1. What would Michael Pollan (Remember? The Omnivore's Dilemma) say about the first paragraph in Chapter 5?
Michael Pollan would say that if the hormones and milk were the raw materials for the factory, then everything the factory produced would, at it's base, be from corn, as the cows eat the corn and in turn, everything they produce is made from corn.
2. Do you see any similarities with how the World State views death as compared to the Hindus? How does Lenina's remembrance of hypopedia compare with what is discussed in Plato's Republic?
There is a strong similarity between Hinduism and World State views on death, because they both believe that their bodies are recycled and returned to the Earth, and their energy is used to continue life on earth. Lenina's remembrance of hypnopaedia is also very similar to what is discussed in Plato's Republic in that at each level, everyone is conditioned to be happy where they are. "Epsilons don't really mind being Epsilons," in the same way that warriors, of silver, don't mind being warriors. However, one difference between the two is that in the World State, your heredity matters, as Henry mentions on page 74. In the Republic, Socrates argues that golden children can come from bronze or silver parents and vice versa.
3. What do you think of Lenina's and Henry night out on the town?
To me it's fascinating that in order for not only them, but everyone else to have a good night, they need to get high. They call it being "happy," and they say that "everyone is happy now," but it seems almost sad that they need several does of a drug to enjoy themselves, and that their own positive emotions are not enough to produce that effect for them. I do like the way that the music seems to fill them, although that too could be because they're high, but Huxley uses such wonderful adjectives and details in describing the music, that one can almost enjoy it, simply by reading about it.
4. Why do you think Huxley uses the word "pneumatic" to refer to some female characters?
I think Huxley uses the word "pneumatic" to refer to some female characters because they don't really have any substance to them. The word "pneumatic" means "containg or operated by air or gas under pressure." This seems to fit the girls that Huxley is describing, at least through Bernard's eyes, on page 80. He finds Clara Deterding "really too pneumatic." She is not "plump, blonde, not too large," the qualities Huxley has Bernard use to describe Fifi and Joanna who "were absolutely right."
5. What is Solidarity Service and what are Bernard's feelings towards it?
Solidarity Service is an orgy, meant for those at the service to achieve "rapture," and "calm ecstasy," and to come together. However, Bernard does not feel this way. Again he feels isolated, empty, "separate and atoned."
Monday, November 23, 2009
Connections
Cave and Grendel:
-Grendel is being enlightened, steeping out of the cave, and trying to find a higher power
BNW and Hinduism:
-The Caste system, in which there is a hierarchy of the most enlightened and intelligent at the top, and the "stupidest" lowest echelons of society at the bottom in both societies.
18 w/ a bullet and Hinduism:
-everyone has there place and everyone has a responsibility. A gang member has a duty to protect the gang and serve the gang, which they consider to be their family, which is similar to the Hindu concept of Dharma, which is responsibility to their family.
For all:
Society has created a prison, they are all trapped by the standards of that society. Also, everyone is a prisoner to their own Dharma.
Grendel and 18 w/ a bullet:
Both are struggling with the concept of monster. Both can be defined as monsters, they are both very savage, and do bad things, but they both have their humanistic sides, which reveal characteristics which makes it hard to completely classify them as monsters.
BNW, Nacirema and 18 w/ a bullet:
focus strongly on materialism.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Gangs in el Salvador
Why does Slappy act this way?
can't measure human experience
-too many human variables, everyone has different experiences
-different points of view
-different opinions
-people aren't numbers
-it's hard to find qualitative conclusions
On the other hand, these things can be measured:
-crime stats
-unemployment stats
-poverty census
-Dysfunctional family
-Gang has replaced family/church--they look out for each other, live by their own rules & morals, belonging, protection, structure, school, community--contribute to 'cause', jobs:extortion & drugs, initiation (beating), tattoos, shaved head, participate in democracy.
Idea of Crime: Causes and Effects
-no other options
-no job opportunities--not hiring, added expenses
-addiction
-need for money
-no advancement (stuck at the bottom of the food-chain)
-need for structure
-poverty
"The gang structure is a lot like Wal-Mart."
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Nacirema
1. What happened yesterday? Why couldn't we recognize our own culture?
Yesterday we read about a tribe, called the Nacirema located between Canada and Mexico, who, we decided were barbarians, savage, and uncivilized. However, at the end of the class, we found out that the tribe being described were actually Americans, and the word "american" had simply been spelled backwards. I think that we couldn't recognize our own culture because of the terms in which it was describe to us. The language of the article altered our perception, and so they way it was presented, as if by an outsider was observing our culture.
2. What does your answer say about the the strengths and weaknesses of the Social Sciences like Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology?
2. What does your answer say about the the strengths and weaknesses of the Social Sciences like Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology?
My answer shows both the strengths and weaknesses of the social sciences. On one hand, the article allowed us a look at the psychology, not only of our own culture, but also of how an insider might view American culture, which is a strength, to have the two different view points. At the same time, there is the weakness in the bias opinion one takes of anyone who is different. In the article, many words describing "rituals" not only had negative connotations, like "witch-doctor," but also had a condescending tone when describing a "magical," tool or supply. This shows the weakness of social sciences, in that we are condescending towards other cultures, and we look down on other cultures and ideas about what is "normal."
Monday, November 9, 2009
Abel Questions Chapter 15
1. Why is history being rewritten constantly?
History is being rewritten constantly because is "always written wrong." Abel says that the past is a "steady process of imaginative reinterpretation and reconstruction; we want it to be meaningful to us in the present."
2. What factors influence the process by which the historian picks and chooses his/her "facts"? Please provide a specific example for each factor.
-our interests change:example-In 50 years, will will probably care less about Miley Cyrus's "scandalous" photos, than her impact on popular music.
-our conceptual apparatus changes: example-we now have access to confidential documents from the Soviet Union about the Cold War, which we did not have before the collapse.
-our view for basic historical segment changes:example-"Toynbee holds the most intelligent unit not to be the nation, but the 'society.'"
-the interests and idiosyncrasies of the historian change:example-after WWII, Hitler was a very popular subject of study. Today, it might be Obama.
-the audience for whom the historian writes changes:example-a change in political party rule:republicans vs. democrats->the majority of the house changes.
3. What is the "Baconian fallacy?"What would the Positivists think? Would Carr agree with Namier?
The "Baconian fallacy" is the idea that "all the historians have to do is collect the facts." The Positivits would completely agree with this view, and say that the facts speak for themselves. Carr would agree with Namier, because Naimer believes that historians have to "single-out and stress" the most important parts, like a painter, and not like a photographer, who can capture everything at once.
4. How does History differ from Geology?
History differs from Geology in that historians "attribute meaning to [the] data." Whereas the geologists focus more on the present aspects of the rock they are examining and how the past could have affected it to look as it does.
5. According to Abel: "The patterns to be found in past events are selected by the historian; like the hypothesis of the scientist, they may be suggested, but are neither imposed nor dictated, by "the facts (p. 166-7)." Based on your experience with the Cheques Lab, how far do you agree with this explanation of history?
Based on my experience with the Cheques Lab, I agree to a decent extent with this explanation of history. Sometimes in History, the historian has to be able to see patterns to establish them as relevant, but the patterns are not necessarily the most important or even actual patterns vs. coincidences.
6. In your opinion, "how will future historians so elect to describe what is going on now(p. 167)?"
In my opinion, future historians will focus on the biggest issues facing our society today. In the future, historians will elect to discuss whether or not the first black American president was a good president, they will discuss the state of the economy, as well as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
7. What is historical pluralism?
Historical pluralism is the historical process made up of the enumerable components which don't "form a completely inter-related set...[Historiacl pluralism] denies that every event is related to every other event."
8. The list of events (or non-events) listed on p. 168 makes Abel ask the question: "Is there, then, no hard core or bed-rock of indisputable facts that the historian must recognize." Does it matter if there ever was a man named Trotsky?
I think that based on perception, there is no hard-core of indisputable fact; in history everything is disputable. There are generally accepted facts, such as the Holocaust happened. Yet there are people who don't believe that the Holocaust happened. It matters that the Holocaust happened, and that there was a man named Trotsky, so that humans can keep a generally accepted record of what happened. This way, we become better at preventing things like mass genocide of a people, or the establishment of a cruel dictatorship.
9. How is a historian like a physicist?
A historian is like a physicist in that they both go "beyond the evidence," select their facts and how to describe them.
10. What are the Five Frameworks or Hypotheses of History? Please provide an example from your HL or SL history class of each.
-I:Cyclical:Repetition is likely.-The Jewish-Arab fight. Both sides feel so strongly that there are only a limitd amount of solution to the problem, and history, like the 1929 Riots and the Hebron Massacre are likely to repeat themselves until the problem is solved.
-II:foundational:they isolate and stress certain factors.
-a) History of civilization depends on "climate, soil, and geography."-The majority of land in the Middle East is not particularly arable, so Arabs have a hard time cultivating certain types of plants, which are part of a huge trading industry. Also, the Middle East is geographically located farther away from a major ocean, and therefore their history of civilization may be said to be slowed in comparison to lands such as England and America, which are located on arable lands near major trading routes.
-b)Race is stressed by historians as ancient-Jews, who have been considered to be a race, have been suppressed for millennia. They were the ones who had to handle money in the MIddle Ages when that was considered "dirty," and their control over banks because of that, which caused discrimination against them in the modern world (1920s-WWII, specifically).
-c)Heredity ability is paramount in historical interpretations-In the the Middle East, Prince Faisal was expected to be a good leader of Syria, and help establish a independent Arab state, just as his father did with the McMahon-Hussein correspondence.
-d)Psychological factors are identified by many as the moving force in history.-Hitler's campaign against the Jews worked in part because the people of Germany were downtrodden by the Treaty of Versailles, and were in the psychological condition to blame a scapegoat for their troubles.
-e)The motive of History to be the appearance of superior individuals.-Winston Churchill, who talked about making allies with the Russians before the end of the war, has eventually come to be known as one of England's most accomplished Prime Ministers.
-III:Progress:change in the direction of human interests-In Germany, HItler believed he was making progress for the betterment of Germans, by extinguishing Jews, homosexuals, and those who were disabled.
-IV:Christian:History is a great drama of sin and redemption.-Part of the Lebanese National Pact is that Lebanon will be an independent Arab state with special ties to the west (They are Christian) and are therefore mostly peaceful and not enter alliance against any other Arab state.
-V:Organismic:all civilizations grow, from infancy to death.-The Nazi ideals, which grew from anti-Semitism and from infancy after WWI, and the treaty of Versailles, and blossomed into frull growth, hence WWII, have nearly reached the death stage, although Neo-Nazism still exists today.
11. Do you believe in Historical Inevitability?
I do not believe in Historical Inevitability because I do not believe that future is predictable because of some overall "plot." I believe that history is continuing series of events that are interconnected, and may help us prevent certain diasters and calamities in the future, but will not hepl us predict the future.
12. What does Abel mean when he says: "No crucial experiment can test the validity of a theory of history, any more than than it can the truth of a metaphysical theory (p. 174)."?
Abel means that there is no way to test a theory of history, because the future is unknown. you can uses a theory to predict what will happen, and then, only after it has happened, use those results from history to verify your theory insofar. However, there is always the chance that something will happen which completely contradicts your theory, and there is simply no way to prepare for that.
13. Abel writes: "Macaulay regards history as a branch of literature (p. 174)." How would Jill Lepore of Just the Facts, Ma'am respond? Please provide to specific quote from the article to justify your claim.
JIll Lepore would agree, for the same reason that Abel states: "the historian, like the novelist, tells a story: this is how things happened." She would agree by saying that the historian looks at the facts and interprets them to tell a general story of what happened, while the novleist looks at the facts and interprets them to tell a story about human nature.
14. How does the footnote at the bottom of page 175 relate to the Shaper from Grendel?
The footnote at the bottom of page 175 relates to the Shaper from Grendel, because the Shaper takes the commonly acknowledged history, and changes it so that is the most falttering and reflective view, which is what each culture/race mentioned in the footnote is doing.
History is being rewritten constantly because is "always written wrong." Abel says that the past is a "steady process of imaginative reinterpretation and reconstruction; we want it to be meaningful to us in the present."
2. What factors influence the process by which the historian picks and chooses his/her "facts"? Please provide a specific example for each factor.
-our interests change:example-In 50 years, will will probably care less about Miley Cyrus's "scandalous" photos, than her impact on popular music.
-our conceptual apparatus changes: example-we now have access to confidential documents from the Soviet Union about the Cold War, which we did not have before the collapse.
-our view for basic historical segment changes:example-"Toynbee holds the most intelligent unit not to be the nation, but the 'society.'"
-the interests and idiosyncrasies of the historian change:example-after WWII, Hitler was a very popular subject of study. Today, it might be Obama.
-the audience for whom the historian writes changes:example-a change in political party rule:republicans vs. democrats->the majority of the house changes.
3. What is the "Baconian fallacy?"What would the Positivists think? Would Carr agree with Namier?
The "Baconian fallacy" is the idea that "all the historians have to do is collect the facts." The Positivits would completely agree with this view, and say that the facts speak for themselves. Carr would agree with Namier, because Naimer believes that historians have to "single-out and stress" the most important parts, like a painter, and not like a photographer, who can capture everything at once.
4. How does History differ from Geology?
History differs from Geology in that historians "attribute meaning to [the] data." Whereas the geologists focus more on the present aspects of the rock they are examining and how the past could have affected it to look as it does.
5. According to Abel: "The patterns to be found in past events are selected by the historian; like the hypothesis of the scientist, they may be suggested, but are neither imposed nor dictated, by "the facts (p. 166-7)." Based on your experience with the Cheques Lab, how far do you agree with this explanation of history?
Based on my experience with the Cheques Lab, I agree to a decent extent with this explanation of history. Sometimes in History, the historian has to be able to see patterns to establish them as relevant, but the patterns are not necessarily the most important or even actual patterns vs. coincidences.
6. In your opinion, "how will future historians so elect to describe what is going on now(p. 167)?"
In my opinion, future historians will focus on the biggest issues facing our society today. In the future, historians will elect to discuss whether or not the first black American president was a good president, they will discuss the state of the economy, as well as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
7. What is historical pluralism?
Historical pluralism is the historical process made up of the enumerable components which don't "form a completely inter-related set...[Historiacl pluralism] denies that every event is related to every other event."
8. The list of events (or non-events) listed on p. 168 makes Abel ask the question: "Is there, then, no hard core or bed-rock of indisputable facts that the historian must recognize." Does it matter if there ever was a man named Trotsky?
I think that based on perception, there is no hard-core of indisputable fact; in history everything is disputable. There are generally accepted facts, such as the Holocaust happened. Yet there are people who don't believe that the Holocaust happened. It matters that the Holocaust happened, and that there was a man named Trotsky, so that humans can keep a generally accepted record of what happened. This way, we become better at preventing things like mass genocide of a people, or the establishment of a cruel dictatorship.
9. How is a historian like a physicist?
A historian is like a physicist in that they both go "beyond the evidence," select their facts and how to describe them.
10. What are the Five Frameworks or Hypotheses of History? Please provide an example from your HL or SL history class of each.
-I:Cyclical:Repetition is likely.-The Jewish-Arab fight. Both sides feel so strongly that there are only a limitd amount of solution to the problem, and history, like the 1929 Riots and the Hebron Massacre are likely to repeat themselves until the problem is solved.
-II:foundational:they isolate and stress certain factors.
-a) History of civilization depends on "climate, soil, and geography."-The majority of land in the Middle East is not particularly arable, so Arabs have a hard time cultivating certain types of plants, which are part of a huge trading industry. Also, the Middle East is geographically located farther away from a major ocean, and therefore their history of civilization may be said to be slowed in comparison to lands such as England and America, which are located on arable lands near major trading routes.
-b)Race is stressed by historians as ancient-Jews, who have been considered to be a race, have been suppressed for millennia. They were the ones who had to handle money in the MIddle Ages when that was considered "dirty," and their control over banks because of that, which caused discrimination against them in the modern world (1920s-WWII, specifically).
-c)Heredity ability is paramount in historical interpretations-In the the Middle East, Prince Faisal was expected to be a good leader of Syria, and help establish a independent Arab state, just as his father did with the McMahon-Hussein correspondence.
-d)Psychological factors are identified by many as the moving force in history.-Hitler's campaign against the Jews worked in part because the people of Germany were downtrodden by the Treaty of Versailles, and were in the psychological condition to blame a scapegoat for their troubles.
-e)The motive of History to be the appearance of superior individuals.-Winston Churchill, who talked about making allies with the Russians before the end of the war, has eventually come to be known as one of England's most accomplished Prime Ministers.
-III:Progress:change in the direction of human interests-In Germany, HItler believed he was making progress for the betterment of Germans, by extinguishing Jews, homosexuals, and those who were disabled.
-IV:Christian:History is a great drama of sin and redemption.-Part of the Lebanese National Pact is that Lebanon will be an independent Arab state with special ties to the west (They are Christian) and are therefore mostly peaceful and not enter alliance against any other Arab state.
-V:Organismic:all civilizations grow, from infancy to death.-The Nazi ideals, which grew from anti-Semitism and from infancy after WWI, and the treaty of Versailles, and blossomed into frull growth, hence WWII, have nearly reached the death stage, although Neo-Nazism still exists today.
11. Do you believe in Historical Inevitability?
I do not believe in Historical Inevitability because I do not believe that future is predictable because of some overall "plot." I believe that history is continuing series of events that are interconnected, and may help us prevent certain diasters and calamities in the future, but will not hepl us predict the future.
12. What does Abel mean when he says: "No crucial experiment can test the validity of a theory of history, any more than than it can the truth of a metaphysical theory (p. 174)."?
Abel means that there is no way to test a theory of history, because the future is unknown. you can uses a theory to predict what will happen, and then, only after it has happened, use those results from history to verify your theory insofar. However, there is always the chance that something will happen which completely contradicts your theory, and there is simply no way to prepare for that.
13. Abel writes: "Macaulay regards history as a branch of literature (p. 174)." How would Jill Lepore of Just the Facts, Ma'am respond? Please provide to specific quote from the article to justify your claim.
JIll Lepore would agree, for the same reason that Abel states: "the historian, like the novelist, tells a story: this is how things happened." She would agree by saying that the historian looks at the facts and interprets them to tell a general story of what happened, while the novleist looks at the facts and interprets them to tell a story about human nature.
14. How does the footnote at the bottom of page 175 relate to the Shaper from Grendel?
The footnote at the bottom of page 175 relates to the Shaper from Grendel, because the Shaper takes the commonly acknowledged history, and changes it so that is the most falttering and reflective view, which is what each culture/race mentioned in the footnote is doing.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Prescribed Title #7
“We see and understand things not as they are but as we are.” Discuss this claim in relation to at least
two ways of knowing.
They way we see and understand things are not actually based on the way they are, but we see and understand things based on the way we are. This means that we use two of our ways of knowing, perception and emotion, to see things differently than they might actually be.
Sometimes, when we perceive an event, our own personal biased comes into what we believe to be happening, and takes precedence on how we interpret this event. Often past behaviors are a reason why our perception in influenced. For example, I have a lot of guy friends, and I'm used to them like pushing me playfully, or punching me on the shoulder, just in a friendly, platonic, non-romantic sort of way. This means that if I made a new guy friend, and he had feelings for me, and tried to express his feelings for me by touching me more than he normally would, such as pushing me playfully, or punching me lightly on the shoulder, I would not be able to understand the way he was expressing himself, because of my own biased, perceiving something differently than what was actually there. I understood, or rather misunderstood, something based on the way I am, rather on the way it actually is.
Emotion can often play into the way we see or understand things based on who we are rather, than the way things actually are. I am usually a pretty happy person. This does not mean that I always see things through rose-colored glasses, but I am more likely to assume that people appear happier than they actually are, because of my own emotion. Unless I have Apriori knowledge, where maybe Person X is a generally grumpy person, I might have difficulty distinguishing between someone who is actually happy, and someone who is only pretending to be happy This would be if I didn't know them and saw them in the hallway at school, or in some other public forum, because I generally consider myself to be a perceptive person. Therefore if my own emotion, of general happiness, changes the way I understand and see some things, because of the way I am, not because of the way they are.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
BNW Chapter 4
Part 1
1. What puzzles Lenina about Bernard Marx's behavior?
3. What does Bernard have in common with Helmholtz Watson?
Bernard and Helmhotlz have similar knowledge that "they were individuals." Bernard knows this because he has "too little bone and brawn," whereas Helmholtz knows he ahs too much ability. Both men have a "mental excess."
1. What puzzles Lenina about Bernard Marx's behavior?
She is puzzled by him flushing when she mentions their New Mexico plan, saying that he had reacted as if she had made a dirty joke.
2. Please provide examples of Lenina using what she learned from hypnopaedia.
She voices her dislike of khaki, which Huxley says she is "voicing the hypnopaedic prejudices of her caste." She also says the phrase "I'm glad I'm not a Gamma," which is the exact phrasing from the hypnopaedia.
3. Where are Lenina and Henry going?
3. Where are Lenina and Henry going?
They are going to play Obstacle Golf at Stoke Poges.
Part 2:
1. What makes Bernard Marx distressed? Why?
Part 2:
1. What makes Bernard Marx distressed? Why?
Bernard Marx is distressed because Lenina thought it was a perfect afternoon for Obstacle Golf and went off to play with Henry Foster. This distresses him because he spent so much time and took his courage to ask her to go to New Mexico, which he considers to be "their most private affairs," which she openly wants to discuss in public.
Also, contact with members of the lower castes distresses him because it "always reminded him painfully of [his] physical inadequacy." His self-conciousness is distressing.
2. Where does Helmholtz Watson work? What is his job?
2. Where does Helmholtz Watson work? What is his job?
Helmhotz Watson works as a lecturer at the College of Emotional Engineering (Department of Writing), and he is an Emotional Engineer as well. Also, "he wrote regularly for The Hourly Radio, composed feely scenarios, and had the happinest knack for slogans and hypnopaedic rhymes.
3. What does Bernard have in common with Helmholtz Watson?
Bernard and Helmhotlz have similar knowledge that "they were individuals." Bernard knows this because he has "too little bone and brawn," whereas Helmholtz knows he ahs too much ability. Both men have a "mental excess."
4. What is troubling Helmholtz?
Helmholtz is troubled by a feeling he has, a feeling that he has this power inside himself to do something, which is waiting to come out of he gives it a chance. A "sort of extra power that [he isn't] using." He feels like he has the potential to do something greater than what he is doing now.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Cheques Lab vs. How History is written
Similar to History
- we don't have all the information
- we weren't there, so we don't get little details
- when finding new information, we have to find a way to include it in our previous interpretation, for the most accuracy.
Dissimilar to History:
- we don't know how it's relevant
- we don't have different accounts to back it up
- we don't have someone who may have been there or lived during that time time to corraborate our interpretation.
What is History?
http://home.comcast.net/~cphenlymbk2006/ibnapresentation.htm
CARR Link, at the bottom of the page.
The Positivists: (19th century-1830s) (counter-claim to Abel)
-obssessed with facts.
-"Cult of Facts"
-They saw history as a science.
-Empirical strain of studying history.
-objective-->concerned with the facts only. when a bias come inot it, it's not history, it's just opinion.
-"The process of p/reception is passive: having received the data, he then acts in them."
- Common-sense view of history
"here are certain basic facts which are the same for all historians and which form, so to speak, the backbone of history."
Carr:
- history are major events.
-if an event happened, but it was not recorded, not analysed as important, then it is not a historical fact.
-it's not history until someone has deemed it important, and has written it down.
-"A historian is necessarily selective."
-"The belief in a hard core of historical facts existing objectively and independently of the interpretation of the historian is a preposterous fallacy."
- a selection, of a selection of a selection of facts.
Monday, November 2, 2009
BNW Chapter 3
In Chapter 3, we begin to learn about how the World State. Please explain how the following areas are different in the World State as compared to our world in 2009.
A) Sex, Monogamy & Romance
In the World State, Monogamy and Romance are considered exclusive, negative, "a narrowing channelling of impulse and energy." In our world 2009, Monogamy and Romance are positive things, and are the normalities of our society. We consider it to be a bad thing to cheat on your husband or boyfriend, whereas, it is surprising, and negative to be exclusive in the World State. In the World State, sex is a natural thing, open and everywhere, and this is considered to be a positive thing. In our world 2009, Sex may be everywhere, in the sense of advertisements, but it is not generally viewed a a positive thing. Sex is repressed, something one does in private, and exclusively. In the World State, sex is an open thing.
B) Sports
In the World State, "the Controllers won't approve of any new game unless it can be shown be shown that it requires at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games," and they play elaborate games which "increase consumption." In our world 2009, not all games are complicated, like soccer only using a ball and your feet and sometimes a net, and the games aren't meant to "increase consumption," they are generally meant for entertainment.
C) Entertainment
In the World State, the majority of entertainment is erotic. Games are erotic, an most activities, for adults are erotic. Other entertainment, shown in Chapter 3, is "at the Club playing Musical Bridge," and going to "Savage Reservations." In our world 2009, the entertainment industry is a majority made up of televisions actors and also stage actors, and we also consider major league sports, like football, baseball, and basketball, to be entertainment.
D) Parenthood
In the World State, Parenthood is bad. No one has a "mother;" no one has "children." The Controller describes the ideal of Parenthood as "social instability." In our world 2009, Parenthood is a good thing. One values their parents and their families above all. Your loyalty lies with your family, and most people care and take care of their parents for as long as they live. In the World State, there is no loyalty, because the concept doesn't really exist.
E) Materialism
In the World State, the concept of Materialism does not exisit. As Fanny tells Lenina, "every one belongs to everyone else." For them even people are shared, much like Communism. In our world 2009, Capitalism rules, and everyone is very materialistic. One is judged by what they own, and how much they own.
F) Religion
In the World State, Religion, particularly Christianity is a very negative thing because it required women to continue being the oft-repeated word"viviparous," which is a foreign and horrible concept in the World State. In our world 2009, Religion is often considered to be very positive, and for many people, a salvation.
G) Intoxicants
In the World State, drinking, alcohol use, is regular and completely normal and expected. In our world 2009, we consider being intoxicated to be something done occasionally, for recreation, not something done often as a daily activity, whereas in the World State, it seems as if one is expected to go and get drunk, everyday. It is not only alcohol, but also, in the World State, drugs they condone. Soma, is a pill they ration out, to keep everyone happy.
Finally, to the best of your ability, provide a brief history (a paragraph) of how the World State came to be.
The World State came to be after the Economic Collapse and the Nine Years' War, which was a war of great destruction and biological warfare (Page 48, the third quote down), like with anthrax bombs, and there was a choice between World Control, which a few people had been suggesting before that war and were met with great resistance, or destruction. A choice between, what the Controller says is "stability or...Liberalism," in which he aligns World Control with stability.
A) Sex, Monogamy & Romance
In the World State, Monogamy and Romance are considered exclusive, negative, "a narrowing channelling of impulse and energy." In our world 2009, Monogamy and Romance are positive things, and are the normalities of our society. We consider it to be a bad thing to cheat on your husband or boyfriend, whereas, it is surprising, and negative to be exclusive in the World State. In the World State, sex is a natural thing, open and everywhere, and this is considered to be a positive thing. In our world 2009, Sex may be everywhere, in the sense of advertisements, but it is not generally viewed a a positive thing. Sex is repressed, something one does in private, and exclusively. In the World State, sex is an open thing.
B) Sports
In the World State, "the Controllers won't approve of any new game unless it can be shown be shown that it requires at least as much apparatus as the most complicated of existing games," and they play elaborate games which "increase consumption." In our world 2009, not all games are complicated, like soccer only using a ball and your feet and sometimes a net, and the games aren't meant to "increase consumption," they are generally meant for entertainment.
C) Entertainment
In the World State, the majority of entertainment is erotic. Games are erotic, an most activities, for adults are erotic. Other entertainment, shown in Chapter 3, is "at the Club playing Musical Bridge," and going to "Savage Reservations." In our world 2009, the entertainment industry is a majority made up of televisions actors and also stage actors, and we also consider major league sports, like football, baseball, and basketball, to be entertainment.
D) Parenthood
In the World State, Parenthood is bad. No one has a "mother;" no one has "children." The Controller describes the ideal of Parenthood as "social instability." In our world 2009, Parenthood is a good thing. One values their parents and their families above all. Your loyalty lies with your family, and most people care and take care of their parents for as long as they live. In the World State, there is no loyalty, because the concept doesn't really exist.
E) Materialism
In the World State, the concept of Materialism does not exisit. As Fanny tells Lenina, "every one belongs to everyone else." For them even people are shared, much like Communism. In our world 2009, Capitalism rules, and everyone is very materialistic. One is judged by what they own, and how much they own.
F) Religion
In the World State, Religion, particularly Christianity is a very negative thing because it required women to continue being the oft-repeated word"viviparous," which is a foreign and horrible concept in the World State. In our world 2009, Religion is often considered to be very positive, and for many people, a salvation.
G) Intoxicants
In the World State, drinking, alcohol use, is regular and completely normal and expected. In our world 2009, we consider being intoxicated to be something done occasionally, for recreation, not something done often as a daily activity, whereas in the World State, it seems as if one is expected to go and get drunk, everyday. It is not only alcohol, but also, in the World State, drugs they condone. Soma, is a pill they ration out, to keep everyone happy.
Finally, to the best of your ability, provide a brief history (a paragraph) of how the World State came to be.
The World State came to be after the Economic Collapse and the Nine Years' War, which was a war of great destruction and biological warfare (Page 48, the third quote down), like with anthrax bombs, and there was a choice between World Control, which a few people had been suggesting before that war and were met with great resistance, or destruction. A choice between, what the Controller says is "stability or...Liberalism," in which he aligns World Control with stability.
BNW Chapter 2
1. How do babies sent to the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms develop an "instinctive hatred of books and flowers?" Why were Deltas exposed to such treatment?
2. What is a State Conditioning Center? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?
3. How does the Caste system work in the World State? What are the similarities and differences between this and the Hindu Caste system?
4. What does the Director mean when he says, "Not so much like drops of water....rather, drops of liquid sealing wax."?
Babies sent to the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms develop an "instinctive hatred of books and flowers," through the terrifying process, where when the see the flowers and the books, and suddenly loud noises and explosions go off, and they are electrically shocked. This is done over two hundred times, so that every time they see either a book or flower, they will subconsciously remember the experience they had as infants, and instinctively hate the two. Deltas were exposed to this treatment because if the "lower class" hated nature, then they were much more likely to work efficiently in the factories.
2. What is a State Conditioning Center? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?
A State Conditioning Center is the place where the babies are "raised," or rather where they are conditioned for the society A Brave New World is set in. They are not with the people, aka their parents, who bore them. It does remind of Plato's republic, where it was suggested that children who were of a different metal, should not be allowed to stay with their parents, so that the metals would not taint each other.
3. What is hypnopaedia? Why wasn't it used for Science? What was it used for? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?
Hypnopaedia is "sleep-teaching." It wasn't used for Science because "you can't learn a science unless you know what it's all about." In hypnopaedia, each person is taught facts, but they do not know what those facts mean. Tommy could recite the fact about the longest river in Africa, but when asked what the longest river in Africa was, he could not say what it was. He did not know the science of the fact, and could not rationalize it from the fact from-which he had been taught. Hypnopaedia was used for "moral education which ought to never, in any circumstances, to be rational," and the Director describes it as "the greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time."This reminds me of the ideal in Plato's Republic, that children ought not to be taught that the gods were imperfect and did things such as steal, lie, and cheat, because then they would rationalize that if they were to be like the gods, then they would have to steal, lie, and cheat too, and so the ideal of a Just City, would be ruined. From both books, one can see the connection to the ideal that moral education should not be rational.
3. How does the Caste system work in the World State? What are the similarities and differences between this and the Hindu Caste system?
In the World State, the Caste system is organized into levels, like the Hindu Caste system. Each level is given a Greek Letter name. The highest level is Alpha, then Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc. The Alphas are the most clever and smartest, the most enlightened are are allowed to receive the most knowledge. This is similar to the Hindu Caste system, in that those on the highest level, the Brahmin (priests), are the most enlightened, and are preparing for moksha. However, in the World State Caste system, those who are born into one level of the Caste system do not come from those in the same level, nor do they ever reach a higher level, which is different than in the Hindu Caste system. Also, similar to the Hindu Caste system, in the World State Caste system, each level has their obligation, or Dharma, to their society.
4. What does the Director mean when he says, "Not so much like drops of water....rather, drops of liquid sealing wax."?
When the Director says, "Not so much like drops of water....rather, drops of liquid sealing wax," he means that the information they constantly bombard the children engulf them into those ideals, rather than covering them, but bombarding them so much, that someone decides to rebel.
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