Thursday, June 12, 2014

Blog Reflection


After a year of blogging, I have realized different positive and negative aspects about my reading and writing life. One, is I’m good at interpreting non-fiction, whether it’s a book about competitive eating or an upfront article on the environment. I see messages that the authors are saying and the tricks they are using to get those messages through. I also like to formulate my own opinion on whatever the topic is. On the downside, I never respond to fiction in my blog besides when it is mandatory. In fact, my reading life is based entirely on non-fiction. Although that is my favorite genre, I should probably read a greater variety of genres to improve my interpretation and comprehension of other writing styles.
I have found that writing online is much more thorough than writing in my notebook, partially because my notebook to other people is eligible. But when I type, I usually delete ideas that I don’t think are important and think about what I’m writing harder. When I am writing, once I write something that isn’t too great, I don’t bother to erase it. I also think writing online is much more liberal than writing, because at this age, we can’t write in newspapers, and online media can express our thoughts to many more people than writing. The actual writing is freer in that it can reach more people.
Speaking of writing online in general, I think it is a great way for people to connect, although I feel it’s not as real as writing. In something like a letter, we take time and effort to make it sound polite and rich, while online is so quick, that usually whatever the writing is isn’t really important at all. On social media sites, I also feel the writing is very basic and has less effort to put into them. Much of the time, the things people post are meaningless, while sometimes hurtful, so overall its not great reading. Although I can’t imagine making a blog for myself, I might start to look at other people’s blogs for topics like music and news. I know some kids who have popular blogs, and checking them out might be a worthwhile activity. I think blogs are more similar to real writing than social media, and you can definitely learn a large amount about the world, or what other people think about it. 

Sunday, June 8, 2014

The Matrix


The Matrix, a film where humans are oblivious that they are actually living in a computer generated realm, the main character Neo discovers the truth. Humans, for the most part, are controlled by artificial intelligence that uses them as an energy source. They think they are living in a world that looks like the present, but this is just a computer-generated world called the matrix. The matrix, that stimulates regular life, keeps them from knowing the truth. This connects to the philosophical topic of truth that Plato wrote about and we discussed in class.
In Plato’s book, The Republic, he includes a story about another philosopher, Socrates, talking to one of his students named Glaucon. Socrates tells Glaucon that most people are living comfortably in ignorance. Discovering the truth is like looking into a bright light after being in darkness for a long time. It hurts and is difficult in the beginning, but when you adjust, you can see so much more that you could have ever seen in the dark. It also says that many people can’t handle the truth and return to their old lives of ignorance and darkness.
The ideas in this book are correlated with characters from the movie. When Neo is confronted with the truth, he is flustered and in shock. At one point he lost it and tried to return to the matrix to live his normal life again. But eventually, he adjusted and discovered so much more than he could have in his old life. Another character, named Cypher, also is introduced to the realm of truth. But he can’t handle it, and wants to live his old life again. He betrays Neo and other characters in order to be reinserted back into the matrix with his memory wiped out, where he will be ignorant once again.
The movies theory about truth is very similar to Plato’s theory on truth, as it is with many other philosophical theories. On the other hand, it also contradicts with other philosophical theories just as much. This is why the matrix is so rich in thought and complexity, and a great film to watch and observe to learn the ways of philosophy.