Blog post #11 Essay #3 Final draft

Tenzin Chodak

ENG 101-0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #3

12/02/2012

Imagine if the world we are living right now is being controlled or watched by others. It is more like one is surrounded by four walls under suffocation. It executes the real freedom and free will that we are having right now. People will then have no rights to make their own move. The technology so called pre-crime adopted in the movie “Minority Report” in order to predict crime of not-so-distant future was not a smart way because it was rejected at the end. If our society finds ways to eliminate crime, terrorism and other threats, we should not do so regardless of the ethical considerations of the means we will use. It violates our privacy and also racially discriminates which can lead the society into big issue in terms of terrorism.

Privacy is our first and foremost concern. The solutions that they used in the movie “Minority Report” in order to stop near-future crime was highly abusing one’s privacy. People were made like a robot where the agents can track everybody and look through their datas. In Bill of Rights, it indicates the “right to be alone”. One can determine their own way of living without others interference. Free will carries the most important role in everyone’s life.

Moreover, we say no to racism or discrimination due to the dark history in past. Racial discrimination is the key to cause cold wars and murders. Every race consider them self “The Superior”. In fact, there is no such thing because we are all same under our skin, and due to few black sheep of the nation, all the others are to be blamed. Additionally, in our today’s world, terrorists are accounting mass number of killings and threats. After they took down the Twin Tower on September 11, 2001, many muslims and their communities were discriminated for no reason since then. For instance, on july 7, 2005, “bomb explosions tore through three London subway trains and a red double-decker bus in a deadly terror attack, killing at least 37 people” (Cowell). Government and FBI agents declared that the attack was harmed by al qaeda. It carried misunderstandings in the nation. So, the religious hate crimes were taken place against muslim communities. They verbally abused and assaulted and also, mosques were damaged by the citizens in London. It is the fact that terrorist attacks were done by al qaeda, but this does not mean all muslims are part of it. 

On the other hand, some may say our society should eliminate crimes and terrorism regardless of the ethical consideration of the means we will use. “One thing that is often said is that when we make choices, at least some of the time, we are directly, introspectively aware of our freedom”(Huemer 108). It acknowledges that we have right to make decision of our own in a situation like John Anderton when him killing Leo Crow was predicted by the precogs. John had to make his own decision whether he should pull the trigger or not, but he decided not to shoot him after knowing the truth that Leo did not kill his son, but Leo was bragging John to shoot him because that is the only way his family will get the money. Leo was not killed by John, but there was no evidence that John Anderton was innocent. So, he was punished and held in the custody of pre-crime division. Is this the way we should anticipate, in order to eliminate crime rates and other threats? 

After all, I believe that if our society finds ways to eliminate crime, terrorism and other threats, we should not do so regardless of the ethical considerations of the means we will use. It violates our basic rights and also racially discriminates in terms of terrorism. Human beings desire can never be fulfilled. So, we always prefer to be in a better environment, but moral and ethical values are very important in our lives. 

Work Sited

Spielberg, Steven, dir. Minority Report. Writ. Philip K. Dick. 2002. Film. 2 Dec 2012.

Cowell, Alan. "After Coordinated Bombs, London Is Stunned, Bloodied and Stoic." New York Times 07 07 2005, early ed n. pag. Web. 2 Dec. 2012.

Huemer, Michael. Free Will And Determinism. 1st ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing LTD, 2009. 108. Print.

Blog #10 Essay #3 draft

Tenzin Chodak

ENG 101-0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #3

12/02/2012

Imagine if the world we are living right now is being controlled or watched by others. It is more like one is surrounded by four walls under suffocation. It executes the real freedom and free will that we are having right now. People will then have no rights to make their own move. The technology so called pre-crime adopted in the movie “Minority Report” in order to predict crime of not-so-distant future was not a smart way because it was rejected at the end. If our society finds ways to eliminate crime, terrorism and other threats, we should not do so regardless of the ethical considerations of the means we will use. It violates our privacy and also racially discriminates which can lead the society into big issue in terms of terrorism.

Privacy is our first and foremost concern. The solutions that they used in the movie “Minority Report” in order to stop near-future crime was highly abusing one’s privacy. People were made like a robot where the agents can track everybody and look through their datas. In Bill of Rights, it indicates the “right to be alone”. One can determine their own way of living without others interference. Free will carries the most important role in everyone’s life.

Moreover, we say no to racism or discrimination due to the dark history in past. Racial discrimination is the key to cause cold wars and murders. Every race consider them self “The Superior”. In fact, there is no such thing because we are all same under our skin, and due to few black sheep of the nation, all the others are to be blamed. Additionally, in our today’s world, terrorists are accounting mass number of killings and threats. After they took down the Twin Tower on September 11, 2001, many muslims and their communities were discriminated for no reason since then. For instance, on july 7, 2005, “bomb explosions tore through three London subway trains and a red double-decker bus in a deadly terror attack, killing at least 37 people” (Cowell). Government and FBI agents declared that the attack was harmed by al qaeda. It carried misunderstandings in the nation. So, the religious hate crimes were taken place against muslim communities. They verbally abused and assaulted and also, mosques were damaged by the citizens in London. It is the fact that terrorist attacks were done by al qaeda, but this does not mean all muslims are part of it. 

On the other hand, some may say our society should eliminate crimes and terrorism regardless of the ethical consideration of the means we will use. “One thing that is often said is that when we make choices, at least some of the time, we are directly, introspectively aware of our freedom”(Huemer 108). It acknowledges that we have right to make decision of our own in a situation like John Anderton when him killing Leo Crow was predicted by the precogs. John had to make his own decision whether he should pull the trigger or not, but he decided not to shoot him after knowing the truth that Leo did not kill his son, but Leo was bragging John to shoot him because that is the only way his family will get the money. Leo was not killed by John, but there was no evidence that John Anderton was innocent. So, he was punished and held in the custody of pre-crime division. Is this the way we should anticipate, in order to eliminate crime rates and other threats? 

After all, I believe that if our society finds ways to eliminate crime, terrorism and other threats, we should not do so regardless of the ethical considerations of the means we will use. It violates our basic rights and also racially discriminates in terms of terrorism. Human beings desire can never be fulfilled. So, we always prefer to be in a better environment, but moral and ethical values are very important in our lives. 

blog #7 The Allegory Of The Case Through History

The allegory of the case through history

 In this short comic of the allegory of the case through history, people in the cave do not know anything about the world or life outside of it. They only believed life as the shadows appearing on the other side of the wall in their cave. They knew nothing about the world until someone introduced them to the real life outside their cave.

Many of us think ourselves as the only superior species on the planet even though we do not know what exists outside our universe and how it looks. There could be another type of species living in a planet billions and trillions of miles away from us inhaling different sort of gas.

For instance, even in our very own world, Nazis admitted themselves as the superior race amongst every one of us.  “In Nazi ideology, "Nordic" race was the purest example of the original racial stock of those who were then called the Proto-Aryans”,  according to wikipedia.org. I strongly believe that we are all of the same human being and none of the race is more ascendant to another. 

Blog #5 Final draft essay #1

Tenzin Chodak

ENG 101-0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #1

10/09/2012

The Land Of Dystopia

Utopia is an ideally perfect place. In the utopian world, everyone must have same opinion in order to obey each other and form one leader or government which is agreed by everyone to have a peaceful surroundings. The world shown in Gattaca is highly equipped with solar powers, advanced in the science and technology, but this does not indicate people in Gattaca are enjoying the utopian world. Beside these merits, people living in that world were discriminated in order to get into Gattaca space mission, it created anger between Vincent from his own brother. It also oppressed Vincent from the death of his mission director who was killed in his cabin.

Discriminations should not be held in utopian world. When Vincent was born with major down syndromes, even his very own parents were humiliated to keep his name as Anton. Instead, his brother, who was two years younger than him, was named Anton. Anton turned out to be better in any fields and sports than his brother. Vincent was always dreaming to get in the Gattaca space mission, but there was not much of a chance for him to get in it because of the birth defects he had. He always wanted to prove himself as better in activities than Anton. Therefore, in order to get selected in the space mission, he was genetically engineered to Jerome Morrow, who stood the second position in the operation. Vincent had to change his genetic code and identity because it needed a specific type of gene to get qualified in the space mission. If the world presented in Gattaca a utopia, then there should never be such discrimination which occurred in Vincent’s life.

Physically and mentally, Vince was not as good as his brother and he was helpless because his parents care much more about Anton. Vincent had a high motivation and therefore, there were anger between him and his brother. They always challenged each other, especially in a game called chicken game. In this game, whoever turns back sooner from swimming towards the depth of ocean, considered as “loser”. In our everyday life, we often hear unpleasant and shocking murder cases amongst families due to anger, hatred and other problems. For instance, “Luisa-Marie Brown, a 7-year-old girl, was killed by her stepfather for eating his yogurt. She was tied with duct tape to a chair and beaten to death, with fists, slaps and a blunt object by her step-father who was sentenced for murder in court”, according to the liveleak.com. That is why anger and hatred should never occur in utopian world, so that there will not be jaw dropping murder cases such as Luisa-Marie Brown’s. 

In the movie Gattaca, when the mission director was killed in his cabin, the investigators highly suspected Vincent as the murderer because they found a piece of his eye lash at the victim’s cabin during the crime scene. Apparently,  Vincent was genetically engineered to Jerome Morrow and his status in the mission was not valid as Vincent, he had to hide just incase if he was accused in guilty of charge. Or else, they would terminate him from the mission and most probably other charges on him as well.

Some people may say that Gattaca is a utopia, just because of the facilities and the technologies provided by the scientists. But Gattaca is definitely not a utopia because of all the disadvantages. Requiring specific type of gene to get into the space mission program, murder case of the mission director, and suicidal of Jerome Morrow. Do these such incidents happen in utopian world?

After all, there were many demerits to the people living in Gattaca as our planet. Also, it was not a perfect place to live. Therefore, I believe that for those who were qualified for the Gattaca space mission were living similar to the utopian world, but overall, Gattaca is not a utopia because of the appearance of discrimination, murder and suicide cases. 

Blog #4 Essay#1 draft

Blog #4 Essay#1 draft

Tenzin Chodak

ENG 101-0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #1

10/09/2012

The Land Of Dystopia

Utopia is an ideally perfect place. In the utopian world, everyone must have same opinion in order to obey each other and form one leader or government which is agreed by everyone to have a peaceful surroundings. The world shown in Gattaca is highly equipped with solar powers, advanced in the science and technology, but this does not indicate people in Gattaca are enjoying the utopian world. Beside these merits, people living in that world were discriminated in order to get into Gattaca space mission, it created hatred between Vincent from his own brother Anton. It also oppressed Vincent from the death of his mission director who was killed in his cabin.

         Discriminations should not be held in utopian world. When Vincent was born with major down syndromes, even his very own parents were humiliated to keep his name as Anton. Instead, his brother, who was two years younger than him, was named Anton. Anton turned out to be better in any fields and sports than his brother. Vincent was always dreaming to get in the Gattaca space mission, but there was not much of a chance for him to get in it because of the birth defects he had. He always wanted to prove himself as better in activities than Anton. Therefore, to get selected in the space mission, he was genetically engineered to Jerome Morrow, who stood the second position. If the world presented in Gattaca a utopia, then there should never be such discrimination which occurred in Vincent’s life.

          Physically and mentally, Vince was not as good as his brother and he was helpless because his parents care much more about Anton. Vincent had a high motivation and therefore, there were hatreds between him and his brother. They always challenged each other, especially in a game called chicken game. In this game, whoever turns back sooner from swimming towards the depth of ocean, considered as “loser”. In our everyday life, we often hear unpleasant and shocking murder cases amongst families due to hatreds, feuds and other problems. For instance, “Luisa-Marie Brown, a 7-year-old latina girl, was killed by her stepfather for eating his yogurt. She was tied with duct tape to a chair and beaten to death, with fists, slaps and a blunt object by her step-father who was sentenced for murder in court. The little girl's mother did nothing about the torture and even assisted her boyfriend in beating her to death”, according to the liveleak.com. That is why anger and hatred should never occur in utopian world, so that there will not be jaw dropping murder cases such as Luisa-Marie Brown’s. 

         In the movie Gattaca, when the mission director had been killed in his cabin, the investigators 

highly suspected Vincent as the murderer because they found a piece of his eye lash at the victim’s cabin during the crime scene. Apparently,  Vincent was genetically engineered to Jerome Morrow and his status in the mission was not valid as Vincent, he had to hide just incase if he was accused in guilty of charge. Or else, they would terminate him from the mission and most probably other charges on him as well.

         Some people may say that Gattaca is a perfect place for people to live, just because of the facilities and the technologies provided by the scientists. But Gattaca is definitely not a utopia because of all the disadvantages. Requiring specific type of gene to get into the

space mission program, murdering of the mission director, and suicidal of Jerome Morrow. Do these such incidents happen in utopian world?

         After all, I believe that for those who were qualified for the Gattaca space mission were living similar to the utopian world, but overall, Gattaca is dystopia because of the discrimination, murder and suicidal occurs there as our world. 

BLOG #3

 

 

What Really Is Utopia

 





Utopia is an ideally perfect place. The world shown in Gattaca is highly equipped with solar powers, advanced in the science and technology, but this does not indicate anywhere close from utopia. Beside these merits, people living in that world were discriminated in order to get into Gattaca space mission, it created hatreds between Vince from his own brother Anton. It also oppressed Vince from the death of his mission director who was killed in his cabin.

Discriminations should not be held in utopian world. When Vincent was born with major down syndromes, even his very own parents were humiliated to keep his name as Anton. Instead, his brother, who was two years younger than him, was named Anton. Anton turned out to be better in any sports and fields than his brother. Vincent was always dreaming to get in the Gattaca space mission, but there was not much of a chance for him to get in it because of the birth defects. He always wanted to prove himself as better in activities than Anton. Therefore, to get selected in the space mission, he was genetically engineered to Jerome Morrow, who stood the second position. If the world presented in Gattaca a utopia, then there should never be such discrimination which occurred in Vincent’s life.

Blog #2 Utopia and Dystopia

Utopia and Dystopia

Utopia:  “An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects”

Source: www.thefreedictionary.com

Dystopia:  “An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror” 

Source: www.thefreedictionary.com

When I hear the word Utopia, I think of a place more like a dreamland or heaven where everything is miraculous and perfect. Most of us believe that nothing exists without any mistake. In my opinion, Utopia is totally a fiction and does not exist. If it does, then everyone of us would not live in the place where we are right now because no one wants to suffer from economic crisis, war, crimes, starvation, polluted environment and many more. We all wanted the best and being in a perfect place such as Utopia is the solution for it. Unluckily, no one of us have lived in such place or even seen one. Therefore, Utopia is just an imaginary place where everyone wants to be in.

Dystopia is totally incompatible from Utopia. I am sure no one of us would like to be in such place. Hell is a great example of dystopia. We all can picture what hell looks like and how unpleasant it is to be in there, even though it does not exist as well. I think that in future, our blue planet might turn into or similar to dystopia because of all these wars, hatreds, political issues, discriminations, environmental devastations and many more things going on these days. There are some places on earth right now which I consider similar to dystopia where people starve for days, weeks or possibly months. Also, some are terrified of wars and killings going in their countries. After all, in my opinion, dystopia is an imaginary place in which condition of life is terrible or extremely bad.