Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Toscano, Aaron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Conference Presentations
    • PCA/ACA Conference Presentation 2022
    • PCAS/ACAS Presentation 2021
    • SEACS 2021 Presentation
    • South Atlantic MLA Conference 2022
  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-014: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • February 1st: Reflection on Workplace Messages
    • January 11th: More Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Audience & Purpose
    • January 23rd: Résumés and Cover Letters
      • Duty Format for Résumés
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • January 25th: More on Résumés and Cover Letters
    • January 30th: Achieving a Readable Style
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
    • January 9th: Introduction to the Class
    • Major Assignments
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • August 24th: Introduction to the Class
    • August 31st: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2022)
      • Rhetoric of Fear
    • November 16th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Finding Dominant Rhetorical Appeals
    • November 2nd: Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • November 30th: Words and Word Classes
    • November 9th: Cohesive Rhythm
    • October 12th: Choosing Adjectivals
    • October 19th: Choosing Nominals
    • October 26th: Stylistic Variations
    • October 5th: Midterm Exam
    • September 14th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 21st: Coordination and Subordination
    • September 28th: Form and Function
    • September 7th: Sentence Patterns
  • ENGL 4275: Rhetoric of Technology
    • April 13th: Authorities in Science and Technology
    • April 15th: Articles on Violence in Video Games
    • April 20th: Presentations
    • April 6th: Technology in the home
    • April 8th: Writing Discussion
    • Assignments for ENGL 4275
    • February 10th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 12th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 17th: Technology and Gender
    • February 19th: Technology and Expediency
    • February 24th: Semester Review
    • February 3rd: Religion of Technology Part 1 of 3
    • February 5th: Religion of Technology Part 2 of 3
    • January 13th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 15th: Technology and Democracy
    • January 22nd: The Politics of Technology
    • January 27th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • January 29th: Technology and Postmodernism
    • January 8th: Introduction to the Course
    • March 11th: Writing and Other Fun
    • March 16th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 2
    • March 18th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 2
    • March 23rd: Inception (2010)
    • March 25th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • March 30th & April 1st: Count Zero
    • March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 12th: Knoblauch. Ch. 4 and Ch. 5
    • April 19th: Jacques Derrida’s Positions
    • April 26th:  Feminisms and Rhetorics
    • April 5th: Knoblauch. Ch. 3 and More Constitutive Rhetoric
    • February 15th: Isocrates (Part 2)
    • February 1st: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 & 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 22nd: St. Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
    • February 8th: Isocrates (Part 1)-2nd Half of Class
    • January 11th: Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 25th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Book 1
    • March 15th: Descartes, Rene, Discourse on Method
    • March 1st: Knoblauch. Ch. 1 and 2
    • March 22nd: Mary Wollstonecraft
    • March 29th: Second Wave Feminist Rhetoric
    • May 3rd: Knoblauch. Ch. 6, 7, and “Afterword”
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • ENGL/COMM/WRDS: The Rhetoric of Fear
    • January 10th: Introduction to the Class
    • January 17th: Scapegoats & Conspiracies
    • January 24th: The Rhetoric of Fear and Fallacies Part 1
    • January 31st: Fallacies Part 2 and American Politics Part 1
    • Major Assignments
  • LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127
    • August 21st: Introduction to Class
    • August 23rd: Humanistic Approach to Science Fiction
    • August 26th: Robots and Zombies
    • August 28th: Futurism, an Introduction
    • August 30th: R. A. Lafferty “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
    • December 2nd: Technological Augmentation
    • December 4th: Posthumanism
    • November 11th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2)
    • November 13th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2 con’t)
    • November 18th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 1)
      • More Questions than Answers
    • November 1st: Games Reality Plays (part II)
    • November 20th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 2)
    • November 6th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 1)
    • October 14th: More Autonomous Fun
    • October 16th: Autonomous Conclusion
    • October 21st: Sci Fi in the Domestic Sphere
    • October 23rd: Social Aphasia
    • October 25th: Dust in the Wind
    • October 28th: Gender Liminality and Roles
    • October 2nd: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • October 30th: Games Reality Plays (part I)
    • October 9th: Approaching Autonomous
      • Analyzing Prose in Autonomous
    • September 11th: The Time Machine
    • September 16th: The Alien Other
    • September 18th: Post-apocalyptic Worlds
    • September 20th: Dystopian Visions
    • September 23rd: World’s Beyond
    • September 25th: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • September 30th: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • September 4th: Science Fiction and Social Breakdown
      • More on Ellison
      • More on Forster
    • September 9th: The Time Machine
  • LBST 2213-110: Science, Technology, and Society
    • August 22nd: Science and Technology from a Humanistic Perspective
    • August 24th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • August 29th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • August 31st: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • December 5th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • November 14th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 16th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 21st: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 28th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 30th: Violence in Video Games
    • November 7th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes Ch. 1-17
    • November 9th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes, Ch. 18-26
    • October 12th: Lies Economics Tells
    • October 17th: Brief Histories of Medicine, Salerno, and Galen
    • October 19th: Politicizing Science and Medicine
    • October 24th: COVID-19 Facial Covering Rhetoric
    • October 26th: Wells, H. G. Time Machine. Ch. 1-5
    • October 31st: Wells, H. G. The Time Machine Ch. 6-The End
    • October 3rd: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 12th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 19th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Prefaces and Ch. 1
    • September 26th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 2
    • September 28th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • September 7th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 5 and 6
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2021)
    • April 13th: Virtually ‘Real’ Environments
    • April 20th: Rhetoric/Composition Defines New Media
    • April 27th: Sub/Cultural Politics, Hegemony, and Agency
    • April 6th: Capitalist Realism
    • February 16: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 23rd: Our Public Sphere and the Media
    • February 2nd: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • January 26th: Introduction to New Media
    • Major Assignments for New Media (Spring 2021)
    • March 16th: Identity Politics
    • March 23rd: Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality
    • March 2nd: Foundational Thinkers in Cultural Studies
    • March 30th: Hyperreality
    • March 9th: Globalization & Postmodernism
    • May 4th: Wrapping Up The Semester
      • Jodi Dean “The The Illusion of Democracy” & “Communicative Capitalism”
      • Social Construction of Sexuality
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2020)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 11th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 15th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 16th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 17th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 18th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 1st: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 2nd: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 3rd: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 4th: “Burning Chrome”
    • June 8th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 9th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • May 18th: Introduction to Class
    • May 19th: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 20th: The Matrix
    • May 21st: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 25th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 26th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 27th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • A Practical Editing Situation
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Fordism/Taylorism
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • Isaac Asimov’s “A Cult of Ignorance”
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Marxist Theory (cultural analysis)
    • Oral Presentations
    • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire
  • Video Games & American Culture
    • April 14th: Phallocentrism
    • April 21st: Video Games and Neoliberalism
    • April 7th: Video Games and Conquest
    • Assignments for Video Games & American Culture
    • February 10th: Aesthetics and Culture
    • February 17th: Narrative and Catharsis
    • February 24th: Serious Games
    • February 3rd: More History of Video Games
    • January 13th: Introduction to the course
    • January 20th: Introduction to Video Game Studies
    • January 27th: Games & Culture
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
    • March 24th: Realism, Interpretation(s), and Meaning Making
    • March 31st: Feminist Perspectives and Politics
    • March 3rd: Risky Business?

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 255F
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
LBST 2213-110: Science, Technology, and Society » November 14th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end

November 14th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end

Plan for the Day

  • Note about Weekly Discussion Post #13 and #14
    • Weekly Discussion Post #13 is due Friday, 11/18, 11:00pm
    • You don’t have a discussion post for next week because of Thanksgiving Break
    • Weekly Discussion Post #14 (worth 40 points) will be due after Thanksgiving Break (12/02)
  • Wrapping up Planet of the Apes (below)
    • What’s all this Monkey business around Planète des Singes?
    • The French word singe actually translates as “monkey”
    • Consider the choice of “ape” vs. “monkey”
  • Read reviews of Planet of the Apes:
    The Complete Review of The Planet of the Apes
    Tor.com’s Review of The Planet of the Apes
  • Did you hear about those poor monkeys force into labor?!? (Not required reading but tangentially related to our class)

Planète des Singes

We’ll be wrapping up our discussion of Pierre Boulle’s novel. I’m not sure how much value showing parts of the films will be, but, remember, I’ll ask very specific (and not-so-specific) questions on the final that will show whether or not you’ve read the novel or just watched a film adaptation. Below we’re going to start by thinking about the Soror Ape society and what roles the different groups play—gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees…and humans.

Non-hierarchal Society

Compare this discussion with the one on The Time Machine where The Time Traveller points out that the future had no challenges left to conquer. What did he think that led to? Think about collectivistic vs. individualistic cultures. Soror doesn’t have nations: “a council of ministers, at the head of which is a triumvirate consisting of one gorilla, one orangutan, and on chimpanzee” (p. 150).

  • p. 150: “[T]here is also a parliament composed of three chambers:” gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees.
  • p. 150: “In principle they all have equal rights and are allowed to occupy any position.”
  • p. 152: “any form of hierarchy is contested.”
  • p. 154: “The unification of the planet, the absence of war and military expenditures…strike me as being factors that would foster rapid progress in every realm of the simian world.”

Scientific Establishment

Obviously, this book is a satire on politics and probably satirizes the politics of establishment science the most. The orangutans “are Official Science” (p. 128 and 152), but, as Cornelius and Zira describe the chimpanzees make the most contributions to science.

  • p. 120: Ulysse laments that Zira might consider him to be “an animal: an intelligent animal, perhaps, but by no means an intellectual one.” But…
  • p. 122-123: “It was a spiritual communion that had been established between Zira and me through the medium of geometry.”
  • p. 129: Zira believes humans on Soror are “incapable of progressing and acquiring a precise knowledge of the universe. Because of this he has never been able to use a tool with any success.”
  • p. 133: “[Zira] subsequently told me that for a long time she had preferred to regard me as a sorcerer or a charlatan rather than accept my statements.”
    Why would a scientist—or anyone—want that belief even for a little while?
  • p. 141: “‘[Zaius]’s as stubborn as a mule and as stupid as a man!’ Zira burst out….nothing will make him change his opinion.”
  • p. 144: “[T]here are also, among the scientists, a few chimpanzees whom the Academy has been obliged to admit because of their sensational discoveries.”
  • p. 152: Zira’s view of orangutans—“Pompous, solemn, pedantic, devoid of originality and critical sense, intent on preserving tradition, blind and deaf to all innovation, they form the substratum of every academy.”
  • p. 153: “Not so long ago…school textbooks still stated that the planet Soror was the center of the world, although this heresy had been rejected long before by every ape of even mediocre intelligence.”
  • pp. 155-156: The chimps have a thirst to answer scientific questions—they want to know their origins, to create knowledge.
  • p. 192: “[T]he Grand Council granted” Ulysse the chance to collaborate with Cornelius even though “[t]he authorities still appeared reluctant to admit [his] nature and origin.”

Public Opinion on Science

Wait a minute! The Public doesn’t establish science, so why would public opinion be important?

  • p. 143: “[P]ublic opinion is a more powerful element than Zaius, more powerful than all the orangutans combined, more powerful even than the gorillas.”
  • p. 180: “[P]ublic opinion demanded [Ulysse go free]and they had to yield.”
  • p. 181: Ulysse “knew what a powerful support the press could be.”
    • His being a journalist is relevant here.

Civilization

Towards the end of the novel, we learn about what it means to have a civilization. We also learn how apes came to rule the Monkey Planet.

  • p. 204: “It seems that this prehistoric city was not very different from those of the present day.”
    • For that to be true, what might the comment on technology (technological advancement) be?
  • p. 210: “What is it that characterizes a civilization?” “It is principally the arts, and first and foremost, literature.”
  • p. 211: “[O]nce an original book has been written–and no more than one or two appear in a century–men of letters imitate it.”
  • p. 212: “It seemed absolutely clear that industry did not require the presence of a rational being to maintain itself. Basically, industry consisted of manual laborers, always performing the selfsame tasks, who could easily be replaced by apes.”
    • Can you be replaced by a machine (or an ape)?
  • p. 250: On politics–“The gorillas have not yet adopted an official stand, but they are always against anything that tends to disturb law and order.”

Education

In class we discussed the issues surrounding the need for creativity and imagination in education. Although the novel doesn’t spend too much time on education, we can conclude that Boulle is making a pointed comment on the problem of rote memorization as a pedagogical practice.

  • p. 200: “It begins in childhood. All our education is based on imitation.”
    • Consider the meaning of the verb “ape”
  • p. 200: “’It’s the orangutans…They force every young monkey to repeat the errors of his ancestors.”
  • p. 201: “The dark ages the chimpanzee deplored had lasted about ten thousand years.”
  • p. 241: Machine that explains what happened–“…not only her own individual memory but the memory of the species
    • Obviously, I hope, this idea of a memory of a species is metaphoric. Could it be based on a science of memory, cognition, or socialization?
  • p. 243: On reading…”A cerebral laziness has taken hold of us. No more books; even detective novels have now become too great an intellectual effort.”
    • Why mention “detective novels” and intellectual effort?
  • p. 246: “I’m not unhappy. I have no more worries or responsibilities. Most of us are adapting ourselves to this regime [being the apes slaves…or pets].”
  • p. 246: “Here we have stayed put, mainly from laziness. We sleep; we are incapable of organizing ourselves for resistance…”
  • Relax! Now, everything is done for you…
  • p. 262: “To hell with the professor….he has apparently found a satisfactory solution to the problem of existence.”
    • What does Ulysse mean by “the problem of existence”?

Critic vs. Critical

I came across a review on the novel The Planet of the Apes. It is a surface reading of the novel and devoid of critical thinking. I thought, “what a useless review,” but then I managed to think of a pedagogical reason to include it. Sorry for the cliché, but it’s a teaching moment:

The Complete Review’s review of The Planet of the Apes

After reading the review, consider how the review presents its criticism. What does the author value? Pay attention to the “B+” rating at the beginning and the descriptive words the author uses to refer to plot devices and setting.

A critic often provides criticism, which isn’t the same as critical thought, which requires critical thinking. In English Studies, we often try to separate a text’s value from reading it purely for entertainment. A critic isn’t usually able to think about metaphor, allusion, and cultural constructions of texts. Therefore, they focus on believability, excitement, coherence, and taste/conviction. It’s unfortunate that critical analysis, the higher form of interpretation, shares the same root as “critic.” Critics write reviews akin to book reports; students in the academy write essays.

After reading the review, consider the tone and content of the piece. Specifically, consider what the reviewer decided to focus on and how you feel about that approach. Obviously, reviews are short (well, effective ones are), so things will be missing, but you should be able to recognize what the reviewer privileges based on what’s mentioned.

Whenever anyone communicates–professor, friend, journalist, scientist, etc.–they pick and choose what to (re)present to an audience. In other words, the communicator filters the information based on biases, assumptions, audiences, and purposes. So what?

Time permitting. Here’s a slightly better review of the novel. Besides calling the planet “Sonor,” what other flaws do you see with the review?

Next Class

On to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein!!! I should have put this closer to Halloween, but Planet of the Apes follows The Time Machine well. You can read Frankenstein for free online.

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