Best of Week: Ideas

During the school week we were assigned to read the article "The Elusive Big Idea" by Neal Gabler. Because of all the great articles that we have already read this quarter I wasn't not looking forward to it. Once again an article from this class has actually made me enjoy reading.

While I was reading throughout this article I found myself agreeing with Gabler in very many instances of the text. When he says, "If our ideas seem smaller nowadays, it's not because we are dumber than our forebears but because we just don't care as much about ideas as they did" (Gabler 2) I agreed with what was said. There was just one thing that did give me a sense of disagreement, it's that he said that we are not dumber than our forebears. This I disagree with because I have seen the world now, especially the United States, showing how dumb or stupid the general public is of this year and generation. There have been tons of studies showing that the public is quite dumb and ignorant.

I did agree with pretty much everything else he said. He talks about society being more interested in "who Jennifer Aniston is dating right now" than interested in finding or creating the next big "thing" or idea. This is true for tons of people I know personally in my life, especially the females.

He also points out that some of the greatest ideas have already been thought of by the great thinkers of the past; Marx, Freud, Einstein, etc. There is not much more to think ideas about since a lot of the ideas have already been introduced to the world.

Gabler did a great job of portraying his ideas about making and using ideas into this great article. I enjoyed reading this and look forward to the next piece of reading we do.

Connection: RCA and Google

The article "The Televisionary" by Malcolm Gladwell describes the life of a man, Philo T. Farnsworth, who had the idea of creating the television. Farnsworth had created his idea, but while making his idea come to life, RCA, took his idea and created it before him. RCA had planned to buy his idea and then give him royalties for all televisions sold, but Farnsworth rejected their offers. 

RCA is a company alot like Google today. They buy over different sites, ideas, etc. and then market them as their own. RCA did the same thing with Farnsworth, although he didn't give it up. RCA was one of the biggest electronics company back then, in the early 1900s. Just like how Google is one of the biggest online companies right now. They both have a lot in common. 

One thing they have in common is the amount of wealth they both have. They use that wealth to buy over other companies, or buy new ideas or patents that could make them a lot more wealthy in the future. Having this wealth makes them more powerful which makes them one of the hardest companies to compete against. Which brings me to the next similarity... Power. Their power makes them the best of the best and the strongest and it makes their company prosper for lots of years and years. Their power also drives in the best workers and employees. This increases their customer "likeability" which is a huge factor when it comes to selling or gaining support from the public.

RCA and Google really stand out to my own life, because in the future I am planning on working for a big company, or creating one of my own. Working for a strong and powerful company just brings you better and better opportunities to succeed in life. This gives you more money and higher position in the company which brings more wealth into your hands. When owning a massive company like RCA or Google, the money you get is countless. You won't have to work for another minute in your life!

What if?: Using My Creativity

Ever since the first day of Humanities, Mr. Allen has been stressing the use of creativity, and this class strives on using creativity in all assignments and homework. I've usually just thought that school was all about memorization and studying and studying and studying. This class has opened up my mind about creativity.

I really enjoy this class now that it has opened a new type of thinking and idea making process for me. The first assignment we did, which was the letter, I had never done a paper like that with that type of prompt. I enjoy writing about what interests me and I love being creative about the things I enjoy too.

Reading in past English classes have been brutal for me. I disliked every single book that we read. None of the books really appealed to me and I never said "I can't wait to see what's next!" when reading those books. Already in this class we have read 2 poems and an article and they have already drawn me in. Those pieces of work beat all the past novels I have read by a long shot. If the articles and poems are so good already in this class, I can't wait to see what we have next to read!

I also am excited about the mindbooks. These books just show how creative a person is and how thoughtful someone is. I don't know if my creativity is as high as others when it comes to drawing or coloring or making collages; I have always been better in math and sciences like physics when it comes to school, not English. I hope these mindbook assignments really help my mind grow creatively for me to become a more knowledgeable person, both intellectually and creatively.

So far this class has beaten any English class I have taken my whole life in school, and it's only 3 weeks into school! I really am looking forward to next things we do during class. Me being a teenager, I'm not looking forward to any assignments or essays but these are far less brutal than different classes. This class sure makes me at least entertained while working at home or at school doing a project. I can't wait to see what is in store for the upcoming quarters and semesters, this surely will be one great journey.