One Step At A Time

When you look at the table of content of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, you see that each ‘chapter’ has numbers next to it. Some have the same name, but different numbers next to it and some have different names and the same number next to it. This means that there are about three different ways to read the book: the way the author ordered it, by the same number next to each chapter or by the same name for each chapter. I decided to read it by the name of each chapter, meaning I started reading all of chapters called Cities & memory and then I went to Cities & desire and so on.

The book is so intriguing that you cannot stop reading. There is no story, when Calvino is describing the cities. Its short and simple, and it keeps your from getting bored. The way the sentences are made makes the reading go quick and smoothly. There is not much sentence variety, most of them are long sentences, but since it is mostly descriptions, it is easier to read.

 He begins with a description of the city, it can be long or short, and in Cities & memories, he describes a memory from when he was there. To me, it is still a bit sketchy about who the person is. I believe it is Marco Polo describing all the cities, but I am not sure.

            What I thought was interesting about Cities & signs were that in these cities, everything had a meaning. In one of the cities you have a description that says you leave the city without actually getting to know it, and on page fourteen you can see that, “…the city may really be, beneath this thick coating of signs…you leave Tamara without having discovered it”. This has to do with allegories; everything in that city has a meaning, which made me think that maybe all the cities symbolize something. Perhaps it symbolizes the relationship between Marco Polo and Kudai.

            At the end of each section, you have a brief part about Marco Polo and Kudai. How the two communicate and how they meet is revealed in these parts. I think that the cities represent the relationship between the two main characters. Whatever happens in these cities, whether it is something good or bad, it represents things that happen in their relationship.

           

In class we discussed that the book is an allegory. Maybe it means that the cities are metaphors for something. They could possibly represent the relationship between the two characters, as I stated before. They could also represent a major part in the story that we still have not figured out.

I do have a few questions that I hope will be answered when I finish the book.

• ·      Is Marco Polo telling these stories?
• ·      Why does he use Marco Polo as a character?
• ·      Why are the chapters called the way they are?
• ·      Am I reading it correctly?

Trust Is Key

We played the games that Dawkins explained in the book and it can be applied to real life. I had related it to court. If you have a friend and you decide to cooperate, then everything will be fine. Except if one of you decides to tell the truth and the other does not, the one who lies, goes to jail. Then if you both decide to tell the truth, you both lose something. It is all based on trust. If there is no trust between relationships, then it will fall apart. The games try to show that and it was extremely accurate.

When we played in class you could see who trusted who and how important trust means in life. 

Do We Create Our Own Future?

Being selfish has been around for thousands of years and perhaps it is in our genes, but it lies in out hands to control whether we want to continue or stop it from taking over our lives. On page 201, it says, “We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators”. Even the author says that we should take matters into our own hands and fight the genes that make us selfish. Except it is very difficult since we usually think in the first person in our heads. We are concerned about what we think and how things will affect us.

Our decisions are mostly influenced by others, which is called an idea meme. This is when something, an idea for example, is transmitted from one brain to another. If one person says something, like Dalai Lama or in my previous blog; John Lennon, then people can be influenced to change. Except there are also people who influence others negatively, which makes it hard for change. Like everything in life, it has its pros and cons.

According to Dawkins, ‘cultural transmission to genetic transmission’ is a rise to how evolution has been formed. What we have learned in our culture is what our genes are based on. For example, currently the food we eat is very different from just twenty years ago. The current generations bodies are not yet accustomed to it and have some negative effects, but I believe that in twenty years, our bodies will be a lot more used to the food and what it contains.

Therefore, I conclude saying that we can create our own future. The only problem is that most people need to be motivated by people who inspire them. Some of those inspirations give the wrong idea, and cause people to make the wrong decisions. I understand that this blog is extremely biased and I give my opinion on something that maybe somebody else does not believe. Except if we all could find a compromise, there would be less selfishness in the world, and the selfish gene would stop replicating. 

Can We Change?

What I got from this chapter was that Dawkins tries to explain that there are two ways that animals gain a selfish benefit from warning others. The first one is the ‘cave’ theory and the other one is the ‘never break ranks’ theory.

Dawkins uses birds as an example for both theories. For the cave theory, he says that one bird can warn other birds that there is a hawk approaching. In order to keep them quite and make sure the hawk does not see the bird that noticed him first, through the other birds’ noises.

The second theory ‘never break ranks’ theory is about how birds “manipulate” their flock to do something together so that the one bird who notices the hawk, will not be standing out and at greater risk of being attacked by the hawk. This one is extremely selfish since other birds are at greater risk of being attacked by the hawk than the original bird that saw it first.

Then Dawkins says that over time, birds have formed a ‘singing’ voice. The noise birds make, that sounds like music, is actually a way of warning their flock about danger. He states that this gene has evolved over time and has perfected. This connects back to the two theories he explained. It is known as the ‘selfish gene’ because using this gene has made birds only looks out for themselves.

It seems as if birds are just like humans, “every man for himself”. Obviously, this does not apply to everybody, but there is a big connection between the two animals. At one point or during certain moments in our lives we think how we will be affected by something. People are selfish in different ways, but it is hard to believe that somebody says “I always think about how my actions affect others before I think about how they affect me”. 

The Truth Behind Our Knowledge and Wisdom

All of a sudden, there is a big change in what Dawkins is saying, on page 23 he states, “No matter how much knowledge and wisdom you acquire during your life, not one jot will be passed on to your children by genetic means. Each new generation starts from scratch. A body is the gene’s way of preserving the genes unaltered.” This quote is very interesting and the ideas he throws out there take a while to understand, but then you can connect or relate to his thoughts.

The first part where he says that ‘not one jot will be passed on to your children’ is true because you create your knowledge and wisdom with society and the environment. If your children grow up in a different country with a different kind of society, then their thoughts and views on life can be completely different from yours. For example, children who are adopted. They have never met their biological parents, yet they have the same knowledge and wisdom. That seems a bit odd because during their childhood and further on in their life, they will be influenced by their surroundings and not by their genes that run around in their body. Each new generation does ‘start from scratch’. They are free to absorb any new information, hence each generation being different from their parents.

I really like how he says that our body ‘preserves’ the genes that have not changed. It makes you feel powerful and important because you are keeping something that no one else has, alive. Genes are using our body to stay alive and keep the unaltered genes safe, and we should take care of our body so that they will not become extinct. That is why we are their ‘survival machines’ because what ever happens to us happens to them.

When I read the quote, I looked at it for a minute and let the information sink in. It takes a while to understand or connect to, or perhaps you will never feel any of that, but to me the quote said something interesting and true. We do ‘preserve’ the genes in our body and wisdom and knowledge cannot pass on to other generations through genes. 

Replicators: the beginning of mankind

This chapter is all about replicators and how they constantly replicate from one another and how they have become a part of our lives. They seem to have a big impact on us and we have a big impact on them because we are their survival machines. We keep their legacy alive.

Dawkins has his own opinions and is not afraid to express them. Regardless of critics who will disagree with him, like me, he did publish this book. His point of view about genes is that, “They are in you and in me; they created us, body and mind…” (20). Honestly, I disagree with what he says because our genes do not define who we are or will become as an adult, unless they can predict the future. Our genes are part of who we are and our personality is the rest. It is true that our genes create part of our personality, but we try our hardest to change it. For example: a person who cannot control their anger can probably get that from their parents, but then they try to get counseling to control it. We try to modify ourselves so that we feel a sense of control. Everybody tries to have power over his or her body and mind, which I think is a gene that everybody has.

On page 15, it says, “At some point a particularly remarkable molecule was formed by accident,” and I feel that sometimes the most creative things in life happen accidentally. This molecule, artwork, which we never plan, or failures are examples of things we do not purposely do or create, but seem to happen. Though failing is pushing it, sometimes something good comes of it.

This chapter was interesting and the viewpoints Dawkins states are agreeable yet disagreeable. He uses many good examples to clarify what he is talking about and explains what he says.