Blog post #5

For the practice midterm I chose prompt #2.  I have chosen a few quotes that I may use for my midterm.  These are just some ideas and are subject to change.

I disagree that Darwins theory always opposes altrusim and humanistic values because :

1. reproduction benefits-
2. cooperation McEwan
3. evolution

Darwin’s theory teaches us that there is a reason for which animals and humans react due to the circumstance given.  The reasons are the benefits of behaving altruistically.  The benefits may be the cause of the selfish gene in action for example in a life or death instance.  The selfish gene may come in to play to save someone or themselves but the reason to risk yourself for another will be in turn for a selfish reason.

‘Let us try to teach generosity and altruism because we were born selfish’ (Dawkins 138).

--Altruism is a behavior that can be taught. It is because of nurture that we can learn how to behave altruistically. Depending on the situation of the animal or human, they will behave in a certain manner for the well being of themselves or not.  Although Dawkins thinks that it is a behavior that is learnt and doesn’t come naturally, we can argue that humans and animals don’t neccessarily express selfishness naturally and if their nature requires it then we can teach alturism to correct it.

‘Presumably there is indeed no purpose in the ultimate fate of the cosmos, but do any of us really tie our life’s hopes to the ultimate fate of the cosmos anyway?’ (Dawkins 142)

‘It is trying to get  more numerous in the gene pool.  Basically it does this by helping to program the bodies in which it finds itself to survive and to reproduce’. (Dawkins 147)

‘...reproduction expectancy, rather than ‘life expectancy’, or to be even more strict, ‘general capacity to benefit own genes in the future expectancy’. (Dawkins 154)----evolution

‘It was my duty to hang on, and I thought we would all do the same.’ (McEwan 172)

‘There was no team, there was no plan, no agreement to be broken. No failure. So can we accept that it was right, every man for himself?’ (McEwan 173)

‘Cooperation--the basis of our earliest hunting successes, the force behind our evolving capacity for language, the glue of our social cohesion.’ (McEwan 173)

‘But letting go was in our nature, too.  Selfishness is also written on our hearts.  This is our mammalian conflict-what to give to others and what to keep for yourself.



Brain Storming...

As I scrolled through many of the research topics, I was impressed with all the different one's I was interested in digging deep in to.  Which then brought me to research idea #4,  'bridging two cultures'.  I thought this would be a good topic to dig into because by the time I graduate I will have obtained an associates degree in social science and humanities.  Then I said to my self I should become an expert. And so...Science and humanity
When I think of bridging the two cultures i think of bringing together two pieces of a puzzle together. They both go hand in hand in many ways. One for example is that in order to understand science you have to think analytically. When reading a kind of text, in order to understand characters  or plots about a story you must be able to analyze. Likewise in order to understand a theory you must analyze the method and experimentation that allowed you to create that idea.  Humanities is the study of human culture and so are the sciences.  These two are bridged together to allow us to think critically about the study of humans, life and so much more. Moreover what is most interesting to me is being able to distinguish science and humanities and science being the study of our world, naturally.  Humanities would be the study of the inner part of life, how we think, how and why we feel and act the way that we do. All these questions all related to the study of the brain--its structure and function.I decided to take on learning more on bridging these two cultures with the works by Oliver Sacks.  I am interested in taking on the effects of music on a damaged human brain.  More specifically, autism.

"Popular Science"

Is science a threat?  Questioning oneself about humanism, about science, technology and about the reality of life...what role do each of these play in our lives?  We begin to see the positives and negatives that come with this information. We can learn a lot just by the flip of a switch.  Instinctively we begin to wonder, is this all true? Can we believe what we see on television or read in the paper? Some people might say they are inspired by the knew found information we learn about each day in regards to science.  In Revolution, a science oriented television show we are shown a futuristic series about a cast of people that have been impacted greatly due to a loss of electrical power.  By living in a world that is dependent on electricity, Revolution shows how upside down our world can become.  The character in this popular science series encounter circumstances that threaten civilization.  No power means no fresh food, lack of light, heat. With these new and unfamiliar challenges the whole population becomes stressed and chaotic. You can only imagine the crisis our society, our world would encounter.  Human life relies on the source of energy. Can you imagine--no cell phones, computers, refrigerators and cars etc.--SO why is this show so "popular"? I begin to think that television is often used to inform the public who isn't aware of the possibility of these things that can actually happen. But can this actually happen? The way science is depicted in Revolution makes me feel scared by the thought of not having electricity.  I am sure many people living in the United States would say the same becuase of how much we depend on power. Science fiction is definitely inspired by what can really happen and I think that is what attracts the audience.  The thought that some day this may in fact be the likely hood of our existence.  Although at times it can be exaggerated a lot but again, it is science fiction after all.