Through watching the film Zootopia, I kept thinking about how realistic what the main character Bunny Hops must go through in order to be a police officer because, in many job positions, it can be extremely challenging for women to make their impact in traditionally male-dominated fields, and making their mark can require more effort. However, even though coming to their realization is stressful, knowing that there are many people that are willing to support and encourage me is motivating me that I can make a difference even in STEM roles where there isn’t as much female representation. The discussion of preventing stereotypes with bunnies in the film is very relevant with HR rules of what can can’t be said about women in professional working environments. However, that being said, given that in the end Bunny Hops proves herself as just as capable- this resonated with me because it shows that in some regards while minorities may have to work even harder at disbanding stereotypes, once they do, they will be respected and treated equally hereafter. In a biological reference, women and other minority groups need that “activation energy” to get across the roadblocks at first doubting their capabilities in order to create an environment that fosters support and success for them during their professional careers. On a societal lens, I think that there needs to more even more education and support for women in these fields, so they don’t have to be overburdened by the amount of “Activation Energy” they would need to get across the hurdles of stereotypes that have been ingrained our society for too long. On a brighter note, many companies have been achieving this with regard to diversity initiatives and programs, however, there is still a long way to ago until true equality is completely fostered in working environments.
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Anticipation for Election Results
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Election Watch Party. This was interesting as I had never watched the election with friends and thus I felt that it made the experience more exciting. In that regard, because we all had so much hope for their becoming democratic house and senate, through every poll on whether a state was blue or red, my friends and I were in deep anticipation since we had voted and had hoped that our votes would end up contributing to a positive outcome. Throughout this experience, everybody felt a lot of hope for each state, hoping that there would be blue outcomes. This experience was the difference from when I was watching the 2016 election since I was watching that by myself and fell asleep before finding out those final results. However, with this midterm election, being surrounded by friends was a positive influence that encouraged me to take active participation in understanding more about the candidate’s policies, ets. This election was interesting to me also since there were so many diverse candidates, and so I became more interested in understanding about diverse candidates rather than just focus on two candidates which happens during the presidential elections. In doing so, I also got to learn more about the functions of the Senate and House, and the difference in power abilities that the Demoncrats would have in the House versus the Senate. This is because usually in the past mid-term elections don’t gain the popularity that the presidential elections do, however, this is a time it was especially so interesting since this election was such a turning point. I think the idea with these elections is that since they weren’t that striking to me in the past, I never paid attention. However, from now forth, I feel that I’ve become more interested in taking a more active involvement in understanding mid-way and primary elections as I’m able to more clearly understand their importance and relevance.
Reality of WALL E- is a reality soon to come
Throughout watching Wall E, I kept thinking about how the reality of Earth getting trashed so much to the extent that we can’t live in it is very real. Nowadays politicians are doubting the real impact of Global Warming which is alarming since every little impact that one person can make would make a large impact in the end. Awareness is key for prevention, and as a strong advocate for the environment myself, I am always looking for more way to educate people on what they can do be it recycling more, turning off the tap water when unnecessary, etc.
The film was futuristic in an unnerving way by also depicting how in the future that technology becomes so inseparable to our lives that we forget our surroundings. In this manner, the movie really served as a warning to people how whilst technology is very important, we need to find ways to still enjoy the world that we live in. Because people were so invested in their own technologies, the people failed to see the dire issue at hand and were really oblivious to the gravity of the issues at hand. This message sends across the importance of knowing when to turn away from technological platforms such as social media, etc and look at the problems around us that need to be solved. In order to figure out how to get people to care more about the environment, I think it is imperative that people first realize that problems in the future are not just “future problems” that don’t need to figure out in the present. It is important that as a society we stress that while focusing on the present is important, is is imperative that we show selflessness in creating an environment for the future generations that are healthy to live in. With these types of issues, the question of who should burden the problem always comes, and I believe that it is a responsibility to social media companies as much as are people. The fact is that social media companies are built upon increasing its addictive behavior and until that stops, the disease that social media can be sometimes will not cease to exist.
Sending Youngsters to the Polls
Last week, I attended the cafe by Professor Altschuler. I was intrigued by the depth and level of insight that Professor Altschuler put in towards evaluating why people vote and the reason why creating polls nowadays is so challenging to rely on in order to predict voting. In that sense, I was able to evaluate how despite the advances in technology, this has not come to polls. For example, it was mentioned how polls are not able to track location on people’s phones which is why it is not a good indicator of poll results. I feel, that there should be a technological device, where based on the decision making, and actions of people, these are used as metrics to evaluate voting patterns. In thinking about why certain other technologies are not used, it is probably because of fear of the element of bias, which is a valid argument. However, I do believe that more research must go into how proper tests can be created to evaluate polling decisions.
As Professor Altschuler was discussing this idea, I kept thinking about how even though college students have the most to lose with the election given that we are the up and coming generation, that we are less likely to vote. For college students and millennials, it can sometimes be that given that we care so much of advancing our own futures and doing well, that we forget about these external influences(elections) that will long-term affect how well we do. In that regard, in order for college students to more affirmatively get involved in the voting process, I believe that this requires an evaluation of short-term versus long-term gains.
Re-thinking about generalizations
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Sleep-out event where I got to listen to the stories of people who used to be in the homeless shelter in Ithaca. This experience was eye-opening to me since it allowed me to understand the perspectives of the homeless instead of assuming that their personal circumstances would not be relevant to me. One particular man, sung songs about how the hardships of poverty have given him experiences that have made him stronger and resilient to believe that he can change the world. Through this experience, I also understood that society’s misconceptions about the homeless such as assuming that many people do drugs, or that many people are homeless because their actions have led to them to that are unfair. I really evaluated how the homeless aren’t being heard and biases and pre-conceived notions can really prevent people from respecting the homeless. I have recently been reflecting a lot on how conforming to society’s expectations is exhausting and this experience proved that as well. Just because people don’t meet a certain standard of class based on their job, lifestyle etc does not mean that they do not have anything to offer. It made me affirmatively realize that my talents have been fostered due to my luck of upbringing and how many more lost talents could be fostered if all people had similar opportunities.
Overall, I thought that it was important to simulate the conditions that the homeless live because it gives a sharp taste of the reality of what other people are going through and really makes all the small challenges that overwhelm me at Cornell seem minimal. I think at times, it is better to experience the challenges of others in order to really understand what they are going through. I hope to experience something similar in the future as well in order to greater understand people in different scenarios and phases of life.
Trying Something New- Apple Festival
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend Apple Festival which was great for many reasons. The primary reason being that I had the opportunity to catch a break before my exams. Even though I’m a junior, I still never went to Apple Harvest festival before and almost wasn’t about to go this time either. This made me reflect on how there will always be something else that will come in my way, which made me realize that if I truly want to experience what Ithaca has to offer, I would need to make that a priority for me.
At Apple Festival, I was impressed by the size and the extent to which any sort of apple related or themed product, game or activity was available. Given that many families were at this festival, it was clearly an event where not only college students but also families can relax, have fun and spend time with their families. I also appreciated this event because I had never before understood the varieties in apple based products that could be made, and thus this event got me to thinking about how I could potentially replicate some of these recipes using simple ingredients at my house.
I began to realize that this event was the large promotional factor for farms and that while this event was fun for visitors, it could be stressful on vendors who are competing with other vendors to make the highest sales. In that regard, I noticed how even when two vendors were selling the exact same products, ie. apple pies, they each were different in some way. One was a different in the types of apple pies available, and the other was the different in another category, such as customer service and amiability.
Either way, I was in awe of the hard work and effort people put into this effort, as well as the fresh and organic foods that were available. That encouraged me to talk to the vendors about how the foods were processed and produced and understand more about the supply chain. In doing so, I could see the passion of the vendors to describe their process and felt very satisfied purchasing my pies and fruits knowing the sustainable process that was used in creating them.
Regulating Human Robot Interaction
Last week, I had the opportunity to watch Ex Machina which I thought was great for many reasons. Being an Information Science student currently taking a class called Human-Computer Interaction, I resonated with the movie in the sense that understanding the challenges of Human-Computer Interaction can be difficult. This is because given the growing popularity of incorporating technology into our lives gives way to the amount of risk there is. Whether the risk balanced the reward is up to subjective opinion, however, through this film, an idea that I had all along is the importance of regulation. Regulation of technologies and robot trying to mimic humans are incredibly important so that we can live together peacefully in a world where robots can be treated as first-hand citizens if we are going to use them as such rather than disposable elements. With regards to setting regulations, comes in a lot of ethical issues such as the degree to which humans must receive the same rights as humans, etc. I believe that there should be a committee set up in Congress to address this issue since as evidenced by the movie introducing technology without setting boundaries of its capabilities or truly even understanding its capabilities could result in many unintended consequences that make us question the value of advancing technology to replicate human actions.