Questions for Thought.

I accept that most of these questions will go unanswered and they are therefore hypothetical. You can, however, give them life by actually answering them in the comments section.

Apologies for the lateness of this post; my computer charger broke recently and I am still raising the funds to get it replaced. Until that point, I will be relying on school-provided Internet. I think that Darth Vader said it best: "NOOOOOOOO!" Curiously, I have not observed any increase in free time from losing Internet access at my house. What would you do without free access to the Internet?

Last Saturday night, in a state of feverish delusion, I convinced myself that Tony had impregnated me with a "Shivers" parasite. It turned out to just be a case of bad yogurt, but for half an hour, I had myself convinced that the churning in my stomach was a being malevolently planted by my seemingly charming English professor. Then and now, I chuckle at how surprised we would all be if Tony actually did implant us with parasites without our knowledge. What if this course was just a sadistic "parasite primer?"

In my moral philosophy class, we talked about what it takes to qualify as a person. What I've been wondering about since then is how people in the future will react to human clones. Would it be wrong to be racist against clones? And could a progressive campaign for clone rights lead to the destruction of mankind? When cloning becomes possible, I bet that it's going to be a very political issue.

Another thing that I've wanted to bring up but it was too small a topic to discuss individually was this level of the new Call of Duty (and if you haven't seen it yet, brace yourself; it's extremely violent)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6MUhIZEDaI
This level put me in a state of turmoil. Since that's what makes a good work of art for me, I concluded that Call Of Duty must qualify as a work of art. As video games grow more and more advanced, we may have to start analyzing some of them like we analyze books and films. Looking forward to the future: Could there be an "American Beauty" of video games? If so, what do you think it would be like?

I have also been thinking about what makes the difference between a parasite and a symbiote. Perhaps the distinction is that a symbiote requires informed consent, while a parasite does not. What do you think about this line, and where would you draw the line?

LIMITED_EDITION

As we were talking in class today about what a love letter meant, someone pointed out that a love letter is more romantic than an email or text because it is rare, because it is special.

I was also thinking about how many of my classmates, as well as The_Man_Formerly_Author himself, have changed their names recently. What does it mean when you change your name? Well, one, you are redefining yourself. That takes attention from everyone who would normally see your name, recognize you, and move on; it makes them view your profile so they can figure out who you are. You're new, you're hot stuff. And the most exciting thing about this person now is that they will no longer be Nanotext; they will be The_Author. But not forever! If they changed their names once, they are likely to do it again. Dynamic. New. Limited Edition.

Because what's more attractive than something that's temporary? Like a new product launch for a company, a new username for your Twitter or Plurk account can be a good way to attract new fans and followers. So, for experimental purposes and for a limited time only, I will be entitled Limited_Edition. Let me know what you think about my project in the comments or via Plurk.

A Propoganda Parasite's advocate

The thing that I've been thinking about most lately is freedom. But more importantly, I was thinking about lying to myself, and about how I'm free to do that in the U.S. The more moral opinions a society has, the more wrong ideas the society has (assuming that only one way is completely right).

And that's a good thing. There's nothing I like more than a taste of my own American Freedom. Other countries might not support Americanization as much as I do, but in my opinion, it is the best way: may the top dog win. It's the way nature intended: May the toughest, funnest, most addicting cultural tendencies win. Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Microsoft, I'm talking to you. Our freedom to choose what kind of food we want, what kind of movie we want, and what kind of news we want is the hedonist's greatest boon.

Avatar, the sign that we are doing too good a job at entertaining ourselves, has been a topic of interest for the last week in our class. The Author formerly known as Nanotext shared this link:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html

Perhaps the best thing you can take from this article is that “this movie is so good, you will want to go see another movie just so you can forget about how happy this movie made you feel.” Wow, the worlds depicted in our movies make people want to be in the fantasy world rather than reality? James Cameron just bred the most efficient movie ever, and I would have to give him props for that. So high-five, James Cameron, and high-five, America, for making his dream come to life.

When we watched Dracula the other day in class, what really set me off was that Van Helsing and the other “white hats” had the audacity to kill the spawn of Dracula. I mean, in the world of the film, sure, they were killing evil undead, but metaphorically, they were killing the “enemies of the cross,” aka, enemies of Christian Society. The dichotomy depicted in this film, I think, is an example of one of the most powerful parasites out there, the propoganda parasite. It can make you think crazy, new and sometimes false things without you ever realizing that you've been affected.

Another good example of a thought parasite would be the article I posted above. Under the pretense of being a “news article,” this article's propaganda parasite bears a simple command: “Watch Avatar.” Perhaps even more cleverly, it has a second message for people who have already seen Avatar: “you should go see a rebound movie. Avatar is making you feel depressed.” For those of us who feel sad every once and a while, we now have something to blame it on, and a solution for our problem. It may not seem this way to everyone, but this thought parasite may have helped people, and it may have even helped people without even being right in the first place. With a great thing called the Placebo Effect, we have the ability to partially construct our reality from our beliefs. So if, for example, you were feeling sad because of the economy, then you read this article and because of it you went out and saw a “rebound movie” and you expected it to make you feel better and so it did make you feel better, that would be an example of how the Placebo effect and Propoganda Parasites helped you.

So, even if something is false, if you believe in it, there's still a good chance it will appear true to you. And this is how we may begin to create our own reality. The less people who try to stop you from being deceived, the more power you have to limit your information intake and therefore shape your perceptions of reality. So by informing people, we are taking power and happiness from them, and by telling people what they want to know, we are giving them power and happiness. So therefore, if you want to make someone happier and more powerful, it is a good idea to tell them what they want to know (as long as they believe you).

As kind of a p.s. to this week's blog post, I would like to share my favorite source of inspiration with you.

http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/

Have a great night!