I just wanted to recap on the class. I found everything we learned very interesting. I never knew anything about these types of issues. It opened up my mind to a lot of different aspects of life. I never thought about the difference between a mind and a brain, or ethics, or free will. I am very interested in a lot the topics we discussed. I find the hypothetical situations we discuss to be thought provoking. I really enjoyed being able to discuss my thoughts with the other people in our class. I got to hear what they thought and it gave me thoughts on other topics. Being able to discuss these topics was a great way to open up and expand my knowledge.

Free Will

I believe in free will. I believe we make our own choices for our own reasons. We aren't just a product of external forces. I believe my mind and body have wishes and goals and they work together to make these things possible. I want to think that we can make choices everyday that effect our lives. These choices effect our future and everything happens because of your past experiences. Outside forces have an influence but they are not the determining factor. Free will is a tricky subject and I'm not exactly sure how to define it. I want to believe it exists and I make a difference in my life but I'm not too sure.

Twist and Shout

One day in class we discussed a scenario where if you and your friends get in car accident and you don't have a phone to call for help but your friends are really hurt. So you walk to a house to ask for help but the grandma won't help. Is it okay for you to twist the arm of her grandchild to make her come out and listen. The end end justify the means. Or what if you think it won't hurt the child or the grandmother. But when you twist the child's arm you cause the grandmother to have a heart attack. I don't think that I would twist the child's arm. I would try any other possibility to save my friends without hurting anyone in the process.

Puppy Punting

A while back we discussed the idea of puppy punting. If you go to a foreign place and you see people punting puppies are you obligated to say something. If it is against your beliefs are you allowed to tell them its wrong. Maybe in their country they believe puppy punting in perfectly acceptable. I feel like you can talk to them about why you believe it isn't right but you cannot force your beliefs on them. You have to listen to their side and respect their decisions. I do not believe puppy punting is okay but it isn't your place to change the way someone else how to live their life. If it was in the United States I believe that I could voice my opinion more strongly and make a difference because that is not acceptable in the United States. I think this situation is one I will most likely not encounter, and I'm thankful for that.

Prison Experiment

I read the Milgrim Prison Experiment. This experiment took ordinary college students and simulated a real arrest and put them in prison. Half of the people involved became guards and half became prisoners. The prisoners were referred to by number so they had no individuality. They all wore the same uniform (which was like a dress) and wore something over their heads. In the experiment the prisoners felt like actual prisoners and the guards were hard on the prisoners and made them do humiliating things. The prisoners ended up becoming depressed and having emotional disturbances. The guards took their role too seriously and the man conducting the experiment went overboard as the supervisor of the prison. All of these ordinary people took on their role and made everything way too realistic. I was curious how I would handle this if I were in the situation. I would not want to simulate this experience for anything.

I read about the Asch's conformity experiment. It was an experiment where they had 6 people in a room look at the length on lines. They had to compare the first line against three other lines and see which was closest to the length of the first line. The people in the experiment said their answers out loud. In this experiment there were 5 people in the room comparing the lines that were actually researches a part of the experiment. The men involved in the experiment intentionally said answers that were obviously false. The first 4 men said bogus answers so then the fifth guy just said what the other 4 did so he didn't stand out even when he knew the answers were wrong. They also had a twist to the experiment. They had a person come in later and he had to write his answers. He got to listen to all of the other people's responses but he still put the correct one because he didn't feel the need to conform to what the others were saying. I thought this was very interesting. The answers were so obvious but people would rather go with the norm then stand out.

2 minds, 1 body

We watched a video a couple of weeks back about conjoined twins. They each had their own mind...but shared one body. They could each think freely, independent of the other. But they rely on one another to do simple tasks that require two hands like doing their hair, or tying their shoes. What if one of the girls decides she wants to braid her hair, and the other wants to wear it in a pony tail.. They need the other hand to accomplish each goal. They need to agree on everything in order to make life work. If one girl wants to walk left and the other right...they are at a stand still. Their minds are independent of one another but their decisions need to coincide. I would never want to rely on another person in order to do these simple tasks. Life would be so complicated. I give them a lot of credit for being able to work together as such a team and get through each and every day together.