Androids DB

When I picked up Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep to read through chapter 6 (which unfortunately was about 3 hours ago), the first thing I noticed was the cover. On my edition, it appears to be a man behind a chain-link fence with a vacant expression. My mind immediately wandered to the animal ethics PETA display that we attended yesterday. I thought of the hand of a person grasping a chain-link fence compared to the hand of a chimpanzee's hand in the exact same position. Between the two pictures was the word "imprisoned." This image really stuck with me and now as I look at this cover of the book I'm seeing the ethical dilemma at hand. Should androids with extreme intelligence (almost human, one would say) be treated as robots or as humans?

Going along with this, I noted that the excerpts from "The Nature of Emotional Intelligence" raised some questions for me regarding the nature of humans vs. androids. Goleman states that "empathy builds on self-awareness," (Course Anthology 275C) and if they aren't taught emotions upon their creation, then they will certainly seem to "lack feelings altogether" (Course Anthology 275A). Thus, androids seem much like people with alexithymia because of their inability to express emotions. Is it fair to kill them simply on this basis? I've noticed that all sorts of discrimination occurs in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? First, obviously, would be the androids themselves. They are hunted simply because they supposedly lack emotional intelligence. However, the test that determines this has been proved ineffective. Androids, to me, seem like children uneducated in feelings and empathy. So, Dick is said to stress "the importance of emotion, 'which in his view made men human,'" but what if androids can learn emotions based on education and simply observation? Then, would it be fair to discriminate against them? The ethical dilemma here is clearly that androids could possibly feel human emotions, and yet they are treated as different.

Plus, ordinary humans like Rick and his wife Iran, have machines that stimulate emotions. If feelings and emotion are what set apart the humans and the androids, then this is blatant contradiction to the barrier between androids and humans. Another ethical dilemma (again involving discrimination) would be the "specials." Specials, like Isidore, are humans as well, just slightly below the average IQ. He seems perfectly up to par on societal values, such as his vivid description and extensive knowledge on "kipples." Also, he treats the new inhabitant of his apartment building with politeness and friendliness. As far as I could tell, he treated her with the kind of courtesy I would expect from any normal person, so it seems unfair that he is of lower status and has fewer rights that non-specials, or regulars. Also, I noticed a slight discrimination against women. For example, when Rick is setting his wife's mood organ he puts sets her to "pleased acknowledgment of husband's superior wisdom in all matters." However, Iran seems to have more insight in life than Rick. She is the one who can almost feel sadness and fights the new order in which they love, such as the perpetual need to watch TV. Thus, women are treated as lower in this new regime, which is yet another form of discrimination.

Ethical dilemmas, however, extend beyond those between humans. Moving on to animals, we see that in this new world, animals are finally valued as something extremely precious. As I think about this, I am reminded of Tennyson's quote "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." I am so glad that I can appreciate animals and form relationships without the constant fear of how rare they are. I would much rather have animals in my life than to live in the world of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, in which animals are regarded as creatures of extreme importance and are hard to obtain. We must regard animals now with love and compassion. In this book, I see how animals are scarce and many that we take for granted today (raccoons, for instance) are even extinct.

I wish that people could realize what they have now and appreciate animals. My eyes have been opened up to what things could be like. I realize that all animals are special and that there could exist a world where ordinary animals are scarce. I only wish that others could treat animals with more respect and compassion than they currently do.

Dick's book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep addresses very different aspects of ethics. Ethics among humans and ethics between humans and animals. Nonetheless, the issues raised are important and eye-opening. We realize that in a new order after chaos, people are more likely to treat each other with discrimination. However, we also see that things that were once plentiful and are now scarce, such as animals, are placed on a much higher scale of importance.

Alice and Animal Ethics

I’ve realized over the course of my life that the key to animal ethics is compassion for animals: to act as if they have feelings and needs just as human beings do. All my life, I have winced in the movies where the animals get hurt.

When Old Yeller had to be shot because of a disease he contracted, I was sad and angry. When the one of the two dogs from Where The Red Fern Grows died, I felt the pain of his little sister and how she could not carry on without her big brother. Animals have feelings as well and that is the first step to truly realizing that mistreating animals is like mistreating human beings.

One major trend I’ve noticed is that children are usually more sympathetic to animals than adults are. Combined with a greater sense of imagination as well as a tendency to be naturally compassionate (due to their innocence I presume), children, no matter how they end up as they get older (hunter or vegetarian, PETA or peta—people for the eating of tasty animals), are more likely to sympathize with animals. For example, my mom and step-dad are considerably unsympathetic toward animals. They like them well enough, but lack compassion for them and my step-dad even sees is as a “weakness of character” (Course Anthology 322). However, my brother, who has been brought up to be very rough, manly, and conservative, is very compassionate toward animals just as I am. When he was about 7 years old, we watched a movie called Far From Home together. In the movie, the dog helps the main character survive in a forest while trying to make his way back home after a shipwreck. Near the end of their journey, the dog falls from a very great height into a river and appears to die (even though he survives and makes it home in the end). My brother, watching alongside me, began to cry at this part. His behavior definitely contradicted how he had been brought up (it leaned toward my behavior) and my only reasoning behind this was that children sympathize easily with animals. Also, Alice shows her understanding of animals when she is talking to the dormouse. While talking with the dormouse, Alice more than once accidentally talks about cats and the eating of mice and rats, which of course makes the dormouse anxious and upset. However, Alice regards the dormouse as a being with feelings and understands that she may have “hurt the poor animal’s feelings” (Carroll 26). Thus, the treatment of animals is a definite aspect of the Alice books, especially because all the animals convey their feelings through speech, which is more difficult in real life.

Due to their imagination, children often talk to animals as if they can understand them, which I am convinced that they can. Although they may not understand exactly what you are telling them, I’ve always felt that animals can understand if you’re hurt or sad or excited and share your emotion in a way that makes animals special companions to us. Alice likes to talk to her cat in Through the Looking Glass as though it can understand everything she is saying and shares her thoughts very freely with it. In a way, Alice may be using the kitten as something to take care of. Young girls often like to have something to take care of and in the way that Alice refers to the kitten as “Kitty, dear” and “mischievous darling” (Carroll 139, 141), I would believe that Alice likes to give back to animals because of the companionship they give her. Companionship is another way of accepting animals as more than just what we had for lunch. Many people learn to accept animals as their best friends or members of their family, proving that they see animals “more and more the aspect of gentle friends” (Course Anthology 320). By accepting animals as friends, Alice, and people in general, are displaying a good sense of animal ethics.

Animals are a huge aspect of human life. Rescue dogs save lives every day, service dogs guide the blind and deaf, but most importantly, they are a part of many people’s every day life. Arriving home to find a friendly dog wagging its tail in greeting or curling up on the couch with a little kitten are two of many ways that animals can have a positive impact on someone’s everyday life. People can improve on animal ethics simply by accepting animals as our companions and trying to understand them as creatures with feelings and needs. As important as animals are to the human race, they deserve better treatment and more consideration, which I think is evident in Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

Ethics and Leadership in Alice

Upon starting this DB, I had my doubts about what I could find in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass that had to do with leadership and ethics. How could a children’s book have so much to do with applicable life aspects such as these? However, when I think about it, so many books and movies have bigger pictures in mind. For example, think about Pinocchio (which I hated as a child!). I don’t think many children knew what asses were at that age, but now as an older individual, I realize that Pinocchio and his friends turned into donkeys because they were behaving like asses! The pun is much more clear now that I am older and can understand it. Aladdin also portrays life lessons that make much more sense to older children than at the age that I started watching the movie. Aladdin shows that if a person can accept themselves for who they really are and not who they pretend to be, then they are more likely to be accepted by others. Also, Aladdin defies the desire to be greedy by freeing the genie at the end of the movie instead of keeping him prisoner so he can have one more wish.

Aladdin remains true his word and is rewarded for his selfless actions. These movies have proven to me that children’s stories can have much deeper meanings than perhaps they are intended to have and thus I felt much more confident in finder the proof of leadership and ethics in Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
As a leader, I could see how Alice displayed some of the aspects I’ve thought a leader should possess before. For example, Alice shows many signs of compassion and understanding of others in Alice in Wonderland. First of all, when she is talking to the mouse, she mentions her cat, Dinah, but then suddenly cuts herself off because she is afraid of offending the mouse. By relating with the mouse, Alice is displaying excellent leadership skills that could come in handy. Alice displays her compassionate side once again when she encounters the puppy. Although Alice was “terribly frightened” (Carroll 45) because of the puppy’s abnormal size, she is still kind to it and tries to play with it.

In doing these kind actions instead of recoiling in fear, Alice is gaining more friends than she would have otherwise, which is a key aspect to leadership.
Another aspect of leadership that I thought stood out was Alice’s sense of reason and logic. She comes across many strange and confusing experiences and she keeps a level head for the most part, except for when she cries (but that’s understandable as she is very young and very frustrated). To begin with, as Alice is falling down the rabbit hole, she begins to worry about Dinah. She expresses the hope that someone will “remember her saucer of milk at tea-time,” (Carroll 14) instead of worrying about what most people would worry about: what lies at the end of the fall. By keeping a calm countenance in a desperate situation, Alice shows excellent leadership skills. A leader who loses their head in a crisis cannot hope to help others, as they are supposed to. Also, Alice’s behavior toward the Queen is both logical and brave. The Queen is constantly commanding the execution of those around her and instead of giving in to fear and the fact that she might be killed. When the Queen shouts at Alice “’off with her head!’” Alice replies “’nonsense,” (Carroll 82) which shuts the Queen up immediately. By displaying both bravery and level-headedness, Alice is leaving me in no doubt of her sense of leadership.
The two books also gave me an idea of how ethics could be applied from encounter that Alice had to real life. In the trial, I noticed one aspect of Wonderland that Alice did not share with the other inhabitants of Wonderland. All the citizens such as the Mouse, the White Rabbit, and the Turtle show how they were all wrapped up in their own busy lives and could not give much attention to Alice although she was a very polite and sincere girl. For example, Alice is rather frightened and confused upon first arriving to Wonderland and the White Rabbit “’took [her] for his housemaid’” (Carroll 38) busily brushing past her and carrying on about his business with the Duchess. Their behavior correlates with people’s behavior these days. I have noticed that when in need of help, many people are too busy to give it. They don’t have that much consideration for others when they are wrapped up in their own lives. Also, when Alice is talking with Tweedledee and Tweedledum, she wants to find “’the best way out of this wood’” (Carroll 181) and asks very politely how to leave. However, Tweedledee and Tweedledum only care about reciting a poem to her and they do not help her. They are so wrapped up in their own lives and actions that they appear to be too busy to even help a lost little girl.
The behavior of the Queen and that of the other croquet players reflects this pattern as well. During the croquet match, the Queen displays a certain amount of rudeness and cares only about condemning others to death, constantly shouting “off with her [or his] head!” (Carroll 82). Not only is this talk preposterous, but it doesn’t help to get the game done with. Also, the “players all played at once, without waiting for turns, quarrelling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs” (Carroll 85).

Clearly, the actions of the Queen and the other players are ridiculous. However, it shows that without a certain degree of respect and civility, nothing will get done. Alice is simply coming along to play a game of croquet, but it goes terribly and the game is never completed because of the inconsiderate actions of the other players. In order to accomplish things, people must work together respectfully and efficiently.

Passionate About Music

Musical chords have always thrilled me: they travel through me like a musical pulse, leaving me with an exhilarated and excited feeling inside. For a long time now, I’ve known that music is my passion. I’ve played piano for ten years and violin for eight. Activities in my life have been dominated by music: orchestra class every day in school five days a week, one lesson for each instrument a week, rehearsals with my string quartet, practicing each almost every day, and then the concerts that result from all this practicing. When I look back on it, I realize that music has dominated the extracurricular and hobby-part of my life since I was eight years old. However, I can think of one aspect in particular that has left me with no doubt of my passion for music.

Before I became a serious music student, I watched the movie Man On Fire. A little girl in it played the piano and at one of her lessons, I first heard the opening notes of “Clair de Lune.” I knew at once that I wanted to learn the piece. At the end of the movie, I waited for the music credits to roll and copied down all possible names for it.

I found the sheet music for “Clair de Lune” at a local music store and asked my teacher if I could play it. She told me that the piece was too difficult and it would have to wait. Determined, I asked a friend for the audio music for “Clair de Lune.” As I listened to the beautiful and uplifting music, I was inspired and began working on the piece independently. It was much more challenging than anything I had played. I persisted despite my frustration with the technical difficulty of the piece. The piece was often the only reason I practiced as much as I did. I worked with more discipline than I had ever shown toward any other activities. My desire to hear “Clair de Lune” coming from my own hands pushed me along in the difficult task. The beauty of the music heightened my interest and commitment over the next two years. As my skill improved I began to hear the beauty in other pieces as well. I found myself listening to classical music selections while studying or perusing sheet music online and trying out pianos for fun at our local music store. Over the next couple of years, I practiced harder and longer and my technique improved dramatically. Music became a substantial part of my life and I knew I wanted to continue with it in college. I have realized that “to live [my] life to its fullest,” I must have music with me for the rest of my life (Course Anthology 254).

“Clair de Lune” is the influence I needed to realize my love of music. Now, music is with me everywhere. I listen to the selections that play in the hallways in between classes at my school, to CDs I have made for my car, on my computer as I do my homework, and to myself as I practice piano and violin. Whatever type of music it is, I love to listen to it. I could never answer the surveys that asked my favorite type of music, because I see beauty in all of its forms.

This recognition of all types of music has also connected me better with the world. In a speech a music camp I attended, a man told us that music is special because it is a universal language understood by all. Music can connect those who may not understand each other. For example, if a leader of one country is visiting the leader of another, the host country will typically choose to display their country’s culture through music. Music can represent a large part of the art of another country and through these displays, people can better understand each other when coming from different backgrounds. In a book I read, the son of the main character was explaining to his father why he loved music so much and why he wanted to attend Juliard. He told him, “Music is like you touch the pulse of the world. Music is always happening, and sometimes you get to touch it for a while, and when you do you know that everything's connected to everything else'” (Edwards). These words are probably the ones that stuck with me the most from this book—a book whose plot has nothing to do with music. I can connect with these words in that I know when I play music and others listen, I’m giving them some of myself. By playing for them, I am allowing them into my soul, where my passion lies. When I can touch music for a moment, I feel like I am also touching those around me as well. Music can also give cultures a sense of identity that others can connect with. For example, I love listening to music that originates from India. Not only do I appreciate the connection I feel to their culture through this music, but I enjoy it simply because it sounds nice. Music heightens my interest in learning about other cultures, and I think that many can feel the same way after listening to the beautiful music that other nations produce. Music, for me, is much like that “intuitive awareness” that Ram Dass discusses—the awareness “that links us most intimately to the universe and, in allegiance with the heart, binds us together in generosity and compassion” (Course Anthology 269).

My friend and me dancing to Indian music.

In addition to connecting people around the world, I have found that music can help people see within themselves. People who are reserved and have trouble expressing themselves can often do so through music. As someone who doesn’t have trouble expressing myself, I still find that music has helped me through many difficult emotional situations. When I’m frustrated and angry, I can play dark and ominous pieces on the piano (in minor keys) that help me express myself without lashing out at others or bottling up my emotions. When I’m happy or excited, I can play special CD’s that I’ve created for that very purpose in my car: the windows down, the music blasting loudly out of my speakers, with me shouting out the words for all the world to hear and share my joy. However, I can see how music can help those who do feel the need to keep what they feel to themselves. They can turn to music when they can’t bear to hold what they are feeling inside them anymore without hurting themselves or other people. Music is a way for a person who has difficulty expressing themselves to do so; when they find that they can’t bear to hold their emotions in any longer, they can turn to music as an outlet. By doing something enjoyable as a way of venting emotions, it becomes an activity of self-awareness in which people can look inside themselves and understand what is going on.

Music can also be used for practical reasons. Lots of people throw concerts to raise money for various causes. For example, benefit concerts are being thrown to raise money and awareness for the problem in Darfur. These concerts bring all sorts of different people together who can then join in the cause for something important around the world. Thus, these concerts not only bring strangers together, but they also educate people about issues around the globe.

Music is not only my passion, but I can see it as something that connects me to the world. I love playing piano and I’m looking to major in music so I can learn as much as possible. I also enjoy listening to all kinds of music. Whether it’s rock and roll, rap, or classical music, I usually enjoy it. Music has always inspired me in a way nothing else quite amounts to. For example, after I see a musical, the songs and the scenes stick with me for weeks after hearing it. After mastering a piece on the piano, I like to play it over and over again, even if it’s years after I’ve played the piece. The pattern that my voice or fingers can follow is soothing and brings me happiness. The only thing that I can imagine coming close to my passion for music would be taking care of children. In an ideal world, I could see myself bringing these two aspects of my passion together. I cannot see myself being a musician, but I cannot “deny [myself] and others the full resources of [my] being” (Course Anthology 266) and by bringing these two aspects together, I think I would be able to help children through music. My stepsister runs an art program at a camp (that she started herself) to promote the mental well being of children. I would love to be able to help children connect with the world and maybe understand each others’ cultures better through music. There are so many ways I can see myself helping kids through music and by incorporating both of these things together, I think I am realizing my full potential to do some good. As a cowgirl speaking to future generations of UT students, follow your dreams and they’ll be a part of your life forever in some way even if it isn’t what you planned. I never thought I could be a musician and I still don’t, but I can still pursue what I love by helping others through music.

Word count w/ quotes: 1601

Word count w/o quotes: 1519

Pictures provided by the author

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3iORDe7Mxw

Animal Cruelty--New Issue on Freedom of Speech

Animal cruelty is a very serious issue all over the world. Animals are like children; they react according to how they are treated and thus our treatment to them should be humane and kind. Animals are not here to provide violent entertainment to people who need to see that kind of thing. They act as kind companions to us and deserve to be treated so. They can feel the pain that is inflicted on them and it is unfair to force them into it. Just as child abuse is illegal, animal abuse is. Thus, if the promoting of the mistreatment of children is illegal, why shouldn't the distributing of cruelty to animals be illegal?


As stated in the New York Times:
"The law applies to audio and video recordings of 'conduct in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded or killed.' It does not matter whether the conduct was legal when and where it occurred so long as it would have been illegal where the recording was sold."

If movies have to be rated according to their material, then these videos should not be allowed for open distribution. Even if they were not banned outright, some form of control must be put on them. Also, the law is flexible so there can be exceptions.
The current distribution of videos depicting scenes of animal cruelty seems to promote the acts. People can buy them for entertainment. If the action is illegal, why should the tapes made of the actions be legal? It merely encourages the behavior and it also contradicts other laws, such as the one against the distribution of videos of child pornography. The idea is the same: if the action is illegal, then the videos of the action should be illegal as well.

My Idea of a Leader

As I read Stephen Covey's piece about the left and right sides of the brain, my thoughts immediately settled on one of my best friends in high school, Alok Vaid-Menon. He was truly what defines a leader. In every way he could motivate others, grasp attention easily in a room, come up with creative and helpful ideas, and was an expert at time management. He was in orchestra, BPA, Interact (which he was the president of), wrote for the literary magazine, Spanish Club, Student Council (he was one of the officers in that as well), ran a poetry club, among other things. I attended his Interact meetings on occasion and was impressed to find that he could engage everyone in the room so easily. His ideas for projects were motivational and creative and people enjoyed coming to meetings instead of feeling obliged to. I realize now that this is because Alok is someone who was driven by his desire to help others and make a difference in the world. He knew what he wanted to do for the community and he set out to do it and I think this idea of service was fulfilling for him and for those that followed him. People who are firm in their beliefs and have a strong will to follow these beliefs make good leaders. The motto for Interact is "service above self" and I think that this definitely goes along with what Covey has to say about having a "sense of responsibility, of service, of contribution, something we need to pull or push" (Course Anthology 220). By being the leader of a club with such a name, I can see how Alok fits the description of Covey's leader so well. He was clearly able to "project a holistic picture of what [he] want[s] to do and to be in life" (Covey 131). Having a sense of purpose can be a very strong influence on someone.

I know that for me, I will work harder if I feel like what my actions are doing some good in the world. For example, for Student Council, we did a project around Christmas in which members went caroling around neighborhoods collecting donations for Brazos Valley Rehab Center. Although I was embarrassed to go out and sing in front of complete strangers, I felt happy doing it because I knew that the donations were doing some good for my community. This sense of purpose enabled me to lead my group in singing and asking for the donations. My happiness in being able to help others outweighed my unwillingness to embarrass myself and I ended up successfully leading my fellow singers.


Alok not only has a high sense of service to the community, but he is also an example of a person who can truly engage both sides of his brain when leading. He could definitely "'walk in [the] moccasins'" of his audience (Course Anthology 220). Depending on his audience, he could be serious, ridiculous, funny, or charismatic. He overcame the "'macho' cultural stereotype" and used both his logical and time management skills along with his "creative, aesthetic, intuitive capacities" (Course Anthology 225). Alok definitely overcame the stereotype that art and expressiveness are aspects that should be shunned by the male population. He became extremely popular in school and admired by most of us. However, he wasn't totally without punishment for rising above this macho stereotype. He told me that on many occasions guys would call him "fag" and other offending terms like that. The more I think about it, the more I think that these people just don't understand the meaning of leadership and are failed leaders themselves. They see his success and popularity and resent it because it is not their own. Covey has truly shown me how leaders must have the ability to balance both sides of their brain while leading others. To be a leader, one must not only be able to balance time and manage meetings in an organized fashion, but they must also engage their listeners with creative ideas and inspiration. I have attended meetings where only the first set of criteria mentioned here was used and it was not successful. These meetings required a parliamentarian to write down names of people who talked during meetings and I realize now that this would not have been necessary if the meetings' agendas had been more creative and engaging. Without projects that interest the participants, a meeting becomes more tyrannical and boring rather than fun and engaging. Alok also showed me that a leader must march to their own drum and not fall prey to offensive remarks and negative comments. Alok was very much his own person, his beliefs set firmly in place and he knew what he was doing. However, it also required a certain degree of bravery to face these people. He knew that he was being talked about and instead of allowing this to hurt and humiliate him, he cast the comments aside and continued. He persisted and it ultimately paid off because he was successful in leading others and never got down about what people said about him. All in all, Alok was truly a person who could "manage from the left [and] lead from the right" (Course Anthology 226).

I can definitely understand why Covey would say that a leader must engage both sides of the brain. I feel like I lean on the right side of my brain much more than the left. While I am relatively good with time management, I enjoy being spontaneous and creative more. I enjoy playing music for the sake of playing and I sometimes find it hard to focus on a central goal to look for while practicing. I see the joy in aesthetics and often struggle to find the right words to describe things. However, my string quartet was one aspect of my life that truly introduced me to the responsibilities of being a leader. In my quartet were three of my good friends, but I soon realized that more than friendship was going to have to hold us together. At times, I hated it because I had to be the "bad guy," who was telling others they needed to practice or be kicked out, who was getting angry when people were late, who had to make decisions when the others wanted compromising and negotiation. I found that the leadership was forced on me in a way. I started the idea that we could play at weddings, but soon realized that in order to play at weddings, we would need much more organization and dedication than we currently possessed. I began to understand that we were going to be treated as professionals and as such I raised our standards to those of professionals. I also felt a sense of responsibility: here was the most important day of someone's life and I wasn't willing to be the aspect that wasn't perfect on that day. I demanded more of the quartet and found myself planning practices, setting prices, and handling dates of weddings. There was another aspect that made me want to lead, though. Our second violinist came up with the idea that it might be nice to play at nursing homes every now and then for those who cared to listen. Thus, I had a new project to organize that made me feel better about what we did. We weren't being paid, but we did this because we found that it gave people joy. After playing at the nursing homes, a resident or two would often come up afterward and tell me how much he enjoyed listening or merely reminisce about what he used to play. I enjoyed interacting with these people and I found myself feeling proud that I could bring up memories of those who used to play. The idea of service and creativity really stimulated me in this project and I found it much easier to balance my time management/logical side of the brain with my creativity and artistic abilities.

Caroling picture: http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/December/carolers.jpg
Bored meeting picture: http://pmkyker.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/smm_20061201_office_bored.jpg