My Big Question

How powerful is the human brain?
Resources:
              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain
              http://www.psitek.net/pages/PsiTek-Subconscious-Programming-For-Maximum-Results2.html
              http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-limits-of-intelligence
              http://www.schizophrenic.com/news/schizophrenia-research/study-human-brain-ruled-small-group-powerful-%E2%80%9Cnetworked%E2%80%9D-areas
              http://www.lucidpages.com/branco.html
              http://www.goezine.com/Health-and-Fitness-articles/Mind-Power-How-Powerful-is-the-Human-Brain-35400.html
             http://www.goezine.com/Health-and-Fitness-articles/Mind-Power-How-Powerful-is-the-Human-Brain-35400.html
             http://www.newscientist.com/topic/brain
             http://letslivecoaching.com/your-powerful-brain.html

AP exam worthy essay

It is evident that the language in Hamlet differentiates from epics such as Beowulf and/or the Iliad. Hamlet is recognized through performative utterances and self over-hearing. Where as Beowulf, Gilgamesh, and the Iliad are distinguished for their illustration of the cultural values of their time era in which they were created. Another big factor that separates Hamlet from epics is the absence of a narrator.

 Due to the fact Hamlet does not have a narrator and is a play performative utterances and self over-hearing are a must. Performative utterances create the basis for the plot in Hamlet without it the characters would have no livelihood and obviously no plot. If self over-hearing were to disappear the audience would loose their connection to Hamlet in which the audience wouldn't see Hamlet's thought process like in the "To be or not to be" soliloquy  fundamentally ruining the play. As for Beowulf, all of his actions are told through another person; a narrator. In which performative utterances and self over-hearing are impossible to create.

Although they are from different eras Hamlet does however share a similar quality to Beowulf and the Iliad. It is the sense that they all seem to be selfish. Hamlet seeks revenge for his father and will do anything to attain it. Beowulf wants eternal glory and with the lost of his friends he achieves it, the same goes for Achilles in the Iliad. In the end they all achieve their goal, but at the cost of other lives and their own lives. This could be because of cultural values from 1000 a.d. to around 1599.

Another thing that separates Hamlet from the epics is language.  Hamlet is one of the first plays to be written in early Modern English. Where as Beowulf is written in Old English. This is due to the 600 year gap in between the two.

Hamlet, Beowulf, and the Iliad may be very different in sense of style and language, but they also share many small similarities. If Hamlet weren't a play the tragedy may look very similar to the epics. However there is such a huge gap in between them that the language has changed and literary works were sought to entertain large audiences. Making the tragedy and the epic very different.

2.0

A major concept I have learned from AP literature is that in order to take full advantage of our classes we need to use technology. Technology allows us to communicate as students outside class. With the use of the internet we now have not just other classmates, but other people around the world that can share with us their opinion or answer our questions. Times are changing and we need to adjust accordingly. If we don't use technology then were committing " a self afflicted public crucifixion."
Technology has changed. Here a video that shows it.

<iframe width="550" height="315" src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/lTx3G6h2xyA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Tools That Change the Way We Think

Please read the following passage and respond to the questions below. Write your answers as a comment to this post. Then, cut/paste both the passage and your thoughts to your own blog in a post entitled, "Tools That Change the Way We Think." 

"Back in 2004, I asked [Google founders] Page and Brin what they saw as the future of Google search. 'It will be included in people's brains,' said Page. 'When you think about something and don't really know much about it, you will automatically get information.'

'That's true,' said Brin. 'Ultimately I view Google as a way to augment your brain with the knowledge of the world. Right now you go into your computer and type a phrase, but you can imagine that it could be easier in the future, that you can have just devices you talk into, or you can have computers that pay attention to what's going on around them and suggest useful information.'

'Somebody introduces themselves to you, and your watch goes to your web page,' said Page. 'Or if you met this person two years ago, this is what they said to you... Eventually you'll have the implant, where if you think about a fact, it will just tell you the answer."

-From In the Plex by Steven Levy (p.67)


Answer this not-so-simple question: How does extensive Internet/media/technology use change the way you think? Focus on your memory, your ability to concentrate, your sense of time and priorities, and the subjects/topics that interest you most. If you find "thinking about your thinking" difficult to assess, try the following strategies: compare yourself with older people who did most of their formal learning before smart phones and 2.0 existed; compare yourself with contemporaries who don't use those tools much today; read up on what education leaders and thinkers have to say about generational differences in thinking (and remember to cite your sources).

My Response:

The extensive use of Internet, media, and/or technology is awing depending on the eye of the beholder. As long as people don't abuse it, then there should be no problem using it. People should be glad that we have all this information within just clicks away from us. And I truly think its amazing that if I want to learn how to play the harmonica that I can find video's explaining how to step by step in just a matter of seconds. In oppose to signing up for lessons that I have to pay 30 bucks for. I personally can think just fine while using the internet and most of the time when I am looking up a subject it gives me new ideas to think about and those new ideas eventually lead me to look up more.
I think its funny how people keep saying things were so much better in the past in terms of technology affecting our way of life, because if you continue to look back in the past then the present will pass you up and you will soon be lost in between what should be and what is. What I mean by this is, you have to learn to co-exist because we are only moving forward.

In Search Of

From watching Eli Pariser's TED talk on Filter Bubbles made me realize that filter bubbles are almost used on just about any site. I didn't even know this was happening until it was brought upon my attention from Dr. Preston today. And to be honest I feel a bit appalled. The internet should allow us to think for our selves. It shouldn't be able to think for us. To stop this from happening we can try and manipulate the filters the search engine uses to whatever fits us best at the moment.
I didn't find much to change in the filter on the google search engine except for putting in specific words gave me different results.
With the new search I found out that Shakespeare lived during the Elizabeth age and The English Renaissance. I also found out that Williams father was a tenant farmer. After reading up a lot more I noticed that it seems as if Shakespeare stole a lot of plots from original stories.

Notes on Hamlet

In the beginning of the play I never really knew if Hamlet would ever be able to cope with the death of his father and the fact that he knows his uncle murdered his father. And now I just think Hamlet is just simply a genius. He seems to want everyone to know he is crazy, including the reader and/or audience. I think that Hamlet will ultimately revenge his father under any circumstances now.

Who Was Shakespeare?

 William Shakespeare is commonly known through out people that speak English. He is easily one of the greatest writers. However is appearance, birthday, and even identity are all uncertain due to the fact that records were not made around the mid 1500s to early 1600s. Shakespeare is thought to be born in 1564 as a 3rd child. Married Anne Hathaway in 1582 when he was 18. William had 3 kids, one died at age 11. He moved to London in 1588. Then went on to become part of a theartrical company, The Lord Chamberlain's Men. From here William built the Globe Theatre where he found much profit. Shakespeare died in 1608.
- Search Engine, Google.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/merchant/shakespeare.html.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare.   
http://shakespeare.about.com/od/shakespeareslife/a/Biography.htm


When we began to read Hamlet I could not understand the context at all. And now that were further into the book and have broken down so many acts and scenes during the class period I am beginning to realize what Shakespeare is trying to convey to the reader with each word. Its weird how things that were common sense during the mid 1500s are not nearly close to the common sense we know today. To give an example a bodkin. A bodkin was commonly known as a dagger through out the people. Where no one in my class had a clue to what a bodkin was.

"To Facebook or Not to Facebook?"

I think that facebook looks good at first glance. What I mean by this is that no one actually knows what information is being read by others. They think that its just being read by their friends and/or family. If I were to give pros about facebook it would be that it really helps you stay in contact with all of your friends and promotes people to be social. The cons though outrageously out weigh the pros. Random people can get a hold of your post, people can read footprints to your photos and/or post, and your privacy is instantaneously gone as soon as your click create account. The funny part though is I'm completely hypocritical, because I have a facebook.

(Don't) Be Hamlet

 "To be or not to be, that is the question." Hamlet ask him self in this soliloquy whether to die or to live. Hamlet justifies dying because it could ease his current pain. For instance, "To die- to sleep- No more - and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh his heir to." But as the poem goes on Hamlet starts to contemplate what if the unknowns of death is worse then he thinks it is.
Personally Hamlet needs to man up and face his problems head on. Nothing good ever comes from avoidance, unless a crazed man is chasing you with a knife of coarse. Anyways, putting problems off to the side causes one to dwell on the subject and will eventually tear themselves apart. Hamlet is a perfect example of this, he wants to kill himself. Thankfully Hamlet has a conscience which keeps him from taking his own life.
At the end of the soliloquy Hamlet is interrupted by Ophelia as he notices her in the room looking upon him. This leaves the readers and or audience hanging because we still do not know the rest of his thought process on the matter. Until a couple pages later you learn that he does find it worth while to live because someone has to revenge his fathers death.