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Could it happen?

I think that any of the scenarios we were presented in class could happen, and that's scary. These different strange worlds could one day become reality, they could even be mashed together some how. Thinking about the future is some what depressing while exciting at the same time. We may have a scary text book future or maybe there will be things that no one has thought of. What ever happens I just hope that it is a future environment that i want myself and future family to life happy lives. I don't want the environment to end up destroyed like in "Feed" and i dont want all of the violence that occurs in "A Clockwork Orange" and i certainly dont want our lives to be so structured that we can do nothing unless programed to do so in "Brave New World." I Just hope that we all remain happy and stable and everything goes good!

Post 8

Beware, having and using are two different words. We have to power to better ourselves in this world, but are we using it. I personally think that i am doing the best i can to better myself while still enjoying life. I have a family, friends, the greatest friend of all. I am happy. Yes, I have a computer, yes i get distracted from doing my school work sometimes. But i am enjoying the life I have been given as well as making the most of it. If there is no happiness, there is no life. No hope of making something better for yourself or your future family. I have the right and willingness to live my life to the fullest and I think I am doing a heck of a good job of it. I the book they have no hope of change, they have no hope of bettering their lives. They have drugs to make them happy. They may not know that they could better themselves, but it is wrong to keep that from them. It is wrong to manufacture humans and take away their rights as human beings. We, unlike the characters in the book, have the ability to change and make better for our selves, and we use that ability to the best that we can while still finding happiness in this world. And that's that.

Post 7

A Brave New World, what a brave new world. I think it should be called a new world but brave not so much. It is a place where there is no individualism. No personal identity. No room for new thoughts and ideas. If you don't agree with the government rules, and try to right them you get exiled. You cannot voice your opinion because you are programed not to have one. What kind of world is that? Who would come up with such a crazy thing? Why is that good. Yes, it gives the society stability. But it takes away freedoms and rights of all who live there. You are unable to do anything you want. You can't have a family. Mothering a child is shunned. You cannot have emotions. It sounds like a group of robots. Which is basically what they are. They are programed and trained and made in to monsters. I think that a society isn't a society if there is no free will. Where is the fun in the "ideal" society. There is no room for changes and reform. No one can be extraordinary. Every one is the same, if you are in the same class and that just isn't right. Not one bit.

Post 6

"A Clockwork Orange"

The ending of the book was quite refreshing to me. It was a good kind of ending, one with a hope of change for the future of Alex. He wanted to grow up and have a child, a son. He realized that all of the violence now seemed "kid stuff." The book ended with a glimmer of a new Alex. He says, "Yes yes yes, brothers, my son. And now I felt this bolshy big hollow inside my plott, feeling very surprised too at myself. I knew what was happening, O my brothers. I was like growing up." Alex is realizing that he is growing up and that he needs to change his actions. It brings the book to a hopeful ending, and ties everything together. After everything that he has been through he is now able to be at peace with and overcome it. And he say that he will tell his son about the some of the things that he went through, even if his son doesn't understand and may do some of the same things that he has done, he to will eventually grow up. Alex realizes that he needs to be patient as a father, but needs to grow to an adult first.

It makes you feel good inside knowing that he is growing. He has used his experiences to his advantage. He has been through a lot and it just takes time to overcome such obstacles, to grow to change. With the changes that Alex went through it shows that others too can overcome anything and become a better person. That no matter what you can grow and change and do something better with your life. A good ending to an interesting book.

Post 5

A Clockwork Orange, Where to start with this book. It is very interesting and different and kinda really creepy. You have Alex, a kid that finds pleasure and excitement in stealing, raping and beating people. I find something really wrong about that. I feel like there is something wrong with a kid that does that. I do appreciate that he changes at the end, but why did it take so long for him to move his life forward in a different direction. And what made him start all of these crimes? His parents seem really nice and they provide for him. They care about him. So how did all of this madness get started? What was the trigger for this kid? I don't think that we will ever know. Another think that just really confuses me is that he sees all of this destruction and devastation in classical music. It is sort of a muse of sorts for him.

Reading this book a lot of main and controversial points arose. Just like in class when we talked about whether we agreed or disagreed, we all had different view points and different thoughts on the subject. I think that that is something that the author wanted. He wanted there to be heated discussion about the book among people with far different opinions. I think a good book makes you think and dig deeper and i think that this book really accomplished this goal.

Post 4

Hey guys, I have really found the book "Feed" to be very interesting. It makes you double think everything and think about where we this world and the technology may be headed. It is scary to think that we could possibly have a little chip in our heads that control everything and thinks for us. It is bad enough today, and to actually be faced with the possibility of what life could look like is just really scary. Possibly our children or great grand children could be like the characters in "Feed." They could be living that life where there every thought is basically generated by a computer. Is that the life that we would want them to live? Would we want that for ourselves let alone for generations to come. If people are calling our generation dumb for all of the technological advances that we have today, what would they say if the world was headed toward the "Feed" world?

I have to say that I did enjoy reading the book, it was very interesting. But to think that that is where the world could go is just mind boggling. I don't think that it would be a good idea, it would be terrible for the people of the world and the earth it self. In the book they were destroying some of the natural world. Many people never seen a mountain or could swim in an ocean with out wearing full body armor. How could that be fun, for anyone? The environment in "Feed" is just terrible i would really hate to see the world end up like that. I would hate for future generations to not be able to see a REAL sunset and real natural wonders. This books makes you question everything and makes us wonder if we are even living to the fullest today... Something to think about?

Post 3

Hey everyone, this has certainly been an interesting week. Reflecting back on our only class it has me thinking a lot about being "the dumbest generation." I still don't understand why we are the dumbest. I understand that technology has certainly impacted society and possibly the way we think but how does that make us dumb? There are many people in this world who will amount to great things in their lives, some may end up on the streets and homeless but does that make them dumb? As the world evolves and changes so does our everyday lives. Just as their way a record replaced by a CD, and a video tape replaced by a DVD, our lives are changing as well. The generations are changing as well. The fact is everything is changing and it is just going to change even more.

I have already started reading "Feed" and I think that what is happening in the book, or close to it, will be happening in real life sometime soon. Our physical computers could be replaced by chips in our heads. That could very well be the future. We could inhabit the moon and live there or just go on vacation there. This is probably where the world is headed. These are things that our generation could create. Now is this a good thing, I do not know, but to create these things to invent these things is a pretty big deal. You cannot be dumb and create these kinds of things. So what my main point here is that things change, people change, society changes. The world changes, for the better of worse, things change and you have to make the best of what you have. Does that make us dumb? You decide.

Post 2

We have been talking about so many different things this past week. It is interesting to think of advertisements in a new perspective. Some times I find myself agreeing and other times I find myself saying how can you say that? As Americans in this generation I think that we do take a lot of things for granted with the real message to some of those ads included. But as we are surrounded with more and more sexually suggestive ads it becomes less and less meaningful to us. We may look at it and laugh, or say that's just wrong, but it really doesn't make me want to go out and buy that product. Especially the ones that are to suggestive and just down right trashy. I think that it is hard for advertisements to stimulate people these days, because we have been surrounded by all of the advertisements since we were born. We know what we want to buy and aren't so much influenced, or easily influenced anymore. They are just part of our culture, part of our everyday lives.

Some thing that I am not sure about is when we watched the "Killing Us Softly" video. She had a lot of great points in that advertising is really going crazy and maybe "killing us softly," but I think sometimes she dug to deep. She was saying how some of the ads represented something, for example the little kids and how the boy was already looking tough and the girl shy, I don't see that, or didn't, until this video. As Americans I think that, especially in advertising, we take things at face value, and don't give an ad like that a second look. When I see to little kids I just think that it is really cute. I love kids. So I just wonder if sometimes she just tries to find what ever she can to prove her point... Something to think about.

Post 1

I have found Culture Jam to be a very interesting book. It questions the very nature of the human race today. It brings to question everything that we do and how we have chosen to live our lives. It makes you think and wonder about what is right and what is wrong. It makes you second guess the way society is. I have no problems with my life, and I have no complaints. But, I do think that technology has gotten out of hand that today people to rely entirely to much on technology. At the same time, I think that we couldn't live without it. to quote my history professor "Once we have technology we need it." This is something that has impacted lives forever. Just think about it, when the first people in the world started to farm and develop new technologies they started to need them. They went from being hunters and gathers to developing a culture around agriculture. Once they had agriculture they could settle down in one place and build cities. They could also support more people and have bigger families. All because they started coming up with new ideas, and ever since then people everywhere have come up with new innovative technologies and they have greatly positively impacted society and the way that the human race lives. Would you want to resort back to being a hunter or a gather? Probably not.

I feel that the same applies with society today. Yes, sometimes we get out of hand and they invent things that are silly and not necessary. But, to some extent we need all of it, or feel like we do. When you wake up in the morning think about your alarm clock, think if you didn't have it. What would you do? Could you wake yourself up? Or your cell phone. For many of us, myself included, it never leaves our side. We feel lost without them. Imagine living today knowing that they exist but not being able to have one. Today everything that we do revolves around technology, just as way back when when their whole lives depended on agriculture and survival. So where do we draw the line?