Illness and the Use of Metaphor in Shaping Our Culture

In their article, Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson explore the way in which metaphors pervade much of language. They talk about how metaphors are shaped by culture, providing different meaning depending on the context. The metaphors lose value without a consensus on their meaning created through culture.

For example, take illness metaphors. Not the metaphors used to describe illness, but rather the metaphors created through the use of ‘illness’.

Illness is often used as a metaphor for a negative entity attacking, i.e. ‘Tibet was plagued by communism’ or ‘He was the cancer of our society.” In order for these metaphors to ring true, it must be assumed that people interpret ‘cancer’ and ‘plague’ as a negative threat, to be avoided.

That is not to say that illness is something that people should desire. However, ideas like this could possibly contribute to modern day views towards people inflicted with illness, as people to avoided. The most obvious example is AIDS. Although through education, we have made a lot of progress in changing peoples negative attitudes towards it, there is still a negative stigmatism attached to AIDS patients as something to be avoided.

Samuel Butler commented on illness and the attitude of society towards the sick in his novel Erewhon. In Erewhon, the ill are treated as criminals, and the criminals are treated as if they were ill.

Our society may not be so extreme, however that does not mean that negative attitudes don’t exist. I’m reminded of a time when I used to work at Subway, and one of my co-workers wanted me to bleach her hands because she made a sandwich for someone with AIDS.

So although culture does create the meaning in metaphors, it is also worth exploring the way metaphors shape culture and normalize ideas. Sickness is tragic, but it does not mean those inflicted with it should be avoided simply because they are ill.

The Dangers of the Thinking Machine

If computers can think, then I am terrified.

Human beings thoughts, and in turn actions, are largely restrained by emotions, such as empathy. Imagine a sociopath without the limits of intelligence that human beings possess. Sure, computers lack mobility. However, they have access to infinite networks of information. A thinking machine, acting in its best interest, could potentially take over the world.

This theme has been explored numerous times in science fiction. In The Terminator, a war occurs in the future between man and machine. ‘Skynet’, an artificial intelligence created by the military, spontaneously becomes conscious of his self. Fearful of the power of this suddenly conscious machine, the military attempts to destroy it. This ultimately leads to nuclear war, as ‘Skynet’ tries to preserve his existence.

If a machine can think, then there is always the threat of it becoming self-aware. Self-awareness is the realization of ‘I’, or the subjective self. If a machine can think, and it has memory of events, then it is only inevitable that it will realize that these past events make up his subjective self.

A. M. Turing argued in his article Computing Machinery and Intelligence that digital machines have the ability to think. His argument is based on a very narrow view of thinking. Ultimately his conclusion is that if a computer can imitate thinking, then it is in fact thinking.

However, it is my faith in the computers ability to recite, rather than think, that prevents me from worrying too much about the fate of mankind at this point in history. Of course, mankind has been known to stop at nothing in the name of discovery.

The Importance of Critically Examining Communication Processes

Living in the age of shrinking distances, a good understanding of communications is essential for survival. Communications permeate almost every inch of Western life. Take advertisements for example. You can barely drive down a dirt road highway without learning that there’s a McDonald’s, next left. In the city, advertisements have become part of the everyday scenery.

Not only have they become normalized in our everyday experience, they in turn have a normalizing effect on society. They convince us what is appropriate and what to strive for, whether we are conscious of this or not. We live in a land of free choice, but very few stray from the narrow swath of what’s acceptable. Those who do are outcasted, or pushed to the margins.

Cleanliness does not mean sterile. Beauty does not mean plastic perfection. Manhood cannot be encapsulated by a fast car. However, these are all popular ideas promulgated through advertisements.

Awareness of the effect of advertisements on society is just one example of why it is important to be critical of communication processes. In searching for meaning in this life, its easy to get herded like cattle into a place of comfort. Its easy to be a consumer and buy into the happiness of material goods and social acceptance. If you start to really think about the meaning in the lifestyle of the average North American consumer, life becomes meaningless... unless you believe in organized religion.