Chapters in the Textbook
Chapter 1
Logan is set in 2029, which is less than a decade away from the current year, and depicts multiple forms of technology that exist in some form today. It is possible to compare how these forms of technology are predicted to change society to how they changed society in Logan.
Autonomous trucks are shown in Logan when Logan, Charles, and Laura are driving down the highway. These trucks seemingly have completely replaced human drivers and do not have the tractor where a driver would usually sit. It can be assumed that the job of drivers has been made completely obsolete due to automated trucks, which would explain the lack of a tractor. In 2020, autonomous trucks are beginning to be developed [1]. The trucking industry believes that the United States will soon have Level 4 trucks, with Level 4 meaning that the truck can drive completely on its own under some conditions [1]. Contrary to what Logan depicts, however, these trucks are not going to take truck drivers’ jobs anytime soon. Drivers will still be needed in order to monitor the trucks as they drive and in order to take control of the trucks at the beginning and end of a route [1]. In this way, autonomous trucks may actually create jobs, with different drivers being used at the start and at the destination [1]. Level 5 trucks, which could be self-driving in all conditions, will not be created for decades [1].
Mechanical limbs are also depicted in Logan, mostly through the appearance of Donald Pierce, who has a mechanical arm. His arm is shown to be able to perform actions that require fine motor skills, such as removing a piece of paper from a plastic sleeve. Additionally, multiple members of the Reavers have mechanical arms as well, which shows that they are far from uncommon in their society. Current society has made progress in the prosthetic limb department. In 2016, a study was done where a man was given a prosthetic arm and hand that could feel things [2]. The arm could also perform precise tasks, such as putting on a wedding ring [2]. This technology is very similar to the mechanical arms shown in Logan, but the current day ones look more like real arms, while Donald Pierce’s arm is very obviously robotic. Overall, the technology to create prosthetic arms is approaching the technology shown in Logan, though the fluidity of motion still needs to be improved.
Automated farming also plays a role in Logan. When Logan, Charles, and Laura meet the Munsons, they find out that most of the surrounding land has been bought up by a large company that automated the farming using machines. This situation makes it harder for smaller farmers, like the Munsons, to compete. Additionally, they are constantly being pressured into selling their farm. In the current day, automated farming is beginning to occur [3]. Robots are being created that can harvest foods like strawberries, and they could eventually replace approximately half of the workers [3]. The ones who are not let go, however, will likely be paid more than they currently are [3]. Additionally, the swap to automated farming will not be complete for at least 5 to 10 years [3]. With Logan occurring in 2029, it is possible that automated harvesting could arrive before then. As for livestock, many smaller farms have already been bought by giant farms [4]. These companies use computers to monitor livestock and to feed them [4]. In this way, the automated farming depicted in Logan is already partially a reality and has already impacted our society.
Chapter 2
The first challenge to ethics that we discussed was the treatment of mutants throughout the film. The Alkali-Transigen corporation breeds mutant children in a laboratory using the DNA of other mutants, with the goal of creating a new type of soldier. While doing so, they are treating the mutant children as a means to an end; raising them solely for experiments, and not giving them basic care or individual rights. Once Transigen discovered an alternative to the mutant children, they began hunting them down, again treating their experiments as a means to an end and violating their right to life.
Even though mutant children aren’t normal humans, we can see that they still possess the full range of human emotions despite their differences, as they enjoy the birthday party thrown by Gabriela, and they show signs of depression (e.g. suicide attempts) in response to their imprisonment. While modern day genetic engineering is nowhere close to creating X-Men, the ethics of CRISPR technology for Human Germline Genome Editing (HGGE) has been contended. The Nuffield Council of bioethics has supported a ban on this technology, arguing that not only will HGGE affect the treatment and welfare of the edited child, but widespread use of this editing would cause larger social inequities in society, with economic privilege taking effect at the genetic level. [1.].
Agents from Transigen also used violence and torture to aid their pursuit of the mutant children. The victims of these actions, similar to the mutants themselves, are another case of people used as a means to an end.
[1] Britta C van Beers, Rewriting the human genome, rewriting human rights law? Human rights, human dignity, and human germline modification in the CRISPR era, Journal of Law and the Biosciences, , lsaa006, https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsaa006
Chapter 3
Aside from the infrequent usage of cell phones, Networked Communications do not play a large role in this film. The main characters tend to stick together, and most of their communication over long distances occurs through the physical anomaly created by Professor X’s seizures. There are one or two instances of video surveillance used by Transigen, as they use drones to track down the mutants. And surprisingly, despite all the destruction throughout the film, the public is relatively unaware of what is going on, with news and TV broadcasts only covering the conclusion to one battle at a hotel.
Chapter 4
The topic of intellectual property becomes very relevant to Logan during the first half of the movie. The first topic that comes up is the concept of trademarks when concerning the Transigen Research facility. The name Transigen is trademarked for the pharmaceutical research facility. By having a trademark, the company ensures that the public can trust in the products produced by the research done at the company facility [1].
Going forward, the movie then explores the idea of trade secrets within the Transigen Research facility. The right of a company to protect its trade secrets are recognized by many governments around the world, and the only requirement to maintain a trade secret is ensure that it is not discovered [2]. In Logan , the trade secret of Transigen is rather dubious, considering that it involves the breeding of children that have never once left the research facility. The company is publicly meant to help research pediatric cancer, when in reality the company is instead trying to create super soldiers using genetic material of mutants from the X-Men universe. As I previously stated, this was a secret in which the only way anyone could find out would be for someone to leak the information [2]. In the movie, this is exactly what happens, as we see a rogue nurse has filmed some of the incidents in the facilities, as well as constructed a plan to get the children out.
​
Upon finding out this information, we are faced with another topic concerning intellectual property, which is the patents for the technology used to help create the new mutants. The topic of patents are similar to trade secrets, with the main difference being that patents are made public and that the protection ends after a period of 20 years, rather than as long as you can keep the secret. In this situation, the company has patented much of the technology used to genetically engineer these children from birth, and it is important to consider the idea of genetic material being property. At what point does the legal process invade on a person’s right to privacy and to life? The children were essentially created to be the property of the company, however they are still human beings. In this case, the idea of analyzing what is and isn’t eligible for legal protection is interesting for a fictional world such as the one in the film Logan.
​
[1] https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics/trademark-patent-or-copyright
[2] https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/trade_secret
[3] https://www.prv.se/en/patents/applying-for-a-patent/before-the-application/what-cannot-be-patented/
Chapter 5
Logan features a few issues that connect with Chapter 5’s topic of Information Privacy. Some of these issues can be connected with similar situations that have occurred in modern day society.
In the beginning of the film, Logan is shown to be a limo driver. He receives addresses that he has to go to via his smartphone. This can be related to a service that exists today, which is Uber. Both applications provide drivers with the ability to see where their passengers are located, which is out of necessity in order to do the job. Information privacy comes into play when it has to be decided whether the company should keep the address after a passenger is dropped off at their destination. Until 2018, Uber kept a record of every pick-up and drop-off location for each rider, which could be accessed by the drivers [1]. While Logan does not go into the privacy aspect of sharing addresses, it does use similar technology to the kind that is plagued with privacy issues in today’s society.
In the film, it is said that Laura and the other children who were raised in the facility did not have birth certificates. Given that keeping the children a secret was important, it is interesting to investigate the importance of a birth certificate. Birth certificates are kept at a government agency and are used to enroll in school, apply for a passport, and claim insurance benefits and pension [2]. These documents are not available online but can easily be ordered online [3]. In some states, birth certificates can be ordered by anyone, not just by relatives or the person themselves [4]. An individual’s privacy is arguably violated when a person obtains their birth certificate with the individual’s permission. Since a person’s birth certificate is not difficult to request online, it makes sense that the facility would not want the children to have one.
DNA also plays a large role in Logan because Laura is a result of Logan’s DNA. DNA can definitely be considered personal information, and the question about who should be allowed to access that information is a debated topic. In 2019, a police officer gained a warrant that allowed him to search the GEDMatch database of genetic profiles [5]. This warrant was legal because GEDMatch had told users that their data may be used for non-genealogical reasons [5]. This story brings attention to the question of who should be able to access information about a person’s DNA. In Logan, it is clear that Logan was unaware that his DNA was being used to create a human weapon, which ties to the real world’s debate on consensual DNA usage. In 2020, it was ruled that immigration officers could take the DNA of immigrants in custody without their consent [6]. While the cloning depicted in Logan is not a reality yet, the nonconsensual collection and use of DNA is already becoming a reality.
​
[1] https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/uber-rider-history-obscure-location/
[2] https://www.usa.gov/replace-vital-documents
Chapter 6
The entire plot of the film is jump-started by a woman named Gabriella. She works for a private genetic laboratory based in Mexico City. She mentions that the company is based in Mexico to subvert certain ethical laws in place in Canada and America. She can be considered a whistleblower in this regard because she gives out private information regarding the inner workings of the lab to Logan with the intent of stopping the experimentation. “On the simplest level, a whistleblower is someone who reports waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, or dangers to public health and safety to someone who is in the position to rectify the wrongdoing.”[1] She pays for her bravery with her life in the first act of the film.
The laboratory Gabriella worked for called Transigen Research. This company is a subsidiary of a US-based company. Again, as she explains to circumvent any regulations that the US has on the experimentation they do. The company keeps its trials very secret in order to avoid public scrutiny. This brings up a similar ethical problem as discussed in chapter 2. This also brings up the question of why this type of research is not regulated in Mexico. The government does regulate this type of research in the US today, there is also similar legislation in Mexico[2][3].
​
[1] What is a whistleblower, (whistleblowers.org, No date listed), (https://www.whistleblowers.org/what-is-a-whistleblower/, November 17, 2020)
[2] Government Regulation, (ori.hhs.gov, No date listed),( https://ori.hhs.gov/content/chapter-1-rules-road-government-regulation, November 17, 2020)
[3] Clinical Regulations of Mexico, (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, October 22, 2020),( https://clinregs.niaid.nih.gov/country/mexico#_top, November 17, 2020)
​
Chapter 7
Despite being set in the future, Logan does not really touch upon any of the topics presented in the chapter about Computer and Network security. At almost no point during the film do we see any characters even interact with any computer or other such device other than a cell phone. However, there are some instances in the movie that are somewhat related to the idea of spyware. One of the mutants shown in the film has the ability to track the location of other mutants by smell, which is somewhat related to the idea of spyware within a computer. Essentially the mutant is able to catch onto a particular smell, and from the begin to follow their trail in order to track down their location. In the case of spyware, the program is able to latch onto a particular computer or device, and then “smell” the different activities that are performed and report that to a host computer [1].
​
[1] https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-how-to-catch-spyware-before-it-snags-you.html
Chapter 1
Logan is set in 2029, which is less than a decade away from the current year, and depicts multiple forms of technology that exist in some form today. It is possible to compare how these forms of technology are predicted to change society to how they changed society in Logan.
Autonomous trucks are shown in Logan when Logan, Charles, and Laura are driving down the highway. These trucks seemingly have completely replaced human drivers and do not have the tractor where a driver would usually sit. It can be assumed that the job of drivers has been made completely obsolete due to automated trucks, which would explain the lack of a tractor. In 2020, autonomous trucks are beginning to be developed [1]. The trucking industry believes that the United States will soon have Level 4 trucks, with Level 4 meaning that the truck can drive completely on its own under some conditions [1]. Contrary to what Logan depicts, however, these trucks are not going to take truck drivers’ jobs anytime soon. Drivers will still be needed in order to monitor the trucks as they drive and in order to take control of the trucks at the beginning and end of a route [1]. In this way, autonomous trucks may actually create jobs, with different drivers being used at the start and at the destination [1]. Level 5 trucks, which could be self-driving in all conditions, will not be created for decades [1].
Mechanical limbs are also depicted in Logan, mostly through the appearance of Donald Pierce, who has a mechanical arm. His arm is shown to be able to perform actions that require fine motor skills, such as removing a piece of paper from a plastic sleeve. Additionally, multiple members of the Reavers have mechanical arms as well, which shows that they are far from uncommon in their society. Current society has made progress in the prosthetic limb department. In 2016, a study was done where a man was given a prosthetic arm and hand that could feel things [2]. The arm could also perform precise tasks, such as putting on a wedding ring [2]. This technology is very similar to the mechanical arms shown in Logan, but the current day ones look more like real arms, while Donald Pierce’s arm is very obviously robotic. Overall, the technology to create prosthetic arms is approaching the technology shown in Logan, though the fluidity of motion still needs to be improved.
Automated farming also plays a role in Logan. When Logan, Charles, and Laura meet the Munsons, they find out that most of the surrounding land has been bought up by a large company that automated the farming using machines. This situation makes it harder for smaller farmers, like the Munsons, to compete. Additionally, they are constantly being pressured into selling their farm. In the current day, automated farming is beginning to occur [3]. Robots are being created that can harvest foods like strawberries, and they could eventually replace approximately half of the workers [3]. The ones who are not let go, however, will likely be paid more than they currently are [3]. Additionally, the swap to automated farming will not be complete for at least 5 to 10 years [3]. With Logan occurring in 2029, it is possible that automated harvesting could arrive before then. As for livestock, many smaller farms have already been bought by giant farms [4]. These companies use computers to monitor livestock and to feed them [4]. In this way, the automated farming depicted in Logan is already partially a reality and has already impacted our society.
[1] Cliff Abbott, “A peek into the future: Autonomous trucks are coming, but drivers will still be needed”, (The Trucker, June 22, 2020), https://www.thetrucker.com/trucking-news/the-nation/a-peek-into-the-future-autonomous-trucks-are-coming-but-drivers-will-still-be-needed (November 16, 2020)
[2] Luisa Torres, “Improved Prosthetic Hand Has A Lighter Touch And Easy Grip”, (NPR, July 24, 2019), https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/07/24/744601440/improved-prosthetic-hand-gains-a-lighter-touch-and-easy-grip (November 16, 2020)
[3] Twilight Greenaway, “The Robots are Coming to Harvest Your Food. What Will it Mean for Farmworkers and Rural Communities?”, (Civil Eats, September 29, 2020), https://civileats.com/2020/09/29/automated-harvest-is-coming-what-will-it-mean-for-farmworkers-and-rural-communities/ (November 16, 2020)
[4] Chris McGreal, “How America’s food giants swallowed the family farms”, (The Guardian, March 9, 2019), https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/09/american-food-giants-swallow-the-family-farms-iowa (November 16, 2020)
Chapter 2
The first challenge to ethics that we discussed was the treatment of mutants throughout the film. The Alkali-Transigen corporation breeds mutant children in a laboratory using the DNA of other mutants, with the goal of creating a new type of soldier. While doing so, they are treating the mutant children as a means to an end; raising them solely for experiments, and not giving them basic care or individual rights. Once Transigen discovered an alternative to the mutant children, they began hunting them down, again treating their experiments as a means to an end and violating their right to life.
Even though mutant children aren’t normal humans, we can see that they still possess the full range of human emotions despite their differences, as they enjoy the birthday party thrown by Gabriela, and they show signs of depression (e.g. suicide attempts) in response to their imprisonment. While modern day genetic engineering is nowhere close to creating X-Men, the ethics of CRISPR technology for Human Germline Genome Editing (HGGE) has been contended. The Nuffield Council of bioethics has supported a ban on this technology, arguing that not only will HGGE affect the treatment and welfare of the edited child, but widespread use of this editing would cause larger social inequities in society, with economic privilege taking effect at the genetic level. [1.].
Agents from Transigen also used violence and torture to aid their pursuit of the mutant children. The victims of these actions, similar to the mutants themselves, are another case of people used as a means to an end.
[1] Britta C van Beers, Rewriting the human genome, rewriting human rights law? Human rights, human dignity, and human germline modification in the CRISPR era, Journal of Law and the Biosciences, , lsaa006, https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsaa006
Chapter 3
Networked Communications play a critical role at the beginning of the film. Logan works as a limo driver for an app similar to Uber, which is how he comes in contact with Gabriella and Laura. This app shows the locations of passengers, much like Uber. His cell phone was the primary method of communication with Gabriella up until her murder. We do not know how Transigen found Gabriella, but it is possible that they were able to get location records from the Uber-like application. This raises privacy issues similar to what happened in 2018, when Uber was forced to stop keeping a database of all pick-up and drop-off locations for each ride. [6].
After getting Laura, the usage of Networked Communications is more limited, as the main characters tend to stick together, and most of their communication over long distances occurs through the physical anomaly created by Professor X’s seizures. There are one or two instances of video surveillance used by Transigen, as they use drones to track down the mutants. And surprisingly, despite all the destruction throughout the film, the public is relatively unaware of what is going on, with news and TV broadcasts only covering the conclusion to one battle at a hotel.
​
[6] Kyle Hyatt, “Uber will finally stop letting your ex-drivers see your exact address”, (CNET, April 23, 2018), https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/uber-rider-history-obscure-location/ (November 16, 2020)
Chapter 4
The topic of intellectual property becomes very relevant to Logan during the first half of the movie. The first topic that comes up is the concept of trademarks when concerning the Transigen Research facility. The name Transigen is trademarked for the pharmaceutical research facility. By having a trademark, the company ensures that the public can trust in the products produced by the research done at the company facility [1].
Going forward, the movie then explores the idea of trade secrets within the Transigen Research facility. The right of a company to protect its trade secrets are recognized by many governments around the world, and the only requirement to maintain a trade secret is ensure that it is not discovered [2]. In Logan , the trade secret of Transigen is rather dubious, considering that it involves the breeding of children that have never once left the research facility. The company is publicly meant to help research pediatric cancer, when in reality the company is instead trying to create super soldiers using genetic material of mutants from the X-Men universe. As I previously stated, this was a secret in which the only way anyone could find out would be for someone to leak the information [2]. In the movie, this is exactly what happens, as we see a rogue nurse has filmed some of the incidents in the facilities, as well as constructed a plan to get the children out.
​
Upon finding out this information, we are faced with another topic concerning intellectual property, which is the patents for the technology used to help create the new mutants. The topic of patents are similar to trade secrets, with the main difference being that patents are made public and that the protection ends after a period of 20 years, rather than as long as you can keep the secret. In this situation, the company has patented much of the technology used to genetically engineer these children from birth, and it is important to consider the idea of genetic material being property. At what point does the legal process invade on a person’s right to privacy and to life? The children were essentially created to be the property of the company, however they are still human beings. In this case, the idea of analyzing what is and isn’t eligible for legal protection is interesting for a fictional world such as the one in the film Logan.
​
[1]Trademark, Patent, or Copyright?, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 25 Sept. 2020, www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics/trademark-patent-or-copyright.
[2] Trade secret, Legal Information Institute, www.law.cornell.edu/wex/trade_secret#.
[3]What cannot be patented?, Swedish Intellectual Property Office, www.prv.se/en/patents/applying-for-a-patent/before-the-application/what-cannot-be-patented/.
Chapter 5
Logan features a few issues that connect with Chapter 5’s topic of Information Privacy. Some of these issues can be connected with similar situations that have occurred in modern day society.
In the beginning of the film, Logan is shown to be a limo driver. He receives addresses that he has to go to via his smartphone. This can be related to a service that exists today, which is Uber. Both applications provide drivers with the ability to see where their passengers are located, which is out of necessity in order to do the job. Information privacy comes into play when it has to be decided whether the company should keep the address after a passenger is dropped off at their destination. Until 2018, Uber kept a record of every pick-up and drop-off location for each rider, which could be accessed by the drivers [1]. While Logan does not go into the privacy aspect of sharing addresses, it does use similar technology to the kind that is plagued with privacy issues in today’s society.
In the film, it is said that Laura and the other children who were raised in the facility did not have birth certificates. Given that keeping the children a secret was important, it is interesting to investigate the importance of a birth certificate. Birth certificates are kept at a government agency and are used to enroll in school, apply for a passport, and claim insurance benefits and pension [2]. These documents are not available online but can easily be ordered online [3]. In some states, birth certificates can be ordered by anyone, not just by relatives or the person themselves [4]. An individual’s privacy is arguably violated when a person obtains their birth certificate with the individual’s permission. Since a person’s birth certificate is not difficult to request online, it makes sense that the facility would not want the children to have one.
DNA also plays a large role in Logan because Laura is a result of Logan’s DNA. DNA can definitely be considered personal information, and the question about who should be allowed to access that information is a debated topic. In 2019, a police officer gained a warrant that allowed him to search the GEDMatch database of genetic profiles [5]. This warrant was legal because GEDMatch had told users that their data may be used for non-genealogical reasons [5]. This story brings attention to the question of who should be able to access information about a person’s DNA. In Logan, it is clear that Logan was unaware that his DNA was being used to create a human weapon, which ties to the real world’s debate on consensual DNA usage. In 2020, it was ruled that immigration officers could take the DNA of immigrants in custody without their consent [6]. While the cloning depicted in Logan is not a reality yet, the nonconsensual collection and use of DNA is already becoming a reality.
​
[1] Kyle Hyatt, “Uber will finally stop letting your ex-drivers see your exact address”, (CNET, April 23, 2018), https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/uber-rider-history-obscure-location/ (November 16, 2020)
[2] USA.gov, “Replace Your Vital Records”, (USA.gov, July 9, 2020), https://www.usa.gov/replace-vital-documents (November 16, 2020)
[3] VitalChek, “What We Do”, (VitalChek), https://www.vitalchek.com/content/whatwedo.aspx (November 16, 2020)
[4]David Trilling, “Birth, marriage and death: How to find vital records”, (Journalist’s Resource, September 11, 2017), https://journalistsresource.org/tip-sheets/birth-marriage-death-vital-records-genealogy/#:~:text=Back%20in%20Massachusetts%2C%20birth%20certificates,the%20time%20of%20the%20birth (November 16, 2020)
[5] John Naughton, “When governments have access to DNA databases, you’re right to be scared”, (The Guardian, November 9, 2019), https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/09/when-governments-have-access-to-dna-databases-youre-right-to-be-scared (November 16, 2020)
[6] Michelle Hackman, “Trump Administration to Collect DNA From Immigrants Taken Into Custody”, (The Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2020), https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-to-collect-dna-from-immigrants-taken-into-custody-11583470503 (November 16, 2020)
Chapter 6
The entire plot of the film is jump-started by a woman named Gabriella. She works for a private genetic laboratory based in Mexico City. She mentions that the company is based in Mexico to subvert certain ethical laws in place in Canada and America. She can be considered a whistleblower in this regard because she gives out private information regarding the inner workings of the lab to Logan with the intent of stopping the experimentation. “On the simplest level, a whistleblower is someone who reports waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, or dangers to public health and safety to someone who is in the position to rectify the wrongdoing.”[1] She pays for her bravery with her life in the first act of the film.
The laboratory Gabriella worked for called Transigen Research. This company is a subsidiary of a US-based company. Again, as she explains to circumvent any regulations that the US has on the experimentation they do. The company keeps its trials very secret in order to avoid public scrutiny. This brings up a similar ethical problem as discussed in chapter 2. This also brings up the question of why this type of research is not regulated in Mexico. The government does regulate this type of research in the US today, there is also similar legislation in Mexico[2][3].
​
[1] What is a whistleblower, (whistleblowers.org, No date listed), (https://www.whistleblowers.org/what-is-a-whistleblower/, November 17, 2020)
[2] Government Regulation, (ori.hhs.gov, No date listed),( https://ori.hhs.gov/content/chapter-1-rules-road-government-regulation, November 17, 2020)
[3] Clinical Regulations of Mexico, (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, October 22, 2020),( https://clinregs.niaid.nih.gov/country/mexico#_top, November 17, 2020)
​
Chapter 7
Despite being set in the future, Logan does not really touch upon any of the topics presented in the chapter about Computer and Network security. At almost no point during the film do we see any characters even interact with any computer or other such device other than a cell phone. However, there are some instances in the movie that are somewhat related to the idea of spyware. One of the mutants shown in the film has the ability to track the location of other mutants by smell, which is somewhat related to the idea of spyware within a computer. Essentially the mutant is able to catch onto a particular smell, and from the begin to follow their trail in order to track down their location. In the case of spyware, the program is able to latch onto a particular computer or device, and then “smell” the different activities that are performed and report that to a host computer [1].
​
[1] What is spyware? And how to remove it, Norton LifeLock Inc., 9 Aug. 2019, us.norton.com/internetsecurity-how-to-catch-spyware-before-it-snags-you.html .
Chapter 8
Chapter 8 in the textbook is all about computer reliability. One scene in the film jumps out regarding this topic. When Logan, Charles, and X-23 are driving when suddenly they are cut off by an autonomous truck. They are in the leftmost lane on the highway and the truck merges into their lane running them off the road. They are then driving against traffic on the other side of the highway which is again filled with autonomous vehicles. They get to safety and notice another family also was run off the road and the horses they were transporting have gotten free. The horses run around the highway narrowly avoiding the trucks speeding by. According to a 2019 survey [1] conducted by the Zebra, 45% of surveyed drivers reported they have changed lanes without signaling. And 5% report they have run another driver off the road. “Sideswipes are the are the second most common accident involving an autonomous vehicle” [2]. According to the California DMV (compiled by Wired magazine), sideswipes are the second most common autonomous vehicle collision types at 29% following rear-end at 57% [3]. It is certainly impressive how widespread the technology has become in the world of Logan but something as common as sideswipe accidents should be better protected against.
[1] Road Rage Statistics, (Taylor Covington, August 18th, 2020), (https://www.thezebra.com/research/road-rage-statistics/#statistics-2019)
[2] 29 Must-Know Self-Driving Statistics (2020 Edition), (Raj Vardhman, January 8th, 2020), (https://carsurance.net/blog/self-driving-car-statistics/#:~:text=(Government%20Technology)%20At%20the%20moment,million%20miles%20for%20regular%20vehicles.)
[3] Why People Keep Rear-Ending Self-Driving Cars, (Jack Stewart, October 18th, 2018),( https://www.wired.com/story/self-driving-car-crashes-rear-endings-why-charts-statistics/)
Chapter 10
As a film, Logan provides many working examples of the topics covered in the chapter about work and wealth. One example comes up during the middle of the movie, when Logan helps a small family retrieve their horses and is subsequently invited to their house for dinner. This family lives on a farm, and they are in competition with many large farming companies that have bought out much of the land around them. These large companies show how strong the digital divide can be when comparing old fashioned farmers with high tech automated tractors and harvesters. The companies are able to efficiently farm large fields of crops while having a very small amount of laborers, which saves a lot of money overall [1]. The small farmers are unable to keep up with the demand, and are pressured into selling their land to the large farming companies.This becomes a tough decision for the farmers, who must decide whether they want to compete hopelessly against much larger and more funded automated companies, or if they want to sell their land and lose their home and original way of life. From a consumer point of view, the automation of farming can only be a good thing, as it results in faster harvesting and less labor, which leads to cheaper products [2]. However, automation can be detrimental to the small laborers who end up being unable to keep up, and are left jobless.
​
Logan also brings up the topic of foreign competition with the Transigen Research facility. The company was moved to Mexico in order to ensure that they could go on with their experiments on the children because the US and Canada would not allow them to continue there. By moving the company to Mexico, the Transigen can benefit from more relaxed laws and cheaper labor that allows them to continue their experiments to create weapons out of the mutants raised at the facility [3].
​
[1] Daniels, Jeff. From strawberries to apples, a wave of agriculture robotics may ease the farm labor crunch, CNBC LLC, 8 Mar. 2018, www.cnbc.com/2018/03/08/wave-of-agriculture-robotics-holds-potential-to-ease-farm-labor-crunch.html.
[2] Bedord, Laurie. HOW AUTOMATION WILL TRANSFORM FARMING, Meredith Corporation, 29 Nov. 2017, www.agriculture.com/technology/robotics/how-automation-will-transform-farming.
[3] 6 Reasons Why a Relocation is Good for Business, Business 2 Community, 26 Dec. 2015, www.business2community.com/business-intelligence/6-reasons-relocation-good-businessf.