Significance

In reading the first part of the essay “How do you see it?” by Chelsie Stevens, I found myself looking at significance in a different regard. In a sense our existence must be validated by something, whether that be through other people, ourselves, sports, leadership, or even our looks. I was a little confused in her essay as to whether or not she was talking about how we see our selves significant or that there is a general rule of significance. It seemed as though she was talking about a general view of significance, as it is a very subjective term. We find significance through our own eyes and as she said, “Someone who makes it into the history books for the impact they made on the world is just as significant as a person volunteering at the animal shelter” (Stevens 34). I believe that to be true, our significance and success are very loose terms that depend on a plethora of subjective criteria. A person can be significant in their own mind if they raise their child right as opposed to others who are totally career minded and must make a dent in that dimension of reality.
In my opinion I find that so many things that are done and considered to be significant are somewhat trivial. So what if someone got the Nobel Prize or was awarded employee of the month. Who will remember them in 100 years from that very moment of time? Not many. Our lives are so very short and what really is the point if the only thing worth living for is the now? I’d like to suggest that there is perhaps something more to life than living for the now. What if there was something after this life, an eternity after this life and that everything in this life would, in turn, affect that life. This would drastically change the context of what was and was not significant. If we were living life for a larger purpose other than the direct future or even just the future of our children then we would certainly be living differently. When life is at stake there isn’t much to loose because when it is over, it is over. When eternity is at stake then there is something more to live for than a sudden cut off from all that we know as reality.
Significance would then be measured by how you affected your eternity depending on how you view eternity. Some choose to view eternity as a cyclical chain of life where we are just reborn on to earth again. Others choose to believe that there is a heaven and a hell after this life. Others also believe that only their spirits live on to affect the lives of their children and those before them. There are a variety of views on life that contextualize significance in another way.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/significance
http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Life-Of-Significance&id=790995
http://www.alternativeeducationindia.net/education_ch1.htm
http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/en-US/Home/home.htm

Writing expression

I have read several papers from our class and they have shown me so many different ways to express ideas in writing. Writing is really a form of self-expression and everyone seems to have their own style. Some papers read in a more textbook manner while others read in more of a journal manner and highly opinionated. I found that I enjoy reading something more when I don’t have to try and guess what the author is trying to tell me. Papers that have a very clear cut and straight forward thesis are much easier to read than some that prefer to dance around a thought with their words. This is something I regularly find myself having issues. Yet there are also papers that read more like a story with an amazing amount of flow and great composition. There don’t seem to be any breaks in thoughts or ideas even though they shoot from one idea to another, it still reads smooth. It is almost like comparing smooth peanut butter to crunchy peanut butter. Although it is a matter of preference the smooth peanut butter has the same texture throughout the entirety of the peanut butter, while crunchy peanut butter is smooth in some instances and crunchy and rough in others. The texture is constantly changing and sometimes it is surprisingly more so smooth than crunchy. I like to think that writing should be slightly crunchy, because when ideas are being presented in speech they go through a pattern of thoughts and sometimes surprising and interesting thoughts that change the texture or tone of the idea, yet it can still be quite smooth and flavorful.
There were also many ways of telling the reader what they want to know with word choice. Transitions and word composition definitely gave papers some different tones. There were some papers that used fairly complex words that seemed only to make the author sound more educated. Others used very simple transitions that allowed for the paper to read at a more casual level. I enjoyed reading these a bit more than challenging my mind with sometimes-pointless vocabulary that I would never use.
As writing is a way of expressing one’s thoughts on a topic it seems like writing styles don’t always match with the way a person speaks or acts. The mental process that someone goes through when they are writing takes on a different shape than that of thinking or speaking. Although writing sometimes needs to be a bit more formal so that it is in the bounds of educational and professional writing it seems like it is much different form of expression than some other ways. There are so many ways to say something and how to get to the point it is really interesting to read how people write what they have already expressed in discussions.

The enhanced and the unenhanced

The entire idea of gene manipulation seems somewhat unethical in a sense that we are dealing with the lives of others who can not yet make their own decisions. Although it may be the direct blood line of the ones conceiving that future person, It doesn’t seem right to be playing God or mother nature. I can understand the prevention or improvement of those plagued with diseases or disabilities to bring them up to par with the standard human being’s performance. The idea of enhancements versus therapy seems like a valid argument. The idea of advancements in biological improvements seems to be like a dream come true but it doesn’t seem like an ethical thing to be making decisions for our children before they themselves get a say in it. Preventing family disease or illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, or even obesity would only seem logical but to predestine them to a life their parents were unable to obtain for themselves only seems selfish. Just because one is endowed with special abilities such as intelligence or athletics doesn’t mean that they will necessarily move towards goals in that area.
Gene manipulation seems like it would so easily be manipulated to become the next future weapon as well. As sci-fi as it may seem it’s very plausible. People are always looking for cheaper, better, faster, ways of getting what they are unable to obtain. If these gene manipulations become available they will be very expensive and worth more than the average person will be able to afford. This would then create a superhuman race that only the rich would be able to afford to create. This also creating something that would be quite valuable to steal and manipulate and then sell. Its just like any other technology out there, but in this case the we are dealing with super humans and a master race that could be used to conquer and manipulate not only in terms of physical military power but also political and scientific intelligence. Due to the natural tendencies of humans to want control and power, how would we be able to prevent such a tragedy from happening. It almost seems inevitable for such a thing to occur if we were to proceed to this level of genetic manipulation. Countries would begin to breed their future leaders, military, scientists, and etc. in order to gain control and power in the technological and military sense.
People in the day of the enhanced would also cease to be unique. There would be no need for such things as the Olympics as people would have the option of breeding and altering the ultimate Olympian simply by genetic alteration before birth. Those who did not give into the enhancements would seemingly be looked down upon as inferior and normal would be the enhanced. The odd ones out would be those who are born unique and at random, as it was meant to be. I feel like this could potentially sink our world into a very bland and possibly dark stage in history.
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/d/dundons/GMOstory.htm
http://www.cruelscience.ca/research-gm.htm

Dogs Snarling Together

This essay was interesting for about the first 5 pages and after that it became a series of historical facts that were somewhat hard to keep up with. I honestly didn’t know much about the textile and apparel industry at all until I had read this. All I knew was that I liked buying cheap shirts that were sold in a department store and probably came from china. I guess it never really crossed my mind to think that china and other foreign imports were slowly making more and more U.S. factory workers jobless. I was never much of one to care about the quality of my clothing or big into brand names. Clothes are clothes no matter where they come from.
Although Auggie had a very noble and nationalistic cause it seemed that he didn’t completely understand all the logistics of his argument. Julia Hughes seemed to have a more worldly and open-minded view to the import of textiles and apparels. I feel like this is more of where my state of mind lies as well. Due to my multi cultural background I don’t seem to have much national pride. I find imported and exported goods everywhere but I suppose I never really considered the consequences of such things increasing or decreasing and affecting the economy. It is a sad thing America is so far in debt to china that they can’t afford to not take more of their textile and apparel imports. That way many factories wouldn’t have to take such a hit, although the economy is down right now for a number of reason. Yet our debt to china is still somewhat of a crippling factor for this country. In reality I suppose we don’t really need to import that many things from other countries but because we are so readily available and seemingly stable with a better economy than most countries then we are in a sense a dump for imports.
I had no idea about the amount of political play involved in this dispute. I found it to be somewhat astounding as far as Auggies’ argument goes over the broken promises from the president. A broken promise a broken promise, but with the amount of power the president has due to the limiting factors of other political power players, he can only do so much. More people with jobs in America would be a great thing but that is looking within the boundaries of the US only; but what about the third world countries that are providing for thousands more because of this industry. There is the nationalistic way of looking at this and the betterment of all. I suppose each country has their own economy and everyone kind of feeds off of each other but it still seems so small of a thing to be arguing about. This world has many up and coming industries that require many factory workers and as one falls another one will rise. Our world cycles, and this is just a part of it.

Wisdom

I really enjoyed this text! Very thought provoking on a lot of levels. I would have to agree with Thurman’s take on selflessness. I agree that it truly is freeing not to be bound to our self-absorbed selves. I still don’t really understand what Nirvana truly is. To be completely lost to others and not focused on one’s self doesn’t exactly seem like an amazing revelation if that is what the state of Nirvana is. It seems to be only common knowledge that helping others is something that lightens the heart and brings a feeling of contentment. Although its certainly not a lifestyle change that crosses the mind of everyone who finds this to be true.
I felt that his argument for self is somewhat distorted as well. We can not cease to be what we were created to be. We can certainly overcome the natural fear of man and be open to change but we are who we are. Our characteristics, the way we were raised, and the decisions we make dictate our “self”. We are all unique to the combination of our upbringing, mindset, habits, pre-conceived notions, and ability to make decisions. I feel like the thought of being less rigid and more relaxed and open to change and people is an excellent view to have on life though. The Buddha definitely found an amazing view of life that can bring joy but it all seems somewhat meaningless without a greater goal other than reaching nirvana.
I really enjoyed reading about his view on our need to be right. As I read his logical run through on the need to be right, It made a lot of sense. Knowledge is empowering and seems to help us in our security. This is why so many people strive to be knowledgable in specific areas which allows us to feel superior to others in this area and can even lead into a career. It seems as though it is somewhat of a selfish ambition as the need for knowledge is prompted by our need to feel superior or the ability to be right and surpass the knowledge of others. This gives a sense of control, but Buddha seemed to be on a search for knowledge himself. In doing so, he wanted others to be able see his view on life and understand the error in their ways. This is obviously a very faulty argument but it seems somewhat ironic.
I really enjoyed the read and thought it to be quite interesting. I definitely agree with some of the views he hold on life. Some of them are improvements that I believe to be beneficial to my own life. I think that overcoming the fear of man and becoming more connected and open with those around us something everyone should strive for.
http://www.bobthurman.com/

The Myth of the Ant Queen

The Myth of the Ant Queen was quite an interesting read. I found myself agreeing with most of what was said in this essay and looking for examples that I had seen that had been built out of the theories of a somewhat organized chaos that created a system of working things. Its almost overwhelming to look at some of the basic necessities we have today and imagine the complexity of such common household items like computers, ipods, palm pilots, and so on. As was described in the latter part of the essay, things like voice recognition consist of hundreds of smaller individual systems that eventually lead to a larger efficient operating system. It is mind-blowing to even comprehend the amount of time and labor that would go into making something that is seemingly so simple and yet so very complex!
The evolution of Manchester early on in the essay was incredible! It almost does not seem like something like that could actually happen, but then I think back to some of the places that I have been and everything seems to have its place. Apparently it is somewhat of a common phenomenon to see in larger cities. I know that in the city of Manila there is definitely a split of the classes creating the slums, high-class areas, and business areas. There is no real head authority of the slums but surely they have made for themselves a common selling place, washing place, and living areas. Although Manchester was quite a miraculous city seeing as it wasn’t much of anything to start with and was able to progress into quite an industrious place. In large cities today it seems like people are forced into the situations that they are in. Because large cities, generally speaking, only get larger then these are defined and developed areas have no other choice but to expand. Places with business get more businesses due to an ever-increasing amount of people and need to employ, while living areas for the different classes become larger as well. It seems only natural that if smaller place that is organized by individuals and has no plan slowly becomes larger those already set standards would still be followed. It is easier to follow the leader and go where things are already functional. Why bother with setting up something new and different if you already know that there is a place where you know you can function. It seems like a logical theory that thousands of individuals can create a seemingly working organized system, as chaotic as it may appear.
Overall, I really enjoyed the read and found it to be very insightful into some of the things happening around me that I may not even notice. It was very interesting to see the evolution of this idea of separate individual systems that contribute and create a larger functional system.
http://www.thecaveonline.com/APEH/dbqmanchester.html
http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/

Library of Babel

Honestly, I was unable to fully comprehend what this essay was trying to say. It is obviously written with a point to get across and I believe what he was trying to communicate is that our universe is infinite but within that infinity there are cycles, there is an order to the chaos that happens within our world. At least, this is what I think his main point was or so it seemed he concluded with. I find it a very interesting concept and it is true. Although it seems like our world is progressively getting worse, it does go through cycles. Humanity goes through a cycle.
How many times has it seemed that the world was about to end and but gotten better? How many times has man invented and then reinvented tactics to go about life. It seems like every person no matter the environment they are raised in must relearn that which is necessary for life, and in the process going through a natural cycle. It seems as though generations must go through the same thing as we look back into history and shake our heads at how often we must learn the same lesson over and over again. We wage our wars and conquer each other, it seems to be an endless cycle.

I find it interesting that he first points out that what is made in the “libraries” must be the handiwork of a god. Even though this was written in the 40’s when science was not as advanced as it is now and theories were more speculation and attempts to put meaning behind something rather than a linking together of scientific “know-hows” trying to prove these theories. He was still able to see the inconceivable odds of creating something so complex out of nothing. Truly it is something that can not be understood by the human mind because it is beyond our comprehension. We are all in search for some kind of meaning to this life.

I was confused when he began to talk about how the library was complete, in that the library contained all the books that it needed. Meaning to say that everything done within the universe had a reason and any questions about the universe had answers? I suppose it gave people reason to believe that they could find answers to life and thus making their own beliefs. Prophesying about future events in hopes that such things could be possible because the library was full.

Overall I found it be very confusing. His extensive vocabulary didn’t help much with understanding what he was trying to say either. I made sense of what I could and overall I believe what he was trying to convey was that we live in an infinitely cyclical universe.
http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/library_of_babel.html
http://james.grimmelmann.net/files/Library.markdown

The essay “The Power of Context” was quite remarkable to me. I was amazed at how they were able to turn the crime scene around in New York with the Broken Window theory! Having lived in a city of 14million people I have seen the graffiti, the panhandling, and heard stories of the crime. Luckily I haven’t experienced that personally. I lived in Manila, Philippines for 4 years and it amazes me that that kind of law enforcement, working with all the little things, really took that away. I definitely agree that context is truly a means of affecting things whether it be in the message graffiti sends or just the way things are dealt with. It’s hard to say, when I look at the poverty levels and housing situations of a majority of the people there who live in caddy-shacks, that a problem like crime and begging could be fixed when corruption is so prevalent. I’m reminded of the movie “slumdog millionare” on so many levels when reading this story. When a child is raised without parents in the slums of a third world country its hard not to resort to stealing, begging, and higher levels of crime. There is no reason not to. In countries like that, people can’t just be thrown in prison because over the half the country would be in prison due to the difference in classes. There is no where for these children to turn unless someone can help them, either they dig through trash heaps everyday in hopes of survival or find a way to make a living no matter what the cost may be. Some of the higher most respected people that they see are those who are drug and crime lords. This is what they aspire to be, powerful by whatever means available. It’s a very powerful movie that portrays the life of those in the slums of Mumbai and places alike. I have seen the beggars in the streets of the Philippines that carry around babies or are blind one eye, all a scheme, so that they can earn more money. I wish I could say that the Broken Window theory would work there as well but the truth of the matter is that the authority figures there are no better than some of the criminals mulling around the alleys. It’s hard to persuade someone that has no respect for the law and greed for money to suddenly sacrifice their bribes and over privileged abilities to uphold the law for better morals and overall better city. We are innately selfish beings. The City of New York was lucky to find someone with a strong enough will and ambition to clean up the city as he did. I can only hope that these kind of people will arise in places less fortunate so that they too may benefit from their ideals.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4245422.stm

Surface or Substance?

“Surface or Substance?” this is indeed is a very interesting question. This short story she has written is full of varied opinions that seem to point out that in our culture today it is almost impossible to have one without the other. Not to say that they are equally important in all cases but they truly have varying degrees of priority in certain cases. I find this to be very in true in many cases even with certain jobs.

I believe I saw the saddest example of mismatch of priorities for one such position in Edmonds, WA a few weeks ago. I was riding in the car with my brother and we were headed back to his apartment. He lives on a street chalked full of stores and outlets of all kinds and as we passed one of the many coffee shops on the street he pointed out the sign written on the window of one. It said, “Sexy Women and Coffee here”, and he proceeded to tell me that many of these small stop-and-go coffee shops were located around the Edmonds area. Apparently, the women that work there really don’t need much job experience or any sort of skill whatsoever, so long as they are – shall we say, blessed in the chest area and have a pretty face. Their uniform consists of a short skirt and two stickers. Now obviously, the job is biased to women that are “sexy” and not those who are more so qualified to do the job of making and serving coffee. This only furthers the point of how people are drawn to aesthetic pleasure of life, and rather than looking for a place that serves excellent coffee, that being the substance of the matter, they sacrifice good coffee for a brief look at a good looking girl with seemingly a lack of self-respect.

I would have to agree that in many occurrences today the look and feel of things can sometimes override the actual purpose of owning or attending something. A sad truth about the consumer culture of America and many other countries is that the items that we own can be seen as what defines us. Whether or not this person owns a nice car, or is wearing nice clothes, or even the type of items they own gives people a glimpse of who that person may or may not be. To a certain extent I believe this is true, the items that we are willing to spend our hard earned cash on will dictate what our interests may be, but by no means can someone make a judgment call on who we truly are simply by the items we own. Surface or substance, both have a large role in the mindset of today’s people and the way life is lived, people are judged, and statuses are achieved.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/sexy-coffee-shops-spread-184901/
http://surfaceassubstance.com/
http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/767829/to-appeal-consumers-inner-desires/

The Wreck of Time

        Annie Dillard's perspective that she throws out to her readers definitely stirs up some interesting thought processes. At first glance it can seem like an overly morbid outlook on life. She uses all these statistics and numbers that seemingly crush any reason for valuing the individual and the lives that we lead. It’s true though, there have been and currently are so many people on this planet that we are merely one in billions, a single grain of sand amongst many that make up a beach.
 Dillard ends her story with a quote from an English journalist saying, “Either life is always and in all circumstance sacred, or intrinsically of no account, it is inconceivable that it should be in some cases the one, and in some the other.” I personally feel that life is sacred! How can it be that we are created in such a miraculous process starting from nothing and turning into a talking, walking, and thinking human being if we were only meant to live for a very short period of time cease to exist in any way shape or form. There has to be meaning for the sacrifices made, the hardships endured, the laughter created, and the questions asked. Life is only so sacred because it is such a fragile thing, it can be gone in a moment!
To be misunderstood is something that I fear the most. It’s a horrible feeling that I get when I say or do something that people take the wrong way. I can’t imagine what the creator of this place and our lives must feel when people take life so lightly. It is a gift, that is what life is, and it should be lived to its fullest, taking advantage of the moments that seem to pass us by day after day. I mean, imagine giving someone a watch, but when they get it they look oddly at it. Twirling it in their fingers, staring at it from different angles, and inspecting the different knobs and buttons. After a short while of studying and observing they stand up straight look at it with confidence and begin to use it only as a mirror. Sure, they found a use for it, but that was not what it was meant for. They may look at it, but only to see themselves, unable to see past their own reflection and realize its inner workings and ability to judge time with a series of gears and cleverly crafted pieces.
Dillard doesn’t seem to dictate her views one way or another but leaves it open for the readers to decide for themselves, which side of the fence they would like to be on. I find it very interesting how she uses her stories and arguments to push and pull readers to think about life in different ways.


http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/life/
http://lifehacker.com/