Author: chowland

This week we watched Star Trek and the film Majorie Prime . I have to say that the episode of Star Trek this week made me emotional because it was so good. I didn’t think a science fiction show would make me feel so many emotions but it did. I must say I think I will start watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on my own time even after this class ends.

Starting with the episode of Star Trek titled “A Measure of a Man”, I realized how influential memory is on humans and more so how it makes us human. This episode of Star Trek revolves around the debate on whether or not Data can be dismantled for examination because people are arguing the star fleet on Data not having any say in what happens to his body. Something that stood out to me as important was when they’re in the court and Data is asked why he carries around 2 items. His response is that he does not know. I think that this is true for actual humans. I hold onto to things without really knowing why other than that it carries a memory or some emotion to it. Although Data wasn’t a human to some, the people that really knew him believed he was just as human as them. I do believe that Data was cognitive. He had memories a past intimate relationship and furthermore in the lecture it was stated that cognition is constituted and extended by our interactions with the environment. I think Data definitely felt and was sentient. I also really loved the scene when the was Data was being treated was compared to how slaves are treated. Data was described as an “it” and was expected to not put up any argument to being dismantled because he supposedly had no emotions and feelings. They assumed he had no memories or cognition because he was an android. Slaves are treated the same way; they aren’t seen as human and therefore people think they can do whatever they want to them.

The film “Marjorie Prime” was crazy. I feel like that is an understatement somehow. The movie was just really mind boggling and good at the same time. The film revolves around an old woman spending the end of her life with a computerized version of her husband. I think the main thing I learned from the film was that a memory of someone is all we have left after someone passes. I think something the film really focuses on is autobiographical memory. The relationship of Majorie and Walter was remembered differently throughout time. As time passes the memories that Marjorie has of Walter changes slightly the more times she thinks back to certain times. This is true to real life and even how I think back at certain moments. Over time the way I remember things changes because I add different emotions to the experiences.

This week we learned about emotions, more specifically how emotions are constructed. Whilst watching both “Inside out”, one of my favorite movies, and the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation “Man of the People” I really payed attention to whether or not the emotions of the characters were created or happened to them. I think both pieces of media display examples of both. I have to say I enjoyed both of these. Star Trek is growing on me, from the few episodes we’ve watched I’ve been so invested in what is going to happen to the characters.

Emotions are wildly complex and I think the film “Inside Out” does a rather good job at portraying that. Riley has five emotions, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. Each of which have a large impact on Riley’s body and mind. Without emotions humans just like Riley would lack what it mean to experience life. It would be great for humans to always be happy just like Joy wants Riley to be, however this would be terrible for the world. If everyone was happy all of the time no one would be able to experience life for what it is. In order to survive humans have to feel every emotion, with anger or fear a human grows into a stronger and more intelligent person. While watching the film we see Riley become a more well rounded human when Joy comes to realize how important the other 4 emotions are to Riley’s human experience. The same goes for the other characters in the film like Riley’s mom and dad. With a look into her parents emotions we see they have the same emotions but are controlled by sadness and anger in the same way Riley is controlled by Joy for the most part.

The Star Trek episode confused me a bit at first. After digesting the episode though I think the episode highlights an idea that the relationship between ones emotions and body is very strong. As Troi is succumbed by the negative emotions of Alkars “mother” she becomes more and more unwell. I suffer from really bad anxiety and I sort of related to Troi becoming so sick. Whenever I have a really bad anxiety or panic attack my body feels like its falling apart. I really think emotions play a huge part into ones body. In this episode emotions could be transferred which I think is true to some extent in real life. When I see someone is hurting or sad I feel sadness with them especially when it’s someone you love. I think emotions are universal. Across the world we may all speak different languages or wear different clothes but we all can share the same emotions. When something tragic happens in the world everyone hurts together regardless of how far away it happened.

This week we watched the film “Arrival” and an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. I was pleasantly surprised by both of these media. I had seen “Arrival” before but It was really enjoyable watching it again especially watching it through a lens of linguistics. The episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was also so good and honestly made me feel a bit emotional. 

The first one I want to talk about is the episode of Star Trek titled “Darmok”. As this episode progressed I realized how heavily it focused on conceptual metaphors. In the episode Picard is taken by Dathon to a different planet. While watching the episode I did think the intentions of Dathon and the Tamarians were bad. I think this is because as a viewer I truly had no idea what Dathon was saying and what it meant. The same goes for the federation crew. Before the crew realizes that Tamarians speak in metaphors they felt threatened by them. One scene that really stuck out to me in this episode was when Deanna Troi is discussing whether or not the Tarmarians have ill intentions and she emphasizes to the crew before they take any action that one word misunderstood could be the cause of unnecessary turmoil and war. This really stuck out to me because it reminded me of the way that sometimes when you text someone they pick up on an attitude and misinterpret your message. This causes unnecessary turmoil all because of a miscommunication. This episode also made me think about how we use metaphors in our day to day life. Furthermore it made me think about how confusing it must be to some people when they don’t know the conceptual frame in which someone is using. For example, before I read Jekyll and Hyde I never understood what people meant when they would describe someone as Jekyll and Hyde. The same goes for The Federation not knowing the context of the Tamarians metaphors. 

“Arrival” is a fantastic film that always makes me feel a little crazy. Overall this film says a lot about how language constructs communication. One scene that definitely stuck out to me was when Louise and Ian were talking about Sapir-Work theory. It’s all about how the language you speak affects your whole life. At first I didn’t necessarily understand how this was true but after watching the movie I realized that just as the Heptapods language is written circularly they think circularly. They don’t think about endings or beginnings, they think about the big picture. As Louise works with them and learns the language she will begin to think the same which helps her in coping with what will be the eventual loss of her daughter. This film is sad when you realize she knows she will lose her daughter but when understanding that that alien language will actually help Louise to realize death isn’t the end of the journey the movie is beautiful.

This week I watched the movie “Possessor” and a Futurama episode titled “I second that Emotion”. They were both interesting and one was even quite terrifying. Most importantly they both touch on the subject of empathy in their own ways as discussed in the voice thread lecture for this week. Before I delve into each film I did want to discuss their titles. I found “Possessor” as a title to have a double meaning. Although one might see the title as straightforward in discussing the woman’s job to possess others, I think it’s possible that possessor as a title could be describing the way emotions possess us as humans. Most of the time we have no control over our emotions, they become us, they possess us. Secondly the title “I second that emotion” is also an important way of describing emotions. Although we might not always have control over our emotions there are a lot of times that humans share an emotion because the way one person feels can lead others to feel the same way. 

“POSSESSOR”

“Possessor” left me feeling sick to my stomach. The first reason for this was the graphic nature of the film. There was a bit too much blood throughout the movie for my liking. The second reason was that the film provokes such a heavy feeling of empathy within viewers. The film revolves around a woman who’s job is to possess others and carry out different murders. We see throughout the movie the way in which the woman struggles to do these murders presumably because she has a level of empathy for the people she is possessing. In order to complete her job the body in which she possesses must be killed whether by others or by themselves. I felt bad for the woman and I also felt so bad for the people that were being possessed. It just felt so inhumane to see someone not have control over their bodies. In some ways I wondered if the film was commenting on the human need to make sense of things. Perhaps this film was creating a scenario that explains why people murder others. 

FUTURAMA “I SECOND THAT EMOTION”

The episode of Futurama titled “I Second that Emotion” deals with empathy in a more direct way. Bender flushes Nibbler down the toilet because Bender is jealous of Nibbler getting all the attention. All the characters realize that Bender doesn’t feel empathy. This was clearly shown when he was watching tv and kept laughing as clearly devastating news. I found it interesting that although Bender lacked some human emotions like empathy he could feel others like jealousy. I think this might be the case because empathy is sometimes harder to feel than jealousy. The scientist creates a way for Bender to feel exactly what Leela is feeling and as a result Bender feels so bad about Nibbler that he flushes himself down the toilet to save Nibbler. Leela and Bender are able to share their feelings of longing and sadness. 

This week we watched three different episodes from very different series that deal with the implications one’s mind and body deal with. Although each episode was so different in its setting and story, they all seemed to deal with the question of whether or not the mind and body work in tandem or on the contrary that the mind(brain) creates its own cognition.  This was my first time watching any of these shows and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed each episode. 

In the first show Star Trek “Return to Tomorrow” the mind is depicted as something that stands on its own. At 10:00 minutes the crew comes in contact with the sphere that holds the mind and essence of a past physical being of Sargon. Furthermore, Sargon reveals that he was once a physical being just like the crew. Although it seems that the episode is opposing the idea that in order to be truly cognitive one must have more than just a mind, viewers quickly see that Sargon only feels truly alive and conscious once he enters the body of the captain. It seems that this episode resides on the side of 4e cognitive beliefs. In order to be fully cognitive, a being needs more than just a mind. It needs to be immersed in culture, relationships, physical senses etc. 

On the contrary the episode of Futurama “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid” depicts the brain as a stand alone entity. As the brain invades Earth, Fry must defeat the essentially “mother brain” and through doing so the brain reveals that them and their kind have evolved past the point of needing a body. Meaning that the brain itself is the physical being and therefore tells Fry “we have long since evolved beyond the need for asses”. Because the brain doesn’t have a body Fry can’t physically fight it, he instead has to fight it with his brain and his thoughts. I found this to be a very cool theme. It helps viewers to understand and differentiate the mind and body. The episode ends with Fry trapping the brain in a book even further supporting the notion that the brain itself was the entirety of that being. 

Lastly, Altered Carbon on Netflix deals heavily with cybernetics. This show was quite freaky. Moreover, it delves into the possibility of a society where your consciousness is contained in a chip-like device. With that, so long as the chip is not harmed, you can switch bodies. The main character, Takeshi, goes through just that. In the beginning of the episode we see this character played by a different actor in the past scenes than the current scenes. This show seems to follow a belief different than that of the Star Trek episode and more similar to the Futurama episode. The belief portrayed in this show depicts cognition as something that is contained in a chip not a body or a brain. I felt that cognition was being shown as something that is tangible. 

Hi everybody, my name is Ceili Howland (she/her/hers). I’m a rising senior majoring in English on a pre-law track. I transferred to Stonybrook last fall from James Madison University. I just started LSAT prep so after graduation, I hope to end up at Hofstra or St. Johns law school. My main goal is to end up in mental hygiene and/or family law.

I picked this class because just this past fall I took EGL 303 with Professor Brioni which focused on the genre of sci-fi literature and films. Thus I really grew to appreciate science fiction. I’m excited to delve even further into the subject while it’s still fresh in my mind.

In my free time, I’m an avid runner and reader. My favorite book is The Alchemist. If you’re looking for a book to inspire you I highly recommend it. Right now I’m reading The Lost Boys of Montauk (I’m a big true crime/mystery fan). I am also a marvel fan thru and thru so to say I’m excited for the new Thor movie coming out this week is an understatement. This summer I plan on relaxing as much as I can besides work and summer classes lol. My boyfriend and I are spending a weekend in Montauk so I’m really looking forward to that as well as visiting my roommate from JMU in New Jersey. I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Lastly, here are some pictures of a few of my favorite things 🙂