First off, the news. I'm going to be, from now on, uploading a new blog entry every Friday (maybe more often if I feel like it). So you can expect regular updates from now on. If I fail, you can yell at me in the comments ^_^.
Nextly there is a really cool book I've been reading (very slowly) called Reality is Broken, by Jane Mcgonigal. Aside from causing me to sing Everything is Broken by Bob Dylan every time I read the book's title, it is a great book because it talks a lot about computer games. The basic premise of the book is that games are more fun than real life... by why should they be? Jane talks a lot about how to implement the same mechanisms used to make World of Warcraft like maple syrup infused with heroin into our every day lives. Mechanisms like effective feedback, epic worlds, substantial goals and levelling up. When I finish the book I'll write a "Reality is Broken: The greatest book I've ever read" where I'll go into detail on the book. It's shaping up to be a brilliant book full of innovations that could shape the future (and I hope they will).
Lastly I've finished my exams and, by extension, my degree! I am not yet a Master of Science because I havn't graduated, that's in about a month. Still though, I'm happy to have finished. If any of you have just finished too, congratulations! We are free! Whooo! Let's go get a real job! :D Or..... maybe there's no point...
Happy Summer!
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By having read this article, you agree
that I am not responsible for any
distress, discomfort, enragement or
offence caused by your reading
of this article. DFTBA.
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Friday 31 May 2013
Monday 27 May 2013
The Human Supremacist
So, this documentary is an animal rights documentary wearing the skin of an anthropology documentary. It's a real tongue in cheek look at the idea that humans are the most superior life form on Earth. It coins the phrase "Human supremacist" and absolutely rips to pieces any argument that dogs, cats, birds, bees, trees, fleas and chicadees are inferior to humans.
The best part of the whole documentary is the part where a sophisticate is arguing with a bear about which is the superior animal. Apparently, the human is superior because it has superior intelligence, wears clothes and uses tools, however in opposition, the bear is superior because it has superior strength, has a full coat of fur and has no need for tools.
The human belief in human superiority of course comes along with the same baggage that any prejudice carries. I'm not sure that dehumanization is the right word here, but the same degradation and disrespect has been exercised on the animals, but on a larger scale. 70 billion farm animals housed in factory farms worldwide. This outnumbers the human population by tenfold. We would have to enslave everybody on earth for 10 lifetimes to match the injustice brought down upon just the animals that are alive today. This is of course not counting animal research (I personally know biology students who have spent days at a time cutting the heads off of rats), poaching, hunting and general domestication.
You might call me a bleeding heart (I am) and you might call me a tree hugger (I quite literally am) but the fact is that a healthy respect of the animal population is the only way towards a stable ecosystem. I remain thoroughly convinced that the misconception that we have the right (there's that word again) to kill, torture, maim and claim as property any animals which we happen upon is the root of the troubles of modern man. I would rather live in a world with no humans, than a world with no animals.
*******************************
By having read this article, you agree
that I am not responsible for any
distress, discomfort, enragement or
offence caused by your reading
of this article. DFTBA.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Follow me on twitter @dancohen447
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The best part of the whole documentary is the part where a sophisticate is arguing with a bear about which is the superior animal. Apparently, the human is superior because it has superior intelligence, wears clothes and uses tools, however in opposition, the bear is superior because it has superior strength, has a full coat of fur and has no need for tools.
The human belief in human superiority of course comes along with the same baggage that any prejudice carries. I'm not sure that dehumanization is the right word here, but the same degradation and disrespect has been exercised on the animals, but on a larger scale. 70 billion farm animals housed in factory farms worldwide. This outnumbers the human population by tenfold. We would have to enslave everybody on earth for 10 lifetimes to match the injustice brought down upon just the animals that are alive today. This is of course not counting animal research (I personally know biology students who have spent days at a time cutting the heads off of rats), poaching, hunting and general domestication.
You might call me a bleeding heart (I am) and you might call me a tree hugger (I quite literally am) but the fact is that a healthy respect of the animal population is the only way towards a stable ecosystem. I remain thoroughly convinced that the misconception that we have the right (there's that word again) to kill, torture, maim and claim as property any animals which we happen upon is the root of the troubles of modern man. I would rather live in a world with no humans, than a world with no animals.
*******************************
By having read this article, you agree
that I am not responsible for any
distress, discomfort, enragement or
offence caused by your reading
of this article. DFTBA.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Follow me on twitter @dancohen447
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Tuesday 21 May 2013
Was Adolf Hitler a bad man?
I ran into this 'amusing' little thing earlier, asking me a few hypotheticals. Such as - out of three candidates with limited descriptions, who would I choose to be president. I decided upon the vegetarian man who doesn't smoke because I figured he would be a good figurehead in today's cancer riddled world. Anyway it turns out this character thing person was based on Adolf Hitler. Which got me thinking.... (of course it did)
Hitler was only a man, like anybody else and to empower him by putting too much on his shoulders is an injustice to those who died under the Nazi regime. Hitler, like any other politician, was primarily a people person. He was a fantastic motivator - as can be seen from his (what I assume are) forceful and dynamic public speeches. I hope I havn't offended anybody, but sometimes it is wise to step back and ask "Why is it bad that I picked Hitler over Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill?". Is our knowledge so complete that we know that Adolf Hitler, placed in a different context (containing fluffy bunny rabbits and sugar gum drops) may not have committed atrocities ?
Having said that there is a hot coal in my stomach as I try to type "All were highly effective leaders." and I find I can't really justify saying it. Is a catastrophic and brutal legacy the mark of an effective leader? Probably not, although I am reminded of a character called Logen Ninefingers who is a brutal man, tearing up every situation he is in leaving a river of blood and a path of death everywhere he goes, yet people follow him and those closest to him take wisdoms from him and respect (fear?) him. My point is, just because a person is a bad person, doesn't make them a bad leader and just because a leader commits actions which, when done by an individual are atrocious, maybe do not stand in the same light when done by a leader representing a government.
Anyway I bought a copy of Mein Kampf impulsively. For years I have harbored this fear, this anger, this hatred and I want to be done with it. So this is me finding my balance within a highly unjust and controversial injustice that has always haunted me. Wish me luck.
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Follow me on twitter @dancohen447
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Hitler was only a man, like anybody else and to empower him by putting too much on his shoulders is an injustice to those who died under the Nazi regime. Hitler, like any other politician, was primarily a people person. He was a fantastic motivator - as can be seen from his (what I assume are) forceful and dynamic public speeches. I hope I havn't offended anybody, but sometimes it is wise to step back and ask "Why is it bad that I picked Hitler over Teddy Roosevelt and Winston Churchill?". Is our knowledge so complete that we know that Adolf Hitler, placed in a different context (containing fluffy bunny rabbits and sugar gum drops) may not have committed atrocities ?
Having said that there is a hot coal in my stomach as I try to type "All were highly effective leaders." and I find I can't really justify saying it. Is a catastrophic and brutal legacy the mark of an effective leader? Probably not, although I am reminded of a character called Logen Ninefingers who is a brutal man, tearing up every situation he is in leaving a river of blood and a path of death everywhere he goes, yet people follow him and those closest to him take wisdoms from him and respect (fear?) him. My point is, just because a person is a bad person, doesn't make them a bad leader and just because a leader commits actions which, when done by an individual are atrocious, maybe do not stand in the same light when done by a leader representing a government.
Anyway I bought a copy of Mein Kampf impulsively. For years I have harbored this fear, this anger, this hatred and I want to be done with it. So this is me finding my balance within a highly unjust and controversial injustice that has always haunted me. Wish me luck.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Follow me on twitter @dancohen447
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Saturday 18 May 2013
Exam Fear - FILDI
We all know it. It's that fear that we get when we have been working towards something for an entire year and it's culminating in front of our eyes in a matter of hours. It's that pervasive fear that we are not good enough, that we will not arrive at our planned destination. That our lives will not work out as planned. It's the fear that somehow, no matter what we do, we will still fail and we will look foolish doing it.
I'm feeling this fear particularly sharply right now as my next exam closes in. This is shaping up to be the most difficult exam, and I don't feel prepared and I don't feel like I have the resources to tackle it properly. I am afraid and I am paralyzed by that fear.
So the question hangs in the air like a foul odour, "What do I do?".
The answer stares you in the face, holding you in its beady eye and relentlessly shouting at you, "Just do it!" but your fears have deafened you and you don't trust the answer. You think he is out to make a fool of you and that there must be another solution.
I'm borrowing a phrase from Ze Frank - F.I.L.D.I.
The only way to push through the fear is to face it. To look the answer straight in the face and say Fuck it, let's do it.
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Follow me on twitter @dancohen447
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I'm feeling this fear particularly sharply right now as my next exam closes in. This is shaping up to be the most difficult exam, and I don't feel prepared and I don't feel like I have the resources to tackle it properly. I am afraid and I am paralyzed by that fear.
So the question hangs in the air like a foul odour, "What do I do?".
The answer stares you in the face, holding you in its beady eye and relentlessly shouting at you, "Just do it!" but your fears have deafened you and you don't trust the answer. You think he is out to make a fool of you and that there must be another solution.
I'm borrowing a phrase from Ze Frank - F.I.L.D.I.
The only way to push through the fear is to face it. To look the answer straight in the face and say Fuck it, let's do it.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Follow me on twitter @dancohen447
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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