Philosphy ISU - Down and Out in The Magic Kingdom

Caitlyn O Dec 17th


Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Philosophical Analysis


Society:
2) What is Whuffie? Is it different to the concept of money? How do you make Whuffie? Do you believe Whuffie is a good idea? Are there bad things about Whuffie? Would you enjoy and Whuffie world? Explain.

Whuffie is a concept based on the science-fiction novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctrow. Doctrow takes a look into the future and what he thinks it will be like. He came up with the idea of ‘Whuffie’ which is a reputation-based currency and identification. Meaning the more good you do, the higher your Whuffie is. You are more highly regarded with a higher Whuffie, so it’s natural to want to do good to increase your Whuffie. The basic necessities in life are free in Doctrow’s future, even some of the more luxurious things. It is very easy to access someones Whuffie as everyone has a brain implant that allows them immediate access to someones Whuffie rating. You can ‘ping’ someones Whuffie and communicate with someone via sub vocal digital waves.

I believe that Whuffie is a great idea. However, I feel it’s too idealistic. In a perfect world Whuffie would exist, but in the flawed world we live in with the flawed people, it’s just not reality. If Whuffie actually was reality, I believe everyone would be so much happier. We’re all giving and recieving, not fighting over the first world problem that exists today, money, it just seems like the perfect answer. Makes me wonder why humans didn’t invent Whuffie instead of money instead. I guess population control? That could be an issue. If there was Whuffie, we would have way more people. No more wars over money, so no deaths, less people dying from preventable diseases. We’d probably be way more technologically advanced. I think the element of competitiveness wouldn’t be there though. Well at least you’re competing for Whuffie by doing good things so that’s at least better than something so selfish as money. Ultimately I would prefer to live in a world where Whuffie is currency. I like to live my life believing in Karma, I suppose a similar concept but if everyone believed in karma, I’d have a little more faith in it!



Philosphy
1) The Bitchun World is a worl;d of immortality...there is no death and one can always be refreshed in a new clone. What are some problems for the self, tome memory, and good and evil?

The Bitchun Society is the romantic idea that we get pretty much everything we want and there are no longer scarcities of things like food and clothes, there’s a surplus of everything so there’s no man left out. It’s the perfect society. No one dies, unless you do something called, Dead-Heading for 10,000 or so years and that’s their form of suicide. Many philosophers wonder about human behaviour if we were to live in such a perfect world, and whether things would actually be perfect or not. It is difficult to know whether this would work in real life, if the Bitchun society could not only exist, but flourish? Are good and evil really two separate things in this sort of lifestyle? If someone can’t die, is killing them a crime? It’s all about the motive behind things, why would that person do something evil as a vendetta, if it could just be undone?. In a world were everyone has access to everything, would people still lie and cheat and steal? It’s hard to know what humans would be like. It’s puzzling to think whether our innate human nature would change in that kind of society, if we would all just be born wanting to please others and do good. The concept of the Bitchun Society brings up many philosophical questions, with no clear answers.
Refreshing in Cory Doctrow’s Down and Out in The Magic Kingdom, refreshing is basically the cure for death. How they do this is they create a clone of your brain’s information and grow it, so when you die, your information can be passed on or ‘downloaded’ into a new host. Memorize are synthesized and can be transferred from one body to the other. This opens the doors for the questions philosophers have been arguing for years, is life worth living forever? People are always asked whether they would want to be immortal or not, and the answer always differs. Well this is a society where you have a choice. Doctrow’s future makes us wonder whether we would want to live eternally, or just die. I personally feel like the value of life is disrupted if we were all to live forever. We are supposed to live short, but value every moment on our short time of earth. If we just had copious amounts of time, what would we do? I feel like I wouldn’t do much. It also harms the “cycle of life” Birth and death. If everyone’s eternally living, you can’t have children because of overpopulation? Seems to unnatural to me. But I suppose there’s good things about living forever too, and that’s what makes it philosophical.

ROACH ART

Cliff Maynard

Jimi Hendrix
Snoop Dogg
Creation
Artist at Work
Cheech & Chong

Seattle Hempfest
Kottonmouth King Logo
Method Man
Bob Marley

Addiction
Jerry Garcia

Jim Morrison.. i think

Cliff Maynard - Roach Art

Cliff Maynard is a 37 year old from Pittsburg who managed to use his love of marijuana to create beautiful mosaics of famous musicians using the last bit of paper at the end of burned joints. He titles his art "Chronic Art".

Although you'd think all he does is sit at home smoke weed and glue little ends of spliffs on paper, but surprinsingly, he is one of pittburgs best and most reputable tattoo artists. He started his art merely as a hobby, which later caught the eye of thousands of stoners and like-minded individuals around the world.

He attended the art intitsute of Pittsburg where he claims remembering studying mosaics, and after smoking a j one day, he made the comparison of roaches to the tiles of mosaics.

His first creation was of Jesus, as he is a catholic. His second was a recreation of Michealangelos famous "creation". He has created other works of notorious rock star stoners, such as Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Jerry Garcia and even rappers such as snoop dogg and method man.

"I'm always a little worried that I may run in to some trouble for my art," Cliff told Mids Magazine. "That's why I didn't take my work public sooner. I think times are changing though. The marijuana movement has been winning battles left and right."

Maynard has only created 420 copies of each print, each comes proffesionally matted and framed. Originals can take over 200 hours to finish, Maynard told us. "An 8x10 portrait is about $2,000 and the larger pieces start at around $3,000," Cliff said.

It is slightly ironic how much effort and time is required to make just one of these art considering the amotivational stereotype that is so oftenly associated with marijuana usage. You can't define or label Maynards art as it is unique and very non traditional. Maynard in the future hopes to do a series of portraits of activists such as Marc and Jodie Emery. Roaches are commonly disregarded and thrown in the trash ... his way of turning something so disregarded into art is inspirational, or as tommy chong puts it a very "creative way of disposing roaches man!".

Art Blog- Drake

"We walk the same path, but got on different shoes

Live in the same building, but we got different views"

Aubrey Drake Graham -Drake- is a Canadian born rapper who is a talented rap, R&B and pop artist. He is often featured in songs with other popular rap artists and even appears in songs with lesser known singers. He originally started on the very popular tv show Degrassi the next generation, where he gained his fame. He signed with Lil Wayne and became part of Young Money entertainment, which also has artists like mack maine, nicki minaj, tyga, cory gunz and even Lil Waynes lil bro lil twist.

I enjoy R&B and rap and Drakes music is popular for a reason, its good! I think his music is the best of its kind and his lyrics are witty and engaging. There is just something captivating about his lyrics and his voice. He is also very appealing physically. Some of his lyrics like

"We walk the same path, but got on different shoes

Live in the same building, but we got different views"

are pretty smart and Drake is often underrated for his talent.

"I do a lot of things hoping I never have to fit in

So trying to keep up with my progress is like a dead end My girl love me but fuck it, my heart beats slow And right now the tour bus is looking like a freak show And life changes for us every single week so It's good but I know this ain't the peak though"

And honestly, a 5 year old probably shouldn't be listening to drake.

Music 4 Change

I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.
- Billy Joel

Music is a language the whole world can speak. We all unite through music. Whether it's rock, rap, R&B, country, or metal, music is a means of global communication. Throughout history, music has shaped who we are, and has heavily influenced society and individuals alike. Music has the capability to inspire and captivate us and helps express powerful emotions and feelings that we simply can't voice. It is overrated, underrated, criticized, and praised...but has existed since the beginning of the world. Ancient cultures have always believed that music has great power to influence the body, mind and soul. Shamans believe that they can achieve an "out of body" experience through the sound of rhythmic drumming(music!) It's transcending power to please and displease us so easily it indicative of its imposing reign over us.

For me personally, I believe music is the most effective tool to reach a sense of comfort and stability. It's calming effect on me is mysterious - yet wonderful. Music comes in many different forms, whether its a repetitive beating of a drum, an off-key piano,the early-morning bird chirps, or even Justin Bieber, it's all music, and it's all wonderful.

Although some of the world's beliefs is that music is simply for entertainment, or is just a hobby, a very large part of the traditional world believe that music is interlocked with philosophical and religious dogma. Examining the role music had and has on society would be extremely beneficial to those who wish to study social and global development, as music has played a lead role in the way todays society has advanced. In ancient civilizations, such as ancient China, Greece, Egypt, and India, the value of music and its spirituous capabilities was readily accepted ideology. Music was believed to be able to corrupt or enhance whole cultures through its fundamental power and because of this there were great social implications in the creation and presentation of music.

The ancient Chinese book "The Memorial of Music" states: "Under the effect of music, the five social duties are without admixture, the eyes and the ears are clear, the blood and the vital energies are balanced, habits are reformed, customs are improved, the empire is at complete peace."

MUSIC TODAY

• As society becomes more modernized, people have moved away from tribal instruments and the simple methods of playing them.
• Also, as technology becomes more advanced with digital and mobile audio solutions, individuals can listen to complex sound recordings in total isolation, any time and anywhere.
• Today people can choose to listen to a wide array of styles or to focus on one genre depending on the musical qualities that appeal to them as individuals.
• Media, such as radio, TV and movies can influence pop culture’s tastes in music.

"One Good Thing About Music,

It Makes You Feel

No Pain"

Keeping Oceans Clean

How to clean............Oil Spills

An oil spill is often the result of accidental or careless human behaviour by one individual or several individuals as a whole. An oil spill can also occur when a ship or tanker breaks down; very often causing the vessel to leak oil into the ocean and contaminate our wildlife. In the past, many countries as an act of warfare would dump oil into the oceans of rivalling countries. People will regularly dump oil into lakes and oceans in order to avoid paying to decompose their waste. Oil spills inevitably exterminate everything in the near vicinity and result in the eradication of many aquatic animals, fish and flora. Not only is sea life affected, but countless birds whose feathers get covered in oil and in efforts to clean themselves, get poisoned by the toxicity in oil.

The oil can often enter birds lungs and liver thereby as aforementioned, poison them, causing in there imminent death. Oil spills is one of main causes of manmade death for marine life and is a huge factor contributing to the rarity of some aquatic species and the extinction of many birds. The effects of oil spills are not yet entirely known, but we can recognize wholly that they are negative rather than positive attributes to our aquatic wildlife.

As we scientifically progress and as researchers continue their ever-growing and expanding knowledge about oil spills, we can correctly accumulate ways of cleaning up more the environment effectively, as well as accumulating ways of preventing oil spills in the first place. In the event of an oil spills, boomers (large tubes) can prevent oil from spreading. They sometimes placed around a tanker that is leaking oil, or may be permanent positioned in an entrance to an ocean, like a stream. They are also placed around areas with a large number of inhabitants or consistent amounts of wildlife. Boomers soak up any oil in the ocean that might pose a threat to the ocean’s inhabitants.

Boats called ‘Skimmers’ patrol the oceans skimming along the surface of the water with sorbents that act as sponges to soak up oil. By air, and airplane can fly over the ocean dropping chemicals that break down the oil creating a cleaner and healthier environment. One method, which is rarely used anymore because of the side effect of air pollution, is when oil cleaners burn the oil with fireproof booms that contain the oil. Beaches can be cleaned by high or low-pressure hoses to spray off oil. Vacuum trucks travel up and down beaches in order to vacuum up any toxic waste. Basic items like shovels and sponges all help. Even though they may not contribute a huge amount, all assistance that is received helps in the overall salvation of our marine ecosystems.

VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MINKDJ0Kwk