NO HW tonight, as we covered all the reading in class :)
REMINDER: Romeo/Juliet film viewing is postponed to 2nd semester...more information to come after winter break
Today we:
--Read and annotated in class to page 45
--Discussed how Brave New World Society defines happiness...in short, discovered that they understand happiness to be "instant gratification"
--Watched Daniel Gilbert's Ted Talk and took notes on his conflicting notion of happiness.
www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html
--In short, Gilbert defines two types of happiness--the first, 'natural happines' is the same as the instant gratification that BNW society values.
--The 2nd type of happiness Gilbert lays out is "synthetic" happiness; which occurs when people don't get what they want, but manage to feel better about the outcome in any case.
-Most shocking example--a man who was unjustly jailed for 38 years called it "a glorious experience...I don't regret a moment of it".
--Dialectical journals and discussions on Gilbert's quote that "Emotion is a compass...and if a compass is set on north, it is worthless."
--What about you? Would you exchange your freedom, as the citizens in Brave New World, for instant gratification?
Or do you agree with Gilbert that life is meaningful only when we go through the ups and downs of life?
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