The Commodification of Love

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” Albert Einstein

In a past blog, one writer highlighted the issues of modern relationships in Japan and the U.S.  In Japan they have created cuddle cafes and have prostitution rings to replace what used to be normal relationships. This essentially has commoditized love and the affection that comes along with it. In the United States, we have also drifted towards a similar trend that is based on convenience. The author goes so far to compare online relationships (hook-ups included) to the convenience of fast food.

In many ways, I agree with the author. More developed societies, such as in  Japan and the United States, have placed love and relationships on a lower level of importance and replaced it with using electronics and time spent furthering one’s career. However I don’ think the root of the problem stems from just the extended use of electronics (similar to the quote above) or convenience, rather its a deeper rooted problem

This problem is linked to the competitiveness of capital and allocating your time optimally so that one is most efficient. I think its the idea that people rather work over time to further themselves in their career, then come home to eat dinner with their family. We are taught to be ambitious, learn to make sacrifices, and eventually become successful, but time is a limited commodity. So people have to find a balance between those two. Somewhere in the equation I think the want to go through relationships, the process of getting to know each other, go on dates, and either become successful relationship or break up (it’s only on or the other if you look at it) is lost. It’s too much of an emotional and time commitment, that people forego it all together because they can’t justify the costs. So the creation of online dating is created because people do not time to meet the “good old fashion way,” since they are stuck at their jobs on a Friday night, or they are working too many jobs.

Lastly, I think disagree with the title “Money apparently can buy you happiness” because happiness isn’t what one would feel after leaving a prostitution ring or a cuddle cafe. So money still can’t buy happiness.

3-D Printer Prints 3-D Printer

 

Last Monday, a student at the University of Arizona, St. Louis used a 3-D Printer to print the same 3-D printer. The student, Eric Choe, is a young undergraduate student who spends his Friday Nights at the Architect building. “I didn’t even know you could do this, all I did was put the input from the user manual of the original printer and ta-da. It worked,” said Eric when asked about the event. His mentor, Professor Bobstein, said, “I wasn’t really surprised by this Eric’s discovery, he is a really innovative kid. He is always doing things we wouldn’t think of.”

Since then,, departments at other schools have been trying to use their 3-D printers to print a 3-D printer. Most have been unsuccessful. The conclusion behind the failures is that they don’t have the same brand of 3-D printer as the 3-D printer, Sony’s Print-well Model 743, at UA, St. Louis. So all these departments have returned their printers and purchase Sony’s Print-well Model 743. Sales have gone up from 15 every month, to 200 just this week! Sony is delighted by the attention this event has brought to its product.

The next step is running tests on the new 3-D printed printer and seeing if it can work and print properly. This will involve extensive testing and trials. The final test will be to see if the 3-D printed printer can print a 3-D printer. However the problem lies in whether or not the average initial cost of a 3-D printer is over $50,000, so this could potentially cut the costs into five percent of the price. This may be the future of 3-D printer. It may even drive Sony’s sales to the ground now that everyone may have access to the production of 3-D printers. Only the future will tell!

Bucknell Holds Racial Equality Assembly: Racism Gone Forever

After a recent public and vulgar example of hate speech broadcast over the Bucknell radio station, WVBU, the student body received numerous emails from President Bravman. Every Bucknell student shared the same response of curiosity as to what someone could have possibly done wrong this time after they saw an email with the subject line “[Students]” from the President. Could there have been another email hack, or would this email potentially be upbeat and shouting praise for a Bucknell student’s behavior. Alas, it was neither. Instead, it was far worse.

One Bison Burrito? $12.62, please.

I came to college expecting the food to be relatively mediocre, as I had heard stories from older siblings, cousins, friends, etc.  So, I was prepared to take on shitty food–however, I was not prepared to pay ridiculously high prices for that shitty food.  There aren’t many dining options at Bucknell–as a freshman, you have unlimited swipes in the caf (so you have no concept of money), but as an upperclassman you pretty much just eat in the bison with “dining dollars.”  You could eat somewhere downtown that takes campus dollars, but trust me–it’s not worth the effort of actually trying to obtain this mystical currency.  Why log on to myBucknell and enter your bank account’s routing and account number in addition to a bunch of other personal information so you can eat at Subway when you can just sign your name on a sheet at the Bison for dining dollars and eat there?

In Floor Debate on National Civil Discourse Day, Congress Comes to Blows

Washington, DC-

In what was widely seen as a deeply superficial motion to make February 29 of leap years a day to honor and celebrate civil discourse, Congressional members ended up in a tussle of words and, by some accounts, even blows.