Cyborg Sex

PART 1:So in Health today, we were learning about sexuality and how the body works during sex and the sexually transmitted diseases that can be distributed. On my way to my Chemistry class, I began to think and I thought of how cyborgs or robots would have sex. I don't think there would be any pleasure or intimacy involved. So if we WERE to become cyborgs, we would have metal all in our bodies from letting technology take over. Would sex be nice if this were the case? We'd have metal rapping with metal making "cling"ing noises. One would not enjoy the tough of the other's flesh. One would feel cold hard metal against one's body, which is cold and metallic itself. How would babies be born? Not through union of the sperm and egg I assume. I imagine only having offspring through technology. Maybe no babies would even be born, maybe they would just be created in adult form because I don't think robots and actually develop and "grow up". I realized that if people get technological devices installed for body parts, the sexual organs might be some of the last to be replaced, but at the rate at which people are becoming dependent on technology now, I can imagine that this might eventually happen. I can't believe I haven't thought about this before.

PART 2: Okay, so I gave my little rant about metal sex. Now time for some morality. What ever happened to the intimacy and the true meaning of sex? What happened to abstinence and waiting for the special moment? What happened to sex meaning love rather than fun or pleasure? I understand that some people may say, "What's so special about it? Don't put the _____ on a pedestal," but really have we lost our morals? I myself am abstinent and I will wait to have sex with my wife if that is God's plan. I don't think it's just right to hook up with random people or people one is just friends with just for one night. This makes us like animals. Animals have sex because it's their nature; they need to reproduce. But I feel for humans, because we have a conscience, sex is A LOT more than just reproducing. It's A LOT more than pleasure. It's love. I understand that I may be coming off as a soft, over-dramatic, emotional person, but this is what I feel. Having sex just for fun makes us like animals and diminishes the point of God giving us consciences and the ability to think and to abstain from anything we do not wish to do or that we shouldn't do. I'm not saying I am all holy and saintlike all the time, because I am definitely not. I just think people should think more of the things they do rather than to just do it for pleasure, or to have fun, or to seem like a badass for their friends.

The Animatrix

"The Animatrix" is a VERY disturbing movie. It showed the director's view of how humans will be overrun by humans that created the technology in the first place. His view is very similar to what I imagine will happen if we continue to depend on technology and continue to develop it just so our lives will be easier. Maybe one day, after we've developed technology so much and created robots and whatnot, people might develop programs so advanced and sophisticated that the robots will have minds of their own and will be able to think for themselves. It would be like another species of animals. I can't imagine that they could ever have consciences, so they could do anything with no regret or remorse. Then, the thinking robots would know that we can't possibly have control over them because they are stronger and never tire and possibly even smarter than we. Eventually, they would realize they don't have to be slaves and that they can overthrow us and then they would take us over.

It just sucks to even think about this happening. Why would anyone want to develop technology to be so complex? To make life easier? To make more money? To gain more respect and credit? Technology is cool and gets even more interesting as we develop it. People always like new things so we continue to make them. But there has to be some sort of stopping point when we decide that it's advanced enough and needs to be stopped. God created humans not robots, so robots don't need to be thinking for themselves and becoming their own species or race. I think we need to calm down on the progression a bit and just enjoy life as is and not forget what we have been taught and what we truly believe.

Robots Playing the Piano

For my IAE, I think I'll make a paper robot playing a paper piano. In my opinion, I feel this offers a big contradiction. Robots don't play the piano. Self-playing pianos play the piano, so is that considered a robot? Anyway, I thought I make the robot a cyborg with robotic body parts, but his face shows emotion. One cannot play the piano without instilling some emotion. At least a GOOD pianist cannot play the piano without emotion. It is human nature.

I feel that doing this will help create a bit of tension to show how people are continuing to evolve into cyborgs and that things should be done to prevent this evolution. I am trying to suggest that people will be unhappy once technology has overtaken our lives because that's how I see it will happen. Like in the movies, people will forget nature and the beauty of the world just so things will be easier for them. A cyborg playing the piano shows that physically the "person" is a technological medley of body parts while emotionally and mentally, he is still human. This is how I see the "evolution" of humans toward cyborgs to be.

The Social Network

This past weekend I saw "The Social Network"!!! It was a GREAT movie. It kind of got me interested in programming and computer science. It also had me really wanting to go to Harvard. Everything and everyone was so classy although they were snobby. Anyway, the plot of the movie itself was very intriguing. It had a lot to do with legality and politics. It showed people's obsession with money and success as well as with recognition. Mark Zuckerberg was willing to steal the Winklevoss' idea even if he didn't use their code. He robbed them of the profit they would have made had he not stolen the idea and created the website before they. People always like to be recognized for their accomplishments or for any contributions they made. The Winklevosses refused to let Mark have all the credit because it was their idea in the first place. Eduardo refused to not be named co-founder of Facebook. I really did not like Mark in the movie. He was a complete ass to his girlfriend and to Eduardo. You must have no soul to screw someone over like that! How can one bash a female online just because one was an arrogant asshole in the first place?!

This movie exemplified the extent to which we humans use technology and the Internet. It would not have been that big of a deal that Mark ranted about Erica except for the fact that everyone uses the Internet and apparently reads each other's blogs. Also, Mark, Eduardo, the Winklevosses, Sean Parker, etc. were all depending on computers and the Internet to make money. They didn't do any blue-collar work for money; they just used technology. And because technology is so prevalent in today's society, Mark Zuckerberg became the world's youngest billionaire by creating a website. Athletes use use their physicality don't make this much money. Music artists who use their instruments and voices don't make this much money so quickly. The only reason Mark made money was because everyone is obsessed with technology and the Internet, especially the younger generations of society. Even so, this obsession with technology and Facebook is even spreading to our parents and the older generations. I went to my friend's house for Fall break and his mom was on Facebook a lot of the time playing Farmville and trying to "farm". My grandpa ALWAYS carries around his top-of-the-line digital camera. My father NEEDS an insulin pump to control his glucose levels. ALL OF THE ABOVE carry cell phones to keep in touch with society. Everyone has become obsessed and dependent on technology and "The Social Network" shows to what extent this is true.

Low-Tech Cyborgs.

In his essay "On Low-Tech Cyborgs", David Hess brings up several points and ideas that seem to prove true in society today. He states, " The future, so it is said, promises an eve deeper relationship with the machine." This has been proven evidently true over the last few decades. Humans are evermore dependent on technology and machines. At first, technology just improved efficiency and productivity. It helped make tasks that were necessary to survive or thrive easier. Plows increased agricultural production. Steamboats increased trade and interstate relationships. But then, technology became one with the mind. People became addicted to it. We "needed" it. People mentally cannot survive without technology. We "need" our cell phones, our computers, our TVs. We "need" our cars, our lights, our banking system. What would we do if we cannot drive to work, if we cannot see in the dark, if we cannot talk on the phone? How would people ever survive? How did people 200 years ago survive?

It has even gotten WORSE if that's possible. Not only are people mentally dependent on technology, some of us are PHYSICALLY dependent on it. These people can't physically LIVE with technology, without pacemakers, without insulin pumps, without medicine. THIS is the extent to which people have become dependent on technology; they wouldn't be able to live without it no matter how much they wanted to. So knowing this, we ask ourselves, is technology a good thing or a bad thing? We continue to develop it but it destroys society. We need it to survive, but if we use it, we become dependent on it. The growth of technology has trade-offs. So we question, is it worth it? Is it worth losing society as we have known it so we can live easier lives and faster lives? What's the point of life if we don't have true relationships? Does true love even exist anymore?

In the story, Hess also says lucid dreaming is "the low-tech version of virtual realities." Is this true? Dreams are completely natural. But have our bodies trained themselves to give us lucid dreams, in which we are aware we are dreaming? Is it the same as virtual reality? I think not. I don't know much about lucid dreams but I believe them to be all biological and not low-tech versions of virtual realities. After reading this, I would like to experience a lucid dream. I don't dream often.

School

School is so frustrating. I hate Health 1040. The instructor takes it too seriously. I mean come on, it's Health. We've been taking it forever since Elementary school and it hasn't changed. Yeah we know to exercise and eat right and not to do drugs or drink alcohol or to become bulimic or anorexic. We know that we need 30 minutes of exercise a day and that we should cut down on saturated and trans fats. I made a 78 on my first test and I am going for all A's this semester. This is so dumb because I hardly studied for the test because its freaking Health. Anyways, Calculus 2 is kicking my ass. I guess I haven't really been putting in time but still, I used to be awesome at math and here at Tech, it's difficult. I think it's because the professor likes to prove everything in variables and letters and I like to see problems in numbers to better understand it. It's even worse that my Calc class is at 1, right after I eat lunch. So I am SO tired during lecture. Maybe this is why I've been slacking in my English blogs. I am behind in the number of blogs needed and I need to catch up.

On top of my schoolwork, I am pledging a fraternity, which takes a lot of time. I have weekly quizzes which I have to read for and I have to get signatures from all of the brothers by interviewing them and trying to get to know them more deeply. Each conversation takes about 1-2 hours and there are dozens of brothers!!! Also, I try to go home every week to keep in touch with my family friends and church. I am involved in the Youth Eucharistic Leadership Group at my church and I am trying to become a Leader. *Sigh*. I suppose I am just venting and that everyone else has as much work as I do or even more. School is just pissing me off and I guess I have to get my shit together and work harder and more efficiently. My high school soccer coach Michael Berry once said, "We do what we have to to live the way we want to." This proves SO very true and I have to recognize it and to do better. 

"The Veldt" vs. "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon"

"The Veldt" is a VERY disturbing story. It involves the idea that visions created by technology are actually reality. At first, when Lydia Hadley got so upset about the lions running towards her husband and her, I felt that the nursery was just a vision put on by the technology of the room, and I didn't think the lions could actually hurt her. But when I discovered that the children used the room to actually kill their parents, I realized that the room was REAL. While reading the story, I was reminded constantly of an idea already set in my mind: technology has destroyed the intimacy and quality of relationships, particularly those between children and their parents. This is so ludicrous. People ought not be so consumed in technology that they forget about those things that ACTUALLY matter: God, family, friends. Kids these days are so into texting and video games and computers and social networking that they neglect their parents. Some parents allow their kids to do this because they want their kids to be happy and don't want their kids to hate them, as shown in "The Veldt". Other parents try to force their kids to be involved in family activities rather than do other things and thus, their kids hate them. It is not the parents fault that this is occurring in society. It is technology's fault, and those who engage in it.

"The Veldt" reminded me of the story "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon." This is because in that story, a man has his emotions dictated by a ship, a machine. This is very similar to the children in "The Veldt" having THEIR emotions dictated by the nursery. They are so attached to the nursery that they forget what is reality. They forget that their parents are the ones who even bought it for them in the first place, not so the children can kill them with it, but so they can have some peace of mind and imagination. This is like the man in "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon" because he does not know which scenarios are false and which one is real. This is the ongoing problem in society today. People are too addicted to technology because it makes life so much easier and more convenient. For example, when George Hadley told his kids that they were going on a month-long vacation, they freaked out. They asked questions such as, "Who will tie our shoes?" or, "Who will brush my teeth and bathe me?" That is just absurd. If kids can't do stuff like that, what CAN they do?

Sometimes I wonder if people from 100 years ago would feel the same way about society as I feel as stated above. Do they think we are weak and too into technology and have lost actual substance in our lives. If I were them, I probably would feel that way. We have come so far because of technology, but we have also taken steps back. Pros include not having to work so hard on academic tasks or not having to talk to people in person. Cons include not having to work so hard on academic tasks and not having to talk to people in person. As mentioned in previous blogs, many people these days just sit behind a computer and "socialize" through the computer, but when it comes time to actual talk to a REAL person, they are all quiet and nervous. This is the problem with the spread of technology. It diminishes us as a human race. Everything is so fast-paced now with improvements in technology and very few actually stop to enjoy nature or spiritual matters. "The Veldt" perfectly exemplifies how I feel about technology. It takes over people's lives, especially those of whom are most important: children, the future of our society.

Is it THAT Cool if You Cry?

So I went to a Praise & Worship event, which is an event in which a band plays Christian music and in which an adoration session is held for those attending to pray, at my girlfriend's church. At first, I was kind of being a douchebag by not actively participating in the festivities. I just sat outside the action, observing the kids do their activities. Then, one of my new friends, with whom I had just become friends the day before, recognized that my girlfriend and I had gotten into a fight and talked to me about it. She is a relatively good friend of my girlfriend and told me to stop being so stubborn and to actually hang out and participate because my girlfriend just wanted to be with me. So I got over my stubbornness and actively participated. I really got into the music and started performing the body motions that go with the songs. Often, people do not participate because they think they are cool. That is NOT why I didn't participate at first. I didn't participate at first because I was tired from staying up late the night before. But I got over it and then got into the action. Anyways, people often just show up at events and just try to look cool and just stand around hoping for someone to approach them and try to make friends with them. Often, they just walk around with earphones in their ears trying to show off they have an iPod.
ANYWAYS, to the REAL topic of the blog. During the adoration session, in which we pray intently with a Eucharistic host in the middle of the room, several people started to cry because they recognized their faults and sins. I even cried myself a bit. But some of these little middle school girls tried to SHOW OFF that they were crying. I can imagine they actually felt some sentimental feelings at one point but after that initial tear, they just kept TRYING to cry. I assume this is to show off how "religious" they are and how close they are to God. I saw right through them. I could tell that they were only crying so that others could see them because I saw them actively looking around trying to see if people were looking at them. Why do people insist on caring about what others think about them? Why do people NEED others to know how religious they are? Why do people NEED others to think they are cool? I think it's all bullshit and I just do what I want or what I think will be good for my future. Stupid fakes!!!!!!!!

Gimme a Break from the FAKE

Why do people insist on being fake? I know it sounds contradicting come from someone who is pledging a fraternity and who has changed the way he dresses because he's pledging. Honestly, I have gotten over the scene/indie phase and have realized that it's time to move on and to dress more professionally. Now, I LIKE wearing polos and clean-cut shorts and pants rather than band t-shirts and rugged shorts. Not that there's anything wrong with the way I dressed; I just feel that if I were to somehow arrive in a situation in which I am talking to a future employer or sponsor for some sort of scholarship, then I would be WAY more professional-looking with the way I dress now rather than with band t-shirts. 

ANYWAY, apart from that tangent on the way I dressed, why do people just act "cool" to fit in? Why do people blow off their real friends so they can hang out with their cool "friends". In contrast from the way I dress, I stick by my old friends while making new ones. I don't ditch anyone unless I HAVE to when it comes to school and church and other obligations. I have missed more social events at my fraternity than I might have wanted, but I did it in order to go home and hang out with my old friends and my girlfriend. But I know some people who completely change their personalities in order to fit in. I don't resent them because they don't hang out with me anymore, for we still hang out, but I resent them for thinking they are even more arrogant than they were before and put others down in order to feel cool. I know people who go to a party or something and HAVE to tell me EVERY SINGLE THING that happened there because they feel cool they experienced it. Funny thing is I WAS THERE TOO so I already know exactly what they're talking about. But they insist on explaining every detail to me anyway. Hmmmmmmmm.....I hate Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber.