Struggles and luxuries of my life

A Long Awaited Return

2010-10-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since I have posted on this blog. To be honest? I lost it. It's true, regrettably I forgot it existed, and then whence I remembered its existence I couldn't find it. But recently I stumbled upon it by accident and here I am. My new vision is to resurrect this blog (even if nobody reads it) just to act as a vent/digital notepad of my ideas and findings for myself (or others) to look upon and reference in periods of thought. I will also continue to post of my other "comical " blog about my life as a high school student and the people around me which you can find here so check that out for sure. I'm too busy to post a return topic right this moment, but one can be expected soon

What do you wonder about?

2009-07-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

What do you wonder about?

One of the most useful and used for that matter tools of the human body is the ability to wonder. That little question, what if..? People don't really realize how much you wonder. I might be hungry and wonder about what to eat, or i might wonder what answer to choose on a test. But it can be much more complex than that. One may wonder about the origin of life, contemplating ideas such as religion, god, species, darwinism...such ideas that many people wonder about.

The interesting thing about wonder is how unique and individualized it is to every person. I mean everyone wonders on there own without even thinking (well of course your thinking lol) but without making a real conscious effort. So what do you wonder about after all?

Importance of Thinking

2009-07-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Thought is in itself a thought. Kinda funny, eh? Well depending how you look at it, its the truth. The idea of thinking is exactly that, an idea. And an idea takes thought, correct? Well than looking back to high school geometry the transitive property links this all together and calls thought a thought.

So that was a little confusing....but the point is thought itself is a thought, so what? Well so what?!?!

Everything is this world is built of ideas or opinions: thoughts. Don't underestimate the importance of thought. Thought (and well the act of thinking) allow every person to be themselves. Without this inner ability to process things and create a judgement, everyone in the world would be the same. There would be no two people how dont agree. Can you imagine this strange utopian society full of zombies? Maybe this is getting a little extreme but don't you think its necessary? I mean thought is the basis of life, lets give it a little credit. I guess this is my way of paying tribute to the importance of thought, and my gratitude towards having the ability to process my own thought.

Ethics and Perception

2009-07-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

This post comes from something I found earlier today. While looking around the internet I ran into this scenario.

You're the conductor of a train, and on the tracks up ahead, you see five construction workers standing on the tracks. You know that if you do nothing, the train will hit these five people. However, you have a lever next to you that can divert the train onto another set of tracks where there is only one construction worker. Would you pull the lever? Okay, same scenario. Only this time, it's a single track and you're standing on a bridge above. Standing next to you is a large person who is leaning just a little too far over the bridge's bannister. You realize that if you push this person just a little, he'll fall over onto the tracks and his body will stop the train. Do you push him? Most people who are aksed these questions answer yes to the first one and no to the second one. The question is why?

This question was actually studied by a scientist who looked at the brain at the time of answer. Feel free to take a listen, it's actually quite interesting. http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/02/09/morality-rebroadcast/

What is the ethical decision?

Everyone says yes to the first situationg, yet no to the second. That is clear. The real question here is why?

After listening to the podcast, I was appalled by my own answers. Yet my answers (Yes than no) are the same as everyone else. But why does everyone have different answers to seemingly the same question posed differently? The thing is they're not the same. The scientist proposes they are similar if not equal but yet in fact they are not. The motion of pulling a lever changes the course of the train. Yes, we do know what will happen if we pull the lever but it is not that action that kills the man. Yet pushing someone off a bridge is a direct action of murder. The push itself causes death upon that person. The difference is in perception -- how someone views their actions to the result.

In this world perception is everything. One judges someone else by what they see. The way you see anything is the way it appears to you, and therefore the way you beleive it to be. If pushing a person into a train looks to be a more direct feel murder than people will see it that way. In the opposite case, just pulling a lever is much more innocent. Perception, in this case, differentiates in the human mind the right and wrond doings of murder. Why? Well I don't know why, i guess thats just how the human mind works.

What's REALLY good in life?

2009-07-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today as i thought to myslef, hmmm what do i enjoy about life? And then i thought about the question i was asking. What do i mean by enjoy? Yes i enjoy many things, food, tv, sleep. But these things have no necessity. Okay i admit you need to eat and sleep but do they stand for whats really good in life?

To see what's really good in life you must look beyond objects, beyond imple pleasures, and look at what keeps you going. What do you live for? What is the true source of your happiness and will to live?

For those fortunate enough to have found true love that may be there answer. Love is a feeling stronger than all others. It comes from deep within, an internal feeling you get when you see a person you care so dearly for. But what makes love so sacred is its uniqueness. Its mutuality between to human beings to be so passionate about each other. No other feeling in the world can compare to love. Love is really good in life.

But not everyone has found love. Others find similar feelings in the connections they have in family. A family can be the strongest bond made it ones life. Family unites people together by blood, an irreversable union. This solidity creates one of the strongest bonds on earth. It is beleived that with a loving family one can get through anything, and without a family one cannot live. Family is really good in life.

On the other hand, some people can live life completely alone and acheive this same happiness. This comes from their internal self. The ability of thought. The mind is a powerful thing, and the ability to think for yourself is one like no other. It is from thought that all feelings originate. Thought is the basis of life. With thought, someone can be anything they want. The basis of all imagine and creativity comes from thought. Thought is really good in life.

Now you may say well of course these things are good in life, and your right, but try to think about them. And really think! What do these different things mean to you? What else might be really good in life? The answer isnt something you can hold, but something you can feel :)

Texting: Luxury Vs. Necessity

2009-07-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

In my last post I sort of debated with myself the effects of technology, more specifically texting. My overall feel was based on the negative, and i feel it was a little unjust. Therefore here is (of a sort) the other side to my arguement.

Granted everything i said was true, or to some extant truthful, texting and the other accesories on mobile phones can be very useful. Before I get into texting specifically i'd like to look at some other items. The first being gps, or global positioning system. This tool that has been implicated into many cell phones can be useful not to mention life saving. Its a safety tool for campers and pedestrians alike if they ever get lost, while also being a tool for pleasure to suit people in their liesure activities such as geocaching. Along with gps is the ability to web browse and use things like e-mail. These are not so much tools but more luxuries, that transform phones even more into computers. People all around the world consider these necessities for work but how can they be necessities if they have only been around for the past couple of years? Was business different that much? Or is it just that everyone is being spoiled by technology to the point where they lose connection with the real world. If this continues what will happen next? Will people become so overly attatched that it interferes with basic rights of humanity? This topic is suggested in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. He suggests through the use of sattire that society is overly dependant on technology, and that if something isnt done it will over take our life. Now this message has many other points but thats another blog for another day. Back to todays age.

Texting. With mobile to mobile messaging becoming more popular and abundant everyday how will this turn out? I already spoke about the negative effects it can cause on the personal health but what good can it do? It can offer up to the minute information like sports scores, news stories, weather alerts. All of these can be useful but are they necessary? The big debate is luxury vs. necessity. But in this case i feel its both. Yes to some texting is a luxury and can seem completely uneccesary and pointless but you must look at it from two angles. One of these is in situations where a phone call is out of the question. Now some might find these situations a little extreme but they are all quite possible. Keep in mind that these can all be applied to emergency situations. Lets consider your in an area of bad service. Calls will be unclear and in extreme conditions unmakeable or too broken up to even have any real value. In this situation a simple text can be sent using a split second of service that can get an entire distress message out with textual proof to the receiver (in case they miss read it is always there to be reread). Another situation may be if the user loses audible ability and cant talk. How will a phone call help them? Truth is it might but a text telling a clear message would be much more helpful.

Granted these situations are very extreme and rare, yet are still possibilities. But do they prove texting to be a necessity? Now that is up to you to decide.

Texting too much?

2009-07-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

Ever since mobile phones arised in the late twentieth century people have been taking advantage of the many easily accesable mobile apps. But they have taken over the concept of the phone. I will admit myself that i only use my phone to call people about 5-10% of my over phone use. Most other being texting, camera, or listening to music. I wonder sometimes if these mobile devices will lose the name of phone, or even the capability of calling people, while everyday they convert more and more to the mainstream idea of a pocket sized computer. The invention of blackberrys and smartphones would act as a gateway to the new ideas of technology. Will phones ever again just be a phone?

This brings about a somewhat moral dilema. When looking for a phone shall i be ooed and awed by the features that really just bog my phone down and make it complicated? or shall i focus on what matters: call clarity, signal strength, service availability. Once chosing the right phone is over, even if it wasn't the right phone, the next dilema arises. How do i balance the use of my phone? These days kids (me being one of them) over depend on their phone. Many of the kids at my school will actually cry if their phone is out of their hands, even if still in plain sight. This over dependancy, in my opinion, will lead to a life completely dependant on technology, putting stress on the global market to always come out with a better product. To these people (the ones dependant on techonology) not having the latest (and working) gadgets or phones can mean endless despair.

The idea of texting alone sparks a new debate over what effects will this have later in life. Many will say how can something as harmless as sending a text bring on later life helf affects? But the truth is it can. I've done my research, and studies show that many kids send hundreds of text messages a day, totalling in the tens of thousands per month. Lets say the average kid sends about 250 text messages a day. That amounts to about 7,500 a month. Multiplied by 12 gives us a total of 90,000 a year. Consider that a student will text through most of high school and college, an average 8 years, totalling 720,000 text messages. You may say now this doesnt look bad considering 8 years but when it works out to around 250 a day every day? That is a little much.

With this much stress on your hands and fingers, eyes, and the brain, its easy to see how much this can affect someone. Being overly dependant on receiving the next text can cause anxiety. The lack of receiving text messages has been shown to cause depression. The necessity to be texting can lead to a mental change affecting the users relationships in real life. The physical strain alone is enough to weaken the joints of fingers causing early arthritis, only to be made worse by typing on the computer as well. Lets face it, this new technology is helpful but at what cost? What will people be saying in 50 years when the once young users of this technology are stricken with health problems?

I myself am soon to be 16, text hundreds of messages a day averaging around 20,000 a month, and am scared for what is to come. But what am i to do, stop using technology and fall out of mainstream society?

Does god really exist?

2008-10-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

For some people, god is a sign of hope, a message to themselves that there is some higher power to look up to. For others, its an idea taught by religion and they just go along with the bible or torah and agree with what "their people" believe in.

For me it is different. I see five major beliefs in God that others have. They are as follows:

1. God is your conscience - For this idea, god is not a living being or any higher power who controls all life but instead God is something inside each and every one of us. He is the voice inside your head who distinguishes between right and wrong. This idea of god being in each of us is what makes us different and unique. No one in this idea has the same God.

2. God is an idea that people look to for answers. Things like miracles, and events unexplainable by science are what cause some people to believe in God. They feel that God is the reason these things are possible. This is led by a major idea that says everything has a purpose, and god controls these and has a purpose for each.

3. God is how he is portrayed in the Bible/Torah. This idea is more commonly referred to 'God is all-powerful.' That's because this is how god is portrayed in most holy readings. Both the Hebrew and Christian bible begin with the idea that God created the world. This idea proves he is all powerful, and responsible for all that is alive today. This idea is also related to the topic that god controls all life as it exists today and is responsible for everything that happens in the world.

4. God is an observer. One major point of view some people have is that God is an observer. Something that created the heavens and the earth only to watch it play out and unfold on its own. This idea is interesting because it links no affiliation with God controlling or interfering with life as it is today.

5. God is an idea that explains the splendor of the world today. The whole world around us in all of its beauty is evidence of God. I personally believe in this because there is no other way to describe the sheer splendor in the world we live in today. Yes there are bad parts and tragedy all over the earth, but not so much that it takes over all of the good. This differs from belief number 2 because of ideas like Love. The idea of love (to be discussed sometime in the near-future) can only be explained by one thing. Some higher power must have created this feeling to which there is no compare. It is just too above our society to not be created by something else.

Please respond to how you feel about these ideas and which category you think you fall under. You may have other ideas that you could share or even feel a little bit of each. Your comments are welcome :)

Do you believe in god?

2008-10-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

In my last post i forgot to mention a major aspect of my life. I'm Jewish. And religion is a big part of my life. Lately I've done some deep thinking, and discussing with my rabbi and fellow class mates. The key question when facing any religious view or statement is to first think 'Do i believe in God?'.

Atheist -- Agnostic -- Theist

<-- where do you stand ? -->

If you read this please respond with your beliefs and a reason. I'll check back and start my discussion soon. Feel free to comment.

Welcome - Post #1

2008-10-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog! My name is Harry Miller and i'm 15 years old. I am a sophomore in high school in Massachusetts. I guess you could say I'm a pretty normal guy.

In this blog i intend to share with you my life stories -- some good, some bad -- and anything that goes along with, well, me. All of these posts will express my ideas and inner feelings towards just about everything in life. Anything i notice or find worthy of sharing i will talk about. Don't be startled to find any random info or facts i've come across and found interesting. Also please excuse all of my mistakes regarding typing/spelling or any of that kind of stuff. To end (and encourage thinking about my next topic) i'll leave you with a quote. "The world around us is evidence of God."