Please take a few moments and comment on the film we saw in class. In particular, did any part of the film make you 'think twice'? Please explain your answer.
Not much about the film we saw in really made me think twice. The only thing that seemed weird was the scene where John Travolta is driving through the rich neighborhood with all the black people on the sidewalks and no mix of races at all. Other than that there was nothing about the movie that really seemed strange. In this day and age it all made perfect sense. (Although seeing John Travolta say “yo dog” did put me off a little.)
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Diving Bell #3
1. What is significant about the last line in Guardian Angel?
Do to his condition Bauby is really beginning to feel detached from the rest of society, he cannot communicate with others the way he would like to, it is as though he is not even there, as though he is not even apart of the world.
2. What is ironic about the photograph he recieves from his father in The Photo?
The photograph was taken when he was a child on vacation in the same location that he is now a prisoner.
3. Do Bauby's dreams give us any insight into his condition? Be specific.
The dream seems to suggest the feeling he has in his condition that he is not in control of his own life, because in the dream he is unable to control the events that happen to him, like being captured by the cult, drinking the alcohol, being unable to move or speak, and almost getting arrested. There is nothing he can do about it.
4. Where is Bauby's butterfly in My Lucky Day?
His butterfly is in his hospital room, completely conscious of the situation he faces and the misery of his condition.
5. After reading, Our Very Own Madonna and Through a Glass, Darkly, Bauby seems to have regrets about not appreciating small moments from his earlier life. Can you think of a moment from your own life that you did not truly appreciate until it was over? How can we learn to live so that we appreciate significant moments. Is this even possible?
There was a time when I very young when I could enjoy life without regrets, oblivious to the horrors of humanity, when I was happy. It is possible to learn to appreciate significant moments, as long as you can take the time to step back from your life, or even just a moment in your life, and be thankful for what you’ve got then and there, and appreciate it before you lose it.
Do to his condition Bauby is really beginning to feel detached from the rest of society, he cannot communicate with others the way he would like to, it is as though he is not even there, as though he is not even apart of the world.
2. What is ironic about the photograph he recieves from his father in The Photo?
The photograph was taken when he was a child on vacation in the same location that he is now a prisoner.
3. Do Bauby's dreams give us any insight into his condition? Be specific.
The dream seems to suggest the feeling he has in his condition that he is not in control of his own life, because in the dream he is unable to control the events that happen to him, like being captured by the cult, drinking the alcohol, being unable to move or speak, and almost getting arrested. There is nothing he can do about it.
4. Where is Bauby's butterfly in My Lucky Day?
His butterfly is in his hospital room, completely conscious of the situation he faces and the misery of his condition.
5. After reading, Our Very Own Madonna and Through a Glass, Darkly, Bauby seems to have regrets about not appreciating small moments from his earlier life. Can you think of a moment from your own life that you did not truly appreciate until it was over? How can we learn to live so that we appreciate significant moments. Is this even possible?
There was a time when I very young when I could enjoy life without regrets, oblivious to the horrors of humanity, when I was happy. It is possible to learn to appreciate significant moments, as long as you can take the time to step back from your life, or even just a moment in your life, and be thankful for what you’ve got then and there, and appreciate it before you lose it.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Diving Bell #2
1. What do you think of Bauby's line in Bathtime when he states, "But I see in the clothing a symbol of continuing life. And proof that I still want to be myself. If I must drool, I may as well drool on cashmere."
I think that to him his clothing is a vital connection back t his own life and wearing it is a way to help him be comforted and help him deal and move on with his situation.
2. Considering how Bauby wrote the book, does it matter that he happened to speak French? How would have the writing of the book been different if he spoke Japanese or Chinese?
It matters that he spoke French, or really it matters that he spoke a language with a simple alphabet and distinct words, because if he spoke a language like Japanese or Chinese with thousands of different characters that can mean many different things, it would have been nearly impossible for him to communicate his thoughts through his system of blinking the alphabet.
3. Why does Bauby find his appearance humorous?
He finds it humorous because it is the final blow that fate has given him and nothing could get much worse, so with nothing left to lose he treats it all like a joke, his last attempt to muster up the will for moving on.
4. After reading the Chapter, Cinecitta, think of a place where, if given one last opportunity, you could spend an afternoon. Why did you choose this place? Please describe it in detail.
If I could visit one place alone for an entire afternoon, I would go to the beach near Province Town that stretches the farthest out into the ocean, at night when it is completely dark. Here the smell of salt is strong, yet the air is sweet and pleasant. This beach is big and as you approach it, about fifteen feet in (about a quarter of the way to the water), the sand slopes down very suddenly about 3 to 4 feet, onto more sand that is level with the sea. At night time this place becomes deserted and there are no buildings, or even lights (save for those of distant passing ships), for as far as the eye can see, which is not very far in the pitch blackness. The moon is the only source of light and it illuminates very softly, causing most of the beach to glow with a bluish tint. The sand is close to white in this light and the water is very dark. The sky is black and the starts are usually very clear. The waves here are huge and they crash with a powerful sound, but not so powerful that it is disorienting; it is a calming sound that seems somewhat distant. What I like most about being at the beach is the feeling of isolation, as though you are disconnected from the rest of the world. Behind you there is only blackness where the grass which stretches back to road should be, and in front of you is the massive ocean which seems to extent into oblivion. Because the beach is so long you cannot see either end of it, it just fades away into the darkness. It is like being in a dream or in outer space; you feel separate from the Earth, separate from your body even. You drink in the sensation of solitude and it fills you with a strange and incomprehensible feeling of comfort.
5. After reading Tourists, please think of why we don't make more of an effort to connect with those that might look or act different than us.
It gives humans a somewhat sick comfort to believe they are better than someone else, but they also feel that they could never relate to people who look and act different because they could never understand them.
6. Read Sausage and then consider the following: if you couldn't eat again, what meal would you miss the most? Please describe what it looks and tastes like.
If I couldn’t eat again the meal I would miss the most would be my favorite rare steak dinner. This dinner includes many pleasures like steaming roles, creamy gravy, and soft, sweet baby carrots, but the highlights of the dinner are of course the tender red steak and, even more importantly, the butter, salted, hand mashed potatoes that melt in your mouth. Also, to top it off, and of course only if I was of age, the finest Spanish pinot noir, flavorful, and aged to perfection.
I think that to him his clothing is a vital connection back t his own life and wearing it is a way to help him be comforted and help him deal and move on with his situation.
2. Considering how Bauby wrote the book, does it matter that he happened to speak French? How would have the writing of the book been different if he spoke Japanese or Chinese?
It matters that he spoke French, or really it matters that he spoke a language with a simple alphabet and distinct words, because if he spoke a language like Japanese or Chinese with thousands of different characters that can mean many different things, it would have been nearly impossible for him to communicate his thoughts through his system of blinking the alphabet.
3. Why does Bauby find his appearance humorous?
He finds it humorous because it is the final blow that fate has given him and nothing could get much worse, so with nothing left to lose he treats it all like a joke, his last attempt to muster up the will for moving on.
4. After reading the Chapter, Cinecitta, think of a place where, if given one last opportunity, you could spend an afternoon. Why did you choose this place? Please describe it in detail.
If I could visit one place alone for an entire afternoon, I would go to the beach near Province Town that stretches the farthest out into the ocean, at night when it is completely dark. Here the smell of salt is strong, yet the air is sweet and pleasant. This beach is big and as you approach it, about fifteen feet in (about a quarter of the way to the water), the sand slopes down very suddenly about 3 to 4 feet, onto more sand that is level with the sea. At night time this place becomes deserted and there are no buildings, or even lights (save for those of distant passing ships), for as far as the eye can see, which is not very far in the pitch blackness. The moon is the only source of light and it illuminates very softly, causing most of the beach to glow with a bluish tint. The sand is close to white in this light and the water is very dark. The sky is black and the starts are usually very clear. The waves here are huge and they crash with a powerful sound, but not so powerful that it is disorienting; it is a calming sound that seems somewhat distant. What I like most about being at the beach is the feeling of isolation, as though you are disconnected from the rest of the world. Behind you there is only blackness where the grass which stretches back to road should be, and in front of you is the massive ocean which seems to extent into oblivion. Because the beach is so long you cannot see either end of it, it just fades away into the darkness. It is like being in a dream or in outer space; you feel separate from the Earth, separate from your body even. You drink in the sensation of solitude and it fills you with a strange and incomprehensible feeling of comfort.
5. After reading Tourists, please think of why we don't make more of an effort to connect with those that might look or act different than us.
It gives humans a somewhat sick comfort to believe they are better than someone else, but they also feel that they could never relate to people who look and act different because they could never understand them.
6. Read Sausage and then consider the following: if you couldn't eat again, what meal would you miss the most? Please describe what it looks and tastes like.
If I couldn’t eat again the meal I would miss the most would be my favorite rare steak dinner. This dinner includes many pleasures like steaming roles, creamy gravy, and soft, sweet baby carrots, but the highlights of the dinner are of course the tender red steak and, even more importantly, the butter, salted, hand mashed potatoes that melt in your mouth. Also, to top it off, and of course only if I was of age, the finest Spanish pinot noir, flavorful, and aged to perfection.
Diving Bell #1
a) What is 'Locked-in syndrome'? Why would one consider Bauby's condition a prison? What is the significance of The Butterfly?
This syndrome occurs when the body is completely paralyzed while the mind functions perfectly. It is considered a prison because while one still has the capability to know, understand, and think, they cannot act upon those thoughts. The Butterfly is the boundlessness of the mind which is not limited by the body or the Earth.
b) What was Bauby's "frightening truth'?
The knowledge that he would never again be able to return to the comforts of his old lifestyle.
c) In your opinion, how do you think Bauby should measure progress? Why do you think Bauby ends the chapter "Prayer" with the phrase, "I set out for the kingdom of slumber with this wonderful talisman, which shields me from all harm."
I think he should measure progress in his ability to accept his current condition and the steps he takes to improve it or make the best of it. I think he ends the chapter this way to show that there is something left in the world that still gives him comfort and faith, the prayer of his daughter.
This syndrome occurs when the body is completely paralyzed while the mind functions perfectly. It is considered a prison because while one still has the capability to know, understand, and think, they cannot act upon those thoughts. The Butterfly is the boundlessness of the mind which is not limited by the body or the Earth.
b) What was Bauby's "frightening truth'?
The knowledge that he would never again be able to return to the comforts of his old lifestyle.
c) In your opinion, how do you think Bauby should measure progress? Why do you think Bauby ends the chapter "Prayer" with the phrase, "I set out for the kingdom of slumber with this wonderful talisman, which shields me from all harm."
I think he should measure progress in his ability to accept his current condition and the steps he takes to improve it or make the best of it. I think he ends the chapter this way to show that there is something left in the world that still gives him comfort and faith, the prayer of his daughter.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Abel on Perception
1. According to Abel, what is perception?
It is the result of our brain organizing the information it takes in into reasonable data, influenced by experience, prejudices, and culture.
2. What does Abel mean by “seeing as?”
It is how our brain interprets what we see from experience, prejudices, and culture.
3. To see what is the case, what is required? Please define each term.
Context (what it is that we are seeing), inference (why we are seeing what we are seeing), concepts (our idea of what we are seeing), experience (thing we have seen before that relate to what we are seeing), interpretation (what we understand about what we are seeing).
4. What did Nietzsche mean by “the fallacy of the immaculate perception?” How does Psychologist Joseph Jastrow prove this point? When have we done this in class?
No perception is perfect or correct, it is always influenced by experience, prejudices, and culture. He created a drawing that could be interpreted as two different things, making neither interpretation correct or incorrect. We did this when we took Dr. Gilligan’s test on perception and different people in the class had different interpretations of questions on the test.
5. What does Abel mean when he writes: “there is no sharp line dividing perception and illusion?”
Sometimes there are too many different interpretations in perception to be able to know what is truth.
6. Why is perception selective by nature?
Because we perceive what we expect we will perceive, or what we think is the right thing to perceive by our own standards.
7. What does Abel mean when he says: “to perceive is to solve a problem?”
He means that the things we try to perceive are issues that our brain must make sense of before we can understand them.
8. What is the role of social conditioning in determining how things “naturally look?”
What we perceive as the way things “naturally look” is determined by what our society has conditioned us to believe is the way thing “naturally look”.
9. What is significant of the Durer rhinoceros story? How was the influence of convention demonstrated when some tribes were given a photograph?
Even when the James Bruce finally saw a real rhinoceros and saw how different it was from Durer’s model of one, he still drew it similar to the model because he had always thought that that was how a rhinoceros should look. The tribes could not perceive the image of people in the photo because it was not the perception of people that their minds were used to and had always agreed upon.
10. How does convention influence perspective drawing?
Artists draw things to look the way they have agreed upon in their minds that they should look.
11. What does Abel mean when he writes: believing is seeing? How might this point be seen in the study of the natural and the social sciences?
What you have been conditioned to believe affects your perception of things and situations. This point could mean that the studies of natural and social sciences are affected by the beliefs of the scientists studying them.
12. What does Abel mean by “hearing as…”?
It is how our brain interprets what we hear from experience, prejudices, and culture.
It is the result of our brain organizing the information it takes in into reasonable data, influenced by experience, prejudices, and culture.
2. What does Abel mean by “seeing as?”
It is how our brain interprets what we see from experience, prejudices, and culture.
3. To see what is the case, what is required? Please define each term.
Context (what it is that we are seeing), inference (why we are seeing what we are seeing), concepts (our idea of what we are seeing), experience (thing we have seen before that relate to what we are seeing), interpretation (what we understand about what we are seeing).
4. What did Nietzsche mean by “the fallacy of the immaculate perception?” How does Psychologist Joseph Jastrow prove this point? When have we done this in class?
No perception is perfect or correct, it is always influenced by experience, prejudices, and culture. He created a drawing that could be interpreted as two different things, making neither interpretation correct or incorrect. We did this when we took Dr. Gilligan’s test on perception and different people in the class had different interpretations of questions on the test.
5. What does Abel mean when he writes: “there is no sharp line dividing perception and illusion?”
Sometimes there are too many different interpretations in perception to be able to know what is truth.
6. Why is perception selective by nature?
Because we perceive what we expect we will perceive, or what we think is the right thing to perceive by our own standards.
7. What does Abel mean when he says: “to perceive is to solve a problem?”
He means that the things we try to perceive are issues that our brain must make sense of before we can understand them.
8. What is the role of social conditioning in determining how things “naturally look?”
What we perceive as the way things “naturally look” is determined by what our society has conditioned us to believe is the way thing “naturally look”.
9. What is significant of the Durer rhinoceros story? How was the influence of convention demonstrated when some tribes were given a photograph?
Even when the James Bruce finally saw a real rhinoceros and saw how different it was from Durer’s model of one, he still drew it similar to the model because he had always thought that that was how a rhinoceros should look. The tribes could not perceive the image of people in the photo because it was not the perception of people that their minds were used to and had always agreed upon.
10. How does convention influence perspective drawing?
Artists draw things to look the way they have agreed upon in their minds that they should look.
11. What does Abel mean when he writes: believing is seeing? How might this point be seen in the study of the natural and the social sciences?
What you have been conditioned to believe affects your perception of things and situations. This point could mean that the studies of natural and social sciences are affected by the beliefs of the scientists studying them.
12. What does Abel mean by “hearing as…”?
It is how our brain interprets what we hear from experience, prejudices, and culture.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Art of Mind-Reading
1. Three Fatal Mistakes: This section shows the importance in the way we perceive others. It shows how most of the time we are able to correctly perceive the attitudes and truths of the people we see even if we only see them for a moment. However it also explains that this ability to perceive others is not always right and when we get it wrong the results can be devastating. Mind reading failures “aren’t always as obvious and spectacular as other breakdowns in rapid cognition.”
2. The theory of Mind Reading: This section shows how there is science behind our perceptions of others. It explains that certain facial features and combinations of facial features are genetically programmed into every being and they can be used to determine many things about how that being feels or what it is thinking. In his travels to Japan, Brazil, Argentina, and even remote tribes in the jungles of the Far East, Paul Ekman discovered that when he showed people pictures of men and women making a variety of distinctive faces, “everywhere he went, people agreed on what those expressions meant.”
3. The Naked Face: This section shows how the science behind reading minds through facial expressions can be used in everyday life. It explains that although some people are very good at concealing their true emotions even in their facial expressions, no matter how good they are a flicker of their true feelings will show on their face even if it’s just for a nanosecond. It then explains that by watching people on cameras frame by frame, this truth can be used to detect lies of criminals, people lying about future attempts of suicide, or other crucial deceptions. In his experimenting with this new idea, Paul Ekmin filmed psychiatric patients including a woman named Mary who had attempted suicide three times and found that “when Mary’s doctor asked her about her plans for the future, a look of utter despair flashed across her face so quickly that it was almost imperceptible.”
4. A Man, a Woman, and a Light Switch: This section shows what happens when mind-reading fails, as it does in autistic people. It explains that when this happens, a person loses all ability to understand the expressions on someone’s face, causing the face to become meaningless to them and making it seem like just another inanimate object. A leading expert on autism, Ami Klin, describes what it is like to talk to one of his autistic patients and explains how “even though he is looking at me, I don’t have the sense of being scrutinized or monitored. He focuses very much on what I say. The words mean a great deal to him. But he doesn’t focus at all on the way my words contextualized with facial expressions and nonverbal cues.”
5. Arguing with a Dog: This section shows how mind-reading can fail for not only autistic people but cognitively normative people as well. It explains how this can happen when those people are under serious, usually life-threatening pressure. Their blood pressure rises to extreme speeds and it causes their system to breakdown and prevent them from accurately processing the information of their surroundings. This is often times the explanation for violent, unjustified acts by police officers after high-speed chases, “In the extreme excitement of the chase, he stopped reading Russ’s mind. His vision and his thinking narrowed. He constructed a rigid system that said that a young black man in a car running from the police had to be a dangerous criminal, and all evidence to the contrary that would ordinarily have been factored into his thinking – the fact that Russ was just sitting in his car and that he had never gone above seventy miles per hour – did not register at all. Arousal leaves us mind-blind.”
6. Running Out of White space: This section shows how time is a key factor in the loss of mind-reading ability in a person. It explains that in a situation, the more time the person has to react to threats, the more logically and intelligently they are likely to respond. When faced with a test that was part of an experiment conducted by the psychologist Keith Payne to see what happens when the time of possible response to questions was shortened, people found it harder to do things correctly, “Instead of letting people respond at their own pace, he forced them to make a decision within 500 milliseconds – half a second. Now people began to make errors.”
7. “Something in My Mind Just Told Me I Didn’t Have to Shoot Yet”: This section shows how with practice, the danger of mind-blindness can easily be avoided. It explains that people are capable of training their subconscious mind, just as they train their conscious mind, to react to certain situations in a more reasonable and controlled manor. “This is the gift of training and experience – the ability to extract an enormous amount of meaningful information from the very thinnest slice of experience. Every moment – every blink – is composed of a series of discrete moving parts, and every one of those parts offers an opportunity for intervention, for reform, and for correction.
8. Tragedy on Wheeler Avenue: This section summarizes the effects of everything explained in the sections before it on the way people perceive each other in a moment. It describes the story of the policemen who killed an innocent, unarmed man because they thought he had a gun, and explains the thoughts that would have been running through their heads in the two and a half seconds in which the event took place. Their thoughts show how people can lose their ability to mind-read when under pressure in situations, and the outcome shows the consequences people pay for it. “They were driving past, so they couldn’t see him well, but right away they began to construct a system to explain his behavior.”
2. The theory of Mind Reading: This section shows how there is science behind our perceptions of others. It explains that certain facial features and combinations of facial features are genetically programmed into every being and they can be used to determine many things about how that being feels or what it is thinking. In his travels to Japan, Brazil, Argentina, and even remote tribes in the jungles of the Far East, Paul Ekman discovered that when he showed people pictures of men and women making a variety of distinctive faces, “everywhere he went, people agreed on what those expressions meant.”
3. The Naked Face: This section shows how the science behind reading minds through facial expressions can be used in everyday life. It explains that although some people are very good at concealing their true emotions even in their facial expressions, no matter how good they are a flicker of their true feelings will show on their face even if it’s just for a nanosecond. It then explains that by watching people on cameras frame by frame, this truth can be used to detect lies of criminals, people lying about future attempts of suicide, or other crucial deceptions. In his experimenting with this new idea, Paul Ekmin filmed psychiatric patients including a woman named Mary who had attempted suicide three times and found that “when Mary’s doctor asked her about her plans for the future, a look of utter despair flashed across her face so quickly that it was almost imperceptible.”
4. A Man, a Woman, and a Light Switch: This section shows what happens when mind-reading fails, as it does in autistic people. It explains that when this happens, a person loses all ability to understand the expressions on someone’s face, causing the face to become meaningless to them and making it seem like just another inanimate object. A leading expert on autism, Ami Klin, describes what it is like to talk to one of his autistic patients and explains how “even though he is looking at me, I don’t have the sense of being scrutinized or monitored. He focuses very much on what I say. The words mean a great deal to him. But he doesn’t focus at all on the way my words contextualized with facial expressions and nonverbal cues.”
5. Arguing with a Dog: This section shows how mind-reading can fail for not only autistic people but cognitively normative people as well. It explains how this can happen when those people are under serious, usually life-threatening pressure. Their blood pressure rises to extreme speeds and it causes their system to breakdown and prevent them from accurately processing the information of their surroundings. This is often times the explanation for violent, unjustified acts by police officers after high-speed chases, “In the extreme excitement of the chase, he stopped reading Russ’s mind. His vision and his thinking narrowed. He constructed a rigid system that said that a young black man in a car running from the police had to be a dangerous criminal, and all evidence to the contrary that would ordinarily have been factored into his thinking – the fact that Russ was just sitting in his car and that he had never gone above seventy miles per hour – did not register at all. Arousal leaves us mind-blind.”
6. Running Out of White space: This section shows how time is a key factor in the loss of mind-reading ability in a person. It explains that in a situation, the more time the person has to react to threats, the more logically and intelligently they are likely to respond. When faced with a test that was part of an experiment conducted by the psychologist Keith Payne to see what happens when the time of possible response to questions was shortened, people found it harder to do things correctly, “Instead of letting people respond at their own pace, he forced them to make a decision within 500 milliseconds – half a second. Now people began to make errors.”
7. “Something in My Mind Just Told Me I Didn’t Have to Shoot Yet”: This section shows how with practice, the danger of mind-blindness can easily be avoided. It explains that people are capable of training their subconscious mind, just as they train their conscious mind, to react to certain situations in a more reasonable and controlled manor. “This is the gift of training and experience – the ability to extract an enormous amount of meaningful information from the very thinnest slice of experience. Every moment – every blink – is composed of a series of discrete moving parts, and every one of those parts offers an opportunity for intervention, for reform, and for correction.
8. Tragedy on Wheeler Avenue: This section summarizes the effects of everything explained in the sections before it on the way people perceive each other in a moment. It describes the story of the policemen who killed an innocent, unarmed man because they thought he had a gun, and explains the thoughts that would have been running through their heads in the two and a half seconds in which the event took place. Their thoughts show how people can lose their ability to mind-read when under pressure in situations, and the outcome shows the consequences people pay for it. “They were driving past, so they couldn’t see him well, but right away they began to construct a system to explain his behavior.”
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