Book Similarities...

We have begun reading Amitav Ghosh's novel The Calcutta Chromosome in our pursuit as explorers of science. The first novel we read, The lost World, was a novel about Challenger's adventure to the lost world with his new friends. The novel was filled with discovery and the pursuit of science. After reading about the expedition we could see the underlying role that science/discovery played during that time period. As we begin reading The Calcutta Chromosome some of the same underlying themes in this novel as we did in The Lost World.

From the first page of the novel we can tell that Antar is in a sense similar to Challenger in their quests to seek knowledge. They both have the drive to discover the unknown. We are introduced to Antar as an older man that basically watches a computer interpret and organize data. He is intrigued when there is some sort of anomaly and almost enjoys fueling Ave with new information. Antar then falls upon the old ID of Murugan thus beginning his new journey, similar to Challenger and the lost scientist he stumbles upon.

So I guess what im getting at is are there any other similarities between Challenger and Antar? Besides the obvious that Antar is dealing with more advanced technology what else connects their determination to discover the truth? Also, how are they different? How does technology play into Antar's journey? Just some things to think about...

"Lingua Franca" in Society Today

The short story we read, "Lingua Franca" by Carole McDonnell, had some very interesting points to it. I really liked the way it showed how influential society and popular science can be. When new technologies and sciences come about, people want the world to know about them, and vice versa. In many ways, I think we can relate this story to science and technology today. All the children in the story wanted the implantments so that they could speak to each other. In their society, I believe that the implantments would actually be helpful. The parents said that this device was good for their children's future education. The children simply wanted the implantments because everyone else had them. It was the "cool thing to do," if you will. This behavior, on a less life-changing scale, relates to today's society.

For example, some older people do not want to conform to the new technologies and sciences today's society has brought us. Younger people, on the other hand, do. Middle school students and high school students want laptops, cell phones, and mp3 players. The "elders" of our society think that these devices are corrupting society and will destroy the culture of America. Parents conform more easily because they know that these devices will eventually be helpful to their children's futures. The students on the other hand, mostly want these items just because all of their friends have them.

How about you guys? Do you all think that the people in McDonnell's story should accept the scientific transition the "Earthers" have given? Can you think of any other examples of how this situation may relate to today's technology and science?

What is our "Planetary Consciousness?"

While reading the chapters from Pratt's Imperial Eyes I came across this quote that explained the role of science in the act of systematizing nature: The finite totality of these representations or categories constituted a "mapping" not just of coastlines or rivers, but of every visible square, or even cubic, inch of the earth's surface.

So what is the role of science today? With all of the blank edges of the map filled in, how can science be used to find our own "planetary consciousness?"

I feel that science has changed dramatically within the past five centuries. Science was used to explain the observable unknowns in the universe; however as science explained more things and "filled in the map," the observable unknown became more and more detailed. We've replaced the gravitational laws that great minds like Newton once studied for Large Hadron Colliders and quantum mechanics. Science is rapidly becoming more and more scrutinous, as we are running out of the observable unknown. In this sense I think that our planetary consciousness has transformed into a more universal consciousness as we attempt to explain the laws of the universe in detail.

What do you guys think? Sorry to make you read the chapters if you havent already haha

Orange Blog Represent!!

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