...The Story of Evolution as a Utopia and the Evolution of the Story of Utopia In my first semester I had the college seminar that focused on the idea of Utopia in fiction, politics, and philosophy. Our discussions and readings went through a process of evolution that begin as rather simplistic and then followed a steady path to much more involved. Honestly, a reason that I chose the class was because I had done many of the readings before, but once the work began I realized that myself, and all the others in the class, would be looking at works, such as Candide and 1984, in an entirely different fashion. Many of the stories we read were written a substantial amount of time in the past and it was interesting to see how their meaning changed and evolved over different generations. While reading the books on biological evolution I could not help but see aspects of a desired Utopia in the theory of evolution. In this paper I hope to explore the evolution of selected works from my class last semester and address my feelings on the idea that the theory of evolution is a utopian notion. One of the works we focused on a great deal was George Orwell's 1984. This counted as a utopian and distopian society because the higher powers in the book were able to control the underlings exactly as they wanted to; whereas the underlings who were suffering it all, lived in great fear and unhappiness. Orwell wrote the book in 1948 as a warning to what he felt the world may become. As we well...
Words: 1142 - Pages: 5
...1984 in 2014 In 1984, George Orwell describes life in a world with an ideal government that has society’s support and citizens that obey all laws. Otherwise known as a “negative utopia,” Oceania is ruled by The Party, composed of different Ministries to maintain their compliant citizens. Thought Police work for The Party to identify those who oppose The Party by monitoring every action taken and word spoken. “Telescreens" and hidden microphones allow for effective monitoring, but the only thing they cannot know for sure are the thoughts that citizens keep in the privacy of their mind. As Winston’s life progresses in 1984, he becomes more aware of his and other’s opposition to The Party, and accepts the memories that The Party does not want...
Words: 1104 - Pages: 5
...Mastroianni Professor Marilyn Boyle-Taylor EAC 236 Monday November 2nd 2015 1984 By George Orwell There are vast amounts of ideas regarding utopia and several authors who have contributed their work which have been studied for many years (decades) in literature. Utopia is something that is imaginary; it is an ideal state of command and vision of political or social perfection. 1984 by George Orwell is one of the most widely read books based on a tale for our future society that involved nothing less than extinction of humanity itself. 1984 is based on a totalitarian government, which is a type of government that tries to take over all aspects of life without any other parties or opinions that can conflict with the exercise of it. This novel is a story based out of London where the city is very run down and dirty, there is not a lot of food to go around and mostly everything is disgusting regardless. The main character, Winston Smith, is a man who works for the government and hates the way he lives in this society he is forced to be a part of. Every day he repeats the same routine and tolerates what is expected of him or follows the consequences if he stepped out of societal boundaries. One day, a woman named Julia, who worked in the same building as him, turned his life around ever so quickly. They both wanted to rebel against “Big Brother”, the party which controlled their lives. Behind 1984 there is a sense of injustice; man versus a political system that targets individuality...
Words: 1158 - Pages: 5
...Where Is Utopia in the Brain? DanieL s. Levine Introduction The designer of utopian societies, whether fictional or real, often confronts the limits of what is possible for members of our species. But how severe or flexible are those limits? The explosive growth of behavioral neurobiology and experimental psychology in the last decade has produced many results on the biological bases of social interactions. This growth suggests that we can now look to science for some partial answers to the question of limits. Until recently, the social sciences and the biological sciences have mainly developed separate and disconnected accounts of human behavior. In the “nature/nurture controversy,” for example, anthropology has tended to emphasize cultural influences on human nature whereas behavioral biology has tended to emphasize genetic influences. The journalist Matthew Ridley (Nature via Nurture) provides an accessible account of the intellectual history and rhetoric of these two fields. Yet an increasing number of scholars in both areas are now realizing that behavioral biology and anthropology are studying the same human phenomena from different viewpoints. This overlap means there should be an underlying reality that is consistent across the different disciplines regardless of any disagreements in terminology. The behavioral biologist Edward O. Wilson calls this type of interdisciplinary commonality consilience, a term coined earlier by the nineteenth-century philosopher William Whewell...
Words: 9281 - Pages: 38
...In 1949, George Orwell wrote and published his final novel 1984 about a utopian society, Oceania, on the surface and a dystopian society when looked into further into through Winston Smith’s perspective. This character goes against the totalitarianism government ran by the Inner Party and Big Brother. Orwell gave a dramatic utopian and dystopian fiction book that is also political and social science fiction because Orwell often wrote about going against totalitarianism. Utopia is defined as ‘an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.’ which is exactly how George Orwell portrayed Oceania to be for a majority of the citizens or Party members. Oceania’s government or Big Brother can do no wrong, especially in the eyes...
Words: 780 - Pages: 4
...were around during these sudden changes in technology, it seemed that the future was right around the corner. This optimistic concept of the future sparked the creativity of artists and filmmakers everywhere and caused their imaginations to run wild with thoughts of what the world would be like in the very distant future. Incredible flying machines float over the Empire State Building while a war between humans and robots below is being fought with laser technology. An entire city made of porcelain and metal soars above Niagara Falls. Humans travel in tubes to work, and breakfast...
Words: 955 - Pages: 4
...Instead of change being made, the division of power remains present, only with different class members. This dichotomous pair of conversions creates a societal cycle of transition, from dystopia to utopia to dystopia again. Intellectuals have long noted its presence and writers across the span of history have written a variety of warnings against entering this dangerous series of change. Two widely celebrated pieces of literature, 1984 and Lord of the Flies are modern examples of novels warning against reformation that goes too far. In both works, people attempt to build a more perfect society, but the efforts result in evils far greater than the ones already present. Their respective worlds degenerate into something far more sinister, and instead of utopian, it becomes dystopian instead Both novels have an overarching theme of how society can devolve into something much worse a lesson all too relevant in the...
Words: 714 - Pages: 3
...Psychology Ariel Mendoza Grand Canyon University: General Psychology January 18th, 2012 Psychology is the study of human behavior and mental processes, not only what we do but why. Our thoughts, memories, emotions, perceptions, all fall under this category. It is the study of what makes us, us. There are ultimately four goals in psychology. Describe, explain, predict, and control. Describe, is when you observe. You look, watch, and listen so that you are able to identify and classify mental processes and behaviors as precise as possible. Ivan Pavlov was a physiologist studying digestive processes on his dogs when he came up with the concept of classical conditioning. Using the first goal of psychology, he observed that when his assistants dressed in white lab coats had come to bring edible and non-edible items for the canines, their mouths would begin to salivate. He began to explain or propose reasons for this behavior that the canines’ responses were learned actions. That in the process of trying to learn about their digestive systems by giving them food, he learned they had become accustomed to eating whenever the humans with white lab coats were nearby. Salivating to the expectation of food is a conditioned reflex. It was after what he explained that he could be able to predict what would happen if he changed their introduction to the food being presented. Pavlov wanted to change the conditioned response to a previously neutral one. The food was the...
Words: 512 - Pages: 3
...by Google Small order business www.hktdc.com Meet quality suppliers in Hong Kong Int'l Lighting Fair 2012. 6-9 Apr Create More Value www.thepartnershipmodel.com Develop stronger relationships with your customers and suppliers What do customers want? ey.com/global-insurance-survey-2012 How insurers can meet evolving customer needs. The true definition of marketing is setting up automatic, repeatable systems that create an environment where people want to buy from you instead of you having to sell them. Just as a bee is lured to the nectar of a flower, business people are lured to money. Entrepreneurs are the honeybees of our economy. Ultimately the goal of an entrepreneur is to extend the life of his or her enterprise for a lifetime. As a business owner, your ultimate product is a satisfied customer. Some facts about the Internet and search engines: Over 80 percent of Internet users use search engines to find information A typical search can often generate thousands if not millions of results Only those websites listed in the top 100 will ever see any significant traffic Each day, millions of online businesses are competing for those top 100 spots The best marketing advice I can give you is find the right audience, ask people what they what, and after that, simply give it to them. Marketing is the science behind encouraging interested people to buy. The success of any business basically comes down to these key points: You first have to increase the number of customers...
Words: 1378 - Pages: 6
...society you came from. However, they are on your trail. Once you get caught, there is no hope. This was what life was like for the inhabitants of 1984 and V for Vendetta. It was an existence full of ironic satirical tragedies, fruitless hope and rebellion. The people that are living in George Orwell’s 1984 and Wachowski brothers’ V for Vendetta are both the victims of a dystopian society. The society of 1984 and V for Vendetta heavily influenced by the possible alternate future in which Germany and the Soviet Union wins WWII and the conquered Great Britain is forced to become a fascist or a communist state. The government is shown to be playing a manipulative puppet-master role to the people in both societies. The two governments have gained absolute power over their people due to psychological motivation by the use of propaganda. Humanity is often criticized to be nothing more than evolved Neanderthals, striving for our own survival. These two novels show that human will turn a blind eye to any wrong-doing if there is a benefit for them. It analyzes how extreme human greed can be and how humans have great amounts of weakness. Both the text 1984 and V for Vendetta is a satire that ridicules the enemy leaders of World War II, exaggerates government manipulation, and criticizes humanity. The two satires ridicule the World War II leaders and the tactics involved. The society in 1984 is a ridiculed society that support communism; this is similar to the Stalin Russia in WWII. “… the Russian...
Words: 1671 - Pages: 7
...A dystopian society means that it is a total opposite to a perfect utopian society. And yes every person version of their own utopia but there are some things that most people will agree on. The literature version of dystopian future has been written about a lot. This is especially true of books like The Hunger Games, and Divergent have given new to life and popularity to the genre. However, the messages are a little misread by a society obsessed with stories. These stories in actuality remind us of what we could become in the future. There are many classical works of literature that shows us the future of our society. There is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury where knowledge and reading are sin. There is Anthem by Ayn Rand which handles the topic of collectivism, and only doing what the party tell you to do. There is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, where the main topic of discussion is how media distracts and brainwashes you, while also...
Words: 1825 - Pages: 8
...Cristal Zeas Professor Rogoff FYE 1320 April 1, 2014 Sharing is Caring In present day society, individuals dedicate their time to social media on the internet and electronics, towards updating statuses, rebloging pictures, favoriting videos, reading up on current events, and staying connected in general. It’s only been 25 years since Tim Burners-Lee invented the world wide web and it’s no secret that it is one of the most progressive and influential invention of our time. Dave Eggers, in his current book The Circle, foretells his version of what can happen with the growth of technology and social media and pushes our current standard of being virtually connected from the main social networks Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Tumblr. In this book, focusing on the ninth threshold of social networks and the technological self, we notice the influence of technology on societal construction and deconstruction of privacy and the nature of democracy impacting humanity’s digital life. Set in an undefined future time, Eggers’s novel tells the story of Mae Holland, a young idealist who comes to work at the Circle, an immensely powerful technology company that has conquered all its competitors by creating a single log-in for people to search, shop and socialize online. The company demands transparency in all things; two if its many slogans are “secrets are lies and privacy is theft.” Anonymity is banished; everyone’s past is revealed; everyone’s present may be broadcast live in video...
Words: 2335 - Pages: 10
...transitioning into more relatable characters, the heroes became not only icons for people to look up to, but something that they could one day become. Along with this transition, however, comes the addition of flaws. It is not believable for a human hero to be without flaws. Thus comes forth the fatal flaws, and then from that the beginnings of the anti-hero. An anti-hero is a protagonist that lacks important heroic qualities. The anti-hero rebels against society, but instead of completing their journey they usually fail. The beginnings of the anti-hero were brought about to serve as a warning that we are not strong enough to fight against the beasts (TED Ed). George Orwell, an English novelist, further explores this archetype in his novel, 1984. To establish this ideal he uses the main character Winston Smith, a man who challenges the oppressive government known as the Party. In his novel, Orwell uses an anti-hero archetype to successfully illustrate his warning to future generations of corruption due to an overwhelming power. Orwell purposely portrays Winston Smith with ordinary human characteristics establishing him as an anti-hero. Anti-heros have many characteristics that are unlike godly heroes, some even go as far as being complete opposites. Many anti-heroes are unwitty, naive, ignorant, plain, and even weak, which sets them apart from mythological and modern day heroes (TED Ed). Winston is a prime example of many of these traits. From the beginning of the book he is shown...
Words: 1893 - Pages: 8
...CHRISTIAN ETHICS IN A POSTMODERN WORLD The Rise of Postmodernity Since Federico de Onis’s use of the term ‘postmodernismo’ to describe the Spanish and Latin-American poetry of 1905-1914 which had reacted against the ‘excess’ of modernism in 1934, (Rose 1991: 171) “Postmodernism” became very popular. It has been used in the fields of art (Christo-Bakargiev 1987), architecture (Pevsner 1967), literature (Hassan 1971), video, economics, films (James 1991), ideology (Larrain 1994: 90-118), theology (Tilley at al 1995), and philosophy (Griffin et al 1993). In trying to understand ‘postmodern’, we have to understand ‘modern’ first. According to Rose (1991: 1), there are many related yet different meanings associated with the term ‘modern’. First of all, Arnold J. Toynbee understands modern as referring to the historical phenomenon of The most significant of the conclusions that suggest themselves is that the word ‘modern’ in the term ‘Modern Western Civilization’, can, without inaccuracy, be given a more precise and concrete connotation by being translated ‘middle class’. Western communities became ‘modern’ in the accepted Modern Western meaning of the word, just as soon as they had succeeded in producing a bourgeoisie that was both numerous enough and competent enough to become the predominant element in society. We think of the new chapter of Western history that opened at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as being ‘modern’ par excellence because...
Words: 6541 - Pages: 27
...Research Paper Final 12/11/2011 Euthanasia: “The Right to Die” The essential right that can assist today to every human being is life, but when turns out to be affected by a few deplorable conditions of health, which they take the one who endures them to meet in a situation in which there turns out to be imprisoned in an intensive care unit, of which it is not known if it will go out, where its existence is in the tightrope, where it can exist an irreversible exit, where the existence will depend in the future of extraordinary means, connected to machines like the artificial respirator, it is necessary to ask if the life is looking after or prolonging the agony that can take us to the death. Below I will discuss the definition of Euthanasia, some aspects to take for a possible approval, and finally i will discuss some of the points in favor and against euthanasia. For all practical purposes i will take as a definition of euthanasia the following: a patient's right to decide on the form and the time of his death., this within a short definition, but you are looking for the sole purpose the rid a person of their intense suffering, a merciless agony they endure as a result of a serious illness and incurable (for example, some types of cancer, or AIDS). The above mentioned illness or the condition must have been diagnosed sufficiently, so that its irreversibility characteristic, it is such, that determines the death as something inevitable. Within the same definition, the...
Words: 2382 - Pages: 10
