Final Reflections: Nathan Ty Lambert

My Self-Directed Learning

My self-directed learning had the greatest impact upon my learning this semester. I tried to go to the BYU special collections every time that we had personal learning time to avoid the monotony of Youtube and Wikipedia. Reading, exploring, and researching the book Micrographia by Robert Hooke was the most rewarding of my researches. Learning about Micrographia launched me head first into the period of time called the Enlightenment. It helped me understand the main themes of the Enlightenment such as changing our frames of reference and collective collaboration. As a result of reading Micrographia I discovered the history behind the Royal Society and The Invisible College. I was able to relate the concepts and ideas that founded the Royal Society to businesses such as Apple or Google Inc. Second, reading The Communist Manifesto magnified my understanding of the ideologies of the 20^th century. It really changed my view on just seeing Communism as an inherent evil. I was able to supplement the reading with a documentary on Senator Joseph McCarthy. The 20^th century was full of clashing political ideologies that led to World War I, II, and the Cold War. I appreciate the 20^th century much more after reading and watching primary documents such as The Communist Manifesto and The Twilight Zone. In conclusion, I spread my self-directed learning out over many different avenues in order to gain the most knowledge about subjects that were intriguing to me.

My Evolving Project

I was very scared and confused when I finished reading the prompt for the final project. I did not understand how I was going to contribute to the final project or my personal one. I began with the concept of revolutionizing the United States of America’s healthcare system. I related it to the failure of the French Revolution and how sometimes there is too much change. I finished sketching my ideas on the index cards and published them in the “When is Change too Much?” blog post. Upon receiving comments from Jackson Berg, I realized that my topic would not be able to fit in the class theme of critical communication. I completely changed directions by writing about the lost generation of World War I and social media. I received many comments from Jolene and Kaitlyn that helped shape my final project. In addition, thanks to Jordan Argyle I realized that I should create an introductory video to my individual blog post.

            Our group project began on shaky ground as well. I was assigned to be in the Patterns of the Past group, which I feel did not really fit well with my individual project. We had many iterations of this project as time went on. At first the group wanted to produce a Moovly video, but decided that a more personal video would be more effective. The group video that we had posted was very primitive and took a lot of time to finish. We received very good feedback from Eli Hainsworth and from Professor Burton. We decided that we needed to add personal angles into our argument and video just as the group about Social Media and Digital Tools did. Lastly, we added the finishing touches with the sounds and pictures in order to produce our final product. This resulted in a much more effective and appealing video introduction.

Communication and History

Communication is central to society because it provides a means through which humans can interact. In order to form a civilized society it is necessary to have a form of communication. There has always been communication, but the mediums in which society communicates through change rapidly. The newest form of communication and interaction always make the headlines of human society. They are the crowning event of that century. When we define an era or century, we usually do it through the type of communication that was present during that era. Communication has shaped our history, thus molding our contemporary society. Understanding the different forms of communications in the past has led me to conceptualize communication in the present more effectively. The invention of the printing press revolutionized the way ideas were spread in the 13^th century. Communication became much quicker and more ideas were spread. This was very evident in the birth and evolution of The Invisible College. The Invisible College heavily utilized the fruits of the printing press as they published and spread their scientific ideas. Seven hundred years later a new form of communication was born which we know as the Internet. Humans could now communicate more rapidly than ever before. Institutions such as Apple Incorporated took advantage of the Internet to spread their ideas. Just as their predecessors, the new form of communication had aided them in becoming a world-renowned institution. In conclusion, the invention of the Internet completely shapes our current society, but also helps us understand the past better. As there are infinite ways to advance communication, there will always be infinite ways to revolutionize the world.

Patterns of the Past

Patterns of the Past

"The patterns of the past don’t change, but the mediums do."

History repeats itself: that much is clear, but how and why? Is the repetition of history good or bad for humanity? Is humanity climbing an ever-winding stair upward toward utopia, or spiraling endlessly downward toward destruction? In researching the patterns of the past, we learn that the patterns don't change - they just look different.

• Michael: History repeats itself more rapidly as communication technology develops.  Is society spiraling out of control as it advances?

We study history so we can avoid mistakes that were made in the past.  In our Digital Age, learning about history has never been easier - through online databases and encyclopedias, we literally have the world at our fingertips - and yet most people know as little about it as their parents and their grandparents do.  My thesis is that in a world in which historical events repeat themselves, we must use the modern conveniences available to us learn from the past and take responsibility for our future.

We must find the middle path for society to advance.

In his 2014 book Sustainable Civilization, Klaas Van Egmond wrote: "Throughout... history, developments have continued to lose their equilibrium... One-sided values start to dominate, after which society loses continuity and heads for catastrophe. Through a primitive learning process, the one-sided values are translated into their equally one-sided opposites, after which history repeats itself just as dramatically. In a drunk-like state, people and society wander backwards and forwards through their own value pattern."  Klaas' main point is that "developments can only continue if a certain middle way is found between fundamental opposites within that social value pattern." Look at my personal blog post to learn more.

• Nathan: We’re constantly searching for meaning in social media, but do we even know what we are looking for?

We spend hours scrolling, liking, and envying other people on social media. We claim to get on instagram, snapchat, or facebook with a purpose, but do we end up accomplishing our purpose? Did we even have one in the first place? These social media platforms are enticing, but they are really causing us to lose purpose in life. Back at the start of World War I, a similar phenomenon occurred. The war led the Lost Generation to lose their purpose in this life. They obviously were not physically lost, but their minds were. They were wandering aimlessly through the world with no purpose. Eventually this led to a period of war and technological advancement led to the great depression.

We say we are advancing in technology and it is making us smarter. There is more information available to us than ever before. This is what they thought when the printing press and radio broadcasts came out. I submit that we are ever learning and never really learning knowledge or truth. We are just continually losing ourselves as patterned in history. Today the medium is social media, back then it was World War I. What can we do as a society to help us keep our identity? Find out on my personal blog post

• Jonah: Do advancements in technology always mean advancements in society?

Man's greatest capability is to make improvements on himself through technology. With highly developed brains and opposable thumbs, we can create almost anything we imagine. We may not win in a fair fight with a lion, but a lion can't make itself a bow and arrow. We may not be able to fly

Depiction of slaves working Eli Whitney's cotton gin in 1830

like a bird, but we can create planes and helicopters. We can't breathe while under water but we can make tanks of air to bring down with us. That is why humans have dominion over the Earth. We build tools to help us do things with ease. However, not all advancements in technology are advancements in society. To learn about how Columbus' discovery of North America, the invention of the atomic bomb, and the cotton gin caused negative changes in society, visit my personal blog post.

The Other Lost Generation: Final

This is my trip to Butchart Gardens in British Columbia. It is a beautiful garden, but easy to get lost in.

We are constantly wandering through a digital wilderness that looks like this one. It is enticing, but very easy to get lost in. It is simple for one to wander aimlessly for hours through a beautiful garden such as this. It represents various forms of social media such as:

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Instagram

• Snapchat

We never really think about who created this digital wilderness. Who created the elaborate algorithms that we see in social media? Did they intend for us to find a purpose in this garden? 

Patterns of the Past V2

Patterns of the Past

Claim: The patterns of the past don’t change, but the mediums do.

“All forms of government eventually destroy themselves by carrying their basic principles to excess.”
• The atomic bomb – the War on Terror
• Computers and cursive/handwriting
• Roman downfall and America

"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.  Let us not seek to fix blame for the past, but let us accept our own responsibility for the future."  

Michael: History repeats itself more rapidly as communication technology develops.  Is society spiraling out of control as it advances?

We study history so we can avoid mistakes that were made in the past.  In our Digital Age, learning about history has never been easier - through online databases and encyclopedias, we literally have the world at our fingertips - and yet most people know as little about it as their parents and their grandparents do.  My thesis is that in a world in which historical events repeat themselves, we must use the modern conveniences available to us learn from the past and take responsibility for our future.

In his 2014 book Sustainable Civilization, Klaas Van Egmond wrote: "Throughout... history, developments have continued to lose their equilibrium... One-sided values start to dominate, after which society loses continuity and heads for catastrophe. Through a primitive learning process, the one-sided values are translated into their equally one-sided opposites, after which history repeats itself just as dramatically. In a drunk-like state, people and society wander backwards and forwards through their own value pattern."  Klaas' main point is that "developments can only continue if a certain middle way is found between fundamental opposites within that social value pattern."

Nathan: We’re constantly searching for meaning in social media, but do we even know what we are looking for?

We spend hours scrolling, liking, and envying other people on social media. We claim to get on instagram, snapchat, or facebook with a purpose, but do we end up accomplishing our purpose? Did we even have one in the first place? These social media platforms are enticing, but they are really causing us to lose purpose in life.

Back at the start of World War I, a similar phenomenon occurred. The war led the Lost Generation to lose their purpose in this life. They obviously were not physically lost, but their minds were. They were wandering aimlessly through the world with no purpose. Eventually this led to a period of war and technological advancement led to the great depression.

We say we are advancing in technology and it is making us smarter. There is more information available to us than ever before. This is what they thought when the printing press and radio broadcasts came out. I submit that we are ever learning and never really learning knowledge or truth. We are just continually losing ourselves as patterned in history. Today the medium is social media, back then it was World War I.

Jonah: Man's greatest capability is to make improvements on himself through technology. With highly developed brains and opposable thumbs, we can create almost anything we imagine. We may not win in a fair fight with a lion, but a lion can't make itself a bow and arrow. We may not be able to fly like a bird, but we can create planes and helicopters. We can't breathe while under water but we can make tanks of air to bring down with us. That is why humans have dominion over the Earth. What are we without these innovations though? It is important to remember that without innovation we are vulnerable.

Catching the Eye

I submit that the large majority of what we know about current politics or the current presidential election largely comes from social media. I know that as we are scrolling through Facebook or Instagram certain things catch our eye. We only stop scrolling for a moment to see something funny, or some misleading quote about a U.S. presidential candidate. We rarely take the time to further investigate any of the stands taken by the parties or their candidates. Upon scrolling on Facebook for 5 minutes here are some of the "funny" or "interesting" things that I have found.

Patterns of the Past

Nathan Lambert: Identifying the specifics of how technology is actually making us more lost. Comparing our generation with the lost generation of World War I. In the video I illustrate the concept of how technology is supposed to help us find ourselves, while in reality it didn't help me because I was still lost.

Jonah Hainsworth: Identifying how advances in technology actually hurt us instead of helping us. He connects it to the discovery of new and "lazier" methods.

The Other Lost Generation: A Video Claim

We are becoming as the lost generation in that of World War I. We are not actually lost, but we are confused and wander aimlessly through an enticing digital wilderness. We are losing ourselves. This has been a pattern in history.

Project Log: Nathan Lambert

Individual Project: My Progress

• 3/2/16- "When is Change too Much?" I connected the concept of health care with the French Revolution in order to describe when change was too much. I noticed that our health care system was in shambles because of the government that we are a part of. I used the book "over our heads" in order to describe why change was too much
• 3/5/16-"The Detriment of Society" While trying to keep the healthcare system in my argument I related the detriment of our health to the use of digital things. This seemed to coincide more with what people needed to be seeing. I argued that why are we getting unhealthier when our technology is advancing so rapidly? I forgot however, to add pictures to explain my concepts. It was good to receive feedback from Jackson Berg and Gideon Burton on why my concept was flawed. 
• 3/8/16-I explained what the lost generation meant back in the day and what it means now as a result of comments made by my peers. Comments and revisions are always welcome with my blog. 

Group Project: My Contributions

• 3/5/16- With my post "The Detriment of Society" I tried my best to include the digital wilderness in my post. I explored how we are losing our physical identity because of the digital wilderness. This idea was not yet completely formed, but it helped form the main category of losing our identity that our class is forming. I tried my best to connect it to the lost generation. 
• 3/8/16- "The Other Lost Generation" I feel like my concept has developed into a topic into which I can further research and publish. I had to completely change the direction of my project so that it would fit with the class theme. I titled my blog post The Other Generation and explained how we are getting lost in the digital wilderness as a society. I have contributed to the class project by explaining some of the identity crisis through technology use. 
• 3/8/16-Most importantly I feel like my historical cyclical connections of Strauss and Howe will help other people see the importance of historical uses. I contrasted my topic with the lost generation. The class now sees that they need to use history.