Password Pill

Is technology bringing out the idiocy in people?

As time goes by our knowledge of the world around us heightens as technology itself reaches a prosperous level. As technology advances, things become much easier to tackle. It is a beneficial card to humans. But at times advancements in technology doesn’t deserve the title of beneficial but plain idiocy, reflecting how lazy humanity has become. A Password Pill, an article I read in the latest issue of Upfront, introduces a pill (which you take like medicine) that activates with the help of stomach acid. Its purpose is to send a signal to either your smart phone or computer, allowing you access without a password. A pill that allows you to get rid of the 3 second hassle of entering in your password. How helpful is that?

First, what of the dangers of swallowing such a pill? The article states, “When swallowed daily, the edible password vitamin (actually a chip) will use acid in your stomach to turn itself on…” Aside from the fact that you have to take this pill daily, this chip enters your body. Usually we are so skeptical about what we put in our bodies; it is a stretch to assume this pill will actually sell even with a complete medical review. This chip may trigger something negative in some people, since our body conditions vary greatly. Also the fact that it is sending electrical signals through our body makes me question if it will do my body any harm. There has been talk that just holding your phone to your ear for too long may give rise to health problems, so why not this chip?

Secondly, how long does it take to punch in your password? I would say 5 second at most by experience. If wasting 5 second of your time is more of a hassle than actually stopping to take a pill then, I think I just lost whatever faith in humanity that I have left. Are you serious people? Beside that, this is proof that we are letting technology advance to the point where we are relying on it too much. The fact that I am sitting on my bed typing this instead of handwriting it is an example of how much we reply on technology. As a consequence of this, my handwriting suffers greatly. No longer does it matter to have the neatest handwriting in class, as long as it’s readable. Therefore, taking the password pill must have a consequence as well.

Comparing 2014 to as early as 2000. so many advancements in the world of technology has taken place. It has come to the point where it’s astonishing. Stories about not being able to use the internet while your mother was on her phone seem less believable than a fairytale. I myself cannot make it through a day without my phone handy. Overall I am not saying technology is bad, but what I’m trying to say is, technology is a privilege and it is best to not exercise that privilege too much. 

Bird in a Cage

Humanity has faced and still continues to face many obstacles, let it be environmental or not, which could potentially bring the race down to its extinction. But there’s a drive in our guts; a drive for survival that always forces us forward. An urge to push on and succeed for our own benefit, have always been the key to our dominance. Humans treasure life and will obtain the power they need to harness a way to keep it with any means necessary. If sacrifices need to be made to keep their precious lives, then they shall make them, even if it takes away the life of another. This is human nature, the nature of a prideful race.

By closely analyzing the German song, Bird in a Cage, originally known as, Vogel Im Kafig sung by Cyua, the song covers the humanity’s need to move forward, advance and virtually move on to maintain a dominant position in the world. A line from the song says, “We hopefully can understand it someday. We are walking to the other side of the horizon. We hopefully can understand it someday. We go on with firm steps.” This line portrays that humanity is advancing to a much greater length which lies beyond the average scope. Let the advancement be in space travel which opens up the universe or in medicine that allows us to lengthen a life at risk. To reach these advancements we make many sacrifices, human or not. For the future of medical health, we experiment on animals we dominate to get the results we need. We value our own lives over others.And as humans are supposed to do, we are leaving behind the old methods and adapting to the new ways of living that allows us to become a more knowledgeable and physically stronger being. This act strengthens out hold of the world and feeds our minds the power of superiority.

However, superiority does not grant us perfection. Actually we are far less than perfect. These lyrics from the song give us an insight in what it truly is to be human;“tears, bliss, pity, ruthlessness, tranquility, chaos, trust, betrayal…” Humans feel emotions and let them influence us, that is what separates us from machines or many other organisms. We are selfish beings, condemned with the need for a stronger standing. We are generous and affectionate. We fear, we cry, and we smile. Most importantly we feel, and let our emotions control us. This is the one flaw that builds us strength to prosper and collapses to break us down. 

But just as we have to advance we have to move on. The song also portrays this need in the lyrics, "With sorrow and confidence in our hearts, we show the will to move on." As humans we gather many experiences that change us. Sometimes the experiences traumatizes us or leaves a blissful memory. But humans need to move on from that experience, that that effect them, take away a lesson, and let it go. This ability gives self-confidence and sets the mind at peace. Therefore, the ability to move on is equally important to advancement.

To be human, we need to advance and let go. This is what makes us strong.

It will Hurt If your Head is in the Clouds

Often we question what it would feel like to have the power to do something that we are not capable of fulfilling at the very moment. We fantasize about it and eventually become anxious to achieve it. Anxiety soon clouds the reality of where we stand and for an instance we fly up to the clouds. Only, in a sudden moment, our wings disappear and we plummet back into what is real… We all have the tendency to get lost in the clouds, though it seems like a harmless act, it has the potential to shatter us to the most minuscule pieces.

The short story; The Stolen Party written by Liliana Heker portrays this concept within the story. The historical plot involves a girl named Rosaura and her mother who is employed to the rich household of Senora Ines and Rosaura’s friend Luciana. Rosaura’s young stubborn self fails to realize no matter how she looks at her situation, she is not considered her friend’s equal. The blunt fact hovers above everything; she is the daughter of a poor employer of a rich family- that’s where it starts and where it ends. There could never be a thicker line separating their social standings. Yet still, Rosaura has her head in the clouds, fantasizing about the power of authority and acceptance which she never had, because just the thought of it brings her contentment and joy. To pursue her contentment she crosses her boundaries. She thinks she gains acceptance when she plays with the children at Luciana’s birthday party. She thinks she has authority when she was able to decide who will get the bigger piece of the birthday cake and who will not. But in reality a higher queen sits on her throne above her with a natural manipulative crown, making everything happen for the benefit of herself; Senora Ines. By the end of the story when Senora Ines holds out cash to Rosaura for helping her pass out the drinks and cake, Rosaura is shoved back harshly to her side of the line when she realizes the authority she felt didn’t belong to her. The single act of offering of payment shows, Rosaura is not Luciana’s equal but the daughter of her friend’s mother’s employer and that is what she will always be in Senora Ines’ eyes. Not equal.

Young Rosaura dreamed, though it’s fantastic to have a dream to reach, it’s unsafe if that dream floats in a whole new planet light years away when you don’t simply have what it takes to get there. Obstacles and challenges in the form of meteoroids will collide against your space ship which can bring you down in a split second. You’re moment’s peace could be taken away in a millisecond. It will hurt. It will hurt a lot. But whether or not you have the potential to endure it or not will play a critical part into making a dream which you craved for into a gratifying reality.  

Words can Make or Break

2013 on the surface seemed to progress as “just another year” for me. Underneath the skins however, I found my mind expanding as the universe itself expands. My outlook on the surroundings around me has matured at a drastic level which never failed to catch me off guard. Sometimes when I think to myself, the voice inside my head seems to have such a sophisticated tone that it seems alien but familiar at the same time. At times, I don’t want to realize 2013 has actually been a year where my mind made a very important decision. I fear that I might not be the same anymore if I define myself to that choice. Who knows if this “choice” will be for the better or for worse?

In 2013, I think I have decided to scratch the path that could virtually construct who I, as a person, will be in the future.

Initially, the books, mangas, and movies I have picked up and the people I met last year played a huge part in my “self-reconstruction”. But a single manga which I happen to find lying on a table in my public library changed me the most. Around June of last year, I was exposed to many dark corners of this word; let it be violence among people, discrimination against people, or just the insecurity that surrounds most teenagers around or close to my age. I was exposed to this so quickly that it all came as a blast which caused me to doubt if the world contains any “good” people at all.

The summer of 2013, I picked up an amazing manga entiled Attack on Titan (aka Shingeki no Kyojin). It revolves around a futuristic world where humanity is at the brink of extinction, facing a horrific predator a hundred times their size. Although many might wonder how any of the content can really have any impact on me if not at all? As I said in my previous entry, a work of total fiction can hide the most useful lessons. This manga hides so many messages and it portrays the best and worst of humanity with striking accuracy. The characters are portrayed with real human personalities which guide the readers from humanity’s greediness to it’s generosity, revenge to truce, loyal to betrayal, and from wish to the need to make it a reality. This manga showed three things; (1) to appreciate what you have. (2) You are your biggest enemy. And most importantly, from this manga I was able to acknowledge that (3) the world is filled with people with opinions, it’s whether you agree with them or not.

Now, these three rules are something that I have come to live by. It’s a constant reminder to myself when things go into the dark. I’m glad I have the opportunity to read such wide variety of things; I’m glad that I can just simply read. This year I plan to keep on reading to expand myself further, because now I know words have the power to make or break.  

(I want to thank Ms.Warren for assigning this reflective work. I don’t know if this falls into what you were looking for since its super self reflective, but I felt the need to write this down somewhere. This assignment seemed like the perfect place. Writing all this down helped me strengthen what’s been fuzzy thoughts circling around in my head. So thank you.) 

False Peace

Often in a fantasy or a science fiction book, real world social issues are masked behind the curtains of a new world or mythical creatures. Readers of these books often miss the subtle message the author is sending sneakily. Audiences of fantasy and sci-fi books are mainly readers who are just there for the exciting story, not those who turn to books for wisdom. But wisdom is not in lack in fantasy books, its there to the ones who search for it. The science fiction book, City of Bones, the first book of the popular series, The Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra Clare, holds a few hidden social justice issues. The book revolves around a sixteen-year-old Clary Fray who discovers the supernatural world of the Shadowhunters; a race of half human and half angels whose sole purpose is to rid the world of demons. After her mother mysteriously vanishes, Clary begins to discover the truths about herself, her past, her mother, and the Shadow world. One impacting issue Cassandra Clare hints in this book is, “false peace” among people of different races. I believe the false peace between the characters described in this fantasy packed book can reflect the false peace among the people of the real world.

In City of Bones, Cassandra Clare portrays false peace between people through the struggle of superiority within the Downworlders (supernatural creatures) and the Shadowhunters. More specifically the struggle arises within different races of creatures. For example; in this book, like the stereotype; the vampires and the werewolves harbor hatred for each other. This hints at the raw scope of racism that still exists in the world. The antagonist Valentine strongly believes anyone with demon blood in their veins is evil and therefore should not have the right to own a life. The beliefs of the antagonist portray the discrimination of superiority on race feels over another in this world. It shows how one race might think the other cannot have the same rights as they do.  The Clave (Shadowhunter government) formed accords (laws) which had to be signed by Downworlders and Shadowhunters that called a truce among the creatures. This is similar to how our government has passed bills and amendments which called for equality. But in truth, these documents did not render us true peace but peace that only showed in the surface.

When Cassandra Clare used the term “false peace” she probably intended to thread her readers into thinking about if our world is truly in peace. The world is not in peace, in fact, it’s under a peace that exists on the surface, which is worse. People harbor opinions and emotions within them because it’s wrong or even illegal to express them. This only fuels their opinions or hatred. So below the surface everyone has a grudge against someone else. But what makes this dangerous is that not many are aware of this. To rise awareness of the falsity of what we know as peace Cassandra Clare most likely hid a message in her very unrealistic story for the world to know.   

Obsidian Mirror- Catherine Fisher: Social Issue

The world is dying because of our greed.

One of the social issues in the book Obsidian Mirror, by Catherine Fisher, is environmental pollution. Janus, the antagonist, is overusing the power of a mysterious time traveling mirror called the Chronoptika. The consequence of its power is the youth of the world. The book involves, Sarah, a supporting character, who goes back into the past to destroy the mirror, but meets a man, Oberon Venn, who is obsessive over the mirror’s power, and Jake, the protagonist, who needs the mirror to bring back his lost father. Sarah needs to destroy the mirror before it explodes and sucks in all matter of space.

Janus is abusing the environment by greedily using the Chronoptika to change the past to his favor to make himself powerful and rich similar to how people take advantage of the Earth’s resources. With each journey into the past, the Chronoptika became more brittle, sucking in matter and light into itself at a terrible rate. It came close to exploding and creating a black hole which could possibly suck in the entire universe. This event reflects off of the real environmental issues of the world. I think Janus’ greediness represents all people of the world. We as humans become greedy to achieve what they want, and they become unaware of how much it’s hurting the planet they live in. We clear out forests with healthy trees to build skyscrapers or luxurious oasis that is not in our ‘survival needs’ list. We pollute out water, air and land with the products we make that we don’t necessarily need. It has come to the point where global warming is occurring with the polar ice caps melting, and holes in our atmosphere have appeared which lets in harmful UV rays. We decide to achieve things for our luxury without thinking about the negative affects it may have on the world we live in.

We as humans take but not give, and this abuse of environmental resources is a social issue that we must take a social action against. Many social actions are already in full action, such as the process of recycling and conserving our waste. Many electric cars are being introduced in hopes of decreasing air pollution caused by the fuels released into the by the vehicle. Many harmful factors that we make have been banned, but the world is still far from its recovery. If all of us contribute in any way possible, from a small action as stopping ourselves from littering, to an action as big as saving a whole ocean from oil leaks, we can prevent the world from faltering.                

Response to "Why The Best Kid's Books Are Written With Blood"

Sherman Alexie, the author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, writes the article; Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood, in response to Megan Cox Gurdon’s popular and argumentative article about Young Adult (YA) literature “reflecting hideous portrayals of what life is”; Darkness Too Visible. In her article Alexie disagrees with Gurdon and stresses; YA books does not protect a reader from difficult situations that they had already endured but acts as a weapon for the reader to use to tackle down that difficult situation. She believes “book banners” are trying to ban books for the protection of privileged kids who have not yet had their hands dirty. But what about those whose hands are already dirty? She believes that YA books are meant for those kinds of readers, readers who have already have gone through or going through a tragic challenge, to use the words they read as weapons they could use to later tackle their challengers. 

 

In Alexie’s article she talks about teenagers she met at a promotion ceremony for a Seattle alternative high school. She describes how a lot of these kids at the high school have “…stories that are individually tragic and collectively agonizing” and how they all loved and have been inspired by Alexie’s controversial book; The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. She also shares her story of major hardships of being a Native American teenager. She states “When I think of the poverty-stricken, sexually and physically abused, self-loathing Native American teenager that I was, I can only wish, immodestly, that I’d been given the opportunity to read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”. She says this to say that YA books such as the one she wrote serves as a resource for teenagers who are facing similar challenges as the characters in the book. Then Alexie poses another side of her claim of “book banners” trying to protect the privileged kids. She shares a small story of her meeting a 17-year old boy, who is from a well rounded family, undergoing a very torn situation of being forced to join the army by his father and him wanting to become a writer. He had turned to her book for inspiration and help with his problem. This shows even a“privileged” kid needs help.

 

Sherman Alexie uses several craft moves to help her support her claims. She has a serious tone when she shares stories of the people she met undergoing tragic difficulties now taboo to the world of YA literature. Her seriousness portrays how she strongly she feels about these “dark” topics that she writes about in her books which are actually a common problem to common people. However when she is directing her argument at Megan Cox Gurdon she has a very sarcastic tone and a lot of authority over her in her voice. In her article she says “He  was seventeen and destined to join the military. Yes, he was old enough to die and kill for his country. And old enough to experience the infinite horrors of war. But according to Ms. Gurdon, he might be too young to read a YA novel that vividly portrays those very same horrors.” In this quote you could hear Sherman Alexie saying, “Come on now Ms. Gurdon, really?”

 

Another craft move that Alexie uses in her article is little small moments she shared about herself, and teenagers facing the horrors of life. She uses each small moment to support her opinions. For example, in the small moment she shares about herself, she mentions if she could have read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian when she was facing the same problems as the protagonist of that book, it would have helped her cope greatly. This supports her claim of YA books acting as a weapon for teenagers to use to tackle their worst nightmares.

I definitely agree with Sherman Alexie’s argument. And I most definitely agree with her statement; “I read books about monsters and monstrous things, often written with monstrous language, because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life.” This statement which she directly made, speaks to me. It stands very true to me. When I pick out books to read, I choose books with the characters facing a similar problem as I am. I want to read about someone who’s battling a similar monster as me. I want to learn how they face that monster down so I can do it too. And sometimes the best way to learn something is to have someone else show you how to do it. This is the concept schools use. The best way for a student to learn to multiply numbers is by having a teacher show you how to do it. If that’s okay, then why is reading a young adult book which deals with real world problems not okay to read if it can teach you how to tackle challenges you may face once your out there alone in the world? Basically parents who are in support of the “Book banning” extravaganza want to shield their kids from the real world, typical of common over-protective parents. But this simple act of “protecting” kids from the consequences of the world, which may seem as justice to most parents, can really affect their kids in their adult life when reality slaps them in the face.