The ending? or beginning?

For my final entry I wish to discuss the whole of what we have covered, in no particular order or not even necessarily all of them.

In this class we have gone from the ends of the earth to the ends of the mind. We began by discussing the possibility of what if we were actually not a part of a true reality. It began in the cave, the cave where the reality seen before us could be but shadows upon the wall. A world where the items we think are what they are, are not actually what they are. For example a vase could be what we think is a vase but actually the shadow of something else entirely. We will only find the truth by going out into the light.

Next we had discussed the concept of the mind. Was the mind real? Is the mind a separate being from that of the body? Am I the mind? Is the mind me? These were all brought to question during this section of understanding. The concept of the possibility of the mind being able to float off into space, that it might not actually be a part of a body at all. Or even that this could all be but a dream. Then it was also brought up that if it were a dream why can I not control gravity? It would be indeed my gravity to control. Maybe I do not want it to go the direction it currently does.

A next topic we discussed was indeed my favorite: the idea of robots walking among us. The concept that there could be another highly intelligent life on this planet besides hum… The concept that there could be a more intelligent life on this planet is astonishing. The idea that your very neighbor could be a robot is thrilling. But the question must come, what if they exist? How do we treat them? This answer is, unfortunately, already answered by history. The human race would become scared. It would lash out against this magnificent gift of the universe, and destroy it. The fact that we only just recently got rights for our own species speaks for itself.

Another topic we discussed was that of animal sentience. Mallory showed us in class the gorilla known as Koko. This gorilla was able to communicate with humans in a language we were able to understand. She was also able to teach this to other gorillas. This was not just some retelling of words she already knew, she was able to create completely new ideas on sentences when she didn’t have one already taught to her. This brought up the idea that our arrogance is blinding us, yet again, to the realization that we are not alone on this planet. We must open our eyes to see the brilliance of intelligence around us.

There were many more I could go on talking about but I believe that I would not do them the justice they need. I have briefly spoken about my favorite topics above. I believe that this course has given me a new understanding into life, and the unknown. I can say that this has been one of my favorite classes I have ever taken; it has even sparked a desire to pursue this field even farther down the rabbit’s hole. Until next time, and may we hope that there is a next time, I bid thee, my readers, farewell.