Perceptions of Reality in the Matrix Essay Example for Free

Perceptions of Reality in the Matrix Essay The question of ‘reality’ has always intrigued people throughout the world. It has been perceived as tangible and exact but at the same time intensely vulnerable. The frailties of ‘reality’ have been exposed by the many differing ways in which it can be perceived. These differences of perception can be attributed to factors such as age, sex, nationality, religion, and political views, all of which alter the way we process what is presented to us as ‘facts’ by our senses. It has been reasoned, that every living person, or person that has ever lived must have a unique sense of reality, a point of perception so tailored to his or her own identity that it could never be shared exactly with anyone else. Having considered this idea, one may arrive at a primary solution that there was no such thing as a shared reality. Furthermore, the word ‘reality’ should only be used tentatively and only accurately in relation to a specific individual’s view of a subject. However, having arrived at this conclusion one may become aware that allowing individual realities is not a solution, it merely raises more questions. The brain is a complex organ relying on naturally produced endorphins and chemicals such as serotonin to maintain a state of perceptive normality, if this chemical balance is altered then the individuals perceptions of reality are also subject to change. How is the reality of the individual affected if they are suffering from depression? Is it the bleak or the hopeful that forms the reality for that individual? How are we to view the differences that occur in the mind when intoxicated through drugs or alcohol? These are complex factors that would need addressing in order to solve the question of ‘reality’. The release of the Wachowski Brothers’ film The Matrix is one of the reasons more and more people began to question what ‘reality’ really is. This science fiction film presents the idea that the world around us is an illusion. What we perceive to be reality is in fact a computer simulation called ‘The Matrix’, which is inputted directly into our brains making us believe that we are livingnormal lives when in fact our inert bodies are providing heat to power the machines which, after years of human service became intelligent enough to have taken over the world. In addition to the basic questioning of reality within the story line, The Matrix explores the importance of other areas concerned with perceptions of reality such as dreams and fate. Coming as it did at the very end of the 20th century, The Matrix deals with the ultra-modern and an apocalyptic view of the world. At a time when it was thought by many that the end of an era was approaching, with ‘The Millennium’, subconscious fears arose. While advances in technology have left us less to fear than ever before in terms of injury and disease, technology itself fills the void. In this case, The Matrix deals with the common fear of an over dependence on machines. At a time when the world at large was concerned about the effects of ‘The Millennium Bug’ machines turning on humans was, to some, a valid concern. While not concentrating on the likelihood of machines taking over, the growing part they play in constructing and maintaining our realities is important to consider. Where do we draw the line between what we perceive as ‘reality’ and a computer generated representation that may be more ‘real’ than the original? In answering this question one may refer to the work of Aldous Huxley, specifically The Doors of Perception, in order to provide a view into the significance of enhanced hallucinogenic realities. Building on the idea of chemically enhanced reality one can examine, using the writings of Jean Baudrillard, the extent to which artificially created reality, in terms of media presentation, has affected our perceptions of reality. One may also refer to Baudrillard’s work on simulacra to explore the significance of duplication and reproduction on commonly held ideas of reality. With this in mind the idea of ‘reality’ may be explored as being distilled into a Matrix of binary code and if so, what does that tell us about our supposedly organic realities? It is these questions, along with numerous others that one hopes to answer when studying the different perceptions of reality in the film The Matrix. Some may also examine in detail how the human mind has adapted to the outside world, how ‘reality’ has been constructed to provide an acceptable platform on which to live, how that reality may be maintained and ultimately the significance of how it may be undermined. The importance of a solid base on which to construct the events of everyday life is apparent throughout literature. The first lines of The Bible read: â€Å"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void†. To have this statement at the very beginning of The Bible illustrates the human need to organize the world into a recognizable reality where the unknown can be explained. In early times the creation of the world was, from a scientific point of view, a mystery. In order to create a base on which to build their realities, mankind devised explanations for the creation of the world. Much as God moulded the shapeless earth into its current form, mankind fashioned a belief system as important to life as the world itself. Two thousand years later, the issues of reality are still unresolved and new questions are being raised. In biblical times, man was unique in his ability to reason and communicate thoughts and ideas. He was God’s chosen subject and the reason the world and all its ‘realities’ had been created. In this day and age, machines and computers form such a large part of our lives that mankind’s uniqueness is called into question. Computers now perform complex calculations millions of times faster than the human brain and are able to take actions based on those calculations with reaction times far in advance of human physiological attributes. In addition to areas where machines have been made superior to human capabilities, the distinction between man and machine has become blurred: â€Å"What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. † Here the connection is made between the world of man and the world of machines. We are as dependent on electronic information as the computers and machines that we have created. More significantly, if external stimuli can be coded into electrical impulses that our brains decipher, can higher thought processes and emotions be similarly synthesised? It is here where we realize the similarities between the physiology and technology that the name ‘The Matrix’, ascribed in the film. As it is shown in the film, the virtual reality computer programme which was fed to the humans is extremely significant. The root of the word ‘matrix’ is the Latin word for ‘mater’ meaning mother, pluralized to ‘matris’ signifying at the basest level, a number of wombs or animals kept specifically for the purpose of breeding. Further definitions are listed as: 1) A mould in which a thing is cast or shaped. 2) An environment or substance in which a thing is developed, a womb. 3) In math it is a rectangular array of elements in rows and columns that is treated as a single element 4) In biology is it defined as the substance between cells or in which structures are embedded. 5) Computing a grid like array of interconnected circuit elements. It is interesting to note that the word can refer to both the organic nature of gestation and birth and also the electronic code used by a digital camera recording the process. Additionally, in its first definition, the word is used in relation to manufacture and duplication. The selection of the word ‘matrix’ for use in the film is therefore carefully chosen, and is accurate in describing the numerous functions that ‘The Matrix’ performs within the film aside from the main aspect of creating a living, ‘real’ world from electronic code. In suggesting a world that is entirely manufactured from a code, The Matrix questions that which we base our realities upon as well as the significance of the reality that is presented. The concept of one’s surroundings being constructed from computer code is difficult to grasp and according to the film, difficult to implement. According to Agent Smith, when the machines first enslaved humans, â€Å"The first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world, where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. † Interestingly, this aspect of ‘The Matrix’ echoes The Bible in terms of The Garden of Eden. Just as Adam and Eve could not live in paradise, it is suggested that the human brain constructs its reality based upon curiosity, hierarchy and suffering. The human mind is inquisitive and the reward for success is advancement among one’s peers, the punishment for failure is suffering. In addition, this concept is also a base for the manner in which Buddhism constructs reality, the Four Noble Truths: 1) That existence is suffering. 2) That all suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the greed that is created by ignorance. 3) That suffering can be overcome by mentally rejecting ignorance and attachment. 4 That overcoming suffering is achieved by following the eightfold path to enlightenment. The Buddhist view is also present in The Matrix. For Neo, existence is suffering. He is uneasy yet does not know why. Morpheus later tells him: â€Å"You don’t know what it is but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind. † Neo later discovers the true reality, first of the existence of The Matrix, then of his own power to change it and adapt the rules of the code. In the end he rejects what he believed to be the real world, repeating his mantra, â€Å"There is no spoon† in order to reject the ‘real’ world, to step away from his senses and concentrate on the code, the life blood of The Matrix. With these truths learnt he is enlightened and becomes ‘The One’ as Morpheus had predicted. In the film The Matrix the path to enlightenment is through the code that constructs reality. We must ask ourselves how similar is The Matrix code-based framework to our own organic reality? This is an issue that is tackled in modernist writing. With the rise of the importance of industry, many writers discussed the concept of ‘the new’, how to decipher the modern world and man’s place within it. In Soft City by Jonathan Raban, he discusses problems of individuality that occur in ‘the city’. He acknowledges the significance of the codes that shape an individual’s reality: â€Å"People often have to live by reading the signs and surfaces of their environment and interpreting them in terms of private, near magical codes. † Here Raban acknowledges a subconscious method of constructing reality. It is the ‘sign and surface’ of the environment that is perceived, the sheer quantity of information prohibiting anything more than a cursory examination. This basic image of reality is then encoded and compared to those codes that exist within our memory. In The Matrix this idea is applied literally. Neo becomes aware that when he is inside The Matrix his perceptions are purely a computer code, as are the objects around him. Through the course of the film he learns that through ‘freeing his mind’ from the code that interprets reality, reality itself can be altered. This bending of reality takes to an extreme the allegory of changing one’s point of view and seeing the world in a different way, a message found in myriad works from A Christmas Carol to Macbeth but the quantification of perception has frequently been questioned. Just as the establishment of Greenwich Mean Time contributed to the co modification of time, the modern mind, according to Simmel, â€Å"The modern mind has become more and more a calculating one. The calculating exactness of practical life which has resulted from a money economy corresponds to the ideal of natural science, namely that of transforming the world into an arithmetical problem and of fixing every one of its parts in a mathematical formula. † In a reality constructed around the importance of time and money, every aspect of that reality possesses an economic value. This quantification can also be seen as a code that makes up reality that man may decipher in purely numerical terms. In addition to these created codes of ethics and values it is important to consider factual, scientific codes that construct our world. A significant thinker in this field was the German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz who, in 1714 in his book The Monadology, discussed the existence of countless conscious centres of spiritual force or energy which he names ‘monads’. Each monad represents a singular microcosm that reflects the universe in varying degrees of perfection and developing independently of all other monads. These inter-related microcosms that construct reality are, according to Leibniz the result of a divine plan that despite its disparate form makes up a harmonious reality. It is a failing of mankind that we cannot easily perceive factors such as disease and death as part of a universal harmony. Leibniz concludes that if our aversion to these evils can be overcome then harmony with the universe can exist and a reality can occur where: â€Å"Every body responds to all that happens in the universe, so that he who saw all could read in each one what is happening everywhere, and even what has happened and what will happen. † Here we find a further interpretation of reality that relates to The Matrix in terms of a unified system, not unlike a computer program, where all factors are not only comprised of the same code, but are all inter-related in a perfect harmony. However, this is where human reality and the reality of The Matrix diverge. As Leibniz points out, the necessity of death is an uncomfortable consideration within human construction of reality, which leads us to be out of touch with the rest of the universe. But it is the nature of death that also provides a key to another area where codes determine our realities, the code of DNA. DNA is the code that influences more than any other the conditions of our reality. It determines everything about us from height to lifespan. We are in a purely organic manner, programmed on how we will live. Of all the factors that DNA contains, it is lifespan that offers one of the most interesting possibilities. While humans can have some idea of their DNA in terms of skin colour and IQ, an aspect of the code that remains closed to us is that of our own lifespan. This aspect is explored in The Matrix where The Agents are created knowing that their purpose is to live within what they know to be a false world, eliminating those who threaten it. It becomes for them restrictive, as Agent Smith confesses: â€Å"I hate this place, this zoo, this prison, this reality; whatever you want to call it†¦I must get out of here. I must get free†. In the light of the concept of increasing knowledge and power through the study of the codes that construct reality we are presented with a quandary. Does absolute knowledge of the codes provide a more fulfilling life? Humans held within The Matrix are unaware of their fate. The Agents, although possessing complete knowledge of the code and its capabilities, enabling supreme strength, agility and knowledge, are the only ones aware that they are imprisoned. In this falsely constructed reality, only those with power are aware of the misery of their condition. While The Agents have supreme power over The Matrix code for most of the film, the crew of The Nebuchadnezzar, existing in the ‘real’, non computer generated world also are aware of the lack of comfort offered by their existence. They are able to define their existence through knowledge of The Matrix but also through their memory of life within The Matrix before they were ‘freed’. It is this condition of possessing memory, which forms a significant part of how we perceive reality. In the film, Cypher, the Judas figure that attempts to betray his colleagues asks for his reward to be completely ignorant of reality. He remembers life within The Matrix where pleasure was possible, not, â€Å"being cold, eating the same God-damn goop everyday†. He makes a deal with The Agents that he will be re-inserted into The Matrix where he will remember nothing of his past life apart from generated memories implanted in his brain by the machines. He sacrifices his unpleasant memories for a fool’s paradise. From this we can conclude that constructing reality in the present must involve an examination of the past. This idea is found in Freud’s belief that an individual’s psychological mechanism could be explained in relation to the individual’s past, childhood experiences and repressions leading to certain types of behaviour in adult life. This may help to explain the construction of our realities as individuals, but in order to follow the Leibniz model of harmonious reality that encompasses us all it is necessary to examine the writings of Carl Jung. While Freud believed that behaviour was based on the individual, Jung maintained that all humans share a collective unconscious, inherited feelings, thoughts and more significantly, memories, shared by the whole of mankind. Jung believed that this collective unconscious is made up of universally held images known as ‘archetypes’. These images, he believed, relate to experiences such as facing death, finding a lover, confronting a foe and so on. He states that the evidence for these binding archetypes are the common issues found in myths, legends, religions and folklore from around the globe. The realities considered in Leibniz’s theory have a definite mathematical and scientific base. He himself is described by McLuhan in the following terms: â€Å"Leibniz, that mathematical spirit, saw in the mystic elegance of the binary system that counts only the zero and the one, the very image of creation. The unity of the supreme being, operating by binary function in nothingness, would have sufficed to bring out of it all the beings. † Comparing this with the theory of archetypes, we realise that the Jungian view of reality construction is based much more in the world of art and literature and how these may be used to communicate ideas of reality. Myths, along with proverbs and fables are the encryption of archetypes. They are touchstones of reality, which can be applied to a multitude of situations, communicating a shared perception of reality. It is this communication of realities that exposes the limitations of a reality code. While the individual may use all manner of codes to decipher his surroundings, it is the communication of his findings and inspirations that cause problems. Communication primarily takes the form of language, but in this form the thought must be converted into a code of language that must then be interpreted by the listener. As Huxley says: â€Å"Every individual is at once the beneficiary and the victim of the linguistic tradition†¦the beneficiary inasmuch as language gives access to the accumulated records of other people’s experience, the victim in so far as it confirms him in the belief that reduced awareness is the only awareness and as it bedevils his sense of reality, so that he is all too apt to take his concepts for data, his words for actual things. † Many philosophers had various ideas and beliefs on the question of â€Å"reality†, one of the many philosophers who contributed to this question, was Plato. Despite his view that art can never achieve the accuracy of the thought in the artist’s mind, Plato failed too see the inadequacies of language which led mankind to use art as a method of communicating the individual’s perception of reality. John Berger discusses the significance of art in the development of human communication in detail in Ways of Seeing. Berger explains how art became a unique form of presentation and initially was used only for religious and spiritual purposes and was inseparable from the place and purpose for which it was created. At this stage, art was as far away from the code of communication as possible. Of course individuals could observe, and impose upon it their own reality defining codes, but art stood alone communicating as accurately as possible the realities of its creator. Later art was taken into the houses of the wealthy, partly to enhance the self image of the owner and also to confirm the role of ownership, owning the image of a thing translating to actual ownership. It is here that art entered the world of the code. It was used by the wealthy as a sign of their wealth part of their self-defined code by which they judged themselves and were perceived by others. Modern reproduction and distribution techniques have removed art from any preserve it once had. As Walter Benjamin, a Marxist philosopher-sociologist believed, when art is reproduced it loses its original ‘aura’ and enters a new role. It has become ubiquitous, part of the code and used with such regularity that we use it to define ourselves or present our ideas. It has been reduced to the level of the proverb in providing a template for our realities. We live our lives and form our realities based upon numerous codes. These may take the form of myths, religions and status symbols. Leibniz believed that the universe itself was an infinite code of interdependent microcosms and that that code, if completely comprehended could predict the future and know the past. The code can be liberating or restricting and how we perceive it goes a long way towards how we construct our realities. John Milton is right; â€Å"The mind can interpret the codes in many ways and form infinite conclusions. † The question is how accurate is the code that we receive? Everyday we are confronted with ‘the real’. In the film The Matrix the manner in which we construct our realities and the truths upon which we base the information that we are presented with is shown. The point that is raised in Morpheus saying â€Å"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television†¦It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth† is that all that you take to be ‘real’ may not necessarily be so. Now, more than ever the amount of information that reaches us is so great that while not necessarily in a sinister sense, our lives are directly influenced by stimulating factors outside our control. The world of advertising for example, presents images, and projects thoughts. It convinces us that our lives would be richer if we purchased a certain item and while we know we are witnessing a sales pitch, we cannot help but be affected by it. Advertisements influence our decisions on what to eat and drink, where to go on holiday and how to live our lives. While it is true that we retain a choice over what we buy and where we go, but in order for that choice to be made it must have appeared within the initial stimulation. If a product is unknown it is unlikely to be bought. In Ways of Seeing, Berger suggests that advertising and publicity are processes of manufacturing glamour. Publicity creates an intangible element of desire, which is based on the human emotion of envy. The product is presented in a manner that promotes envy in the viewer, and by association will afford the purchaser the envy of others. It is in this way that glamour is sold. We are unconsciously informed of what it is we will envy in others and what it is about ourselves that others will envy. Berger concludes that this method succeeds because publicity does not speak to reality but to the fantasies of the individual. It could be reasoned that fantasies such as these enable mankind to maintain realities. This refers back to the idea in the film where the first ‘Matrix’ failed because everybody was created happy. Perhaps envy fulfils a vital role that presses us forward, that provides us with the will to live. But to look on envy as the only means of maintaining reality is rather simplistic. If we take this thought a step further and examine the message that is being projected rather than the emotions it creates it is possible to find a new method of maintaining reality. As John Jervis writes in Exploring the Modern: â€Å"The pleasure is in a vicarious sense of adventure, linked with a satisfaction gained through decoding, ‘reading’, the signs of the city. † He suggests we are to embrace the information we are presented with. To examine and appreciate its role in the reality in which we live; that ultimately pleasure lies in interpretation rather than direct experience, as Huxley put it: â€Å"The miracle, moment by moment, of naked existence. † But how, and to what extent, do ‘naked existence’ and the information we receive and analyse conform to reality? The evidence of reality that exists within our local environment we can interpret ourselves. In constructing our realities we create the codes in which realities communicate. Difficulties arise however, when in attempting to maintain our reality we are confronted with issues that we cannot directly perceive for ourselves. The most basic of images that we are unable to perceive directly is that of ourselves. â€Å"To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves. † It is here that we come across the importance of the mirror in maintaining reality. During the 1960s and 1970s Neo-Freudianism was a popular movement in France and with it the philosophies of Jacques Lacan became widely known. Among these was the ‘mirror-stage’. Lacan believed that: â€Å"The unified self posited by object relations theory is an illusion. The child begins as fragmented drives, precepts and attachments that eventually congeal into an imaginary identity at the ‘mirror stage’† It is at this stage, that the child perceives himself in the mirror and acknowledges himself as a single entity separate from his mother and surroundings. In a more abstract sense, this is the process that Neo himself goes through upon suspecting the existence of The Matrix. His suspicions and dissatisfaction with the world as it appears becomes apparent as he receives a reprimand from his employer, Mr Rheinheart: â€Å"You have a problem with authority, Mr Anderson. You believe that you are special, that somehow the rules do not apply to you. Obviously you are mistaken. This company is one of the top software companies in the world because every single employee understands that they are part of a whole. † As a function of The Matrix, Neo’s software company is attempting to restrict him. To place him in the ‘illusory’ world of object relations theory discussed by Lacan. At this point in the film, the office in which Neo is getting lectured by his boss is, at the same time, having its mirrored windows cleaned, perhaps echoing famous English poet, William Blake’s thought that: â€Å"If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. † This infinity described by Blake may be related to the infinite possibilities open to Neo if he rejects the restrictive world that contains him. Interestingly, the theme of mirrors as a symbol of release is common throughout the film. Indeed, Neo is released from The Matrix through a mirror, much like Alice going through the looking glass; a reference alluded to by Morpheus. Also, it seems that whenever Neo meets those who are entering The Matrix specifically to talk to him such as The Agents, Trinity and Morpheus, he is seen frequently as a mirror image, either in the rear view mirror of the motorcycle that Trinity is riding or in the mirrored sunglasses of Morpheus and The Agents. The mirror is used in this context as it presents an image of the world that appears accurate but is not. It presents a reversed and possibly distorted view of the world. Significantly in terms of the film, it also presents another world, similar to, but very different from, our own. As children, according to Lacan, we learn to identify ourselves in terms of the mirror. Our self-image, that with which we maintain our reality is based upon what we see there and yet the information we are receiving is inaccurate. Our self-image is in fact a reverse copy of the truth and an example of the flawed perceptions with which we maintain our realities. As technology has evolved, so too have our methods of maintaining reality. Television has provided us with intimate knowledge of the world outside our local environment. With television not only comes the persuasiveness of the advertisements shown but also the impact of the news reports upon which we depend for maintaining our realities. Nowadays, live communication in both sound and image is possible across the globe. Our horizons have been expanded to the maximum possible extent and we rely upon television to maintain those realities that we have never experienced for ourselves and it is here that we run into complex problems concerning reality. We assume that the images we are watching are an intrinsic part of the information being presented. This is not always the case as Jean Baudrillard explains in his book The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. In this book Baudrillard discusses how the media representation of the Gulf War was in no way an accurate description of the reality. In his introduction to the book, George S. Patton, a United States Army officer most famous for his leadership commanding corps and armies as general in World War II, and for his controversial outspokenness and strong opinions, comments that the first and most basic way in which the media can corrupt reality is in the confusion of past and present. He claims this was achieved unilaterally during the War, the present being portrayed as the past with the whole war as a John Wayne film complete with action-movie language. We also saw the past being represented as the present, video footage of a sea bird, covered in oil from the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989 where used to illustrate the ecological problems in the Gulf. The problems presented by an image of reality is summed up by Baudrillard: â€Å"The same illusion of progress occurred with the appearance of speech and then colour on screen: at each stage of this progress we moved further away from the imaginary intensity of the image. The closer we supposedly approach the real, or the truth, the further we draw away from them both, since neither one nor the other exists. The closer we approach the real time of the event, the more we fall into the illusion of the virtual. † Once war or any other event is converted from a directly perceived reality to information, it enters the realm of communication. It becomes open to interpretation. Our failing lies with the fact that our technology has succeeded in creating information so apparently accurate we mistake it for reality. In The Gulf War Did Not Take Place Baudrillard updates Benjamin’s theory on reproducibility negotiating the aura of experience. Much of Baudrillard’s writing has commented on ‘simulacra’, a scenario in which reality and a simulation have been combined and become unidentifiable from each other. This third order of reality is referred to as ‘Hyper reality’. Through the media, simulacra of the real have been created and we ourselves enter a hyper reality where the boundaries between what is real and what is a representation of the real become blurred. This is an area explored almost constantly in The Matrix. In the film, The Matrix is the ultimate hyper reality. Inside The Matrix, reality is coded into information so effectively that those to whom it is fed cannot even perceive the reality on which their world is based. Neo acts as a disciple of Baudrillard, attempting to separate the information from the real. In real life, this is harder than it seems. A condition of the hyper reality is that the two contributing realities are so interdependent that a manipulation in one of the realities causes a reaction in the other which will in turn manipulate the first. It is inside a hyper reality that Neo himself resides.

Bump in the Breast Essays -- Personal Narrative Cancer Health Medicine

Bump in the Breast I don’t want to die, I thought to myself. I didn’t do anything to deserve this. I’m a good person, but so was my mother and she had it too. Did she give it to me? Will I still be a woman if I only have one breast? Maybe death would be better than being half a woman. I can’t take this, where is the damn doctor? â€Å"Lynn, you’ll be fine. It’s just a tiny lump.† Randy said, trying to comfort me. â€Å"Yeah, well that tiny lump could kill me like it did my mother.† I paused and looked ruefully at my husband. â€Å"Sorry, I’m just nervous.† â€Å"I understand, but your mother didn’t have the technology we have today. Doctor Brood will be back soon with the results of your mammogram, I’ll go get you some water.† With that, Randy left the somewhat decrepit examination room. Randy was right, but I couldn’t help worrying. I can’t imagine going through this without him. We got married ten years ago and our ceremony was dedicated to my mother, Diane, who died of breast cancer when I was twelve. Now here I sit, waiting to see if I will face the same fate. â€Å"Here you go.† Randy said as he handed me a small Dixie cup filled with cold water. Just as Randy sat down, the door flew open and Doctor Brood entered the room. My palms were sweating, my heart was pounding and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to take whatever the doctor was about to say. Doctor Brood took a deep breath and began to speak, â€Å"We caught the lump in your left breast early enough to treat it. But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He paused. â€Å"There’s another tumor in your right breast that has reached a dangerous stage, but we can take care of it. I’m going to give you some literature to read and some forms to sign. I don’t want you to worry – we do these procedures all the time and th... ...o my eyes. â€Å"Show your little girl what an amazing woman her mother is, show others there is always hope, and prove to the world ‘What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger’. I love you Lynn and will always be watching over you.† With that, she began to ascend the staircase with the other angles and fade into the night sky. â€Å"I love you too! Mom, wait†¦ wait!† She was gone, but not really. A smile crept into my lips. â€Å"Sweetie, are you alright? Who were you talking to?† Randy asked as he came outside. â€Å"My guardian angel, I’m fine†¦ everything will be fine.† I said as I threw my arms around him. â€Å"Well, whatever happened, I’m glad it did. It’s good to see you smile† he murmured, looking a little perplexed but pleased. I looked at brightest star in the sky, then back at Randy and said, â€Å"I needed a little help to realize this was just another bump in the breast.†

Adi Godrej

Personal Profile Adi Godrej †¢Birth Name: Adi Burjorji Godrej †¢Common Name: Adi Godrej †¢Date of Birth: April 3, 1942 †¢Zodiac Sign: Aries †¢Sex: Male †¢Hair Color: White †¢Nationality: Indian †¢Religion: Hinduism †¢Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Family Adi Godrej †¢Father: Burjorji Godrej †¢Mother: Jai Godrej †¢Brother: Nadir Godrej †¢Spouse: Parmeshwar Godrej †¢Son: Pirojsha †¢Daughter: Tanya Dubash, Nisa Godrej Career Adi Godrej †¢Profession: Businessman Trivia Adi Godrej †¢. Submit View All Trivia Quotes Adi Godrej Recently Godrej Industries and our consumer division outsourced their IT architecture to HP. Each division/group works independently, and so the decisions were also independent. All the same, each department has a different skill set. We wanted to benchmark and balance those. – Unknown submitted by – Vaibhav Dhiman †¢We deployed ERP more than a dec ade ago to connect with vendors and customers. Today, the ERP covers all modules even the HRD. We further expanded the scope in customer relationship by bringing CRM online.With eCRM, we have taken it a step forward. We refresh the technology regularly. From an MFG Pro ERP ten years ago to SAP, we have come a long way. – Unknown submitted by – Sanjeev Dhiman †¢No. I only use the email and occasionally access the internet. † I have a Blackberry Bold as a personal tool. I do not have a laptop. I work on a desktop. – Unknown submitted by – Sanjeev Dhiman †¢Very important. However, he is not a business strategist, a CEO is responsible. CIO is a part of the business strategy team, and is a part of the business decisions.It should be understood that technology does not dictate business, business dictates technology. A business should be able to leverage technology. BI is also a very important tool to understand customer behaviour. Information is collected and used well. However, technology modules cannot be the center of business. Innovation in prod – Unknown submitted by – Sandeep Sandeep Singh †¢We are in many businesses. We will continue to expand in the B2B segment, and our major areas of growth are the FMCG and property divisions.We are growing at a faster rate then the competition in the FMCG market. In the property market, there is a huge scope for all players to grow. It is a vast market with huge growth potential. – Unknown submitted by – New ID Submit View all Quotes ‘Joint ventures and strategic aliances are not necessarily forever' Biography Adi Godrej Last Updated: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 . The Godrej products were among the first indigenously manufactured products to move entrenched overseas brands.

Improving Memory Essay example - 1145 Words

Memory is a very important tool to our everyday lives. Without memory, we would not be able to function very productively. You can look at someone suffering with Alzheimer’s disease and see the effects of the inability to make new memories, as well as lost and confused memory. According to what I have read in the textbook, the foundation of our speech and learning is our memory. In general, there are three types of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. Sensory memory, by definition, is the preservation of information in its original sensory form, for a fraction of a second. This means that when you smell, touch and/or see anything, the impression of the occurrence will last for a couple of moments. This†¦show more content†¦Interference of other material also plays a role in the short-term forgetfulness. It is hard for the brain to focus on committing more than one thing memory at a time. The old stuff is bumped out by the new stuff, which is a big contributor to why you forget. Our short-term memory seems to have a limited amount of places to hold this temporary data. This is an area that has been studied a lot. There are different theories about how much we actually retain before it is pushed out by the next thought. Chunking makes remembering easier as well. It involves grouping information into familiar stimul i so it can be stored as a single unit. This takes up fewer memory slots and makes remembering smoother. The chunks are effective when they are associated with something familiar to the individual. This ties into the long-term memory because that is where you draw the familiarity. Long-term memory is presumably unlimited storage that holds information for long periods. This could be a large amount of time. This information comes from the short-term memory. Whenever you make a connection to the data, it moves into this ‘forever’ storage. Uninterrupted repetition and the meaningful association help to make this possible; I use this to help me. I believe, in order to prevent forgetting, you would need to recall the stored information constantly. For example, if it is a test you are studying for, you might want toShow MoreRelatedThe And Memory : Improving Memory Recall926 Words   |  4 PagesMnemonics and Memory: Improving Memory Recall Angela Sapir Arapahoe Community College: General Psychology 101-103 12/15/2015 â€Æ' Discovering Psychology describes memory as, â€Å"the mental processes that enable [a person] to retain and retrieve information over time.† When information is brought into the brain, it travels from the sensory memory to the short term memory. If this information is deemed important, it is then encoded and stored. In order to retrieve this information (i.e., memory) a personRead MoreEssay on Improving Memory575 Words   |  3 Pages how to improve memory Mr. Douglas Enclosed in the following are five techniques that you may want to consider using to help you improve your memory. amp;#61623; Finding a reason to remember amp;#61623; Be selective in about what you learn amp;#61623; Organize your information amp;#61623; Mnemonics amp;#61623; Rehearse information through recitation First, finding a reason to remember is very important. If you have a reason to remember information you just learned, then you have a betterRead MoreWays Of Improving Memory Loss1463 Words   |  6 Pages ways-to-improve-memory 10 Ways To Improve Memory Loss Naturally ways to improve memory Find the right way to improve memory that will also be healthy for the body naturally. Memory loss is common among the young and old these days. The Best Ways To Improve Memory What are the best ways to improve memory loss? It’s alright to seek medical attention especially for the elderly but if you are young you might want to consider the fresh or natural way first. Do you misplace your car keys quiteRead MoreImproving Recall Of Declarative Memories Essay2256 Words   |  10 Pages Napping: Improving Recall of Declarative Memories in Children Velo-Vincent van Houden UC Berkeley Introduction Sleep has an undoubtedly profound effect on cognitive function and memory consolidation in young children. Policy makers have the ability to influence sleeping patterns in children by means of scheduling of classes and funding activities — therefore research into sleeping patterns for optimal achievement is very important when considering the structure of early educationRead MoreEssay about Analyzing and Improving Multimodality in the Memory Artifact1498 Words   |  6 PagesThe purpose of my memory artifact is to argue that epic poetry is a form of memory representation used to portray the collective memory of a nation and a civilization. An Epic poem is a long narrative poem that deals with an event significant or important to a culture or nation. I believe my presentation was quite successful since I was able to get my message across and make a connection with the audience. However, my presentation only incorporated the visual and oral components of WOVEN and failedRead MoreImproving Older Adults Memory Performance Using Prior Task Success821 Words   |  4 Pagesthat I will be reviewing for the third discussion day is titled, â€Å"Improving Older Adults’ Memory Performance Using Prior Task Success.† This research was completed by Lisa Geraci and Tyler M. Miller, two researchers from Texas AM University. In order to better understand their work, it will be benefical to look at some of the background information on the topic. When it comes to older adults, one of the aspects that can affect memory is stereotypes. In their work, the researchers provided a thoroughRead MoreEssay on Improving Memory through Applying Brief Wakeful Resting685 Words   |  3 Pagespractical way mostly to help people boost their memory through the use of brief wakeful resting (Dewar, Alber, Butler, Cowan, Della Sala, 2012,). From the results, it concluding that people in both experiment retained more information about the story as opposed to those that played the spot the difference game (Dewar, Alber, Butler, Cowan, Della Sala, 2012). Not only that, but this also indicates that a 10 minute period of wakeful resting could enhance memory for about 7 days after the information hasRead MoreThe Importance Of Dancing As A Hobby940 Words   |  4 Pagescompleting self-goals and an opening to new ideas. As you continue with dance you can experience better self-esteem. Having a greater value of yourself. Having a rush to dance in front or for people. Relieving of stress and personal accomplishments improving listening skills and dedicated self-discipline. Over coming fears and self-goals. Giving yourself continued self-confidence. Physical benefits for adults in dancing are using isometric and isotonic resistance. Using your Muscle toning and increasingRead MoreThe Memory Of Memory And Memory1497 Words   |  6 Pagesbeings rely on their memory a lot, not only to remember special events or memorise facts that have been learned but also to recall processes and routines executed on a daily basis. Memory can be defined as a system that processes information in the mind, which consists of three stages; namely encoding, storage, and retrieval (Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary, 2012). Encoding refers to the receiving and modification of an informational stimulus so that it can be embedded in the memory. Storage is theRead MoreEffects Of Stress On The Body992 Words   |  4 PagesMemory performance can often be hijacked by a given load of stress on the body. Stress is both a versatile agent that disrupts the human body’s normal mental, physical, and emotional state, and the body’s natural reaction t o change (Staal, 2004). The effects of this amorphous phenomenon have been studied from a number of angles including but not limited to stress-related sleep pattern disturbances, mood swings, attention spans, weight gain, long-term illnesses, and cognitive function. This review