Essay 6

Jofran Mendoza


Earlier in the year our very first essay was if I were a Cyborg. And my answer still remains to be yes. As the year progressed I came to understand the meaning of being a “Cyborg”, the definition that Dr. Smith one used was vaguely “A cyborg is someone that cannot live without technology.” One doesn’t necessarily have to be a robot to be a cyborg, just live in a society that’s so depended on technology. I’ll be using examples from the Matrix film, Me++ and other sources to support my statement, including my own personal experiences. I’ll argue that we in today’s day and age live in a network, that we are all connected to each other.
William J. Mitchell repeatedly mentioned that the world is beginning to get smaller and smaller each day. In better understanding he says that, though the world isn’t shrinking, every material thing that we own is. He also mentions over and over that we all live in a network, a network that relies on everybody else to do their job or else nothing would ever go right. Mitchell states “And networks of different types and scales are integrated into larger network complexes serving multiple functions” (9). He says that everything is connected to the other, one small network is connected to another, while that other is connected to an even larger one, it’s a never ending circle of networks depended on each other to co-exist. Take for instance the Matrix film, the machines depended on the humans to survive, the only way the Matrix was able to keep running was because of the energy the machines took from the humans. And later on in other films of the Matrix it is realized that the humans also rely on the machines for their water rand heat, all of the essentials for human survival. Networks its everywhere, to make an ordinary plastic cup seems like a simple task but the truth would be that that cup went through a series of steps to become a final product. It went from one network to another to become, the product it is now, a cup.
Everything is shrinking, all our material things that we used to have to keep track of is disappearing. All of your things can be easily accessed at the palm of your hand, thanks to technology. William says “We can now keep almost unimaginable quantities of digital information on servers the size of domestic appliances” (83). More and more our devices are starting to become engraves on to us, we no longer have to stay home to watch tv, listen to music, look up information on the internet. We can now take all of that with us, as if it were a part of us now, attached to us somehow. Dr. Smith mentioned that in a way we are becoming part of the technology rather than they being a part of us. I myself fell like I’ve become a tool to my technology, I’m constantly on my iphone which obviously has a lot of features that some have to go home for. I can do countless things on my phone, things that before I would be able to do. I’ve become so overly engrossed on my phone that I simply cannot function without it; it’s become very essential to me.
Networks are all around us, it governs us now and so does technology. There is a society that Dr. Smith mentioned that knew nothing of the outside world, they lived among themselves, and they all had their own jobs and had their things to do to keep the tribe going. Dr. Smith was trying to explain to us networks with to my opinion with success, he said if one person were to die in the tribe that the tribe would not be affected at all, they’d still be able to continue living. Then he mentioned in this world if just one thing/person was not able to do their job than the whole network would come crashing down, everything needed to be working properly for anything to get done. To my understanding that is a network, a connection of different people/things that relied on each other to work. As Barry Wellman said “People in networked societies live and work in multiple sets of overlapping relationships, cycling among different networks. Many of the people of the related social networks they deal with are sparsely knit, or physically dispersed and no not know one another”(17). Also this world and its inhabitants have increasingly grown more dependent on technology, everyday losing their human instincts and relying on their tools to live. We are becoming Cyborgs more and more each day.

Sleep Dealer

There were certain elements that made it a "Mexican" film, like language. The entire movie was in spanish (although there were a few occasions when there was some english dialogue), but also the the slang was Mexican. I'm "latino" myself so I didn't think I would need to read the subtitles, but the language was different even to me, it was "Mexican" I don't want to sound racist but that is the case. In certain countries some languages are spoken differently, with a different accent or slang's. Another element would be the setting, it was all in a Mexican setting, in a forgien country. Some of the connections in this film and the Matrix are more obvious than the others. First in both films it involved having to be plugged in/connected to enter an alternate world or reality. Other similarity would be that both bring up the concept of a dream world, a world that is only produced ion your sleep which in return means what they were living was a lie. Both films feature futuristic elements like machines and advanced technology. In Sleep dealer the whole country finds themselves under the control of the United States, oppressed by them, there is a border separating the country and they are cut off from their water supply that can only be obtained threw the government. In the Matrix the humans are under the control of the machines, that have in slaved their minds as its their method of energy. In the Matrix it was more like a fight against machines, race was not an issue, most of the freed minds were mixed races, there wasn't just one main race. In Sleep Dealer it was more like Mexico versus United States/government, their were racial elements in the film. In Sleep dealer they portrayed as having a rural life as the better lifestyle, having to work hard everyday for something that you own, while living in a urban life was too confusing and depended on others rather than yourself.

Blog 10

When I write my essays I tend to procastinate a lot, and I hold things off to last minute. And I think thta's the case for most writers who really don't like thier topic or are just simply to lazy to write. In my case the reason I procastinate is because I don't really plan anything out, I have no structure and usually have no idea of how or what I'm going to write. I think if I planned everything out and knew the steps I would take and make to time isn't a factor I would probablyhave better reports. This year I have worked hard to keep myself on pace, I planned everything i was going to write, I wasn't going to let myself wait till last minute. I've taken not that if I do wait, then my work sufers and I don't give the best of my ability due to the fact that I had to rush. Also I think most reearch writers deal with the fact of really trying to be careful of not plagerizing and using information and qoutes the right way. I know I tend to stress over what information I should or should not use, I stress over the fact if I have to much information and not enough opinion. I get worried of plagereism all the time and try to parahprase as much as I can. But this years I feel I've sdone better on my esays than before, I've really worked hard to make sure I can write the paper at the best of my ability.

My november 12 blog is on my other blog. I forgot to mention it.

Blog 9

I've decided to make a documentary. More like a mock "doc", I have been noticing a trend latley in movies, books and television. Vampires. It is on the rage right now, everywhere I turn I see a vampire now. It's like we're in the vampire era. I have nothing against them, I'm actually very fond of them and I've always enjoyed thier genre. So in honor of vampires and vampire fanatics across the world I have decided to make a documentary, about the life and day of an average vampire. Of course I will try to stay true to some vampire myths and tales but for the most part I will make a mockery of the vampire nation. This is all out pure fun of course, I respect vampire's and thier fanatics but I feel this mock "doc" will be very fun and funny. I will also try to make it as scary as possible, for the fanatics of course.

At first I was thinking about making a short movie but i don't think I would of done a very good job, and frankly it would of been a little cliche. I thought to myself what would be more interesting than the life of an "actual" vampire? What could be funnier? I feel that I can combine both fear and humor well, I've seen a lot of movies and know how things work. I've done film before in highschool, I know the differnt angles I could use, I know cinematic elemants.

The documentary itself will be for Louis of course, and the blog I will be working on will be for Dr. Smith. I'll keep track of everything i do, and all the research I do for my project. First I'll reaseach any myths about vampires, all possible tales about them. Then I'll watch a couple vamp. movies. I'll try to get as much research and details about them as possible. I'll try and convince my audinece that what they are watching are actual vampires, but also I'll have a hint of humor to my video.

This week I'll mostly be working on my outline and script. Who's going to star in my mock "doc" and what materials I'll be needing. I'll aslo start up my blog page and begin writing a couple entries. Also I'll begin my research so that I can strat my documentary as soon as possible.

Essay 2

I feel that there is no such thing as fate, there isn't somebody out there who has planned out my life. For what ever reason I'm here today in this class is because of my own doing, my choice. I made myself what I am now, not fate. We all make decisions, and based on these decisions we live out our lives. I refuse to believe that there is nothing I can do to change it. I will use examples from the Matrix film related to the decisions Neo had to make in the movie. I will also use examples from Theodore Schick Jr's essay to help support my statement.

Neo in the movie said, "Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life," in response to one of Morpheus's question. I agree with his answer because I too don't like the idea that I am doomed to live out a life that is already planned out for me. I'd feel so enslaved, almost like I have no choice. If I had no choice then what happened to my freedom? There would be none. Why bother with trying to live life if I have no choice or power over it, its just going to play out the way its supposed to be. I don't believe in fate or determinism, I can't. If I did then all my attempts to change my life would be meaningless, a wasted effort. Schick writes, "In a completely deterministic world, no one should be held responsible for their actions because nothing they do is up to them," page 96. This is a good example of stating no one will ever do what it is they want because they were supposed to do it anyways. The freedom of choice builds persona, characteristics. It lets others judge on my actions, whether or not I'm a good person or bad; trustworthy or nor; mean or nice. But if we had no choice in out actions, what character do we have? None. People will just say that I'm doing exactly what I was born to do, I can't help it. B.F. Skinner claims, :that we should give up the notion humans have free will and with it the notion that they should be praised or blamed for what they do." (96). I believe that we should be praised or blamed, we make the choices. That's the beauty of being human, the ability to make rational decisions.

In the Matrix film Neo had to make a number of different choices through out the entire film. One of his first more important decisions was choosing between blue pill or red pill. Neo chooses the red pill only because he wanted to, also he already had some knowledge of the Matrix. Knowledge plays a big part ion free will, the more you know the more choices you have. Lets just say if Neo had no idea of what the matrix was, or had no idea that it even existed, he would have no reason to pick the red pill. If that were the case and he still picked the red pill then maybe there was fate (or complete coincidence). But because he knew he chose the red pill, driven by his curiosity and one question. What is the matrix? Another example would be be when Neo decides to go back into the Matrix to go save Morpheus. After having spoken with the oracle, he was told that he would have to make a decision to either save Morpheus or not. Of course, if Neo was never told maybe he wouldn't have cared as much that Morpheus was going to die. But because he knew that he had a choice to save him, decided to go in and save Morpheus. The oracle didn't tell Neo that he was going to save Morpheus, just that there was going to be a moment when he had to chose. IN the essay there is a statement, "Caplace's demon - or any oracle for that matter- can be trusted to make accurate predictions about people's behavior only as long as the person involved are not aware of the prediction."(97). This is another example of knowledge, maybe if someone were to make a prediction that I was going to sleep at 8 and I didn't know that they made that prediction I might sleep at 8. If I knew they predicted something, I might me inclined to stay up longer to make their claim false. If someone were told a prediction of their life, the still have the ability to change it. Just because they were told it was going to happen, doesn't mean it has to.

I don't believe in fate or determinism. I don't believe that I have no control of my life, I run my life the way I want to. I have my choices and these choices shape the way my life is planned out. The more knowledge I posses, the more choices I have. The ability to chose also gives us characteristics, that people judge us on, its who we are. Without them we are just entity's living out our scripted lives. We'd be machines that are performing the actions that were assigned to us. I am in control of my life, no one else (or thing) is.

Mid-Term Reflection

To be completly and perfectly honest before I started my midterm project I had no idea as to who I would do it on. I didn't want to choose someone who's been done a million time already, I wanted someone who really impacted the world but isn't that well known today (by minors atleast). I wanted someone who really revolutionized the country, someone who impacted the country in a way that no one else can.
I first got my idea during american film class, where we watched a mvie about a man. This man was Walter Winchell, and of course I I had no clue as to who he was, like evryone else in the class. And frankly I didn't care who this man was, why does he even derseve a movie? But then as the movie went on I learned that we worked for the newspaper and changed journalism for ever. Then I new what my topic would be, Walter Winchell. Becuase I knew little about the man, I had little interest in him, I just wanted to do my report and get it done with. I was sure I would get some credit for choosing someone who was much less iconic (right now) then other topics chosen.
So I hit the books (more like internet). I was preparing my self for a moth of complete boredom, working on a paper, with a topic I didn't care for. To my surprise I found my self more and more interested about the man who invented the gossip coulumn. A man that was loved my many and hated ny just as many. A man (journalist only) who could makle or break careers, a man who people were scared of. A man who for about 4 decades was the biggest thing in the country. As I went on learning about his life and impact, I wanted to find out more. I was his movie completly this time (we only saw alittle in film class).
I began writing my essay with ease now, not feeliong the anxiety of having to write an essay I didn't want to. Winchell inpacted the nation so diversly it was very easy to write a 7 page essay on him. I was feeling pretty confident in myself because I know enjoyed my topic now. The deadline was comeing soon and I had taken off some time off the mid-term essay to do the American-film essay. I hadn't finished it yet, so I had to think qiuck.
I think I was doing everything fine so I woundnt know what I'd do the same , everything I guess. The only thing I would work on would be to time everything better, so that I don't overlap and still have time to right a well though out paper. For the most part I would rate my effort an 8, might have been more if I didn't run out of time and didn't have to rush, but even in the short amount of time I still did my best. I would rate my paper a 7.5, I definetly feel I could have done way better, but then again that is always the case. The way I had to hurry up in the end kinda disapointd me, I'm sure my next one will be good.