Essay 6

Option 1
In Me++, William Mitchell talks about urban life and how it's defined by a series of networks and that these networks are potentially vulnerable. I believe that Mitchell has a great point and I will explain why through examples of my networked life, how it might be vulnerable and how we are becoming cyborgs.

In Me++, Mitchell explains how we have changed the way we network from a face-to-face contact to a electronic way to communicate. Mitchell states, "In the past, such networks would mostly have been maintained be face-to-face contact within a contiguous locality...Today, they are maintained through a complex mix of local face-to-face interactions, travel, mail systems, synchronous electronic contact through telephones and video links, and asynchronous electronic contact through email and similar media"(17). In my networked life, I contact people every other way besides face-to-face contact like email, text message, phone calls, Facebook, video messaging and many more networking techniques. In the film The Matrix by the Wachowski brothers, people on board the ships in the real world would make contact to the people in the matrix by making a phone call. In the film The Truman Show by Peter Weir, Truman Burbank is being filmed and broadcasted on live television all over the world. These are examples of how we advanced greatly in how we network through the years.

Mitchell discusses how networks are prone to failing and it's ripple effect in the his book Me++. He states, "The simplest way to crash a network is to block or sever a crucial link." He also states examples like an accident on the freeway or a blood clot blocks an artery. In my networked life, the computer lab in my school contains hundreds of computers that can access the internet. Hundreds of students use it at the same time. The simplicity of the internet crashing can disrupt all those student's work or whatever they might be doing. In the film The Matrix, As Trinity receives the call in the subway station to go back home, one of the agents shoots the phone preventing Neo from returning home. That network was blocked by that gun shot. In The Truman Show, a network crashed because a crucial link was disrupted. In the film, a thirty year continuous live feed to televisions around the world of "The Truman Show" was terminated because Truman Burbank was nowhere to be found. The network of the live feed was blocked by Truman's disappearance.

We are becoming more and more like cyborgs as the years progress. Mitchell discusses how he is a cuborg. He states "... disconnection would be amputation. I am part of the networks, and the networks are part of me. I show up in the directories. I am visible to Google. I link, therefore I am"(62). He considers disconnecting from the world is amputation. Disconnecting from the world can simply mean shutting off your cell phone. This brings stress upon anyone who is a cyborg. In my life, I network every day through Facebook and I do also consider it to be amputation if I am withheld from using it. This make me consider myself a cyborg. In the film The Matrix, Neo himself is a cyborg, being literally plugged in through the back of his head to enter the matrix, so his life depends on it. In the film The Truman Show, Truman Burbank life is revolved around a television show, without the show, there would not be a Truman Burbank. In which case he is a cyborg as well.

Through William Mitchell's Me++, I have giving examples of how we are cyborgs, how networked lives can be easily manipulated and how vulnerable they are. The films The Matrix and The Truman Show has great examples of these ideas. My networked life shows also that I am a cyborg.

Blog 10

I think I did fairly well on my writing process this semester. Most of the time research writers seem to face the problem of getting related resources to your topic. I think thats what i had the most problems with just because of the time constraints but otherwise always have enough time in your hands to complete your task and do a great job.

Workshop 11/12/09

I'm thinking of doing a group project with two other classmates about 2012 theories and how people feel. It might be a web pages all about it or video commentary. Interview people and see what they think about what may happen in 2012. The web page may contain videos of interviews and theories about it.

Blog 9 - Final Project Ideas

I might do a video and commentary on the philosophy behind the film Donnie Darko, if any. This would lead me towards blogging the process. The video would probably have clips from the movie and how it involves the philosophy behind time travel and such. I like idea a lot but I might consider another idea like the history and culture of kendama. A Japanese ball-and-cup toy that everyone appeals to once they get a hand on one. I mostly see it play amongst aggressive skaters. Same process here were I would make video with commentary and blog the process. I believe this process would be better because instead of doing a work for each Dr. Smith and Dr. Lucca, it appeals to both. I don't know yet on a solid topic and how I would carry it out into the Final...

Essay 3 rewrite

Do I think my life is determined by a special individual fate, or am I free to choose as a I wish? I believe that I am free to choose as I wish. Theodore Schick Jr analyses the possibility that freewill exist in The Matrix in the book The Matrix and Philosophy. Their is also the existence of freewill in my life.

I believe in freewill because I believe you have the ability to choose whatever you want to do. Back in high school, I was doing poorly in one of my classes. A passing grade on the final was a must for me in order to pass the class. In this situation I was given the choice to either study and pass or not study and fail. I ended up studying and passing for the year to advance in my high school career. Schick explains, "Even in a world where casual determination is true, knowing a prediction can lead us to its falsification." This is where he talks about the book the recorded the major events of your life up to and including past, present and future. I was determined to pass the class so I predicted if i didn't study I would fail. To lead this to its falsification I had to study. In the film The Matrix, Neo has to make a choice of freewill. He either had to save Morpheus or save himself. He Knew if he had not gone back to the Matrix, Morpheus would have died.

I was walking on a path through the woods to get to this house when I saw a swarming bee hive. Now I know that is i continue to walk the path I would get multiple stings. So I had the freewill to make a rational choice to reverse and find another route. Schick says that according to the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, "the only thing that's intrinsically valuable - good in and of itself -is ability to make rational choices."He believes that to lead a good life is not the experience you've had is what choices you have made. In the film, Neo had the freewill to make the rational choice to leap off the helicopter to catch Morpheus. He knew if he had not done so, Morpheus would have died.

Therefore, I do think everyone has the freewill to do whatever they have the desire to do. It is just how you approach your choice and the amount of will power to end in the desired outcome.

Blog 8 - Me++

Personal boundaries that define me as a person to start is my skin. It's what protects me from harmful bacteria,viruses, and basically exposing my flesh. Then going outward would be my jewelry, this can define my personality and fashion. That also includes my glasses. My cologne can be another boundary. Then depending on the weather, the amount of layers of clothes varies. This would be he boundaries of myself, but there is more. My room defines me as a person as does my apartment. I consider Astoria, the area I live in, my boundary then New York City as a whole, except Staten Island,who goes there? Besides New York I have traveled within the western hemisphere to Dallas because my sister lives there and to Brazil because I have family there. The western hemisphere is probably my last boundary.

What network connects and penetrates my boundaries starting with my skin would be food or any type of medication being swallowed by mouth. My cologne can be easily be penetrated or washed away with water. My clothes can be taken off, zippers can be opened, and buttons can be unbuttoned. Their are windows and a doors to my room because I network in and out of it and there is a door to enter and exit through my apartment. I network in and out of my neighborhood without even noticing because it has invisible boundaries. You can just walk across the street and end up on the other side of the boundary. I penetrate through the boundaries of New York simply taking a plane as I did to go to Brazil and Dallas.

Certain time structures that regulate the existence of my life could be the time I wake up everyday. And a schedule time to go to class and work. That dictates the regularity of my life.

Blog 7 - Paper Reflection

Well at first my Mid-term paper topic was the invention of the mp3 player. A week and a half prior to the due date I decided that the topic was lame and wanted to change. I changed to a more mature topic, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. It was a major setback but nothing I cant handle. First I started with a claim to my paper which was that Upton's The Jungle did have an effect on the evolution of mass media. I started buy gathering whatever information having to do with my claim. Books, Internet, and newspaper articles is what I mostly used. Then I outlined my paper according to my evidence that's proving my claim. Then basically starting the first draft. had a few people comment on it then start another draft. Finally did my final draft. Keep in mind doing this a week and a half prior to due date. Once I had my final copy of my paper in hand I could tackle my power-point part of the project. That was simple just because I used my paper as a reference. What I would probably do differently would be choosing a solid topic otherwise nothing else really. I'd say on a scale from 1-10 on my effort, 8.5. And on a scale from 1-10 on my final product, 9. Have a nice day lol

The Truman show was a great movie. Just to put that out there. First time I have seen it was in class. Truman finds out that his is in a television show ever since his was in the womb of his mother. So he escapes to sea and when he gets to the edge, Christof speaks to him and asks him if he wanted to stay in Seahaven or go to a world he knows little or nothing about. He chooses the outside world and I think I would have to agree. I believe that living in the world of Seahaven would be very boring repetitive life. Were in the outside world you can basically do whatever you please. I also believe that people can develop fear in Seahaven because Truman did. He feared the ocean because of his alleged fathers death traumatized him. So it does not make a difference you would have something to fear about in either world might as well be the real one. Even thought I know little about the outside world, I would still not let the opportunity pass because I am highly adventurous and I would try and explore what is out there.

Truman starts to piece together the falsity of the world around him. His interpretation of Seahaven is changed. He starts to question and analyze all that he encounters. There are certain parallels in my life that changed the way I processed the world in the same way. In early childhood, kids are being told minor fibs for long period of time by their parents about certain things, such as Santa Clause. I don’t know about anyone else but the way processed the world change after finding out he wasn’t real. I was told that the tooth fairy comes to my house and exchanges my tooth for money, same goes for other children, I hope. I was in a world were it exists. But after I woken up one time with my father exchanging the tooth with money, the way I processed the world was different.

Fate, Freedom, and Foreknowledge - Blog 5

I believe in freewill because you have the choice to do whatever you want. Back in high school, I was doing poorly in one class and needed to pass the final to pass the class. I was given the choice to either fail the final and go to summer school or study and pass the final to advance to the next grade. Same for Neo when he had to make a choice between saving his own life or Morpheus’. He then freely makes his choice later in the film. Schick says, “Even in a world where causal determination is true, knowing a prediction can lead us to its falsification.” I knew if I had not studied for that final I would have failed. Neo knew if he did not make the choice to save Morpheus, he would have died. Therefore, I think everyone has the freewill to do whatever he or she desire; you just have to have the will to do so.

Real or Unreal - Blog 4

Jorge J.E. Gracia and Jonathan J. Sanford uses the terms “source” and “ontological status” to explain weather the Matrix is “unreal” or the world outside the matrix is “real”. They define the term ontological status as the way something simply exists as said on page 61 of The Matrix and Philosophy. The term source means to obtain from particular supplier or the origin of something. What they are saying is to find the ontological status of something is to find its source, if any. In one hand, they say that the world of the matrix is not real because, in terms of ontological status, we do not know all the sources in the world of the matrix. On the other hand, the world of the Matrix is real because it does not depend on something else to maintain their existence when the “real” world has to depend on humans to exist. I believe that if you cannot find the source of something, their ontological status does not exist. Therefore, I do agree with their assignment.

The Matrix and Philosophy - Blog 3

The reading that interested me most is Skepticism, Morality and The Matrix by Gerald Erion and Barry Smith. They talk about why we might be living in the Matrix and they are skeptic that we cannot know for sure that the external world exists. I highly agree that we do not know for certain that there is a Matrix. What particularly interested me is the ideas of Rene Descartes. He believed that a “malicious demon of the utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies in order to deceive.” I like this idea because there could be a possibility of a demon making us think or do whatever he wants without us being cognisant of what is happening. Peter Unger has a similar idea but instead of a malicious demon controlling you he thinks a evil scientist is. I completely agree to their ideas because we have no idea if this is true but there’s a possibility.

Thoughts about the Matrix - Blog 2

When I have first seen the film The Matrix years ago, I thought I just saw a regular science-fiction action movie. Watching it again in class made me realize there is more to it then crazy fighting scenes. It made me realize that there is philosophy and religion behind it. Just like Jesus Christ. Neo dies and comes back to life. As Judas from the twelve disciples betrays Jesus, Cypher does the same to Neo. Trinity is compared to the Holy Spirit and Morpheus is compared to “god” of the matrix. The philosophy behind the film is were Neo is compared to Socrates and the film is compared to the Allegory of the Cave. Are we living in the Matrix is what really runs through my mind. No one will ever have knowledge of themselves being in the Matrix. As written in Peter Unger’s 1975 book Ignorance, he believes that an evil scientist is using a computer to create electrical impulses that are sent to our central nervous system. Then using these impulses to stimulate our brain. He then tells us that the scientist tricks us into thinking that there are objects like books and chairs when there is not. However, do we really know if there is an evil scientist? Do we really know if books or chairs are there or not? Like these ideas, we would never know if we are living in the Matrix or not. Just the idea of an evil scientist deceiving you of what you are thinking and doing is mind bottling.

Allegory of the Cave - Blog 1

In Socrates' cave, I would believe to be in the stage of being chained up inside. This is a direct reference to The Matrix, where people are living in a dream world and they only have the knowledge that this is their reality. I would be still at the stage of being chained up because that would be my reality. Being freed would just confuse and lose me from what reality is as I learned it. I know where I am because shackled between a fire and a wall watching shadow go by for long period of time is closest thing to reality around so I have grown accustom to it. In my life, something that was taught to me since I was very young is being a catholic. I was grown and accustom to being a catholic all my life, so I would be confused and reject any other religion. As if I were chained up in the cave, I know where I am and I know what my reality is. I believe that if you are taught something you are going to stick with that fact. I was taught to be catholic as a child so I stuck with it. Being chained in the cave watching these shadows pass by and being told that this was reality, I am going to stick with it because this is what I was taught and grown to know.