I'm going a different route for Thought experiment 2 and 3. for the first one, I wrote mostly about man's unhealthy parasitic relationship with technology and its effect on the loss of humanity and devastation of the planet. I used this essay as a launching point for these next two thought experiments.
TE 2 & 3: What if an alien parasite crash landed on earth and began repopulating. unlike many movies and books, where the alien is a "bad" guy, my TE3 shows the cold hard logic of th landing parasite. My parasite resembles the ones from The Faculty, but the story is approached differently. The invasion happens easily. In a discussion in The Faculty, Casey, Elijah Wood, rants along about: what if all those Hollywood sci-fi moves were just a warning from good aliens, trying to prepare humans for an eventual attack...well, I thought a more realistic way of taking this would be, What better way to make people not fight an alien attack? Do you take fiction movies, especially sci-fi movies, as potential manuals on what to do if our planet is attacked. NO. you watch a fiction movie, and now it will never happen. it couldn't, a sci-fi movie just did it. In fact, I believe if we were attacked by a parasite that makes everyone a little off and the news made fun of it and no one really discussed it, the alien would take over, with little to no trouble at all. In fact i know this. If an invading parasite started taking over. TV would take it half stride. People would laugh it off until it was at their front door, and by this time, still barely not believing it, it would be too late to fight anyways. Fiction destroys credibility for completely possible things.
The other idea i play with in TE2, is the idea of a non-lethal and not necessarily negative parasite invasion. The parasite takes away complex human feeling, with it all discrimination, hate, love, anger, everything. I really pull the reader though ideas of freewill vs. world peace. As, the parasite's refuse to harm their own species. War ends. Also, the planet is preserved, as the parasites refuse to use more than can be restored. they see it as more practice to live humble and practically now than to squander it all in fits of greed and have nothing down the road. the other thing the parasite's do to their hosts is keep it nice and fit. They keep it in shape, they eat well for it. They just stay in the body for nutrients and to reproduce, oh yeah, and the person you knew, they are gone.
"Would you surrender all feelings of hate, if love went with it?"
TE3...while maybe I should wait to get my grade back from TE2 before i start on part 2, I'm going to have to just run with it anyways. This one is done from the point of view of one of the last surviving humans. This one is really going to ask the reader: are things just wrong? Over and over again in different ways. The main character, the son of the first infected person in the first part, is a human rights activist. one of the few, as their are less than a million people left in the world at this point. he was once a typical lefty activist, fighting for peace, freedom, and stability with mother earth. Now faced with literal peace on earth, a non selfish economy, and a system that favors mother earth, he finds that he would much rather defend freedom at all costs, even if it means we destroy the planet, zone out on tv sets, and hurt each other. The antiheroes are void of any dignity though out the story, as they march around in helmets and chastity belts and get stared at everywhere they go, because the parasites know who isn't infected. while the hunt for remaining humans is deemed pointless by the worm infested whitehouse, the main character has his mind set on winning an impossible battle to reclaim humanity, faults and all. His labors prove fruitless, I'll tell you now. Less than a million people against all the armies and people of the world, yeah right. But maybe there is hope, maybe their is some main parasite, that once killed would make everyone go back to normal? wait, that would be stupid. if there was, it would either be impossible to reach or on another planet.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
You're empty. so are you
I saw, as I started to write my thought experiment, that it was taking on a life of its own. It was a jumbled mix of thoughts and feeling combined with class material and discussions. If you smashed my essay you'd get Puse. My Version of Puse course, which would be guts and more guts colored.
The discussions we have had in class have really made me see the true nature of Americans. The world is an expendable entertainment venue--nothing more. All thought I have really enjoyed the discussions in class and felt I have learned a lot from them, they have really shown me how much I hold a minority opinion. I am tired of the hum of computers.
The chopped up conversations. I'm tired of being put on hold in real life conversation as someone looks down to answer a text message. We all see it. At times, most of us see how annoying it is, yet we have no desire to change it. I know I do it. I'm still just as bad as what I am complaining about. My only difference, it seems, is that I acknowledge it as a problem. I refuse to embrace this wave of the future. I think it is hollow and cold like the machines that infect us. The days I've been cellphone-less and Internet-less have been the best days of my life. I remember when I first got a cellphone. Every text gave me a little high. A little approval that I was important, a little life meaning. But as the high wore off, the true nature of the devise shown through. Slavery in it's most wide-spread form. Losing my phone meant losing my contact with the world. I lost my life when I lost my phone. That shouldn't happen. Every time I have lost my phone, after the first couple days have been more real than ever. ever conversation is pure and unobstructed. When walking without my phone, I took in the world, unfiltered and undistracted. Pure, like when I was a child. This is why I love camping. Some place further than a park. Somewhere without cellphone towers and with choppy radio reception. I love that camping forces everyone to be entertained by each other, a fire, nature, and some watered down beer. To me, there are no better four inventions to date.
I think this world we live is why I have dreams about Burning man.http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_man I haven't dre
amt about any actual place as much as I have this dusty hell-hole situated in Nowhere, In the middle of, USA. While it does hum with technology 24/7, the difference lies in the personal media devises. You can't take I-pods out there, they would be ruined, and why would you want to drown anything out? It would be like taking opiates in Las Vegas. The big one was cellphones. There's no reception out there. Every conversation is grounded. It wasn't a fragment. It wasn't half timed between a cellphone or other handheld impersonal distraction devise (or HIDD for short). Every year I see a newb walking around with his/her cellphone in the air, searching for meaning. I man to tell them they are hear right now, make the best of what's around you.
Now I was going to tie this into The Matrix. I put the picture in before I started writing and I can't really betray that now. So, I'll segway with a quote that fits what I've been ranting about well,
"The Matrix is a system Neo. That system is out enemy. But when You're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen,
teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand.
Most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so helplessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."
People have annoyingly reveled at The Matrix being a metaphor for the bible. That is simple and irrelevant to me. The Matrix is the our world in 1999. it's our world now. We're living a fantasy that most of us are unwilling to give up. It's make-believe. Most of us are like Cypher. Perfectly content with this artificial world we live in. We power the machines and they entertain us. We build them and depend on them, we need them and so far, they need us. At this point, it's a consumption race. Who knows which of us will torch the sky first, it'll probably be half and half. We can't do anything any more without the help of computers, etc. So how is the world any different than the Matrix?
Nature shouldn't be confined to parks. As I mention in my paper, the big problem isn't this shallow fantasy world we live in. I hate it, but if it only destroyed us, big woop. Our problem, sad, but what are you going to do? I'm not going to rail you with hippie propaganda but FUCCCCKKKKK. No one gives a shit. Activism shouldn't be just a hobby for upper class white guilt infested twenty-somethings. We living a four to five planet life style. Are we fucking stupid? I don't need all these things if all they're going to do is help add mass to the garbage continent. i think we all need to spend some time there to see what we've done. than we might see what our life style is really doing to the world. Most of our resources are exported, along with the pollution they cause. Easy to laugh off way over here in the new world. The so far un-fucked world. We only have one planet to destroy and we can't depend on technology to dig us out of this hole. All its done so far is dug us deeper and deeper and unless we have some calamity to wipe out the top consumers, than we can't keep living like we do. We will be the ones to torch the sky. We will be the ones to retreat to the center of the Earth for warmth. I will never trust a machine to keep me alive.
I seem to be the only one that thinks that evolution is going on an unnatural path right now. Just because something can be made that doesn't mean it was supposed to be made.
Maybe The Matrix is a biblical story. In which case all its saying is God is lazy, equivalent to some dictator who inherited a throne by blood. Now too old and off his rocker (but in office until dead) to really get things done any more. As his final act, he introduced the apocalypse in the laziest way possible. He gave Earth man to do the job for him.
I'm going to begin to wrap this blog up now because all its doing is filling me with anger and hatred and I'm trying to be more...what's in called free and peaceful and accepting.
Just because something is made in to science fiction it doesn't mean it doesn't/can't mirror a path we are heading . I think its unfair and impractical when people argue against a perfectly rational argument/rant of mine, because its been fictionalized in a movie. Does a fictional movie made on Hitler's life make him not exist? NO.
I'd like to end with some movie recommendations of films that you should watch and TAKE NOTES on. They range from dead serious, sci-fi, to comedy.
The matrix (just the first one. The trilogies are good examples of what the first one pointed out)
The Jungle Book (The Jason Scott Lee one, the rest are pure entertainment pieces. One of the best summaries of man's view and treatment of nature)
Idiocracy (great comedy and great commentary. You can't watch this and laugh or watch this and cry.)
Up In the Air (just saw it. good movie with good points, outside what I've been talking about but very very related. Good stuff about technology and this new fast world making us detached and...what's the word, COMPLETELY EXPENDABLE)
I <3 id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Huckabees (nuf' said)
Fern Gully (Utterly brilliant. Disagree and I'm willing to throw down)
Into The Wild (Chris is me if I had grown up in a rich east coast Sub-urb. but I didn't so I differ slightly-Watch this movie)
Avatar (anyone who shrugs this movie off is ignorant or has never been to a non-first world country)
The discussions we have had in class have really made me see the true nature of Americans. The world is an expendable entertainment venue--nothing more. All thought I have really enjoyed the discussions in class and felt I have learned a lot from them, they have really shown me how much I hold a minority opinion. I am tired of the hum of computers.
The chopped up conversations. I'm tired of being put on hold in real life conversation as someone looks down to answer a text message. We all see it. At times, most of us see how annoying it is, yet we have no desire to change it. I know I do it. I'm still just as bad as what I am complaining about. My only difference, it seems, is that I acknowledge it as a problem. I refuse to embrace this wave of the future. I think it is hollow and cold like the machines that infect us. The days I've been cellphone-less and Internet-less have been the best days of my life. I remember when I first got a cellphone. Every text gave me a little high. A little approval that I was important, a little life meaning. But as the high wore off, the true nature of the devise shown through. Slavery in it's most wide-spread form. Losing my phone meant losing my contact with the world. I lost my life when I lost my phone. That shouldn't happen. Every time I have lost my phone, after the first couple days have been more real than ever. ever conversation is pure and unobstructed. When walking without my phone, I took in the world, unfiltered and undistracted. Pure, like when I was a child. This is why I love camping. Some place further than a park. Somewhere without cellphone towers and with choppy radio reception. I love that camping forces everyone to be entertained by each other, a fire, nature, and some watered down beer. To me, there are no better four inventions to date.
I think this world we live is why I have dreams about Burning man.http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_man I haven't dre
amt about any actual place as much as I have this dusty hell-hole situated in Nowhere, In the middle of, USA. While it does hum with technology 24/7, the difference lies in the personal media devises. You can't take I-pods out there, they would be ruined, and why would you want to drown anything out? It would be like taking opiates in Las Vegas. The big one was cellphones. There's no reception out there. Every conversation is grounded. It wasn't a fragment. It wasn't half timed between a cellphone or other handheld impersonal distraction devise (or HIDD for short). Every year I see a newb walking around with his/her cellphone in the air, searching for meaning. I man to tell them they are hear right now, make the best of what's around you.
Now I was going to tie this into The Matrix. I put the picture in before I started writing and I can't really betray that now. So, I'll segway with a quote that fits what I've been ranting about well,
"The Matrix is a system Neo. That system is out enemy. But when You're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen,
teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand.
Most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so helplessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."
People have annoyingly reveled at The Matrix being a metaphor for the bible. That is simple and irrelevant to me. The Matrix is the our world in 1999. it's our world now. We're living a fantasy that most of us are unwilling to give up. It's make-believe. Most of us are like Cypher. Perfectly content with this artificial world we live in. We power the machines and they entertain us. We build them and depend on them, we need them and so far, they need us. At this point, it's a consumption race. Who knows which of us will torch the sky first, it'll probably be half and half. We can't do anything any more without the help of computers, etc. So how is the world any different than the Matrix?
Nature shouldn't be confined to parks. As I mention in my paper, the big problem isn't this shallow fantasy world we live in. I hate it, but if it only destroyed us, big woop. Our problem, sad, but what are you going to do? I'm not going to rail you with hippie propaganda but FUCCCCKKKKK. No one gives a shit. Activism shouldn't be just a hobby for upper class white guilt infested twenty-somethings. We living a four to five planet life style. Are we fucking stupid? I don't need all these things if all they're going to do is help add mass to the garbage continent. i think we all need to spend some time there to see what we've done. than we might see what our life style is really doing to the world. Most of our resources are exported, along with the pollution they cause. Easy to laugh off way over here in the new world. The so far un-fucked world. We only have one planet to destroy and we can't depend on technology to dig us out of this hole. All its done so far is dug us deeper and deeper and unless we have some calamity to wipe out the top consumers, than we can't keep living like we do. We will be the ones to torch the sky. We will be the ones to retreat to the center of the Earth for warmth. I will never trust a machine to keep me alive.
I seem to be the only one that thinks that evolution is going on an unnatural path right now. Just because something can be made that doesn't mean it was supposed to be made.
Maybe The Matrix is a biblical story. In which case all its saying is God is lazy, equivalent to some dictator who inherited a throne by blood. Now too old and off his rocker (but in office until dead) to really get things done any more. As his final act, he introduced the apocalypse in the laziest way possible. He gave Earth man to do the job for him.
I'm going to begin to wrap this blog up now because all its doing is filling me with anger and hatred and I'm trying to be more...what's in called free and peaceful and accepting.
Just because something is made in to science fiction it doesn't mean it doesn't/can't mirror a path we are heading . I think its unfair and impractical when people argue against a perfectly rational argument/rant of mine, because its been fictionalized in a movie. Does a fictional movie made on Hitler's life make him not exist? NO.
I'd like to end with some movie recommendations of films that you should watch and TAKE NOTES on. They range from dead serious, sci-fi, to comedy.
The matrix (just the first one. The trilogies are good examples of what the first one pointed out)
The Jungle Book (The Jason Scott Lee one, the rest are pure entertainment pieces. One of the best summaries of man's view and treatment of nature)
Idiocracy (great comedy and great commentary. You can't watch this and laugh or watch this and cry.)
Up In the Air (just saw it. good movie with good points, outside what I've been talking about but very very related. Good stuff about technology and this new fast world making us detached and...what's the word, COMPLETELY EXPENDABLE)
I <3 id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Huckabees (nuf' said)
Fern Gully (Utterly brilliant. Disagree and I'm willing to throw down)
Into The Wild (Chris is me if I had grown up in a rich east coast Sub-urb. but I didn't so I differ slightly-Watch this movie)
Avatar (anyone who shrugs this movie off is ignorant or has never been to a non-first world country)
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Classics trump my style.
I may be bold and simple and if you are a literature major you will look down on me when I say: classics kind of suck. By kind of I mean like a lot. Maybe they're were good for their time or you may think they're everlasting. I'm not goingto claim to have read even close to all of them, but of what I have read I stick to my comment. To paraphrase Futurama: "[this play] is as awful as it is brilliant". As is most classic works. Just the way I am writing now is completely out of my character. My writing always has a touch of my style, but it strongly mimics what I am reading at the time. Why do you think I am saying so many words where I don't need to? That isn't me! It's these fucking classics I have to read for class. I usually write some jumbled combination of Vonnegut, Palahniuk, Chrichton and random counter culture magazine (and a constant underlying flow of Chasse of course).
But these classics have me all BLEEEHH. I can't even write correctly. I have to stop reading this wordy aristocratic crap. Say what you will, but classic authors don't have anything on today's super writers. Writing should be about clarity with the least amount of clarity. Classic novels are long, not because they have more to say, but because they double the length of each sentence and drag nothing for pages and pages and pages. Writers have come so far. We say what we mean and we don't say it so only those who can afford private school can understand us. We speak for and to the masses, with beauty and grace [citation needed].
Here's a book to write to: http://http//www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-25th-Anniversary-Nonfiction/dp/0060006641. its called "On Writing well," and I was reading it back when I was writing well.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
of Murr and man
I'm really enjoying the Tomcat Murr character because he, to me, is a real tomcat--besides his drive to get an education. Although I know my cat, Kiki, could very well be learning right under my nose and I wouldn't be the wiser. Murr knows hes the shit and he has doubts about man kinds' status in society. We humans are over confident of our perceived privilege among the animal kingdom. We've build empires, societies, cars and computers and have the power to speak and write about how awesome we are, but how many of us could survive if we were plopped in the forest and asked to fend for ourselves? many household cats couldn't, but its only their dependency on us that has caused them to lose their instinct.
watch this, since I can't figure out how to post the video below the text
I was discussing with someone too, my very under developed concept of animal ownership as a form of parasitism. The whole idea of taking something that could live on its own and providing food and shelter for it in exchange for it's company. It's sort of liking c
hoosing a parasite to take home and raise until its death. Obviously this is an outrageous example, but what if we humans were all swept up in a new tapeworm craze. We'd feed and shelter them and they'd be our bestest friend ever who could never leave us. I'm sure we'd get them to do tricks for us and bring them to tapeworm shows to compete for longest worm. Now, this is an extreme example, but when we get a cat, they are living off us. They infect us with their personality and vise versa, and not to mention all their actual parasites they bring along with them. Like when Kiki gave me cat-Scratch fever. http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_scratch_diseaseIt doesn't seem like that bad a parasite but it was actually one of the worst expereinces of my life. I've been keeping my eye out for a virus I can catch to give her but haven't found one that goes human to cat yet.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Derrida
I really feel like Derrida lost me by being so wordy. Maybe he does have something to say, but than why not talk straight to the point? It reminded me of all these people I used to know that thought they were intelligent because they could turn a five word sentence into a fifteen word plus run-on. It's like saying: " I am, without a doubt in my mind, the smartest most intelligent pupil in the known NorthWest and beyond" While Derrida's credentials probably outweigh my own and he may well have something brilliant to say, why make it unreachable? Nothing is gained by speaking to a select few intellectuals. I'm not saying dumb it down, I'm saying don't try to impress me. Don't try to be edgy by putting up all these road blocks to understanding you. If you have something to say, cut it down to the base of what needs to be said. Reading shouldn't be a chore in my opinion.
LESS IS MORE.
LESS IS MORE.
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