inventions their creators regret

8/10/2019 Inventions Their Creators Regret

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Inventions their creators regret

Level 3 Advanced

Key words2Match key words f rom the text to the de ni tions. The article section numbers are given to help you.

1. income from business activities ____________________ (section 1)

2. an animal that is a mixture of two different varieties of the same type of animal ____________________(section 2)

3. a semi- or fully automatic gun ____________________ (two words, section 3)

4. severe mental pain ____________________ (section 3)

5. so extreme that you cannot deal with the pain, feeling etc ____________________ (section 3)

6. thought of (a new idea, plan or design) ____________________ (section 4)

7. following or looking for a person ____________________ (section 4)

8. criticized severely in public ____________________ (section 5)

9. the rate at which goods are produced ____________________ (section 6)

10. put people or things into a space that is too small ____________________ (section 6)

11. a shorter or quicker way of saying or looking at something ____________________ (section 6)

12. the state of being the same as each other or as everything else ____________________ (section 6)

13. not at all interesting or attractive ____________________ (section 6)

14. relating to large and very powerful organizations that are not willing to change ____________________(section 6)

Warmer1

a. What are these things? What, if anything, do you know about them?

b. Look for pictures of the inventions on the internet.

c. Scan the article to check your answers and nd out mor e.

Flappy Bird an AK-47 pepper spray a labradoodle electronic tagging an of ce cubicle


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Level 3 AdvancedFlappy Bird , the labradoodle andother inventions their creators regretThe designer of the mobile game Flappy Birdpulled it from app stores because its success hadruined his simple life. He’s not the rst to rue aninvention of his own makingEmine Saner11 February, 2014

1 Flappy Bird

Be careful what you wish for, especially if you

want to invent something new. Recently, DongNguyen, the designer of the mobile gameFlappy Bird, pulled it from app stores, sayingits success – it had been downloaded morethan 50 million times, and was making himaround £30,000 in advertising revenue eachday – had ruined his simple life. He took to hisTwitter account to say: “I cannot takethis anymore.”

OK, so regretting making Flappy Bird isn’tquite the same as regretting making a ri e,but Nguyen is just the latest in a long line ofinventors who wish they hadn’t createda monster.

2 The labradoo dle

The labradoodle isn’t a monster – it’s adorable,obviously. But what’s monstrous is theway crossbreed dogs have been bred andmarketed since the labradoodle’s inventor,Wally Conron, rst created the breed in the1980s. “I’ve done a lot of damage,” he toldthe Associated Press. “I’ve created a lot ofproblems. There are a lot of unhealthy and

abandoned dogs out there.” Conron came upwith the labradoodle when he was working forthe Royal Guide Dog Association of Australiato provide a dog for a blind woman whosehusband was allergic to dog hair. What hedidn’t expect was that the labradoodle – andits other poodle-cross variants, many of whichhave health problems – would become sopopular.

3 The AK-47

Six months before his death in December

2013, Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of theassault ri e, wrote to the head of the RussianOrthodox Church: “My spiritual torment isunbearable. One and the same question: if

my rie killed people, does that mean that I,Mikhail Kalashnikov, 93 years of age, the sonof a peasant, Christian and Orthodox by faith,am responsible for people’s deaths, even ifthey were enemies?”

4 Electronic tagging

The electronic tag was originally conceivedin the 1960s as a way of tracking formerprisoners’ attendance at schools andworkplaces, and rewarding them for goodbehaviour. Its inventors, Bob Gable and his

brother Kirkland, were later horri ed thatthe tag had become a form of control andpunishment. “It’s not pleasant,” Kirkland Gabletold the Guardian in 2010, “but I’m not incontrol of the universe. I have to realize thereare some things out of my control.”

5 Pepper spray

After police sprayed peaceful protesters withpepper spray at a University of Californiacampus in 2011, one of the scientists whohelped develop it in the 80s denounced its use.

“I have never seen such an inappropriate andimproper use of chemical agents,” KamranLoghman told The New York Times .

6 The of ce cubicle

In the late 60s, a new form of of ce waslaunched, designed to give workers privacyand increase productivity by providing morework space. Instead, it became a way forcompanies to cram employees into tighterspaces, a visual shorthand for uniformity andsoulless work. Its inventor, Bob Propst, saidin 1997, “the cubiclizing of people in moderncorporations is monolithic insanity.”

© Guardian News and Media 2014

First published in The Guardian , 11/02/14


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NEWS LESSONS / Inventions their creators regret / Advanced

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2014


Level 3 Advanced

What do you remember?3

Answer the questions with information that you remember from the ar ticle. Then check your answers inthe text.

1. Which three of the inventions were created with purely good intentions; that is, to help people to a better life?

2. Which of these inventions came onto the market rst and which is the most recent? – Flappy Bird, the of cecubicle, the labradoodle

3. Why does each inventor regret creating their invention?

Flappy Bird _________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

the labradoodle _________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

the AK-47 _________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

electronic tagging _________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

pepper spray _________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

the of ce cubicle _________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________


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NEWS LESSONS / Inventions their creators regret / Advanced

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2014

Inventions their c reators regret

Level 3 Advanced

Find out mor e about one of the six inventions in the article. Present your ndings to the class. Give youropinion about the invention and say whether you would regret inventing it if it were your invention.

• Can you think of any other inventions that their creators might regret? (E.g. dynamite, sunbeds, plasticshopping bags) Suggest why they migh t regret them.

• What do you consider to be the greatest inventions of all time? How have they bene tted mankind?Have they also been misused in any way?

Research and presentation6

Discussion5

The word cloud shows some of the most frequently used words in the article. Using the words, practiseexplaining the article to someone who hasn’t read it.

Word cloud4


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NEWS LESSONS / Inventions their creators regret / Advanced • P H O T

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S I T E© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2014


Level 3 Advanced

KEY

1 Warmer

a.Flappy Bird – a mobile phone gamea labradoodle – a crossbreed dog (half-labrador, half-poodle)an AK-47 – an assault ri eelectronic tagging – the use of an electronic deviceattached to someone allowing them to be monitoredpepper spray – a spray, which includes an irritant, usedby authorities for crowd controlan of ce cubicle – a small enclosed workspace,separated from neighbouring workspaces by partitions

2 Key words

1. revenue

2. crossbreed3. assault ri e4. torment5. unbearable6. conceived7. tracking8. denounced9. productivity10. cram11. shorthand12. uniformity13. soulless14. monolithic

3 What do you remember?

1. the labradoodle; electronic tagging; the of cecubicle

2. the of ce cubicle; Flappy Bird3. Flappy Bird – because it made too much money

and so his life was no longer simplethe labradoodle – because his well-intentionedcreation led to other crossbreed dogs being bredthat were unhealthy and abandoned bytheir ownersthe AK-47 – because he was worried that inventingthe gun made him responsible for people’s deathselectronic tagging – because the tag became aform of control and punishment, rather than a wayof rewarding former prisoners for good behaviour,as intendedpepper spray – because of its inappropriate and

improper use against peaceful demonstratorsthe of ce cubicle – because it has been introducedby many companies to save space and to crampeople together, which was not theinventor’s intention

inventions their creators regret

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