Extra credit essay!

Katie Steiner

Extra Credit Assignment

5/9/10

I chose to watch the video about being born rich.  Everyone and I myself else probably think being rich is a luxury to have in today’s world and it can cause people to have a lot of envy towards others.  While watching this video I saw a lot of people talk about how they inherited money without doing anything to earn it.  And each individual had different feelings about having so much money at such a young age.     One family insisted that their child still goes to school and continues all though out all of college.  Another family told their child that they will be “set up” when they are older but must do something until then such as working to get better at a sport or being involved with a club or the community.  I think these to options can change your outlook and identity on life.  If you grow up knowing you are going to be very wealthy as an adult no matter what I feel that would decrease a child’s motivation to do well in school.  Also mentioned in the video was that as a kid some and most people will treat you differently knowing you are rich.  Other classmates may act very nice to you with the hopes of getting free things out of you or outrageous gifts for a birthday and then never talk to you again a year later.  I feel like that can make a child’s identity strong or weak.  Some kids may fall for the fakeness of others and some may know that they aren’t your friends just because they are being nice to you.

One man who has family in Europe was talking about how in America the first thing someone says when they approach you is hello how are you? What do you do for a living?  Then he stated that in Europe that would never happen and that people tend to figure out on their own what class another person is in by the way someone’s speaks or what type of topic they talk about in a conversation.  I can see this being very true because in America we like to get down to the topic right away when in other country’s they like to hold a lot of conversation and seem to make time for long conversations which then allows them to figure out someone else on their own.

Lastly another topic that came up was that the typical American will go all though life starting as a child wishing and hoping for nice cars and huge houses.  If you are born rich one of the teens in the video said he doesn’t have those wishes because he already has it.  He doesn’t think he needs a nice car or a crazy house to come home to.  He also says he gets questioned a lot at college as to why he lives in a dorm when he can go home to a mansion.  In reply he said he feels most “at home” in his dorm room.  When he goes home for breaks just like any other teen wants to return back to school.  I think having that type of mentality when you are rich is better for a teen.  Many as an adult may not like someone who brags and shows off their money.  But if you know you are rich and act like you are not and still hangout with typical American teens then you will feel like you still fit in.

I feel like I learned interesting facts from this movie about how super rich teens live.  Everyone has a few rich friends and I still see them being treated the same as any other friend.  But when someone knows your last name country wide such as Trumph, you may be treated differently.  The teens intertied in this movie all had different ideas and ways to fit in and act like a normal American.

Homework #10

A social interaction that I witness and am apart of myself that exemplifies American culture would be greed.  Americans never want to call themselves greedy but we definitely act it.  In other cultures I feel that money is not their top priority.  If you were to listen to two American adults having a conversation they will most likely start off with where do you work? Other cultures will hold conversations about religion or family and never get to the topic of work and money.  Also I believe that Americans are very uptight about sharing money and it seems to have gotten more severe over the decades.  Other cultures are all about helping each other out and happiness, which causes them to believe that sharing anything, is the right thing to do, such as money.

I am involved in many groups such as family, friends and a sports team. Staying on the topic of greed I think that even in groups it does not change.  If a family member were significantly struggling with a financial issue I don’t think other family members would go out of their way to help.  With my beliefs I think that Americans value money too much to want to give what they had made away.  I constantly see friends asking other friends to borrow money and assure that they will pay the friend back, but sometimes we still do not like paying for others even if we are told we will be paid back.  A lot of this makes Americans unique because of how much importance we hold to money unlike others.  Because we value money so much we are willing to put a lot of effort in to receive it, such as working long weekly shifts.

Over the course of the week I have taken notice to the way Americans tend to talk to each other.  I feel that this is a huge part of American culture.  When I approach my friends I may say hey what’s up and they would answer me as if nothing was wrong.  In other cultures people are interested in each other and may approach someone by saying hello, how are you, how is your day going before conversing.  Before going into another culture I believe it is smart to look into their customs a little so that you don’t offend anyone by approaching them the wrong way.  A simple handshake that you have between a friend can be very disrespectful to someone of a different culture.

Homework 8

1.  I feel that tv and movies these days are a lot more explicit than they used to be.  Someone who watches such a tv show or movie may expect Americans to be very comfortable with sharing things that you usually wouldn’t share or put on tv.  Entertainment in America and how we live have very different aspects.  Also the violence that is shown on tv in America isn’t what you would experience living here.  I think movies portray this difference because of how tv has developed.  The things we expect for our entertainment is not how reality is.

2. Americans view time to be a very valuable but limited resource.  We feel that time is what causes us to get things accomplished.  Time is very important to follow in America because it shows respect to be on time.  Also doing one thing at a time is what we are used to following.  Muli tasking can be beneficial but finishing one agenda before starting a new one is how americans also view time.  I think Americans view time in this manner because it is the key to getting things done.  It sets a time line for our day and helps is stay in line.

3.  Interruptions are defined as being late in this pamphlet.  If someone tells you that the meeting starts at 8am, it is an interruption if you come into the meeting 30 minutes late. I feel that interruptions differ from group to group.  If you are having a family get together and someone says they will be late, it is not a big deal.  But if you are committed to a sports team and the game starts at 5, you need to be there at 5 to play.

4.  ”Giving gifts does not happen as commonly is in some other places and tends to be limited to family and close friends.”

I thought the idea of gift giving is interesting.  I never really thought about how in other countries a gift is usually always present when you get together, even if it is very informal.  Here in America we are only used to receiving and giving gifts on special occasions such a a holiday or a birthday.

Homework week 3, Moral Machines

1. I don’t think such a  catastrophic incident would happen as severe as explained in the text.  I feel that we should not have robots running something that could potentially cause such a thing.  I think the public would respond in a scared and also mean way.  I don’t think we would like the fact that we let machines run things that could cause a  catastrophic incident.

2. I think that artificial intelligence will one day become more popular.  If scientists are studying it then they obviously want to do something with it.  I think having these robots around can affect our identities in many ways, one being that if we had machines running our banks, gas issues, and other government things i feel that other people would start to judge us.  If something would to go wrong in the machine it is still brought back to the humans for letting that happen.

3. Positives for having robots: I don’t believe there are any major positives

Negatives for having robots: I feel this would take away peoples jobs and potentially cause problems such as the one presented in the text

4.All computers fail and crash everyday, technology is not mastered yet. So yes i have had all my information on my computer erased unexpectedly, i lost contacts in my phone and so forth.  Leaving a machine to handle banking may be a little more problematic in the future if it would happen to fail.

Homework week 2, morality

Katie Steiner

1.  After reading the first sentence I thought mother Teresa would be the most moral person out of the three listed.  After reading facts about each I still think that mother Teresa is the most moral.  I don’t think having money and doing something with it makes you moral.  To me mother Teresa was a poor woman growing up who had a desire to help people.  She did it all on her own without the use of money.  Bill Gates on the other hand wanted to make money, and then as a result of making so much money is seems morally correct to give some away to charities and to help others. And to be honest I never heard of Norman Borlaug and have no background on him so he was not my pick.

 

2.  My boyfriend’s mother is one of the most admirable people I have ever met.  In her world there is never a bad day or thought.  She has been a chiropractor for many years now and she loves what she does just because it’s helping others.  She has many patients that come in with no insurance and helps them with no charge.  She isn’t about the money, she benefits from knowing she helped others.  Also like I said in the first sentence she is the most cheerful woman ever and if you ever seem down around her she automatically makes you see the good in whatever you are down about and your mood will change instantly.

Another admirable person in my life is my own mother.  She may not always be happy and be able to see the good in everything but she is the one who made me, me.  When it comes to morality she has taught me right from wrong.  She is the most encouraging person ever and makes me strive to do whatever I like to do. She has always said, there will be a positive outcome that you will not regret.

 

3.  I don’t think morality is universal but I do think morality is universal.  I think morality is more along the lines of watching and investigating yourself.  When a toddler hits a little girl he will not be praised.  He will be told that is wrong and go in time out, and probably not repeat the same action again.  Same as if a man were to shoot someone, he would be found, and held accountable in jail.  I think that growing up, toddlers will hear and watch things about older people doing wrong which helps the toddler understand wrong from right.

 

4.  The five themes are harm, fairness, community (or group loyalty), authority and purity.  I think American’s would rank harm and authority first.  Most obvious, harm is a lot of the crime going on in America today, which we try to stop daily.  If you would drive though a so called “bad area” its not called that because of the air quality, its called that because of that harm that has gone on in that specific area.  Also I think authority is top of the list because we are around authority every day weather its teachers, boss’s, police, court, or just your own parents.  It is something we have grown up to respect no matter what and if we don’t we may be punished.