Jason Gerbsch                                                             Approximately 220 words

jg33@geneseo.edu

INTD 105-19: Scientific Writing

In his essay, “The Trouble with Wilderness”, Cronon states that the American wilderness is not very natural, more so a construct of man.  He makes two points supporting his view of a constructed wilderness, romanticism and the frontier.  During the colonial eras and the beginning of America, the term wilderness was a word that instilled terror.  Romanticism changed this early on by changing the concept of wilderness from a place of terror, to a place of sacredness.  Romantics tied the wilderness and religion together, using faith to describe the wilderness as places of heavenly beauty and places to be close to God.  The frontier aspect painted the wild as a place of not only religious significance, but also a place for experiencing what it meant to be an American.  Both movements in American history led to the protection of nature not for the sake of protecting it, but for creating places where people can go to abandon their homes in civilization for a time in exchange for a false “home” in nature, where they truly “belong”.

This idea of falsifying nature in order to appease our desire to separate ourselves from civilization I can see with Sturges Hall.  The building, a sign of civilization, covered on ivy in order to appear “natural.”

Jason Gerbsch                                                             Approximately 250 words

jg33@geneseo.edu

INTD 105-19: Scientific Writing

In her essay, “a Cyborg Manifesto”, Haraway has three crucial points that she uses to support her argument on the ways humans have crossed boundaries.  Haraway uses the idea of a cyborg throughout the essay and as a reference point in her three points.

Firstly she covers the boundary of human and animal.  Previously the two remained separated, but now the the theory of evolution and scientific breakthroughs in genetic engineering have blurred this line.  Humans have encroached on the boundary of nature.

The second point she makes is that boundary between man and machine becomes increasingly blurry.  Haraway, points out that as medicine has become more and more advanced, humans are starting to include more artificial parts to themselves (eg prosthetics, enhancement devices such as hearing aids, etc.).  Not to mention that many household appliances and devices we rely on are becoming more and more lifelike, speaking, having personalities, etc.

The third point Haraway makes is the boundary between physical and non-physical.  Whereas much of industry and machines in general used to be physical, big machines with gears and belts and the like, nowadays much of our machines are a facade.  Many are now run by small chips or motherboards full of information, such information we know is there, but intangible. In summary machines are not as “physical” as they once were, becoming more now shells in which to shelter their programming.

Jason Gerbsch                                                             Approximately 250 words

jg33@geneseo.edu

INTD 105-19: Scientific Writing

When most people view Sturges Hall, they just see another brick building, another one of the many buildings on campus, just one of the many structures people walk past everyday, either on their way to classes inside or just a landmark as they pass by.  I however, think of it as a simple, yet perfect example of the boundary between the artificial and the natural.

Not always has the building been here.  Ages ago nature claimed the entire valley.  Then one day, man settled here and cleared away nature for civilization, cutting and slashing and shaping the land to his liking, leaving in nature’s place roads and structures of brick and stone and eventually concrete.  The picture of the vine covered walls of Sturges Hall depict this boundary between man and nature, showing nature slowly taking back what rightfully belongs to it.

Standing and looking at the building from afar reveals nothing but a red and brown building with splashes of green covering large portions of it.  But upon closer inspection, one can see the sign of life clinging to the building, the beginning of the vine at the base of the structure, the plant stretching the entirety of the wall at some spots.  The individual branching vines hugging the the coarse brick, their leaves spreading out, covering the muddy red and brown in a coat of lush green.  The vine covered Sturges Hall is a prime example of the boundary between the wilderness and human habitation, the vines and building coexisting together.