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Post by Admin on Feb 26, 2015 23:18:37 GMT
use this thread to post your film tests and responses
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Post by jesspark on Feb 27, 2015 1:04:15 GMT
Week 1 Film Questions 11632 Question 1 From the very beginning, I thought humans were nothing more than animals so I would not have been surprised or offended if someone told me I was a “chunk of meat.” I am a Christian so by religion it should be right for me to say humans have souls and we are special because of it, but the word “soul” is such an obscure term that it is hard to understand or force the belief on someone. On the other hand, if humans were explained by science, they would be explained as mammals that are capable to think rationally rather than being controlled by instinct. The wording of it doesn’t make us feel special or someone different from other animals but it makes sense and it has proof that we are what we are. If we did not have souls, it would not necessarily mean we are not special. In the past, humans have accomplished extraordinary things such as beautiful architects and flying up into space. As the video says it does not change the value of ones because they are composed with the same matter as others. Question 2 When I was young, as a child would do, I believed in Santa Clause. With the solid image of an old bearded man with pink cheeks, and the stories that were told on Christmas season, it was not hard to believe that it was no other than Santa that was putting gifts under the tree. Of course, growing up, I have realized that it was my parents not Santa putting gifts under the tree and those stories were all made up to give children christmas spirits for the season, but when I was a child I truly believed that Santa was real and he was the one eating all the cookies and milk. To think another object can be seen to be something else is quite often than we expect it to be. One night, I woke up in the middle of my sleep because I thought I heard something downstairs. I checked to see what it was I thought there was a burglar in the house because I heard cabinet doors closing and foots stomping. It turned out that our pet cats were running around and wresting which caused the sounds of cabinets slamming. It was not funny to see and clean the mess they made but at least I was relieved that there was no burglar in the house. sites.google.com/site/mtsacfreshmanjp/homeAttachments:11632.docx (16.14 KB)
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Post by Victor Tjie on Feb 27, 2015 23:02:39 GMT
1. If I had a guarantee that there was nothing metaphysical about me, I could drop the side of myself that is cautious about whether or not there is an omnipotent force that governs the universe. I was in Christian private schools from the moment I began school up to freshman year of high school and as such I was always taught ideas such as “God governs everything” or “God watches everything that people do.” And that evil actions means you go to hell and that good actions meant you go to heaven. Then at some point I realized that if there was a God then why is the world so full of evil? It ended up raising the questions “Is God really real? If so is he waiting for the world to go down the toilet even further before doing something or is he a sadistic being that enjoys watching his creations ruin the world he supposedly made?” With that being said, finding out if there really was nothing metaphysical then I would probably be able to live my life with less stress over spirituality. In the end I believe that the concept of something metaphysical such as God and religion is an excuse or method to get people to behave a certain way and without this concept to make people behave right or wrong there are still written laws in place and our own human actions that keep people in control because in the end humans are more focused on physical gratification or punishment than metaphysical gratification or punishment.
2. I used to believe that an education was required to live a prosperous successful life. I’m not saying to drop out of school or anything of that matter, it’s just that with the way the world is structured now (mostly America since we live here). Looking back on successful people such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, they dropped out of college and created extremely successful worldwide companies. What the world tells us is this: People need money, yet to be successful it requires a higher level of education. To get a higher level of education you need money and so the equation becomes the difficulty of establishing funds for education and the inability to get a top of the line education due to the lack of funds. I understand that there are scholarships and grants that can cover this but the way the world is right now, a lot of people do not have time to go look for those. They’re too busy with their current school or work, family, social lives and other stuff that they have no chance to look for something higher than what they currently have unless it’s handed to you on a silver platter. This being said I used to believe that education was necessary for success but now, you don’t necessarily NEED an education to become successful, it is more of an assistance to help you get into places easier. All you need is a dream and the drive to push toward it. I believe that as long as you continue pursuing your dreams, the world will eventually fit the required pieces onto your path.
Going into a lesser rant regarding the cave allegory, I was told, as probably most children were in their childhood, that you need to go outside and make friends with people and that you cannot make friends through just sitting there on your video games. (I was already playing video games from when I was 3 years old). While that may be how the world worked back then, I was lucky that the electronic world was at a point where social media was becoming more popular and as such, video games were things that more children had access to as time progressed. Most of the friends I have today I ended up befriending through some talk about something video game related such as what good games were going to come out, what genres we enjoyed, etc. It gave antisocial people such as myself, a way to befriend others with the same interests without the need to go outside of the house and socialize like how children are mostly taught.
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Post by pguirguis3 on Feb 28, 2015 0:03:52 GMT
Question 1: I’m having trouble imagining if someone approached me trying to explain to me how i am just “stuff” inside of me. Mainly due to the fact that I am Coptic Orthodox, and we are taught to believe that we have a soul inside of us as well. But the question confuses me because I do not know what type of “stuff’ this person is referring too. How can there be nothing physical about me? But once I start to contemplate this situation more and more, theres a part of me that agrees with how we could just be “stuff” inside of a body. And the stuff that i am referring to, is the piece of meat in our heads, our brain. But haven’t we been taught our whole lives that the brain is what controls our whole body? So maybe it is true, we are just a big piece of meat controlled by a smaller piece of meat inside of us. Honestly it would have me valuing my brain a lot more, and thinking my body is very very useless.
Question 2: I am almost 100% sure that every single person in this class grew up believing that a tomato is a vegetable. I am one of those people and learned very recently that a tomato is technically not a vegetable. Fruits are technically categorized as food with seeds inside, a tomato has seeds inside of it, along with avocados, beans, cucumbers and more. The other example I grew up believing was true but wasn’t really true is what most of the class will probably use. I grew up having faith that there was a tooth fairy and there was Santa Claus, but sadly I had to grow up and realize that there was no such thing as these creatures. It was always my parents giving me the 20 bucks when i lost my tooth, or my parents acting like Santa was really the one who brought me gifts and act the cookies.
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Post by Joselyn Hernandez on Feb 28, 2015 6:27:22 GMT
Question 1: Some people might feel trapped or down upon hearing the news "we're just stuff " but if we're just a body of meat just our brain, how could you feel anything? It might even be liberating. Theres no contemplating why you were put on this earth, you would just be. You'd be a purely physical form that'd be here for a certain given time, and then you would, in simplest terms...just cease to be. A flower does not think why it is a flower, it's simply just a flower. Maybe i'm not
question 2: It's easy to be fed information and without questioning it, form your own strong opinions on that given information. I distinctly remember this one girl in high school who was notorious for hoping from guy to guy and there were many labels that were assigned to her ( not very nice ones either). My group of friends all had her stories about her, and she was mostly the butt of a lot of jokes and mindless gossip. So in my head I had this strong vision of who she was, without even talking to her once. It wasn't until one night at a party, i was in a situation where I was forced to talk to her and I realized she was actually a really cool person. I had this misconception that she was "this and that" but upon meeting her myself and actually talking to her I was able to form my own opinion and in this new reality even become friends with her.
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henry
New Member
Posts: 9
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Post by henry on Feb 28, 2015 6:38:51 GMT
1. I think I would feel lost and think about how I would just be a piece of meat compared to everyone in this world. If I was to be labeled as a piece of meat then the thought that would come to my head is that everyone else would be pieces of meat too. In the film, it portrayed about how we as people know certain aspects and ideas by allowing ourselves to be in or think about certain situations while others do not realize it at all. Also, I think we base our actions off on our own beliefs and how it'll affect us in the long run and hinders our decision making.
2. There was a time where I thought that dressing a certain way would allow myself to fit in with the cool people. I shrouded myself from the truth and contributed to the lie of how people only liked each other for what they wore and looked like that day. But I realized that it wasn't the clothing and it was that some people just don't get along with each other because of clashing personalities and how everyone is different and their own person in this world. Another time was that I thought if a person was rich then they would automatically be happy and have a long and enjoyable life. Although money may be able to buy things you desire but a person that is not rich and less fortunate can be just as happy and it all depends on peoples perspectives and how they view things in life. Also, it may require effort from the person but the person can easily realize that they can be happy no matter where they are in life. To me, it didn't take long that I would have friends that would like me for who I am and whatever I wore or had didn't matter to them as long as we care for each other.
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Post by Perrywinkle on Feb 28, 2015 16:01:26 GMT
sites.google.com/site/perrywinklesphilosite/week-1-film-responseQuestion 1: I believe that realizing or being told that I'm just "meat" would completely fail to elicit any reaction from me. Philosophically, I've believed for a while now that we are defined by what we do or what we think. The former defines us objectively to anyone who observes us while the latter defines us subjectively to ourselves. In terms of the former, the notion that we are made of "meat" does not detract anything from the meaning of life. Rather, it's what the "meat" does that defines it. Who cares if we're just meat when we're walking around doing things that have impacts on human society around us? What we do in society basically defines us, not what we are! In terms of the latter, that depends only on my beliefs, which I suppose is the response this question needs in the first place. Personally, I'm very happy that we're made of cells and neurons because such a composition can be studied. I hope that one day, the human consciousness and subsequently artificial intelligence can be unlocked. As the film stated, matter can be very exciting. Our neurons are definitely very fascinating and a prime example of nature's power. Question 2: I once got into big trouble, though it was unintentional. However, I found it extremely difficult to convince most people that my intentions were not malevolent. Previous to my dilemma, I had believed that empathy was an easy thing. I believed that we could somehow "connect" with each other in some spiritual manner and thus understand each other. However, it became very apparent to me that without good evidence, you go nowhere in the society that the world has drawn up. We are in a society where it is extremely difficult to gain another's trust and extremely easy to lose it. Thus, I decided that empathy was a naive ideal when standing by itself. The only evidence we have of other people's intentions are their actions and the consequences of their actions. I will try to draw a weak analogy to the film to better explain my statements. The film stated that science and mysticism/spiritualism should be separate rather than reconciled because they explore entirely different levels of consciousness, each of which is unconscious of the other. For example, my intentions would be one level of consciousness. Other people's judgment and thoughts of me is another level. This is a weak analogy however, because the former CAN influence the latter. However, that can only be achieved through something that leaves evidence: action. Another and more briefer belief that I once held to be true was that the world would end in 2012. I was told that when I was a child by someone probably intending to scare me. It worked for a while until I grew up and stopped worrying about it. 2012 then came and passed, and my fear was proved wrong altogether.
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Post by to any one. on Feb 28, 2015 23:31:17 GMT
what questions are you guys responding to?
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Post by jpenilla1 on Feb 28, 2015 23:37:55 GMT
1. Realizing that I was plainly “stuff” would be perplexing. I honestly do not think I would believe it, though I’m not spiritual or religious- it just seems highly unlikely. Acknowledging that I’m just stuff is very unconvincing because I do not understand how one could prove that there is definitively no metaphysical aspect about us or effecting us. It seems to me that any description of the metaphysical would be coming from a physical human being, automatically making it an invalid testament to the metaphysical because of stark differences in nature. Hence, I do not believe any true metaphysical qualities could be conceived in a human mind in any form. Additionally, these films seem to be outlining that there could be and potentially are realms that we are not registering. This pushes me to think that I could have a role in an unknowable scheme. 2. Giving comparisons to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, an example I could come up with is being a dream state. I remember an instance when I fell asleep in class and while in my dream I unsurprising fell out of a plane. Absolutely convinced that I was in a death bound free- fall about to smash into a roof top, I jumped awake and out of my seat. Reflecting on the dream now, I was absolutely sure that I was experiencing reality in my dream but clearly I was not. Another example I could give is mistakenly believing I saw someone I did not. Sitting under the clock tower waiting for a class, from the corner of my eye I “saw” a friend of mine turn down the hall. I raced to catch him and turning down the same hall seconds later, he was nowhere to be found. I was so certain I saw him I sent him a text asking if he wanted to meet up- he said he was in the library. sites.google.com/site/doggomemories/
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Post by bambino on Mar 1, 2015 0:51:00 GMT
Film exam questions week one: 11632 Question #1: As someone who studies biology, I’m constantly looking at things in a smaller context, more on the cellular level. I already feel that I’m just a being, a tight network of “stuff” that somehow knows how to simultaneously work together because of elements like hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. Though in my own mind I realize that I’m just stuff, it doesn't phase me much to think of myself as a slab of meat. When some of us see a cow, do we think oh look at that precious beam of light? Not likely, instead we think, yum steak, pass the A-1 sauce please. Question #2: When I think about my youth, and how many times I mistakenly believed something that I later found out wasn't true surely began at a young age, I can think of two times where I was influenced by family and peers. I once believed that Santa Claus was a true being, a jolly fat man that liked cookies and tall glasses of milk, that brought me presents once a year if I behaved. After finding out the truth I remembering feeling absolutely devastated, and never understood why my parents would tell me such rubbish. Interestingly enough, as an adult with two children I now find myself telling this same Santa Claus theory to my own children. For as long as I can remember, brought up in a religious household I always believed there was a God and he created all, or so I was told. As the years went on I just didn’t not believe that was the case anymore, I could never wrap my head around the fact that some supreme being could do so much, yet no know can see him. After studying the biological life sciences I no longer believe that is true, the truth is I cannot explain, nor prove that God exists or doesn't exist. sites.google.com/site/birdhaus00/
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Post by mrsespi0331 on Mar 1, 2015 3:32:44 GMT
I am confused?? Are we supposed to post answers to the questions now? Or are those for the in class test, and we post after? Someone clarify for me please!
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Post by mrsespi0331 on Mar 1, 2015 4:28:31 GMT
Week One : 11632 Question #1 "Those with little faith have little doubt and those with great faith have great doubt" I am a person of great Faith and believe that I am more than just a slab of meat, but I also believe that we are made up of "stuff". What kind of "stuff", that I do not know. In the film, it discusses Feynmans idea of a flower and it's physical understanding. He says that it doesn't become less beautiful because you can't see all of its inner parts. And I believe that to be true about us. Just because you cant see the "stuff" or explain what it is, doesn't mean that we are beautiful creatures full of light. Question #2 When I was younger my parents allowed us to watch scary movies. My mother loved them, so we watched them as a family quite often. My mother was a doll and clown collector...very scary for a child! After all of the scary movies I used to watch, I was convinced that my mother's collection of dolls and clowns would come alive at night, I would even feel as if they were following me with their eyes anytime I would move. Now that I am older and can distinguish the difference between a movie and reality, I now know that was not the case. Another example would have to be Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Easter bunny, etc. As a child I felt as if they were real. And if I didn't have faith and trust that they were real, even without seeing them, that I wouldn't receive Christmas presents, or money under my pillow. This all just shows you that if you open up your mind to believe something to be true, whether it be from a skewed reality or just the innocent heart of a child. sites.google.com/site/mrsespinosa0331/
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Post by sandrakta on Mar 1, 2015 19:23:08 GMT
Question 1 In this world that we live in everyone is capable of being something great. If I realized that I was just this body or stuff. I would feel useless in this world, nobody just living on this planet. Knowing how I am realizing that I was just stuff wouldn’t change anything about me would just accept it and stay the same. I’m not really an ambitious person I tend to choose less important things over important things, like hanging out with friends when I got tons of homework to do. I leave things the way they are and accept it; I think that it’s like that for a reason. So if I realized I was just stuff and there was nothing “meta” physical about me I would leave myself as I was and just accept my useless self.
Question 2 A time that I thought I was right and later realized that I was wrong? That’s like a daily thing for me. When I was younger I use to believe that people needed a partner in order to be happy. Growing up I’d see my parents and siblings with they’re boyfriend or girlfriend and I’d think that’s what I needed to be happy. Now that I am older I realize that we don’t need someone to make us happy. I should love myself before I love someone else because I deserve that love that I so freely give away. Another time, of course, is believing in Santa Claus or those other characters my parents would tell me about as a kid, but mainly Santa. I then knew that it was my parents who would get the gifts the older I got. Believing that I am right about a certain thing and later realizing that I was wrong is a learning experience for me.
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Post by dearkarina on Mar 1, 2015 20:40:35 GMT
Week 1 Film questions 11632 Q.1 If "we're just stuff" , then how did we create all the amazing things in the world? All of those amazing buildings and technology that we use now everyday?? We are not just stuff, we are the most amazing but at the same time the most terrible creation this planet has ever created. OUr bodies and cells are the most intelligent, some of us can recover from cancer while other die from a simple cut. We have a time limit on this Earth, but each one of us makes some kind of impact while we are here and if it wasn't for our amazing bodies and minds, none of what is there right now would be. Q.2 As human beings it is in our nature to judge one another without a second thought or giving a person a chance. I just recently had this conversation with my best friend about how little do people know about you,but how much they can decide on through gossip. Me and my best friend for example don't have many friends, we are very selective and closed off at first, therefore we've head rumors made up about us before by people who we never met and it is only because they never got to know us therefore the only thing left they have s to assume. People who personally know us, stay in our friend circle for a long time. Moral of the story, "If they don't know you personally, don't take it personal." sites.google.com/site/kabdulmenova/
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Post by Kengwei Liu on Mar 1, 2015 20:50:18 GMT
Code: 11632 Question #1 If I was just a chunk of meat, I think I will like zombie don’t have thinking and soul walking slowly emotionless on the street. Human are like any other animals, but what makes us difference is we have a better evolution brain. We use our brain to think critically, and do better work. Therefore, if we are just like a chuck of meat hang in on the wall waiting for people to buy it, it will be really sad. Because we have so much more ability than we can imagine, we should use it more efficiently. Moreover, we have the feeling. We can sense lots of thing not only tasting the flavor also having the feeling of thing or people’s interaction. Also, the reason why we answer this question is also because we have the thinking and the feeling, so we questioned ourselves with lots of “IF” questions. Question #2 There are lots of thing that we mistakenly believed something to be true or real but we later realized wasn’t. First example I want to make is mistakenly believed your friendship. I think lots of people have been through this situation that the people you trust betrayed you. The feeling of betraying is really bad, because you believed your friendship is real, but suddenly everything flips over. Another similar thing and also let you have the same bad feeling is someone lie to you. I remember once I try to borrow someone three hundred dollars, because he say he had to pay for some check and his boss hasn’t pay him the check yet, so he has to borrow it from me and he promised me he will pay me back. However, after couple week I found out he loses his money in Morongo. Mistakenly believed something is a really common thing in these days, especially we all live in a “fake world” that lots of things are electronically. The term “fake world” means people can post anything online, so only judging people’s status or photo that post it online can make you be fool really easily. sites.google.com/a/student.mtsac.edu/kengwei-liu-philosophy-5/homework-week-one
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