Reason by Isaac Asimov is a short story that takes place on a space station where humans (Mike Donovan and Gregory Powell) in conjunction with robots work together to supply solar energy to planets. A special robot named QT-1 who was created by Powell and Donovan is the first to question his existence and they try to explain it to him. Upon explaining to him Cutie is unable to believe this and thus formulates his own theory for existence. This brings us to a central theme throughout the story which is the constant questioning of humanity and its existence. Cutie can also be seen a metaphor of the human mind as he constantly questions his existence much like how humans tend to question reasons for their own existence.
Powell and Donovan try to explain Cutie that they are the creators of him yet
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he can’t accept that conclusion instead he chooses to come up with an answer to the question on his own.
The first hint Cutie’s curiosity is the beginning of the short story where Powell and Donovan tries to explain too Cutie that they created him. “Something made you, Cutie,” pointed out Powell. “You admit yourself that your memory seems to spring full-grown from an absolute blankness of a week ago. I’m giving you the explanation. Donovan and I put you together from the parts shipped us.” (Evans, 162)
Cutie went onto say: “It strikes me that there should be a more satisfactory explanation than that. For you to make me seems improbable.” (Evans, 162) Cutie continues to deny what he’s being told and tries to make reason of facts that he already know, and by doing so he symbolizes the human mind’s constant need to reason from concrete facts. It is human nature to work up from the information already known.
Cutie starts off by stating the facts “I, myself, exist, because I think” (Evans, 164) and immediately follows with a very important question “And the question that immediately arose was: Just what is the cause of my existence?” (Evans, 165). This question is important because it symbolizes the question that man-kind
has been asking itself for the extent of its lifetime. He then uses reasoning to come to the conclusion that his creator is the converter which he refers to as the master. This clearly shows how the human mind can use reasoning to formulate beliefs in which they stand by. As cutie continues to explain his reasoning behind his belief one may wonder if it makes any sense, and even go as far as to say its absolute nonsense. Cutie believes that his “Master” is a supreme being which created him and is the meaning for his existence. Sounds familiar? This relates very closely to human belief or religious systems which operate on the exact same theory. Humans create these theories for existence based on their own reasoning, and when bombarded with multiple questions that seem to debunk their theory they find it extremely hard to take it into perspective. An example of this is when Powell and Donovan try to debunk Cutie’s theory by asking him questions about the planets and solar stations which prove to be difficult for him to answer, yet he simply replies “There are some things that are not to be prodded into by use. In this matter, I seek only to serve and not to question.” Similarly a religious person or someone with a strong belief will not question their own reasoning or faith as easily as they have spent their time using their own reasoning to build their faith for what they believe in. Although this can also be seen as a contradiction to Cutie’s actions at the beginning of the story where he questioned everything. This shows that human mind as amazing as it is can be somewhat programmed once initial reasoning is done (within the first 2 decades of life). Almost programmed, much like that of a robot. The conflict between the humans and Cutie is similar to that of the conflict between different generations of the human mind. For example we can use social change (the minds in society) to show contrast the differences in opinion. An older person growing up with that of a Traditional view will believe that religion can be used as a means of explanation to our existence whereas a slightly younger person with Modern view on society uses science as a means for humanity and existence. Moreover, there is always the faceoff between science trying to use “facts” as justification for humanity and its existence and religious believers using their beliefs in their pursuit of the same questions. Similarly, Cutie simply believes that he is made to serve his master, and will not believe otherwise no matter how much the humans try to use logic or “facts” as a means to explain to Cutie that his theory is wrong. Isaac goes even further to symbolize this as he shows that humans tend to not look beyond their beliefs, rather they tend to disregard any source of new information that tries to change their own beliefs. He does this by having Cutie downright discredit the source of the books when Powell and Donovan point out them to him. “Please, Powell I certainly don’t consider them a valid source of information. They too were created by the Master and meant for you, not for me” (Evans, 172) Ultimately, Powell and Donovan give up and Cutie succeeds in securing the station whether or not he agrees with them or not. This makes Powell realize that it truly doesn’t matter what Cutie believes once he does what he needs to do properly. “Can he handle the station?” “Yes, but–” “Then what’s the difference what he believes!” (Evans, 175). This is how Isaac moves into more of a postmodern view on society where society has learned to accept that it doesn’t matter what anyone believes in once it gets them through life, and they function properly within society. Whatever reasoning a person may use to give purpose to their life evidently doesn’t matter to the general public, and this is how society has played out to be in this day and age. In short, Isaac has created a story with a theme that has always challenged man-kind, and he effectively describes how the human mind has developed on the basis of this question throughout the years and will continue to do so in the future.
In The Barbie Doll, the author writes about a girl' s life. The author starts off by describing her childhood. She was given dolls and toys like any other girl and she also wore hints of lipstick. This girl was healthy and rather intelligent. Even though she had possessed many good traits she was still looked at by others as "the girl with a big nose and fat legs". She exercised, dieted and smiled as much as possible to please those around her. She became tired of pleasing everyone else and decided to commit suicide. During her funeral those who she had tried to please in the past were the ones to comment about how beautiful she looked. Finally she had received the praise she was longing for.
8- McDermid, Douglas. "God's Existence." PHIL 1000H-B Lecture 9. Trent University, Peterborough. 21 Nov. 2013. Lecture.
why are we here" (Gardner 11) the only way he realized the truth was from
Journalist Jon Krakauer reassembles the fact of life of a young man who leaves his family and society to find true himself. Krakauer intends to reveal Christopher McCandless’s character and nature by interacting people who influenced him. The more people were attached to him, get to know more about him in depth; those who know him from outside often refered him as careless. In the book Into the Wild Krakauer presents McCandless as modest and caring person whereas other may see him as thoughtless.
“ Some Close Encounters of a Mental Kind ” by Stephen Jay Gould is about the tendency for our minds to ‘lie’ to ourselves because of a certain key phrase that can cause people to believe certain events happened. This can be done by altering the types of question you want the victim to hear. It can be a certain modified questions or the way the question are presented to us that can cause our answers to be slightly false.
The debate between existentialism and the rest of the world is a fierce, albeit recent one. Before the "dawn of science" and the Age Of Reason, it was universally accepted that there were such things as gods, right and wrong, and heroism. However, with the developing interest in science and the mechanization of the universe near the end of the Renaissance, the need for a God was essentially removed, and humankind was left to reconsider the origin of meaning. John Gardner’s intelligently written Grendel is a commentary on the merits and flaws of both types of worldview: the existentialist "meaning-free" universe, and the heroic universe, where every action is imbued with purpose and power. Indeed, the book raises many philosophical questions in regards to the meaning of life as well as to the way humans define themselves. Additionally, Gardner portrays continual analysis, and final approval, of existentialist viewpoints as one observes that the main character, Grendel, is an existentialist.
classicmoviescripts/script/seventhseal.txt. Internet. 4 May 2004. Blackham, H. J. Six Existentialist Thinkers. New York: Harper, 1952. Choron, Jacques. Death and Western Thought. New York: Collier Books, 1963.
People love to read stories and watch movies of a science-fictional society that include robots with artificial intelligence. People are intrigued with the ability of the robots that seem to demonstrate what we humans consider morality. Eando Binder’s and Isaac Asimov’s short stories, as well as the 2004 Hollywood movie, all carry the title “I, Robot” and introduce possible futuristic worlds where robots are created and integrated within society. These stories challenge our perceptions about robots themselves, and could perhaps become an everyday commodity, or even valued assistants to human society. The different generations of “I, Robot” seem to set out the principles of robot behavior and showcase robots to people in both different and similar ways. How does the Robot view itself? More importantly, how does society judge these creations? The concepts discussed in these three stories covers almost 75 years of storytelling. Why has this theme stayed so relevant for so long?
...gical argument for that of existence that parallels Wittgenstein’s investigations on the meanings of words. In my own life, I accept that my existence is largely ambiguous and that I am disclosing who I am every instant I make a choice, even if I direct that choice toward a goal. The indeterminate characteristic of ambiguity may make some uneasy when applying the word to their existence, but I find comfort in knowing that my existence can ultimately be defined as I see fit. I am glad that, through my own freedom, I am able to live and make sense of the world; I exist.
Albert Einstein was undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest physicians and mathematicians of all time. Einstein’s theories of relativity completely changed the world and have had a huge impact on how we currently live our lives. From how we heat our homes to how we are able to use GPS navigation systems. His theories have greatly changed how we must view the world around us. His theories of relativity and his works during the world wars earned him a Nobel Prize in physics, to name one of the many he deservingly received.
Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker was created in 1880 with an original size of about 70 cm high. When it was created, Rodin used to call it The Poet and it was designed to be put on The Gates of Hell, another of Rodin’s work. This sculpture is an enlarged replica created in 1903 located on the Fine Arts Museum of Montreal, and the original sculpture is located on Paris in the museum of Rodin. It was created with patinated plaster for bronze casting.
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Davies-Stofka, Beth. "Human Nature and the Purpose of Existence." Patheos Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. .
Abraham Maslow was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1908, to Jewish immigrants from Russia who had little to no education. He had a very sad and lonely childhood. His parents were verbally abusive towards him, calling him “ugly” and other degrading terms. Growing up hearing these things caused him to be very self conscious and have a negative image of himself. Maslow was the only Jewish boy in his neighborhood, so he could not really relate to any of the kids around him. He isolated himself from the other children and spent most of his recreational time in the library reading. There was no love in his household and he didn't have much a relationship with either of his parents. He used books in the library to escape his harsh reality.
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