Saturday, November 15, 2003

I do suppose I should be cheering very loudly since the insane CA5 is finally over, and it also marks the end of almost all of the extremely dislikeable Biochemistry topics we have to study. Now it's just Genetics that's left...

I'll make a few comments on daily occurences first.

I watched Matrix Revolutions today, and I must say I liked the ending though general opinion that I've heard is to the contrary. Maybe it's just that I expected worse so when it turned out in that way, I thought it was quite a neat closure to the saga. Maybe there could have been more exciting endings (Considering the genius of the Wachowski brothers, there are undoubtedly people out there who felt that they could have written a less cliched ending) rather than the predictable sacrifice of the messiah theme, but I felt that such a theme is really quite appropriate a closure for the trilogy, which is essentially the story of the messiah (Neo) against a backdrop of a post-apocalyptic Earth, in my interpretation. (Then again maybe it was all about choice and purpose, but I'm digressing) It was one of those moments when you feel goosebumps rippling all through you because you are seriously touched by something. And I was really touched by Neo's sacrifice. Amazing. But of course the final fight scene was a little too long and hyped-up with CGI for my liking, but it was quite awe-inspiring on the whole.

Then again, I was always a sucker for sentimental endings.

Interestingly, my entry for Tuesday seemed to have struck some kind of chord among others, which I find rather surprising, considering I wrote it in a hurry and so didn't really have much time to expand some of the thoughts. Quite serendipitous really. But I really like thinking about the interlinking of instinct and higher thought processes like emotion. At first I was thinking that animals differ from humans in lacking emotion, but I realised that animals have emotion too. But who can say that our willingness to sacrifice ourselves for our loved ones isn't simply instinct, just like animals have a protective instinct towards their young? In the same way, who can say that the seeming emotion that animals express is not simply an instinctive behaviour? Do you think that animals would put their young's lives above their own in the face of a predator?

I suppose the difference between humans and animals, to some extent, is that we humans have developed the intellect to put form to our emotions and analyse them, to be able to identify, differentiate between and describe our varying emotions, as well as complex concepts like truth and love. Not that animals are entirely unable to identify their discrete emotional states; we just don't really know whether they are able to or not. I have this feeling this thread is running out of my grasp, but let's just do some more exploring and throw out some points to ponder over.

So what is the purpose of emotion? Is it simply a side-effect of our enhanced intellect? From an evolutionary point of view, it certainly doesn't seem to play any significant role in ensuring our survival, and it puzzles one to wonder when, why and how the capacity for such profound feeling developed through the course of our evolutionary history. If we weren't such emotional creatures, perhaps our lives would be a lot simpler, but then how different would we be from an animal? I would say it is a blessing, more than a curse, for it has made life the multifaceted and infinitely complex concept that defines our individuality, both as a race and as discrete individuals. Does the human capacity for the objectification of complex feeling and concepts require a purpose for its existence? Or am I just too obsessed about purpose? Perhaps, as Smith said, that capacity provides purpose to our otherwise meaningless lives? Ultimately, I think, the point is that it makes us human, for all that the word entails.

I think that's about as far as I should go with all the concept-throwing. If anyone has any thoughts on the subject to throw out, please feel free to comment.

Avaris / 11/15/2003 08:54:00 PM

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