Month: April 2017

Written by Illyana Helmy

Robophobia is an anxiety disorder which makes a person has an irrational fear of robots, drones or any other robot-like mechanics. It often results a panic attack and always can be triggered by certain stimuli or situation. For instance, it happens while viewing a robot, talking about robots or being near to a robot. The sufferer finds their anxiety levels rise when they are near most autonomous machine especially the human-looking robots. The term robophobia comes from the Czech word which is robota. Robota means “drudgery” and Greekphobos means “fear”. People who are diagnosed with this illness can find the disorder hard to live with. This is because, they will go to great lengths to avoid robots and any situation that may trigger their panic and anxiety. Furthermore, they also will avoid certain machines and computer and much prefer hardwired telephones over using a smartphones. Nowadays, robots can perform many human tasks, often more deftly than we could manage. It also saves us from having to carry out boring tasks and they could be revolutionising many professions. However, when anyone mentions robots, if we are reminded of a movie in 1982 named Blade Runner, it depicts a story of genetically engineered replicants, basically human-like robots, for sure our reaction is to feel so anxious and suspicious due to the frightening scenes from movie itself. There are many reasons we so frightened of robots. Firstly we worry that robots will take over all of our jobs, leaving us out of work and also without a livelihood. For instance nowadays we can see the introduction of driverless cars which has threaten the jobs of professional drivers.

Next, we fear that robots will “take over us” and at the end of the day we will lose control of them. Robots intelligence has the ability to acquire knowledge which we can apply them as necessary. Today robots already show remarkable behavioural and cognitive intelligence. Some robots appear to have emotional intelligence. Such as the famous robot named Ava is the android in sci-fi film Ex Machina says Ava can recognise human emotions but she cannot feel them. Thirdly, we worry one day we won’t be able to tell the difference between a human-like robot (an android) and a real human. Kurt Gray and Daniel Wegner at the North Carolina University showed “we are not particularly bothered by what robots ability to act, until its only when we believe they can feel and sense”. Lastly, advances in technology are very fast that most of us haven’t kept up, and it makes us feel anxious and unsettled. Thus, the only way to alleviate our fears is to educate yourself by learning the terminology and always keep up with what’s happening as best as you can. Although we will use robots in our daily lives, it would be preferable if their creators come up with versions that don’t look like actual human. Professor of Robot Ethics, Alan Winfield explained on how robots have implications for wealth that will be distributed. Most important is we must prioritise not only the technological development of our robots but the ethical programming as well. Meanwhile Professor Stephen Hawking summed up during 2015 Zeitgeist Conference in London he said

“Computers will overtake humans with AI within the next 100 years. When that situation happen, we need to make sure the computers have the same goals with ours”.

Written by Nadiah Zainal

Toastmasters Internationalis a term that is still quite foreign to Malaysians especially the university students. From a quick survey, only 5 out of 20 university students know the word toastmasters and what it is all about. A little bit on the history of toastmasters, according to toastmasters.org, the journey began when Ralph C. Smedley, an education director at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) organized a series of speaking club. At that time, he feels that the men in the community need to learn the essentials of how to speak in order for them to conduct meetings, program planning, and other skills to help them in a social environment

The first toastmasters meeting was first conducted on the 24^th March 1905. In general, we know that the term ‘toast’ is used whenever a person wanted to give toast at an occasions. Smedley take the concept and created the club’s name; ‘Toastmasters’. Today, after 90 years since it started, the club is still standing strong and it is now known as the ‘Toastmasters International’.

People with basic knowledge on toastmasters usually will generalize toastmasters club as a place where people practice public speaking. It is not just a place for people to practice public speaking, it is the place that people can learn lots of skills that will definitely benefit them. Public speaking is not everyone’s cup of tea. Not everyone is good in talking in front of people. Toastmaster will definitely help people that have difficulties in that area. It will give you the skills like how to prepare the speech, how your body should speak (body language), what kind of tone you should use and many more.  Once you have mastered it, it will then give you the confidence when speaking in front of people and how you present yourself to the world.

Speaking from experience, you are also in the learning process whenever you are watching other people speak during toastmaster’s session. Different people have different styles of presenting their words and from that you get a piece of their skills. Furthermore, you will meet people that might have the same difficulties and the same mission as you. This will make it easier for you to practice and be more comfortable as you know that you will be supporting each other to do well.

Toastmaster is not a boring place to be. It might sound nerdy and too academic but it is a fun place to be that has lots of fun activities. And you know that it is the place that will make you a confident and a better communicator.

Once you become a Toastmasters member, you are always welcome to attend any toastmasters meeting in more than 15,900 clubs and in more than 142 countries all over the world. To date, there are more than 345,000 memberships in Toastmasters International Club. You will never be alone because there are always Toastmasters members anywhere you go.

Reference

History: The toastmasters journey. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.toastmasters.org/about/history

Written by Amy Yasmin Roslan

“Unconvinced? Try this anti-double-think exercise. State three objective realities in a row:

A rape joke is not a rape.

A dead baby joke is not a dead baby.

A joke about the Holocaust is not a Holocaust.

Feeling any better?”

(Arlott , 2014)

If you’re an avid Twitter user, you would know that recently a Malaysian female college student disclosed WhatsApp group chats own by a group of male students. The WhatsApp group was used to criticise her and the other new intake of female students. The conversation becomes extreme when one of them stated that he wants to rape her and force her to marry him, which later he claimed was a joke.

The existence of free speech should not be misused by an individual to mask their sick attitudes after saying something awful and insulting. Rape jokes are not funny. It might be funny when it happens to strangers but not when it happens to your family members. Every woman, man even transgender should be given the freedom to walk on the surface of this earth without the fear of someone is going to rape them.

Rape is non-consensual intercourse that violates the victims’ right over their own bodies. Rape is so horrible that some of the victims experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). By joking about rape, we trivialise it thus making actual rape victims less willing to come out about their experiences (Azlan, 2017). Orange County Rape Crisis Center (2016), reported that not only rape jokes offend survivors and their allies, they validate rapists in their behaviour and thinking.

written by Eric Rosli

Social networking sites have become an important tool especially to young adults. In harnessing its potential use in education, students and lecturers should invest in social networking sites to interact and socialize among themselves.

This new dimension allow individuals to connect with their old friends, gather information or any other use that could benefit the individuals. In the West, teachers and students has been using social networking sites as a communication tool. The bi-directional process allows them to communicate and share comments in order to have a better understanding on the learning subject.

Example of social networking sites that have been used are Twitter, Friendster, Myspace, Facebook and Orkut. These digital natives in higher education allow the teachers and learners to express and communicate which help them to enhance their profile, talent and experience.

The emergence of various applications help to create a good environment for the lecturer and student. Higher institutions such as colleges and universities should consider in integrating social networking sites into their academic practice, so that students can gain access to the latest update on current issue or address their concern or problem.

Reference
Abro, M.-u.-R., Li, Z., Chhachhar, A., & Hassan Gillani, S. (2014). Social Networking Sites’ Usage Trends and Adoption Among University Students: A Descriptive Analysis. New Media and Mass Communication, 47-52.
Hamat, A., Embi, M., & Abu Hassan, H. (2012). The Use of Social Networking Sites among Malaysian University Students. International Education Studies, 56-66.
Helou, A., & Ab.Rahim, N. (2014). The Influence of Social Networking Sites on Students’ Academic Performance in Malaysia. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, 247-254.