Essay Quick Write

Gods, of any religion or mythology, have a vast array of powers and abilities, most are immortal and almost all are feared. These higher beings control the land and have power over the people. If what Michio Kaku says is true, and that ‘by the year 2100 will give us power like that of the gods’, then the power that anyone can possess would be lightyears ahead of even the most powerful person today. If technology really does advance so much, then anyone and everyone can be ‘god-like’. Because technology and artificial intelligence will be so advanced, it would have become a staple in the lives of humans, perhaps even merging with that of human. It would be reaching a whole new level of cognitive and intellectual capability. The sheer depth and power of AI would begin to profoundly transform the world and history, and would be at the same level of these gods of the old world. Science advances so rapidly that it by the 22nd century, it would exceed the comprehension of the people this time, the early 21st century. Gods had power and control over their believers and people; if everyone has these god-like power, who would they have their power over.

Michio Kaku quote

"Of course, it is impossible to predict the future with complete accuracy. The best one can do, I feel, is to tap into the minds of the scientists at the cutting edge of research, who are going the yeoman's work of inventing the future."
-Michio Kaku, Physics of the Future, page 3 of Introduction

Fall Semester Final

A dystopia is a society that contains elements that are in some way undesirable or frightening, the opposite of a utopia These have more cynical or a more realistic view of society that comment on current and future trends. . Dystopias usually contain political or social issues, and are often used to raise awareness of real world issues that could possibly lead to a dystopian-like condition. Most of these types of societies are set in the future. They are often characterized by a controlling government and suppression to the population.  

Paris in the 20th Century by Jules Verne is set in the 1960's in Paris, in a society where applied science and technology is prevalent and the state of the arts are absolutely dismissed. Anything that can be considered 'art' is all based around technology. Books were only written about science and technology, and even languages, such as traditional French, were disappearing. Paris had evolved into a technological industry, with the skies polluted, the population growing and the banks and industry ruling the world.

George Orwell's 1984 is set in a work of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public mind control, dictated by a political system under the control of an elite party that persecutes all individualism and independent thinking. Orwell's novel warns of a future world where the government exerts complete and absolute control over the social life, similar to an extreme view of a complete totalitarian government. 1984 puts out an alarm that sounds against the abusive nature of authoritarian governments, but also for its penetrating analysis of the psychological power and the manipulation of language and history to control the mass population. This novel highlights the psychological, technological, physical and social dangers of totalitarianism and political authority.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is set in yet another world where a totalitarian government controls the populace by ways of science and technology. The individual human is controlled by the way of constant condition, so that the person is more inclined to believe and think a certain way. Every human is created, not born, and are raised to believe in certain ways and to be happy with their way of life. The government uses science as a way to better technology, not to increase scientific exploration and experimentation, and to build technology that can create a seamless, happy, superficial world. This world prioritizes happiness at the expense of the truth; that people are better off being happy rather than knowing the truth.

Each of these three dystopian societies have controlling totalitarian-like governments. Both 1984 and Brave New World depict a dystopian society that emphasize the use of power to control the masses. This power is always situated within a small group of individuals that are above the mass population that uses it to control every aspect of the people’s lives. Their is a severe dictatorship of rigid control that destroys individuality. The people of Paris in the 20th Century have more control over their lives, while still sharing the similarities of technology and science outweighing the populace. There are caste systems in Orwell’s and in Huxley’s novels that each have their own responsibilities and regulations to follow. Signs of nonconformity are immediately punished and the societies are set up so the people will never question the morality or humaneness of the situation.REligion is abolished in all three novels and philosophical thought is destroyed. Paris in the 20th Century, 1984 and Brave New World all have main characters that rebel against the established society but in the end succumb to societies rules and essentially are destroyed as a person.

Each of these novels albeit similar, show a slightly different view of how technology and the government take control. Huxley showed a world where science and technology ruled the world. The characters, for example, were developed in an incubator and mentally conditioned to follow orders. Orwell’s world is a society in which the government and political power played a role towards world domination.  Verne has a world where technology has grown so exponentially that the ways of the old world are dying out; the arts are declining as science continues to accelerate.  Though different in their sight of the future, one thing is clear about the intentions of the authors. Vern, Orwell and Huxley wrote their novels as a way to warn people about the fast growing pace of science and technology and how much power the government and political parties are growing.

The predictions that Verne, Orwell, and Huxley were all advanced for the time that the novels were written. There were predictions of railroads powered by magnets, hydrogen powered internal combustion engines for horseless carriages, artificial intelligence, two way television, modern birth control, and so much more. At the time of these novels publications, these predictions were little more than just unfathomable technological predictions. But as time moved on, most of these predictions came to pass. Verne predicted the creation of automobiles about twenty years before the modern car was in its most rudimentary form. Verne also showed a rudimentary version of the Internet, that could process and transfer information long distance instantly. Orwell’s predictions were not of the technological way but more in the way of how the government controls the people. This government was a parallel to the USSR, but in an extremist way.  Huxley had plenty of technological predictions, and predictions of the inner working of the populace and how society would work. Modern society becomes increasingly smothered by consumerism and instant gratification as Huxley suggested that it would. Huxley was near obsessed with the thought that people were indulging too much in consumerism, and was outraged at mass production, sexual promiscuity, and the impersonalness of the younger generation. Holding true to today, there is a more forward interest in self preservation and getting what someone wants, rather than their needs. Everything is becoming impersonal; there is no family, no monogamy, no attachments. Everything would become trivial and nothing would be special anymore.

There are many different degrees of what a dystopia can look like. There is the extreme of where the people are controlled by the government through complete fear, and there is also the extreme of their being no personalization to the individual. Paris in the 20th Century, 1984 and Brave New World are all examples of how technology and science and government can grow into an extreme form of control, in a worse case scenario. The world today is extremely close to the technology predicted by Verne, the consumerism of Huxley and the sense of fear of the government in certain parts of the world voiced by Orwell.

H&S Paris in the 20th Century Poem

As the novel continues, Michel finds more people who are like him, and share his interest in the old ways of the arts. But these people are slowly bing taken away from him, such as his uncle and the Scribe and his love Lucy. The government is seeing how the arts are 'corrupting' the people of Paris and decide to take action. Michel is eventually the only one left, and is spiraling into a depression without those who support him. 

All the words I want to say

They all rot and fall away

Never heard

By those around

Falling to the tainted ground

Expecting something 

That I am not

Those like me 

Shunned by them

One by one

They disappear

Until it is only me

My Uncle, and the Scribe

Even Lucy too

Leaving me all alone

Religion Final

I’m not exactly sure what I believe. I would like to believe that there is one God, an evil Devil, a heaven and a hell. I have generally accepted that there is some sort of universal being akin to God, and that there is an afterlife that depends on a person’s life.

My initial upbringing was not religious. I lived in a place where people from all over the world gathered, dozens of cultures and beliefs clashing together, although the main population was split between being Christian and Muslim. The prayers could be heard from my apartment complex, 5 times a day. All of the people of Nigeria had strong beliefs. I don’t even know if religion was apart of my life then. I don’t remember much from back then, but I think one of the only religious experiences I had were Christmas and Easter, and those were just the watered down kid version.

When I moved back to Washington, I feel like I was suddenly thrown into something that I had almost nothing to do with. I found myself suddenly going to Sunday school and learning about religion. I was almost 8 then, and it was a little too late to learn about my families beliefs. I didn’t grow up surrounded by belief, so it was harder for me to believe what our teachers and the pastor was saying than it was for the other kids, the ones who grew up in the church.

I hated going to church, mainly because I was young and there was nothing for a kid to do during the incredibly long services. I had to go to mandatory weekday classes to learn about different subject; the books of the Bible, the different prayers, the history of the Church. I call myself a Lutheran despite my differences and feelings about what exactly is my faith. For people of my faith, the Bible is the only true words from God, but a majority of Lutheran adults say that the Bible is not actually all true, but more of an inspired word. For my church, to be saved and taken to heaven after death, faith alone is the answer. We don’t have to pay to get into heaven or do a bunch of good deeds. We just have to believe in God, which I think is actually a pretty good deal. Even if I don’t go to church or have doubts in religion, as long as I know that there is an omnipotent singular Creator, heaven will be there for me when I die.

It’s also conflicting for me because my dad was raised as a Lutheran while my mom converted from a Baptist when they got married. I get confused when I have to talk to my maternal grandparents about religion, because while our main beliefs are the same, there are also differences that make is evident that they are very strictly religious. For the last few years, ever since I entered high school, I never went to church services. I went to church but I always stayed in the nursery watching the toddlers. And since I’ve started college, I’ve only gone to church those few weekends I’ve been home.

The Bible says that the world was created in seven days and that God created all creatures as they are. But science has proven that evolution happened, that it took billions of years for the actual planet Earth to form. It’s hard to believe some of the miracles that Jesus supposedly performed. The logical part of my brain doesn’t want to agree with these kinds of concepts. Our current church pastor is a younger man, who spent time as a military chaplain, has told the congregation before that it is okay to question the more ridiculous aspects and parts of the Bible. Even our pastor, a man of complete  and utter faith, says that some of the things in the Bible could not have happened, but there must be faith.

There are always the two ends of a spectrum for anything. For religion, there are the believers who take the Word literally, and there are the people who find it all to be completely made up and nonsensical. I find myself in the middle. I don’t believe everything that the Bible has to offer but instead find it to be more of an inspired word. There are plenty of life lessons that it provides, but it also offers some more ridiculous concepts. There is some sort of higher power out there. There is some sort of afterlife, based on a person‘s actions during life. I choose to believe in both a logical and a spiritual side. That, yes, there was a big bang and the earth and it’s various organisms evolved over millions of years, but that there is something more spiritual in nature watching over us. This Higher Being does not normally interfere with normal life, but instead observes from afar, stepping in only when absolutely necessary.

Religion is subjective. Religion is based on faith. It is a personal decision whether or not to believe, a decision that everyone must make. I can not make someone else believe something that they don’t. Rather than accepting a religion just because its what close family and friends think, the individual has to make the choice for themselves about what they believe. If faith is the choice, then it is as real for you as something that can be seen and touched. The existence of God is something that we can either acknowledge or reject. He either exists or he does not. My opinion will not change that fact.  There are roughly 4,200 religions in the world. Everyone of them is different, no matter how closely related they are. How can only one of thousands be right?

Religion

I’m not exactly sure what I believe. I would like to believe that there is one God, an evil Devil, a heaven and a hell. I have generally accepted that there is some sort of universal being akin to God, and that there is an afterlife that depends on a person’s life.

My initial upbring was not religious. I lived in a place where people from all over the world gathered, dozens of cultures and beliefs clashing together. I don’t even know if religion was apart of my life then. I don’t remember much from back then, but I think one of the only religious experiences I had were Christmas and Easter, and those were just the watered down kid version.

When I moved back to Washington, I feel like I was suddenly thrown into something that I had almost nothing to do with. I found myself suddenly going to Sunday school and learning about religion. I was almost 8 then, and it was a little too late to learn about my families beliefs. I didn’t grow up surrounded by belief, so it was harder for me to believe what our teachers and the pastor was saying than it was for the other kids, the ones who grew up in the church.

I hated going to church. Mainly because I was young and there was nothing for a kid to do during the incredibly long services. I had to go to mandatory weekday classes to learn about different subject; the books of the Bible, the different prayers, the history of the Church. I call myself a Lutheran despite my differences and feelings about what exactly is my faith. For people of my faith, the Bible is the only true words from God, but a majority of Lutheran adults say that the Bible is not actually all true, but more of an inspired word. For my church, to be saved and taken to heaven after death, faith alone is the answer. We don’t have to pay to get into heaven or do a bunch of good deeds. We just have to believe in God, which I think is actually a pretty good deal. Even if I don’t go to church or have doubts in religion, as long as I know that there is an omnipotent singular Creator, heaven will be there for me when I die.

It’s also conflicting for me because my dad was raised as a Lutheran while my mom converted from a Baptist when they got married. I get confused when I have to talk to my maternal grandparents about religion, because while our main beliefs are the same, there are also differences that make is evident that they are very strictly religious. for the last few years, ever since I entered high school, I never went to church services. I went to church but I always stayed in the nursery watching the toddlers. And since I’ve started college, I’ve only gone to church those few weekends I’ve been home.

The Bible says that the world was created in seven days and that God created all creatures as they are. But science has proven that evolution happened, that it took billions of years for the actual planet Earth to form. It’s also hard to believe some of the miracles that Jesus supposedly performed. The logical part of my brain doesn’t want to agree with these kinds of concepts. Our current church pastor is a younger man, who spent time as a military chaplain, has told the congregation before that it is okay to question the more ridiculous aspects and parts of the Bible. Even our pastor, a man of complete  and utter faith, says that some of the things in the Bible could not have happened.

There are always the two ends of a spectrum for anything. For religion, there are the believers who take the Word literally, and there are the people who find it all to be completely made up and nonsensical. I find myself in the middle. I don’t believe everything that the Bible has to offer but instead find it to be more of an inspired word. There are plenty of life lessons that the Bible provides, but it also offers some more ridiculous concepts. There is some sort of higher power out there. There is some sort of afterlife, based on a person‘s actions during life. I choose to believe in both a logical and a spiritual side.That, yes, there was a big bang and the earth and it’s various organisms evolved over millions of years, but that there is something more spiritual in nature watching over us. This Higher Being does not normally interfere with normal life, but instead observes from afar, stepping in only when absolutely necessary.

Religion is subjective. Religion is based on faith. It is a personal decision whether or not to believe, a decision that everyone must make. Rather than accepting a religion just because its what close family and friends think, the individual has to make the choice for themselves about what they believe. If faith is the choice, then it is as real for you as something that can be seen and touched. The existence of God is something that we can either acknowledge or reject. He either exists or he does not. My opinion will not change that fact.  There are roughly 4,200 religions in the world. Everyone of them is different, no matter how closely related they are. How can only one of thousands be right?

Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex, essentially, is a tale of people trying to deny their fate, but end up having their destinies control their lives. The story is shrouded in woe, and ends in tragedy.
While in class, the story of Oedipus was presented to us in three different ways; as the classic near-original tale as told by Sophocles, a more modern and rather humorous re-telling, and the dark and surreal opera by Stravinsky. Each version that I have read of this play has been astronomically different, each one appealing to me differently.
Having read the play before, I had a reasonable understudying of what it was about. Re-reading it didn't  heal me to understand it anymore than I already did, since there was no real in-depth analysis of the text. While in high school, several weeks were spent on the text and on the meanings of the characters and their actions.
The rewrites of the play were interesting to say the least, and they did offer a different view of the scenes, making the text seem slightly easier to understand. They were mainly, from my perspective, written as a form of humor rather than to accurately portray the meaning of the original text. for some scenes it was clear where the authors switched and the written piece was uncoordinated between the authors.
The opera however, was a different spectacle in itself. Although there was no new information given about Oedipus Rex, the way the opera was portrayed was indeed beautiful. The performance was filled with high amounts of energy. The way that the performance was dark and mysterious was also a pleasant change. While the story has tragedy laced through it, it didn't really seem too dark as it was being presented in the written format. The opera was very creepy, in a beautiful way, with the contrasts of colors and the stage. The environment of the opera was something out of my nightmares. In a good way. I could only hope to create such an intense display. Truthfully, while the opera was captivating to watch with the technicalities, the actual story was near unchanged and I did zone out at parts. The high energy of Jocasta's death and at Oedipus' self-mutilation were painfully captivating, and brought me back to the intensity of the opera.
The combination of the music, the stage, the costuming, and the wonderful acting brought together a wonderful performance that I will hopefully watch with closer detail in the near future.