Internet Meme

Dawkins compares the meme, with genetic evolution. A system of replicating ideas from mind to mind. Dawkins states that memes "propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation."(192) The 2012 Kony Campaign is an example form a guy who wanted change in a particular region. he therefore used the media and practically all social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Spreading awareness of the atrocities  committed by Joesph Konya and his liberation army.  

Hunger Games 2.0

Common sense has still proved hard to the human race. The Prisoner's Dilemna is the effect example on social interaction: cheating will have its quick vicotires in the short run but in the long-run. Holding hands seems to be the most effective option. Even the Tit for Tat, no matter tif its "...a forgiving strategy"(227), the world rewards a forgiving indiduval.
But I believe that "forgiveness" has nothing to do with the strategy, so therefore in my opion. I see a flaw in the system. No conscious human will ever do something out of pure charity, nn other words: human seek a profit always. So forgiveness haas nothing to it. The reason why humans decide to Cooperate is becuase both are gaining something from mutual cooperation. This is where the common sense kicks in: if cooperation pays off on both sides, then why is defection still a variable in the human's mind?
This variation of defection, then adds another variable to the equation: Grudgers. The addition of Grudgers plus Cheaters produces a never ending cycle of mistrust. Hence producing no progress. So this leads my next question: what if everything is uncontrollable?
"It is more exciting for crowds to watch players striving mightily against one another than to watch them conniving amicably." (224) The next ideas that will you will read will be purely founded on the "What If?" so please bear with me.
I personally don't know anyone who controls their genes. A person who can tell its body to perform more ATP production, or to activate meiosis or mitosis. We cannot control what are genes are, and what their actions will be. So I ask: what if the world has been programmed to be anti-boring? What if the human race is programmed to purposely place itself in hellish messes, and try to get out? Maybe the world has the utmost fear of reaching a utopian community. In all honesty, I'd rather live in a Favela than to be placed utopian community. If anyone has read The Giver, we should be on the same page. Eternal perfection and cooperation has never been on the world's schedule. History's most admired character's have come from the most horrible situations human race has produced. Thus one can explain this by saying that the world enjoys watching gladiator show-downs because from every hell-hole something or someone interesting will surge.
What else can we use to explain the utter stupidity of human-race: Take one hundred dollars but be shot tomorrow? Or take 50 dollars every day and everybody wins?

"I would probably take Option A"- The Human Race

Let's Get Real

Altruism is a blatant myth. A definition that was made up by some guy who probably had a little bit too much to drink. Genes do not way up one morning and say "let's help people for no reason." This never happens, people help only to be helped in the future. So would say that it would be perfect to construct a community that revolves are "you scratch my back, and I will scratch yours."
Unfortunately the world is not so pretty, and cheaters will always break this process, due to the simple fact that: “Cheats do better than indiscriminate altruists because they gain the benefits without paying the costs.” (184) Each organism wants to waste the least energy possible to be helped and to be help. It's as simple as that. I like to think of this process as a system of government. 
One would be labeled as in a complete idiot if one said that no government consists of corruption. Not even the most minimal form of surpassing the margin of the law. My analogy might be a little too "made-in-Hollywood" but it is quite clear. Government officials exchange favors all the time, whether it be money related or power related: there is something being produced behind all the work. But when the scandals explode a few officials are left in the spotlight. These men can be considered to be the cheated or the suckers. The suckers who were involved in a cycle of favor, and once the cycle is discovered by someone who probably was cheated on, the ones who can save themselves will. Thus creating the other two divisions. The Grudgers who: “if any individual cheats them, they remember the incident and bear a grudge: they refuse to groom that individual in the future.” (185) And the Cheaters who in this case don't return the favor and leave the suckers alone. The Grudgers can either be the ones who expose the scandal with wanting to avenge a past moment. Or the Grudgers can evolve from being the suckers to a Grudger. Remebering the betrayal he experienced. 
If one steps back and analyze the situation: you see self-interest everywhere. Whether it be to: avenge, save oneself, or one hundred percent profit. No one works to receive nothing at the end of the day. So the question I ask myself is: if knowing that a world with no cheaters would prosper, then why not construct it? 
Silly me! That's a pretty easy question to answer: Self-Interest.

Live To Die Another Day

Dawkins explains that genes: the creators of the survival machine, the organism. Is the utter most essential piece of life. Genes determine who war are, what we do, and why. Everything. But Dawkins makes it clear that genes don't take their positions for granted.

Thinking of survival machines, I can't stop thinking of a varsity soccer team. The survival machine is the team, the players are the genes, and the school is the gene pool. Unfortunately not every one can play with the big boys, meaning only the best of the best are chosen to represent. But one must start form the beginning of the building process of an elite team: try-outs. Try-outs is where the players show their talent, for this process an "I" is inserted in the word "team." Every player must prove themselves to the coach (the environment: "...I preferred to think of th gene as the fundamental unit of natural selection, therefore the fundamental unit of self-interest."(33) In other words: Dawkins makes it clear that personal gain is the only thing on the players' minds. As the hours go by, the fitness of the players starts to be noted. It becomes a matter of who can still give the most to the cause, no matter the time passed. Survival of the fittest kicks in: who can best adapt to the style of play, and produce the most? Once this process of handpicking the player is executed. The second step commences. 

"Each entity must exist in the forms of lots of copies and at least some of the entities must be potentially capable of surviving, in the forms of copies, for a significant period of evolutionary time."(33) Each player must now prove that besides beginning the best at what he does, he must be able to play the tournament (evolution) with his ten other peers. Because it makes no sense to have the best players but not being able to use them efficiently because no teamwork is accomplished. And like the tournament is so long, the team will eliminated quickly if teamwork isn't present. Every team wants to win, because winning brings reproduction. A chance that maybe the team will be able to win more tournaments throughout their time as a whole. To leave a foundation for the future players to come. 

At the end of the day, the ultimate goal is survival. Evolution only plays with the best, nd the best are the ones who adapt the quickest, and reproduce efficiently. If not the system goes down the drain, and that only leaves three words to describe the consequences: YOU ARE SCREWED!

Lost

Zobeide: the city of dreams. Or it can also be named, the city of pity. "...they set out in search of the city; they never found it, but they found another; they decided to build a city like the one in the dream...but none of them ever saw the woman again." The men had a dream: a woman. The women then lead to another: building a city to pursue a dream. The dream city then inspires a dream of constructing till perfection: always with the dream of finding the woman. Two dreams raveled in a one dream, which creates a trap. A never-ending cycle that only creates melancholy.
A sense of incompetence that develops a city into a nest of deception. This situation in which the founders and the visitors of Zobeide are in, resembles the plot of the movie: Inception. A movie where the only place where DiCaprio can live up to his expectations and forget his utter failures, is continuing living in his dream. What I get this from this connection is a hint to Calvino's connection with the real world. A rather pessimistic idea expressed and quite cheesy: fair to say that its pretty cliche. More than an idea, this theme poses a question: what if we didn't expect so much? What if our expectations were lower? Would we be happier, would the world rid itself of melancholy? if the simplest things made us happy once again? Maybe, just maybe, no dreams are the answer for happiness.

Cycle Of Genes

Approaching the end of Invisible Cities, Calvino starts to extend the writing only on Marco Polo's thoughts and encounters. The reader starts to illustrate a finer picture of both Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. In other words blog-material galore. But I restrained myself from righting and continued to dive into Marco's encounters. But on page one hundred fifty five/one hundred fifty three, a lightbulb clicked in my brain. A connection was established. Invisible Cities and Selfish Gene. Dawkins and Calvino? Biology and Kublai Khan? Prepare to be enlightened.
The second chapter of Selfish Gene, has everything to do with evolution: how the ancestor is never lost, it only grows more complex throughout generations. What I mean is that no matter the mutation or process of swift or gradual evolution that takes place: the original block will still be present. "When the turns exhaust their variety and come apart, the end of the cities begins." An endless cycle, but once this separation occurs, the original seed is carried by both cities.
The same has to do with the Selfish Gene, without getting too scientific: speciation. Speciation is what happens when one species divides into two. At  one point of this isolation (the scientific term: geographic, behavioral, temporal isolation) the species can no longer breed efficiently, thus creating a species. A cycle which is called natural selection: in my words a cycle of ever/complexity. Never stopping, always paving the road for the world's existence.
Cities pave our world, and never stop overlapping itself, but the foundations are never altered. No matter the years, there was once a beginning and there will always be a beginning.

With no End.

Don't Try Too Hard

Invisible Cities is the complete opposite of what we have been reading the last month. A complete contrast   to Simple Heart and Cathedral. Flaubert and Carver include such detail that the reader doesn't think twice upon the scenario. It is almost as though Flaubert and Carver want to give the reader only one road to choose. Calvino's text is quite the opposite of such fruitful detail. In fact the descriptions bestowed on each city can sometimes be vague.
Much this lack of detail idea has me thinking that Calvino wants the reader to choose his own train of thought. The cities are delivered with enough detail for the reader t create its own world. Containing no interference with overwhelming detail as in Flaubert's or Carver's works. So the whole idea of show don't tell works counter/clock wise in Invisible Cities. Calvino expresses the basic, but then the reader is left to create (show) his own world. However this idea not only applies to the reader. Kublai Khan is situated in the same position as the reader. "The Great Khan deciphered the signs, but the connection between them and the places visited remained uncertain; he never knew whether Marco wished to enact an adventure that had befallen him on his journey, an exploit of the city's founder, the prophecy of an astrologer, a rebus or a charade to indicate a name."(22) The Great Emperor finds himself making his own path based on the deciphered ideas from Marco.

This idea of uncertainty becomes clear when the Khan becomes curious if he will ever fully comprehend his empire. "On the day when I know all the emblems...shall I be able to posses my empire, at last?" In response to the Emperor " Sire, do not believe it. On that day you will be an emblem among emblems." In other words the uncertainty that Calvino implicates in his writing signifies a teaching. A teaching that in my opinion means that uncertainty is what keeps the world in motion. And that this motion will never be fully comprehensible. One revolves around the world: not the world around one. Not even great kings will ever comprehend. So don't try too hard, because the situation will never be under control.

Maybe Is The Best I Have

"It has neither name nor place...everything imaginable can be dreamed, but even the most unexpected dream is a rebus that conceals a desire or, its reverse, a fear." 

In addition to the text above, Kublai Khan's feelings of each city resembling one another.  Got me thinking that what if Polo is describing one city? A city where his dreams originate, a city which he has either the fear of losing from his memory or longs to explore. A third possibility that circulates might be the idea that the original city, is quite original. WHat i mean by this: maybe there are no blueprints for the original city: a city made by Marco's dreams. 

As Marco tells the emperor that the city has "neither name nor place", the reader right away asks: Then what is a city? If Marco's definition of city has neither time nor place, then how can it be an actual city? Staying away from the literal aspects of population and blatant infrastructure. Another question arises. 

Does this idea of nor time nor place, finally explain why Calvino writes in no particular age? Thus justifying the 20th century buildings with 15th century caravan routes or either camel or steamboat transportation. I get lost even writing about my ideas that surge from trying to tie all aspects of Calvino's text. The possibility that Polo's dream city divides into all the cities described to the Khan or that this idea of time nor place, does not expose Polo's blasphemy. In contrary, maybe Calvino ties the idea of eternal cities. Cities where time doesn't affect either the people or the place. Casting a blanket of infinite exploration, of mystery. A sense of invisibleness. Hence explaining why Calvino doesn't bother writing in a specific tie period. Including characteristics stretching from the fifteenth century to modern day. A hint of Paradox. 

W.T.F.

 As I begin to advance through the first cities mentioned by Calvino, I cannot help but question the names of each City. At first, my ignorance dominated my rationale. I thought each name was a city somewhere in the Middle East or someplace. And to be honest I would've arrived Friday morning, convinced that the cities expressed were in fact real. Anastasia was the name that made me stop and think. Even though I didn't discard the possibility that Anastasia might actually be a city through out the former Soviet Union. My initial thought was Anastasia Romanov, the last of the Tsar reign. 

Anastasia of Russia

With this connection established, I researched what Anastasia means to check if the cities' names actually have a deeper meaning. And to astonish my ignorance, my hunch was correct. Anastasia means resurrection, deriving from the Greek word, Anastasi. A name in which hope thrives. It was here where I totally lost Calvino's track. 

The city Anastasia is defined as "...belief of enjoyment actually means  enslavement." From this description, I can quite frankly, only imagine a crap place to live in. A place in which man enters a world of "treachery and malignance." A complete antonym to what the city's name represents. W.T.F.! What does Calvino want the reader to materialize from this?

My answer for this specific city is: a demonstration on decisions taken from superficial inquiries. What I mean is that Calvino wants to highlight that although many desires in-reach surround man, one must prioritize if man does not want to fall victim to temptation. Surrounded by desires only produces indecision which leads to failure. 

Presuming that the rest of the chapter's names will have such profoundness attached. Calvino's aim is to construct a world of lessons and expositions of man.

 

Really?

By far the most screwed up book I have read in a long time, scratch that, the weirdest book ever written! Voltaire’s cunning tactics of satire, give the book that extra degree of spice in which the book excels. The book goes from: Characters disappearing and appearing, two different worlds, and random lives are taken from the most random occurrences. All this accumulates to one hell of a novel, you read from sex scenes to ideas and philosophies that still haven’t been answered today. Voltaire addresses his fellow countrymen by banding all the flaws of society, making fun of them and then eventually giving it a solution or an example where the world does operate correctly to his standards. For example: "We never pray,’ said this good and venerable man; ‘we have nothing to ask of God, since He has given us everything we need. But we thank him unceasingly"( 79) Voltaire here criticizes his European grounds by expressing the European daily view of "enough is never enough", he points out that his people only want to receive, but are never willing to give. But here is where Voltaire thrives in making his point, he not only expresses his perspective, he makes it seem possible, achievable. Voltaire mentions that across the Atlantic Ocean, people will find communities thriving of culture and well-beings, where people have what they need and are content with the lives they live, making thus a more successful society. Voltaire makes sure that his goals are in fact possible and no only that, but people are already living happy lives with such philosophies. So all this persuasive writing, drastic turn of events, and overall unimaginable scenarios that Voltaire makes up and elaborates, texts that are still read four-hundred years after his death. Ends with a conclusion, named "conclusion"? Voltaire are you *&%$in kidding me? That’s worse than any thing you can imagine. Besides deciding to end the book because your pen ran out of ink, now you end such a text with "conclusion.” 

Bite Me Voltaire, You Bastard.

Russian Roulette

As I had said before, it's safe to say that Candide’s character is much like a person with a mental disability, to fully grasp the world. In other words, straight up stupid. But reading the last line of Candide, something made me think twice about Candide's perspective on the world. "That's true enough, but we must go and work the garden."(144) Finally, Candide changes, he leaves his naive diapers and steps into some boxers. The whole book was based on this personality of some kid, experiencing horrific things around the world, but somehow justifying such acts as though he were blind. Candide finally realizes that the world is a bet, in other words, a Russian roulette. You can choose to take life in two different perspectives: 1. Making your own luck or, 2. Letting your life fly by in front of you. It might be easier to comprehend what I'm saying if I put it into a real life situation: Imagine your car's breaks have been failing  to respond accurately, the past couple of times you taken your baby on a spin. Tomorrow’s meeting is located in a pretty downhill environment. 1. You can put your very life in the hands of fate or 2. You can go and get them checked. You can rely on luck to get you through the day or you can actually go and build your own luck. Voltaire finally expresses his opinion on an ideal lifestyle, by clearly expressing that a life of "cultivating" and taking action will be bountiful in the long run. If you don’t get the brakes checked in your life, chances are that you'll be trying to justify the series of "misfortunate" events caused by your so-called luck.

*Remember the only thing that can really happen, if you choose to pull the trigger is...let's let fate decide. 

Survival Of The Meanest

Candide keeps hurling obstacles at little Candide, fortunately the boy has not had to face many obstacles by himself, he has had the presence of the Sailor, Pangloss,  the Old woman, and now Cacambo. For the exception of the beloved Dr. Pangloss, the rest of Candide´s guardians have been through tough times, or have lived through many experiences which grants them with know-how such as to Cacambo. As a result of either rough experience or simply having experienced many tasks in life, these guardians have managed to pull through and have managed to keep the socially handicapped, Candide. These guardians of Candide and their past leads me to to believe that the only way to survive in a world like ours is to be the quickest to the gun.
Voltaire shows how the people who have seen the utmost atrocious things like the old woman, are the ones who manage to pull out of the rubble. But this is not necessarily a good thing, espeacailly due to the fact that after watching such atrocities the person isn't the same, and can even be called "extra-terrestial." An interesting message, or maybe i might be the only one interpreting such a message. But it is clear that the people who don't doubt a second whether to pull the trigger are the ones who survive. So what does this situation make of society, a living hell? This logic of living makes life a constant duel, a non-stop game of cat and mouse, and the first one to stop and breathe, is the looser. A deadly case of evolution, if this is how the "successful" human was categorized in Voltaire´s time, what did Voltaire think the human race would be at to this day, better? Or still revolutionizing to have a society full of hulks?

Burn

There was no Valentine´s Day for Candide this year, he actually got a taste of some deep South American burn. Once the Argentinian Governor shows up in Candide, it starts to look pretty murky for Peter Pan. Even though Candide loves Lady Cunegonde and vice versa, he has nothing to offer such a woman. Due to this fact, i would like to defend Lady Cunegonde´s role-model personality and pose a question to the human race: What is the most important thing in a love relationship, what the guy can buy you or his profound love towards you? You should have already answered that question, it´s obviously the money! I really hope no one was so naive to actually think that the affection your couple has towards you is more important. If I were Lady Cunegonde, I would obviosuly pick the man who wants just form 9:30 pm- 1:30 am, and leave that so-called Candide to the wolves. After all, he has only loved me and cared for me.
Candide again seems to be left for the wolves, Voltaire persists on showing every aspect of the human race, stretching from the Iberian Peninsula, to the Straight of Magellan. Voltaire illustrates the human with the utmost perfection: selfish and cowardly. He writes with the utmost sincerity of the social problems that the world still faces to this day. The example of Lady Cunegonde´s resected play of leaving Candide to fend for himself against the Spanish prosecutors serves the purpose of grossly simplifying the world´s situations. Who ever thinks that the human can live in unity and without greed getting in the way of progress is either stupid or is a creation of Walter Disney. But one must be reminded that Voltaire was a man of innovation and mostly innovation o social reform, so i cannot stop asking myself if Voltaire has plans for a brighter society further in the book or will he continue to show the bloody flaws of the human race.

Thank God, A Seatbelt.

Approaching Chapter 12 of Candide, the reader starts to realize something fascinating about Candide, his uselessness. Maybe uselessness is too rough a word for a character that the reader grows close to due to his naitevte. There I think instead of useless; naive is the correct word for describing Candide. The main cause of this "Peter Panish" way of life has already been mentioned in my previous blog: The Philosopher of the Holy Roman Empire, the sole brain to teach metaphyisco-theologo-cosmolo-nigolgy, the one and only, Dr. Pangloss.

Candide finds himself enduring epic events, but somehow he seems to find a way to justify these actions. And unfortunately his soul mate, Lady Cunegonde, has had her fair share of time with Dr. Pangloss. So if you step out of the chaos for just a moment and grossly simplify the situation in Candide, it´s quite funny. I´ll draw it out for you: dumb and dumber. You might ask me, how could you call Lady Cunegonde naive? "...by celebrating an auto-da-fe, to which he did me the honor of inviting me. I had an excellent seat, and delicious refreshments were served to the ladies between Mass and the execution. “(Forty-two.) That should be enough to support my idea of why I think Candide and her Excellency aren´t the best couple for embarking on an odyssey.

So knowing that the reader would find himself either wanting to strangle or hurl himself into the book, Voltaire places a guardian angel with Candide and Lady Cunegonde, the old woman. With having only been in the storyline a couple chapters, it becomes obvious that she will be the lifeline of the two. She manages to think outside the box, something that Lady Cunegonde has a challenge with and well something that Candide will never be able to accomplish. She acts as a seatbelt to the couple: brainstorms plans to escape, to survive, and to slowly open Candide and Lady Cunegonde minds´. My question is, will the old woman be able to erase Dr. Pangloss´s mentality out of the two or will she spoon feed them all the way to safety?

Blinded By The Light...

A shade of "dark" light has been cast over the eyes of Candide, a light that has not only been limiting Candide's embracement of the world, but has also put his life at risk. But before going into the series of misfortunate of events that have been cast over Candide, one must take a couple steps back and fully take in Voltaire’s fundamental ideologies: "Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices." What does this quote say to the public? 

For many, this quote is a message to the people of Voltaire's era, a message of defiance or maybe a call to action for the French people. A wake-up call to really see who was ruling them or influencing their daily lives, and as most knew, Voltaire wasn’t the biggest fan of the French Crown and had even worse ties with the Roman Catholic Church. Although that quote from Voltaire isn’t identically "copied and pasted" into Candide, Voltaire substitutes this idea with "The Philosopher of the Holy Roman Empire", Dr. Pangloss. 

There exists no better definiton/example of Voltaire's satire as to Dr. Pangloss. Voltaire uses Dr. Pangloss to illustrate the pathetic ness of society, to capture the absurdness of the ideas that came from people, who were supposedly fit for influencing other or for ruling entire empires. Throughout Dr. Pangloss's involvement in Candide, his absurdity seems to grow and literally spreads to infect the people around him; his ridiculous ideology starts to take a toll on the prospect of reality of Lady Cunegonde and Candide himself. But leaving aside Pangloss's ideas of the "greater good", Voltaire gives him a trait, a trait that in history has proven to be possessed by some of the most memorable leaders. This trait for some has been eternally successful, but for most, it has eventually proven to be "auto destruction." Pangloss has the gift of talking his way through life, convincing people to follow his steps, steps that will "lead" people to the greater good. Basically promises are what enabled Dr. Pangloss to achieve such admiration from people such as Candide and Lady Cunegonde, much like leaders have been doing ever since the birth of man. What is even more ironic is the way Dr. Pangloss dies, with that said the perfect parallel for Dr. Pangloss is Maximilien Robespierre. 

Robespierre had a very similar way of operating; he used his absurd ideas of the greater good to gain favorable support, targeted the "future" to spread his ideas. Robespierre like Pangloss was a mad men, even though Pangloss never went himself to the killing fields (As Robespierre), he justified them as "for the greater good."  And last, but definitely not least, is that both of their lives ended due to their tongue. The same tool that got them to the peak of their lives was the sole reason of their execution. The ideas of these men took the real out of reality; they fantasized with utterly absurd optimism, ideas that everything was meant to happen for the greater good. Their tongues blinded the people around them with a fake sense of good, a sense that put band-aids on gushing wounds. 

Between The Lines

With only a few chapters of Voltaire’s Candide, under my belt, I am becoming more keen and cautious on spotting a silent but deadly factor in Voltaire's writing. Voltaire embeds his messages through a very subtle and elegant fashion, he makes sure never to reveal his true ideas out-front. As I read, I find myself lost in a sea of words that at first glance don’t have a "significant" or contributing factor. But as I read it again, somehow with a closer eye, I reveal ideas and questions that are embedded deep between the lines of Candide. As a famous man once said: "Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Doubt is much involved in Voltaire's passages; he leaves everything up for grabs, leaving the obvious to his criteria of criticism, "the patriots of France." And the embedded to the witty. I mention the words "patriot" to draw a parallel to Chapter. 3 in Candide, How Candide escaped from the Bulgars, and what happened to him afterwards.  

The hard-core war fanatic that Voltaire proved to be with his Enlightment writings takes his time to fully "glorify" the "heroes" of his country. He devotes more than half of his chapter, describing the "heroic butchery" of his countrymen. Describing the: beauty of two well trained armies, excellent tactics, the admiralty of a massacre, and the worthy ruins justified by "international law." It takes time to fully digest and realize what Voltaire is expressing, some people don’t even notice, that is the beauty of the Frenchman’s writing. That urging in your mind to reread the passage once more to fully comprehend, or taking the risk of falling victim to Voltaire's writing.