Synthesis Room for Debate

This exercise should work through the process the thinking and writing of a synthesis essay.

Step one:
Read the sources and the introduction information for the debate from the link below:
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/12/05/is-artificial-intelligence-taking-over-our-lives

Step two:
For each source, write a brief summary of the author's claim and then list 2-4 plausible ways the source COULD be used.

Step three:
Create and outline for 8 DIFFERENT arguments that could be supported by the sources.  Use different source combinations or use sources in different ways.

OUTLINE FORMAT:

Thesis statement:  One sentence that states your claim and the backing logic of your claim.(This is not where sources should be listed or discussed).

Topic Sentences:  Two to five(?) topic sentence depending on your organization and need. Each sentence should make a DIRECT connection to your claim from your thesis and a component of your backing logic  (Again, This is not where sources should be listed or discussed).

Sources:  These should be organized below the topic sentence which they support and should include how they will be applied as supporting evidence to your ideas.


EXAMPLE:

Thesis
Artificial intelligence is taking over our lives by limiting our interaction with our environment and the people around us while at the same time opening a door to a 'library' of information never before available in the palm of our hands.

Topic Sentence:
AI reduces our connection to nature, to the sights and sounds that surround us, and diminish our ability to use our five senses in the most natural way.

Source Harbisson could be used to discuss the way we interact with our surroundings:
"We are the first generation that can truly decide who we want to be as a species. We can add new senses and additional organs to extend our bodies’ capacity to experience the world. We can, in effect, redesign ourselves. Our current evolutionary step is to merge with technology and take an active part in the birth of our future selves."


Topic Sentence:
AI disconnects us from our fellow human beings by reducing them to 2 dimensional avatars, text messages, and video clips or digital photographs.

Source Ito could be used to support this claim when he states: " predicted that an open internet would play a significant role in democratizing society and fostering peace. Later, in the early days of the Arab Spring, it felt as though the internet had indeed helped spark the uprising. But as the internet has increasingly become a place for bigotry and malicious trolling as well as a platform for organizations like ISIS to advance a wave of hatred, I wonder, “What hath the internet wrought?”" 



Topic Sentence: AI expands our access to knowledge, data, and intellectual property in a way that previous human societies could never imagine.

Source Popcorn could be used to support this idea:"At the same time, however, voice recognition and transcription software will allow us to speak, not write, our Great American Novels. Translation apps are on the verge of making real-time conversations flow around the globe. Watson, the IBM supercomputer, may have saved a Tokyo woman’s life, diagnosing her rare leukemia when doctors couldn’t"