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Brewnerians: Read a story from Welcome to the Monkey House and respond. I'll try to start with a question, but feel free to begin if I haven't arrived there yet. Choose three (or more?) of the stories to respond to. Maybe you can write about confusions, or guesses, or comparisons, or the language, or characters, or the White Rock Girl or....whatever catches your attention.
me
About Me
- kbrewner
- Notice: the full moon (in eclipse) is over my right shoulder.
The White Rock Girl
Psyche
35 comments:
If I were Barnhouse, I'd like to say that I'd make some boundless leaps for mankind in the way of peace, freedom, the American way and all that, but I don't honestly think I would be able to. I guess I might start out with a lot of gusto and ferver for saving the world, but I'd probably fizzle out pretty quickly. I'd be scared people would find me and kill me, or I'd be afraid to make a terrible mistake that could cost people's lives.
However, I'm not Barnhouse, so if I were me, and I had Barnhouse's powers, everything would be different. I'd try to do everything he said he'd do. I'd deplete armed resources and mess with weather patterns (which could prove to be bad in the end, I suppose, but heck, I'm practically invincible, so what do I care?) and I'd keep on living a normal life, pretending to be an outsider. I can see the comic book now: "Mary Healy--Fremd Student by day, Mind-Power Freak saving the world by night."
So some strange metorite hits earth one day and BAM, Mike Scholl has the power of dynamopsychism. If I had this power I would down play it much more than Barnhouse. Sure I would have my fun such as throwing water balloons at people on the other side of the world, but by no means would I want the world to know of said gift. That, or I would band together with trusty friends, teach them the secrets of dynamopsychism and start a fellowship of freedom fighters to dismantle every war machine down to the last gun. I would save the water balloons.
If I had dynamopsychism I definately wouldn't tell anyone. I probably wouldn't use my powers the way Barnhouse used his, instead I would use my powers for my own desires. I would probably do a couple pranks here and there. Maybe have a freak accident occur to people I'm not fond of. Other than that I don't really know what I would do with my powers except maybe burn all the books I don't like (Moby Dick).
The thing about the Barnhouse Effect that gets me is that, sure he could move clouds and make drought go away, but I can't figure out what he thinks he could do to change human nature. The story proves that just becasue arms are destroyed, the want for war is not. Barnhouse thinks he can save the world, that the right environment can change everything. That he can make the world a better place. He can only do that to the objects in the world. He can't use his power to make treatys or peace or love or compassion. Some people jsut don't posses those things, some people don't want to posses those things. Barnhouse and Mr. Apprentice can try all they want, but human nature is just that, nature.
The thought of possesing such powers scares me too much. The abilities and potential are so large that I am in awe of the idea. I would not wish for such a blessing/curse to fall upon me, because I have no idea what I would do.
I'd like to first say that this story was quite amazing. I love how Vonnegut takes some effort to explain the phenomena that occur in his stories with a rational explanation; in this case the idea that dynamopsychism is a radio wave and is limited by the same factors which they are limited by. This idea makes the whole idea less like fiction and more like a project for scientists to work on. Right after they take care of cancer, of course.
If I were in Arthur Barnhouse's position, I know that I would definitely not destroy weapons. If I were to have this power and not be too lazy, I would probably make more flowers grow, breed bald eagles with my mind, and put a lot of gasoline under southern Illinois. However, I would not try to stop war by taking away weapons. Besides, everybody knows that the only way to prevent violence is to give everybody weapons. This way you can kill people before any violence happens. Either this, or give everybody anti-violence guns, which do everything except kill. This makes perfect sense since the only type of violence is murder. But I digress, I think that a smart move would be for T.J. Eckleburg to give me this power and therefore look forward to receiving the secret to dynamopsychism in the near future. I won't tell anybody, but if you receive a high five and don't see anybody, you'll know.
If I had the power of "dynamopsychism" I would not know exactly what I would want to accomplish. I do know that I would not fear people trying to kill me becuase with my powers, I could generate a shield of sorts that would alert me when potential threats are nearby.
Anyway, Barnhouse's ideas on using his powers would probably be the most efficient way to use my ability. By destroying weapons and such, he is eliminating the possibility for countries to destroy each other with atomic bombs and other weapons of mass destruction. I think that I would do the same. However, I know that I would go to Vegas whenever I had the opportunity becuase I would make loads of money playing chance games. This way I could keep my financial assests secure without working a real job.
here is my plan:
1-build an underground lair.
2-have a really awesome vehicle
3- whirled peas.
since WORLD PEACE is pretty much FAKE, i figure whirled peas=close enough.
seriously though, destroying weapons is a stupid idea. im sure that once they were gone, someone would figure out a way to make more, even if we ended up dropping large quantities of mud on people.
you can't get rid of war/violence unless you get rid of people.
First off, I would really not like to be saddled with the power of dynamopsychism because of the huge responsibility that would come with that power. Also, I don't now what the government would want me to do with the powers and thus I would probably keep the knowledge of the power close to the vest. But if I did use my powers I would probably make some environmental changes that would affect agriculture and hopefully relieve hardships on people. I would also try and do what Barnhouse did and destroy weapons as if there are no weapons then there would not be any killing or widespread war.
Barnhouse's uses his ability of dynamopsychism to affect physical objects and events with his mind to destroy large quantities of weapons. If i were Barnhouse, a brilliant professor with the such capabilities, i would have worked towards a similar goal of world peace. In addition to this, I would collect all of the flaming hot cheetos in the world for my use only. This way i would be able to aid stejskal in easing the burden of starvation on humans. This would be my calling.
Sometimes I think that world peace is just impossible. Barnhouse demonstrated his desire to create world peace. If I had dynamopsychism then I think I would try to create a better world but little acts each day. Maybe I would use my powers to simply make someone else's day better. I guess it doesn't have to be some huge. I could make someone trip over themselelves so someone else would laugh. I wouldn't want anyone to know about my power so doing little things like that would make me be able to hide it more.
And as far as I'm concerned. Flaming hot cheetos are not in the plan. Ok, maybe I'll find some and give the them to Joe.
If I had the power of dynamopsychism, I would most likely use the power in a way similar to the way Barnhouse does. His decision to use his power to destroy the weapons is one that I could ultimately use for the betterment of mankind as a whole. With the exception of that, I would not use my powers for any other large scale effect as unforeseen consequences could arise from using them in such a manner.
If I were Barnhouse, I definitely would have kept my special power to myself. After having my fair share of fun playing tricks on people, I would definitely follow Barnhouse in attempting to rid the world of weapons. Other than that, I could help the world by helping feed the hungary, preventing natural disasters, altering weather patterns for agricultural purposes, and shelter the homeless.
Dynamophsychism is undoubtably a very powerful thing, but would it's use really change anything? Every action has a reaction, but that doesn't mean that if you put something good in, you'll get something good out of it. Many horrible things have yeilded benificial results, like World War II getting the world out of an enormous depression. Likewise, what about religions that started out preaching peace now causing wars?
My point is good and bad things will happen no matter what one person does to try to prevent things. Suppose Barnhouse had moved rainclouds into a drought area. He would probably just end up disturbing the weather patterns and cause a treacherous blizzard somewhere else or something. In the story, he destroys weapons, but does not do anything to solve war.
I would limit my powers and not mess with anything too far over my head, like tring to rid the world of evil.
Ideally most people would want to be selfish with this so called power "dynamopsychism." But as for myself I am not really sure what I would do. Of course I could change the world in an instant just by concentrating hard enough, but as the story said that might ruin the "balance" that this world upholds. Truthfully, even though I would say to others that I would only use this power for the good of others, I think that somewhere in all of us there are roots of greed and selfishness. Maybe here and there do a few actions for myself, a little side-cash maybe, but overall in general I would use this power to change the world, maybe not drastically but over time through various small changes.
I wish I could honestly say that I would save the world from disease, povery, and war if I had the power of "dynamopsychism". But if I had this power I would turn selfish and use this power in my best interest.
First off, I would build a remote home in Canada so that no one could find me and hurt me if they found out I was the ruler of the world. Then I would mess with people's minds similar to Bruce Almighty. Lastly I would make sure that the Cubs never win another game. Once I was near death, I would persuade the hottest girl on Earth to have my child. I would then pass on my powers to this kid.
If I were dynamopsychic, I would definitely be tempted to satisfy myself with petty desires, like a car, money, very hot women, etc. I definitely fear that I would meet Smearman's fate, although I would definitely have the Cubs win the World Series (we've suffered enough already, right?) I would have great difficulty focusing on "big-picture" items like the existence of war, disease, poverty, and marital stress. I would most likely focus on fixing whatever was bugging me at the moment. However, I would probably be able to control impulses for personal gain, although a couple million dollars every now and then couldn't do too much harm. I would probably intentionally let war, poverty and disease go unsolved because I am not God and getting rid of those issues are his responsibility I figure.
I think if I were Barnhouse I would definately keep my power a secret. If I had the power of dynamopsychism, I would do things similar to Barnhouse such as get rid of war weapons around the world and try my best to work for good, but, naturally, I would have some fun with the power too. With the power, it seems possible to make everyone on earth happy, so I guess the best thing to do would be to try to strive for that. Also, I would not let the government know about the power. On my death bed, I would pass down the power to someone close to me too.
I know I already commented on this story, but I just wanted to throw this question out there:
What if the world government started using civilians as proverbial "shields"? For instance, they designed Boeing 757s that could be used for both human transit and dropping large quantities of mud on other countries? What would Barnhouse do to stop that?
Everybody is saying that if they had dynamopsychism that they would try to keep it (can we use it?) secret. My question is how can anybody possibly do this? If you were aware that you had the power to move objects with your mind, how could you resist from constantly using this? Instead of doodling through boring lectures in class I would probably find myself absent-mindedly tossing books across the room or maybe hurling an eraser or two and one of my classmates. I don't think having this power could ever bring good. No matter how hard anybody tries, I think it is inevitable that eventually somebody else will discover they have the power, and eventually the government will become involved just as they did in the story.
If i had the power of dynamopsychism, i would definitely use it for the greater good. However, the question is how to use my powers for the greater good. If i had not read this story, i would end up using my powers in the same manner as Barnhouse in an effort to create world peace but Vonnegut demonstrates through this story that war is not created by material issues and arms, rather greed and a natural human need for power. Because of this complexity in the use of the power, i would rather not have the power in the first place. It would be against nature to deny any desire of having the power of dynamopsychism, but the words of Ben Parker in spiderman would scare me from wanting those powers after deliberation: "With great power comes great responsibility."
Barnhouse definitely did things wrong. Why on Earth would he tell anyone about his powers? If I were him, I would keep everything a secret. The feeling of knowing you have or know something that other people don't is just sweet. Instead of trying to do something unrealistic like create world peace, I would just use my powers to do small things. When someone discovers they have some sweet ability or super power, it seems like they take on this responsibility to change the world. I think that's really interesting. I feel like doing something huge like taking out all the weapons in the world would cause too much conflict in my life. I would want to keep things simple and use my powers to speed up traffic or get my coffee faster at S-Bucks.
If I had the gift of dynamopsychism my first instinct would be to brag, show everyone I know, and become famous. But, after thinking more I have decided that I would tell my mom, my dad, my grandma, and no one else. I think sharing my secret with the world would be dangerous. First off, I think I would be swarmed by crazy people demanding answers, which, or course, I could never give because the power would most definately be abused and WWIII would become a battle of the minds. I also think that if I unleashed the knowledge of my secret powers I would be blamed for things that I did not do. I would probably use my powers for simple things like folding laundry so I would never have to listen to my mom yelling at me for not folding my clothes ever again. I would probably also fly a plane.
This is such an interesting story because Barnhouse had the world at the tips of his fingers but he chose to use this for good. This reminds me of the movie Pay It Forward becuase even after the kid dies, the movement keeps going. Even after the professor dies, the power he discovered will still be used to stop war. I think this dynamopsychism really represents the force of good in society and the effect it can have on everyone and how it can be passed on to other people. If I had this amazing power I hope I would use it to help people
I would never want to be Barnhouse because I think obviously if I had this ability people would find out and I would suffer consequences for crimes I never wanted to commit. In the story, Barnhouse did not seem to be able to control his power and I would never want to be held accountable for something I may have thought but did not intend to do. I would feel horrible if I caused a problem, so I would never take the responsability of having the power if given the chance.
I tired commenting on this earlier but I guess it didn't work, so here we go again... I really liked this story. I love the idea of being able to have a superpower. If i had dynamopsychism i would start out using the power to pull pranks on people just like Dennis said, and then I would use it more seriously. I would probably restore nature and endagngered species, Maybe fix our global warming problems and all that good stuff but I don't think I would destroy all weapons liek Barnhouse did. To me that just seemed pointless, because when it comes down to it, we are human, and if we truly have the desire to hurt someone we will find ways other than weapons. People are addicted to violence it is in our blood. I don't know if the world could ever be capable of being in peace.
Yeah, so this project is way past over, but no one answered my question, so I'm just going to state this (which is the point I was trying to make by asking said question): By killing all the spiders, you become a spider yourself. Or something like that.
If I had the power that Barnhouse unlocked, I doubt I would tell anyone. Nevertheless, I would try to use dynamopsychism to help the world for the most part. I would preserve world peace and generate power for struggling nations. Controlling clouds and the weather would be cool, and if I could eventually learn to move planets that would be pretty awesome. But I'm curious as to what the "nightmarish sentence" at the end of the note was.
I don't think I can even think about what I would do if I had dynamopsychism - maybe I would what Barnhouse did and eternally delay war. What he did was not end war and create world peace - he delayed violence by taking away weapons. People don't automatically become good to each other - as Vonnegut details in his story, they find new possibly non-murderous way of attacking their opponents. But even if the Barnhouse effect is passed on to the narrator then the narrator passes it on to others so that weapons disappear forever and droughts end and everything is great, the best result possible would be an eternal delay of problems, not a true termination. I think a natural reaction to such a huge power would not be selfishness at all, but rather a desire to do something important, like Barnhouse - at first Barnhouse goes to the government to advance this desire, but afterwards he finds what he seems to think is a more efficient method - controlling from hiding.
If I had Barnhouse's power, I would definitely try to save the world. I would do what Barnhouse did in the book and destroy all weapons and better the conditions of poor nations. I would also train people to continue with my work when I was dead, like Barnhouse did.
However, I think it is interesting to wonder if maybe micromanaging the world is right. I can't think of a single strong reason for why the world wouldn't be a better place without weapons and I'm almost certain there is none, but I'm only one person. Maybe what seems obvious to me is wrong, and I wouldn't be doing good through the use of my power.
[In case we were supposed to post under account - the post by arjun above is me]
If I had dynamopsychism I would not tell anyone. Let's face it, human beings are inherently selfish and dynamopsychism would only encourage further feelings of selfishness. I, of course, would be exempt from this selfishness and use my mind powers to serve myself in every capacity. It's like survival of the fittest - I have developed a power and now I am going to use it to better my lifestyle by rigging gambling games in order to better my children's lifestyle so that my grandchildren can live nicely, and so on. But I wouldn't teach others this power because I can only control how I use it, and who's to say that the person I teach isn't going to go all Darth Vader on me and use the power for evil?
I would love to create world peace, but it's just not going to happen. Even if I used my dynamopyschism to get rid of droughts or for disarmament purposes, things can still go back to how they were before. The only way to achieve world peace is through every wanting it, and I'm pretty sure even Barnhouse couldn't make that happen.
If I had the power of dynamopsychism...
I think I would try to do what Barnhouse did. Many not take the exact steps as he did, but I would use it to better this world. I read some of the other comments, and someone said that people with superpowers tend to think that it is their responsibilty to save the world, and this is very true. However, I don't see that as a bad thing. I believe that we should want to help others and do as much as we can to do so. I believe that the powers we were blessed with are not so that only we can benefit but for the benefit of others. Another comment explained that it would not make that big of a difference to change the things that Barnhouse did. But I believe that each change makes a difference, however small it may be. I can understand why using this power in the way Barnhouse did may be a bad idea, but if I had this power, I probably would do something similar. Something to try and better this world. But, of course much thought of effects and consequences is necessary.
What would I do if I had the power of dynamopsychism? I have no idea. On the one hand, I would want to create world peace and demolish world hunger, but if I took this upon my shoulders, where would indivividual compassion and free will go? Would people become so content with Earth and the people in it that nothing would progress and everything would remain still and lifeless? What would love become if we did not know hate and sadness? No mortal could handle the responsibility that comes with this ability.
I would not go for world peace. I would start a school of dynamopsychism, give the power to everyone to do as they please with. It would come in handy for construction projects... move bricks with your mind and all that.
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