Living in a hologram?

In the Halloween episode of the Big Bang Theory, Leonard showed Penny the hologram of a pencil and told her that the string theory ‘thinks’ that we all live in a hologram, or at least, this can be possible. It reminded me a bit of what I wrote about the 5th season and what it meant to me. ‘This is not what it looks like’ (you find and can read the story when you click on the tab 'My work'). That was the main sentence of the 5th season of the show, and I still love to think about that. I mean, who says what anything looks like?

For those who have read ‘What are you really looking for?’, you might remember that the girl who just appeared, changed the way the guys saw the set, but nothing had really changed. It was some sort of hologram that I thought of, so when I saw that scene I was thinking about exactly that. When you have read a physics book, then you know that what we see isn’t actually there like that. It’s like the computer, which needs only 0 and 1, but what we see and what it is able to show us, is much more than the two numbers.

Same it is in real life. There are only atoms, no form, no colors, nothing. This is all our imagination. You say I’m kidding? No, read a physics book, it’s in there. The way atoms react with each other gives everything its forms and they way the sun reflects on them causes the colors we see. That was a very easy explanation, the truth is a bit more complicated. But when I first read about that, I was really impressed.
I mean that our eyes see things, and our brain turns it upside down to create a senseful picture, that’s what probably all of us know from Biology. But our eyes see no pictures, it’s like the 0 and 1 in the computer. Our brain creates the picture out of the data given by the eyes. So what something looks like is depending on what our brain let us see. With that knowledge I had the idea that when someone would figure out the ‘atom-code’, so the actual atom composition of each body, they could figure out which atoms are needed to change the way the brain creates its picture and you see something totally different instead of what is really there.

Maybe we do live in a hologram, maybe what we see isn’t the reality. It’s just our imagination, but not like in a dream life that we can simply change the way we see it. So often we only see what we wanna see, that’s no question. But maybe the one who once 'programmed' us, wanted us to see it like we see it. I mean if we would live in a world in which we were only able to see atoms, wouldn't this be very weird? Maybe there’s so much unexplored, so much that we yet not know, that we’re not aware of.

Do you wanna be my friend?

When I was a kid, I collected horse pictures, or magazine scans of my fave celebrities. But these days the kids are more interested in collecting friends. The more friends they have, the better they feel. But it’s not important to know them in person, just to impress others - I guess.

I never understood why it’s important to have about 500+ friends on Facebook. But I guess the kids feel more popular having so many ‘friends’. But they aren’t really their friends, they are mostly only a number. One of my friends told me about a guy who had that many ‘friends’ on Facebook, but when he needed help because he moved into his first own apartment, there were only two people there who helped him. So my question: why do you need so many so called 'friends'?

Is a real and true friendship still possible, when everyone is online all the time? Is this a species which still exists, or will it die out? I love my friends, the people I know in real life. I have also firstly met people online and then in real life, that’s a good thing, too. I believe that it still can exist, and that it is way better and much more important than a guy you justed added that you have one more ‘friend’ on your list. And when you don’t like him or her anymore, you just delete that person. Which is not very friendly, and in my mind this proves that it’s only named ‘friends’ but has nothing to do what we really know as a friend.

Please don't get me wrong: I love to get in touch with people online, that's why I'm on blogger and twitter and now also on Movellas, but I like to write with these people, to communicate with them. For me it's a difference if I chat with people, spending time with them and get to know them better, or if they are just a number on a list. So of course you can have 500+ friends, and it's for sure a good thing, but not when you only try to have a large amount of 'friends' and don't care about or are interested in them. Because in my mind, people deserve to be more than just a number on a list.

be close to your real friends, because they make you smile

What is friendship for you? Do you enjoy spending time with your friends? Or do you think it’s easier having only friends online and never really meet them?

Is life a child's play? A girl's talk

Two 15 year old girls sitting at one table. Binah is from Africa and Lucy from America. They meet each other the very first time and have a conversation.

Binah: You have such a good life. You can go to school and learn. And after school you can work, you can earn your own money.
Lucy: Yes, but we have to get up early in the morning. And believe me, school isn’t a walk in the park. You have to learn a lot, people expect too much knowledge these days.
Binah: But it’s great to know so many things.
Lucy: When you need it in your life, sure it’s a good thing. But most things we learn at school is not useful. I mean why do I have to know what happened hundreds of years ago?
Binah: You know something about your ancestors, what they did is part of why your country is what it is, acts like it does in some situations, and have its laws to protect its people. I’d be happy if I would have the chance to know something about my past, that of my family or country. Why haven’t we developed like you Americans? Why are we still so poor?
Lucy: We aren’t rich either. I mean, when I switch on the TV I see these glamorous high school girls, wearing Gucci or Prada or whatever. I can’t afford these things. And I guess I won’t get a car for my 16th birthday.
Binah: Why do you need a car, or these Gucci or Prada, whatever this is? You have food. You can go and buy something to eat and drink, as much and whenever you like. And you have a safe home, you have your own bed.
Lucy: Yes, but that’s normal. Rich are people who live in villas, having a pool, a big park, lots of cars. What you see when you watch TV. Everyone wants to go to Hollywood and have that beautiful life.
Binah: I’ve never heard of Hollywood. And I don’t even have a TV.
Lucy: So you sit on your computer? Or chat with your friends using your smartphone?
Binah: My what? I have none of these things. I wish I’d have a computer to chat with people all over the world, but I can’t.
Lucy: Seriously? But what do you do the whole day?
Binah: I take care of my younger brothers and sisters, I help my mom to clean the house, to cook. I help farming fruits and vegetables. I am working the whole day. I can only eat what we harvest. We try to sell some of them, but it’s not very much.

I’ll stop here and let you think about how the conversation could go on. What do you think, when is a person rich? What makes a person rich? I think we mostly don’t recognize what we have because we think it’s normal. I don’t think that we have to go to Africa to meet someone who have less than we have. When I first watched the sitcom ‘2 Broke Girls’ it lets me realize how fast we can be broke. In one city, like New York, do not only live people like Carrie Bradshaw. There are also people like Max Black. When she was the first time in Caroline’s former room, even the bath tub was something special, not to mention the turning shoe cabinet. But for Caroline it wasn’t special at all, as she grew up with things like that.

So when is a person actually rich? Does it only depend on money, or can a person with lots of good friends also be rich? I guess sometimes we should more appreciate the things we have instead of complaining about others who have more. No matter if they have more money or more friends. Things could be worse.

The way I am

You probably have met people in your life and recognized that they weren’t just that nice and friendly as they seemed to be in the beginning. When someone talks bad behind your back about you, it’s not quite easy to deal with such a thing. So what are you doing? Just going to that person and say he or she should stop saying such mean things about you? Would you even dare to do that?

People judge, they complain, they try to find a way to make someone else bad. Maybe to distract attention from their own mistakes which they try to hide. I have seen it pretty often while I was working in an office. You can do so many things good and one single thing wrong and what will be seen by the boss? Right: the wrong one. So even when you do 99 % right - no one talks about that, it is assumed that you do it all correctly. But when it comes to the 1 % you did wrong, the boss will only talk about that and only see that.

when people talk bad about you, you sometimes just wanna hide

The same when you are not that good as anyone else. Maybe you were taught to act differently in a situation or you have a disability that you try to hide or you made an experience that changed your mind and attitude on something. So you might handle a situation differently than your boss expect but no one would ever care. No one is interested in why you are different, everyone sees that someone else can do it, so why not you?

Everyone is challenged in life, mostly in the working world. It is a tough place, you have to fight hard when you wanna survive. You can only do that when you know what you can do best, when you know about your strengths but as well as about your weaknesses. You have to turn your weakness into a strength, or at least convince the others that it is not a weakness. That will make you stronger.

Some guys wanna see you perfect? No, they just don’t want you to be better, so they have to make you bad. But you can strike back - be who you are, know more about you than anyone else. Someone is maybe better than you in something, but worse in something else, and that’s what you try to find. Not to blame the others for that, but prove that you are special and absolutely essential.

The big difference

No, this blog post is not about the difference between man and woman. It's about two different worlds: reality and virtuality.

Some years ago we only had a real life. We met our friends in person and we talked to each other. But things have changed. Now we have a second life, too. A virtual life. We blog, we tweet, we write emails, we have friends on facebook and so on. Some guys even have more virtual than real friends and do only communicate with the computer or the smartphone. When the youth nowadays would be asked what can be used for communication, I guess the last thing they would mention would be the mouth. Instead of talking to each other, they send texts. I've watched a TV show about a family in which the mother sent texts to their children that they should come to the dinner table. Unbelievable, isn't it?

I have also read an article lately that showed that most young people speak in the short language like they use on Twitter. They mix the reality with the virtuality, and so they use words like lol or omg in their daily language. They also don't write whole sentences anymore and that is a big problem for school teachers when their students have to write essays. The beauty of the language will get lost when more and more children use the smartphones and start texting. The earlier they start the more they lose the ability to use the language correctly.

even when they sit together they prefer to communicate with their smartphones

We change. Every decade is different. And so the use of our language and the language itself will change, too. People these days speak differently than, let's say, about 50 years ago. The virtuality is for sure a world we can't live without and the technical development changed our life completely. But it's not only a good thing. When it goes on like this and people use such devices more and more, which I think will definitely be so, then this could, sooner or later, destroy our language. Or at least the language we now know.

I am really glad that I had no cellphone when I was eight. And I don't like it when the eight-year-old foster child of my aunt wants to play with the Gameboy all the time, or the Play Station or Wii or whatever. He also wants his own mobile, but my aunt don't want him to have one and I agree with her on that. At that age no one needs a phone. It's great that you can call your kids, ask where they are when they wanted to meet a friend and aren't back at the stipulated time or when they don't know their way home anymore. Then they can call you and so you can pick them up. It all has advantages and disadvantages.

I was also shocked when I heard about a 1 year old boy who could already handle his father's iPad better than him. For the kids these devices are their life, they would be nothing without their smartphone and without their tablet. They see it as a cool toy and because everyone has such a cool device, everyone thinks it's necessary to have one. I have to admit that I only have a smartphone, which I bought this year. I also have a netbook but I use it for writing only. It's for my college, to work and write. I hate it to read books on my smartphone, I still prefer a 'real' paper book. I also still love to write letters instead of emails - so call me old-fashioned. I don't like to write that much on my smartphone, so I only write short texts or some tweets with it. I guess I could live without my smartphone. I can even leave the house and not take it with me. It wouldn't be a big problem and I wouldn't miss anything, but I'll only do that when my friend or the one I am out with has a phone or I won't be out that long or when I'm not far away from home.

How do you prefer to communicate? What do you need your smartphone for? Do you think that writing in the short language will destroy our language we have now? Not in a blink of an eye of course, or do you think that our language will change anyway? Do you use these short expressions? When is the best age for a kid to get his or her first own device? And could you live without your smartphone?

Good behavior exclusive

So often that I heard, mostly older people, say that the young guys aren’t that kind and friendly anymore. I hear many of them say that we don’t say yes and please and thank you. That we aren’t polite, don't open doors or let the older sit on our seat on the train or bus.
But do we have changed so much? Were the ones who are now complaining about us so much differently? I can’t imagine that. Things were different back then. I think their parents said to them that they should give them more respect, that they have to know how to behave. Maybe some decades ago the parents were more focused on their children’s good behavior than they are now – not all of them, of course.

source: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I know some parents who place their kids in front of the TV, giving them some sweets and then leave the room or even the house. They don’t do anything, so they think that they can’t be blamed for their kids’ bad education in behavior because they haven’t done anything (wrong). My aunt has two foster children and the parents of them acted that way. I would never allege all parents are like that. But in my mind blaming the teachers and what’s on TV for the bad education on their kids isn’t the right way.

We also have some classes in college about how to behave. Some of you might know that I study Media Management, and as a future manager I should know some rules like how to eat correctly, how to greet someone in the correct way and stuff like that. Most of the things I already know and at the beginning I thought this would be senseless. My parents taught me a lot about how to speak to people who are older than me, that I should not talk when someone else does and that I always look into the eyes of the one I am talking to. But I also learned in that class in which order to use the cutlery on a multicourse dinner, what topics you should talk about during a dinner meeting and what to do in various situations like when you need to go to the restrooms.

It helped me a lot, and I know in the future classes I will learn more because we never know everything. And of course some things can be excused, but as you wanted to be treated politely, you want to do the same to others. You can’t know everything from the beginning – you have to learn it and you need someone who explains you how it works.

Do you think that the young guys nowadays are less polite than some years or decades ago? Do you think that only teachers can be blamed for that? I think it is important how to interact correctly with other people because I am like a mirror: I reflect what others show me. I guess everyone is a bit like that. Am I right?

Obvious isn't obvious

An accident had happened right next to you. What are you supposed to do? You are in a shock. You wanna run away but for some reason you can’t. Your feet feel heavy like lead. You can’t move. Later the police will arrive and ask you what had happened. What will you tell them? Have you seen anything? No, you came too late. Do you even remember anything of the accident?

Another situation which is not that dramatic, and so more possible: The teacher stands in front of the class, gives everyone a topic to write an essay on. You all have the same thing to write about, but will you write all the same? Hopefully not. You won’t use the same words, won’t write the same sentences. So it is the same with the accident. Two people have seen the same, but haven’t.




We all focus on other things. We find other things interesting and necessary. And that’s good. I mean imagine a world in which everyone thinks and likes the same things. There wouldn’t be a wide range of things in the world. We all would be equal and wouldn’t have a chance to get in touch with new things. We can’t see it in a different view, and no one has to convince us about anything. We can’t find anything new because there is no ‘new’. We don’t even have to meet new people because they are exactly like we are. They like the same things, they have the same clothes, they like the same music and watch the same movies.

So even when you think, that something you see is obvious, that everyone sees it like that, you are wrong. Nothing in our world is obvious. Maybe for us, but not for all of us. Luckily we are all different. That obvious isn’t obvious is obvious for me, but was it also obvious for you, before you read that blog entry?

Seeking in the box

I am a person, I wanna live, give me air to breathe, I need it. Let me outta the box.

My last blog entry was about the acceptance of everyone, that everyone is unique and special in his or her own way. The audio project I was working on this week was about goths, so I gave them as an example of a group of people who are part of our life but still aren't accepted or even tolerated by so many people. I also considered to mention the gay guys, because it's the same. We do now have a change and I really like that Barack Obama is now in favor of gay marriage. I mean why shouldn't they be allowed to marry? In which century do we live, that we still have to treat them differently? Who cares which gender is preferred?

It's like box-thinking. We see someone and we want to know everything, that we can put him or her into a box, and we won't stop, until we have what we want. But do we wanna live in a box? You can't put all goths, all gay guys into one box, as well as you can't put all blonde girls into one. I guess that this is the reason why everyone now is talking about Jim Parsons and the interview he gave to Patrick Healy of The New York Times. This interview was also published on Wednesday, the same day I wrote my blog entry. I see this as kinda sign, so I come back to my last post.
If you read the whole interview of Jim, you know he said so much more things, really interesting things like about the work at theatre. But what do we read all over the internet? All articles about that interview, are about only one thing. Google it if you don't know, but I guess you do.

So why on earth is THAT the most important thing? Back to my question: in which century do we live? Seriously? Is this really worth to be a 'news', beside the fact that as the word says itself, it should be new? Why are the most people so much interested in other's private life? We don't want someone else talking and writing about our private life - okay some might want that, but in my mind these are the guys who have to talent, no passion except for themselves.

Being an actor, or a singer is as normal as any other job. I appreciate a lot what these guys do, share their talent with the world. Without music, movies, tv shows, we would have less to talk about and life would be very boring. We need them as well as we need plumber, teacher, architects. They might not be known by so many people like an actor or singer, so the chance that many persons are interestend in him or her are less, but also they will talk. Only not in that wide range. But as the internet is open to everyone, imagine your co-worker heard that you talked to a friend that you are in love and wanna make him or her a gift. The next day a foreigner comes to you, giving you an advice for the gift, and an other guy tells you he can't imagine what you like on her/him. How would you feel? What would you think about it? Later you found out, that your co-worker wrote this about you and put it on the internet.

Do you think this is far-fetched? Do you really think that only because someone works in the public, he or she has to share everything with total strangers? Certainly not. If he doesn't want to, he doesn't have to and we should respect that. Also all the actors and singers out there aren't different persons, they are no superheroes. They do their job as we do our job. Let's stop digging, let's stop seeking in the box, let's stop putting everyone into a box.

Here you can read the interview with Jim Parsons http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/theater/jim-parsons-prepares-for-his-lead-role-in-harvey.html?pagewanted=all

The same difference

This week we work on an audio project at college, which will be aired on the radio - after it's finished of course. It is the first time, that my classmates and I do this and I have to admit it makes lots of fun. Even though you listen to the radio every day, making your own radio contribution isn't that easy. Our prof wants us to show two perspectives of the goths - he wants to have something about them every semester, so this time it's the job of my group and me.

We asked people on the street what they think about goths and I was surprised to hear that almost all of them only said positive things. "Everyone should live the way they want to." We heard something like that all the time. Honestly I thought it would be differently, that they do not tolerate them or are simply confused because they think the goths don't believe in God and stuff like that.
I mean we are all different in some way and it would be boring if everyone of us would have the same opinion on everything. The goths are a group of people who stick out very much. Especially those who were really dressed all in black, having chains with skulls and so on. Some other people might be scared when they see them on the street and I think, if we would have been accompanied by a goth, they might had reacted differently. As well as when they wouldn't had to speak into a mic.

We also had an interview with a famous gothic singer, who talked about the changes of the scene in the past years. It was really interesting. I have to admit that I never thought about it this much. I mean, as a Christian, I believe that everyone has to choose what she prefers because everyone is unique. So I can't understand why people only like or not like someone because of the music she listens to, the way she is dressed, or anything like that. When someone thinks differently than I do on something, I want to know that, too, because it gives me another point of view on it. That's why I like the internet, and especially my blogger friends. To read what they have on their mind or what they think about something, helps me to see everything in another perspective.

Today we wrote down all the info we got for our contribution. We talked to our lecturer about it, and he gave us some advices to improve that. Tomorrow we will record our moderation, and we will also add the most important sentences of the guys we asked on the street about goths as well as our interview, and hopefully it will be interesting to listen to it.