WEEK #5

Post #1 "Nietzsche and the Myth of Eternal Recurrence"
This video was very trippy. In this film it said something about if a demon crept on you and told you that "this life that you live now and have lived it, you will have to live again and again, times without number. There will be nothing new in it, but every pain and joy and every thought and sigh and all the unspeakably small and great in your life must return to you, and everything in the same series." I thought about my life and through each years of it. Have i made any impact yet on this world? Why am i here? It just made me think about what i would like to do and accomplish before i die. There are so many things i would like to do. This just made me realize how precious life is and iam sure others are thinking about this also. It just makes me think about if i toke back some of the things i did, would things be different? This was the interesting part of the video, throughout the video this topic was just stuck in my head. I didnt really pay attention to most of the video other than thinking about life.

Post#2 Flame On
This film talks about the controversial topic of homosexuality. They gave a list of historical figures who accomplished alot but were gay. such as Socrates, Plato and Alexander the Great. The arguement for homosexuality was very interesting and a very good one. Basically what this film was trying to prove was that anybody can accoplish alot even if there gay or not. This topic is a very controversial topic these days, or gay marriage. What i think is, a person is either borned straight, or borned heterosexual or homosexual. I think it isnt really a persons choice on being in a group that society tends to show alot of hatred towards. I don't neccesarrily have a problem with homosexuality, i don't normally judge a person by just there sexuality. But society thinks differently. Religion has always went against homosexuality. A person that is borned gay might not believe it since his/her religion taught him/her that it was wrong. They might be very discreet about it and to others. So many famous people on tv today are coming out and saying they are gay, its shocking to find out.

Post #3 why turn vegetarian?
This video was produces by the PETA. It tells the viewers why not to eat meat and also shows clips of animals getting slaughtered and killed in the background. I think this video wasn't really convincing and unargumental. Telling someone to not eat meat, just because "its just wrong" ain't really convincing. Not eating meat can be unhealthy since there is alot of proteins in meat, like chicken and beef. I dont believe killing animals for their meat is being a bad person Plants and furits are alive too. Killing cows and chickens for meat is just part of the food cycle. Telling someone there a bad person just because they kill animals for their meat is really stupid.

Post #4 non-violence
Non-violence is the key to solving alot of issues around the world, wellaccording to Gandhi. He says that violence never solves nothing, relationshipwise, arguments, etc. I beleive in this and starting thinking and reminiscingabout my childhood where i have encountered violence with others over somethingthat was really stupide and the outcome of it was nothing. Gandhi says thatviolence only brings more issues. He says that non-violence is a surpreme law. Iagree. For example, if someone in a club started a fight with another person,and the cops broke it up, they end up going to jail for the night, did any ofthe 2 solve their problems? no, they ended up in jail also. But lets say if theyverbally diffuse the situation, then both of them walk away satisfied and theissue of being in jail wouldn't have come up. But then theres an argument tothis. What if someone you encountered wants to still beat you up after you triedverbally diffusing the situation, do you fight back or do you lay there beinghammered with punches. In Gandhi's perspective you have to be the bigger man andnot fight back. Ive tried putting myself in this situation and thought aboutwhat i would do. I would probably fight back sense its my self-defense. But ibeleive in Gandhi on non-violence.

Post #5 Sam Harris
Respecting ones religion is something i totally believe in. Someones beliefs is their own personal perspective on God, to disrespect and to make fun of ones religion is really low and i think is inappropriate. This video explains about the bible, and how we if believe in the bible and followed it to a certain extent thatn we would be beating our childrens, stoning them to death, and also killing everyone who believes in God. The video was kind of blunt about this and shocked me kind of. Is it really saying this and putting it out there like this? Religions and our morals should'nt be put together and mix in with each other. Religion may play a big part in someones life, they live, eat, and breath their religion. To moralize what they can and can't do might prevent them from living. Everyone lives a different life and shouldn't be made fun of just because they live that way. The argument about the stakes being high, we choose to conversate or violence. This is very true. When an altercation happens in a bar or club, most of times it leads to violence but other situations like being in a store might lead to a coversation diffusion.

WEEK #4

Post #1 "A Glorious Piece of Meat"
This film was very fascinating to watch, and learn how and why we do certain things that we do. This film was mainly talking about our conscience and how it works.It basically says that our brain controls the stuff that we do on a normal day. For instance, eating and sleeping, we sleep and eat because of the neurons in our brains are sending information to do these things. This film was kinda tricky when it says that our conscience controls our neurons but the neurons dosen't stufy our conscience. So in that sense what does the neurons go off of? I think there might be something esle to it. Using our brain to control what we do is really interesting. A murderer kills somebody and are called psycopaths. It was always intersesting and fascinating to me about what was a psycopath thinking about or what was in his mind that made him commit murders. At the beginning of the films a lady by the name of Patricia Smith Churchland had said that our brain is just meat, and if we dont use it then nothing would change. Our brain is the commander and the captain of our body without it telling us what to do, there would not be me.

Post #2 "IS CONSCIOUSNESS PHYSICAL?"
Before reading this i though that it was physical. William james gives four characters in conscience. The first one, Every 'state' tends to be part of a personal consciousness. Second, Within each personal consciousness states are always changing. Third, Each personal consciousness is sensibly continuous. Lastly, It is interested insome parts of its object to the exclusion of others, and welcomes or rejects all the while. The first one i agree with the most in the sense that our brain can think of random mutiple thoughts all at the same time, and yet not even make any sense. Our personal conscious, would be our dreams. Where it it is kept only to us, and excluded from others. This book helped me understand consciousness more. It is still a mystery to how it actually really works, but i believe that part of it has to do with you soul.

Post #3 Steven Pinker on Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology is the study of the brain and how it all came about. Steven Pinker says that Evolutionary Psychology is the same as psychology and should be in the same field of study. I dont see any difference between the two, what i always thought was anything that is the study of the mind was psychology. One interesting thing that i liked about his lecture was the misconception of things people had, genes, and dreams. Pinker says that dreams are misconcieved. I kind of paused for a second and thought about it. Then came to realize that what he was saying was true. Usually after i wake up from a dream, i try to remember what i dreaming and try to figure out what it all meant. Then again, its kind of hard when your dream makes no sense what so ever. Pinker says that dreams might as well be screensavers, and have no meaning behind it, and also, they are just there just to keep our mind moving while we are asleep. Dreams that make no sense can either be a hidden message, or a screensaver, like pinker says. Ive recently been having dreams where i am on a mission like 007 or something. Really trippy and weird. Can't seem to find the meaning behind it.

Post #4 Gerald Edelman
After watching his lecture, It was a little bit hard to understand. The First few minutes of the video was kind of confusing. Gerald Edelman says that neural darwinism is our instinct, which is or survival on food or sex. He says since a long time ago the study of mind and consciousness have been separated from the study of science.
He also states that concepts that are study by philosophers, like mind and consciousness, now can be explained using science and the study of neurons. It started to get interesting when he talked about our brain and our consicous. He says that our brain is not like a computer. Although i think it does kind of work like a computer. Edelman says that you can't explain the steps of Darwinisn without including youself. Evoltion can be explained step by step but without including yourself you won't be able to fully explain it since you are part or the steps process.

Post #5 What is Consciousness?
Consciousness, can be really confusing and be misunderstood as something esle. It is a biological phenomenon. It should'nt be confused with knowledge, attention, and it should'nt be confused with self-consciousness. Cosciousness has something esle that other biological phenomenon dont have. "subjectively", there is a sense that a person has their own private conscious. Which is something like their own dreams, tickles, feels, and movements. The relationship between consciousness and the brain is actually relatively connected. The brain is like a captain in which it tells the body what to do. Conscious states are caused by lower level neurobiological processes in the brain and are themselves higher level features of the brain. The key notions here are those of cause and feature.

Post #6 Theory of Consciousness
This was an fun read.The four corners of the cosmos was very interesting,I thought they belong to another quadrant but they didn't. Intentional, behavioral, cultural and social were the four quadrants. The four quadrants were accessed by different types of truth ofvalidity claims. There are 12 theories for consciouness. Wilber explains them and says that consciousness is anchored in and distributed across all of the four quadrants. Cognitive science is consciousness as anchored in functional schemas of the brain and mind. I think that consciouness throught cognitive science is a real possibility. I also think that individual psychotherapy brings individuality to someone and that the consciousness is able to adapt to its environment and its surroundings.

Post #7 The Astonishing Hypothesis
Very interesting to read. Crick says, "The Astonishing Hypothesis is that "You," your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules." It is really amazing to see that we can be shorten down into a small reasonable explantion. This article was interesting in the sense it talks about we have no soul. I do beleive that everyone on this earth has a soul. But Crick makes a good argument asking where does our soul come from in our body? He also believes that everything that appeared in our heads, or any thoughts that we have, are all produced by neurons. Crick does not believe that a soul is something that exist outside of science. Even though he has stong points and a good arguement, i don't agree with him. I believe that everyone has a soul and it isn't held in our body but in spirt. It doesn't have to be part of a body for it to be an individual, and unique.

Post #8 "why i don't eat faces" Vegetarians
It basically gives you the pros on being a vegetarian. How your life would be like if you are, or turn into a vegetarian. It says that being one can prevent heart disease, reduce of impotence andpreservation of the environment. I can't see myself eating straight veggies for the rest of my life. Meat to me tastes so much better and have much more flavor than vegetables. Even though it may lead to heart diseases, and knowing so, i still can't see myself as a vegetarian. This audio tells a story about a boy who turned into a vegetarian. He says he never liked the taste of meat, i can't see how someone might not like the taste of meat. Vegetarians are missing out so much on that juicy, much flavored than veggies, and delisious meat. This audio says that fish is considered meat. Vegetarians can't eat any seafood either? Wow that must sucks since fish is so good. All this is my own opinion, and i can see from a vegetarian's perspective on why they don't eat meat. Like for instance they are grossed out by it, or they are simply trying to save the enviroment. I eat way more meat than i eat veggies, and i know this is a bad thing. What this audio is trying to explain is that animals shouldnt be treated any different than humans and that if we eat animals then we might as well eat ourselves.

Post #9NUMINOUS LECTURES
This lecture was very boring but what really caught my attention was something that was said. The lecture says that even the men who are healthy and have a healthy mindset and live their life carefully by taking good care of their body, are just lucky that bad health and personal problems haven't happend to them. This is false in my opinion. I played basketball in high school and keeping yourself in good shape and health was an essential part of being on the team. It helped you keep your stanima up while playing in a game and it makes you feel better about yourself. While i was on the basketball team it made me feel more fit and healthy since every practice you are working out. It changed my personality and my attitude a little. I was more outgoing and not hesitant to speak my mind. After basketball season was over i wasn't working out as much and it my mood changed also. Keeping in shape and working out does something to you not only on the outside by also on the inside. And personal problems are just personal problems. You can't blame health for personal problems.

Post #10 Is my i phone conscious?
Is my i phone conscious? No, or is it? In reality, i think not. But in fantasy it might be since it can practically do most things that you would like it to do, almost like a mini robot or human. I still don't fully understand the full concept on how conscious works and what is it. Our dreams happen when we are unconcious and those are wierd. The argument put out in this article was far beyond my expectations. It was very well put. Their might be something out there that we cannot see. The part about the phantom limb seemed like good ammo for this argument. Ive always thought about this question, if my computer was conscious, or if my phone was conscious. This article just backs up my theory and makes me believe it even more.

Magazine Post "The Voyage within"
This was a very very interesting and entertaining to read. Throughout themagazine they talk about the effects that weed has on a persons vision and body.They say that you hallucinate when you smoke weed. My personal experiece is thatyou don't really hallucinate when you smoke weed. What i think is it depends onthe person also. So people that smoke weed might get very paranoid, and somearen't. Also, it depends on the type of weed you smoke. Some marijuana helps yousleep, and some gives you a more of a lightheaded feeling. Different people havedifferent effects when smoking marijuana. There are different reasons why peoplesmoke marijuana too. For instance , some people smoke weed because of medicalreasons, and some do it cause its "the thing to do". Alot of people saymarijuana is a drug and should be kept off the streets. Only if you abuse it toa certain extent. I think it should be compared to alchohal. Theres no harm insmoking a little bit of marijuana. I dont know how the hallucination part playsin with this. From what i heard, mushrooms and acid makes you hallucinate.

MIDTERM

MIDTERM EXAMINATION

DUE JULY 18TH
1. Be sure to place your entire midterm on your website and when youare finished send a link of yourtest to your teacher directly at
neuralsurfer@yahoo.com (don't sendit to any other email address, except that)2. Make sure that it is YOUR OWN work and that if you use otherauthors please be sure toquote and/or cite the material appropriately. Plagiarism will not betolerated and you will receivean "F" automatically for the examination.3. The test is due JULY 18TH
4. What is your real name? Richard Chen5. What is your "user" name?rchenhc6. What is your email address that you use for this class?rchenhc@yahoo.com7. Name and address for your website.PHI 5
Address: http://dazedreams-phi5.blogspot.com/8. Have you done all the reading for the first three weeks?Yes. 9. Have you watched each of the films that were required?Yes10. Please place here all of the postings you have done for thisclass (you can copy and paste them)WEEK #3Post #1 Survival of the SufficientThe film is pretty funny. The monkey in this film i think makes up for the boring commontary. This metaphors that he uses was pretty on point and understandable. We usually use the phrase, "survival of the fittess" to explain that the ones who usually are well adapted and well trained are the ones who survive in nature. This short film suggests that we should use survival of the "sufficient" instead. Instead of saying natural selection, we can say natural editing. We are constantly being edited in our daily life by friends, family, peers, teachers, co-workers, etc. This is a certain metaphor that he uses. If we remain, we've been edited to some degree. We live on earth as writers and editors around us are constanlty editing. Decpetion is natures method of making sure each individual in each individual species have enough room to sucessfully survive. Nature use decption to edit. I didnt quite get the editing part of this film, until i kept playing back the line where he says that deception is natures way for individuals to sucessfully survive. I then thought about how and what we do in our daily lives to survive and it kind of made more sense after that.Post #2 Truth LiesI liked this video. One of the lines that i found funny and understanable was when the narrator said something about we don't know the truth we just know enough to not get eaten too young. This film says that our brain are not meant to understand the universe, we are only on earth long enough to eat the ecosystem and reproduce. He also quotes some body esle, something about how we can't live without a purpose and we eventually have to create a God. This i find yet to be somewhat true. Living life would be hard if we didn't have a purpose. But life would be harder if we knew the truth. What was really confusing was towards the end of the film where the narrator states that we can't handle the truth. Then it says that the world just lies to us to make its seem as if it is the truth. It ends the film with it saying the the truth lies. Its really confusing but for some reason it kind of makes sense. Really weird topic.Post #3 Fundamentalism as a mental diseaseI don't really see Fundamentalism as a mental disease. People live lives and make choices along the way, why should i be able able to tell them what and what not to do. People choose their own religion and i don't see any wrong in doing so. Everyone has their own choice on how they want to live their lives. There are so many choices to choose from. The beginning of this film they say that Creationists realize talking about God and The Bible, just dosen't work when it comes down to science. So they had to dress him up with some drapes. I think that "Fundamentalism as a Mental Disease" is some what true. A person may be read and take in The Bible on his/her own or some are taught about it. I think a part of this could be how a person was raised.Post #4 Richard DawkinsRichard Dawkins wanted to show us the different perspectives and opinions others have on science. There was one part of the film where everyone laughed at supposedly a joke that he made. "Everytime you drink a glass of water, at least one molecule has passed through the bladder of Oliver Cromwell". He talks about the quantum theory and how there are many versions of this theory. He gives an introduction of each of them and then he gets into detail which each versions of it. Dawkins pokes and makes fun of people who are too stubborn to think that they can't be wrong when they make a theory and eveyone believes in it. Throughout this video he makes a joke here and there. One of which i remembered was when he used Albert Stubblin in his joke where he said he thinks he can go through a wall since he is made of atoms too. Richard Dawkins is really smart and funny. His lecture was more entertaining than boring.Post #5 EvolutionThe basic definition of evolution is descent with modification. Biological evolution is not just a change over time. Alot of things change over time like for example trees. Their leaves change color and fall as the season changes but they don't involve descent from genetic inheritance. The theory of evolution is that every thing on earth shares and ancestor. Evolution just means we are all cousins, trees, mammals, sea shell, etc. We all are distant cousins of each other. There are many questions about evoultion that can't be fully answered but we have evidence for it. Does evolution occur in rapid bursts or gradually? What would we observe in fossils if evolution was slow and steady? If evolution it was slow and steady we would expect to see the whole transition from ancestor to descendent, displayed as transitional forms over a long period of time. The theory of evolution is that life has a history. It has changed over time and different species share the same traits of one and another. Natural selection is one of the basic mechanisms of evolution. Darwin's idea of evolution by natural selection is simple but sometimes misunderstood. Adaption is also a mechanism for evolution. Sometimes a specie has to adapt to its enviroment for the simple purpose of food and survival. They might change their way of eating of their defense from pretators. Sometimes they might change their whole outlook and eventually evovle into a different species.Mini Book Selection "Evolve"This mini book by charles darwin was really confusing. But to go off of what i have read and what ive tried to understamd is this book explains the steps and theory of evolution. Everything on this earth has an ancestor that we have evolved from over time. Evolution is a long term process instead of a short term. The assigned reading that we've done relates to this book of Darwin's. He says that evolution is nor physical or climatic in the sense that something is changed through physically. He talks about something with apperance of a person and how a man goes off by nature. Hawks have very good eye sight. The ancestors of hawks must've adapted to their surroundings with their eye sight since they are always above in the sky and need to look downwards at there prey. I personally didn't enjoy reading this. Maybe because it was very difficult for me to read, and i had to re-read certain phrase and lines.Magazine Selection "Naturally Selected"Naturally Selected by Darwin has an autobiography of his life. He explains that he has never earned his own "bread", meaning money. His dad payed for his education at school and for everything esle. Darwin was attracted to nature and first learned that nature had an interest for him when he started learning about bugs and plants. He read alot of literature by was very interested in shakespere. This was very interesting to read. I think alot of autobiographys are interesting to read. I think the fact that his dad was paying for his schooling and then being involve in learing about nature with beatles is very interesting. WEEK #2Post #1 Little Things That JiggleAfter watching this video, i thought it was more of a science or physics film. But really i think this film trys to explain that science is the main explanition to everything on this earth. Little things, like atoms on this earth, combined with other atoms, makes things. They show how a nucleur bomb explodes. How atoms combined with others makes the explosioion. Everything in life can be explained by science.The UFO sighting that was at the beginning of the film can also be explained by science. At the end of the film, They provide a quote from Albert Eienstein, "it should be possible to explain the law of physics to a barmaid." This means everything on this earth from what grows out the ground, what lives on the earth, etc, can be explained by sceience.Post#2 Gods Too DecomposeI didn't find this video very entertaining. Its a very controversial topic and is a very delecate one to the society. I think this film was trying to show how society doesn't believe in god anymore? The film says it's been too long since there was any proof. The religious people in this film says that we are the ones to blame for the murder of god.It also says society trys to make "sacreed" deeds to try and raise god back to life, Which i totally do not believe at all. I think this film is trying to convice people to stop believe that there is a god.I personally don't beleive alot of the stuff that was talked about in this film. This movie is a one-sided film. Its a persusive film which can be very controversial among others. I thought that this video was very werid and strange. Maybe it was because the whole mood it puts out or the vibe of the music.Post #3 Lisa Randall and Edward O. WilsonThis interview was very interstresting. It didn't bore me like some of the other interviews that i have watched. Her question that she asks in the film is, "is it really true what we see is all that's there?" Lisa's theory of the hidden dimensions was the best scientific idea in the whole centrury.She connects what she beleives with what Einstien anddiscovered back in the days. She then explains and tells how Eistein was the first person to discover physics. She also says that it helped people to understand the fundemental forces of matter and how and why they both relate to each other. Her beliefs and theory has scientificexperiments that lead up to her assumption, that there may be other dimensions. Her theory has little evidence that can lead up to her thoery.Edward O. Wilson talked about religious respect. Everyone is free to practice any kind of religion that they want. Practicing a religion should be as important as respecting one. This interview was the most interesting one ive seen from the others that ive had watched.Post #4 Stephen WolframIn Stephen Wolfram's lecture he talks about complexity and Randomness. In our world, what you think is complex has a specific design. He shows the programs that stimulates the shape of a leaf. It is very interesting to see his explanation on complexity by a program. If we understands the rules then everything would be more simpler. For example, in school if you dont follow rules in class it leads to detetion. Or, at work if you dont't follow instructions and you break the rules, you get fired. Or when you speed down a road, you might get into a car accident. Wolfram came up with 30 that can be applied or relate to randomness and predict it. When rain drops or snow flakes hit the floor, the size and the shape of it can't be predicted. Its the randomness or each one that makes each one individual. He says when a rule is concrete the rule can be used universal. This lecture on randomness and complexity was very interesting and i can compare it to every day life.Post #5 The origins of the universe: inflationCosmic inflation is a thoery in which rapid exponeitial expansions of theuniverse. "Inflation", is used to refer to the hypothesis that inflation hashappened. This is the thoery in which gives information for the occurance of the"Big Bang". Scientists explain that this theory answers mutiple questions beingasked about this world; why does the universe appear flat?,heterogeneousuniverse?, on the basis of the physics of the Big Bang, a highly curved? It alsoexplains the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Could the Big Bang be explodewith massive amount of TNT?The Big Bang was far more homogeneous, than can be explained by an ordinaryexplosion.The early Universe was so hot that electrons would have been takenaway from atoms, when this occurs it would be left with a plasma that filledspace. The photons that now make up the cosmic background radiation wereconstantly absorbed and re-emitted.There are many and many theories in which how the earth was created. Theinflation backs up the theory of the Big Bang, but many of the informationprovided are still unknown.Mini Book Selection "The Unknowable" by Nicholas of CusaWhen i finished reading this book by Nicholas of Cusa, I didn't quite understand the full concept. So i went back and watched the film of his and then began to understand both the film and the book. I didn't get what the film was talking about up untill i read this book. I thought it was just he invented numbers or something, but after reading this book i now understand there is more to it. Anything that is knowable can be compared to something esle. Meaning, anything that you know from when you were born, how to walk, how to talk, etc., can be compared to something esle. Even the knowledge of math, or school work, or even how to drive a car, can be compared to something esle. Numbers is a nesssary element to comparative relations, so it emcompasses anything. Infinite, maximum, or minimum is different from other things. These you can't compare to other things, so this puts them as "Unknowable". The more that someone knows that they are unknowing, the more someone can learn. Sometimes this may lead to ignorance.Magazine Selection "God 101"Dont judge a book by its cover! This magazine article was very interesting to read. The beginning was a bit one sided on how god is a fictional character, But the comparsion between Charlie Manson and God was very on point. I think the point about the sheeps blood and the snicker bar was hilarious but rather not so much. Although i don't go to church i do believe in God. I think that God is real but i don't believe you need to go to church 24/7 to believe in God. Sometimes people that are overly going to church and too religious and thinking that if they don't praise God every minute of their lives dont get to actually live their life that God had gave them. The middle point of this article was very very interesting. Peter Mcwilliams, i found to be an very interesting man. He published a book titled: "Life 102" about John Rodger Hinkins. He Later sold it to him for 2 million in cash?! Iam guessing someone doesn't wants his beans to be spilled. As i kept reading, Medical Marijuana popped up. He uses it to relieve his nausea feeling after taking his AIDs medication. Whats the problem with that? Marijuana can relief a substatial problems a person might have. He ended up dieing from vomiting because a judge wouldn't allow him to use medical marijuana? Marijuana today is almost about to be legalized in general. The book that he was going to write before he died would i think be a interesting book to read even though its from an atheist stand point. One of his quotes that i find very fascinating was “All the things you think you should have done that you didn't do, and all ofthe things that you shouldn't have done, accept them. You did (or did not) do them. That's reality. That's happened. No changing the past.” this quote i very much believe in.WEEK #1Post #1 The history of PhilosophyThe history of philosophy is studying the philosophical ideas through time. Eachculture has there own way of thinking and beliefs. Western philosophy is dividedinto four sub cultures; Ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary. Greekphilosophers such as Plato and Aristotle is part of the Ancient Era. TheMedieval period runs in between the 1400's and the renaissance. The Modern partplays into the 20th century.Western Philosophy is said to be in Greek cities. Plato's best student wasAristotle, and is truly the first systematic philosopher. Aristotelian logic wasthe first logic to attempt to catergorize syllogism. Syllogism is a form ofargument between people that is understood by well educated people.The definition of "philosophy has changed over time over the medieval timesand centeries. Any fields of theology or medicine was called "philosophy" afterthat. The 21st century's philosophy is difficult to define since the short timethat has lasped since the new millennium.Post #2 Aldous HuxleyIn his interview, he was asked about the future. What he sees in the futureahead and how propaganda is played out in the future. He explains that televisonwas not used at the time for propaganda and he wonders why. Hitler's use of theradio for propaganda had subliminal messages hidden in them. Aldous Huxley is asmart man but i think he didn't quite make sense when he says that sublimalmessages were used. How would anyone really know if sublimal messages were usedin propaganda?It really dosen't add up.When i think of sublimnal messages i think of a message that is hidden to thepublic but affects you in you mind and you don't think of it as a sublimnalmessage but rather act on it. If we were able to identify sublimnal messagesthen it wouldn't be a sublimnal message, it would just be propaganda.Post #3 The Socratic UniverseWhat do you think happens to us after death? That was the one of the questionsasked to about fifty philosophers. Cohon from Stanford University says: "Theevidence shows that we decompose. Iadmit it is hard to believe that a personality can abruptly cease toexist, but that seems to be the case. Our influence on each other isall that remains of us." Evidently we decompose after death, but we don't wantto think of it that way. We would like to think that we are reincarnated intosomething esle. I believe in god, and my beliefs might be different than others.Like McGray from the University of San Diego says, "Either heaven or hell." Apart of me believes that i would be reincarnated into a different person, or ananimal. The other half believes that i would just be dead and disenagrate andnothing would be left of me.This actually leads me to think deeper and makes me think what we are orwho we are before we were borned into the life we live now? Were we nothing orwere we a different person? Was there just a blank in between us before we wereborned? Have any of you guys ever thought of that, i believe iam not the only onon this planet that has thought about that. So believe there is an after lifethat we live after death. This is something i believe in also.Post #4 The Socratic Universe pt.2Do you think Artificial Intellegence will equal or surpass human intellegence?All of the philosophers gave their opinion on this question. Dreyfus from U.C.Berkeley has wrote two books on this subject. He explains that there are twodifferent kinds of Artificial Intellegence. The first one which was back in the1960, that was called phusical symbol system. Dreyfus says, "The computer wouldhave in it symbols that represented features of the world and the programs ofthecomputer would be used to make inferences and deduce conclusions fromthis representation of features." He then explains in his other book in 1972that this would not work because our way in this world is not having in our mindof representation and features. Our brain is too complicated and we don't reallyknow how it is wired up.I think that one day Artificial Intellegence will surpass us. The technologywe have nowadays is incredible. We have robots that can do things that us humanscan do and cannot do. We use robots in wars to seek out our enemies and alsorobots that can help us around the house. Whats really fascinating to me is thatwe have the technology to clone humans. Maybe in the near future we would beable to bring back a person that we have missed.Post #5 The Socratic Universe pt.3Does God Exist? This question can be the most controversial topic. I believe in god but i dont go to church or anything. Things happen for a reason and i believe god knows or path in life. But some might not believe in god and are athiest. I know there is no proof or evidence that god exist, but in my mind he does. He exist in our spirits. Iam not a spiritual person or anything, but i believe he is all in us in a way through spirits. Some of the philosophers answered that question with a simple yes or no or in 4 words or less. They should explain the answere a little more in why they believe in god or why not. A simple no doesen't really explain why you don't believe in god. Maybe if you would explain yourself a little more you might come to realize that there isn't a reason why you shouldn't believe in him. I am not a religious person at all. I don't really have a religion. I am also saying this through an Atheist point of view, but i do believe in god.Post #6 Nicholas of CusaOkay first of all, this video is trippy. I had to watch this video 4 times to actually get what it was talking about. The first time i watched it i kind honestly had no clue what the video was trying to explain. I thought the pictures were some kind of illumination in which if you kept staring at it you would find some thing interesting about it. I remembered i use to like math back when i was in Jr. High. But when high school came around i hated it. This video doesn't really explain much other than Nicholas of cusa invented numbers. I didn't really pay attention much to this video. I would try to, and play everything back but the music in the background made me think i was on a 007 mission or something. I didn't really like this film, and numbers also.Post #7 Java PhilosophyI liked one of the quotes that was presented in this film. It was by J.P.S " Freedom is what you do with whats been done to you." Our life is how you see it and react to it. The first time i watched this film i thought of it kind of weird. But after watching it a couple of more times i get the message it was trying to tell us. The beginning of the film the title says "Who are you?" Through out the film, they show people being in social enviroments and controversial quotes over what they are doing. This points out to why do people do the things they do? Most of the quotes in this film was part of my liking. I didn't really find one that i was against, All of them i can relate to.Post #8 The Socrastic Universe pt.4Are science and religion compatible? I think they are in a way. Like Adams from U.C. Los Angeles said, "Certainly they are compatible. There's a lot of scientists who are religious. Science is a human activity which proceeds on certain principles, has certain institutions, and serves certain functions of human life." I agree with his answer to this question. Religion is ones own beliefs and priciples and iis a function in our society. It has a huge affect on human life and beliefs. Science on the other hand has its own system of principles and beliefs. Science use theories and experiments to back up its theories. The difference between the two though is science can be proven and shown in the light while religion falls on beliefs and norms that others think of. They both work in similar ways but then again are different in ways. For the most part they can be compatable. There are mutiple ways in which you can compare the two.Magazine Post :"The Future of information and memory"This article or magazine is hilarious. It makes no sense at all. When I read thetitle of this article, I thought I was going to be reading about how technologyis going to change our world in the future. Like how everything is going to fitinto a small chip which can be put into your phone. Instead I get a table whichdescribes "kilobytes", "godbytes", "zettabytes" etc. It says that one "byte"equals "H" for Homer Simpson which makes no sense at all. "Yottabyte" equals 250trillion films or 1 quinttrillion doctoral dissertations if that even makes anysense. I guess when you read this or look at this outside the box, what itstrying to say is that in the future a lot more things are going to be able tofit in a byte size thing.Post #9 Francis FukuyamaFrancis Fukuyama's Lecture was based on religion and how it opens up to other religions in our society. I believe that people shouldn't depend on religion to chose how they should live. I very well believe in god, but i don't go to church. This doesn't make a atheist because i don't go to church, but some people say i am. But going to church makes that religion stronger. It brings unity and a set standard. But people shouldn't have to live like if you miss a day of church or if you miss a pray before eating that you have commited a sin. This way of living is unhealthy. My whole family believes in god but we don't go to church. Some people might hate you for your beliefs and others might love you for them. This brings conflict to other religions. I think we are at a never ending war between religion.Post #10 The Socratic UniverseWhich five books would you bring to a desereted island? The philosophers answered this questions mostly to what philosophical books they would bring. I wouldn't really bring a philosophical book because i know i would get bored of them really easy. But something that might interest me would be facts about logical things. Things that might need to use thinking to figure out. I think i am a pretty logical person so thats why i think books that might use some logic thinking wouyld interest me. I would also probably bring some books on survival tactics, and cooking books. This is a necessaity when it comes down to surviving. Oh, and also some skateboard magazines. 11. Why does Lisa Randall believe that there may be many moredimensions than we presently know in current physics? Is there anyevidence at this stage for her beliefs?
A) Lisa Randall Believes that there might be a fifth dimension out there. She has a theory, that the gravity we live in is kind of weak. The middle of the gravity and weakbrane, might be something there that we don’t know about. As of right now we only know about gravity and how whatever goes up must come down. There is no evidence for her belief but it is one of here theories.12. What are Pythagoras' philosophical views in a nutshell?
A) Pythagoras was considered divine and also had a great teacherthroughout his youth. His philosophical views, He believes that things that are like figurative things that are in our minds are inconsistent with the material world and can never exist because it is impossible to perceive something that is notthere. Real beings that exist in a physical form are permanent and can beinvestigated and defined. Pythagoras' logical approach, the real things are what appeal to science and have value in the knowledge we identify as wisdom.13. Do you think science and religion are compatible? Be sure toexplain your answer by GIVINGTHE EXPLANATIONS given by philosophers who side with your positionfrom the Socratic Universe (cite and quote whenappropriate).
A) I think Science and religion are compatible in a way. Science is based on evidence and theories and have less of a freedom than religion whereas religion you are free to believe in what you want. The professor Lloyd (U.C. Berkeley) says"In science there is a certain amount of play, but according to the nature of science, people have to agree that the evidence offered supports the conclusion. It tends to be much more restricted." Science is held back by scientific evidence and religion is held together by beliefs. But, even though I think they are compatible, I think that they are only compatiable in different topics and things we can talk and discuss about.14. Why was Socrates put on trial? How did Socrates defend hisposition? A) He was put on trial and later put to death because he questioned the existence of God. He tried to defend himself by talking to his friend and asks him to talk some piety towards him. But later found out his friend wasn’t able to do what he have asked.15. Give a brief history of philosophy using just 300 words (nomore). You may use an outline format, but be sure tocram as many "factoids" (facts) as possible (key names, ideas,dates, etc.). Remember, it must beyour own words and not merely a series of quotes. A)The history of philosophy is studying the philosophical ideas through time. Each culture has there own way of thinking and beliefs. Western philosophy is divided into four sub cultures; Ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary. Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle is part of the Ancient Era. The Medieval period runs in between the 1400's and the renaissance. The Modern part plays into the 20th century. Western Philosophy is said to be in Greek cities. Plato's best student was Aristotle, and is truly the first systematic philosopher. Aristotelian logic was the first logic to attempt to catergorize syllogism. Syllogism is a form of argument between people that is understood by well educated people. The definition of "philosophy has changed over time over the medieval times and centeries. Any fields of theology or medicine was called "philosophy" afterthat. The 21st century's philosophy is difficult to define since the short time that has lasped since the new millennium. The Easten philosophy refers to the eastern countries of philosophy which are asia, japan, India and Persia. Ancient eastern philosophy developed in India and China. Hindu philosophy begins with Upanishads, which can be dated around the middle of the first millennium BC. Abrahamic philosophy, , is the series of philosophical schools that came from the study and commentary of the common ancient Semitic tradition that can be traced by their adherents to Abraham.16. Explain the big bang and the inflationary universe. Why is itimportant to know astronomy in order to dophilosophy? A) the properties of the Big Bang are very special, we know that the physics provide a mechanism that produces exactly this sort of a bang.
Cosmic inflation is a theory in which rapid exponential expansions of the universe. "Cosmic Inflation", is used to refer to the hypothesis that inflation hashappened. This is the theory in which gives information for the occurrence of the "Big Bang". Scientists explain that this theory answers multiple questions beingasked about this world; why does the universe appear flat?, heterogeneous universe?, on the basis of the physics of the Big Bang, a highly curved? It also explains the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Could the Big Bang be explode with massive amount of TNT? There are many and many philosophical theories in which how the earth was created. The inflation backs up the theory of the Big Bang, but many of the information provided are still unknown.17. How do Heisenberg's views on philosophy and science DIFFER fromEinstein's? How are they similar? A) Einstein believed that there has to be an underlying principle that explains the different properties of the physical forces. The takes away the explanation of the universe. Heisenberg said that the statistical description of the universe was the only way to describe the physical world. But what they had in common was that they both believe that Classical Physics is just a dull description of the reality.18. What is meme theory and do you find it plausible? Explain yourreasoning. A)The meme theory is kinda like Darwin's theory of evolution, but instead of genes mutating , ideas are. I find that this theory is more acceptable than darwins. We wouldn't be who we are today if we haven't been passing down ideas to each other from generation to gerneration.19. Why is understanding biological evolution so important inunderstanding human thought and behavior. Be sureto cite Wilson and Dawkins and Darwin when appropriate. A) Understanding biological evolution is important because evolution is a sense of adaption and being able to adapt to enviroments youll have to change your behavior and your way of thinking.20. In one of the films you were required to see, the narratorargued that fundamentalism was a mental disease. Why?Do you agree or disagree and please detail your rejoinder.
A) I don't see Fundamentalism as a mental disease. People live lives and make choices along the way, why should i be tell them what and what not to do. People choose their own religion and i don't see any wrong in doing so. Everyone has their own choices on how they want to live their lives. There are so many choices to choose from. The beginning of this film they say that Creationists realize talking about God and The Bible, just dosen't work when it comes down to science. So they had to dress him up with some drapes. . A person may be read and take in The Bible on his/her own or some are taught about it. Someone Believing in creationism doesn’t mean he/she isn’t thinking. God can exist. No one have proved that god doesn’t exist yet, till then people are continuingly believing in creationism.21. Where do you think Owen Gingerich "parts company" (fundamentallydisagrees with) Edward O. Wilson? Who do youthink is more persuasive in their reasoning about religion, Owen orEdward? Explain.
A) I Think Owen Gingerich is more persuasive. One of his quotes that he stated which was, "The purpose is to study and understand the universe with God preparing humans to understand it, and then use that understanding to enhance the relationship between creatures on the earth". This was very persuasive in my sense. When you understand the things the surround you, you are able to give back that knowledge to others. Also you know where and who you are. When you understand the concept you are able to live on this world like one. 22. What does Francis Fukuyama mean by the "end of history." Do youagree or disagree? Explain.
A) I agree with Fukuyama. What he means by the "end of history", Is when a time comes in the future where we have learned everything about science, like physics, Chemistry etc, and we wouldn’t need to improve anything else in our world then we wouldn’t need any history to be made. History was a big part of science since every discovery is put into our history "collection". 23. Explain Nicholas of Cusa's philosophy of "unknowingness."
A) It toke me a while to actually understand this. I had to watch the film multiple times and read his book a couple times to actually understand. Anything that is knowable can be compared to something else. Meaning, anything that you know from when you were born, how to walk, how to talk, etc., can be compared to something else. Even the knowledge of math, or school work, or even how to drive a car, can be compared to something else. Numbers is a necessary element to comparative relations, so it encloses anything. Infinite, maximum, or minimum is different from other things. These you can't compare to other things, so this puts them as "Unknowable". The more that someone knows that they are unknowing, the more someone can learn. Sometimes this may lead to ignorance.24. According to Nietzsche, how did we actually "kill" God? Thinkbefore you leap on this one. A) Nietzsche did not say that God did not exist, but that those who called them selves Christians were living contradictory to what God was teaching,God had died in them, so he gives the exclamation "we have killed him".25. In the movie, Little Things that Jiggle, physics is explained bya series of slogans. Why, then, is physicsimportant in the study of philosophy? Substantiate your answer.
A) After watching this video, i thought it was more of a science or physics film. But really i think this film trys to explain that science is the main explanation to everything on this earth. Little things, like atoms on this earth, combined with other atoms, makes things. They show how a nuclear bomb explodes. How atoms combined with others makes the explosioion. Everything in life can be explained by science and physics.The UFO sighting that was at the beginning of the film can also be explained by science. At the end of the film, They provide a quote from Albert Einstein, "it should be possible to explain the law of physics to a barmaid." This means everything on this earth from what grows out the ground, what lives on the earth, etc, can be explained by science. Knowing more science and physics can explain more questions in philosophy.26. How do you explain the following line, "To have freedom OFreligion one must also have freedom FROM religion."
A) My interpretation is that in order to believe in your own religion you must be able to have freedom from it. This means a person might go to church but shouldn’t overly go to church to the point it takes over your life. Preying before you eat, or reading the bible every morning when you wake up. These could be done but till a certain extent.27. Why does Dawkins believe that believing in God is delusional?A) He thinks Religion provides the illusional right for discrimination, cruelty, familybreakup, and persecution towards those of a different religion, ethnicity, race, and orientation.28. Can science offer a sense of mystery comparable to what certainreligions offer?
A) Yes, I think it can. Religions are based on beliefs and what a group of people believe in. It brings unity of people so it doesn’t really have anything mysterious stuff. Since everyone believes in the same thing. Science is based on theories and evidence. If there was no evidence to back up the theory than the theory would be mysterious.29. How does an understanding of celluar automata suggest a "newkind of science".... according to Stephen Wolfram.
A) He talks about a new idea Complexity and Randomness. It was crazy that he found Celluar Automata with his new software. Celluar Automata is rule 30 and one of his favorite rules. This rule produces complex, seemingly-random patterns from simple well-defined rules So this explains the "new kinds of scinece" he is talking about.30. What were the key turning points in Darwin's life?
A) the turning point of his life i think is when he found out that he was fascianated about nature when he was insterested in plants and bugs.
31. What is spooky physics? And who do you think won the Einstein/Bohr debate? Explain your reasoning.
A)Quantum theory is the a theory about the nature of matter and energy at the molecular, atomic, nuclear, and even smaller microscopic levels. Einstein was on Determinism while Bohr was taking an Indeterminism stance. Determinism to me, makes more sense. Determinism is based of observation, and science is based off of observation. If we observe something and the result keeps coming up the same, then we can conclude that the end result is the right answer. I think Einstein won the debate because his stance made more sense than Bohr’s.
32. What is evolutionary philosophy and how can it best explain the emergence of self-reflective awareness?
A)The basic definition of evolution is descent with modification. Biological evolution is not just a change over time. Alot of things change over time like for example trees. Their leaves change color and fall as the season changes but they don't involve descent from genetic inheritance. The theory of evolution is that every thing on earth shares and ancestor. Evolution just means we are all cousins, trees, mammals, sea shell, etc. We all are distant cousins of each other. There are many questions about evoultion that can't be fully answered but we have evidence for it. Does evolution occur in rapid bursts or gradually? What would we observe in fossils if evolution was slow and steady? If evolution it was slow and steady we would expect to see the whole transition from ancestor to descendent, displayed as transitional forms over a long period of time. The theory of evolution is that life has a history. It has changed over time and different species share the same traits of one and another. Natural selection is one of the basic mechanisms of evolution. Darwin's idea of evolution by natural selection is simple but sometimes misunderstood. Adaption is also a mechanism for evolution. Sometimes a specie has to adapt to its enviroment for the simple purpose of food and survival. They might change their way of eating of their defense from pretators. Sometimes they might change their whole outlook and eventually evovle into a different species.
33. Give a review of the 3 required magazines listed above that you were required to read.
A) Magazine Post :"The Future of information and memory"This article or magazine is hilarious. It makes no sense at all. When I read thetitle of this article, I thought I was going to be reading about how technologyis going to change our world in the future. Like how everything is going to fitinto a small chip which can be put into your phone. Instead I get a table whichdescribes "kilobytes", "godbytes", "zettabytes" etc. It says that one "byte"equals "H" for Homer Simpson which makes no sense at all. "Yottabyte" equals 250trillion films or 1 quinttrillion doctoral dissertations if that even makes anysense. I guess when you read this or look at this outside the box, what itstrying to say is that in the future a lot more things are going to be able tofit in a byte size thing.
A)Magazine Selection "God 101"Dont judge a book by its cover! This magazine article was very interesting to read. The beginning was a bit one sided on how god is a fictional character, But the comparsion between Charlie Manson and God was very on point. I think the point about the sheeps blood and the snicker bar was hilarious but rather not so much. Although i don't go to church i do believe in God. I think that God is real but i don't believe you need to go to church 24/7 to believe in God. Sometimes people that are overly going to church and too religious and thinking that if they don't praise God every minute of their lives dont get to actually live their life that God had gave them. The middle point of this article was very very interesting. Peter Mcwilliams, i found to be an very interesting man. He published a book titled: "Life 102" about John Rodger Hinkins. He Later sold it to him for 2 million in cash?! Iam guessing someone doesn't wants his beans to be spilled. As i kept reading, Medical Marijuana popped up. He uses it to relieve his nausea feeling after taking his AIDs medication. Whats the problem with that? Marijuana can relief a substatial problems a person might have. He ended up dieing from vomiting because a judge wouldn't allow him to use medical marijuana? Marijuana today is almost about to be legalized in general. The book that he was going to write before he died would i think be a interesting book to read even though its from an atheist stand point. One of his quotes that i find very fascinating was "All the things you think you should have done that you didn't do, and all ofthe things that you shouldn't have done, accept them. You did (or did not) do them. That's reality. That's happened. No changing the past." this quote i very much believe in.
A)Magazine Selection "Naturally Selected"Naturally Selected by Darwin has an autobiography of his life. He explains that he has never earned his own "bread", meaning money. His dad payed for his education at school and for everything esle. Darwin was attracted to nature and first learned that nature had an interest for him when he started learning about bugs and plants. He read alot of literature by was very interested in shakespere. This was very interesting to read. I think alot of autobiographys are interesting to read. I think the fact that his dad was paying for his schooling and then being involve in learing about nature with beatles is very interesting.
EXTRA CREDIT: make your own 3 minute movie on meme theory and postit on google.com VIDEO. Be sure to provide me with a link.DOUBLE EXTRA CREDIT: Take your favorite movie that you saw listed onthe syllabus and give your own interpretation of its meaning (200words minimum).
34. BONUS QUESTIONS WILL BE ADDED SHORTLY.

WEEK #3

Post #1 Survival of the Sufficient
The film is pretty funny. The monkey in this film i think makes up for the boring commontary. This metaphors that he uses was pretty on point and understandable. We usually use the phrase, "survival of the fittess" to explain that the ones who usually are well adapted and well trained are the ones who survive in nature. This short film suggests that we should use survival of the "sufficient" instead. Instead of saying natural selection, we can say natural editing. We are constantly being edited in our daily life by friends, family, peers, teachers, co-workers, etc. This is a certain metaphor that he uses. If we remain, we've been edited to some degree. We live on earth as writers and editors around us are constanlty editing. Decpetion is natures method of making sure each individual in each individual species have enough room to sucessfully survive. Nature use decption to edit. I didnt quite get the editing part of this film, until i kept playing back the line where he says that deception is natures way for individuals to sucessfully survive. I then thought about how and what we do in our daily lives to survive and it kind of made more sense after that.

Post #2 Truth Lies
I liked this video. One of the lines that i found funny and understanable was when the narrator said something about we don't know the truth we just know enough to not get eaten too young. This film says that our brain are not meant to understand the universe, we are only on earth long enough to eat the ecosystem and reproduce. He also quotes some body esle, something about how we can't live without a purpose and we eventually have to create a God. This i find yet to be somewhat true. Living life would be hard if we didn't have a purpose. But life would be harder if we knew the truth. What was really confusing was towards the end of the film where the narrator states that we can't handle the truth. Then it says that the world just lies to us to make its seem as if it is the truth. It ends the film with it saying the the truth lies. Its really confusing but for some reason it kind of makes sense. Really weird topic.

Post #3 Fundamentalism as a mental disease
I don't really see Fundamentalism as a mental disease. People live lives and make choices along the way, why should i be able able to tell them what and what not to do. People choose their own religion and i don't see any wrong in doing so. Everyone has their own choice on how they want to live their lives. There are so many choices to choose from. The beginning of this film they say that Creationists realize talking about God and The Bible, just dosen't work when it comes down to science. So they had to dress him up with some drapes. I think that "Fundamentalism as a Mental Disease" is some what true. A person may be read and take in The Bible on his/her own or some are taught about it. I think a part of this could be how a person was raised.

Post #4 Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins wanted to show us the different perspectives and opinions others have on science. There was one part of the film where everyone laughed at supposedly a joke that he made. "Everytime you drink a glass of water, at least one molecule has passed through the bladder of Oliver Cromwell". He talks about the quantum theory and how there are many versions of this theory. He gives an introduction of each of them and then he gets into detail which each versions of it. Dawkins pokes and makes fun of people who are too stubborn to think that they can't be wrong when they make a theory and eveyone believes in it. Throughout this video he makes a joke here and there. One of which i remembered was when he used Albert Stubblin in his joke where he said he thinks he can go through a wall since he is made of atoms too. Richard Dawkins is really smart and funny. His lecture was more entertaining than boring.

Post #5 Evolution
The basic definition of evolution is descent with modification. Biological evolution is not just a change over time. Alot of things change over time like for example trees. Their leaves change color and fall as the season changes but they don't involve descent from genetic inheritance. The theory of evolution is that every thing on earth shares and ancestor. Evolution just means we are all cousins, trees, mammals, sea shell, etc. We all are distant cousins of each other. There are many questions about evoultion that can't be fully answered but we have evidence for it. Does evolution occur in rapid bursts or gradually? What would we observe in fossils if evolution was slow and steady? If evolution it was slow and steady we would expect to see the whole transition from ancestor to descendent, displayed as transitional forms over a long period of time. The theory of evolution is that life has a history. It has changed over time and different species share the same traits of one and another. Natural selection is one of the basic mechanisms of evolution. Darwin's idea of evolution by natural selection is simple but sometimes misunderstood. Adaption is also a mechanism for evolution. Sometimes a specie has to adapt to its enviroment for the simple purpose of food and survival. They might change their way of eating of their defense from pretators. Sometimes they might change their whole outlook and eventually evovle into a different species.

Mini Book Selection "Evolve"
This mini book by charles darwin was really confusing. But to go off of what i have read and what ive tried to understamd is this book explains the steps and theory of evolution. Everything on this earth has an ancestor that we have evolved from over time. Evolution is a long term process instead of a short term. The assigned reading that we've done relates to this book of Darwin's. He says that evolution is nor physical or climatic in the sense that something is changed through physically. He talks about something with apperance of a person and how a man goes off by nature. Hawks have very good eye sight. The ancestors of hawks must've adapted to their surroundings with their eye sight since they are always above in the sky and need to look downwards at there prey. I personally didn't enjoy reading this. Maybe because it was very difficult for me to read, and i had to re-read certain phrase and lines.

Magazine Selection "Naturally Selected"
Naturally Selected by Darwin has an autobiography of his life. He explains that he has never earned his own "bread", meaning money. His dad payed for his education at school and for everything esle. Darwin was attracted to nature and first learned that nature had an interest for him when he started learning about bugs and plants. He read alot of literature by was very interested in shakespere. This was very interesting to read. I think alot of autobiographys are interesting to read. I think the fact that his dad was paying for his schooling and then being involve in learing about nature with beatles is very interesting.

WEEK #2

Post #1 Little Things That Jiggle
After watching this video, i thought it was more of a science or physics film. But really i think this film trys to explain that science is the main explanition to everything on this earth. Little things, like atoms on this earth, combined with other atoms, makes things. They show how a nucleur bomb explodes. How atoms combined with others makes the explosioion. Everything in life can be explained by science.
The UFO sighting that was at the beginning of the film can also be explained by science. At the end of the film, They provide a quote from Albert Eienstein, "it should be possible to explain the law of physics to a barmaid." This means everything on this earth from what grows out the ground, what lives on the earth, etc, can be explained by sceience.

Post#2 Gods Too Decompose
I didn't find this video very entertaining. Its a very controversial topic and is a very delecate one to the society. I think this film was trying to show how society doesn't believe in god anymore? The film says it's been too long since there was any proof. The religious people in this film says that we are the ones to blame for the murder of god.It also says society trys to make "sacreed" deeds to try and raise god back to life, Which i totally do not believe at all. I think this film is trying to convice people to stop believe that there is a god.
I personally don't beleive alot of the stuff that was talked about in this film. This movie is a one-sided film. Its a persusive film which can be very controversial among others. I thought that this video was very werid and strange. Maybe it was because the whole mood it puts out or the vibe of the music.

Post #3 Lisa Randall and Edward O. Wilson
This interview was very interstresting. It didn't bore me like some of the other interviews that i have watched. Her question that she asks in the film is, "is it really true what we see is all that's there?" Lisa's theory of the hidden dimensions was the best scientific idea in the whole centrury.She connects what she beleives with what Einstien anddiscovered back in the days. She then explains and tells how Eistein was the first person to discover physics. She also says that it helped people to understand the fundemental forces of matter and how and why they both relate to each other. Her beliefs and theory has scientificexperiments that lead up to her assumption, that there may be other dimensions. Her theory has little evidence that can lead up to her thoery.
Edward O. Wilson talked about religious respect. Everyone is free to practice any kind of religion that they want. Practicing a religion should be as important as respecting one. This interview was the most interesting one ive seen from the others that ive had watched.

Post #4 Stephen Wolfram
In Stephen Wolfram's lecture he talks about complexity and Randomness. In our world, what you think is complex has a specific design. He shows the programs that stimulates the shape of a leaf. It is very interesting to see his explanation on complexity by a program. If we understands the rules then everything would be more simpler. For example, in school if you dont follow rules in class it leads to detetion. Or, at work if you dont't follow instructions and you break the rules, you get fired. Or when you speed down a road, you might get into a car accident. Wolfram came up with 30 that can be applied or relate to randomness and predict it. When rain drops or snow flakes hit the floor, the size and the shape of it can't be predicted. Its the randomness or each one that makes each one individual. He says when a rule is concrete the rule can be used universal. This lecture on randomness and complexity was very interesting and i can compare it to every day life.

Post #5 The origins of the universe: inflation
Cosmic inflation is a thoery in which rapid exponeitial expansions of the
universe. "Inflation", is used to refer to the hypothesis that inflation has
happened. This is the thoery in which gives information for the occurance of the
"Big Bang". Scientists explain that this theory answers mutiple questions being
asked about this world; why does the universe appear flat?,heterogeneous
universe?, on the basis of the physics of the Big Bang, a highly curved? It also
explains the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Could the Big Bang be explode
with massive amount of TNT?
The Big Bang was far more homogeneous, than can be explained by an ordinary
explosion.The early Universe was so hot that electrons would have been taken
away from atoms, when this occurs it would be left with a plasma that filled
space. The photons that now make up the cosmic background radiation were
constantly absorbed and re-emitted.
There are many and many theories in which how the earth was created. The
inflation backs up the theory of the Big Bang, but many of the information
provided are still unknown.

Mini Book Selection "The Unknowable" by Nicholas of Cusa
When i finished reading this book by Nicholas of Cusa, I didn't quite understand the full concept. So i went back and watched the film of his and then began to understand both the film and the book. I didn't get what the film was talking about up untill i read this book. I thought it was just he invented numbers or something, but after reading this book i now understand there is more to it. Anything that is knowable can be compared to something esle. Meaning, anything that you know from when you were born, how to walk, how to talk, etc., can be compared to something esle. Even the knowledge of math, or school work, or even how to drive a car, can be compared to something esle. Numbers is a nesssary element to comparative relations, so it emcompasses anything. Infinite, maximum, or minimum is different from other things. These you can't compare to other things, so this puts them as "Unknowable". The more that someone knows that they are unknowing, the more someone can learn. Sometimes this may lead to ignorance.

Magazine Selection "God 101"
Dont judge a book by its cover! This magazine article was very interesting to read. The beginning was a bit one sided on how god is a fictional character, But the comparsion between Charlie Manson and God was very on point. I think the point about the sheeps blood and the snicker bar was hilarious but rather not so much. Although i don't go to church i do believe in God. I think that God is real but i don't believe you need to go to church 24/7 to believe in God. Sometimes people that are overly going to church and too religious and thinking that if they don't praise God every minute of their lives dont get to actually live their life that God had gave them. The middle point of this article was very very interesting. Peter Mcwilliams, i found to be an very interesting man. He published a book titled: "Life 102" about John Rodger Hinkins. He Later sold it to him for 2 million in cash?! Iam guessing someone doesn't wants his beans to be spilled. As i kept reading, Medical Marijuana popped up. He uses it to relieve his nausea feeling after taking his AIDs medication. Whats the problem with that? Marijuana can relief a substatial problems a person might have. He ended up dieing from vomiting because a judge wouldn't allow him to use medical marijuana? Marijuana today is almost about to be legalized in general. The book that he was going to write before he died would i think be a interesting book to read even though its from an atheist stand point. One of his quotes that i find very fascinating was “All the things you think you should have done that you didn't do, and all ofthe things that you shouldn't have done, accept them. You did (or did not) do them. That's reality. That's happened. No changing the past.” this quote i very much believe in.

WEEK #1

Post #1 The history of Philosophy

The history of philosophy is studying the philosophical ideas through time. Eachculture has there own way of thinking and beliefs. Western philosophy is dividedinto four sub cultures; Ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary. Greekphilosophers such as Plato and Aristotle is part of the Ancient Era. TheMedieval period runs in between the 1400's and the renaissance. The Modern partplays into the 20th century.Western Philosophy is said to be in Greek cities. Plato's best student wasAristotle, and is truly the first systematic philosopher. Aristotelian logic wasthe first logic to attempt to catergorize syllogism. Syllogism is a form ofargument between people that is understood by well educated people.The definition of "philosophy has changed over time over the medieval timesand centeries. Any fields of theology or medicine was called "philosophy" afterthat. The 21st century's philosophy is difficult to define since the short timethat has lasped since the new millennium.

Post #2 Aldous Huxley
In his interview, he was asked about the future. What he sees in the futureahead and how propaganda is played out in the future. He explains that televisonwas not used at the time for propaganda and he wonders why. Hitler's use of theradio for propaganda had subliminal messages hidden in them. Aldous Huxley is asmart man but i think he didn't quite make sense when he says that sublimalmessages were used. How would anyone really know if sublimal messages were usedin propaganda?
It really dosen't add up.When i think of sublimnal messages i think of a message that is hidden to thepublic but affects you in you mind and you don't think of it as a sublimnalmessage but rather act on it. If we were able to identify sublimnal messagesthen it wouldn't be a sublimnal message, it would just be propaganda.

Post #3 The Socratic Universe
What do you think happens to us after death? That was the one of the questionsasked to about fifty philosophers. Cohon from Stanford University says: "Theevidence shows that we decompose. Iadmit it is hard to believe that a personality can abruptly cease toexist, but that seems to be the case. Our influence on each other isall that remains of us." Evidently we decompose after death, but we don't wantto think of it that way. We would like to think that we are reincarnated intosomething esle. I believe in god, and my beliefs might be different than others.Like McGray from the University of San Diego says, "Either heaven or hell." Apart of me believes that i would be reincarnated into a different person, or ananimal. The other half believes that i would just be dead and disenagrate andnothing would be left of me.
This actually leads me to think deeper and makes me think what we are orwho we are before we were borned into the life we live now? Were we nothing orwere we a different person? Was there just a blank in between us before we wereborned? Have any of you guys ever thought of that, i believe iam not the only onon this planet that has thought about that. So believe there is an after lifethat we live after death. This is something i believe in also.

Post #4 The Socratic Universe pt.2
Do you think Artificial Intellegence will equal or surpass human intellegence?All of the philosophers gave their opinion on this question. Dreyfus from U.C.Berkeley has wrote two books on this subject. He explains that there are twodifferent kinds of Artificial Intellegence. The first one which was back in the1960, that was called phusical symbol system. Dreyfus says, "The computer wouldhave in it symbols that represented features of the world and the programs ofthecomputer would be used to make inferences and deduce conclusions fromthis representation of features." He then explains in his other book in 1972that this would not work because our way in this world is not having in our mindof representation and features. Our brain is too complicated and we don't reallyknow how it is wired up.
I think that one day Artificial Intellegence will surpass us. The technologywe have nowadays is incredible. We have robots that can do things that us humanscan do and cannot do. We use robots in wars to seek out our enemies and alsorobots that can help us around the house. Whats really fascinating to me is thatwe have the technology to clone humans. Maybe in the near future we would beable to bring back a person that we have missed.

Post #5 The Socratic Universe pt.3
Does God Exist? This question can be the most controversial topic. I believe in god but i dont go to church or anything. Things happen for a reason and i believe god knows or path in life. But some might not believe in god and are athiest. I know there is no proof or evidence that god exist, but in my mind he does. He exist in our spirits. Iam not a spiritual person or anything, but i believe he is all in us in a way through spirits. Some of the philosophers answered that question with a simple yes or no or in 4 words or less. They should explain the answere a little more in why they believe in god or why not. A simple no doesen't really explain why you don't believe in god. Maybe if you would explain yourself a little more you might come to realize that there isn't a reason why you shouldn't believe in him. I am not a religious person at all. I don't really have a religion. I am also saying this through an Atheist point of view, but i do believe in god.

Post #6 Nicholas of Cusa
Okay first of all, this video is trippy. I had to watch this video 4 times to actually get what it was talking about. The first time i watched it i kind honestly had no clue what the video was trying to explain. I thought the pictures were some kind of illumination in which if you kept staring at it you would find some thing interesting about it. I remembered i use to like math back when i was in Jr. High. But when high school came around i hated it. This video doesn't really explain much other than Nicholas of cusa invented numbers. I didn't really pay attention much to this video. I would try to, and play everything back but the music in the background made me think i was on a 007 mission or something. I didn't really like this film, and numbers also.

Post #7 Java Philosophy
I liked one of the quotes that was presented in this film. It was by J.P.S " Freedom is what you do with whats been done to you." Our life is how you see it and react to it. The first time i watched this film i thought of it kind of weird. But after watching it a couple of more times i get the message it was trying to tell us. The beginning of the film the title says "Who are you?" Through out the film, they show people being in social enviroments and controversial quotes over what they are doing. This points out to why do people do the things they do? Most of the quotes in this film was part of my liking. I didn't really find one that i was against, All of them i can relate to.

Post #8 The Socrastic Universe pt.4
Are science and religion compatible? I think they are in a way. Like Adams from U.C. Los Angeles said, "Certainly they are compatible. There's a lot of scientists who are religious. Science is a human activity which proceeds on certain principles, has certain institutions, and serves certain functions of human life." I agree with his answer to this question. Religion is ones own beliefs and priciples and iis a function in our society. It has a huge affect on human life and beliefs. Science on the other hand has its own system of principles and beliefs. Science use theories and experiments to back up its theories. The difference between the two though is science can be proven and shown in the light while religion falls on beliefs and norms that others think of. They both work in similar ways but then again are different in ways. For the most part they can be compatable. There are mutiple ways in which you can compare the two.

Magazine Post :"The Future of information and memory"
This article or magazine is hilarious. It makes no sense at all. When I read thetitle of this article, I thought I was going to be reading about how technologyis going to change our world in the future. Like how everything is going to fitinto a small chip which can be put into your phone. Instead I get a table whichdescribes "kilobytes", "godbytes", "zettabytes" etc. It says that one "byte"equals "H" for Homer Simpson which makes no sense at all. "Yottabyte" equals 250trillion films or 1 quinttrillion doctoral dissertations if that even makes anysense. I guess when you read this or look at this outside the box, what itstrying to say is that in the future a lot more things are going to be able tofit in a byte size thing.

Post #9 Francis Fukuyama
Francis Fukuyama's Lecture was based on religion and how it opens up to other religions in our society. I believe that people shouldn't depend on religion to chose how they should live. I very well believe in god, but i don't go to church. This doesn't make a atheist because i don't go to church, but some people say i am. But going to church makes that religion stronger. It brings unity and a set standard. But people shouldn't have to live like if you miss a day of church or if you miss a pray before eating that you have commited a sin. This way of living is unhealthy. My whole family believes in god but we don't go to church. Some people might hate you for your beliefs and others might love you for them. This brings conflict to other religions. I think we are at a never ending war between religion.

Post #10 The Socratic Universe
Which five books would you bring to a desereted island? The philosophers answered this questions mostly to what philosophical books they would bring. I wouldn't really bring a philosophical book because i know i would get bored of them really easy. But something that might interest me would be facts about logical things. Things that might need to use thinking to figure out. I think i am a pretty logical person so thats why i think books that might use some logic thinking wouyld interest me. I would also probably bring some books on survival tactics, and cooking books. This is a necessaity when it comes down to surviving. Oh, and also some skateboard magazines.