Survival Is Your Own Responsibility, By Haruki Murakami

Individuality is the quality that people that makes each person unique and distinguishable from each other. It is important to remain distinct from others, even among groups of people that are classified as either the same or very similar. While individuality is a concept that many people agree with and want to ensure, the pressure from most people’s lives, including their environment and the people around them, forces individuals to lose who they truly are and morph in order to fit in. I strongly agree that individuality, while important, is difficult to keep because of outside factors, a concept that was presented by Logan Fey.

In “The Key to Disaster Survival? Friends and Neighbors,” Shankar Vedantam reports about a 2004 tsunami in which fishing boats were distributed. He says, “Fishermen who used to work together now became competitors. Trust broke down. Fights broke out.” (Vedantam 3). This situation accurately describes how one might change when trying to save or help oneself. People tend to forget about others and fend for themselves first. Consequently, the Seventh Man might have wanted to help, but he knew his life was at stake.

Fuller Buckminster once said “Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons.” Due to the inventions in computers and the internet, people have lost the ability to interact with one another face-to-face. In the article, “Authenticating,” Brain Christian emphasizes on how advancement in code programming has created a chat stimulated program called “Chatbots” which mimics human behavior. However, one’s attachment to these robotic humans have taken away the opportunity one has in order to have a real life conversation. Similarly, Francis Fukuyama in his article “Human Dignity,” mentions how he is concerned with what it means to be a human. He talks about Factor X which are inner traits such an emotions, and thoughts that distinguishes one person from another. Even though, technology is essential in everyday life, the misuse of it, such as constantly engaging in a conversation with a chatbot, can lead to abandoning the Factor X of humanity.

“What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger” (p. 28). In the scientific novel Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem with Jonathan Prince, self-acclaimed “Medical Maverick” Dr. Moalem makes in-depth analyses of current human diseases that, ironically, may have led to the survival of mankind in the past. He presents a novel concept that greatly contradicts what have been universally accepted beliefs surrounding biology and the process of human evolution for a long time. With the use of myriad scientific studies and research, he formulates surprising theories about a positive correlation between disease and humanity. Moalem narrates the scientific world’s findings that strongly exemplify his assertions, however arbitrary they may seem at first. Three of the diseases that he examines, hemochromatosis, Type 1 diabetes, and favism, could have been particularly useful for resistance against other illnesses and survival in a historically harsh environment.

What is it that we find crazy about those who have the courage to do what we won’t? In the compelling novel “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer the character and intelligence of the youth in men is questioned. Through the pieced together 200 page novel we are introduced to Christopher Johnson McCandless also known as “Alex Supertramp”. A ripe 24 years of age he chose to question our reality and his meaning of life that is given to us by hitchhiking across America to the Alaskan wilderness, where after four months in the last frontier he is found dead. Krakauer throughout the novel shows that although some admire what McCandless did, others found his final journey “reckless” and “crazy”. Krakauer goes to explain this claim through interviews of those who have encountered McCandless on his adventure and through those who got to know his story.

“Happiness is only real, when shared.” - Jon Krakauer Into the wild. Jon Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild told the story of Chris McCandless. Chris escaped reality and went to go live off the land in Alaska, hoping to live a simpler life. In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless shared a similar philosophy with Jack London, as they both have a strong passion for Alaska, they both appreciated they beauty of nature, and both wanted to be reborn.

“If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.” (Richard M. Nixon). In his investigative biography, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer, expresses that even though young people can be ignorant and take treacherous risks, these can be used as knowledge enhancers and can be life changers.

If you went out one day and out of nowhere you find yourself in a life-or-death situation would it be your fault? People in a life-or-death situation should be held accountable for their actions because most of the time people know that if they do something that can put them in a life-or-death situation then something bad will happen but they still do it willingly. Another person might not agree with this claim and say that people should not be held accountable for their actions. The reason he or she might think this is because if when a person does face a life-or-death situation it might not be entirely their fault. The following reasons are examples of why my claim is stronger.

Some times warning isn’t enough because of peoples different circumstances and beliefs they might not leave. One example is in Columbia in 1985 where they where warned but didn’t listen as they didn’t think they would be affected and didn’t trust the people telling them. About 20,000 people are feared dead after a volcanic eruption in northern Colombia. Four towns in the Andes region are reported to have been buried when ash spewed out of the volcano, Nevado del Ruiz, causing a mudslide. These people weren’t told to evacuate until 2 hours before the major eruption casing massive loss of life. The reason for this late call was because the country didn’t trust the people observing the volcano this meant the potential hazard was far greater then it should have been ad the results where horrific. This is one example of how poor education and different situation can greatly increase the hazard.

Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, narrates the life of adventurer and free spirit Christopher McCandless, who died August 1992 in the Alaskan wilderness; however, his journey still remains relevant in today’s pop culture due to the unresolved controversy of whether he is a saintly role model or hubristic fool. Krakauer openly states that he “won’t claim to be an impartial biographer” (Author’s Note) due to the parallels he struck with McCandless, and provides a more idealistic approach to the biography. By having this biased point of view, Krakauer readily attracts many critics such as Craig Medred, who wrote the article The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From Thieving Poacher into Saint, which discredits Krakauer’s legitimacy and emphasizes McCandless’s narcissistic personality and naïve nature. He has also sparked many questions including why McCandless’s story is so significant, which writer Laura Moss tries to answer in Why Are We Still Talking about Chris McCandless?. While it is clear that McCandless’s story has affected every reader due to its many interpretations, two distinct sides form: the avid romantics and their counterpart, the pessimistic realists, which provokes the question of which argument is more valid.

In the article “The Obligation to Endure” by Rachel Carson she explains the danger and harm that comes with using toxic chemicals such as pesticides on our crops. By doing so Carson brings to light that are numerous amounts of people that are un aware of the toxic chemicals that they are unknowingly inviting into their homes and bodies. This is also seen in “Preface” when author Carl G. Herndi  says, “Writers need to make the invisible visible” (xxiv). Furthermore, this can be seen as a wake up call to all humanity. Both Carson and Herndl want to inform people onto what is going on in the world we live in, and to get people to start questioning rather harmful toxics are truly needed, and if so to what extreme.

Christopher McCandless may be one of the most intriguing characters in nonfiction literature. In Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless gives up all of his worldly possessions in order to move to Alaska and travel alone into the wilderness. Chris seemed to lead a very privileged life, as he came from a fairly well off family. Chris was intelligent, having graduated from Emory University with a degree in anthropology and history. There is much ambiguity as to why Chris suddenly decides to leave his family behind and travel by himself -- although it is clear that Chris’s initial belief was that the best way to live life was alone, surrounded by nature. The overarching question is whether Chris intentionally tried to kill himself when he traveled alone into the heart of Alaska. Those who believe he did contend that he did not make enough of an effort to extract himself from the negative situations in which he found himself. They argue that Chris felt that he was betrayed by his father, and that he tries to kill himself in order to get away from his family as a whole. Yet Chris McCandless did not in fact have a death wish, and his death was the result of his miscalculating how difficult living in the wild would actually be. This resulted from Chris’s excessive pride. His main motivation to go into the wild was to run far away from his family -- who by blinding him, indirectly caused him to miscalculate.

Where I stand on this topic is that all human beings are very individualistic. We have the ability to choose and act based upon our free will. We may choose to do something that isn’t always responsible or for the benefit of others ,but those are some of choices we choose to make. We are incapable of choosing the worst thing possible for ourselves. We act upon what we feel is best for us at the moment or in the future, even though we aren’t always right. Although we are raised in a society were there are morals, norms, and rules we tend to ignore them at times and do things that are irresponsible and immoral. As humans we perform these irresponsible or immoral acts even though we know the consequences that come with our actions. No

Imagine you are one of the highest mountains in the world. You don’t care about the risks because there are rescue services to help you. But what if one day they all decide to quit or they don’t come to you in time? There are amazing climbers who are still willing to make the climb but when they make a mistake there won’t be someone behind you to bring you back up when you fall.There are people in this world who are willing to take risks and reach their own Mount Everest but sometimes the price can be too high to bear. For example, having the person who rescued you died trying. That person is part of the rescue services. When climbers are putting their own life on the line, they shouldn’t be demanding the rescue services to save them when they are putting themselves at risk.

Lifestyle Theory is a theory in Criminology created by Glenn Walters in 1990. Unsurprisingly this theory is just as the name would suggest, a lifestyle choice to be a criminal. This theory focuses heavily on the biological factors that influence a person’s ability to commit crime. Walters wrote three concepts to his theory: conditions, choice, and cognition. To start, I will address conditions. In Walters’s theory, he discusses the environmental and biological conditions that are involved in entering the criminal lifestyle. The environmental condition is based around your environment like the name suggests. What that means is that the decision to commit crime is due in part by your living situations and needs. This