What is Power?

Power: the possession of control or command over others, or ability to do or act as defined by dictionary.com. I think power is defined by what you control. I also think that you can use power in 2 ways. The first way is by helping people or trying to benefit society. The second way is just to help yourself and not caring about the needs of other people.

There were a lot of great leaders and a lot of bad leaders. Some are not president or prime minister but as or more famously known through out the world. One of the greatest leaders in the world is Gandhi. He was not a tall man or a big man. He was a simple man who believed in peace. And he freed India from the British rule. Another famous example is The United Nations. They help maintain peace through the world. A bad example of a person who abused power is Hitler. He thought he was helping the Aryan race but really he was just killing a lot of people for his own selfish reasons.

Also people have to look at the examples in the Socratic Seminars. People have to think about breaking rules for a higher purpose like Gandhi did. And people have to find the balance between personal freedom or for the good of the society. If people achieve those 2 things they will be a good leader.

Technology Reflection

Technology is the objects that are hooked up to an electrical outlet or uses power and makes life easier. The 5 most important pieces of technology used today are the car, the computer (including the internet), the plane, the cell phone and the ipod. The 5 least important pieces of technology used today are the typewriter, I don't use the TV much, in India people don't use the vacuum as much as in the US, the CD player, and the tape player. In my opinion AES is far ahead of most other schools in terms of technology. In my old school they didn't have laptops, they just had computer labs. Here they have I think over 250 laptops and a few computer labs. But I do think AES should let us listen to our ipods, they did in my old school. Overall I think AES has more technology than most schools.

Vonnegut Technology

I think he is half right. People shouldn't be totally dependent on technology, but we should use it as a tool to help us with our following life. The Euphio Question was a perfect example of abusing technology to create happiness. We should pursue happiness, not create it. How can you feel the sense of accomplishment when you really achieve happiness if you just create it? But you can use technology to help you like the internet and computers. People use them in everyday life to help them with work or just for relaxation. I don't think its right to shield people from their true potential or "dumb them down" to the IQ of other people like in Harrison Bergeron.

World War 3

I think World War 3 will not happen because there is no other country that needs to fight a war. Even the USA can back out of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars because there is no need to be fighting in those wars. The world now, in my opinion, does not need to be "upgraded" to the point of war and no country has the need to start the war. The wars that we fight now are unnecessary, they are to get more oil, or find a person that we think did something very wrong, but there is no need to go to war. It would be pointless to go into another world war. And even if there is another world war, I don't think that a lot of countries would join. I do not know what weapons World War 3 will have, but if there is a World War 3, World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones or bows and arrows.

World War 2 Recipe

Start with a failed Treaty of Versailles
Add in a failed League of Nations
Add in the rise of Fascism
Add in 3 of the worst leaders of all time: Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin
Add a pinch of appeasement by Britain and France to Germany
Let Hitler invade Rhineland
Let him annex Austria
Give him part of Czechoslovakia
Than let him take over the rest of Czechoslovakia
Let Japan attack Pearl Harbor
And let them invade China

And there you have it... World War 2

About tyranny, injustice, and self-determination

Tyranny means to have absolute power executed unjustly. Tyranny relates to the book because farmer Jones takes all the milk from the cows without letting them drink any of it, all the eggs from the chickens without one of the eggs becoming a chick, and all the energy from the horses to plow the fields instead of plowing it himself. Injustice means violation of the rights of others. It relates to the book the same way of how tyranny does, farmer Jones is treating the animals very badly. Self-determination means without outside influence. This word relates to the book because even though Old Major died, the words he said before he died started the revaluation between farmer Jones and the animals.

Military

In America, it is not required to join the military. But you could get drafted from age 18 to 25 depending on how big the war is. I think it is right that America doesn't require everybody to go to the military. Personally I am against going to war or fighting in any way. I would rather go to college than join the military.