Order and Chaos

Vassiliki Koutsothanasi. "Image ID: 954919." 18 Feb 2008. Online image. Stock.xchang. 15 Apr 2010.

The first day of class, I just had some simple statements for "order" and "chaos."

I used to think "order" refers to command, organization, and perfection; and "chaos" refers to confusion, anarchy, and disorganization.

However, since I learned many contents from this course, now I have a different point of view than the beginning of this term. Although it might sound contradicted, I started to think order can be chaotic, and chaos can be orderly.

- Command / Military

- Organize / Government

- Confusion / Rush Hour

- Anarchy / War

- Disorganization / Natural Disaster

These are the good examples that can define my definition and thought that have been altered due to the class.

For example,

The horror, typically, is only felt by others -- the patient, unaware, amnesiac for his amnesia, may continue what he is doing, quite unconcerned, and only discover later that he lost not only a day (as is common with ordinary alcoholic 'blackouts'), but half a lifetime, and never knew it. The fact that one can lose the greater part of a lifetime has peculiar, uncanny horror. (Sacks 40)

As I mentioned in previous blog post, I think that Jimmie represent both order and chaos, and it depends on whose point of view that people are seeing them.

Even though Jimmie was different from other people because of the brain problems, from his point of view, he did not have any problems because he could not even recognize that he lost his memory and he was having a brain disorder. Just like Sacks said that the patients do not feel the fear because they would never know. However, from other people's point of view, such as from Sacks and my point of view, since we could see that he had a brain problem, his behavior seems to be chaotic. Therefore, as this example defines, one thing can have two faces, "order" and "chaos."

By applying this two-face possibility, the examples that I mentioned above can have both "order" and "chaos," which I could not notice in the beginning of this term.

- Command / Military

→ Command can make order; however too many orders can make chaos. Like in the 1984, it was obvious that too many orders from the Big Brother caused people's less motivation of thinking by themselves.

- Organize / Government

→ Government should be well organized to be able to function appropriately; however since each politician has their own concern (and sometimes it can be a selfish concern), government can be chaotic.

- Confusion / Rush Hour

→ Rush hour makes confusion because it causes a cloud of people. It seems it is chaotic; however, since everyone has their own schedule, and because they are following it, I think rush hour frequently occurs.

- Anarchy / War

→ War seems to be chaotic since it causes many deaths. However, war is also the result of each people's will, thoughts, and belief. Therefore, I think war is based on order; although it causes a great chaotic situation.

- Disorganization / Natural Disaster

→ Since natural disaster is caused by a great power that beyond human's control, it seems like a chaotic phenomenon. However, each Natural disaster has a cause and clear system which explains why and how it occurs.

This possibility of two faces is the new point of view that I have learned through this class.

Reflect on Professor Jacobson's lecture and text

Afonso Lima. "Image ID: 963178." 5 Mar 2008. Online image. Stock.xchang. 7 Apr 2010.

Professor Jacobson's lecture was very interesting because we could actually "see" that the small changes can cause large changes. As he demonstrated in his lecture, by using the formula, y=x²-2. By applying the numbers into the formula, it clearly showed that small changes in the initial value causes large changes in the value of later numbers of the sequence.

Also, since the word "chaos" has a bad impression, such as confusion and disorder, I did not think that chaos theory can be used in the field of medication. He mentioned that chaos theory is used to the medicines to cure (= to restore order) heart attacks and neurology disorders. Therefore, I felt very interesting that chaos can creat order.

Reflect on Professor Kjar’s lecture and text

Joanie Cahill. "Image ID: 584528." 6 Aug 2006. Online image. Stock.xchang. 28 Mar 2010

According to Geymonat, who wrote the biography of Galileo, Galileo insisted that people should recognize that there were two different types of language: “ordinary language” and “scientific language” (Geymonat 67). Galileo argued about the Ptolemaic Theory which was mentioned in the Bible:

God in his infinite wisdom, being familiar with both, understood very well when dictating the Sacred Scriptures that, in order to make the Bible comprehensible to its intended audience, it would be necessary to employ ordinary language as the only one understood by the common man. This entailed writing that the sun turned round the earth. But in science we must make use of the second kind of language, rigorous and exact, which is characteristic of scientific reasoning; hence we need not accept as scientifically valid the statement in question, despite the fact that it is found in the Bible. (Geymonat 67)

Science and religion strongly relates each other because both of them are the explanation for the system of the mysterious and unknown nature. However, I think each of them has a different support for their insistence: science is based on scientific theories and facts, religion is based on myths and belief. Although both have completely different supports, since they are explaining a same phenomenon, I think there are many antagonism between those two.

I felt this antagonism was also mentioned in Professor Kjar’s lecture.

Professor Kjar introduced some pictures that shows Adam and other animals were peacefully living together. There was no fighting nor hunting, but there was a beautiful piece of scenery. The pictures represented a perfect "order." However, those pictures were contrary to the scientific theories and facts, such as the theory of natural selection and evolution, which seems to be more complicated and chaotic than the pictures.

"What was God feeling that day?" this was the most impressive quote for me in the lecture.

Geymonat, Ludovico. Galileo Galilei: A Biography and Inquiry into His Philosophy of Science. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 1965. Print.

Blade Runner and Moral

Drew Struzan. 1982. Online image. Internet Movie Poster Awards. 16 Mar 2010.

-Q1. 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.

The world in Blade Runner was very interesting for me because people were speaking many different language (and I noticed they were speaking Japanese as well) in a small area. As we read about dialect and language in class couple weeks ago, although there are some exception, I think most place have only few common language for a particular place. In Blade Runner's world, I felt it was too random to speak many different language in a very small place because it is very hard to communicate without using common language. I know we can communicate through non-linguistic ways but still I felt it was too chaotic because I am used to use particular language to communicate in certain place.

And I think their expectation of 2020 was pretty accurate (a little bit exaggerated though) because even now we can see globalization, 2020 should be more globalized as the advance of technology. Therefore in 2020, there is a possibility of existence of many languages in a small area, just like this movie. This is why the world in Blade Runner was very interesting for me.

-Q2. A moral message of the movie is that it was wrong to enslave the replicants and use them as forced labor since they were so human-like in both appearance and thought process. What would need to be different about replicants in order for us to feel that it was OK to use them for labor?

I agree that Replicants and human were too similar in both appearance and thought process, and since they were too similar, it is much easier to sympathize with Replicants and it seemed enslaving human. Especially, when Replicants expressed many emotions, such as fear, anger, sadness, and love, there were nothing different from human. Also, when Deckard fought with Replicants, they bled like a human. So I could not think Deckard was fighting with "Replicants."

Therefore, to feel OK to use Replicants for labor, I think they should have completely different appearances and different thought process. For example, if Replicants totally looked like a robot and if they did not have same process of thinking, especially emotions, I think we can consider them as a tool, just like computers.

Reflect on Dr. Kapasula’s lecture and text

Mishin Yarik. "Image ID: 633847." 9 Oct 2006. Online image. Stock.xchang. 6 Feb 2010

Until I attended to Dr. Kapasula’s lecture, I even did not know there is an International Women's day. Her lecture was very interesting because she used the song, Single Ladies, as a material to explain her point. Also, since the main point of the lecture was about the feminism, I felt strong connection with The Burital at Thebes. I think the contrast between Single Ladies and King Creon's thought is very interesting.

As we discussed in the class, there are many part that King Creon mentions his hatred toward women. For example,

-"Who does she think

She is? The man in charge?" (31)

-"Listen to him. He's on the woman's side." (45)

Obviously, we can see Creon does not think women and men are equal. However, Single Ladies' lyric says that

・・・・・・・・・

I could care less what you think

I need no permission, did I mention

Dont pay him any attention

Cuz you had your turn

But now you gonna learn

What it really feels like to miss me

Don’t treat me to the things of this world

I’m not that kind of girl

Your love is what I prefer,

what I deserve

He’s a man that makes me then takes me

And delivers me to a destiny, to infinity and beyond

Pull me into your arms

Say I’m the one you own

If you don’t, you’ll be alone

And like a ghost I’ll be gone

All the single ladies　Now put your hands up

Beyoncé Knowles. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." Single Ladies. Columbia Records, 2008.

・・・・・・・・・

Since this lyric clearly shows her thought of women having the initiative, I felt the contrast between Single Ladies and King Creon's thought is very interesting.

I think that even though it was a usual condition (=order) that women had less chances than men and treated differently in past, it can be changed by the time and can become a wrong condition (=chaos) in the future.

Reflect on Professor Lemak's Lecture and text

Southernfried. "Picture_072b.jpg." 05 Jul 2006. Online image. Morguefile. 7 Mar 2010.

-How do we balance social justice with moral authority, or just with unjust laws?

As Professor Lemak mentioned in his lecture, I agree that social justice and moral authority cannot exist without each other. He gave us an example that Creon worked hard for his people in the story by using the rules that he got from God. However, it did not work out because he thought people need king but king does not need people. Actually, king needs people because he needs their support to keep the authority. If no one supports or agree with what he is doing as a king, that king does not need to be there because it is obvious that he is not living up to people's demand. Same thing can be said to the unjust law because it does not make sense to follow and that cause people's distrust.

-What constitutes social responsibility and justice, and what is the relationship between freedom and power?

I think moral constitutes social responsibility and justice because that is the very fundamental criterion for people to judge what is good and what is bad. I think there is no social responsibility if it is a bad thing to conduct, and justice should be a sense of right. Since people are the one who creates the sense of social responsibility and justice, moral should be the fundamental element.

-What constitutes leadership and how do leaders confront moral choices?

I think leaders should have a broad point of view to live up to people's demand and to confront moral choices. Professor Lemak mentioned that both Creon and Antigone were so sure that they were right so they couldn't see from the other point of view. I think this example represents that order and order may cause chaos. If leader is one-sided, he is likely to lose people's support because king cannot understand people's demand.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Self

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 2005. Online image. Portfolio Center. 22 Feb 2010.

-Who am I?

Actually, I do not know who I am. I have my name, I have a nationality, I can come up with some words to describe myself; however, all of them are just the label which was additive. My parents gave me a name, Ayaka. Japanese is just a name that human created to describe the nation. Therefore, it is difficult to think what elements can explain who I am. Although I do not know how to tell who I am, I can tell that I am here now and I have a history, my memory. I think memory have an important role to indicate one's identity.

-What forces shape our sense of self?

It is hard to answer this question, but I think every external force can have an influence to us to shape our sense of self. Like I mentioned in the first question, especially, memory has an important role to define who I am. It is because the memory is a record of the personal history, and the experience gives people lessons that can influence the sense. Because of this, it is important to accept and remember all kinds of memory, even though it is painful.

-What is the central conflict of the film?

Of course Joel and Clementine had a conflict because of their different personality; however, I think the biggest conflict of the film was the conscious and unconscious. When Joel and Clementine met again after the memory surgery (that was the very beginning of the movie), Clementine said, "Have we met before?"

Although they wanted to erase the painful memory, I think they also wanted to keep the memory, like Joel said "Please let me keep this memory, just this one" when he was put into sleep to erase the memory. Therefore, I think the conflict was both internal and external.

-What is the significance of the Title?

I personally like this movie's title, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" because it strongly ties in to the theme. As previously stated, even though both Joel and Clementine erased their memory and became a "Spotless Mind," they both remembered each other unconsciously and attracted again. Although they lost their memory about each other, they had unconscious "Eternal" memory like the bright strong "Sunshine."