anything close to perfect recall, and they typically aren’t able to visualize anything as detailed as a body of text.”2
Students attempting to learn long lists of Foreign language words find it useful to use the keyword method, also known as the keyword mnemonic, is among the most widely researched mnemonic strategies. It is one of the most powerful methods for learning the meaning of foreign language vocabulary, and can also be used for remembering the pronunciation of a foreign language word when given a word in one’s native language.3 For example http://remembereverything.org/keyword-method/When you see or hear the German word “Fallschirm”, you are likely able to recall the keyword “falling chimp”.
This in turn should trigger the scene where the chimp fell off a cliff, but was able to open its parachute, and safely sailed to the ground. Ah – Fallschirm means parachute.
The effectiveness of the use of these mnemonic strategies is well documented. Research shows that students, including secondary and college level, remember 2 to 3 times as much factual information, maintain information over delayed recall periods, and enjoy using them. Other research findings “provide evidence that instruction involving the use of mnemonic devices does enhance a student’s formal reasoning skills and that this has the potential for application of knowledge to more varied tasks” 4
Bibliography:
1 Foer, Joshua. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. New York: Penguin, 2011. 30+. Print.
2 Stromeyer, C. F., and J. Psotka. "The Detailed Texture of Eidetic Images." Nature 225.5230 (1970): 346-49. Web.3 Raugh, Michael R., and Richard C. Atkinson. "A Mnemonic Method for Learning a Second-Language Vocabulary." Journal of Educational Psychology 67.1 (1975): 1-16. Web.4 Bakken, Jeffrey P., and Cynthia G. Simpson. "On Mnemonic Strategies: Success for the Young Adult Learner." The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning 7.2 (2011): 2. Web.