Hey fellow intelligent seekers, it’s Ryan one last time.
This fantastic year has come to an end. And I am going to become a senior soon. Maybe I will continue to write on my blogs… but I don’t know if I will.
I remember my first blog post being about my 6 word memoir… I’ve really come a long way from then. And you can clearly see the clear change in my top 3 blog posts.
As you can see, my blog posts advanced in length, content and diction. I really think Dr. Zucker’s class inspired me to work harder in my writing skills; I have never been challenged to write better in my entire life than this year’s Honors Modern Fiction class.
I was able to get rid of repetitive language, use parallel structure and better diction, and use figurative words. The books I’ve read, the essays I’ve wrote, and the socratic seminars I prepared for all helped me out in terms of intellectual thinking and how to convey my thoughts effectively on paper.
Another thing I’ve learned over Junior year is the importance of relationships between people. I’ve gained friends, and lost friends due to my personality. There have been highs and downs and my personality has changed a lot. From having radical ups and downs in my mood to being able to handle all the stress, I believe I’ve come a long way- and my friends really helped me with this; they told me what they see in me and what I can do become a better person.
It has been a great year. And I’m hoping I have time next year to write more on this website.
Thank you for reading my blogs throughout the year intelligence seekers, and I will see you soon- hopefully.
Recently, in my English class, we read the book: Slaughter House Five.
First of all, amazing book. It is famous for its anti- war content
After our entire class was done with the book we had something called a socratic seminar- a discussion with an abundance of meaningful questions and claims supported by evidence from the book.
Most of the claims made were that Vonnegut’s book is an attempt to let people know of the horrors and atrocities of war. However, mine differed.
Q:Western Civilization Doomed?
A:We’re awfully close. Close enough for God to give us a warning.
War is the cleansing of sins. Punishment, if you will. Every height of human ignorance, there has been a war. WWI, WWII, Korean War… all started with selfishness.
It can’t be prevented. If it can, why do wars keep on reoccuring?
Vonnegut’s book is not an attempt to let people know of the horrors of wars, but rather a ark of salvation. Get on if you want to survive from the apocalypse.
Q:Is life Pre- Determined?
A:No. Absolutely not.
Most shocking part of the book and the most ingenious part is definitely the ability of Billy Pilgrim’s ability skip around time.
It is the literal embodiment of the ideology of the Tralfamadorians. A pre determined set of events, whose meaning will be determined by the perception of time of its subject.
Just so you know, this is not true. As cool and deep as it seems. It’s not.
It goes against the purpose of life. If a person’s life is pre-determined, that means he or she is destroyed at the moment of creation- a paradox.
If life really is pre-determined, why are we created? Creation has a purpose. Although we may never know, the being who created everything, from the universe, people, plants and animals have given each life a meaning. And it is up to us, and our free will to make our life worth it.
imagine this was actually real. a old white guy created all of us
Just go about your day. It’s almost certain you’ll hear the name “Tesla” mentioned at least once a day. Read it in the Newspaper, listen about it on the TV, hear it from your friends… see it on the road. It’s ubiquitous, and you, although at first was unenthusiastic, will find it more and more interesting. The quickness, the sleekness, and effortlessness of the car is just amazing.
Go to a dealership
Now you cannot stand life without a Tesla. You begin obsessing over it: telling friends and families how awesome it is and how much of a genius Elon Musk is to make this company. You start doing your researches- “How are Teslas so fast?”, “When was Tesla made?”, “The history of Tesla”, “Can a Tesla beat a lamborghini?”… Then you find out that Tesla was actually not Elon Musk’s invention, how the electric motors in it makes the acceleration insanely quick, and, the final straw, a video of a Tesla smoking a Lamborghini in a drag race.
Now you need to get one. You go to a local dealership- it’s the embodiment of future. You fall in love.
Save up for a Tesla
You realize Tesla is a little pricey. You save up: no going out, no shopping, no grocery. You get sick of all the savings, but hey, you gotta get that Tesla. Finally, you save enough money to add with a loan to buy your very first Tesla. Happy.
Buy your first Tesla
Go to the dealership, shaking your head with pride. Little do the people in there know, that you actually have the money to buy a Tesla (kind of, because you took out a loan). You go to a dealer, get the best deal, and buy your first Tesla. Your car has the base package, but the outside looks the same as the sleek ones you saw in videos.
Drive
Drive. Drive till you’re tired. The effortless acceleration of the electric motors, the humming of the battery, the large tablet in the middle. Elon Musk, this man is a genius. Only a genius can think of making this ultimate driving machine. Drive till your tires burn out. Use up all your battery. Use the autonomous drive. Now, return home, the sky is dark, filled with stars, you’re tired, but ecstatic- you’ve never felt this much satisfaction in your entire life.
Do it Everyday.
No, literally, you’re gonna drive everyday. It’s your only car. Everyday is energetic, electric, it’s fast, VROOM VROOM!!!! (oh wait, it’s electric, it doesn’t make any sound).
You know…. It’s not the best of the best, if you actually think about it.
You get tired. You don’t want to face that you’re slowly and slowly getting bored. But you are, and you know it. You still haven’t paid your loans back, it’s a lot. It’s depressing, you’re paying for a car that you are pretending to like, because you don’t want to confront yourself. But hey, your daughter’s friends still love your car?…
You’re done
FU**. It’s been 2 years since you bought your Tesla. You hate it. Why did you even buy it? It sucks!!! It’s expensive, and why does a 2.4 seconds 0-60 mph matter so much in your life?! You’re sick and tired of it, you don’t use it, you leave it in the garage, but you still have to pay back the loans.
Bye…
4 years. You’re done paying back your loans. You’re gonna sell that junk now. Tesla even stopped manufacturing your car. It’s out of fashion.
Sold
You sold your car on autotrader. You bought it at $100,000. You sold it for $16,000. Congratulations, you’re in debt now.
Title of Podcast Episode: Joe Rogan Experience #1169 – Elon Musk
Speaker: Joe Rogan
Guest: Elon Musk
Are you an aspiring entrepreneur, are you interested in the lives of successful businessmen?
Well, Elon Musk is the right person.
He is the encapsulation of modernity (come on, he’s the man that Ironman was formed after), the epitome of obscurity (a tunnel in the middle of L.A. Oh, and a $20,000 “flame thrower”), and a successful businessman (net worth of $19.7 billion).
And when Elon Musk meets with Joe Rogan… phew. This sh** is ABOUT TO GO DOWN!
A Brief Summary:
Joe and Elon talk about Elon’s business. Incredibly, it consists of extremely many branches. From the Boring company to SpaceX to Tesla, his knack in business and knowledge in building a successful company is literally “out of the world”.
“… if there was like maybe an intelligent being that we created, you know, like some AI creature that’s uhh.. superior to people?… maybe they can fix a bunch of sh**…”
“We will not be able to hold a candle to AI”
Elon Musk is commonly referred to as a AI or an alien himself (I would not be surprised if he actually is) due to his out of the world thinking.
He is also known as the pioneer of Artificial Intelligence and a sort of a “guru” of technological advance.
All in all, this dude is the one I want to have on my side when the world is being robot-ized.
Naturally, due to these reputations, Joe asks several AI related questions.
One thing that struck me the most was his question that asked “Do you really stay up at night worrying about AI?”
Elon answered “Yes”- and I trust him.
Elon gives me this vibe. He’s a pure genius who has been corrupted by the World. He seems sad all the time, he seems like he knows what will happen.
There is one thing that differentiate him from any other uber rich businessmen- he really doesn’t give a damn. He will do what he wants regardless of profits, he will enact upon his ideas. One event that proved this was his making of his Boringcompany.
He brought in Nationally renowned engineers and top engineers from the Silicon Valley to dig a mile long vacuumed tunnel, and a flamethrower.
Although the flamethrower made him millions, the mile long tunnel did nothing but set him back millions of dollars in profit terms, but showed the world that innovation can be anyone’s imagination.
He is free and accepting of any ideas. It feels like everything Joe says, Elon actually considers it: “a sultry waking up voice in a Tesla”, “a magnet inside a car bumper”… etc. And if he finds flaws inside those, he will explicitly tell Joe after thinking deep about it.
I hope Elon keeps on doing what he’s doing. If there is a future in the world, it’ll be the one of Elon Musk’s.
Hello Intelligence Seekers, Ryan again. How are you guys doing!
Okay
So… if you guys didn’t know, I have a lot of shoes. And I mean A LOT.
35 pairs counting my soccer cleats…
Some of them I regret buying… those expensive and trendy shoes in particular. But some of them I don’t regret at all… the cheap, useful and quality shoes.
There are three pairs of shoes in my closet that I do not regret buying at ALL.
Those are my Clarks leather boots, my white Vans, and my cheap Nike sneakers.
And each of them have their own stories and life lessons they taught me.
Clarks Leather Boots
My father bought me these boots two years ago on a rainy day in New York. He has always emphasized the importance of inner quality, subtlety, and humbleness. These pair of boots were the perfect pair of shoes that he could have given to me.
These boots aren’t flashy, but classy.
These boots aren’t cheap quality, but handmade.
These boots aren’t cheap, but worth it.
At first, I didn’t appreciate the humble beauty of these boots, however, as I matured mentally, I fell in love with these boots. And has been wearing them in rough conditions (hiking in Alaska), in rainy days, icy weather, snowy days…… And they never wore out, but only got more comfortable, aged nicely and has been the staple for consistency.
It taught me the importance of quality. And the irresistible power of humble beauty.
White Vans
These white Vans, which I adore and wear on a everyday basis, were one of the best purchases I’ve ever made in my life.
The effortless and versatile white, the durable rubber sole and affordable price was what attracted me into it.
I have played futsal (street soccer), basketball in these shoes and can use them in any situation when I don’t have any specialty shoes (biking, basketball, gym).
The most interesting thing about these shoes are the fact that the dirtier they become, the more story and memories they give off to the wearer.
They have taught me to be a versatile person who becomes a better person as he ages.
Cheap Nike Sneakers
These Nike shoes were given to me as a present by my father’s ex- assistant (kind of random but… :)).
When I first received them about 3 years ago, they were one size bigger than my feet. Plus, 13 year old Ryan thought the colors were ugly. Only if I had known that these pairs have a literal computer inside them…
Yes, you heard that right, these kicks had a computer chip in the sole that you can connect to an app on your phone. And I figured that out a year ago when I took the insoles off to see a blinking computer chip.
These shoes have been with me through a lot.
Soccer tryouts when I didn’t bring cleats, hanging out and playing sports with my friends… they have been the staple of reliability.
The tough mesh upper and high traction soles have enabled me to do everything… literally everything.
These pairs taught me that what might seem ugly outside can have a completely different inside to them.
I recently took the SAT, and one of the passages were discussing the evolution of human’s brain in correlation to the evolution of technology.
The central claim of the passage was that with the evolution of technology, the human brain’s capacity to memorize had decreased.
However, one thing to note is that the passage used the capacity to memorize as the ability to memorize information.
Interestingly, the passage also claimed that the human brain’s capacity to memorize where to find a certain information has increased exponentially. It made so much sense to me- I organize files and images in different folders and am able to recall where I put each and every file I stored.
Reliance in technology can be beneficial but harmful at the same time.
Say that you, during the age when cameras weren’t around, visited the Eiffel Tower. And then imagine you visiting the same place when cameras are prevalent.
Which scenario do you think you’ll be more likely to remember the vivid details of the Eiffel Tower more? I think the no- camera scenario will be a more memorable experience.
Sure you can pull up a picture of the Eiffel Tower and list every single details on the picture. However, is this “more memorable” and savory than reminiscing the details in your mind?
Technology enables us to rely on it to multitask and access all sorts of information. However, are all these worth the loss of creativity?
It has been proven that creativity is inhibited by constant use of a specific piece of technology- the computer.
Daily computer use leads to the deactivation or degrading of the Corpus Callosum, the bridge between the creative left brain and the logical right brain, and the Norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter responsible for long term memory retrieval. These, along with many other implications on the human brain, all combine to lead to one thing- humans are losing creativity.
One research even claims that as close as our parents’ generation has had a higher memory capacity than our generation.
To think the humans will eventually become technology itself is scary…
What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments!
The short, action packed story takes place in the year of 2054 in the first person narrative of the protagonist- John Anderton.
John Anderton is the head of the Pre Crime Unit- one of the key branches of government that holds immense power and control over the country (sounds kind of familiar right?). So yeah, it’s safe to assume that John Anderton is a extremely powerful and privileged individual.
Now, I should probably tell you what the Pre Crime Unit does…
The Pre Crime Unit is based solely on three very important beings- the Precogs.
These so- called Precogs can see futures (it’s plural for a reason). And based on these futures, they predict whether or not a person is going to be committing a crime, where the crime is going to be committed, and what kind of crime it is. According to the book, the Precogs are able to see about a week into the future, and have had a tremendous record of eliminating crime (1 murder in 5 years)
However, similar to the previous book I’ve read (1984), Anderton’s high social status is not enough to prevent him from accusations.
As a result, when the two of the three Precogs accuse him of a murder he will commit in a week, Anderton is chased by the Pre Crime Unit and the government as well as the military.
Now that’s just a fraction of the summary of this book.
The part where I wanted to talk about is the ambiguity of the future, and the paradox present in the story.
Ambiguity of Future
Each Precog views a different future. It’s as if the three Precogs are picking out balls from a basket full of them.
This phenomenon can be explained by the many world theory which explains that each time a person makes a choice, their universe splits into the one where he made the choice and the one where he didn’t make the choice.
Therefore, each precog will be seeing a different universe, or a future, depending on the time frame (if Anderton had made a significant choice at 9:30, the precog who accessed his future at 9:29 will not be able to see the universe in which that significant choice was made).
However, this leads to another question: Who decides if the event is significant enough to alter one’s future? How would the universe react differently when a person chooses frosted flakes over coco puffs as to when a person decides to murder a person or not?
Is there even a future? Who can guarantee that a version of a future is right when that person can make one different choice during their buildup to the future, and alter the projected future?
Paradox of The Story
Pre Crime itself is a great paradox. How is it morally right for a force to place someone under arrest for a crime that they have not committed yet?
Technically, the person that the precog accuse of a future crime is not guilty.
And what if the accused person manages to flee from the police and is able to wait out till the day of the predicted crime and is able to sustain himself from committing a crime? Is he still guilty? Will the police still be chasing him? Or would he be a free man again?
Overall, Minority Report is a dystopian novel that well illustrates the ambiguity and paradoxes that the advancement of technology can bring and how it can affect a person’s life.
What do you guys think will happen in the future? Share your thoughts on the comment section!
So recently I had to give a partner presentation with my good friend Matt in front of our Honors Modern Fiction Class.
Our presentation was on none other than “Our Actions Online”
It’s a pretty broad topic, but I think Matt and I managed to get our point across- YOU make up the Internet, so do what YOU think is right.
Now let’s go back to the beginning of the presentation.
Matt and I started off with a introductory video that explains Internet Anonymity and how it is a integral part of free speech on the internet.
You guys should watch it too… it was one of the best videos I’ve ever seen; it cuts to the chase, eliminates false information and directly relates anonymity to free speech and how it affects it.
But here’s where the question kicks in…
Is anonymity GOOD or BAD?…
This related to our first question we asked our audience.
Does the so called “anonymous” internet create mob mentality? Or individualism?
Clearly, the video above tend to focus on individualism- the positive side of the internet like free speech, standing up against the haters kinda stuff ya know?
However, it is impossible to ignore, especially in this time of age, the dark side of Internet.
The dark web (which I’ve personally seen), illegal sex slave trades, child pornography, cyber bullying… these are only some of the problems.
Cyber bullying, most likely the topic we’re most common with, then leads to this word… Mob Mentality.
Since no one on the internet is able to know who you are in real life, can’t you just join in on the innocent witch hunt? What stops them?
According to our class, they most agreed on mob mentality… Melissa and Ayesha gave an example where people in the comment section on celebrity’s post just go “out of hand”. Lindsey also gave us a possible reason as to why she negatively comments on some posts saying that if she sees an idea going around in the comments section, she “automatically thinks they’re right” and joins on the movement.
However, there were some people, about 3 I believe, who stood their side on individualism. One person, Joel, stated his opinion that he thinks “the internet is a great place to have discussions… without having to be judged by other people”.
Aren’t you here to tell us the answer…?
Both sides were completely correct since they’re are no answers to such an ambiguous question.
Unfortunately, it is true that the current society’s status is more leaning to a negative side than a positive side on the internet.
Matt and I supported this claim with a barrage of statistics that well depicted the situation that today’s society is in…
34% of middle school students have experienced cyber bullying at least once a month in forms of mean comments and spreading rumors
78% of teens have cell phones nowadays, giving each of them the ability to cyber bully
Sexual assault related to social media increased 300%
33%of all sex crimes involve Social Networking Sites
1 in 10 adolescents have had embarrassing pics of themselves leaked online.
However, we still have hope intelligence seekers.
As I told my class, the internet is nothing without its users and we create our own demons. So if we, as part of the internet, change, then the internet itself will have to follow our lead.
And that, is when the internet changes from dystopia, as my class most agreed on, to utopia.
This youtube video highlighted the direct connection between anonymity on the internet and free speech. It states that anonymity is a integral part in retaining America’s fundamental value- free speech. Although biased in that it focuses only on the positive side of the internet, it is still a valuable and informative source
This article draws out the future of a tech- filled world. It touches upon the cons and pros, such as robots being able to help humans out with physically and mentally demanding work and the people losing jobs because of the robots’ superiority.
This article was what gave us the idea of including mob mentality in our presentation. The article included quotes from many scientists. One in particular- mob mentality is “a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgment that results from in-group pressures.”
This website gave our group the most help in defining and explaining what mob mentality meant and originated from. If it wasn’t for this website, we would have had a much harder time correctly defining the term “Mob Mentality”
This website gave most of our statistics about robots taking over human job. It was very depressing to see the harsh reality that only the fittest survive in the world of greedy business owners and consumer demands.
These are the most prominent names in the game of soccer today. And I’m certain that you have heard of at least one of their names.
Ronaldo (34 years), Neymar (27 years), Messi (31 years) and Mbappe (20 years).
If all 4 players were in one room, the room would be worth $2.31 billion plus the cost of the walls.
Ronaldo gets paid $712,181 a week
Neymar gets paid $865,000 a week
Messi gets paid $645,000 a week
Mbappe gets paid $300,000 a week
And there are plenty of players who get paid more than $300,000 a week.
These players earn a person’s lifetime earning in merely 1 to 3 weeks.
How are they doing this? HOW!
Turns out, they deserve it. They’ve sacrificed their whole youth for a career that is extremely hard to succeed in.
According to Business Insider, only 180 out of 1.5 million youth academy players (youth academies are extremely, EXTREMELY hard to get into too) in England (which is known for producing the most famous players in the world) eventually make it into the professional league.
That’s slimmer than getting hit by a meteorite in daylight.
And it turns out, it’s only a fraction of what soccer teams earn from merchandise sales, endorsements, game tickets and their billionaire sponsors.
And the amount of attention these mega-athletes bring to the team and brands like Nike and Adidas are beyond imagination.
Nike has already made $5.8 billion off of Ronaldo’s publicity and makes an average of $474 million annually just from Ronaldo’s immense social media presence.
This post by Ronaldo with the caption #justdoit made $7.8 million for Nike
And that’s why Nike signed a billion dollar deal with Ronaldo, Neymar and Mbappe and why Adidas signed a lifetime deal with Messi.
What do they do with all this money?
Well, if they earn this much money, it must go somewhere right?
Well, they buy A LOT of luxury items. Ranging from cars, watches to islands and yachts.
That Bugatti Chiron is $3.1 million
Yeah. They make a lot, but also spend lot.
If I had money to spare like this, I would get all my best friends to live in a house with me and go out to dinner every night. It’s the small things that matter for me.
What would you guys do if you earned this much money? Comment Below
Today I had a day off because school closed due to the weather. And Rachel, my sister, and I decided to watch a scary movie.
The Nun was the movie and phew… it was pretty darn scary.
After watching this movie, I thought “What makes scary movies scary?”
I have always tried to scare my friends and family, but it has always been some sort of surprise element where I pop out behind them. I wouldn’t call it scary, but rather startling a person. Plus, we would all have a good laugh after.
But some of the best horror movies scare audiences not with the element of surprising, but rather with their plot and neurological response.
Apart from all of this, I was just interested in the psychological and physical responds that are triggered when watching a horror movie.
Why Do People Jump and Yell During A Scary Movie?
According to Businessinsider, we jump or yell because a film “bypasses our tranquilized state and taps into a primal instinct, which is to react immediately to protect ourselves and warn others — before taking time to process what scared us.”
Even though we, as the audience of a fictional movie, know that the scenario is not real, our feeling of fear supersedes our rational thought.
How Do Movies Scare People?
Sound and Silence Sound is considered as important as visual effects in the horror movie industry. The screeching violin noise in Psycho, the chainsaw in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre… these are all perfect examples of sound utilized correctly to stir fear into audiences.
Another overlooked aspect is silence. Silence is a very effective tool used by filmmakers. The silence before the crazy criminal pops out behind a person in a dark room, the silence in The Quiet Place… these just show how much of an effect silence can give to the audience.
I, having watched many horror movies, instinctively close my eyes when the scene gets way too quiet because I know something BAD is going to happen.
Expectation and Timing During the first scenes of The Nun, everything seemed normal.
The movie takes place in a chapter house, possibly the holiest place of all places, so I expected nothing horrifying to happen soon. But, this expectation was cut down to pieces as the nuns started getting murdered ruthlessly.
The timing and place of the nuns’ deaths were the genius part of The Nun and the same goes for many horror movies.
Performances of Actors and Actresses Performances of actors and actresses in movies are vital. The facial features, the wide eyed, jittery face, the horrified and tear ridden face… these features make the movie what it is.
Imagine a horror movie where everyone has boring, everyday faces- it won’t do any good.
All these components aren’t really healthy for a person’s mental health, but I know for sure that it won’t stop me from watching more!
Ryan's American Life 