kiz8lynn's blog

Our world, in many ways is like an equation. There are several interrelated factors that balance together to describe the state of our existence. Human activity, plant life, air quality, technology etc. are a few of countless factors that make up this huge balance. If one changes, it intrinsically changes the other. If one takes, the other has to give and vice versa. Humanity is on pretty new ground in our history. We’ve come at odds with nature before and in the long run been able to “conquer” it. However our ability to overcome obstacles, grow and succeed is no longer the question. It is very evident that humans have the capability to rule this planet, the question is can we do so with enough wisdom to sustain life here.

The world today is changing rapidly and in a very different way from any other time in history. Issues that are important to us can no longer be just our thing, we are too connected with other parts of the world to pretend that every culture doesn't play a direct role in our own lives. In particular, the urbanization trend shows an incredible shift in world power to city governments, it strengthens the voice of the common man. More than any other time in history, people today can be mobilized to acheive incredible goals...here's part of why.

Can't stop thinking about my mother tonight. It's only very recently that the reality of her possible death is beginning to set in (She was diagnosed with breast cancer about six years ago.) I've known this time was coming for a very long time. I wonder--no, I know that I don't fully realize how much she's given me and continues to give. From the beginning of my life, my story was her story. Where she ends, I begin.

Poverty, what is it? Shipler’s article gives at least a hundred direct examples of societal inequalities. These things don’t necessarily define poverty in a textbook sense- but they pull at us as ironies. The copy editor of your textbook has not been to the dentist in a decade. The woman who cashes checks has $2.02 in her own checking account. A man who sells dog food yet cannot feed his family. Things that shouldn’t be. Things that don’t seem right. The people who live in the margins of the world, pushed to the side, ignored, unwanted--no one is concerned about them. The U.S. government’s definition of poverty is simple: “An annual income, for a family with one adult and three children, of less than $18,392 in the year 2003.”(Shipler)

    “To explain something new would mean to try to reduce it to the already known.” (Otte, 211) World history as we know it has taken huge leaps and bounds in the last hundred or so years. Things that we never thought possible like space travel and instantaneous international communication are yesterday’s news. The universe as we know it is rapidly expanding -- as is our knowledge of it. Having access to so much information helps us to take classic theories of antiquity to their full extent. We are able to put more pieces of the puzzle together now than ever before and see even more of how our world connects in a big picture. Its an exciting time to be alive. One such theory is on Mathematical Reality.