Looking back at the history of this country I agree with George J. Annas hypothesis that the new ideal human would represent “the other.”
If a person is genetically engineered they are being brought into this world to be better than others before they are even born. If this person grows up to be great at everything, people are going to look at this person as superior. When you have the acceptance of others that’s when the problem starts because these superior humans could take advantage of the non-ideal human.
When the slaves were brought to the United States they had the opposite affect of the ideal human, they were viewed as inferior. Anna mentions that normal humans would either view people as better or seek to control them. In the case of the slaves white Americans were controlling them by having them do hard labor, selling them to others separating them from their families, having them live in poor conditions. This opposite effect caused a change in the US after slavery legally put to an end.
In the film “Gattaca” the ideal human had already taken over and Vincent was trying to prove the myth of the ideal human was wrong. He did so by using the DNA and Identity of what was believe to be an ideal human gone wrong. The film showed what could possibly go wrong with creating a race of superior humans.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
BLOG 11
NOT INTENDED TO OFFEND JUST BEING REAL!
Something that I define as “The Other” would be someone who is homosexual. The Reason for this is because my sexual preference happens to be the opposite sex. I happen to be a straight male and love women and I prefer to have a relationship with a woman over a man because I don’t have any attraction to men in that physical or mental way. Even though I’m not very religious, I was raised in a family that follows traditional religious views that a man should get married to a woman, have children and create a family. Don’t get me wrong I don’t have anything against same sex relationships. In my opinion, whatever floats your boat. If it makes you happy it shouldn’t be frowned upon unless it involves committing a violent crime.
I consider myself to be a masculine guy; I watch and play sports like baseball, basketball, and football. I dress in standard clothing jeans, a shirt and sneakers; nothing flamboyant, nothing loud that raises questions. I walk straight and don’t have a feminine hiss to the tone of my voice. I know that not every homosexual dress sound or walk a certain way but this seems to be common traits that associate with homosexual. For these reasons alone I would define homosexual as “The Other.”
Something that I define as “The Other” would be someone who is homosexual. The Reason for this is because my sexual preference happens to be the opposite sex. I happen to be a straight male and love women and I prefer to have a relationship with a woman over a man because I don’t have any attraction to men in that physical or mental way. Even though I’m not very religious, I was raised in a family that follows traditional religious views that a man should get married to a woman, have children and create a family. Don’t get me wrong I don’t have anything against same sex relationships. In my opinion, whatever floats your boat. If it makes you happy it shouldn’t be frowned upon unless it involves committing a violent crime.
I consider myself to be a masculine guy; I watch and play sports like baseball, basketball, and football. I dress in standard clothing jeans, a shirt and sneakers; nothing flamboyant, nothing loud that raises questions. I walk straight and don’t have a feminine hiss to the tone of my voice. I know that not every homosexual dress sound or walk a certain way but this seems to be common traits that associate with homosexual. For these reasons alone I would define homosexual as “The Other.”
Thursday, April 14, 2011
BLOG 10
Looking back at some of the content of this course some of the interesting concepts we have touched on in class has been the Mythology in the Matrix, The Allegory of the Cave and invention techniques like the brain storming or creating the list of 10 ideas followed by another 10 to help us think outside of the box when trying to decide on a thesis to avoid the most common topics.
We touched on the allegory of the cave for a long time and even though it was short there was a whole lot to dissect. The concepts were also used a lot when we watched the film The Matrix that helped me understand some of the scenes with Morpheus and throughout the film.
In this course I will like to understand the play “Oedipus the King” better because the language used like the riddles confused me prior to the professor explaining them. Unfortunately I wasn’t here when the Documenting sources and MLA documentation style was covered so I would like to also get a briefing on the two concepts as well.
As a writer I still consider myself pretty bad but taking this course has helped me understand what I have done wrong in the past and present. Hopefully I am showing some improvement but I still find myself stuck elaborating on some of the concepts like mythology, which I have little knowledge or interest in. I find it overwhelming when I have to write 600 words on these concepts because unlike some people I can’t bullshit a whole paper. I guess I follow that quality over quantity concept.
This course has also helped me realize how poor my grammar is. On the matrix essay, Professor had another class comment on the essay and one of the students stressed that point also in Wednesdays English 103 class I seen some poor introduction techniques not to follow, like asking a question as part of the intro.
Using the blog in this class has helped me because I don’t feel as pressured to complete the assignment in the short time provided. I feel like if I couldn’t think in class I could use the helpful confines of my dark bedroom to help me out. The blog also has made me a little lazy because I don’t always follow the essay format commas and periods are secondary.
My strongest piece which I didn’t fully complete was on illusion. How I used a situation from human history and I explained the illusion. The JFK Single Bullet Theory was an illusion believed by many but was revealed impossible because of the extensive research by the Warren Commission. I believe it was my strongest work because it was the kind of work I was most use to in high school because it required mostly research to write the paper.
We touched on the allegory of the cave for a long time and even though it was short there was a whole lot to dissect. The concepts were also used a lot when we watched the film The Matrix that helped me understand some of the scenes with Morpheus and throughout the film.
In this course I will like to understand the play “Oedipus the King” better because the language used like the riddles confused me prior to the professor explaining them. Unfortunately I wasn’t here when the Documenting sources and MLA documentation style was covered so I would like to also get a briefing on the two concepts as well.
As a writer I still consider myself pretty bad but taking this course has helped me understand what I have done wrong in the past and present. Hopefully I am showing some improvement but I still find myself stuck elaborating on some of the concepts like mythology, which I have little knowledge or interest in. I find it overwhelming when I have to write 600 words on these concepts because unlike some people I can’t bullshit a whole paper. I guess I follow that quality over quantity concept.
This course has also helped me realize how poor my grammar is. On the matrix essay, Professor had another class comment on the essay and one of the students stressed that point also in Wednesdays English 103 class I seen some poor introduction techniques not to follow, like asking a question as part of the intro.
Using the blog in this class has helped me because I don’t feel as pressured to complete the assignment in the short time provided. I feel like if I couldn’t think in class I could use the helpful confines of my dark bedroom to help me out. The blog also has made me a little lazy because I don’t always follow the essay format commas and periods are secondary.
My strongest piece which I didn’t fully complete was on illusion. How I used a situation from human history and I explained the illusion. The JFK Single Bullet Theory was an illusion believed by many but was revealed impossible because of the extensive research by the Warren Commission. I believe it was my strongest work because it was the kind of work I was most use to in high school because it required mostly research to write the paper.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
blog 8
In the film The Matrix and the play Oedipus The King both shared concepts of ignorance, bliss/happiness and knowledge. In the Matrix, Morpheus,Trinity, etc. relied on “The Oracle” for answers and Neo was sent to see the Oracle to seek the answer is he “The One”
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Essay #1 - Matrix
Imagine waking up panicked, breathing heavy, and heart beating out of your chest when you realize you were having a nightmare and everything is back to normal. Is everything back to normal? How do you know this dream is not a reality? Maybe the life you thought was real was in fact false and the dream was the truth. Neo in the movie “The Matrix” was put in this situation and began to question the reality of everything when Morpheus believed he was the one and gave him the opportunity to see the truth. What is real? The question instantly triggers in my mind the similarities with Plato’s “Allegory in the Cave”.
The “One” is the name given to Neo because he was able to see the matrix in code and not the illusion everyone else could see. In the allegory in the cave one prisoner was freed from the chains he had become use to since childhood and was allowed to see life outside the cave. Initially the man eyes are hurt by the light unused to the truth as he begins to see things other than the shadows he assumed was the reality. Neo was living in the matrix in a world he believed was the truth in fact the matrix was a computer simulated dream world built to keep people under control. Like the slaves in the cave neo was one of many people enslaved in this prison of his mind.
Blinded by the light is one of the focus point in both the matrix and the allegory of the cave. The light in both examples are to resemble the truth. When they both were exposed to the truth the light hurt their eyes because your initial reaction to something unknown is to reject or not believe it due to the ignorance of us as humans. Like the man in the cave once his eyes became accustomed to the light and he accepted what he was seeing he wanted to go back to and tell others. Same thing with Neo at first he is unsure of why Trinity and Morpheus is reaching out to him but as they begin to explain or not explain to him and give him the choice to be unchained or in this case unplugged he chose the red pill.
The Red Pill and Blue Bill concept of the movie is there to scare you into old habits. As you’re watching the film you now are questioning reality and are starting to believe the matrix is bad corrupt than a loop hole happens and Morpheus gives Neo the option of taking the blue pill and continue life in the illusion you’re accustomed to or red pill and face the reality and help save humanity from this controlled world in a daze. For plot reasons he took the red pill but what if he would have taken the blue pill would his memory be cleared of his encounter with Morpheus or Trinity or The Agents? If not then maybe he would have continued thinking about what Morpheus was trying to tell him he was clearly able to reach Morpheus once what would stop him from doing it again.
What is Real? I laugh at the concept when I begin to think about it. The answer is not something that is easy to come by. Man has been seeking this answer for as long as the world exist but upon seeking an answer no one could come up with a conclusion because one idea or theory conflicts with each other. The world must have taken the purple pill because we want the truth but are too unenlightened to seek the answer.
The “One” is the name given to Neo because he was able to see the matrix in code and not the illusion everyone else could see. In the allegory in the cave one prisoner was freed from the chains he had become use to since childhood and was allowed to see life outside the cave. Initially the man eyes are hurt by the light unused to the truth as he begins to see things other than the shadows he assumed was the reality. Neo was living in the matrix in a world he believed was the truth in fact the matrix was a computer simulated dream world built to keep people under control. Like the slaves in the cave neo was one of many people enslaved in this prison of his mind.
Blinded by the light is one of the focus point in both the matrix and the allegory of the cave. The light in both examples are to resemble the truth. When they both were exposed to the truth the light hurt their eyes because your initial reaction to something unknown is to reject or not believe it due to the ignorance of us as humans. Like the man in the cave once his eyes became accustomed to the light and he accepted what he was seeing he wanted to go back to and tell others. Same thing with Neo at first he is unsure of why Trinity and Morpheus is reaching out to him but as they begin to explain or not explain to him and give him the choice to be unchained or in this case unplugged he chose the red pill.
The Red Pill and Blue Bill concept of the movie is there to scare you into old habits. As you’re watching the film you now are questioning reality and are starting to believe the matrix is bad corrupt than a loop hole happens and Morpheus gives Neo the option of taking the blue pill and continue life in the illusion you’re accustomed to or red pill and face the reality and help save humanity from this controlled world in a daze. For plot reasons he took the red pill but what if he would have taken the blue pill would his memory be cleared of his encounter with Morpheus or Trinity or The Agents? If not then maybe he would have continued thinking about what Morpheus was trying to tell him he was clearly able to reach Morpheus once what would stop him from doing it again.
What is Real? I laugh at the concept when I begin to think about it. The answer is not something that is easy to come by. Man has been seeking this answer for as long as the world exist but upon seeking an answer no one could come up with a conclusion because one idea or theory conflicts with each other. The world must have taken the purple pill because we want the truth but are too unenlightened to seek the answer.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Blog 6
Didn't quite grasp the entire concept of the "prison-house of language" even after doing some research Jacques Lacan and Fredric Jameson but if it bears any similarity to the concept of "prison-house of sight" that Socrates explained to Glaucon than it should mean something like restriction of use of language or limitations to language. An example given by Vasileiou was to ask yourself "Are you Religious?" The answer should be straight forward "Yes" or "No". Seems like prison-house of language breaks down things too simple. Prison-house of language is restricting people from truly expressing themselves and only letting them state the obvious. This causes issues because it's like spoon feeding the information they only want you to know and stopping you from raising questions. For example middle schools of New York City in order for them to go on to the next grade they have to pass the city wide exam. Several months prior to the exam the teachers whether they teach language arts or math begin preparing students in 2 hour blocks for the exam. The flaw in this is that they aren't teaching the students how to do the work but instead teaching them the actual exam. Spoon feeding them the questions that are likely to show up in the exam.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
BLOG 5
In “The Allegory of a Cave” the main idea express by Socrates to Glaucon was that most people settle for how life is and never question if it is the truth. Socrates gives Glaucon a scenario where he could understand what he meant. Men stripped of everything including the truth. When one of the men escapes he sees everything for what it really is not just what he assumed was the truth. After seeing this new world he then begins to question if this is an illusion or his beliefs before were real.
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