Blog # 3

What is real? How do we know what is real and what is fake. We know if we touch,smell,see,feel or hear something then it must be real. In the movie The Matrix (and on page 50 of the reading) Morphues disagrees, he states "What is real? How do we define real? If your talking about what you can feel, What you can smell, What you can taste and see then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain". But this strikes the question if real is in fact electrical signals interpreted by your brain then does it matter where these signals are coming from , does it matter if it is coming from inside the matrix or not. If the five senses truly indicate what is real and what is fake then no matter where you are it must be real.

Its three a.m in the morning, after a long night out you arrive home and head straight to your bed where you immediately fall asleep. You enter a new world, not the matrix not "reality" but you enter the world of dreams. (In the reading on page 41) it states that " From 1981 to 1990 120 mysterious deaths occurred in Atlanta where healthy adult men were dieing in there sleep." This sparked up the question, can dreams kill people? A dream is illusions caused by brain stimuli. (on page 42 of the reading) The matrix has the same definition. While you are sleeping you do not have your five senses to your disposal, the only thing that is triggering your thoughts is your brain,so in reality the only thing controlling your brain is your brain itself, just like when you are in the matrix your brain is what controles you, but is your brain powerful enough to controle your five senses while you are fast asleep.(In the movie) Neo sees himself in the matrix as he wants to see himself, his hair is different and all the plugs in his arms magically disappear, so his new appearance is a illusion to his reality, but what is actually the illusion? Have you ever had a dream you were falling off a cliff or down a flight of stairs and when you wake up you are on the floor because you fell off your bed? Did you ever realize you always wake up before you fall to the bottom of the cliff? You wake up and you are on the floor, your brain realizes that you have awoken from a dream and instead of falling to the bottom of the cliff you have in fact only fell three feet off of your bed. When you wake up you feel the effects, your heart rate has risen intensely and the arm you fell on is battered and bruised. What if you didn't wake up from that dream? Do you think you would in fact feel the effects of actually falling off a cliff, would you fall to your death? Your five senses are working because you feel the affects of falling off the bed, if your five senses equal reality then you falling off the cliff is in fact 100% real.

In conclusion no matter where you are, it is all reality. Whether you are in the matrix, in reality or dreaming the fact of the matter is your brain is what controles all three of these realms. What you believe is real in that moment and time is in fact reality. Even if you wake up on the floor, two seconds earlier your brain had your body convinced that your were in fact falling off a enormous cliff and your hart rate is what proves this theory. Your brain is what controles your body, your body is just following the commands it has been programed to follow from your brain since birth. What is real? Real is whatever your brain allows you to believe is real.

Blog #1

Only knowlege in its form constitutes as real knowlege. I wake up and i am chained , forced to keep my arms and legs in place i do not even think of moving my ligaments. I see the light shining on the wall infront of me, I hear the images coming, how will they look today? The best part of the day is when the images come. I hear the images in the distance how do they apear infront of me? The noise is coming closer and closer, The images have arrived at last. They are beautiful all different sizes and shapes, the noises grow farther and farther away, thay are gone, the images dissapear.
I belive if man was adapted to being in the cave everyday for there whole lives not able to move there necks arms or legs, not able to move or see side to side or behind them that we would believe that this is what life is. The only thing we would know is the wall of the cave, the light from the fire and the shadows of the people and animals behind us. If we did the same thing on a day to day basis since birth we could not even imagine what the out side of the cave looks feels or smells like. We would not even know we were in a cave. If the cave is all we know then it is our reality and everything else is fake.

Blog #2

In response to the matrix Neo is the chosen one, he is the one who is believed to come into the world of the matrix and find the answers.Neo is the one the followers of the matrix have been waiting for. Neo was chosen by Morpheus (which means the god of dreams) to bring a sense of relief to the matrix and save the people in the matrix from the agents who are going to destroy the matrix. This draws great comparison to Jesus who was chosen to be the son of God. Jesus came to earth to spread the word of God and make believers out of non believers. Just like Neo was sent into the matrix to save the people from the agents who seak to destroy the matrix, Jesus was sent to earth to save mankind from destroying them selves. To spread the word that there is a god, he was sent to protect the world from evil (the agents). Both Jesus and Neo have followers Jesus has the 12 disciples and Neo has the people in the matrix, both betray them, Jesus was betrayed by Judas and Neo was betrayed by Cypher. But do you blame either Judas or Cypher for betraying there leader, how do they know what is real and what is fake? Just like in the Allegory of the cave, the people in the cave are chained and are forced to constantly look in front of them and not move. There is a fire in back of them so that is the only light they no, they hear the sounds of animals and people behind them and the only image they get is the shadows on the wall in front of them. The people in the cave have spent there whole lives in chains that they think this is what life really is, if you were to put one of the people from the cave into life out side of the cave that person would not believe his/her eyes, let alone if that person was brought back in the cave and told the rest of the population in the cave about his/her adventure what would they think? They would think the person who was brought out of the cave was telling lies. Jesus, Neo and the men in the cave all draw comparisons because they all depend on faith, faith that the people who they reach out to will believe them and follow them. How do we know what is real and what is fake. Its all up to faith, just like Neo he had faith in Morpheus that he was telling the truth in weather to take the blue pill or the red pill, Neo took the red pill, in order to sometimes understand the truth you must have faith

“I am a cyborg”

On May third, 1991 I became a cyborg.  A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a man-machine, a person who is so dependent on machines that if you took the tools of technology away from him his whole life would be different.  I beleve we are all cyborgs. 

I wake up in the morning  turn on my light and enter my bathroom where I  turn on the faucet. The television says it will be 35 degrees today so I should put on something warm. I walk into my room I put on a pair of jeans, a sweater and I leave my house.  I reach in my pocket take out my metro card and swipe it in the turn style. I walk up the staris and rush to make it to the train,  sitting in my seat not moving at all, my body is moving at thirty miles per hour. My stop has arrived, the doors open while the voice from the speakers says “thank you for ridding new your city transit.”  I arrive at LaGuardia Community College and walk right threw the automatic door. Waiting for the elevator I finally enter. Standing straight in place I am moving vertically to the seventh floor. I walk to room c723 to Dr. Smiths class, we are ironically discussing cyborgs.

Within that hour span I use countless forms of technology just to start my day. Whether it be the magnetic currents that power a Metrocard swipe, or the electric volts that move a train, our every day lives have become so dependent on technology that not only do we take these technologies for granted, we don't even realize we are using them at all. 

We are all born as cyborgs and will all die as cyborgs because we don’t know anything different. From birth we have been trained to accept man made technology as an essential part of everyday life, without considering the ramifications. Everything from the warming of water in our homes to the computer I am typing this essay on, man has become so dependent on technology that they have become one. 

About me

By John Petropoulos

When you first look at me you see only what your eyes allow you to see, you see my appearance. Tall, skinny, dark skin, shiny ear ring and baggy cloths. An appearance many individuals may get the wrong impression from. An appearance, no matter how good the prescription of your glasses, are will never change. The only way you would see the real me is if I handed you a pair of x-ray glasses and let you see what’s inside.
I am an eighteen year old man determined to succeed. A man who is driven by the numerous amounts of doubters and the pessimists who say I cant do it. I am a man who is tenacious in the act of making my life purposeful, a strong willed man who is searching for his calling.
My regrets are unmistakable, if only I had the will power in the past that I am driven by in the present, the obstacles I am faced with today would just be side streets on a main highway. My goals have been set , and now I set my standards then they have ever been.
I know I am capable of what ever it is I desire, and so does my family and friends. I am a kind hearted, caring, funny individual, who puts family first, loves sports and will thrive. I am one hundred percent Greek, and no matter how big the obstacle, I am ready to stomp on it. I guess it’s the Spartan blood in me, I am John Petropoulos