Reflecting on Professor Kjar's lecture

I learned about evolution throughout the lecture given by Professor Kjar. First of all, I learned that when it comes to the topic, evolution, it is likely to include a variety of aspects such as theories, hypothesises, facts and truth. They appear to be all the same, each one is significantly different from each other. For instance, while facts are always the same as a conclusion not depending on the person, trush is something that you know. Evolution is likely to be believed as creation myths, which are different depending on regions and so it can be said that evolution is deeply related to the person's perspective or beliefs. However, in fact evolution always has something to do with biological facts. I was also surprised at the fact that evolution has a lot to do with science and it can be taken place because of a lot of elements like mutation, recombination and genetic drift. Professor Kjar explained since science has been developed rapidly, it could affect the way how creatures evolve. However, the most interesting fact that I personally found during the lecture was that to focus on the origin of the human being, we are related to each other. This line added new perspective to me in terms of evolution because this is what I had never come up with. Before the lecture, I had never been familiar with the topic because it had seemed to be too complicated and not related to me. However, now I feel evolution is somewhat connected to me as a human being.

Pardeshi. 8 October 2007. Online image. flickr. retrieved from:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pardeshi/1514977212/

Discussion Questions Related to Blade Runner

1. Blade Runner is best known for its cyberpunk mise en scene (design aspects of the film): the incredibly dense texture of its shots. Watch very carefully and describe the 2020 culture the movie suggests visually.

In Blade Runner, I consider that the world in 2020 is illustrated as destopia, which is old and decayed despite the high-technology. As I have just been to Los Angeles, where is the main stage of the film, I can compare the difference between the present one and the one which is illustrated in the movie. I found that although L.A. seems to have a variety of population such as Asian and Hispanic, it appears that the city in the film has more mixed and each culture is more influential. For instance, in the film people speak a variety of languages such as Japanese, Korean and German. Also, there are a lot of signs which are written in those languages. I analyze it is because those people, who do not afford to move to other planets, suddenly started to be forced to live in the dense city because of the environment of the earth. This is interesting because the phenomenon which seems to be taking place all over the world is globalization. In other words, every culture is getting similar or perhaps Americanized. However, what is expressed in the film is completely different.

2. One of the most dramatic philosophical points made in the movie is that we can't trust our memories: they may have been implanted in us regardless of how true they seem. what is the main reason that we trust our memories as more or less accurate accounts of our past events?

We are likely to judge things depending on our memories. I think the main reason for this is because our memories are a lot to do with our emotions. Emotions include a lot of elements such as love, hate, anger, jealousy, sorrow, fear, despair and happiness. For instance, when I was in junior high school, I belonged to a soccer team. I never forget the last game we played as a past event even though it has been more than 5 years. This is because after we lost the game, I looked back the incident over and over again as a regrettable memory. So, it still brings back bad memories. This can be explained by my statement, our memories have a lot to do with our emotions. If I had not felt anything about the game, I would not trust the memory or maybe I would have forgotten about it already. Consequently, I believe that because we strognly feel something which will eventually become a memory, we tend to trust the memory. Also, the stronger the emotion is, the more we are likely to trust the memory as an accurate account of our past event.

Twilightzone1960. 24 December 2008. Online image. flickr. retreived from

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsabree/3134993334/

Reflecting on Dr. Jesse Kabwila Kapasula's Lecture

On 8th March known as International Women's Day, I had a lecture given by Dr. Jesse Kabwila Kapasula. She is a lady from Malawi and the topic was feminism. During the lecture, she kept us entertained by showing videos and telling jokes. I was surprised at the fact that feminism started in North America and spread to most parts of the world. Even in Japan, where has a compulitely different culture, it is said that the phenomenon has become common in the last few decades. For example, I heard the news that even after women get married and have children, some companies guarantee those women's positions. I think that even gender include inevitable different roles, when it comes about job opportunities or education, I think men and women should be treated equally. The song "single ladies" by Beyonce gives a perfect example of elements for feminism. In the song, it can be seen that she complains about the way her boy friend treats her.

Social Geographic. 7 March 2009. Online image. flickr. retreived from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/social _geographic/3337573972/

Reflecting on Professor Lemak's Lecture,

1. How do we balance social justice with moral authority, or just with unjust laws?
I think that moral authority plays an important role in shaping social justice. Because of the existance of moral authority, people hesitate to do things they are not supposed to do. Actually, most people naturally balance social justice with moral authority to a certain extent.

2. What constitutes social responsibility and justice, and what is the relationship between freedom and power?
I believe that our rights as citizens in a certain place constitutes socail responsibility and justice. As we have the right to do something, it also means that we are responsible for ourselves and our actions in society. I think that freedom and power are deeply related and I consider that the relationship can be disrinct depending on the leader. If the leader tries to get power to bring freedom to the society, it works in a positive way. On the other hand, supposing the leader was tyrannical, it would be difficult for people to obtain freedom. Also, freedom could result in new power because with freedom, they have more chances to express themselves and act in his or her way.

3. What constitutes leadership and how do leaders confront moral choices?
As Professor Lemak mentioned, leaders are not super heroes, but humans; however I believe that good leaders are consistent in his or her decision. What is more, the leader has to convince people to get involved in his or her decision by speaking to those people. Then, the leader can effectively lead other people because they understand they have the same ambition to achieve. For instance, I respect Nelson Mandela as a leader, I think his leadership is prominent considering the fact that he never stopped insisting the abolition of apartheid even when he was imprisoned.

b1968. 7 May 2007. Online image. flickr. retrieved from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85788705@N00/489420674/

Film Critique: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Questions from "self" unit:
Who am I?
It is hard to answer the question. I can state some of my characteristics. However, when it comes to the question, "Who am I?", I am not able to answer it. For instance, I do not really know why I was born and what I am living for. I believe that one of the aims of our lives is to find out who we are. The self could vary depending on the situation. In other words, our selfs are gained through our experience. Therefore, I insist that there is no answer for the question probably for everyone because we could change a lot as long as we are alive.

Is there a self that I can control?
I think that I can control some of my selfs. For example, I myself made a decision to study in the United States. I think through experience people gain, they learn how to control themselves. Interestingly, people manage to make easy decisions in their daily lives such as how long they sleep, what they eat and where they go. However, none of them is able to control all of our selfs. Our decisions are deeply related to their mind, which is gained thorough experience and memories. Taken all together, I claim that it is essential for people to experience a lot in order to control selfs and make wise decisions.

Film Critique Questions:
What is the significance of the Title?
Even though both Joel and Clementine decided to erase their memories in order to get spotless mind, they started to be attracted to each other again. The title mentions the importance of memories, which could become the base of ourselves. Even after they got spotless mind, their memories were still in their mind because the memories had already become a part of their selfs.

What is the message to the audience?
I think that the message of the movie to the audience is the significance of memories including unpleasant ones. I agreed with Joel's realization. He realized how big his love is in the process of erasing his memories. I also would not be willing to erase my bad memories even if I got a chance. Because of those memoris, I have been able to make more efforts to secceed and I have learned a lot. This movie allowed me to think more about self.

The Significance of Human Nature

I chose the song "Let it be", which is one of the most famous songs by the Beatles. This song effectively expresses the human nature. Every single person is expected to live in society and therefore, as we learned, we are supposed to act "the social me", which is normally different depending on the situation. What is more, all of us are likely to face a variety of problems in our social lives to a certain extent. For that case, this song recomends you to be natural. I believe that it is because humans are selfless, peaceable and untroubled by nature as Rousseau claimed. However, this human nature, which is given by god, is likely to be destroyed by experiences which are brought out through society. Consequently, I claim that the song explains the significance of being natural in order to escape from the trouble.

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

The Beatles. "Let it be." Let it Be. Capitol, 1970.
The Beatles-Let It Be

Focusing on people's conversation

I belong to two speech communities, which are japanese and English. As I am living among people who speak English, I regularly use English to communicate with my surroundings. However, I studied in Australia for a while. So even though I do not consider myself to be a high level speaker of English, I sometimes recognize the difference between Aussie English and American English. For instance, I tend to say "cheers, mate" instead of "thanks buddy" as well as "no worries" instead of "you are welcome"which seem to sound strange for Americans.
On the other hand, it is also true that since I miss speaking Japanese and of course it is easy for me to speak it, I tend to denpend on my ability in Japanese, which could disturb my improvement in English.

On Thursday, I and my friends talked about our backgrounds including languages, what our hometowns look like and so on. I observed how my friends expressed themselves in terms of their tones, volumes and communication techniques.

Settings and Scene
The conversation took place in my room on Thursday. It started when I showed my friends the pictures of my house in Japan. All of us shared questions and answers in a friendly way.

Participants
While one person was speaking, others were listening to the one carefully except for the time they had different opinions. We kind of took turns expressing ourselves.

Instrumentalities
When they had different opinions, they tended to speak loud and their tones became higher. I think it was because of their emotion to tell others their ideas. Since we are all friends, we spoke in a casual way. Also, I noticed that while we concentrate on the conversation, we are less likely to care about grammer.

Ends
It was a good occasion to more clearly understand each other since our backgrounds are directly related to our charactaristics. What was more, we showed our respects for different cultures.

Esthr. 25 March 2005. Online image. flickr. retrieved from: http://www/flickr.com/photos/edyson/7438727/