HARRY POTTER!

So on Sunday night I got to go see the New Harry Potter movie with a group of my friends. Now ever since the third HP movie I have not been impressed with the movie adaptions. I just think they have done a terrible job with them and I hadn't seen a HP movie in theaters in years. I was a little skeptical because I had thought that movies didn't pay enough tribute to the books. I want to explain a little bit about why I love the HP series so much. I bet most of us have a book or a series of books that really launched our interest in reading. If you think about it a lot you can probably remember what that book is. For me that book/book series is HP so I have this deep connection to the books because they are the reason I read.

HP was definitely not the first book I had ever read cover to cover, but it was the first that I had read where I couldn't out it down. It instantly grab me and pulled me in. Regardless of whether or not J.K. Rowling is a good author or not, she had this way of making me fall into this completely different world. I could pick up HP and completely disappear. Now as a 8 year old, I just thought it was cool to go to the world of Hogwarts and HP, but as I got older it was a great escape.

A lot of people say that J.K. Rowling borrowed a lot of her material from other books and the Bible, but I think those people are just searching for that. I really believe that there's almost no way now for an author to write a book without it being compared to another book that has been written before. Think about it throughout history/herstory there have been thousands even millions of books written. So somewhere down the line there has to be a book written now that has some resemblance of a book previously written.

I don't know if that makes since at all, but HP is kind of the reason I read in the sense that it made me want to read books.

Life is supposed to Advance

There are a lot of philisophical themes that arise from Frankenstein such as life, death, reason, science, friendship, love, acceptance, failure, and most of all prejudice.

Life is supposed to advance, we are supposed to become stronger, more intelligent, and self-sufficient. Science is just another type of advancement in our life. If we can create the technology that creates different creatures then so be it. Whether it is right or wrong we would have to find out the hard way. Life is supposed to be making mistakes and learning from them. If someone creates a creature so horrible as Frankenstein and then sees the error of their creation then they should learn not to do it again. However, like Bengamine Franklin said something like I didn't fail at making a light bulb I just learned how not to make one. I don't think anything is a failure, we learn how not to do things in learning how to do something. Frankenstein wasn't a failed creation, his creator just needed to find out how to make it right. In order to do that he would have to keep trying and keep making the wrong thing until he can create another person or monster that is to everyone elses liking. But will they really be accepted since they were created in such a grotesque manner? How do we accept people? How do we decide who is better than someone else? Aren't we supposed to have empathy for people less fortunate than us?

As we advance in technology, business, the arts, medicine, and everything else shouldn't we also be advancing in empathy and in our other emotions? Isn't that why there is really no population decline because we feel the need to cure those that are ill rather than just letting them die? If we feel empathy towards others then why can't we feel empathy towards something not like us? Just because he was different he wasn't accepted. This is a major issue today and has been through out history, hell WWII was basically due to Hitler and his prejudice against all that weren't like him. But how can we learn from Hitler and how can we be better than him? Individually we should know now how to be more understanding of others and how they live their lives. As a whole, we are not very understanding of certain peoples lives and how they live. There is still prejudice in this world even though history has taught us that it doesn't do any good. Are we still making history so that future people will learn from us? Will there ever not be any prejudice?

I think that there will never be total acceptance of all peoples no matter what. Life isn't supposed to be that way. There are supposed to be differences and challenges. This is how advancement happens. Maybe eventually humans will learn to be more accepting but we are still too primitive in our way of life and thinking to accept all as equals. There are still going to be wars due to religion, race, and power. There is still going to be hatred (even if its less than before). Hopefully it will get better but not right now and not in our life time.

Eating is Just as unhealthy as smoking

I don't know what else to write so here is another one of my short story ideas.

The third world war has just begun and Russia has set its targets on the US. They’ve Russians have just failed to strike the city of Kogir with their most powerful missile, which landed 10 miles out to see. Although the missile had missed its target it caused a tsunami to wash through the city. Charlie, Steve, and Jamone had been bringing supplies to their bomb shelter deep in the woods by use of a Polaris Ranger. The view of the missile strike distracted Charlie who hit and large rock and flipped the Ranger impaling Steve in the abdomen with a tree root. Luckily the root hit no vital organs but blood loss was still a problem. They made their way back to the town in order to find a doctor but the town was deserted except for a few stragglers and Jamone’s fiancé who was preparing the rest of the supplies for the shelter. After discovering that the doctor has fled, they decide to make their way to the city in hopes of finding some help. Jamone took off in search of his fiancé leaving Steve calling after him.

“Just leave him, we’ll catch up with him later, but right now I need to get to the city” said Charlie

“Alright” we’ll find him when we get back. How are you holding up by the way? You’ve lost a lot of blood”

“I’ll make it to the city but any longer I Can’t say, I’m getting pretty woozy”

“We’ll take the off road path and cross the bridge and come out behind the big Apple which will be about 10 blocks from the hospital. It’s the fastest way,” said Steve.

So Steve fired up the engine to the ranger and sped down the dirt road. Before reaching the off road path Charlie had passed out from exhaustion to lack of blood. Steve veered onto the four-wheeler trail and sped down it, Charlie woke up due to the bumpiness and grumbled a bit. By the time they made it to the bridges high up in the cliffs that crossed over to the city it had become dusk.

“Oh my Jesus Christ gasped Steve. The bridges, they’re all torn to shit!”

All that remained were the suspension cords and the thick metal Skelton of the two bridges.

“Holy fuck what happened here?” said an astonished Charlie

They could see shrapnel of all the torn up boats that were once resting in the harbor.

“There all hung up on the cliffs. Look to our left!” Steve said

Charlie’s eyes widened with disbelief. Hung up high in the cliffs just to their left was a battered and beaten US military submarine. It had gotten hung up on the bridges suspension cords and parts of the protruding cliff.

“We bet-“

Just as Steve had begun to speak the submarine slipped away from the cliff and crashed into the bridge that leaves the city, taking it down into the black churning water below.

“We need to hurry and get back, we’ll take the road into the city” said Steve

“I wont make it, I’m not going back, but you are. Hurry back and get Jamo and his woman and get to the shelter. Ima work my way across the bridge and after I get help I’ll come back to the shelter. What ever you do, do not come looking for me or even leave the shelter. I love you man and I’ll be seeing you soon, whether it be in this life or another, good luck to you.”

Umm so ya, just another very rough draft of another story idea. I think I’m going to change a lot but the basic idea is there. I’d have the story follow Charlie on his trek to find help. While getting help the Russians will invade and it will be a fight for survival as Charlie tries to make it back to his friends.

Some Food for Thought!

A friend of mine I know from my internship this summer with Outward Bound just posted this on his facebook, and I just watched it, and I feel I'm going to have to watch it a few more times to completely grasp the full picture...There's a lot in it, but I figured I'd share for those of you who are interested.

It's called "The Empathetic Civilization."

There's so SO much to think about!!!!!

~Are we "soft wired" for compassion, love, empathizing, and belonging?

~Does empathy really mature in a person?

~Does increased selfhood = increased empathy? (...what is selfhood?)

~There's no empathy in heaven?

~Are we all really one, big, happy, dysfunctional family???

Hmmm... Like I said, I still need to gather my thoughts...

everyone SHOULD be given a chance

So because I find this so much fun I have decided to yet again talk about love but this time related to our current book of Frankenstein. As you guys know all that the creature created by Dr. Frankenstein wanted was a wife or someone to love. Unfortunately when he did not get what he wanted he took some drastic measures. This then brings forth the question of “Does everyone deserve love? And is there someone for everyone to love?”

Of course everyone deserves love you might say. Love is something that is an experience that brings fulfillment to life. Well what about the cruel people in history, people that are often times labeled as monsters just as the creature in “Frankenstein” was. For example what about Hitler, Hannibal, Stalin, or many other people who have negatively affected our history, do these people deserve to have love in their lives, even though they have done some many horrible things to other people?

Personally I would say that yes, everyone does not deserve to have love in their lives but everyone should have the opportunity to love and be loved in return. People make horrible choices but often times they make these choices with motives that they believe to be true, and everyone has the right to make their own choices. It then just comes down to wither or not there is someone to love that person. And again I would say that everyone has someone out there. I am not in any way saying that I believe that we all only have ONE person who is our true love and the person that we are meant to spend the rest of our lives with. Instead I suggest the idea that there are multiple people for each of us, but that is a different matter entirely. My main idea for this blog entry is that everyone should be given the chance for love.

Prejudice of the Unusual

Throughout history, it is a known fact that anyone who has been termed different from the majority of the population has been stereotyped and has had to deal with prejudice. This idea has been put in many fantasy books too like in Frankenstein and Wicked.

In Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein's monster is a subject so grotesqe and creepy that everyone is scared and freaked out about him that they don't notice how intelligent he is and how he just wants to be accepted and help people and have a family too. Just because he was created in an unnatural way and looks just as unnatural, he never gets accepted and is turned away by his own creator who ends up going back on his word on making a mate just because the idea of the future scares him.

In Wicked, Elphaba is just a normal girl in the land of Oz but is left out and teased and is treated unfairly all because she has magical talent and green skin which is because her mother had an affair with the wizard and drank a green elixer that affected elphaba's skin color development.

As these examples show, prejudice is not a great thing and people just need to treat people all the same like they would want to be treated because everyone deserves to be happy and treated well and get the same things in life like love, family, acceptance, education, life experience, etc.

Shouldn't you be dead?

So the topic of Frankenstein brings up everyone's favorite topic of life and death. Would you want to be reanimated if you were killed off? If your life was too short would you want to have someone bring you back to the living?

Well, if it was me: no I would not be back to life. You don't know if you'll be the same person and if your life would be lived the same way (and yes having a heart attack and them reviving you is a TOTALLY different story!) If you completely die and a year later someone brings you back to life. It would not be the same life you left. You'd be restarting your life all over again. You also have missed a whole year of your life. Things change, people change. You're life would not be the life you left and missed. It's a whole new life, you're being reborn. If that's what you want, go for it.

Also be aware, there might be things about you that you might not have. Such as you love your eyes, they're the favorite part of your body. Who says that your eyes didn't rote away and now you need to have your eyes replaced. Or your skin is as translucent as Frankenstein's monster, if you're like Jordon and can't stand the sight of veins, you wouldn't be able to live with yourself and then you would end up dead anyways and the whole process would've been totally pointless and a waste of someone's time and effort.

So, the moral of the story? Jordon shouldn't be reanimated if she in fact dies off but the rest of us can totally handle our new lives.

“Believe in love at first sight, just incase.” -Unknown

That quote was for all of you love skeptics out there; hope you guys all like it!

I have decided talk about love since this seems to be a theme this week. I think that it is important understand that love comes in all different forms. Love can be for a friend, a pet, God or another religious figure, and of course for a significant other. But I think that some people forget that you can have also have love for things that are not “human” like. For example you can have love for places such as home, a favorite spot, or something silly like mountains, a garden, favorite stuffed animal, and many more things. Love comes in all different forms; loves seem to be an emotion that is tied very strongly to memories, thus your experiences.

I have come to realize these last two years that I have been in Maine that love is much more then I could have imagined. I have always been a home girl but being away for such a long (being a relative term) time has been a little interesting at times. Of course I miss my family greatly but I have also come to miss little things that never crossed my mind as something that I would miss when I moved to Maine.

In Washington no matter where I went I could see mountains, to the east the Cascades and to the west the Olympics. Their constant presence always in my life, I can remember walking down the hill into town to go to the library as the sun set, the Olympics turning pink and orange, a glowing reminder of good memories of laughter, challenges, and a serenity that can only be achieved deep in the backcountry. I can remember standing a top of a mountain, which had plagued me for years, a goal that I had to achieve. I can remember looking out over the snowy mountaintops, Mt Rainier in the distance and feel that great sense of accomplishment that only comes when you concur a goal. I can remember bush waking along a snowy ridge, shear drops on either side of me for a good 100 feet or so. To one side a beautiful wide lake, the moon reflecting across its deep blue waters. To the other side a snowy valley and more mountains. I can remember looking up at the sky above, more stars then I could have imagined twinkling down on me. A helicopter circled above, a light shinning from it as it looked for a landing place. The thrill of being on a search and rescue mission and the enjoyment of being at the mountains coursed through me. It is all of these experiences and many more that have fueled my deep love for the mountains. When I went home last summer, I can remember looking out the airplane window so excited to see my mountains below me. As you can imagine the people sitting next me thought that I was a little crazy, but hey love in any form is a little crazy. It is an indescribable emotion that affects us all in a different ways. Love is what connects us all together and to our surroundings.

Love in Harry Potter

This is what Albus Dumbledore has to say about love: "There is a room in the Department of Mysteries that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all."

Love is an important topic in Harry Potter, and is considered the most powerful magic. Harry is protected by other peoples’ love for him and his ability to love. A lot of people think they are in love, but all they are is infatuated. This brings me to Harry Potter again in the form of a love potion. Love potions make people think that they are in love, but they are just infatuated. If you ever believe you are in love, just see if your feelings last a few months, otherwise you are only infatuated.

I refuse to believe there is anything “magical” about love. Love to me is just brain chemistry set about to uphold the survival of the species.

Advertisements have ruined the word love.

Shampoo and television seem to have a side effect of mind control. With the rise of nanotechnology, corporations more powerful than the government have invested their money into nanotechnology research. They have hired scientist to devise a technology that could seep through the skin and find certain areas amongst the brain. They then act as an electrical simulator administering various feelings and impulses upon the user. The way they administer these nano electrical simulators is by shampoo. All the user has to do is massage it into their scalp and the nanobots will do the rest.

The way television comes into play is various television stations and commercials give off various frequencies not detectible by the human ear. The “nanobots” act as receptors to this frequency and then produce electrical impulses creating different feelings. For example a McDonalds commercial would potentially produce the feeling of happiness and self-content. The next time the person drives by a McDonalds the feelings of happiness and self-content will reemerge, this will then be detected by the “nanobots” to which will produce an impulse such as Hunger and anxiousness.

Due to corporations being cheap and lacking morals the nanobots were not yet perfected before they were administered. Most or all of the nanobots experienced malfunctions causing users nationwide to become insane. Suicide rates have skyrocketed, people have taken on serial killer tendencies, schizophrenia, Panic disorder, multiple personalities, Bipolar disorder and so on effect most of the population. There are still normal people throughout US the ones who don’t or didn’t wash their hair between the time of distribution and the time of realization. These people are quickly being picked off by the mobs of serial killers and the mentally disturbed.

Before everything went wrong corporations were in battle with each other, different corporations owned different shampoo brands, owned different television stations that produce different frequencies. But all the corporations used the same nanobots; they just reprogrammed them to receive different frequencies. The corporations all but legally own the state of Texas and have all their corporate headquarters and homes scattered throughout it. Only a few ranch owners still remain that are separate from the corps.

The story Follows a group of people from one of the corporations who were having a “how do we fix this” meeting way out in the middle of nowhere Texas. At this meeting they figured out how to reverse the effects and on their way back to the Headquarters their car breaks down (or something) in front of a large ranch. They have no cell phone reception or any means of communication. At this ranch they meet a family of heavily armed heavily horsed people who provide the group with weapons and horses. Several of people in the group are ex-military Special Forces. The borders of Texas are heavily guarded but many of the insane still manage to cross and during the groups trek back to Headquarters they have several encounters with their creations.

Is this too much like other things similar...?

All you need is love...

It's a fine line between love and hate. How important is love after all; does it really make the world go round? Is there nothing more important in life than to find and keep love? Ok so yes I admit that I am a romantic at heart so I am completely biased. Yes there are a lot of other important and gratifying things in this world; but Love, it changes you, gives you a feeling nothing else can; except maybe narcotics ( to be truthful both love and narcotics are dangerous to your health.) Unconditional love teaches you about the world about yourself, it opens your eyes to the great things around you. When you are in love everything is a little sweeter, brighter, more exciting.

If there is something else in this world that is as great as love we are yet to discover it. Love is incomprehensible no one really understand how it happens why it is that we seek love. Some of us even succumb to desperate measures like dating websites. After all every movie has an underlying message of love; even if that is the love of a friend or animal. Love really is the most important thing in this world and without it what would really be the purpose; and would that purpose really be worth it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czs58qZZ780

The Greatest Thing You Will Ever Learn, Is Just to love, and Be Loved in Return

Nothing really matters anymore

It is a very difficult concept to even imagine; no meaning in the world just meaningless existence. We as humans constantly seek meaning in everything we do; we search and we hope that we are doing it all for some reason or another; otherwise what a waste of time. If this is true that nothing matters there is no divine purpose then I guess we should just keep ourselves busy and hope for the best.

Does it matter if I'm late to Zavodny's class? Or if I even go to class; after all it's all just meaningless dribble. This blog entry itself truly is meaningless it has no purpose except to exist. Really I feel that if people embraced that it's all for nothing then they have nothing to lose... maybe people would live out their dreams, become that surf bum they always wanted to be, travel the world. Who cares if you don't have money or a house, after all it's all meaningless.

As is the ever analyzing of books like the lion the witch and the wardrobe. We can give meaning to obscure passages, but at the end of it all; As Freud once said "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar"

We're Out of Control!!!

The other day I was sitting in class, taking notes, and was fiddling with my pen, going through a period of fidgitiness, that comes and goes. And I was watching myself play with the pen in my hand, and it was suddenly like my hand wasn’t my own anymore, and I saw myself, in my head, chuck the pen across the room! I was surprised my body didn’t follow through with this impulse…In general, everybody has urges, but where do they come from? And if the onset is that instantaneous, how do we have the time to even resist that urge? Why didn’t I huck that pen across the room? …Where did the restraint come from? (I hope this happens to other people, otherwise I’m disclosing my inner crazy…)

Have you ever been in a situation where everything just seems right in the world, and you’re surrounded by great people, and you just feel the urge to jump in the air or skip or sing… Maybe you want to hug a random person you feel is down and you feeling very sympathetic, however if you did, it would just be really creepy. Or the opposite, maybe you’ve been so angry that it takes everything within you to keep from slapping another person…or worse! Could you imagine a world where people couldn’t control their urges? It would be complete mayhem, completely barbaric. I feel like self-control is one of the most unique qualities we humans have that sets us apart from all else. Or do we really have as much control as we think we do? Whatabout people who battle addictions, with drugs or alcohol? It is more socially accepted and therefore easier to submit to them in the first place? Look at people who have succumbed to them, and how extremely difficult it is overcome; they have to rebuild their self-control. So, is it all a practiced thing?

What is self-control exactly? And is it even true that humans are the only species that exhibit it? Are we really as unique as we think we are? Is there any evidence of animals showing this also? I’d have to do more research… but does anybody else have an opinion or facts that support either side? I wish I had more of an argument to present, but it’s just a thought. It’s very interesting…

picture:

http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/self-control.jpg

The choice is yours.

So the other night I was thinking about how I have no idea what I really want to do with my life. I was also thinking about how there are so many different philosophies out there that I've learned over the past few years dealing with life and how to live it.
...and then I thought about how I have one of these philosophies tattooed on my body, and how I don't even pay attention to it anymore. I figured by writing a blog post about it, maybe it would help me think it over and try to incorporate it back into my life.

The philosophy is based around an equilateral triangle and the 4 major parts of it. At the summer camp I worked at (where I learned this philosophy), we called it a MEPS triangle. It stands for Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual.

The left side of the triangle represents your mental state of being. It represents your dreams and ambitions in life and basically just having them.

The right side of the triangle represents the physical aspect of your life. Being in "physical shape" in this instance does not mean being fit or working out. It represents the physical things you need to do in order to achieve your mental aspect (dreams, goals). This means going to school (if need be), studying, getting a job, focusing, or just working towards your goals in any way possible.

The bottom of the triangle is the spiritual base. This doesn't mean that you have to be the most religious person on the planet (trust me,I'm not), or religious at all for that matter. This is basically your "moral compass" which will help guide you. Believing that there is something higher than you out there makes you realize that everything isn't about YOU, and you can't control everything. This will keep you grounded.

The last part of the triangle is the emotional center. The 3 other sides of the triangle basically make up your emotional center, leading you to be consistent in life. You want to try to keep a positive attitude and outlook on life because energy is highly contagious!! Most likely if you are feeling down, you will pull others down with you.

The triangle is equilateral because you want to try to find and maintain balance. If your mental outweighs your physical, you have all of these big dreams but you are not doing anything to get them. Nobody's triangle will ever be totally balanced, but you should try to work towards it everyday.

True Love

"So, yes, I know that love is unconditional. But I also know that it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable,and well, strangely easy to mistake for loathing.And what I, I'm trying to say Tristan is I think I love you. My heart, if feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it does not belong to me anymore..it belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I'd wish for nothing in exchange. No gifts, no goods, no demonstrations of devotion, nothing but knowing you love me too. Just your heart in exchange for mine."

I know that there can be many kinds of love. Love for your family, friends, pets, interests, yourself and your significant other. The above quote from Stardust I think captures the perfect definition of what true love is between someone and their significant other.

Now sure it is pretty obvious that I am a romantic but why not? Why not let people have something to dream about or strive for? It isn't called automatically obtaining true love. Its finding your true love or soul mate. It isn't suppose to be easy but its worth searching for throughout your life. It is something special to add to your happiness because you will always have your family and you will always keep and make friends, and you can easily get a pet or get passionate about a hobby, and you will always care about yourself. Finding that special someone just completes the package.

Love Stinks (Yeah, Yeah…)

L-O-V-E

We talked a little bit about it in class today, so while we are on the subject, I figure I’d touch on it a little bit also. I found John’s take on love very amusing, but I also have to say I completely agree with it, pretty much 100%. It’s not as important as everybody claims it to be…or I should say certain kinds of love.

And before I get on a tangent, I would like to say first and foremost, I am not a cynical, bitter, person, when it comes to the subject of love, and would like everyone to keep in mind that my license plate does say “HugSum1” I’ve been told to “hug a tree,” and can really get very sentimental very easily. I love my family, I love my friends, and am lucky enough to have a handful that I keep very close to me; I have friends across the country that I have to say goodbye to multiple times a year, flip flopping my life when it comes to school, work, and home. I especially know what it feels like to miss someone, when there’s a gap from someone you can’t be with anymore. Love is considered abstract, but for me it’s never been hard to figure out. It’s everywhere. It’s a feeling of comfort, it’s genuinely wanting what’s best for others, it’s helping. Simply put, it’s caring. It’s a very easy concept I feel.

So when people are “looking for love,” or trying to find “the right person” or their “other half,” and aren’t satisfied until they find their “match,” I just find it all, no offense, but… stupid. Being “In Love,” what does that even mean?! It’s two completely different things really. One is love. The other is purely infatuation. When you’re in love you’re just infatuated, and you care about that person. Together. It’s unique, and special, I’ll grant it that, but I guess that’s my argument.

People who are on the search for their “soul mate,” are getting together with people they care about and maybe not infatuated with. What happens when somebody comes along and that fills that missing piece? That relationship is over. Or maybe they are completely infatuated with someone, but they don’t give a damn about the person themselves. That’s going to last for two seconds. And that’s just one person’s feelings. So really a situation when both parties feel the same exact way and everything is completely perfect on both ends, seems very unlikely, almost impossible. But let’s just say rare.

I’m going to be lame and quote a movie, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days actually. The quote goes something like “…People in lust want chocolate; People in Love want diamonds.” Because diamonds are rare. Blah blah, this isn’t new to anybody. Everybody believes that that “special someone” is rare to find, that's what's so alluring about it all. People argue if their “true love” even exists, (which I don’t by the way…) There’s probably many people who meet the “true love” criteria, but there are also many millions of times more people than that in this world. Finding those people is the tricky part.

So finally my point. If that situation were to ever present itself, then you can treat it with the specialty that it is. It’s not for everybody. And nobody really needs it. Nobody. Like I said love is everywhere, if you aren’t satisfied with that, then it’s clearly your hormones speaking. And, wow, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but really, go hook up with somebody, and leave it at that! Maybe it shouldn’t be considered that big of a deal….....… Really, I don’t know if I completely agree with that idea, but I hope you sort of get my point…

Anyways, meanwhile, appreciate what you have. Many people in their love-crazed minds don’t pay attention to anything else. How many people regularly call home to their family? I’m guilty of not doing it, getting distracted with life in general. So it should start there. Send a friend a card just because. Give somebody a freaking hug. Hang with your friends. Live your life. And if that special someone happens to come around, consider yourself lucky and embrace the situation. But wait for that time, and be okay with it. Even if it doesn’t come, does it really have to be that big of a deal? Sure, it sounds wonderful. And sure, I love watching a good chick flick every now and again, and it warms my little heart. But it’s not real. It's not like it happens every day like they make it out to seem. You can't make it happen! Don’t you find it kind of strange that people plan to get married when they try to figure out their life? They plan to have a certain number or kids by a certain time frame. I find that very strange... It’s NOT a given, and you’ll probably find that you can’t make it be.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe everybody deserves love, and should give a go at it. Maybe I’m missing something in the trial and error department. Hell, maybe I’m the most naive here in thinking it should come naturally… Maybe everything I just described fits into the “meant to be” mentality, which is almost as bad as soul mates. (bleh!) I’ve argued with many people about this, and it’s always fun, but nobody ever agrees… Can anybody relate to this at all?

Anyways, when the opportunity presents itself, I figure it a great time to offer a different perspective...So please just let me leave you with a few requests…

Ahem,

1) Don’t force love upon yourself.

2) Don’t obsess.

3) Don’t commit when you shouldn’t, if anything it adds unnecessary hurt (to yourself and others) when there doesn't have to be any at all!

4) Meanwhile, as John said, live your life! There’s a whole world out there!!!

5) Embrace the love you have, (which is never hard to find…)

6) And lastly… Give somebody a hug :)

picture:

http://thesituationist.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/thing-called-love.jpg

Animals are people too!

If robots are considered people, one can make the argument that non-human animals are people too. What exactly sets us apart from other animals? People have debated this question again and again, and the more we learn about animals, the more that we discover our similarities.

Tools: This was one example that people believed set us apart from other animals. Jane Goodall discovered that chimpanzees use tools, and more people have discovered the tools that other animals use.

Language: People argue that animals can’t communicate like humans do. It is true that not all animals have vocal communication, but they do have ways of communicating such as pheromones. As for vocal communication- prairie dogs have an extensive vocabulary that includes nouns and adjectives.

Emotions: As anyone can notice with pets, animals do have emotions. They may not have as many as humans (or do they?), but they at least have basic emotions such as joy, sadness, and anger. Animals will also grieve for their loved ones.

Empathy: Here is the main thing that people argue robots will never have. Do animals have empathy? Here is an interesting article about empathetic animals. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-animals-feel-empathy I will also say that elephants in particular will wait for injured elephants to catch up in their group.

Art: People argue that animals do not create art. http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2008/03/can_animals_create_art.php has a very interesting article about elephants that do art. Whether they were trained specifically how to paint the picture, or if the image symbolizes anything to these animals is unknown.

Animals eat, reproduce, and have so many more similarities to humans. So are animals people too?

I want icecream.

...a nice big bowl of oreo ice cream. or maybe mint chip. or chocolate chip cookie dough.
mmm or maybe this delicious sundae of heaven...

I'm gonna eat all 1,660 calories of this deliciousness and I'm not gonna care one bit; because as Jordan previously said, it doesn't matter anyways right? We're just going to die in the end so I might as well enjoy myself while I can.

Well...kind of.

I do believe that essentially we can do whatever we damn well please but I think at some point you have to know when to take responsibility. For example, after I eat that huge ass dessert I will probably feel guilty and go for a run or something. Ok who am i kidding..

I mean in reality I could go out and buy a gallon of ice cream and come back here and eat it all; but I'm not going to because 1. that would be highly gluttonous of me, 2. I don't feel like leaving my room, and 3. I don't want to gain 5238957 pounds by Christmas. OH! Here's another example, I've recently realized that I love coffee. And I could possibly have a borderline addiction. Well yesterday I decided I would try to stop drinking it for 2 weeks. Yea, I have free will and at anytime I could give in and go drink 8 cups of it but I'm not going to because I told myself I had to stop for a while.

Yes, it would be extremely nice to just say "fuck it", drop everything, take a long road trip to Cali and live happily ever after sitting on the beach for the rest of my life; But I'm not going to (at least at this moment) because I know I have to finish school if I want to get a good job which will lead to money which will lead to road tripping it to Cali. I understand that everyone has free will and we can do whatever we want, and I also understand that (in my opinion) in the end nothing will matter anyway....but I still don't want to just go crazy and not care about anything. I sometimes wish I had the attitude that Christopher McCandless had when he said "fuck it" and went off 'into the wild'.

You have to turn the volume up high when you watch this but WATCH IT! and if you haven't seen Little Miss Sunshine, SEE IT!!!!!

"Do what you love and fuck the rest"

pic: http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/98115-john-lounsbury/75308-deadly-desserts

No Limitations

People always seem to take the statement "there is no ultimate meaning to the Universe" badly. I on the other hand welcome it into my life! Lets face it, people get so worked up over finding a job, making money, falling in love, going to school (maybe not in that order), when all we're going to do is die. Yes we will leave memories behind with people that we know, who will then eventually die too! So I say screw what you're "supposed" to do with your life and have a little adventure! Don't settle for the average house and kids, get out there and deviate a little; walk across the country, visit all the giant pink elephants on the side of the road, see the northern lights, learn ten languages and USE THEM! Why do these seemingly pointless things? Why not, none of it matters anyway; at least you'll enjoy your existence.



Fear, money, responsibility, love; these things are what limit us. Yes, they can also lead to amazing and happy lives, but they also stop us from going further.





picture source: http://smartcanucks.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/pinkelephant.jpg

Robots: a new race

They walk among us and create oddities just to piss Becky off. I think it's the robot plot to find Becky, befriend her, love her, and make her feel these feelings back towards them. Then when she's 80 years old, they'll rip through the membrane concealing them and say "HA! You thought I was a human all along; you loved me, you cared about me, you treated me as an equal." At which point poor elderly Becky would say "aaaaaaaaaaarg curse you philosophy!!!!!" and then dwindle away in her rocking chair....rest in peace Becky, rest in peace.

I do however share similar ideas with our dear classmate in saying that robots may act the part, but there will always be something missing that will make them not equal to the human race. Call me prejudice if you'd like (I'm very fond of nick-names) but downloading emotions, talents, and interests is just plain cheating!

photo source:http://www.angryasianman.com/images/angry/giantrobot_statues.jpg

Chaos Soup

So today in class John briefly mentioned chaos soup and I wanted to talk about that some more because I think that in today's society, with everything that is expected of us, I think a lot of us deal with a lot of stress and chaos in our lives.

In our society today there are so many things expected of us. Go to school, get a job, make money, make kids, do this do that. Not to mention that pressure we feel when we do each of those things. I'm going to take school for instance because I'm a student and thats the easiest thing for me to choose is school right now. While in school we have to do work for this class and that class, write this paper, work with this club, do this work to have money, do some volunteer stuff and the list can just go on and on. While in school we get pressure from parents to choose a degree where we will be able to get a good paying job after school. I mean those are just some of the pressures you can feel as a student and thats not even what I like to call "the real world".

In the real world not only do you have a lot of the same stresses as a student might have, but you also have real life stresses like paying bills, taxes, having a relationship?, kids? PTA? soccer, personal life, bosses, jobs you hate but you have because you make money. Having to have what is considered a good house that has the appropriate stuff inside it. TV, cable, phone, groceries. That list could go on for longer than the amount of things a student has to have.

With all of these stresses that come in our lives because of the type of society we live in things can some times feel very chaotic. Hence chaos soup. Heres what I imagine might happen in a normal fake day.

"hey hows it going?"

"oh good ya know"

"thats good. so what can I get you today?"

"oh you know the usual, a big steaming bowl of CHAOS!"

Haha thats just how I see it.

Peace

Got Soul?

I know this is back tracking but I think it is very appropriate to our discussion of souls.

I have mention Supernatural in this class before but they are always answering our questions for us!

The latest episodes have been about Sam being brought back from Hell. Both him and his brother Dean have been to hell and back, however, there is something different about Sam. He has become a ruthless hunter (they hunt demons). Sam was back for a year before he even went to see his brother. He didn't hesitate to torcher a kid for information. He let a vampire turn Dean while he watched. Basically all of this is because he doesn't have is soul. He is in perfect health and super strong, but he just doesn't feel anything besides what is physical.

I mentioned in a previous blog that our soul or something has to exist in order for us to feel emotions (any emotion). Otherwise we are just like robots which leads to our latest discussion. We have bodies and we feel physical sensations, but there is something else that allows us to be happy or sad or angry. I think its just scientifically impossible to come up with a theory as to how we feel those feelings. Would it still be the same if we figured out how those feelings come to be? If we fall in love but we know how we fall in love wouldn't that be weird? If we know what causes anger would we be able to stop it, is it genetic? I don't believe that emotions can be scientifically explained.

Robots are robots and people are people. If robots have souls we would never know because we don't know if we even have souls. Either way there is something that makes us feel. Sam's brother new something wasn't right the moment he saw him. He just didn't act like Sam. I think that it is comforting to know that there is something more to us than just bodies and organs.

To Each Our Own

On the subject of The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, what is our purpose in life and what is the ultimate question of life the universe and everything?

I think it is different for each person. We are all here to do what we alone are meant to do. Some people may be destined to be president, actresses, athletes, businessmen, scientists, doctors, or whatever we turn out to be. Yes I know this is cruel because some people just aren't that fortunate in this world. They barely have enough money to get by or they end up having 10 kids that they never wanted. However, I believe that that is what was supposed to happen. If you believe in fate and predetermined destiny, we are only here for ourselves.

When Arther is asked what he thinks the ultimate question is, he answered it for himself Is she the one? Maybe his purpose was to find someone to spend his life with. Again that was only for himself. Not everyone will find the one person they are supposed to spend their life with (if they are supposed to spend their life with someone). We are always only thinking of our selves in this world. We interact with and depend on others for various reasons but ultimately that is only for our own sanity.

There are so many TV shows and media that have the story line of a one great person that is meant to save the world from destruction or whatever, but I don't think that the world can be saved if its meant to be destroyed in some way. Everything happens for a reason. We are all here to do what we need to to survive with what we have been given. Yes some people have been given more than others but thats life and we just have to deal with it.

It's a corporite world and we're a bunch of walking advertisements

Maybe if we started thinking for ourselves and stopped listening to what advertisements told us, we'd realize that nobody ever really gave a shit. As we talked about in class today, we live in a corporate world. So much of our lives are based on the misconceptions that advertisements give. for example many people mainly females are under the misconception that "Eyeshadow and long lashes make you more pretty." But Seriously, who even looks at eyelashes maybe I'm the only one but they're certainly not something that I notice.
whenever I take a step back and consider these things people do such as, why wear tight pants? Why gel your hair? Why wear makeup that makes you look plastic and Fake? Why the hell are people buying clothes with holes already in them? The reason to me is because advertisements portray a world that without these things you're behind on the times, that you're not attractive, that you wont be part of the "in crowd." This is not so hard to believe though. Advertisements are around ever corner, they are television and magazines and movies etc. All it takes in a few people to start using these products and to start walking around and showing them off to cause chain reaction that spreads through the general public until it has been declared a norm. Recent generations have now been raised into a world of personal insecurity all due to the delusion that people have been put in by advertisements.

The Nature of Nature

I made myself look like an idiot today. Probably that's not any different from any other day, but at least then I don't feel it happening.

I presented a concept so abstract that it required acute language for explanation. I forgot that I'm a better writer than speaker. Words slip away when I talk. Maybe they'll stick around if I put them here. I hope it alleviates some embarrassment.

First, entertain the idea that everything has a nature. 'Nature', used in this context, is the collection of qualities for which something is known. You may simplify this to the utmost basic- the 'meaning' for a given thing's existence. You can apply it to anything, though non-living things are easier.

I.e. the nature of fire is to burn.

Unsimplified, 'nature' becomes a complex web of emotions and intelligence that forms who we are. Our personalities, our morals, our outlooks, our emotions. Our identities. You might even stretch to call 'nature' the manifestation of a soul, if you were to look at it spiritually. If not, than our 'nature' is the essence that makes us human, spirit or not. I.e. according to John Z., the nature of Marissa Smith is smug.

But 'nature' is also the natural, physical world. Not just our earth, but the entire cosmos. The known universe. 'Nature' is not just the forest, not just the animals. 'Nature' is the driving force behind these things, even, perhaps, behind ourselves.

So what is the nature of nature?

Our perceptions of the world warp and molt with each situation. Writers, artists and politicians are masters at warping perceptions. Just a single tweak of a word can change a pleasant scenario (the dog sang to the wind) into a wretched one (the dog brayed to the wind). How we view nature is a whirlwind of emotion and instinct.

Lets say you go for a walk into the woods. It's sunny, the path is well displayed, and small animals scurry into the undergrowth. A dog barks far off, and birds bounce in the tree branches. Then it gets dark. A fog rolls in. The path is obscured by shadow, and the animals in the undergrowth seem larger, much larger. The barking dog becomes a howling wolf, and owls swoop low above your head.

Suddenly nature is not so reverent. Suddenly nature is scary as hell. And does it care what happens to you? Does it honestly care that you respect it, adore it, cherish it? Does it care that you're scared? That you hate it? That you want to destroy it? Probably not. I think the result would be the same no matter what YOUR 'nature' is.

But the sun does come up again, after your night in the forest. You are alive, and you have a choice to make. Is the nature of nature how you thought of it when you first walked into the trees? Is it full of light, goodness, benevolence? Or is it a dark mass full of monsters?

Maybe it's both?

The nature of nature is neutral. It is the grey area comprised of awe's and horror's lovechild. We, living things, aren't 'pawns'. We're different natures existing within one giant nature, a grey one that endures and survives no matter what, no concern for what happens to us in the process. How uncomfortable!

But, you know? We love stories. That's why we use pieces of nature as symbolism. Maybe it doesn't really matter what the nature of nature is at its most basic level. Maybe it's how we spin it.

It's not like we can escape nature anyhow. Might as well make it pleasant to live with.

The Future, mmm just a little complicated

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.”
-Dale Carnegie

Ok, so to get this blog started I would like to state that the whole argument of humans and robots not exactly interesting. This might be in part that I find the idea of humans being controlled by machines or humans becoming machines due to technology flat out scary or it might be in part that I just don’t find it interesting in the least bit and sort of see it as a round about argument, but none the less we are currently discussing this is class, so here are my two bits.
I think that there is a difference between humans and robots, as some one mentioned in class I think that difference is emotions. A robot is not created and has the ability to expression emotions it is something that they have to learn and then apply to different situations, while humans are born with emotions that we act and react upon. Though I guess with the way that technology is progressing so drastically a robot could be programmed well enough that it could include all emotions and situations to act and react upon. It is really all mind boggling, which might be one reason why I choose to not think about it very often. I am perfectly content living in a life of happy oblivion. I wonder if with the advances of technology, will life actually become more complicated instead of less complicated. Life will most likely with less complicated in regards to labor but I think that social and cultural problems, those problems that require a lot of thinking and work to solve, will increase in frequency thus making life more complicated then it was before. It will be interesting to see how the world changes in the next years and the influence that technology has on it.

Sorry, Pinocchio, you can never be a real boy

Robots, can NEVER be humans, and here's why:

There are a few things in life we that make us human. One of the major ones (I find myself under the impression and I consider this a major reason) is we reproduce.
There is a process to this, theoretically: we pick a mate, we have sex and at some point we have a baby. It is, primitively, a goal of the race. To make babies to the race continues.

ROBOTS: can never fall in love or reproduce. NO program I can fathom could make a robot reproduce. I really don't think the robot could ever go through a cycle that is so essential to our existence that is so....I guess the word would be organic. If someone can tell me how a robot would reproduce sperm and form an egg and then make the to come together and form a baby for nine months, please tell me cause I honestly can't figure one out.

I could possibly see the program being able to make the robot pick it's life mate. Love is also something that is very essential to being a human, feels are part of what makes us human. It's something we all feel. You can't fake feeling love. But that would not be what the robot would feel. All love is really, is a chemical way for our brain to tell us that is the mate we want for the rest of our lives. Our brain is telling us (by making us feel love) we could procreate the species with that one. But would a robot feel the same thing? If they don't, I don't think they can be considered the equivalent to us. That just makes them another things that exists. I don't think if a robot can't feel the burning desire to talk to someone and be with someone for the rest of our lives, then that can't make them human.

I know a rebuttal to this is going to be: then do you consider animals equivalent to us then? Because if you do, then you're being racist.
My response to this question is, no but they deserve rights. They feel, they breath, they are organic and are created by something bigger than us. (whether that's god or just the functioning system of life say whatever you like but I sure don't have the talent to pull cells out of thin air and make the DNA code so it creates a bunny) But anyways: animals breath, procreate, and can genuinely feel emotions. They aren't humans, but they exist so they deserve rights too.

Robots deserve rights, but they should never be called a human (Pinocchio.... he's just special)

Man's Brain Child

Man has created many technological things throughout the years and still will in the future. One technology that has created debates though is the robot. They can look so realistic or have an appearance that makes our hearts melt and just love them no matter.

Prime examples of these kinds of robots are David and the robot teddy bear from the movie AI, R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars, and Marvin from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I doubt that anyone would be able to not like these characters. With the example of David and the teddy, they both look so real and one wouldn't know that they were robots unless someone told them and all David wants is to be real and regain his "mother" 's love. In the case of the robots from Star Wars, even if skeptics don't see it, I believe they have personalities that shine through so even though they obviously don't look human or act like it, they still feel like "people". Finally with Marvin, his appearance is adorable and it doesn't even matter if he is grumpy all the time. He is showing personality and emotion and free will.

So obviously appearance of a robot has some effect on whether we consider them alive. I also believe that if the robot appears to have a personality and shows emotion and free will and isn't controled by some kind of remote to do these things (even if it was programmed into the robot which is different than decided every single move the robot makes) then it should be considered a person. These robots are our brain childs so of course they are going to resemble us if that was our plan.

fringe

So even though this is a philosophy and literature class there is some fantasy thats involved so I want to talk a little bit about a fantasy type TV show that I have really been into lately. Its called Fringe and this is a Spoiler alert because I will be talking about some events and things that happen late in the season. So if you plan on watching this show ever in the future then don't read this.

So the show in based in Boston, which is really cool because I love Beantown and I am actually writing this blog while in Boston. The show revolves around some main characters and those are Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop, and Walter Bishop (father and son). Olivia is an FBI agent that works in the Fringe division, hence the name of the show. The Fringe division works on cases that normally deal with Fringe science. Walter Bishop works with Olivia to solve these cases because he is a brilliant scientist who is also a little crazy because he spent 14 years in a mental institution. Also most of the cases the Fringe division deals with can be linked back to the science experiments that Walter and his partner William Bell did in like the 70's. Peter is Walter's son and he takes care of Walter and helps solve the cases too. Thats the basic Fringe team of people.

I think I'll probably focus on Olivia the most because she the main character. So when Olivia was little Walter and William Bell tested on her and a bunch of kids when she was really young. Olivia has anger about the testing because it was terrible what Walter and Bell did and sometimes she takes it out on Walter, but mostly she doesn't really talk about it. Another thing is that Walter doesn't remember doing it because of mental state. The drug they tested on the kids was Cortexiphan which was meant to give the children the ability to have more of an open mind when they grew up. I should also mention that there is an alternative universe that runs parallel to the universe that this main Fringe team is in. So the point that they were trying to get the kids to do was be able to see things that are from the other universe in our universe. So basically to see things that don't belong here. In the show as Olivia kind of remembers what they did to her, Walter starts to have some memories too. He says that Olivia showed the most promise out of all the kids in the trial. Which is probably is the reason why a bunch of things happen to Olivia in the show, but we won't go there because I could literally talk about this show forever and I can't do that here.

I guess the moral of what I'm talking about here is have an open mind, like a child, or risk being tested on with a scary drug. And by that I mean just try and be more like a kid sometimes because they have so much fun and they're so carefree and we are very over stressed like all the time.

Philosophy in The Matrix

The Matrix is an action packed movie trilogy. But that’s not all it is. The Wachowski brothers also managed to load this trilogy up with lots of philosophical ideas and references. So many in fact that a lot of philosophy papers have been written that analyze these movies. An hour long documentary was also made called Return to the Source – Philosophy and the Matrix which I encourage anyone who is interested to watch. It does a great job at pointing out and explaining many of the philosophies throughout the trilogy.

I am not going to say exact philosophical references made in this trilogy, but instead list off some quotes and events to let you think about them.

"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

"What is real? How do you define real? If you are talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."

"Do not try bending the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth....there is no spoon. Then you'll see it's not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”

"The matrix is a system, and that system is our enemy. But when you are inside.....you see the very minds of the people we are trying to save, but until we do, these people are still a part of this system.....most of these people are not ready to be unplugged, and many of the are so inured, so hopelessly dependent upon the system that they would fight to protect it."

"What are you waiting for? You’re faster than this. Don’t think you are, know you are… Stop trying to hit me and hit me!"

When Cypher tries to get plugged back into the matrix.

The way Neo went about defeating Agent Smith.

The fact that the Architect was unable to create a perfect world.

These are just a few of many references. Feel free to add more in the comments.

Interesting read
http://www.onwardoverland.com/matrix/philosophy.html

Hate Makes the Soul

Here's a premise for a sci-fi movie about robots and personhood.

Philosophical premise: what if souls emerge from the combination of all human personality traits (love, empathy, curiosity, etc.)  So when all the conditions for human personhood appear in a being (human, robot, animal, etc.) then that being counts/is a person.

The plot: computer programmers create a robot that has all the positive human attributes and personality traits (love, empathy, curiosity, etc.) and expect that upon reboot, their creation will "come to life."  To their great dismay, the robot indeed becomes operational, but does not display any "spark of life," personality, or humaness.  Simply put, there is just something missing.

Through some accident (like a programmer makes the mistake of working on the program while extremely frustrated with office politics) other, negative, human attributes get injected into the robot's program.  Now, when rebooted, the robot stands a little looser, looks from face to face, interrupts -- in other words the robot displays humanity and is somehow, maybe inexplicably, clearly and thoroughly alive.

As a subplot, it becomes equally clear (or is at least suggessted) that one or more of the programmers, or administrators, or scientists (or someone) demonstrates that he/she/they are not quite human because they do not display the full range of human personality (maybe they are missing a "bad" human quality).

The author could also introduce lab chimps or something to hint at questions about animal personhood too.

???

42

This may be cheesy in some eyes, but I see this as a very possible question to the answer 42.

How many times must you fall in love before you find your true love, your soul mate, the other half of your heart?

42!

Though it is possibly corny, this is very possible. We all have our grade school crushes. Our junior high sweet hearts. And we've all had summer flings or secret crushes. It is plausible, on average, that we could fall in love 42 times before we decide we've found the person that we want to spend the rest of our life with.

I mean, on a very primitive and scientific level (not taking into consideration human emotion, the philosophical way that our brain works and how the world works) we evolved to reproduce and to thrive and survive. Essentially we are to find our life mate, make babies and die. Is it so heard to believe that in our quest to find that mate that completes our chemical balance so completely that we fancy ourselves crossed in love 42 times before we find that perfect person?

Now on the philosophical level, we all make mistakes and fall in and out of love. I mean, none of us probubly do it as quickly as Romeo but it happens. And

ahhhhh.......

So for the last few classes we've been watching the movie and I think one of my favorite characters is Marvin. I think he's just the cutest thing ever. That makes me sound like a totally girl I know, and usually I tend to steer clear of that but I really LOVE him. His suer depressing out look on life just does it for me I don't know. I happen to love the part in the movie when Arthur goes "hey Marvin can I borrow your arm?" haha and then a little later than that Marvin goes "borrow my arm, ha so funny". Now I'm not going to go anymore into specific scenes because, I'll be honest, I could go on forever.

I think maybe the reason why I like him so much is because he's so pitiful. You know in some weird twisted way he's kind of like the underdog robot type. I love routing for the underdog. I think thats why I love movies that always have the underdog. You know Remember the Titans, yada yada. I'm not sure why I like the underdog so much, or in this case the depressed, geeky, super adorable robot. Doesn't everyone like the underdog to win?

Belief gives meaning, but it's still just belief.

Art by Alex Grey

Questions and answers are as meaningless as the people who ask and answer them. People search for the meaning of existence and their contribution to it because they have nothing else to do. We are not fighting for our lives everyday, we are not focused on survival 24/7 like most other creatures. We have heating, blankets, food stores, even the true environmentalist like hobos can survive with ease if they plan properly. The thing is we're bored, so we make up stuff like meaning and quality and fate and destiny and purpose, all of which is personal and relative. one person's idea of destiny can be totally different than someone elses and so on. but I mean when it comes down to it all, where do you think you came from, some higher human like being? How about apes? How about dirt? Everything you eat comes from dirt and water. In fact, dirt helps sustain all life on earth... Do you?

So perhaps 42 is just a completely random number that some weird guy happened to think of while contemplating what the worst possible response to the meaning of everything could be and perhaps by choosing a number that made no sense at all it would in turn be the best possible answer, for it holds no real meaning what so ever, just like all of us.

The midlife crisis

Note: I thought of this before I read Sarah’s blog.

The ultimate question is ‘What is the average age that people understand their own part in the universe?’ This could be related to a midlife crisis that happens between 40 and 60 (average is 46), or people may come to the realization before or after.

Let me start off with the midlife crisis. Contrary to popular belief, the midlife crisis usually has nothing to do with aging (unless you count different chemical reactions in your body due to aging). The midlife crisis is usually something due to obvious reasons such as death of a parent, children leaving home, etc. At this point in life, people confront the facts of their lives and determine if they have led a successful life. Then, they either make changes or realize that they have lived how they wanted to live and stay the same. So…they determine their part in the universe.

Some people may have epiphany moments in their lives to determine their part in the universe, and so they factor into the early (or later) years of the equation.