Word Within The Word : Vocabulary Web

Oryx and Crake: Blog #2

5. If you had the chance to fabricate an improved human being, would you do it? If so, what features would you choose to incorporate? Why would these be better than what we've got? Your model must of course be biologically viable.

To fabricate another human being would be messing with the laws of nature. Personally I already think we are fiddling with things we shouldn’t. For example, the cloned sheep in Europe. I personally don’t think there is any use for an experiment like that.

However, if we go back to the idea of making a human being, it’s a curious idea. It has its advantages. We could create people who have less health risks, catch less diseases, not prone to cancer or being over weight. Simple things that will improve someone’s life. However, once you begin changing aspects in humans, there will be those people who want to change there appearance. They will want nicer skin, prettier eyes, ect. But isn’t it our differences that make us who we are?

It is often assumed that human kind will reach perfection if time is given. Eventually, we will become intermingled genetically. Then, if we take into account the law of evolution, we can only assume that we will end up with a perfect human. However, this will actually never happen, although a great theory. Since we are not letting Darwin’s theory take place, we can not assume that we will ever reach that one perfect human. We are keeping people alive that would otherwise die, assisting people in living who should have not been kept alive and allowing individuals to reproduce that honestly and truly shouldn’t.

Ultimately, if we were to be able to create a human, theres a fine line that human kind will be walking. If we allow it to take over, we will soon become the same and self-destruct. However, there a health benefits for it. Like plastic surgery, there is good and bad. People who’s faces collapse could have a complete face, but girls with small boobs will pay thousands to get the made bigger.

I chose this because this has been deemed the perfect human, through proportion and assumption. Nature should be able to run its course with out being fiddled with.

The Veldt Literary Web

"The Value of Science" by Richard Feynman

Richard Feynman wrote a very compelling argument about human nature. He discussed the fact that we feel the need to know, yet will never fulfill this need because there is simply to much that can be explored.

I found that the start of his essay did not really relate to the idea that had the most strength. He began on the topic of science and of course its value. He mentioned the fact that scientist could never answer social problems because they are not science related, that there was no magic formula that could ever solve these problems.

"To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell"

Building on this Buddhist proverb, he begins to discuss the idea that science can be used for good or for evil. That essentially, the key is science. He mentions, on passing, that humanity has a need for control. That science can produce something, and there is the need to control what this something may become.

However, Richard does go back to his previous thoughts, relating to how society and science intermingle. He mentions that for some people, science is intellectual enjoyment. He then goes on to say that if it is a scientists responsibility to reflect on the impacts of science on society, then we first must consider the value of society itself. He defines it as an arrangement of things so that people can enjoy things. If science is for personal enjoyment then in must fit into society. Therefore, he is supporting the fact that society and science build of one another, and then affect one another.

From here, he discusses human nature. The thought of existence, the mind-blowing thought of us being here and how we are understanding our surroundings. However, he acknowledges these facts to be to complex for children. That to make a scientist they must have a passion early on in life, that science needs to become more relatable and understandable.

"We must leave the door to the unknown ajar"

Finally, Richard moves to discuss dreams and the fact that they are far bigger then our accomplishments. He then explains that to find understanding is to find the dream. To find understanding between people, cultures and ethnic groups. It is then also to find acceptance, at least to some level. Richard goes on to say that for an individual to admit to not knowing is for them to find an answer.

He then admits that a scientist is socially aware, they understand human downfalls and short-comings. He also states that humankind will never fully know, that mystery is a part of life.

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In all honesty, I think he came back full circle in his essay. I understand the line of thinking he was going for but in the end he contradicted himself. He started off by saying that scientists are not responsible for knowing the impact of science on society, but moves to the fact that they are part of society and thus understand this fact.

I also don't believe his essay was so much on the value of science but more on how it relates to the understanding of human existence. That scientists must understand that there will always be a level of unknown, but that we can figure out how things work.

Ultimately, I think his essay was eye opening. It brought to me a level of understanding that a dream will just be a dream until you can admit that you don't know how to accomplish it, from there the answer will arrive.

Unknown Words:

prodigiously

Voltaires

Questions:

Reasonably, if one were to come to terms with the fact that their dream is just a dream, that there will always be a level of unknown, would they happen upon the answer?

Is every decision we make based on science? or can we say that the universe sends us signals to lead us on the path we must follow?

Oryx & Crake: Blog 1

Summary:

The book starts out by introducing Snowman in a mysterious way. We learn that he lives on a beach, surrounded by the children of Crake [Crakers]. These kids constantly question Snowman about the past, showing him treasures that they have found and asking if they will harm them. These children are beardless and possess green eyes, however each of them are of different skin colors. We also first learn of Oryx, who seems to be his lover.

Snowman constantly has revisions, making him appear un-human. He also seems to have memory relapses that are uncontrollable. We learn about his childhood and his parents. The switch between the OrganInc. compound to the NooSkins compound. We hear of his unbalanced home life, of the constant moral battle and depression his mother undergoes. These feelings of guilt and the uncomfort with her way of life leads Jimmy’s mom to leave the compound. She destroys her and Jimmy’s fathers computers, organizes a way out and ultimately escapes the prison that binds her. With her she takes a rakunk, Killer, who is Jimmy’s much loved “best friend”. After his mother leaves, Jimmy’s father moves on quickly to his co-worker Ramona, who becomes his step-mother.

In the absence of a friend, we meet Glenn. Together they play board games such as Blood and Roses, strategy games that require thought. Glenn talks robotic, stiff in his sentences. They move through an array of games including Extinctathon, where Glenn gets his nickname Crake after a rare bird. As they get older, they outgrow these games and begin to surf explicit material on the internet using Uncle Pete’s login [Uncle Pete is Crake’s step-father]. Usually Crake and Jimmy search porn and smoke pot. One day in march, they were doing as usual when Jimmy sees Oryx for the first time. She seemed to be eight at the time, and had stared into the screen, seemingly at Jimmy. This is something that he could never forget [later he learns that this is Oryx].

We then experience present once again when Snowman is served his weekly fish by the children of Oryx. These children seem to be different then the ones of Crake but it is yet clear what that difference is. The women look like re-touched fashion photos, no unwanted fat or body hair. The people of Oryx and Crake don’t shed blood of any animal, together they share in the killing of Snowman’s weekly fish. Here we also learn that they smell of citrus fruit, a change to keep the mosquitoes away, designed by Crake.

Thoughts:

So far the story seems to finally be coming together, there are less gaps then before, therefore less confusion. Oryx’s, Crake’s and Snowman’s relationships are clear. It seems that Snowman is attached to Oryx sexually, however Crake seems to have won her. Snowman and Crake are former best friends but had a difference/disagreement that set them on different paths.

I’m still confused when it comes to the difference between the children of Oryx and the children of Crake. They may be as simple as female vs. male just as the children of Adam and the children of Eve.

Oryx still seems to be a confusing character. She seems to resemble Jimmy’s mother in the fact that she doesn’t believe in what was going on in the compounds. She has made her children vegans, and created them without self image issues. She seems to be trying to better the world. Yet she is with Crake, who wants to reform the world instead of better it.

Society in Oryx and Crake is quiet, no one says anything. No one objects to the events that happen within the compounds, the reactions of individuals are always the same. Everyone obeys, more than likely in fear of what would happen if they didn’t.

This picture represents the silence of society. The lack of anyone speaking out to save the simple world they had. Now human kind lays in shreds at the feet of atrocity.

“evil is when a few good men decide to do nothing”

Dystopian Fiction

Blog 4: Chapters 28-38

3. What does Jane’s reaction to Rochester’s voice tell us about her character? What are her major conflicts at this time?

I think that if you look at her basic reaction you will see longing. That when she thought she heard his voice she had a rush of excitement and love. It showed her that he was the man that she was meant to be with. We really saw into her true emotions, because it was his call that made her go back to Thornfield. On some level Jane knew Rochester needed her and was finally ready to have the relationship that she originally wanted.

She didn’t know what she wanted, and there was definitely confusion when she made her decision. She knew that she was meant to marry, because that was the social norm. But she also knew that it Rochester had lied to her and that she didn’t want that to happen again. I think at the point she knew that she had just fallen in love with Rochester because of who she thought he was, she understood that there was still plenty of secrets and she left because she needed that time to think. She was struggling with her feelings towards him: her love, her annoyance and hatred, and ultimately fear. I think she was scared to lose him, yet she didn’t want to have the part of him he could offer. She wanted to be more than a mistress to him.

2. How do you feel about the novel’s ending? Is it as expected or is this an example of situational irony?

I think it is a little bit of both. When she ran away there was a 50% chance that she would go back. However, when she heard Rochester’s voice we knew that they were going to marry. The un-expected part came in his physical state, neither the audience nor Jane was prepared for Rochester, who was made out to be a handsome man, be without a hand and eyesight. Although, like any happy ending, their love conquered all and they live together happily with an ideal family.

The strange part was that he said that he had no attachment to Bertha, however he sacrificed his well being to save her. This did prove that he was a decent human being, but it almost was expected that he was going to let her perish because she was made out to be such a hassle to him.

It became situational irony because he had offered to take her away. If they were to have gone away, Rochester would never have been evolved in the fire and would still be in one complete piece. If different decisions were to have been made, like if she would have agreed to run away with him or if they had married regardless, Rochester may have never been evolved in the fire.