A Brave New World Free Essays

Utopia means the idyllic state as first used by sir Thomas Moore as the title of his book in 1516 (Brave New World’s Barron’s Notes by Anthony Astrachan). The Utopia achieved by the world-state in Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World had a terribly High price. We will write a custom essay sample on A Brave New World or any similar topic only for you Order Now A price which, I think is not worth it. Their citizens live in as oblivious and ignorant kind of bliss in world that is free of war, fear, violence, disease and all the other draw-backs of living in the real world (Sybille Bedford, Aldous Huxley: A Biography, 1974, cited in Brave New World’s Barron’s Notes by Anthony Astrachan). The characters from Utopia in the novel do not even know freedom. They are happy and contented in their respective occupations and are satiated by spending their free time wallowing in pleasure even though they are all alike in each class and behave in much the same way as each other save for a few idiosyncrasies Uniformity is stressed and individuality becomes like a sickness and all characters who had even a minor difference from other citizens in the same class were cruelly crushed into either conformity or the final escape of death in John’s case. However, if the price of such comforts would be the ignorance of the existence of freedom, an idea that many countless people have died fighting for in the real world, I think Utopia is not worth it. A. Huxley did very well in highlighting this point. John’s suicide after seeing that his beloved joined the mob to watch him suffer is a great point at rejecting the idea of Utopia in the book. Even when John found a place where he could live with all the things that he thought were necessary, including pain, he was followed by a huge crowd which had come to watch him suffer. Seeing Lenina come to watch him whip himself causes him to kill himself. In the novel, Huxley plays with the idea of how technological advances would affect society. In Utopia, humans are grown in bottles. No one has a mother. Multiple copies of a single person can be made in one go. This is a very extreme way to highlight the author’s point, completely removing the â€Å"humanity† from humanity to the point that even the genuine personal bond of parent and child is removed. The achievement of stability is attained by keeping everybody in an artificial state of perpetual happiness and contentment.   Pain and grief is removed from the realm of human emotion thereby removing all the deep feelings we associate with the feeling of being genuinely â€Å"alive†. Citizens in Utopia are encouraged to be promiscuous. Anybody can have sex with anybody they want and vice versa. Family life and the formation of intense personal relationship are obliterated so that these cannot interfere with the stability of society. Love is non-existent. Anybody who’d date or have sex with a single person for an extended period is looked on as weird. I think that the author was successful at highlighting his point. His characters were only secondary to the ideas that he proposed especially considering the time and context when he propounded them. He makes me feel as if the novel’s version of Utopia is not far from becoming a truth. Today’s culture promotes the culture of almost mindless consumption, too much indulgence in pleasure and diminishing of the family. Technology is a result of human endeavor. It allows us to live in a better world with all of our modern necessities and comforts. In this book however, a different view is illustrated. While it acknowledges the former to be true, it declares resoundingly that the opposite is possible also. Technology also has the potential to wipe out the essence of humanity. It can wipe out genuine happiness, individuality, close personal relationships, deep emotions and family. References BLTC, Brave New World? A Defence of Paradise-Engineering, Retrieved on April 13, 2008, from http://www.huxley.net/index.html BLTC, Brave New World’s Barron’s Notes by Anthony Astrachan, Retrieved on April 13, 2008, from http://www.huxley.net/studyaid/bnwbarron.html BLTC, Brave’s New World’s Monarch Notes, Retrieved on April 13, 2008 from http://www.huxley.net/studyaid/index.html    How to cite A Brave New World, Papers

Why Does It Matter free essay sample

This alone shows what values we respect and how we view them. Harold Camping had concocted some heinous math equation that led him to publicize his fourth prediction. Although the amount of thought and research he put behind his Christian instinct was impressive; all he managed to do was create a moment of desperation for those of us who lead a â€Å"sinful† life, and a false ray of hope for those who cling to the prophetic words of people like, Harold Camping. As one can imagine, the last few days have been driven by the predicted â€Å"end of the world,† and through outlets such as Twitter, Live Journal, and Facebook, stories of how people spent their last days have surfaced. Some people thought it would be a great idea to spend their life savings or their children’s college funds, some people spent the day fulfilling their goals and dream, others just spent the past few days locked in and repenting, and the rest either didn’t care or forgot. All these crazy fear-based decisions lead to a small list of much greater and loaded questions: Is it worth it? Does it matter? and Why does it matter? Of course these are questions that fall under the category of â€Å"The Meaning of Life,† and are virtually impossible to reply to, but everyone should be entitled to possess their own educated opinion, right? In Thomas Nagel’s essay â€Å"The Absurd† he raises some interesting, but conflicting arguments toward life’s â€Å"absurdity†. In his very complicated essay of rationalizations, he basically presents us with the 3 main reasons why life could be considered absurd: 1) Whatever we do now will not affect the world in the future, so why does it matter? 2) We are forever considered small when compared with the universe, and our lives considered short, so why do we matter? 3) Our actions have no purposeful end, so why do they matter? Nagel tries to justify his statements, but in the end his statements contradict his points, and this could even be summarized in one simple explanation. If you will not be around in the next 1 million years, how could you or anybody else judge peoples actions to determine if whether or not they infinitely matter or not matter. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, â€Å"Existentialism† is considered a philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will (Oxford). Within this reasoning is what Nagel based his essay on, but as black and white as this may seem, many other factors should be calculated when trying to determine whether or not existentialism is rational. Without delving too far into the topic of religion, the question about the morality of certain issues still lies on the table. When trying to find a religiously ambiguous debate against existentialism one of the most important questions to consider would be: In a world in which we act on impulse without the fear of repercussion, how would our feelings as human beings factor into our decisions? As long as there has been the existence of humans on this earth, it would probably safe to assume that there has also been the â€Å"existence† of feelings among the people. Feelings are probably the one impulse that humans find the most difficult to quell in their everyday lives, and from personal experience, one of the most pleasantly intrusive aspects of human life. Although this might be debatable, the statement previous to the latter is not. In her 1970’s book Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family, Professor Jean L. Briggs studied the Utkuhikhalingmiut (Utku) Eskimos of the Canadian Northwest Territories. In this tribe she found that anger and aggression was extremely rare. â€Å"Briggs suggests that even in circumstances that we would find intolerably frustrating or offensive, the Utku do not get angry. Where we would be resentful or even furious, the Utku are merely resigned. Anger is an unreasonable response† (qtd. By Solomon). Even in instances such as these, the Eskimo are in a way â€Å"brainwashed† from a young age in order to lead this â€Å"harmonious† life, and even then they lose their cool. As reported by a fellow anthropologist ,by the name of Catherine Lutz, â€Å"among the Ifaluk of Micronesia, the most serious incident of aggression last year, was when one man touched anothers shoulder. He was subjected to a severe fine, a reasonable penalty for extremely unreasonable behavior† No matter what one tries to do feeling will always resurface and affect our judgment whether we mean to or not. It’s simply just part of the way we were made and will always remain that way. To argue that someone could easily â€Å"discard† their feeling and act purely on impulse would be an ignorant statement. When talking about the rationality as opposed to the morality of a situation it then becomes a little bit more tricky because as Robert Rorty makes a wonderful job in pointing out, who can define rationality? In accordance with his characteristic nominalism, that rationality is not a thing, to be Socratically defined or characterized in any singular way. I would say that it is one of those essentially contested concepts of philosophy (like freedom, truth, and justice) which plays a primarily polemical as well as a normative role in our conversations, despite the descriptive characterizations that are readily available in behavioral theory and the social sciences. The question is how the term is being used in any particular context and what distinctions are being made for often the real message is political and not merely conceptual and conveyed only by implication. (qtd. By Solomon) With arguments such as this one it brings us back to the original debate. Who is to decide what is rational? For one person might think something is a great idea when in reality it might not be, but at the same time still remain it remains a decisions in which it will not tip the scale in either moral direction. As we probably could assume from the beginning, these questions are probably best if left unanswered. They complexity of trying to find the â€Å"true meaning† of life is far too great a task for someone of our caliber to judge. The best thing that we can do as a society is stick together and apply our best traits to create a harmonious place for us to develop and live in. The one thing that is irrefutable would have to be the undeniable fact that if we live our lives in the best way we can while making the best decisions within society’s judgment, we can’t really go wrong, and if Nagel had one thing right, it was that our time on this earth is short, so we might as well take advantage of the things we’ve been blessed with and live life to the fullest.

Ada Lovelace - Mathematics and Computer Pioneer

Ada Lovelace - Mathematics and Computer Pioneer Ada Augusta Byron was the only legitimate child of the Romantic poet, George Gordon, Lord Byron. Her mother was Anne Isabella Milbanke who took the baby at one month old away from her fathers home. Ada Augusta Byron never saw her father again; he died when she was eight. Ada Lovelaces mother, who had studied mathematics herself, decided that her daughter would be spared the fathers eccentricities by studying more logical subjects like math and science, rather than literature or poetry. Young Ada Lovelace showed a genius for math from an early age. Her tutors included William Frend, William King and Mary Somerville. She also learned music, drawing and languages, and became fluent in French. Ada Lovelace met Charles Babbage in 1833, and became interested in a model he had constructed of a mechanical device to compute values of quadratic functions, the Difference Engine. She also studied his ideas on another machine, the Analytical Engine, which would use punched cards to read instructions and data for solving mathematical problems. Babbage also became Lovelaces mentor, and helped Ada Lovelace begin mathematical studies with Augustus de Moyan in 1840 at the University of London. Babbage himself never wrote about his own inventions, but in 1842, an Italian engineer Manabrea (later Italys prime minister) described Babbages Analytical Engine in an article published in French. Augusta Lovelace was asked to translate this article into English for a British scientific journal. She added many notes of her own to the translation, since she was familiar with Babbages work. Her additions showed how Babbages Analytical Engine would work, and gave a set of instructions for using the Engine for calculating Bernoulli numbers. She published the translation and notes under the initials A.A.L, concealing her identity as did many women who published before women were more accepted as intellectual equals. Augusta Ada Byron married a William King (though not the same William King who had been her tutor) in 1835. In 1838 her husband became the first Earl of Lovelace, and Ada became countess of Lovelace. They had three children. Ada Lovelace unknowingly developed an addiction to prescribed drugs including laudanum, opium and morphine, and displayed classic mood swings and withdrawal symptoms. She took up gambling and lost most of her fortune. She was suspected of an affair with a gambling comrade. In 1852, Ada Lovelace died of uterine cancer. She was buried next to her famous father. More than a hundred years after her death, in 1953, Ada Lovelaces notes on Babbages Analytical Engine were republished after having been forgotten. The engine was now recognized as a model for a computer, and Ada Lovelaces notes as a description of a computer and software. In 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense settled on the name Ada for a new standardized computer language, named in honor of Ada Lovelace. Fast Facts Known for:  creating the concept of an operating system or softwareDates:  December 10, 1815 - November 27, 1852Occupation:  mathematician, computer pioneerEducation:  University of LondonAlso known as:  Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace; Ada King Lovelace Books About Ada Lovelace Moore, Doris Langley-Levy.  Countess of Lovelace: Byrons Legitimate Daughter. Toole, Betty A. and Ada King Lovelace.  Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: Prophet of the Computer Age.  1998. Woolley, Benjamin.  The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason and Byrons Daughter.  2000. Wade, Mary Dodson.  Ada Byron Lovelace: the Lady and the Computer.  1994. Grades 7-9.

Kyoto Agreement essays

Kyoto Agreement essays The Kyoto Agreement or Protocol is an agreement produced to lower global warming in a period of years. This agreement was not produced for all countries to sign, only the countries that largely contribute to the problem of global warming. The Kyoto agreement is a small step in what could be a large problem to the following generations. It is badly needed by the environment to bring it back to its former state. Although the agreement is a good thing that should be used effectively, it could land a large blow on the economy. Many changes would have to be made, and where is the starting point? From transport to factories, how could society be effectively changed and still run as normal. If society has to change it would cope, but on the other hand if it doesnt change the way it deals with greenhouse gasses, what about in five hundred years when the polar caps have melted and countries are flooding and getting smaller by the year? Is it that much of a price to pay to use public transport or cut down on fossil fuels? If every generation says, it doesnt involve me, I wont be around to see it happen, then nothing is ever going to happen to stop the degeneration of the environment. The Kyoto agreement is a pact agreed upon at a United Nations conference in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. It is an agreement that states that the country signing or ratifying it must lower the level of greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere. Not all countries have signed the agreement, although most of these are major contributors to the level of greenhouse gasses. The agreement is not legally binding and if signed does not commit the countries to anything. For the agreement to become legally binding 55% of the countries that have signed the agreement must ratify it. The level in which the countries must lower its greenhouse emissions to, is 5.2% lower than when the agreement takes place. Some countries may have an alteration t...

Paper phil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Paper phil - Essay Example Hinduism also means the emergence of Vedas, in which the Upanishads were composed between the 7th and 3rd century and also it became a part of the Vedas. Buddhism was emerged as a part of Shramana movements, around the 5th century. â€Å"Hinduism has the belief of monotheistic (one God) as well as polytheistic (many Gods) elements: the one Supreme Being (Brahman) also exists simultaneously in the deities of the Creator (Brahma), the Reality or Sustainer (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva)† (Hinduism par.6). According to the Buddhism philosophy, there is no god which does not believe in the concept of god. â€Å"In fact, often those who scorn others, claiming some unconvincing excuse, are unable to look the target of their ridicule directly in the eye, perhaps because they see their ownselves there† (Ikeda & Nanda p.9). The reincarnation and ultimate salvation was taught by Buddhism and rejected Vedas of Hinduism. An important principle of Hinduism is the Law of Karma. It is the law of cause and effect in which each and every action should have a reaction, which will happen in the first life time or the next birth. Buddhism criticizes the religious value of sacrifice and giving importance to particular deities. Also they are denying Upanishads of Hinduism, where Upanishads contain the concept of one’s true self (atman) with the divine ground claimed that Individual’s existence does not have the quality of an imperishable, blissful self or atman. There are two great epics in Hinduism; they are Bhagavad Gita and Mahabharata which was composed in 6th and 7th century. Buddhism has the doctrines which were written in Pali –a canon text. Yoga is one of the important disciplines of Hinduism. Through Yoga, one can get a controlled body and mind. In Buddhism they have the concept for salvation which is depended on oneself and not to others. Traditional worship of God in Hinduism is known as pooja. There will be a pooja room in every Hindu’s house. â€Å"Hinduism is

The orgins of stunt performance in theater Research Paper

The orgins of stunt performance in theater - Research Paper Example There were no thoughts about stunt performance in the early film industry. If anything demanding needed to be done in the film, producers used to hire desperate or crazy fellows to perform these actions. The first known professional stuntmen were buster Keaton and Keystone Kops. They learnt this through trial and error, and slowly perfected. All stunts action in films was real; no faking of actions took place. In most cases, early stuntmen were comedians and spent most of their time entertaining their audience in theatres (Claudia 56). In the beginning of the 20th century, audience’s interest in serial movies rose. The demand called for evolution of more risky stunt; film producers doubled their actions and made their scenes more dangerous. The rise of the American in 1910 was also a factor that led to growth stunt people and movie stars. Yakima Canutt and tom Mix were among the most famous stuntmen in this period (History of theatres nd. In 1970s, this was the beginning of technological advancements. It was a period that air bags, bullet squibs, and air rams developed. The evolution has continued up to date for computer has come to reduce the risk involved in these arts (History of theatres n.d). Although computers can develop graphics like the above, they can never by as real as what was produced before their evolution. The above graphic is a real illustration of a man hanging with a wire (Lambert 67). The first theatre recorded in reference to world’s records was introduced by the Romans. They had copied this philosophy from the Ancient Greek. The constructed semi circular structures using wood, but were later reconstructed using stones. They had a raised stage with seats surrounding it. They were built in the open air, inside big halls, or barns. Elizabethan theatres in London borrowed ideas from this knowledge. An ideal example is the Globe theatre in London (History of theatres n.d). One of the most common stunt effects is stage combat.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Climatic Change Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility and Climatic Change - Essay Example The effects of climate change are disrupting business operations and transportation, for example, in the UK; high-sided vehicles are increasingly at risk of accidents from floods and gale force winds. Such disruptions have the effect of reducing customer demand and purchasing power (Dudek and Wiener 1996, Romm 1999), as products and services become less available due to erratic supply. These disruptions also restrict the ability of the business to grow, as the sales revenues will be insufficient to generate profit for investment purposes. Climate change therefore poses a risk to businesses, and the onus is on re-evaluating corporate social responsibility in a bid to gain efficiencies, and to reduce the businesses contribution to the climate change problem. Climate change is commonly associated with industrial factories churning out smoke from cooling towers, however, non-industrial organisations contribute to climate change through their carbon and greenhouse emissions generated by their operations and product/service lifecycle (Grubb 1989, Cantwell 1995, ICTSD 2005). Whilst this represents an element of change and uncertainty, climate change-focused corporate actions can have benefits for the organisation in the way of new products and new markets (Mendelsohn 2000, Richards 2001, Lawrence 2002, Jochem and Madlener 2003). Climate change strategies are also perceived as risky due to the large scale, renewable energy investments that are associated with reducing the carbon footprint (McCarthy et al 2001, Egenhofer et al 2004). For instance, if fossil fuels ran out, Shell, BP and other large fuel providers would have to invest large amounts in alternatives, which BP has started doing with its Autogas even though it is not widely availabl e. The transport industry also contributes to climate change and global warming through vehicle emissions and businesses in this sector are beginning to take notice, and accepting responsibility for the part they play. For instance, in September 2006, Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group donated three billion dollars over ten years from his organisation to fund the development of low carbon energy sources such as wind turbines, cleaner aviation fuel and ethanol (BSR 2006). This demonstrates the levels of commitment expected from businesses, and Virgin have acknowledged their role especially as they run train services and flights that contribute to global warming. Corporate social responsibility in United States is now recognised as the fifth largest venture capital investment category after biotechnology, software, medical and telecommunications (CSM 2001, Raynard and Forstater 2002). The market for clean technology is set to expand and is already worth an estimated $40 billion (Raynard and Forstater 2002). This is not surprising considering that the United States is responsible for a significant proportion of global emissions. This is also representative of the increasing market and customer awareness of their environment, and businesses in this region are already capitalising on this. This also demonstrates that businesses are adopting strategies that are action and adaptation oriented to focus on the energy efficiency aspects and renewable energy sourcing (Burton 1996, Adger 2003, Hertin et al 2003, Berkhout et al