For Tuesday: Kushner, The Land of the Lost

For Tuesday: Kushner, The Land of the Lost (pp.138-147)

NOTE: Here is the article if you don't have the book: http://www.davidkushner.com/article/land-of-the-lost/

I. DEFINITIONS (define all of the following, but feel free to look up other words as well that you don't know):

phenomenon; languish; detrimental; cognition; tempestous 

II. Answer TWO of the following in a short paragraph each—a few sentences. Remember, give a thoughtful and useful reponse rather than just an ‘answer.’ These are not yes or no questions, and I’m not looking for a specific answer...I want to see how you respond to these questions and what you think the essay is getting at. The more work you put into these questions, the more you’ll have to say/write in your larger papers.

Choose TWO of the following:

Q1: Why does the essay suggest that “Compulsive use of mapping technology may even put us at greater risk for memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease” (140)? How could a technology aid designed to help us get around actually impair or ability to move around?

Q2: Based on the essay, why did Icelanders find Santillan such a fascinating character? Are they making fun of him? Feeling sorry for him? Or something else? What did he come to represent for the Icelandic nation (and perhaps, for the author)?

Q3: For ancient cultures, the author explains, “time reckoning and direction were intertwined” (146). How does this work, and why might this be an important way of seeing the world? Why have we lost this in our own society?

Q4: Scientists now call the phenomenon of dying based on bad GPS directions “death by GPS” (140). Why do you think people would ignore common sense and logic and drive to their doom based on digital directions? Do you most people are more—or less—likely to do this? Or is Santillan an exception?