Capitalism, Marketing, and the Insidious and Covert Co-optation of the

Capitalism, Marketing, and the Insidious and Covert Co-optation of the Self Subtitle: A Manifesto for Avatars 1. Introducing Avatars AVATARA-Sanskrit.; ava-'down', tarati-'he goes, passes beyond' literally, 'a descent', a conception described in the Bhagavad gita, 4th Teaching, 1-8 where Krishna confides: "when goodness grows weak, when evil increases, I make myself a body." (OED) Originally referring to the incarnation of Hindu deities, avatars in the computing realms have come to mean any of the various "strap-on" visual agents that represent the user in increasing numbers of 2 and 3D worlds. (Lonehead, ONLINE SOURCE, NO PAGE NUM) This essay studies the covert, market driven forces at work in our choices of images for the avatars inhabiting cyberspace, in order to understand the dangers of the exchange of self-images for advertisements. To forge a set of alternative resistant and forceful conditions for imaging what Sherry Turkle has termed "the second self," tactics based in imaging, language, and psychology can be opposed to the insidious and covert co-optation of the self by commodities. This essay is an attempt to examine the construction of alternative figures as models of resistance. The Manifesto for Avatars offers a formal set of oppositional strategies for constructing unconsumable self-images. The apparent freedom of identity and gender enjoyed by the participants in multi-user domains and the Internet in general (Langley, Stone) is a dangerous illusion, masking the corporate agendas dominating the nature and spirit of the construction of cyberspace and avatars. Imagine an internet chat room where we are all represented by the commodity of our choice. Much like the large, recognizable logos th... ...hler, L. Cartwright, and C. Penley. New York: New York University Press, 1998, 312-314 Stephenson, Neal. SnowCrash, New York, Bantam Books, 1992. Stone, Allucquere Rosanne."Will the Real Body Please Stand Up?: Boundary Stories About Virtual Cultures." In Cyberspace: First Steps, ed. Benedikt, 82-85. Talking Heads. "Once in a Lifetime." Perf. David Byrne, Brian Eno, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth. Remain in Light. Sire Records, 1980. Thacker, Eugene. ".../visible_human.html/digital anatomy and the hyper-texted body", CTHEORY, 2 June, 1998. Online, n pag. Oct. 1998. http://www.ctheory.com/a60.html Turkle, Sherry. The Second Self-Computers and the Human Spirit. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984. Ziff-Davis TV, Inc. "If You Build It, They Will Come." thesite: The Avatars 97 Conference. Aug. 1997 Online, n pag. ZdNet Sept. 1998 .

Compare and Contrast Parliamentary Essay

Parliamentary and Presidential democracies are forms of government that similar in some respects and differ in others. The Parliamentary system like the Presidential is divided into three separate arms of Government, the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary. Both democracies have a bicameral legislature, often referred to as the House of Representative and the Senate. The House of Representative is elected and the Senate is appointed by the Head of State on the advice of the Prime Minister in a Parliamentary type while both houses are elected by the people in the Presidential system. In the Parliamentary System, the Head of Government, referred to as the Prime Minister, is appointed by a vote of confidence from the House of Representative firstly along with the Attorney General and subsequently followed by the members of Cabinet. In a Parliamentary Democracy there is also a figurative head of state, normally the Queen or an appointed Governor General. In the Presidential System, the President who is separately elected by the people is both the Head of State and Head of Government. Presidents serve a fixed term and may not be removed except for cases where he does something illegal; while in Parliament, a Prime Minister may be removed by a vote of no confidence by his executive members or he may call an early election at any time and dissolve the house. Although the three branches exist in both types of government, it is evident that power is fused between the Executive and Legislature in the Parliamentary type. The Presidential System is otherwise well known for the separation of the Executive and the Legislative Agencies, with the President nominating and appointing his executive team of which no members of the elected legislature can be a member thereof. A Parliamentary Legislature makes and passes laws easily by virtue of always having a majority in the House. In the Presidential System, the Legislature and the Executives are able to create laws but must have a two thirds vote of the Legislature. The President also had the right to veto laws. Overall, the Caribbean should adapt to the Presidential Democratic System. Although it may seem very expensive to fund such type of government, it may cost less in the long term. The check and balance that a presidential system offers allows for less corruption and Executives to be held acc ountable of their actions. Policies and laws would be more accurate and  better evaluated having two separate Agencies in review of such nature. The Presidential system allows for more transparency which is one of the ultimate objectives of a democracy. References Read Also:   Compare and Contrast Essay Examples for College Parliamentary democracy is the type of government where the public vote government into power and parliamentarians are representative of the people. While a Presidential Democracy is when there is a system of government that has a president acting as the nation’s head of state and active chief executive authority. The similarities between the Presidential and Parliamentary model are: both are representative democracies, both have a head of state, both have a bicameral form of government and both are rule by constitution. There are also differences between the Presidential and Parliamentary model. In the Presidential Model, the president is the Executive body and is separated from the Legislature. President is voted by the people and also the Legislative Branch that is composed by theHouse of Representative and the senate. This means they have two elections. A president can only serve two four years term and is answerable to the people. In the Parliamentary Democracy there is an Executive power but is interdependent on the Legislation. The Prime Minister is appointed by the majority ruling party. Therefore there is only one election. The Prime Mister does not have a term limit as long as he has the support of it members. The Prime Minister will answer to Parliament. The Presidential Model has a head of state which is the President; for example in the United State it would be Obama. While the Parliamentary Model has a Head of State and Head of Government; for example in Belize the Head of State is the Governor General which represent the queen Sr. Colville Young and Head of government is the Prime Minister Dean Oliver Barrow. In Presidential Model dual political parties can exist in congress and on Parliamentary Model one political Party hold the majority party power. I believe that due to our history a nd the fact most countries in the Caribbean were once a colony of England the Parliamentary Model is best suited. Reference: What is a parliamentary democracy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ask.com/question/what-is-a-parliamentary-democracy What is the definition of presidential democracy?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ask.com/question/presidential-legislative-democracy? ad=SEO&an=SEO&ap=google.com.bz&o=102140 What is the difference between a parliamentary and presidential system of government?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is- the-difference-between-a-parliamentary-and-presidential-system-of- government.htm

Analysis of Descartes Argument - 788 Words

Write a three to four (3-4) paragraph essay (250 words) which analyzes the surprise ending of the reading selection.? Reading selection from Descartes Discourse on the Method (Part IV). Descartes begins with the problem of being able to prove his own existence but ends up with an argument proving the existence of God. Read more about the Discourse on the Method located at HYPERLINK http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/descdisc.pdf http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/descdisc.pdf. In his Discourse on the Method, Descartes essentially asked his famous question: how can we know that we are not deluded by a demon to think that we exist and he answered with his famous riposte Cogito ergo sum I think because I am I.e. the very fact that I am aware of my doubts informs me that I exist. He knows this from his intellect; therefore the mind is superior and more immediate to him than is the body. Descartes knowledge of his existence comes to him through a mediate perception, and he wonders what else can come to him through this immediacy. May God be deceiving him? The idea of God (as per entity) is one of perfection. The mind is fallible and corrupt. An idea of such perfection entering a corrupt mind can, therefore, be only be put there by God. So God exists. And, because God is perfect, He would not deceive anyone. Ipso facto, error only arises due to our limited intellect that is blocked by materialism from seeing true Knowledge. Descartess argument, actually, for God sShow MoreRelatedDescartes Argument And Doubt Argument Analysis1943 Words   |  8 PagesDescartes was a rationalist, he believed that knowledge is not coming from sense, but through arguments and persuasive arguments. In the â€Å"Of the Things Which We May Doubt† by Rene Descartes, Descartes argues how knowledge is gaining by rationalism rather than empiricism. 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