1. Name three topics that Americans often think that it is rude to talk about. For each, why do you think that Americans think that they are rude topics?

1.)  I believe that one thing that Americans believe is rude to talk about is money issues.  If someone asks you how much you make in one physical year they often get offended or very upset.  Americans think this is rude because if another person knows how much they make they make think lesser of them.  Another thing that Americans would assume to be rude to talk about is the fact about relationship statuses.  Most people do not want to talk about their relationships if they are not going well.  Finally, religious issues.  Most people do not know what to think or what to say when it comes to religious issues because everyone has different view points.  Other people are very serious when it comes to this issue.

2. How do concepts such as the care of the elderly and Buddhist philosophy provide strikingly different models for behavior in Thailand and the United States?

2.  Thailand doesn’t not find things that Americans find the same.  Each individual country has their own expectations and cultures that are not along the basis as ours.

3. What incidents in your own life experience illustrate the value placed on individualism in American culture, that other cultures might find strange? (Be specific)

3.  Individualism is very important to all Americans and basically defines us as a nation.  One thing that other cultures might find strange is that of sarcasm.  Also how we have cats and dogs as pets.  These are things that are basically just in America.

[HW #8] Introduction to American Life

1. The pamphlet says: “American life as depicted in television or in movies is not an accurate picture of what you will find”. List two things that an international student visiting IUP would find different than tv / movies. Why do you think that tv / movies portray these things different than reality?

Response: I believe that two things that an international student visiting IUP would find different than television / movies would consist of the diversity that the campus consists of, and the fact that you actually have to do school work to stay on this great campus.  I believe that television / movies portray these things differently to show that college is just a playground to be explored.  They want to show either younger kids or international people that we do not care about education, in fact, we only care about our social statuses and how “messed up” we can truly get.

2. How does the pamphlet describe Americans view of time? Why do you think Americans view time in this manner?

Response: The pamphlet describes Americans view of time as something that can either be wasted, used wisely, or saved. I believe that Americans view time as these descriptions because time does not last forever, plus, you cannot get any of  the time back that you wasted.  You only live once, and if you do not do everything that you want to in life, too bad.

3. The pamphlet argues that Americans do not like interruptions – Why does it say that this is the case? In the groups that you are in (clubs, family, friends), are interruptions welcomed or thought of as negative? Why?

Response: The pamphlet argues that Americans do not like interruptions because of the fact that we want to get everything off of our mind without be interrupted before the end of our statement.  Most Americans see interrupting one another as rude or shameful, whereas some people do not understand that concept.  Overall, I believe that interruptions are negative unless the situation is life or death.

4. Read the section “Status and Hierarchy” to the end of the pamphlet. Find a sentence that you find interesting or includes something you did not know. List the sentence and explain why you thought it was interesting.

Response: “In the United States, it is extremely important to extend the same courtesies and respect all individuals, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, or sexual orientation.”  I thought this sentence was more than interesting, but something that more people need to take into consideration.  Most people do not treat each other with respect or even the slightest dignity.  If more people would view other people in this manor we would have less violence and more love.

[HW #6] Globalization of Eating Disorders and Macho Men

1. Strong influences that really stand out to me when I think that my body is perfect, is what other males my age look like.  If individuals my age are ripped, or slender, I feel as if I would have to be along the same guidelines.  You always see those infomercials that say, “Get ripped in less than 90 days.”  During the commercial you see all of the people having fun, and being in great physical condition.  That really puts a toll on people’s self-esteem, making them think that they are not what other people are looking for.  I believe media, along with outside influences such as family and friends, truly determine how happy you are with your own body.  People can not be happy with their bodies, there is always something they wish they could change, but really never can.

2. Yes, I personally believe that American society has a different outtake on what men and women should look like throughout our society.  People perceive that men, from all ages, should be overly muscular or just plan skinny.  On the other hand, women are seen as either curvy individuals who are absolutely stunning, or very skinny figures with beautiful faces.  Overall, what I am saying is that men and women have different expectations on what their body images are suppose to be; which is a large factor from the social media.

3. When I think of the term masculine, the three things that come to my mind first are: strong, simple-minded, and determined.  I thought of these three terms to describe masculine because it popped in my head first.  I chose strong because usually when you are masculine you have the bulky side of you where you are constantly in the gym working out.  Then simple-minded because when you are masculine, that doesn’t always mean that you are the brightest crayon in the pack.  Finally, determined.  I chose this one because with the simple mindedness, they will stop at no means to get what they want.

4. Males are pressured into being masculine in a lot of certain situations.  One situation that always occurs is when there is some sort of insect in the house.  The male is always suppose to be the first to act on the insect and kill it.  Some males might have arachnophobia, but never speak up about it and ultimately hurt their pride.  Another case is when some other guy is hitting on your “girlfriend” and she wants you to go beat him up.  You could be that type of guy that does not want to fight anyone, but since your girlfriend wants you to, you have to.  In this chase, it would hurt the male indefinitely if the other male was bigger than him.

[HW #4] The New Politics of Consumption

1. Schor argues that our consumer culture creates alienation.  I believe that Schor is correct in certain aspects, such as when an individual obsesses over money so much, that they in fact alienate them from society.  Overtime, buying certain things consumes that buyer to the point where they cannot think about anything besides buying merchandise.  People can ultimately lose sight of what their true goal in life is, or lose close loved ones to the fact that consumerism is overtaking them.

2. If the average salaries were to increase I believe it would not solve any of the problems that I previously stated in my first answer.  The reason that I believe so is that if the average salaries increase, that would mean that the extra money earned would just give them more money to buy useless things with.  Putting them in more debt because they would have more money to spend, but over the limit and push them further into debt.

3. In this time of age competitive consumption plays a large factor in encouraging upscale emulation and the inequality in income between rich and poor. Upscale emulation is a way that you compare yourself to individuals that you work with, instead of comparing yourself to the individuals that you live around.  You have more of a persona to hold around figures who make an income that stacks up comparably with yours, besides when your neighbors basically just make small talk about the weather, not talking about the economic status that you would like to be closer to. The other factro is income inequality.  Income inequality is how better well off individuals can survive without having to worry about if they will have enough money to make it through the month, while individuals of the lower economic class have to live paycheck to paycheck, not being certain of what this month will bring to them.  In summation, people in the lower economic class have more want to be successful in life compared to the people who really do not have to worry about survival of the house, payments, etc.

4. Competitive consumption influenced my identity because my mother and father split up.  My mother was in the middle-upper class, while my father was in the upper class.  Since I lived with my mother, I was brought up in a middle-upper class household.  This made me more wanting for what I want.  I will try to no end until I get what I want to get out of either the day or life.  Overall, I am glad that I grew up with my mother, because I believe if I would have grew up with my father I would be more lazy, and less inclined to do well at things that I do as of now.

[HW #3 Moral Machines]

1.) Personally, I believe that there will be a day when AI (Artificial Intelligence) will subside human intellect and see that they do not need us to compute problems or even “live.”  With this idea put into place, I can definitely see when robots will decide that they are the dominant race and will overcome humans.  This will be down the road a bit, but not too far off.  If technology keeps advancing as it is, we may be in for an unpleasant future.  The main innovation that will have to be created will be that of the AI of the (ro)bots, which means their way of adaptability.  I believe that the public reaction will be that of chaos.  The reason that I believe that the public will react in chaos is because when (ro)bots can make moral decisions, they will come straight for the lesser being.  Thus, (ro)bots will be the dominant figure.

2.) I believe that it is highly likely that AI will be created in the near future, as I previously stated in the paragraph above.  In the manor of affecting our human identities, I perceive that we may not be the ones to go to questions with anymore.  What I mean by that is, why would we ask someone who could possibly be wrong, with an error aspect, when we could ask a (ro)bot that is methodical and can give you a precise answer.  If they get to the point where they can make the moral decisions as we do everyday they will slowly overtake humans to the point of nonexistence.  Human identities would no be a thing of the past.

3.) Some positives of AI is that if we do not have the time to do a certain task, we can rely on ro(bots) to complete that certain task.  Along with that, instead of going to a psychiatrist for help, we could install a program that acts as if the object was a psychiatrist, thus saving us money, plus giving us mental help as well.  Negatives that could potentially hurt us is if the bots get to the point where they are too smart.  Again, overtaking the humans.

4.) Yes, I have personally had a computer fail me while I was producing code for my computer programming class.  This hindered me from finishing my program, plus, made me start over the entire program from scratch.  This was a horrible tragedy that took a toll on my grade, and reliability to the professor.  Computers have their moments when they can be the best thing in the world, but also have their moments when they can also be a hindrance.

The Moral Instinct by Steven Pinker

1.) Personally, I believe the most admirable in this article was Bill Gates. The reason that I believe that Bill Gates was the most admirable in the article, not just because we have the same last name, was because he led a revolution on an entire new generation of technology. If Bill did not have this idea of developing new technology, most things that every person today relies on would be futile. Reading this article only strengthened what I previously believed about Bill Gates. Overall, the moral thought that led me to this decision was that of what was really innovative and helped shape our society.

2.) Two choose two influential people that are still living I would have to choose Ronald Reagan, and Stephen Hawking.  The reason that I picked these two admirable men is because of what they have given to our society.  Not only as a whole, but what it will give to future generations.  Reagan put the United States on a more conservative course, while also restoring buoyancy and confidence in the presidency and formed a partnership with a reformist Soviet leader that helped end the Cold War.  Hawking explored the nature of the universe. He popularized science, wrote the best-selling A Brief History of Time and remains a mischievous personality despite being severely disabled by Lou Gehrig’s disease.  This really does not tell me anything about my moral choices except that people who help change something for the better are admiral in my book.

3.) After reading the third section, I truly believe that there is a morality to the universe.  The reason I believe in such morality is stated as such: “including a distinction between right and wrong; empathy; fairness; admiration of generosity; rights and obligations; proscription of murder, rape and other forms of violence; redress of wrongs; sanctions for wrongs against the community; shame; and taboos.”  I believe that all these concepts have to be given to us to have a well rounded universe.  Yes, I believe that the universe has morality in a certain sense.

4.) The five varitaties of moral experience are as follows: harm, fairness, community (or group loyalty), authority and purity.  I believe that Americans rank authority over all the other moral experiences.  The reason I believe so is because most Americans like to be in power when it boils down to it.  I believe that community should be ranked first, but that is just me.

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