Megan Novelli's Archive

1. Media

2. Tobacco

3. Alcohol

4. Recreational Drug

5. Food Addiction

6. Gambling

7. Prescription Drugs

8. Sex Addiction

9. Shopping

10. Work Addiction

These are the top ten addictions in todays society.

I believe that people use these things as excuses to escape from having to deal with emotional, financial, household, and other problems in their lives. All of these are readily available, and mostly legal substances for adults or anyone to use. But its shown that prolonged or excessive use can lead to a problem with addiction. Some do however have addicting substances contained within them, such as the nicotine in cigarettes. Some are even considered good for you such as work but it is yet again an escape if it becomes too great of importance in your life. Just about anything can become an addiction in your life. There are many contributing reasons out there for someone to have addictions; genes, an early use of drugs, social environment, childhood trauma, etc. but I believe that it is mainly a choice when it comes to addictions. Whether they have a strong enough convictions no matter what they are to lead them away from what pulls them toward addiction. I myself have experienced that pull and was able to stave it off.  I did it for myself and my family, it is a hard thing to do but it isn’t even close to being impossible. I believe that anyone who isn’t able to cast off the chains of addiction just needs to find their cause, it’s just a matter of being strong enough to do it and everyone has that strength within they just have to access it.

http://upcoming.current.com/search?q=10+Most+Common+Addictions+in+America

Our text defines artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as a “special branch of computer science that investigates the extent to which the mental powers of human beings can be captured by means of machines.”  The first thing that came to mind was immediately the movie Disney movie from the 90’s,  Smart House. The plot of the movie involves a family, “The Coopers win a “House of the Future” complete with a virtual housemaid codenamed “PAT” (Acronym: Personal Applied Technology). The PAT AI is great for house maintenance, throwing massive parties and making sure the family runs smoothly and flawlessly. But when Nick starts going out with Sarah, the person who created the smart house, Ben reprograms the PAT’s AI Behavior to act more motherly (and makes her watch 1950’s sitcoms), so no one will think that they need a mother. PAT gets far too overprotective, chaotic, and mad, and it’s up to Sarah and Ben to work together and defeat a very smart house (controlled by the now-motherly cybermaid) which tries to take over and control what they see and do.”

Disney\’s Smart House (part 1)

Smart House gone wrong

The reality behind this is that there are houses out there available to live in.  They can make life easier but along with technology also come problems.  I believe most everyone has experience a complication with technology one was or another.  From losing a paper due to a computer crash or simply not having cell phone service in an area.  Computers can only be as smart as those who design them. So where is this to lead us?

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

Glass Door:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHergy3iILs

How does one know when to laugh at something and when not to?  Is it okay to laugh with someone if they are laughing at themselves?  What if someone trips, do we laugh at that? What if that same person tripped and hurt themselves, is it still okay to laugh?  We sometimes unconsciously evaluate situations and weigh certain factors such as social responsibility and social consequences when wondering if it is “okay” to laugh.  How do we know when to laugh or when not to? Dr. Robert Provine states “Laughter is part of the universal human vocabulary. All members of the human species understand it. Unlike English or French or Swahili, we don’t have to learn to speak it. We’re born with the capacity to laugh.”  Laughter provides a distinction between danger and an okay situation.  “One of the remarkable things about laughter is that it occurs unconsciously. You don’t decide to do it. While we can consciously inhibit it, we don’t consciously produce laughter. That’s why it’s very hard to laugh on command or to fake laughter… An evolutionary perspective of laughter would state that “We believe laughter evolved from the panting behavior of our ancient primate ancestors. Today, if we tickle chimps or gorillas, they don’t laugh “ha ha ha” but exhibit a panting sound. That’s the sound of ape laughter. And it’s the root of human laughter.”

The definition of happiness by  

Epicurus: "Happiness is man's greatest aim in life. Tranquility and rationality are the cornerstones of happiness."

 Are we all looking to find happiness? We all like to be happy.  We like when others make us feel happy and I would like to assume that we too like to makes others happy.  Helen Keller describe happiness: "True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." Bette Davis  states: "You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation."  Musicians are by no means the "scholars" of modern time nor do the speak for everyone but I believe many if not all songs speak truth about life.  Happiness is a common reoccurring theme in all genres of music.  Sometimes the pursuit of happiness is seen as a bad thing that makes us do selfish things but others see it as the reason to do good. Some of the songs that first come to mind are:

Saves The Day- Obsolete
"Who says what happy really means?

Because in that state of mind there is no state of self"

The Weepies- Happiness