The Battle of Sexes Diagram

Selfish Gene Keyterms

-Selfishness-- Any gene that acts in such a way to increase it's own survival chances in the gene pool at the expense of others.

-Alturism--Any gene that acts in such a way to decrease it's own survival chances in the gene pool at the expense of others.

-Survival Machine--Container created by a replicator.

-Replicator-- Molecule that can repeat itself.

-P.I.-- PARENTAL INVESTMENT- How a parent invests on the offspring.

-E.S.S.-- EVOLUTIONARY STABLE STRATEGY- A ratio of sexes that is perfect for a balance in evolution.

Controlling the World with our Hands

Every “survival machine” has its own characteristic that no others have. For example birds can fly, frogs have a huge tongue while dolphins can run in very fast speeds. The special characteristic that every species have has helped for the survival of the type of animal. However many people ask me, what is the characteristic of humans that have made us survive so much time, and has made us evolve so much?

The most common answer is that he where gifted with intelligence. For some extent it is true, but we can’t ignore the fact that we only use seven percent of our brain, or something. Still, we have achieved a lot with that 7% but yet it is not the physical feature that highlights us, and being smart probably won’t get us alive from a confrontation with a lion. In addition, I want to reject that idea because I am talking about a physical feature that differentiates us from the rest of the animals, and there are a lot of tests that proof that primates can have a lot of intelligence.
You might be thinking, ‘No, we don’t have fur, a big yaw, a lot of speed or breath under water.’ Because the feature I am talking about is so small and seems so insignificant that you will probably be disappointed it.
Take one of your hands, and open it. Now get your thumb and press it with any of the other four fingers in your hand. There you go, that is our superb physical feature.
The movement you just did, is the movement only humans can do. No, primates can’t do it because the hand-shaped extremity they have is in their feet and their thumb can’t be pressed against the rest of the fingers. Thanks to that movement, human beings were able to grab and manipulate things. With this they started to make tools, started to build civilization, start agriculture, and so on until we arrive to the present. I know it is not a feature that directly helps us in a naked animal against animal fight, but it is a feature of civilization, that eventually contributes to our survival.

This thought came up, when I read about the whales and they’re “Exceedingly loud ‘song.’” (The Selfish Gene. Pg. 53) I had no idea that whales were able to sing so loud that they could be heard throughout the world. Richard Dawkins mentions “an astronaut on Mars” (pg.53) so I thought it would be very interesting to investigate the whales voice strength and be able copy it. Later on we could try to travel and the speed of their sound and arrive to any place in the universe.

In chapter 3: Immortal Coils, Dawkins states that all survival machines have the same constitution of DNA. Nevertheless, it is interesting that humans grew a feature of civilization rather than one used for survival, if we come from the same roots and live in the same world. Looking in the mirror, our body is full of mysteries and we are capable of handling a lot of work, but we never recognize that out secret key is in the palm of our hands.

Thank You Very Much Richard

I have grown the habit to break down the techniques that authors use, when I like a piece of writing. Fortunately, I didn’t make an exception with Richard Dawkins and his book, The Selfish Gene. One of my greatest obstacles when I’m writing is making sure that the reader doesn’t get bored. I find it fascinating how Dawkins could write an entire book on biology and behavior, without being a school textbook, and catching the readers attention at all times.

His main trick is probably that he talks in first person, and constantly comes back to the reader talking to them. After pages on biology Richard wrote: “To be strict, this book should be called not The Selfish Cistron nor The Selfish Chromosome, but The slightly selfish big bit of chromosome and the even more selfish little bit of chromosome. To say the least this is not a catchy title so, defining a gene as a little bit of choromosome which potentially lasts for many generations, I call the book The Selfish Gene.” (Pg.33) Look at the way he manages to be completely honest, and puts some spark to the theme. Also, while reading, I am not reading. The truth is I am having a conversation with Richard Dawkins and I am finding slowly his humorous and relaxed personality.

I must admit that having to read so much for homework sounded very boring at first. But the truth is, by the time that I finished the first page, I was enjoying my chit chat with Richard about biology and evolution, and the truth is I don’t understand or care about most of what he says, but I still enjoy every single comment. The book has given me some knowledge, made me connect to other themes and gave me the sense of talking to the author, but above all, The Selfish Gene gave me a need to know Richard Dawkins personally, because he sounds like an incredible person.

Another Six Word

-William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.-

Yes but No

The Selfish Gene is the first book I read that talks about science and so clearly, and I can feel Richard Dawkins talking to me. I enjoyed reading the first chapter and his explanation of the book, though I had no idea about half of the things he said. Anyways, there are many interesting and completely diverse points he talks about that called my attention, but what I really liked came up in page ten.

I have found the combination between religion and science very difficult. Nevertheless, last year my school principal came in and had interesting similarities between both of them. In that moment we were studying the Bible, so he pointed out that probably the world wasn’t created in seven days, but it did follow the order that nature would expect. Since then, I have a part of my brain connecting science and religion.
That part of my brain was used when I read, “A human foetus, with no more human feelings than an amoeba, enjoys a reverence and legal protection far in excess of those granted to an adult chimpanzee.” (The Selfish Gene. Pg.10). I know that Richard is not trying to make any points about abortion or anything, but what he wrote makes my opinion about abortion. I am a woman and have my maternal senses in a healthy state, but I ask myself, how much love can you grow for a premature being that you haven’t met.
Nevertheless, there is a lot of controversy about this theme, but I found other statements in the book that agree with me. “Killing people outside of war is the most seriously-regarded crime ordinarily committed.” (Pg.10), states Richard and it is true. Killing innocent and guilty people, is best received in our society, than taking the life from a non-thinking being for their own benefit. However, Dawkins states that fetus have rights and privileges over anything else, because they are from our own specie. This statement applies to those who oppose me against abortion, but they aren’t consistent about it when it comes to war.

In every species there must be some traditions used for killing and taking your life on behalf of the rest. However, in our case, we are still mixing our animal and rational side when it comes to thinking. For our animal side, we understand that killing is necessary, but it the case of right and a mature way of living, no one should die unnaturally. Having this confusion we have mixed ourselves up, so for my part I decided to take the nature’s side, but I do recognize that we can’t label any way of thinking “wrong”.

Memoirs

-Pop the bubble.

-The vision. Then vises. TV.

-The Mantis is a head eater<0>

-The unwritten words haven't been written.-

-I don't want to die, yet.-
-Yet, I don't want to die.-

A Second Chance

It’s half way of the book and Voltaire stopped criticizing everything. We saw that in every stop that Candide made, there was something pathetic to talk and laugh about. In Westphalia it was the absurd leaders, the auto-da-fé and countless other comments that talk in behalf of Voltaire. We have clear what the French writer didn’t want, but what did he want? El Dorado.

Since the moment that the rulers didn’t accept the precious stones that Candide and Cacambo offered, I understood what El Dorado was going to be. This place is a utopia. Every garden was perfect and there were servants willing to make the two travelers, Candide and Cacambo, comfortable. Religion is something personal that each person decides to manifest, while science is very important and a lot of time is dedicated to it. “Court cases in fact, were unknown.”(Pg.82) and therefore there were no prisons. “All men are free” (Pg.83) in El Dorado.

However, when Candide said, “It is quite true, my good fellow, that the house were I was born won’t bear comparison with the mansion of this country; but still I shall never be happy without Lady Cunégonde, and I dare say you have some mistress or other in Europe.” (Pg.82). Having said this, we understand how Candide was able to grow from his past and live in a perfect land. When he ditched his homeland, he forgot everyone and the people and elements that had followed him during his journey, without letting him grow. Also, he forgot the motto that he had lived for, “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” And met Martin that gave him a new perspective of life.
Nevertheless, Candide clearly says that he won’t be perfect without his love, even though she is one of those elements that pull Candide down. This idea of a utopia without love reminded me on the perfect city that Aldous Huxley describes in his book Brave New World. In both El Dorado and the civilization of Brave New World, for a perfect world love cannot exist because it brings too much problems and sadness. This idea not only shows that humans are passionate beings, but also there can be a perfect world but that doesn’t mean that we arrived a state of complete happiness or a place that demonstrates our best performance. However, if there is a perfect place with no love and creativity is limited, then what is the point of living?

I was also surprised that Voltaire used El Dorado as his place for a utopia. Looking at the moment when the author wrote the book, I believe Voltaire saw despair in Europe, and couldn’t imagine a perfect world there. That is why he chose the new land for his creativity. Also, by choosing this setting, he was probably trying to tell the world: you made your mess here, try not to ruin the new land too.

Evolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-LIVqjSvRk&feature=related

Let Go and Learn

A common questioned that people that are used to fortune in their life, might ask themselves a lot is: if my luck changes, will I be able to survive? Loosing everything you have or starting with nothing and eventually having a lot, are the cases that clarify to people, what is important and what is not. If you start from scratch and slowly start gaining more and more, you might tend to compare with the way you used to live and accept that what you have now is not crucial. In the other case, if you used to have a lot and somehow end up with nothing, you must look back take the knowledge and values you have and let go of the rest. However, what disappoints me the most, are those who don’t let go of their past or don’t learn from it.

In the case of Candide, he had to let go of his plentiful life and learn to live with nothing. Since the beginning we can see how hard it was for him to let go and become humble, by the way he thought everyone was at his service and how coward he was. Later on, I lost this impression when he was reunited with Pangloss, since his tutor could guide him more and managed to close his mouth. Nevertheless, I think that bringing an element from his luxurious life won’t let him adapt well to what he is forced to be. In addition, with Cunégonde back in the scene, I fear he will make an effort in bringing back his life rather than learning and adapting to the harsh life.
I feared that the same happened to the old lady. When telling her story we could see how she lost everything and she had to go through tragedy after tragedy. However, after she was rescued by the man, that later on she would find out he was her teacher, the lady was in a tolerable state and he complimented her saying, “He had never seen anyone so beautiful” (Pg. 53). Comparing how the old lady in the present, and how she was after being rescued, made me think that something even more radical than the change of her entire life had to happen, for her to grow like that. I thought that maybe, because this person from her past life came in, also made her change her objective, and instead of living the present she tried to copy her past into her future.
With both of this stories I remember the movie, Gone with the Wind. The protagonist Scarlet O’Hara lost everything she had during the war. During those moments she pulled herself back together, gained strength and started working and leading people to grow back the fertile land she once ruled over. However, there was Rhett Butter that had more luck than her during the war and he was constantly in the scene looking after Scarlet as much as he could. Later on Scarlet grows back into the spoiled rich girl she used to be and learned nothing from her experience, forcing Rhett to leave her completely alone.

There are moments in life were a person has to learn to live in different circumstances and have to let go from their past. Having a person or an element from the luxuries they used to have, might be an obstacle for them to learn to live in the present. No matter if that person ends up in bad or good circumstances, that intrusion might spoil all their learning.

Elements of Satire Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The reception Candide and Cacambo met with from the Jesuits of Paraguay

“ Candide had brought from Cadiz the type of servant often found on the Spanish coasts as well as in the colonies. He was a quarter Spaniard of half-breed Argentine stock, and had been successively chorister, verger, sailor, monk, commercial traveler, soldier, and footman.”(Pg.61)

Hyperbole- Amount of professions the servant had been.
Irony- He is a servant, why does he know and have been through so much?
Absurdity- The racial mixture of Cacambo.
Targeted- The racial mixture there is in America.

"The reverend fathers own the whole lot, and the people own nothing: that's what I call a masterpiece of reason and justice." (Pg. 62)

Hyperbole- People own nothing.
Irony- A servant agrees that he shouldn't own or have a say in anything.
Absurdity- The comment came out of the wild.
Targeted- Monarchy

I Caught You Voltaire

In The Old Woman’s Story I got confused when I read it. The first time, I felt weird because she tells her story with no detail and everything seems like a run-on sentence, it is a problem after a problem. However, somehow, without her talking about the dreadful emotions she felt in the moment, I felt a lot of pity for her and it was a strategy. Therefore, I decided to spy for something Voltaire used to be able to pull off a feeling of pity for her without taking loads of moments describing her sorrows.
Voltaire used a technique that is usually one used for persuading. The French author used contrast in his story, to highlight the bad. Therefore, he started using a word or a phrase that brought up the enthusiasm of the reader. Then in the same sentence, he told something tragic that brought that enthusiasm down in a very harsh way, leaving the reader with a sense of frustration and understanding the lady’s sorrows.
One of the cases were this is found was in page 51, when Voltaire wrote, “ It is wonderful how quickly these gentlemen can strip people; but what surprised me more was that they put their fingers into a place where we woman normally admit nothing but a syringe-tube.” First of all, notice the tone that the lady talks. She is not aggravated and in any moment does she describe the pain she went through, but yet you get the idea of pain. Notice how the sentence starts: “It is wonderful” raising all the hopes to the reader, but then there is a hard fall when he contrasts it with “how quickly these gentlemen can strip people.” After the semicolon we can see the same technique contrasting “surprise” with the harm that the pirates do to her.

As I mentioned before, I had seen this contrast used when persuading. I remember last year, when we learned that to persuade someone we must start by proposing something we know that the other person will reject immediately without a second thought. Later, we propose what we really want though we know that the other person doesn’t agree much. In that moment the person we are trying to persuade will compare the first awful proposal with what we really want, and will think that by giving in to the second proposal he will only scarify something little.
In the case of Voltaire’s technique, instead of drowning himself in tragic words, he made a drastic change in our emotions, to persuade us that what happened to the old lady was dramatic.

Looking at History

It is fascinating to see how humans try to find a reason for everything. Now a days we have science and philosophy that help us find proved reasons for most of what happens. I also enjoy watching how we build on the others discoveries, to slowly build a ladder that will finally take us to the answer we were all looking for. Also, there are cases, like the light bulb, were we find what we were searching for but we have no idea how we arrived to it. However, if you are the person to build the first step of the ladder, and you are the one to start from scratch, it is most likely that you will make a mistake or assume something that will prejudice others.

In the case of Candide, “Dr.Pangloss and his pupil, Candide, were arrested as well, one for speaking and the other for listening with an air of approval.” (pg.36) because people were trying to find out why the earthquake had stroke them.
Apart from being a stupid, it does represent moments of our history that have built a lot of suffering, basing their reason on a mistake. In the case of science we lost Galileo for having a different theory that was in fact right. But what shocks me the most, is that Voltaire wrote Candide way before the Second World War. However, the exact same scene of the misfortune of Candide and Pangloss was repeated in the war. We saw how they were arrested for doing the most innocent, normal and unthreatening thing possible, and somehow they were the cause of the earthquake. In the other hand, decades later after we understood the stupidity of what the two characters had to go through, we killed thousands of people because of their religious belief. For me, it is more absurd that we repeat our history over and over again without gaining from our mistakes, than the actual arrest of Candide and Pangloss.


With the auto-da-fé Voltaire showed a very strong point about assumptions that can end in the killing of innocent people. However, I can build to his idea saying that it is extremely important that we are careful with the methods we use to achieve something we want, and even more careful if it involves others. Adding to that will we ever learn from our history? In my first Social Studies class the teacher said, “We study and understand history to prevent from repeating our errors.” Unfortunately that hasn’t been our case. When will we start changing?

Facing Reality

Candide, Pangloss and the sailor were the only survivors of the shipwreck and all three of them lived after the earthquake. For men who have survived such disasters, and see chaos around them, you expect them to value more their lives and notice that life does run out of time, so you must carpe diem (seize the day).
However, I was impressed with Candide since I thought he would be the drunk one looking for prostitutes, maybe his behavior was guided by Pangloss. But it was the sailor the one I felt pity for. I can’t obviously expect much from someone “who had the means of drowning the honest Anabaptist” (pg.33) or that drowned James. After such actions, the man had no feelings and went around the ruined city drinking and looking for girls, filling him with guilt.

When Pangloss tried to lend a helping hand with his morality, he replied, “ I am a sailor and was born in Batavia. I have had to trample on the crucifix four times in various trips I’ve been to Japan. I’m not the man for your Universal Reason!” (Pg. 34)
That statement made me think, of what a good sailor this man used to be and made me wonder how he arrived to that situation.
In philosophy we are reading Jean Paul Sartre and this is the perfect example of what the French philosopher warns. He states that without discipline and effort, the hero can become a lazy person, and a lazy person can become a hero. Unfortunately, this sailor probably fits in the case of the hero that became a lazy person. Most of all it probably isn’t the regret of loosing his past life that hurt him so much, but more the frustration of not being able to change things.

I also recalled to Sartre’s philosophy when Candide said, “The Day of Judgment has come.” (pg.33) during the earthquake. According to Jean Paul, the religious people are able to hold themselves in bad times, because they search for strength in God. Probably Candide is one of those people, and I envy him for having that strength source and for not having to face reality at all times. Maybe, this side of Candide is what has made him move forward and not get stuck at every problem he has.