Thursday, February 23, 2012

BernsteinArticle


THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF HEROISM

By Dr. Andrew Bernstein



Bernstein defines whom we would generally give the title of “Hero”. This makes me think of all the books I have read recently. The first name that came to mind was “Yossarian” However; I would not define his struggles with staying alive by going to the hospital as heroic. I think he had a flaw that made him relatable. The idea of heroes, such as Achilles having a susceptible heal, makes me think that the fictional heroes like batman, superman, etc have a fatal flaw that shows they have some human quality to them. Superman’s weakness was Kryptonite and batman had no parents. I think some of these qualities are meant to serve as an example showing that; Hero’s as well have struggles, internally or externally. Another example of a Hero of sorts would be Hamlet. Yes, by being mad he in one way or another, he was able to remove Claudius from the throne. But his fatal flaw was the ability to think in great depth about his actions and not be able to act on them. I fell that we occasionally have his mindset about things: we know how to give other people advice about what to do about their problems and yet cannot always figure out what to do about ours.

            A major idea I got from this reading was the question of defining heroism. Are there qualitative or quantitative measures of one’s heroism? I should think so. The military defines heroism with two examples, a Purple Heart, and a Medal of Honor. These two elicit quantitative requirements.

            There is a distinction made between intellectual and physical heroes’. Ayn Rand is an intellectual for her perseverance in maintaining her philosophy of Objectivism. I have only read some of her work on the theory. I like the idea of turning a metaphysical idea into a physical form such as art.

            The idea of a person reaching the zenith of human morality seems to parallel someone attaining nirvana. I would call this idea crap other than the fact that a definition is given “an undeviating commitment to rational values, in action, in the teeth of opposition that would dismay a lesser man.”Morality is subjective to the person interpreting its meaning.  Hitler is referenced in the article. Hitler had his own view of morality I am assuming. The definition gives the term a criterion.

            The article was interesting in the fact that it tried to dissect the whole concept of heroism. I think that there are varying levels of heroism. Particularly in defining how one is deemed heroic.

            There is much more that can be added to the topic. The most striking feature of the intellectual hero is the concept of standing on the shoulders of giants, but not just any giants: intellectual giants. The most defining idea of physical heroes is their perseverance to overcome all obstacles.

Monday, February 13, 2012


I remember reading about the invention of the steam horse. It was quite a new technology. One concern was that of the speeds it traveled. Could humans survive or be able to function at those speeds? Thinking now that my car cruises on the highway at a mere 75mph, it almost seems farfetched that one would think speed is a factor.

            Moving on, I started to get the idea that information, whatever it is, can have no intrinsic value. Its like the importance is not in the information, but in the fact that we can obtain “information” as needed. I wonder if the readily availability of information via Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, etc have , what some researchers think, caused a degradation of memory in adolescences.  Why learn something when you can just learn where to find the information? While watching a video about technology called “Did you know; Shift happens” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q&feature=fvst  not only is the technology expanding exponentially by some accounts, that a week’s worth of New York times contained more information than a person living in the 1800s was likely to come across in a lifetime.

            I think the metaphor of “water everywhere and not a drop to drink” illustrates essentially the whole chapter. I think the only information I use from the news regards traffic and weather, after that, it only serves to provide prompts for dinner time conversations. Which makes me wonder, has the amount of information dwarfed the importance of it?

            With the progression from word of mouth, radio, print, and television, wouldn’t the pass less advanced mode of communication be obsolete? Did video kill the radio star? Perhaps that even with the loss in quality and information there is still underlying pieces of a general form of communication between people that have kept all these mediums intact. It’s arguable the extent to which these mediums have shifted.

           

Tuesday, February 7, 2012


Postman Chapter: 1

While reading the chapter from amusing ourselves to death, I wondered, “Will I be (fill in the blank) to death?”  This got me pointed in the direct of topicality. They use the wording “to death” instead of “‘til death” which prompted me to think that it is somewhat our fault.

            I noticed that this first chapter goes in a few directions off the start. The idea that the printed word and digital word aren’t compatible in this day and age makes me think of a few phenomena. One being that with the use of printers and computers to shift the medium to electronics means, in effect, made it even easier to use paper. Instead of copying notes by hand, we can mass print and distribute. Our paper usage increased significantly. This may have been an unforeseen consequence. Secondly, newspapers seem to be obsolete. However, the content is still there, it has just evolved to stay in the game. New apps and online outlets have taken the place.

            A lot of the chapter talks about the shifting mediums. Postman says that Reagan was president while writing this so I assume that while writing one of the big improvements in home tech was Betamax and VHS. I don’t imagine that technology was as cheap as it is today. The price and availability is what put more electronic devices in people’s hands.

            The medium is the metaphor is an interesting concept. The last page describes how a watch recreates time under its own volition in a precise manner. This relays the notion that in every tool created has associated schemas or constructs that we all understand. What this conveys, is an idea that the metaphor is a literary term to describe a similarity that we already understand but need a way to understand what one another means. Today, if I were to say “I’ll text you later” or “ttyl”, people would understand the concept. I had one final thought:




           

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Gulati - Facebook


Gulati – Facebook

I liked how this article was direct in saying, “Facebook is making us miserable.” It made me think of a particular episode of South Park where one of the characters is feeling lonely and unimportant because he has but one friend on Facebook. He is compelled to tell his parents about all the things his friend is up too. His parents, unknowingly, acknowledge this new friend as a classmate their child plays with after school. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdbPVSWqm2w  This inevitably leads to the mentioned problems as a result in the article.

                What surprises me the most is how often we get on Facebook. I’d notice that for no apparent reason, while reading an email or text, I would click the little blue “F” on my phone. This caused me to realize how much of the time I was just acting out of habit. Sometimes I’d completely forget that I looked at Facebook.  Along with this mindless checking and updating, I noticed, rather others noticed that I was only partially present.  (Mostly they wouldn’t notice. They were on their phones as well touché).

                Playing the devil’s advocate, there are benefits to using social networking. For instance, my family is spread throughout the states and we only see them around holidays. Calling is sometimes difficult. However, the desire to see what is going on in their lives is still there. When my sister was in South Korea, cell phones weren’t the best or cheapest way to communicate. We resorted to Facebook and Skype. This was really helpful. My sister could post pictures, comments, etc when she was able and on our time we could do likewise.

                In the last paragraph, the idea of quitting Facebook was thrown around. I thought about this and wonder how my social life would be impacted. I thought for only a week I would resist Facebook. I managed a week, and then it turned into two weeks. After a month and seeing no change, I thought it was time to “go offline” permanently. This was in September.  As much as I enjoyed the benefits, I found myself in one of those categories of decreased social (fill in the blank).