A Brave New World Chapter 2

1. How do babies sent to the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms develop an "instinctive hatred of books and flowers?" Why were Deltas exposed to such a treatment?

- They are exposed to the books and flowers at first, and they are allowed to crawl over to them, but right as they begin to touch them, alarms being to sound and a shock is sent through the floor. Therefore, they are conditioned to hate the flowers and books. The Deltas are exposed to this treatment because they do not want people of a lower caste wasting their time on books. The reason for making them afraid of roses is because previously they were conditioned to love flowers so that they would want to explore the country and transport would increase; this happened, however this is all that they did, so factories began to loose money.

2. What is a State Conditioning Center? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?

-State Conditioning Centers were the way in which children were raised, instead of by their mother and father. When they went to sleep, they were forced to listen to things (tape recorded voices on repeat) so that they could learn. This is similar to the cave in Plato's Republic because in the cave people learned by the shapes on the walls that were created by puppeteers, rather than learning from their parents like most children did.

3. What is hypnopaedia? Why wasn't is used for science? What was it uesd for? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic?

-Hypnopaedia was the principle of sleep teaching. It wasn't used for science because it didn't enable the people understand what was going on. They were able to repeat the sentences that they heard, however if they were asked a question about what they heard, they would not be able to answer it. It says, "you can't learn a science unless you know what it's all about." (26)

4. How does the caste system work in the World State? What are the similarities and differences between this and the Hindu Caste system?

- In the World State, people who are in the different castes wear different colors. Everyone in the Gammas wear green, and the Deltas wear khaki. Epsilons wear black, and Alphas wear grey. They are brainwashed into believing that people in other castes are different than them, which is similar to the Hindu Caste system. However in this caste system, they think negatively of the other castes, so they must not get any reward in the end for fulfilling one's duties, because they never are nice to the other castes.

5. What does the Director mean when he says, "not so much like drops of water... rather, drops of liquid sealing wax."?

- I have no idea, so here is my guess. Drops of water can evaporate, and they disappear after time; however wax is sort of a permanent thing. So therefore he is trying to say that when these things are drilled in the kids mind, they are like wax because they stay there forever, like wax does, instead of like water.

A Brave New World Chapter 1

1. What is the World's State Motto?

-"Community, Identity, Stability"

2. Please describe Boskanovsky's process. Why does the director call it the "major instrument of social stability?"

-Boskanovsky's process is when eggs are put into test tubes, and they produce embryos rapidly. Eventually, up to 96 identical twins are created from this process-from one single egg. He calls it the major instrument of social stability because it is what keeps everyone alike, and therefore it prevents people from criticizing each other because everyone is identical.

3. Why did the doctor wish to keep the Epsilon embryo "below par?"

-He wanted the embryo to develop and mature faster so that more offspring could be reproduced. However, he spoke about how if they were kept too below par they would come out as dwarfs or "eyeless monsters." So I'm a bit confused, but I think this is why.

4. What does Mr. Foster mean what he says "We condition them to thrive in heat... that is the secret happiness of virtue- liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people their inescapable social destiny." How does this connect to what is happening in Rack 10?

-Well, conditioning people basically forces them to behave in a certain way, despite how they may actually feel. Last year we spent a couple months learning social psychology, and one part was about the whole process of conditioning- such as Pavlov's dog. Or, there was also a baby, baby Albert, who was conditioned to be afraid of fuzzy things. So whenever he saw one he would cry. But I guess in a sense everyone is conditioned to do a certain thing, like at school, whenever we hear noise int he halls, we immediately start to pack our things, regardless of how long it is until class ends. In rack ten, all of the embryos are immune from lead and other chemicals, which I guess is sort of forcing them into a social destiny, because their lives are being pre-programmed for them.

Ram and Sita

• They are from the story of Ramayana.
• They are the 7th incarnation of the Vishnu.
• Ram took birth to free the earth from cruelty and sins.
• Ram was able to lift Lord Shiva's bow, with one hand, so hard that it broke.
• Ram got married to Sita, and his brother's married Sita's sisters.
• Ravana transforms into a beautiful women and tries to get ram to marry her, but he tells her he is already married to Sita. She then tries to kill Sita, however another god stops her by slashing her ear and nose. Ravana repeatedly tries to get Ram to marry her, and he always denies her.

Notes on The Republic of Plato

Book Two:

Thramsymachus argument: His argument is that the unjust always win; he will be happier, freer, and have more money in the end than the just man

Page 21; 343

"And you are so far off about the just and justice, and the unjust and the injustice, that you are unaware that justice and the just are really someone else's good, the advantage of the man who is stronger and rules, and a personal harm to the man who obeys and serves."

"The just man everywhere has less than the unjust man."

• If you try pursuing justice, everyone will take advantage of you. The unjust man will always rule because he will always be stronger.

Page 22; 344

"You will learn most easily of all if you turn to the most perfect injustice, which makes the one who does injustice most happy, and whose who suffer it and who would not be willing to do injustice, most wretched."

"So Socrates, injustice, when it comes into being on a sufficient scale, is mightier, freer, and more masterful than justice; and as I have said from the beginning, the just is the advantage of the stronger, and the unjust is what is profitable and advantageous for oneself."

• Socrates argument:
• He believes that justice is better than injustice.
• "What I want I take- let might take the place of reasoned argument." (Juvenal)

"Nor do I think injustice is more profitable than justice, not even if one gives it free rein and doesn't hinder in it from doing what it wants."

• Socrates talking to Glaucon…
• He wants to have an argument with Thramsymachus , with judges, and see who wins.
• "If we should speak at length against him, setting speech against speech, telling how many good things belong to being just, and then he should speak in return…"

Page 25; 347

"So I can in no way agree with Thramsymachus that the just is the advantage of the stronger. But this we shall consider again at another time."

He uses the Socratic method, which is asking questions, which eventually lead the other person to the agree with his opinion.

• Socrates argument with Thramsymachus

Page 28; 350

"Then the man who is both good and wise will not want to get the better of the like, but of the unlike and opposite?"

• The man who is playing piano is good at piano. Therefore, because he is good at piano, he is wise. And because he is wise, he is good.

"The just man is like the wise and good, but the unjust man like the bad and unlearned."

• If you are good at piano
• Prudent
• Good
• Wise/wisdom
• Virtue
• Just

• Poor at piano
• Ignorant
• Thoughtless
• Bad
• Unlearned
• Unjust

Page 30; 351

"If justice is indeed both wisdom and virtue, I believe it will easily come to light that it is also mightier than injustice, since injustice is lack of learning- no one could still be ignorant of that."

Page 31; 353

"Then the just soul and the just man will have a good life, and the unjust man a bad one."

"And the man who lives well is blessed and happy, and the man who does not is the opposite."

Book Three/Four

1. Guardians: Gold (super ego)
• Led by philosophers kings
• Wisdom
2. Auxiliaries: Silver (ID)
• Led by soldiers
• Courage
3. Farmers and merchants: Iron and Bronze (ego)
• Led by moderation

Page 113; 434

"Meddling among the classes, of which there are three, and exchange with one another is the greatest harm for the city and would most correctly be called extreme evil-doing."

You always stay in the same place; you are selected to be in a certain class when you are little… The classes are arranged by music & gym.

Page 119; 439

"If we claim they are two and different from each other, naming the part of the soul with which is calculates…"

• In the case of the guardians, the gold is the calculating/reason
• In the case of auxiliaries, the silver is the desire/irrational
• In the case of the farmers and merchants, the iron and bronze is the spirit.

Indian CAST system:

• Brahmins
• Priests
• Khasatryas
• Warriors
• Vaisyas
• Merchants/ craftsmen
• Sudras
• Farmers
• Untouchables
• Garbage men, etc.
1. Dharma:
• Duty
• Responsibility
• Obligations
2. Karma
3. Samsara:
• Death and rebirth
• Reincarnation
4. Moksha:
• Breaking the cycle of life and death

Book Seven

Page 193; 514

The humans are underneath the ground in a cave, and their heads are in chains so that they can only look in one direction. There is a fire behind them, in the far back of the cave, which provides them with light. There is a road above the prisoners going through the cave, and there is a wall above them as well. Along the wall are human beings carrying a bunch of things. They are unable to turn their heads to see the people on the wall or the fire, however the first is casting off light, so the people who are in chains can see the shadows of the people on the wall. Therefore, because this is the only thing that they are exposed to for their entire life, they believe that the shadows are the actual things, and the noises that they hear are coming from the shadows.

Page 195; 517

The people in chains want to kill the man who saw the light and the real world, because he threatens everything that they know and everything that they stand for in a sense.

Plato's Republic Discussion

I think that I agree with Socrates argument, that the just will always win in the end. Although Thrasymacus does make a good argument when he says that the just man usually gets walked over by everyone else; I think that what matters is the end result. It isn't really worth winning "happiness" or wealth if you do it in an unfair way. I would much rather say I am just and poor, than unjust and rich. If you are an unjust, wealthy person, you know that you really don't deserve the wealth you have. Therefore, you can never actually be happy with yourself, because in the back of your head you will always remember that you don't deserve it, but another man who played the game of life fairly deserves the money that you have. Therefore when Thrasymacus says that the unjust man will be happier, he is wrong, because an unjust man can never be happy, because his conscious will always overpower the thoughts he tries to create. What I am trying to say is that the unjust man may try to believe that he is happy because he is wealthier, however the fact that he got wealth unfairly will always be taunting him. So, its not really worth being unjust, because money can't buy happiness, despite what Thrasymacus may believe.

I also like the way in which Socrates connects things, by linking one description with another. Instead of just saying that a person is unjust, he uses a bunch of negative adjectives, such as "bad, thoughtless, worthless, and ignorant" to describe an unjust person. This therefore makes the unjust man seem like a more terrible person than what Thrasymacus does, enabling him to better prove his point. However, when he describes a just person, he uses much more positive adjectives, like "wisdom, good, prudent, and virtuous," which make the just man seem like a much nicer man than he may actually be. By using these adjectives, the argument becomes more intense, because now it is about more than a just versus unjust man- it is about a person who has wisdom versus a person who is thoughtless. It makes the argument so much more deep than it originally was. I believe this method is called the Socratic method, and it totally worked to prove his point.

Group 4 Reflection

1. What was your hypothesis?
-Our hypothesis was basically developed as we went along. We created an idea as to what we were going to investigate ahead of time, because when we foudn a map where there was a straight line seperating two different colors of foliage. We marked this and went to investigate it when we arrived at the marsh. It turned out to be that there were these different colored pools of water, that were attached to eachother. So our hypothesis became an investigation into why the pools of water were different colors, specifically we focused on that the invasive species wouldn't grow near these pools of akward colored water for a specific reason, and we investigated that.

2. Explain your experience in gaining and testing evidence. Any issues? Samples? Equipment?
-We gained and tseted evidence using the probes that our school provided. Wecame into a few issues- we dind't bring any distilled water with us to rinse off the probes in between samples, however we had bottles of water for drinking that we used. We also didn't bring enough plastic bags with us to collect samples, so we all combined our cellphones into one bag and got three extra bags for samples. All our issues which we faced were basically resolved as we went along, so this allowed us to work better as a team.

3. How was working in a group? What went well? What didn't?
-I think that our group definitely bonded a lot and collaborated together. In order to get to our area that we wanted to test, we had to jump over a pretty wide stream of water, and get all our supplies over safetly. We collaborated by putting our supplies over by using a meter stick, and the person on the other end had to catch what we passed over. Also, while crossing the stream, I was nervous because I didn't want to jump. However, my group encouraged me that it would be okay, and that they would help me get across. I was still nervous, but not so much. I refused to jump though. Then, our group pointed out that there were some rocks which I could climb on to get across instead. I decided to do this instead. The rocks were slippery though, so they helped me get across. I know that this wouldn't have happened in any other school except for sturgis, where a group of people who weren't even friends would work so well together just to help each other out. It's kind of really amazing.

4. How do you know that you gained scientific knowledge?
-I guess that we are using knowledge by authority when we believe that we are gaining scientific knowledge. This is because an authority figure (our teachers) are telling us that the equipment we are using was expensive, and we trust them that it is accurate because it costs a lot of money. We also re-tested our data, so that we could prove that our equipment was at least reliable. We used knowledge by empiricism as well because when the temperature probes were read, we had the common sense that it was aroudn the temperature that the probe read. At one point, when we were testing for dissolved oxygen, we used our empiricism to say that it seemed to be way too high. So we then re-tested it, and it came out to be a more accurate reading.