RS4 Fear Thy Nature

Anthony Sallemi

Professor Engel

MICROECONOMICS

20 September 2012

            The podcast “Fear Thy Nature” is based on the show Sleep No More and the famous 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment. Sleep No More was created by the British theater group Punchdrunk and was made to show how human behavior is influenced by outside circumstances. In the show people come in right away, are given masks and are advised not to talk to anyone or use their cell phones during the show. It takes place in a warehouse and the audience members are supposed to be in a hotel and walk around and just go from place to place. The actors and actresses do not wear masks but they also don’t talk so everyone is on their own to do what they want in this “hotel”. The audience members are allowed to follow and the actors or actresses at any time and or walk around independently. The masks in this situation prove that people will act differently because their identity is hidden but yet not one commits any serious crimes at the same time. The second thing that is talked about in the podcast is the Stanford Prison Experiment which is when student volunteers were asked to play the role of inmates and prison guards. They were studying the psychological effects of being an inmate or a guard.  Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist who created this experiment intended for it to last two weeks but only ended up lasting six days in fake prison situated in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. It only lasted that long because the guards liked the fake power so much they were abusing it and the inmates while some of the inmates took the abuse some could not handle it.
            After listening to the podcast I think it’s interesting what the makers of Sleep No More did and what their intent was. The British theater group Punchdrunk changed up what everyone was used to when citizens usually go to shows with actors and actresses and let them interact with people, audience members, actors and actresses like never before. It shows how outside scenarios can change the way people act and especially when they are wearing masks. It hides their identity so it lets people be who they want to be because of the mask and them being what they want to be is the secondary effect of wearing the masks. Also the Stanford Prison Experiment is another interesting situation because volunteer college students were asked to be a part of this mock prison so psychiatrist could study their behavior. The way they act is obvious to me that it would happen because of past experiences people who are given fake power can take it to their head and feel as if they are really in charge. In this case information is good but costly because yeah they found out a lot of information during the experiment but at the cost of the inmates that got abused. Both experiments show how outside scenarios can change the way people act and I feel that it is needed for citizens to get out of their element every once in a while and do something they aren’t used to doing. 

RS3 Economic Meme

RS2 Maastricht, Marijuana And The European Dream

Anthony Sallemi

Professor Engel

MICROECONOMICS

9 September 2012

The podcast “Episode 395: Maastricht, Marijuana And The European Dream” is about a Dutch town named Maastricht. This is the town where the European leaders signed a treaty that would make the euro the currency of Europe. Maastricht is also a place where marijuana is sold legally at coffee shops. People from all around bordering towns would come to just get high and hang out, that was until the mayor said that Marijuana could not be sold to foreigners. The reason for this was the pot smokers would cause problems such as; littering and parking illegally. Coffee shops are starting to lose money quickly and customers, according to one of the shop owners he said that ninety three percent of sales come from foreign buyers. Citizens from Maastricht have started to buy their marijuana form drug dealers because these coffee shops are starting to tell users to sign documents to say they are members of these shops. The citizens want nothing to do with this because after they sign these documents it shows that these people are drug users when they just want it to be anonymous.

            After listening to the podcast I believe that the mayor is wrong in making a law that foreigners can’t purchase marijuana. Yes they can be a nuisance when they are high and cause problems but that shouldn’t be a reason to ban them from coming to Maastricht to get high. Citizens of this town can cause the same problems the foreigners do, littering and parking illegally can easily be enforced by law enforcement, to me there are more positives then negatives of foreign drug users and there are multiple secondary effects of this decision. These foreigners first of all would keep coffee shops in business while helping out other businesses in the area with these new customers, if there isn’t a reason for the tourist to come everyone in Maastricht loses out on business. It would keep money flowing in the town and not lose out on this great opportunity for business. The guidepost test of a theory is its ability to predict is a good example for this because the mayor thought he was doing something good for the town but at this time there have been more negatives then positives. All the town of Maastricht would have to do is strictly enforce littering punishment and parking illegally punishment to make sure people do what they are supposed to be doing. I personally believe that the mayor should not have banned marijuana for tourists.

RS1 HOW TO BE A GENIUS

Anthony Sallemi

Professor Engel

MICROECONOMICS

3 September 2012

  

            One word most people would love to be called when growing up is “genius”. Some of the most notable geniuses in history are Mozart, Newton, Einstein, and Stravinsky. Others such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Pete Sampras were considered geniuses in their respected sports. It is said that giving the title of genius is not just handed to you but it is earned from hard work. "These people don't necessarily have an especially high IQ, but they almost always have very supportive environments, and they almost always have important mentors. And the one thing they always have is this incredible investment of effort." (How To Be a Genius). I believe and agree with what Dobbs says here because it is one thing to be smart but to actually work hard and accomplish something is a completely different story. Being a genius takes hard work and complete dedication in everything you do.

            Being dedicated and putting in the hours to succeed is the main point to this article and well know artist scientist and athletes are used to portray the main point. Also that just because you might have a high IQ doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to have a great life and accomplish everything you want to you still have to put in the work. This is shown in a study of adult graduates of New York City's Hunter College Elementary School where they at least had to have a 130 IQ and the average IQ of the School was 157. “Though the Hunter graduates were successful and reasonably content with their lives, they had not reached the heights of accomplishment, either individually or as a group, that their IQ's might have suggested.” (How To Be a Genius). This goes to show that no matter how smart you are if you don’t work for what you want it isn’t just handed to you. Stephen Hawking’s says that people who brag about their IQ’s are losers. Even he knows it means nothing until you can accomplish something and then right after he said that statement he worked rigorously on the black hole theory and made a name for himself.

            The author of the article David Dobbs, talks about how all through his childhood he was praised for being so smart but as he went on in life he realized if he wanted to be successful he would have to put in the work. “By my early thirties I saw the obvious: my smarts and "talent" - above average or not - would count for little unless I outworked most of the other writers. Only when I started putting in some extra hours did I get anywhere.” (How To Be a Genius). If you want to be someone successful in life it has to be worked for.

            The author states that hard work leading to success could encourage you, or overwhelm you. Dobbs says it could motivate you to put in the extra work because in the end it will pay off. Others can say it could overwhelm them because those are the type of the people that get things in life handed to them and finding out that doesn’t work when you get older might scare them.

            I believe you assigned this article to us because you wanted to send us a message that we are not going to get an A by just coming to class. Being a genius takes hard work and dedication in everything you do. We are going to have to do the homework, do the readings, and actually work for a good grade in the class because in the end it will all pay off.