We all live by unspoken rules, which we follow because of the different types up pressures we feel. The main categories these pressures fall under are personal, group and societal.
Personal
We all have different personalities and these personalities come with certain "rules" we live by. I am going to use broad examples of personalities I have encountered in an attempt to make my point clear. I have met people with very high morals they have set for themselves, people that set high academic goals, people with high athletic goals, as well as people that just try to be as pleasing as possible. It can be argued that these standards these people have set are from the pressures they receive from around them, I would partially agree, but I would argue that they still had the choice and they chooses to set high standards to live by and push themselves farther than others with those same pressures push themselves. We all know those people that have set extremely high academic standards for themselves and when they fail, you can't reason with them and tell them that it's not the end of the world. But to them it is, they have pressured themselves into always doing well and they give themselves no excuses. People who are always trying to be pleasing amaze me the most, they have this pressure to make everyone happy, at the expense of their own happiness. These are examples of the extreme pressures some people put on themselves, But I believe everyone else pressures themselves to succeed and act a certain way. We all feel the need to please others, succeed in one way or another, and be happy with our actions. Through these needs we pressure ourselves to act in a certain way, not always in the extreme way as the previously mentioned examples, but in a way we can be happy with ourselves.
Group
While we were talking in class about how we feel the pressure to stand in line and not just cut ahead in front of everyone else I began to think about where we are feeling this pressure to stay in line. I believe this is an example of proximal group pressure, we are pressured by the people around us to act a certain way. During situations where dancing is an option, if no one is dancing we feel the pressure that we shouldn't dance, no one wants to be seen by a group of people out on a dance floor by themselves. But once the dance floor fills up, we also don't want to be the only one not dancing, because deep down we feel that everyone in the group is watching and talking about you. Of course we don't recieve pressure from people that are just in our proximity. We feel pressure from different groups all the time, family, friends, classmates, teammates..., the list goes on. We have to practice and succeed for out teammates, we have to act, dress, and speak a certain way to fit in with our friends and even our family, and we can't mess up in class, say a stupid answer or not partake in a group project. These pressures are from people we see and interact with.
Societal
These are the pressures we feel from places we don't see or interact with. Society tells us how to dress, what we should buy, what we should do, what we should watch, who we should like... and this list goes on and on. Everyone is impacted by these pressures, there are people who try and live outside of these pressures, but no one can completely escape these pressures. They surround us at all times. Society influences by the movies and shows that are produces, the commercials we watch and hear, as well as the products on the shelves when we shop. An example of how good adverising and societies pressure to be up on technology has influenced me, as well as the majority of college students, one word Macs. This generation has switched from a PC world to a Mac world, could this be due to the introduction of the ipod, the carfully placed apple as every cool character's computer in movies and television, those funnie commercials protraying to commputers as actual people, or is it actually the fact that a Mac is better than a PC. It is so easy to be sucked into the newesrt trend by societies pressures. I have been sucked in in the past and I will continue to be sucked in as the future aproaches (I'm only human).
I feel the pressure from all these different levels and I'm not ashamed to say that I use these pressures to influence my life. I believe in most cases it makes me a better person and it sure makes me an American ;).
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Class Comment Sparked some thought
Wednesday's class a comment was made about how we have a delayed time for all our senses. Seeing, hearing, tasting, touch, and smell are not processed instantaneously, and in many cases the brain predicts and fills in the blanks of our senses. This raises the question of how often does our brain fill in the blanks with the wrong thing. We can see this when we look at those mind tricks, like the two faces facing each other, or is it a vase? This proves that our sight can be deceptive and same with our hearing, like when we hear a person say one thing when they said something completely different. I am sure this is the case for the other senses too. I wonder how the world would be different, or even if it would, if there was no delay or need to fill in the brains, would this mean no mind tricks? So many questions about how the mind works and how that relates to this class.
With "The Ticket that Exploded" I find my mind doing this as I am reading, filling in the blanks that the cut ups make in the book, my mind tries to make them make sense, then it realizes that these things actually don't work together. My mind was not able to make the book make sense, I'm completely lost as to what the point of this book is or any cut up is. To make new works of literature out of previous literature, just does not make sense to me. Am I missing something, is my mind not doing it's job of filling in the blanks?
The way we perceive and interpret the world through our mind, I believe is different for everyone. I find that in this class my mind does not interpret the material we cover in nearly the same way others do. My mind is not able to make the connection between the material from the books we read and the things we discuss in class. I'm a bit lost in this class to be honest, I'm not even sure what the focus of this class is. Well this post went in a direction I did not mean for it to go in. Anyway those are my thoughts on this weeks class on Nanotexts. Hopefully next week will be more clear.
With "The Ticket that Exploded" I find my mind doing this as I am reading, filling in the blanks that the cut ups make in the book, my mind tries to make them make sense, then it realizes that these things actually don't work together. My mind was not able to make the book make sense, I'm completely lost as to what the point of this book is or any cut up is. To make new works of literature out of previous literature, just does not make sense to me. Am I missing something, is my mind not doing it's job of filling in the blanks?
The way we perceive and interpret the world through our mind, I believe is different for everyone. I find that in this class my mind does not interpret the material we cover in nearly the same way others do. My mind is not able to make the connection between the material from the books we read and the things we discuss in class. I'm a bit lost in this class to be honest, I'm not even sure what the focus of this class is. Well this post went in a direction I did not mean for it to go in. Anyway those are my thoughts on this weeks class on Nanotexts. Hopefully next week will be more clear.
Silence in Class (Rant)
Friday's class, in my opinion was a waste of time. Most of the time was spent on Plurk, and the discussions on Plurk were not even relevant to what we have been reading. In most cases I feel that Plurk hinders the class, I know the point of Plurk is so that those that are embarrassed to speak can still share their opinion. But the constant use of it during class, interrupts discussions and distracts from the focus of the class. This is especially the case for Fridays class, the idea to turn class to Plurk instead of an actual vocal discussion distracted us from talking about anything important.
The fact that not everyone had a computer to participate in a Plurk discussion, except from the use of a projection of it and writing on the white board (and then being frantically counted to make sure it did not exceed 140 characters). Many people walked out, which should have been the cue that this may not have been the best idea. The only person I believe truly benefited from this is the student who remained home and was able to participate fully in class through Plurk (I wish I would have stayed home). Although many liked the fact that we only used Plurk, I admit it was interesting to have class for the most part silent, but I walked away that day with nothing to think about except for how we used Plurk instead of talking. I'm not sure what I will do if class continues this way, I am sure that my attention will be a lot harder to keep. I would be forced to bring my computer to class, and that is by far the biggest distraction, the world wide web is just so appealing when class seems to be going no where.
Now that I've ranted about my distaste in how the class went last week, I suppose that I should post a blog on something actually appropriate to the discussions we have been having in previous class. I hope my point was made that the over use of Plurk have wasted time inside of class and outside that could have been spent on things that are related to the class (unless some how this all relates to the focus of the class and I just have no idea how, if so it should be clarified).
The fact that not everyone had a computer to participate in a Plurk discussion, except from the use of a projection of it and writing on the white board (and then being frantically counted to make sure it did not exceed 140 characters). Many people walked out, which should have been the cue that this may not have been the best idea. The only person I believe truly benefited from this is the student who remained home and was able to participate fully in class through Plurk (I wish I would have stayed home). Although many liked the fact that we only used Plurk, I admit it was interesting to have class for the most part silent, but I walked away that day with nothing to think about except for how we used Plurk instead of talking. I'm not sure what I will do if class continues this way, I am sure that my attention will be a lot harder to keep. I would be forced to bring my computer to class, and that is by far the biggest distraction, the world wide web is just so appealing when class seems to be going no where.
Now that I've ranted about my distaste in how the class went last week, I suppose that I should post a blog on something actually appropriate to the discussions we have been having in previous class. I hope my point was made that the over use of Plurk have wasted time inside of class and outside that could have been spent on things that are related to the class (unless some how this all relates to the focus of the class and I just have no idea how, if so it should be clarified).
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Transhuman?
Nanotext
These first few days have been an interesting experience for me, and continue to be. I am lost some of the time, but most of the time I am consumed by curiousity. This is a new way of looking at the world. So here goes my first Blog
A big part of me hopes that most of what I saw was fabricated and just science fiction. But now I fear that the science fiction that I hear no longer fiction, or will not remain fiction. The rest of me is happy that we have developed and are developing something that will save lives, but is it worth it?
One day artificial intelligence that we create may leave us behind unless we are able to evolve as quickly as it does. But humans cannot possibly evolve as quickly as we are evolving artificial intelligence, so the only solution seen by many is to become robotic in a sense ourselves. Through technology it is believed that the human life will be extended, from 80 years to hundreds and hundreds more. I don't believe that technology should extend our lives longer than what is natural, technology should only be used to cure and keep people healthy so that they can live to natural old age.
After this movie I now believe that the government should monitor technological advancements as well as it does medical advancements. The fear of cloning going horribly wrong is felt by many as a possible scenario for the development of more advanced artificial intelligence. The invention of nanobots sounds useful in the sense that we can use them to help heal sick people, (cancer patients, AIDS patients ....) but these things that can do anything that we want are not as good as it sounds when you think about it.
Nanobots have the ability to rearrange atoms, giving them infinite possibilities. Nanobots sound like they could solve all the problems on earth, creating anything we could ever need, even more nanobots. I can think of plenty of things that I would want these nanobots to create for me and many problems they could solve, from hunger to disease in less fortunate countries. This almost makes it all sound worth it, but to me the bad out weighs the bad. Cancer and all diseases are horrible things and I wish we had cures for everything, but I acknowledge that these horrible things are important to the mankind because it creates population control. Population control is especially important to day because the human population is a lot higher than what Earth can sustain. Earth is over populated already and the birth rate continues to be high and if we lower the death rate that will throw off the balance and I would not want to be around when that happens.
Beside the population problem that effects everyone on Earth, I see more problems on an individual level. The power to have whatever I want and the ability to do what ever I want, sounds awesome, for maybe the first year at best the first 5 years. I believe eventually I would get bored, having no problems and things to over come equals no drama and everyone starves for a little drama in their life (unconsciously at least). Life is not something that should be handed to you, you should have to work for what you have, that is where true happiness comes from. Why do you think the saying, "Money doesn't buy happiness," is so popular to use, because it is true. The ability to have whatever I want won't make me happy.
Nanobots world wide have the potential to create many problems between nations across the World. There is the possibility with equal power there will be "world peace," but I am pessimistic and know that "world peace" is a myth. People always will have disagreements and there will always be war going on somewhere in the world. Nanobots will just make war that much more catastrophic, many more lives sacrificed and much more damage done.
Before seeing this video I looked forward to technological advancements, I'm still amazed by the iphone. But the technology I look forward is a double edge sword, with most technology I'm excited to see what the average person will be able to do next, but will the technology developed today and tomorrow lead to a future taht takes away the normal human experiences. The advancement of technology cannot be stopped, but I believe eventually there will be regulations placed on the advancements. People fear what the cannot understand and I definitely now fear technology and I sure don't understand it. The movies Eagle Eye, Pulse and other horrible science fiction movies didn't scare me, I actually laughed them, but this Technocalyps Part 1 definitely did the job.
These first few days have been an interesting experience for me, and continue to be. I am lost some of the time, but most of the time I am consumed by curiousity. This is a new way of looking at the world. So here goes my first Blog
A big part of me hopes that most of what I saw was fabricated and just science fiction. But now I fear that the science fiction that I hear no longer fiction, or will not remain fiction. The rest of me is happy that we have developed and are developing something that will save lives, but is it worth it?
One day artificial intelligence that we create may leave us behind unless we are able to evolve as quickly as it does. But humans cannot possibly evolve as quickly as we are evolving artificial intelligence, so the only solution seen by many is to become robotic in a sense ourselves. Through technology it is believed that the human life will be extended, from 80 years to hundreds and hundreds more. I don't believe that technology should extend our lives longer than what is natural, technology should only be used to cure and keep people healthy so that they can live to natural old age.
After this movie I now believe that the government should monitor technological advancements as well as it does medical advancements. The fear of cloning going horribly wrong is felt by many as a possible scenario for the development of more advanced artificial intelligence. The invention of nanobots sounds useful in the sense that we can use them to help heal sick people, (cancer patients, AIDS patients ....) but these things that can do anything that we want are not as good as it sounds when you think about it.
Nanobots have the ability to rearrange atoms, giving them infinite possibilities. Nanobots sound like they could solve all the problems on earth, creating anything we could ever need, even more nanobots. I can think of plenty of things that I would want these nanobots to create for me and many problems they could solve, from hunger to disease in less fortunate countries. This almost makes it all sound worth it, but to me the bad out weighs the bad. Cancer and all diseases are horrible things and I wish we had cures for everything, but I acknowledge that these horrible things are important to the mankind because it creates population control. Population control is especially important to day because the human population is a lot higher than what Earth can sustain. Earth is over populated already and the birth rate continues to be high and if we lower the death rate that will throw off the balance and I would not want to be around when that happens.
Beside the population problem that effects everyone on Earth, I see more problems on an individual level. The power to have whatever I want and the ability to do what ever I want, sounds awesome, for maybe the first year at best the first 5 years. I believe eventually I would get bored, having no problems and things to over come equals no drama and everyone starves for a little drama in their life (unconsciously at least). Life is not something that should be handed to you, you should have to work for what you have, that is where true happiness comes from. Why do you think the saying, "Money doesn't buy happiness," is so popular to use, because it is true. The ability to have whatever I want won't make me happy.
Nanobots world wide have the potential to create many problems between nations across the World. There is the possibility with equal power there will be "world peace," but I am pessimistic and know that "world peace" is a myth. People always will have disagreements and there will always be war going on somewhere in the world. Nanobots will just make war that much more catastrophic, many more lives sacrificed and much more damage done.
Before seeing this video I looked forward to technological advancements, I'm still amazed by the iphone. But the technology I look forward is a double edge sword, with most technology I'm excited to see what the average person will be able to do next, but will the technology developed today and tomorrow lead to a future taht takes away the normal human experiences. The advancement of technology cannot be stopped, but I believe eventually there will be regulations placed on the advancements. People fear what the cannot understand and I definitely now fear technology and I sure don't understand it. The movies Eagle Eye, Pulse and other horrible science fiction movies didn't scare me, I actually laughed them, but this Technocalyps Part 1 definitely did the job.
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