...Are we Alone? Throughout the recorded history of mankind, we as citizens of Earth have encountered many unexplained mysteries. Many of these anomalies will remain unsolved unless we as a society become open to the possibility of change, open our minds and our eyes. The answer to the question "Are we alone in the universe?" has been unanswered and may remain so until scientists are no longer heavily scrutinized for researching the topic. Mainstream science has and will continue to ridicule and humiliate any individual who expresses an interest in the topic of aliens or extra-terrestrials. However, as time and technology progress, there has been a vast amount of substantial evidence that continues to build in many scientific disciplines such as archaeology, astronomy, philosophy, anthropology and ancient history. The late Swiss author of multiple best-selling novels, Erich Von Daniken introduced a radical new theory that would cause an enormous paradigm shift. Von Daniken was educated in a strict Catholic boarding school. He and his classmates were made to complete translations of the Old Testament Bible from Greek to Latin, and then from Latin to German. Von Daniken discovered his fascination with extra-terrestrials once he began to study the book of Ezekiel and the story of his wheel. In 1968, Von Daniken wrote and published his first novel titled “Chariots of the Gods” and the birth of the Ancient Astronaut theory was born. Essentially, the...
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...We Are Not Alone Everyone has an experience at some point in their lives that changes them, for better or for worse. It may make them believe in something that they cannot see. Humans live for a short time and are here to question everything that does not fit into a nice neat box. We have a hard time believing in something that we cannot see. Yet, the wind is not seen, only felt, but we rarely think of that. When an event in our lives makes us question everything, we go straight to denial or we try to cling to our innocence. My story starts in 2009. That is when I started to believe in something ‘bigger’ than myself. The setting for this experience is on the coast in Oregon. I was with some of my peers from the group home, where we all resided. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to go swimming. We plunged into the ocean and had fun. Most of us got out after a short while, however, one of my peers and I decided to stay in and have more fun. I was 16 years of age at the time. My peer and I were having so much fun that we did not notice that we were being carried out to sea. I realized this fact when I got tired and tried to touch the bottom. I panicked I could not feel the sand. I was scared and started screaming. My peer looked over at me to see what was wrong and witnessed my sheer panic in the situation. We were both a long way from land. Since I have asthma, the panic sent me into a full-fledged attack which did not help in this situation. My peer made her way over...
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...Are We Alone in the Universe? Throughout its history humankind asked itself this question and constantly tried to answer “no”. The idea of sentient living beings who are not people is present in writings of historians, geographers and other scientists for as long as the science itself exists. Mermaids, cynocephali, various bizarre species of beastmen, antipodes: all of them were embodiments of this dream. In course of time, the limits of the known Universe expanded and it became known that no such creatures existed. The only place to seek for non-human life now is other planets. Is there any hope for finding it? There are a great number of theories concerning extraterrestrial life. According to the “rare Earth hypothesis”, the conditions on Earth are close to unique and the possibility of them taking place on any other planet is close to zero. However, this theory takes it for granted that the appearance of life requires conditions identical to those on Earth. But is it true? If life on other planets exists, it may be completely different from what we are used to not only in form, but in fundamental principles as well. Of all the chemical elements only carbon and silicon seem to be suitable for being the basis of life, although silicon can form connections with far less other elements. Needless to say, we have never encountered silicon-based lifeforms, but if they exist, they may have properties that have nothing in common with what we used to associate life with. According...
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...Together We Stand Alone Outline Introduction: There are many people in my community whom are getting sick. What is causing them to be ill and what can we do to prevent this from happening to others. 1) What is going on in my community which is making people feel ill? a) Could there be something else wrong in the community besides chemical disposal causing this illness that has happened i) Could something be in the air which is causing people to get ill? ii) Could something in the soil have anything to do with the sickness? iii) Could something in the family’s genetics be the problem in which they are sick? b) What can be done as a temporary solution until a resolution is found? iv) Relocating the families v) Changing your water source vi) Use a air purifier in your home 2) Strategies which we would apply to help foster Critical thinking. c) Criticize vii) Curiosity viii) Redefine Solution to Problems ix) Avoiding assuming things d) Assumptions we need to be aware of x) Is everyone sick in the community xi) This sickness is caused by the improper disposal...
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...Just as Wes Moore indicated he allowed other people to dictate the expectations of himself, I believe he does not stand alone in this statement. I assume most individuals who are in the same shoes as Moore are there because of the conflicting views they have amongst themselves. For example, parents may pressure their child to play a sport the child has no interest in competing in. If the child continues to show up to practice and games not by his choice, he is no longer living for himself, yet his parents. This can take a toll on the way a person acts and also the way they lash out. In some cases, the child can even rebel against a parent and become something he should not be. In Wes’s case, he became a man of the streets, something his mother...
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...Have you ever felt alone in a room full of people? Have you ever thought that everyone was on your side and everyone was your friend and then in the end you have nobody? Everyone is alone in this big world. Everyone is lonely when they sit in a dark room with nobody but themselves. The novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck proves the quote, “We’re all outsiders in a way. We’re all alone and can become very lonely,” because of the way everyone in the book thinks only for themselves, the way George had nobody after he killed Lennie, and the way Curley’s wife felt an emptiness in her heart even though she had a husband. Throughout the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, a great deal of egoism is revealed throughout a variety of characters. Nobody, except for...
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...harming a human life at stake. But what can we really say that these drones let alone can be worth so much money of the tax payers that we don’t see the results that they are really made for.The drone was made and it was made for just that purpose in that world to help aid in the fight in counter-terrorism let alone not let any more of our military pilots put their lives at risk in dangerous zones. But due to recent events that lead to a sort of downfall in using these pilot less drones, is it actually worth the billions we spend on it to be used in the military or is it even worth having though due to some malfunctions of the drone killed innocent civilians not only from other lands, but our own American civilians as well. Does America really needs these drones that can help with the war on terror and costing us so much money let alone deaths, or do we need something different or not even the drones at all. Back in 2008 while I was serving in Afghanistan and right now I am gearing up for another tour right after the final week of school has ended, I remember hearing about the drones and what the purpose was for. At the time I could never really see one up close and let alone be in the same room as the person controlling it due to many security reasons. But I remember they were in training for the next big thing that was going to change the way that we see everything in the war, to me that sounded like a great idea and a great plan that we could use such technology that not even...
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...Erika Moreno Eng102-Sat 10/06/2011 Assignment#1 Alone with Blackberries In Norris’ “Blackberries," the child comes to realize at a young age that we are all different people. Evidently this is true, we are all unique, each of us with a different personality, different standards we live up to, different feelings and thoughts. We will all come across people who are different from ourselves. The child in this story cannot change the fact that his mother is self-centered. What happens when the people we love are different from us? Throughout the story, Norris reveals the mother as a self-centered individual. In one specific incident, while the child is getting a haircut, the mother states, “I, my husband and I, we thought it was time for him to look like a little boy” (71). Notice how she corrects herself from “I" to “my husband and I.” She catches herself for a split second being selfish, for the child is not only her child. Meanwhile the child is caught in the middle of a troublesome marriage his parents continue to proceed. Throughout the events that take place we can also conclude that money plays a big factor for the mother. “Oh, I hope so. It’s expensive enough,” she states when referring to the cap she purchases for her son (71). At times children can be carless, and carless enough her child ruins the cap by using it as a holder for the blackberries that the father and son bring home for her. “If we had money, it would be different,” she tells the father (73). The...
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...of how people are relying or even trusting technology more than other people. It is crazy to think this, but sadly it is so true. In Sherry Turkle’s TED Talk “Connected, but alone?” she uses pathos to persuade the audience that technology is actually disconnecting us instead of bringing us together. Sherry Turkle’s argument is simple. She believes that people think they are getting closer to one another by using technology, but really they have never been more alone. She provides three main pieces of evidence to support this idea. First, we put our attention wherever we want it to be, and she gives the example of people texting or shopping during important meetings or big events. She says that we are hiding from each other in this way. Second, we think we will always be heard if we are constantly texting or posting to social media websites. Finally, we believe we are never alone when we are online. Turkle does not think that we need to turn away from technology or our devices, we just need to rely less on them. This essay is to prove that she focused on using pathos to convince the audience of these ideas and why they are bad. Carter 2 ! Sherry Turkle opens her TED Talk by mentioning that her college student daughter sent her a good luck text. Then she goes into her reasons for technology making us alone together, hiding from each other, and...
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...windows A hooded figure slowly walks alone Though the weather is cold And the snow is wet Let us not forget A hooded figure slowly walks alone A twinkle of lights on trees Look mystical in the fading daylight The laughter of kids from houses A hooded figure slowly walks alone A full moon rises Snow shimmers in the air A door opens to a friendly face A hooded figure is no longer alone This poem is about things not always appearing what they seem. While the poem makes you believe that the hooded subject is completely alone in every aspect, you finally see that sometimes the journey may be lonely, but there is always a destination and a light at the end. The many different scenes that this person passes along the way are a tribute to the happiness that the holiday season brings upon most people. The sounds that the person hears are sounds of joy and the undying spirit of children mixed in the utter quietness that we hear when we are alone in our thoughts. The end result of this poem is that there is always a place that we belong and always someone that is happy to us. Another tone to this poem is that we are always the loneliest when night approaches, but are able to see that we are not always alone when everything comes to light. The poem is written in the quatrain form consisting of four stanzas. While the lines in each stanza do not rhyme, all except the last stanza has the common ending of A hooded figure slowly walks alone. I wrote this poem in the fashion...
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...against One of the most popular questions today is, “Are we alone in the universe?” Believe it or not, you’re in the minority if you believe that absolutely no intelligent life exists outside of planet Earth. In the United States alone, at least half of all Americans say that we’re not alone in the universe. Fifty percent of Americans already believe that there is some form of life on other planets, while only seventeen percent believe there is not. A quarter of Americans believe that intelligent extraterrestrial visitors have already come to Earth and have been doing so for a long time. (source) Here’s one of them: “Yes there have been crashed craft, and bodies recovered. We are not alone in the universe, they have been coming here for a long time.” (source) (source) – Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut, Air Force Captain, and Founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences There are multiple reasons why the extraterrestrial question continues to gain popularity. People are starting to ask questions about the world around them, utilizing critical thinking and investigative skills. After thoroughly looking into this topic, it seems inevitable that you will arrive at these conclusions: We are not alone, and we are being visited. The first one that comes to mind is Paul Hellyer, Former Canadian Defence Minister, the man responsible for combining the Canadian Air Force, Army, and Navy into one united force, now known as the Canadian Forces. Someone with such a background coming...
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...1. My reflection of Solitude is the state of being alone without being lone, solitude is a positive constructive state of engagement with oneself and is desirable state of being alone where I provide myself wonderful and sufficient company. Solitude is a time that can be used for reflection where one develops inner searching or growth or enjoyment of some kind. Deep reading requires solitude, so does experiencing the beauty of nature, thinking and creativity usually do too. Personally, solitude provides peacefulness stemming from a state of inner riches, it is a meaning of enjoying the quite and whatever it brings that is satisfying and from which we know sustenance, solitude is something I cultivate because it is so refreshing and an opportunity...
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...Alone Together By: Rebecca Eickhoff In Sherry Turkle’s article “The Flight from Conversation,” She states, “If we are unable to be alone, we are more likely to be lonely.” I agree completely with her statement because I, myself see this on a daily basis with family. I think it’s a very powerful and eye opening statement. What I read in this article was that people would rather be alone with their devices than be alone with themselves or others. After reading this article, I decided to observe my family for the day and see how much technology has consumed our lives. I woke the next morning to find myself going right to my phone, not to check the time, but to see if anyone text me or called me through the night. I then proceed to check social media and see what I may have missed. At this point I’ve probably wasted 10 minutes of my morning on checking things that really didn’t matter, instead of getting things prepared for the day. I see the same pattern for my kids. Once they’re awaken, its right to their tablets to see if anyone may have attacked them on a game they were playing the night before. It’s a constant battle of me repeatedly telling them to put their tablets down and get dressed. There’s rarely a “good morning, how did you sleep?” Just faces down, buried in their devices. I see it with my husband and I as well. I can be in a room on the other side of the house, instead of coming in the room to ask me something or just to tell me about his day, he will text me what’s...
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...Addicted to Being Connected Take a look around you, whether you are alone in your room, sitting in a classroom, or at work. Now, try to imagine a world without all your important apps on your smartphone. You wouldn’t be able to listen to your favorite songs on YouTube or Tweet about that awesome party you went to the night before. Technology is ever where, and there is no way to escape it. Smartphones, computers, social media and texting have become an asset to everyday human interactions. You touch a screen and reach someone presumed ready to respond, someone who also has a phone in hand. As time goes by you start to feel anxious because no one has replied to you. Technology negatively affects us by perpetuating the mindset of immediate satisfaction. The creation of various portable technological devices has slowly ingrained the idea of instant gratification. With gadgets like the iPhone or the Samsung Tablet, users are allowed to play games anywhere, update their Facebook status or email back their co-worker. These mobile devices allow us to keep in touch virtually everywhere and at any time. We grow up learning that whenever we want pleasure or enjoyment, it will automatically be granted to us. “And what I've found is that our little devices, those little devices in our pockets, are so psychologically powerful that they don't only change what we do, they change who we are.” Conversations take place in real time and so you cannot control what you’re going to say. “So,...
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...wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions, on Survivor or Oprah, then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates us, this is how we become real to ourselves — by being seen by others. The great contemporary terror is anonymity. If Lionel Trilling was right, if the property that grounded the self, in Romanticism, was sincerity, and in modernism it was authenticity, then in postmodernism it is visibility. So we live exclusively in relation to others, and what disappears from our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. That's 100 a day, or about one every 10 waking minutes, morning, noon, and night, weekdays and weekends, class time, lunch time, homework time, and toothbrushing time. So on average, she's never alone for more than 10 minutes at once. Which means, she's never alone. I once asked my students about the place that solitude has in their lives. One of them admitted that she finds the prospect of being alone so unsettling that she'll sit with a friend even...
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