The 5th Wave Review

They had one goal. To wipe out all humans and take over our planet. The first wave that came through was an EMP that fried any electronic equipment. All the planes flying in the air crashed, all the cars driving stopped. the whole world came to a standstill. This took out about half a million people. The second wave took out all the coastal cities and the people who live there when they dropped a huge slab of metal onto one of the largest faults on the planet, causing massive earthquakes and huge tsunamis. The third: an avian virus that wipes out 99 percent of the remaining population.The fourth: involving â€Å"Silencers,† humans who were implanted years ago with an â€Å"alien† gene while still in their mothers' wombs. These Silencers look and seem human, yet are actually programmed to kill any remaining humans. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey takes the first person perspective of Cassie, one of the last remaining humans on earth. As she resists the aliens who try in ever y way to kill her, she loses her entire family. Suddenly, she is shot by a Silencer and is trapped beneath a car, bleeding to death.Evan Walker, the Silencer who shot her then finds her, first trying to kill her, but then revealing himself to be one of the few aliens who originally voted to not use violence against the human inhabitants. He overcomes the alien’s consciousness and helps protect and heal her as she struggles to find her little brother, Sammy. Cassie has two goals: to stay alive, and to rescue Sammy, who has been sent to what is supposedly a refugee camp, but which actually is a paramilitary program where he will be taught to kill.The advice I would give the main character is to stay low, stay hidden, and take out the government one at a time. The oppressive government is the aliens who faked being military leaders and other positions in power in order to take power over the now nearly extinct Homo sapiens. The type of government depicted in the 5th Wave is simi lar to a dictatorship. The aliens killed anyone they didn’t like and anyone who tried to oppose or resist them. Humans were tricked into thinking they were at a refugee camp, but they had just actually became permanent citizens of the alien’s regime.To leave the camp is basically suicide, because as a â€Å"citizen†, you have to have a chip embedded under the skin in order for the aliens to track where you are at all times and to exterminate you is necessary. So, if you leave the camp, they will hunt you down and kill you. People live in terror because they know that they can be killed at any time. There are almost no supplies or resources left on Earth, which deprives any remaining human of essential supplies, food, weapons, and water. Another example is how the aliens kill anyone that they see that is not part of their little city.Anyone who realised what was going on and tried to rebel was also executed. (Pg. 130-131) The aliens are the new leaders of the ear th. Cassie is one of the main characters in the novel. She is not a member of the aliens’ society on Earth, so she is constantly being stalked and shot at while she scavenges around looking for essential supplies and her brother all while trying to stay hidden and alert. They try to kill her on sight, but she escapes every time. Another example at the end of the novel, Evan leaves her, Ben, and Sammy to sacrifice himself by blowing up the whole compound where the â€Å"refuge† was.She was insistent on him escaping with her and the group but finally gave in when he kept wanting to. (Pg. 443-444) Cassie’s actions impact this society very little in the beginning, but at the end, she helps destroys the whole alien compound on earth. Cassie's actions resulted in both positive and negative consequences. The warning given by the author is to not trust anybody. In the novel, Cassie emptied an entire clip into a soldier, killing him because she thought that he was holdin g a gun, but he was actually holding a crucifix.She didn’t trust him, but in the end, she didn’t regret her decision because she knew he was in a better place than the now alien-infested Earth. The difference between the Others and a human are impossible to tell, because they possess the human body and the mind. The citizens will eventually have to overpower and take over the government if they are to survive, as the aliens are wanting to rid Earth of all humans in order to take over. (Pg. 223) The advice I would give the protagonist is to help other people more and to not be as selfish.Another warning is to never travel by yourself, as bad thing may happen to you. The warnings apply to everyone. In conclusion, if aliens take over the world, don’t panic. They may be friendly. However, if they turn out to be evil, be like Cassie and rip out your M16 or a brick or whatever you have on them. In The 5th Wave, Cassie represents humanity’s resistance, one of th e last humans to survive on earth. Don’t trust anyone, as the author says. A lesson that is to be learned from this novel is to never underestimate someone who looks and acts of a person who is like you, they may have an upper advantage.

Assess the Role of Faith in Supporting Religious Belief Essay Example for Free

Assess the Role of Faith in Supporting Religious Belief Essay In 1877, William Kingdon Clifford propositioned in his book â€Å"Ethics and Belief† that belief in something without sufficient evidence is irrational. Whilst he accepted that in many beliefs there is often an epistemic gap between the evidence and the conclusion (inductive reasoning) he did also claim that â€Å"It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.† Furthermore he claimed that that tolerating credulity (a tendency to believe readily) and superstition will damage ultimately society. He concurred with David Hume (1711-76) when he said â€Å"All wise men proportion their belief to the evidence. † This stance – that belief without sufficient evidence is irrational – is called evidentialism, and is adopted by many atheists (including Clifford and Hume) in their view of theology. However, natural theology instead attempts to meet evidentialism on its own terms by trying to show that belief in God is actually rational. It draws collectively upon all of the a posteriori arguments for God’s existence including the teleological, cosmological, moral and experiential arguments. However, it is rare that an atheist will be convinced by the evidence of these arguments anywhere beyond the point of agnosticism. It is generally accepted that belief in God requires some element of seemingly irrational faith. Indeed, the stance of fideism states that reason plays no part in belief. â€Å"Whoever attempts to demonstrate the existence of God†¦is an excellent subject for a comedy of higher lunacy.† – Soren Kierkegaard. Moderate fideists suggest that reason can actually be destructive to one’s faith. They claim that reason leads to arrogance by encouraging the idea that human reason alone will suffice and that God unnecessary for moral or spiritual direction. Whilst moderate theists view reason as a barrier to true faith however, (thus disregarding natural theology as irrelevant) extreme theists go so far as to agree with Tertullian when he said (AD 155-222) â€Å"Credo quia absurdum est.† or â€Å"I believe because it is absurd.† Aquinas (1225-74) claimed that there were two ways in which to know God. The first is through natural theology, including his five a posteriori proofs constructed by human reason. The second is through â€Å"revealed theology† which cannot be found by human reason alone, but must involve divine intervention or revelation. The acceptance of these revealed truths requires faith, and this is fundamental to the Christian religion. For example, only faith can reveal the truth behind the statement â€Å"God is the father, the son and the Holy Ghost† or that â€Å"the bread of communion is the body of Christ†. Thus revelation provides us with a body of truths, which must be taken on faith alone. Aquinas claims that faith is a combination of reason and opinion. It involves reason since it is propositional i.e. claims certain beliefs to be true and therefore similar to scientific knowledge. On the other hand these truths cannot be proved, and so involve an epistemic gap. It is this epistemic gap that makes faith a matter of opinion and so allows humanity free will over their belief. The stance that it is our choice whether or not to take a leap of faith was also held by Soren Kierkegaard (1812-1855). Alvin Plantinga (1932-) proposed that the classical foundationalism upon which evidentialism is based is flawed. Foundationalist beliefs are described by Plantinga as â€Å"the starting points for thought† and he summarises their definition as: â€Å"I am entitled to believe X without any evidence if and only if it is self-evident, incorrigible or certain to me in some way†. He argues that this is flawed, since this statement is itself neither self-evident, incorrigible nor is it certain in some way. It appears therefore that foundationalism defines itself as irrational. He also states that there are many beliefs that can be held rationally, but that do not fall under the foundationalist criteria or that can be justified contingently. For example, the trust we have in our memory, or the belief that other people have minds of their own. Plantinga argues that we must ultimately reject classical foundationalism on the grounds that it is incoherent, and also because it rejects many beliefs that common sense tells us to be properly basic. He propositions that his reformed epistemology should take the place of classical foundationalism, and because of this: â€Å"It is entirely right, rational, reasonable and proper to believe in God without any evidence at all.† A theist might claim that it just appears obvious to them that God exists, and for Plantinga this is good enough. However, surely this would mean that anything we like can be a properly basic belief? Could a child’s belief in Santa Clause not be defined as properly basic? Plantinga would respond by saying that it is the beliefs directly connected to God’s existence that are properly basic, rather than the belief in God’s existence itself. For example, the guilt felt after committing a bad deed or the sense that something must have cre ated and designed the universe. Blaisà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Pascal (1623-1662) deemed that it was reasonable to have faith in God by a sheer act of will, so certain was he that he put forward a wager: â€Å"Let us weigh the gain and loss in wagering that God is (exists)†¦If you gain, you gain all, if you lose, you lose nothing.† By this, he meant that the theist stands the chance of gaining entrance to heaven at the risk of nothing, whilst the atheist however risks damnation to hell. However, surely this basis of self-gain is at odds with the teachings of the Christian church? W.K.Clifford suggested that God would deny heaven to those who followed Pascal’s wager on the basis that faith should be founded upon trust and morality, not self gain. Pascal might have responded that true belief would arise from the habit of religion i.e. baptism, mass, prayer etc. However, this is contradicted somewhat by his opinion that one’s relationship with God should be somewhat deeper. â€Å"It is the heart which pe rceives God and not reason.† Furthermore, Pascal’s definition of faith appears to ignore the recognition of God’s immanence and His affect on our everyday lives. William James (1842-1910) found Pascal’s proposition that we can change our beliefs by an act of will entirely ridiculous. He claimed solidly that our beliefs are contingent i.e. each new belief is connected to the previous one. He does agree however that it is rational to sustain a belief even without sufficient evidence given certain circumstances. The first circumstance is where the evidence is indeterminate between two beliefs i.e. favours neither option. The second circumstance is if we are faced with a genuine option i.e. one that is living, forced and momentous. By living James means one that is a reality, as opposed to a dead option, that whilst theoretically possible, isn’t actually going to happen e.g. a devout Catholic supporting the gay pride movement. A forced option is one that cannot be avoided, e.g. choosing whether to go to school or to have a lie in when your alarm goes off at 7:30. A momentous option is one that is unique and irreversible e.g. joining the army – as opposed to a trivial option which is reversible and one that happens regularly throughout life. James states that it is therefore sometimes rational to believe in God without sufficient evidence if the choice is a genuine option. He disputes Pascal’s wager as necessarily being a genuine option as it is not necessarily forced (one could deny the possibility of going to hell) nor is it necessarily living (one might be a devout follower of a different religion). However, he does accept that for a person who perceives the evidence as indeterminate and is already open to belief in God, Pascal’s wager might succeed in tipping the scales and getting them to make that leap of faith. James does believe however that faith can in some instances be a genuine option, and a decision that involves seizing the opportunity and taking a risk. He states that when faced with a genuine option and without sufficient evidence, making a decision will then reveal the evidence to us. For example, one cannot be sure of a stranger’s kindness until they have decided to trust the stranger and give them a chance. Similarly, by making a leap of faith in God, the definitive truth will be later revealed by eschatological verification. However, natural theologians such as Aquinas would certainly dispute James’ claim that the evidence is indeterminate, for the cosmological, teleological, moral and experiential arguments – whilst inconclusive – can be extremely persuasive. Furthermore, like Pascal, he seems to ignore faith as an acceptation of God’s immanence and active presence in our lives. The version of faith held by Aquinas, Plantinga, Pascal and James is propositional in that they all claim that faith about believes in God’s objective existence. However, faith can also be seen existentially as an attitude incorporating God subjectively into the believer’s life. For instance, when I say â€Å"I believe that murder is wrong† or â€Å"I believe in free speech† I am not stating anything about existence, but rather about my commitment towards certain values. H.H.Price (1899-1985) claimed that the statement â€Å"I believe in God† is similar to this in that it is a way of perceiving the world using certain values. â€Å"to see oneself as a created, dependent creature, receiving life and well being from a higher source†¦the only appropriate attitude is one of grateful worship and obedience.† – John Hick. To conclude; each of the arguments examined above vary in their relationship with reason, but what they all have in common is that faith is central to the believer and must work independently of reason to some degree. Some of the arguments incorporate reason, some reject it entirely, but the transcendent nature of God can never be proved, can never be indubitable, for faith is an integral part of religion. Perhaps then natural theology is not trying to prove God’s existence to the point where faith is cast out and certainty resides in its place, but rather it is merely trying to explore God’s nature. â€Å"I do not seek to understand so that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand† – St. Anselm (1033-1109) Proslogian 1. Natural theology could therefore be seen as an expression of faith, rather than a foundation for it. The majority of theists argue that faith is necessary, for if God proved himself to us, we would no longer have free will over our belief and so would be robots without dignity. On the other hand, surely God in His omnipotence could find some way of maintaining our freedom whilst simultaneously providing us certainty of his love? Why not give certainty to the millions of His helpless and suffering children who have lost faith; for where is their dignity? Assess the Role of Faith in Supporting Religious Belief. (2017, Sep 13).

Comparison Of Two Religions - Hinduism And Buddhism Essay

Comparison Of Two Religions - Hinduism And Buddhism - Essay Example Buddhism mostly advocates the use of meditation i.e. Prajna as one of the most important spiritual practices. Hinduism and Buddhism both are practiced today through their Temples and other places of worship. However, there is an increasing acceptance of Buddhist practices in West wherein modern practices are being adapted in the West. Hinduism, however, is being mostly practiced in India and Nepal with relatively increasing acceptance in the West also. For example, Buddhism is mostly associated with the Dalai Lama and most of the spiritual practices actually emerge from his center. Hinduism however, is also practiced in the relatively diverse way with followers visiting temples and performing rituals even within their own homes. Kumbh Mela is also one of the largest gatherings of Hindus for the pilgrimage through which the followers of Hinduism actually perform their rituals. Apart from this, various religious festivals are being performed in Hindu religion. The festivals of Holi, as well as Diwali, are two of the famous religious practices through which Hindus practice their religion. (Rinehart, 2004) Buddhism however, is being practiced through its various schools of thoughts and focuses more on the meditation as the most important way to practice. Important meditations and practices include Vappasana meditation as well as Zen practices. Apart from this, spending a monastic life is also another way to practice the religion wherein monks learn Vinaya- the specific moral code for Monks. (Armstrong, 2001)

Digital marketing presents opportunities and challenges to Essay

Digital marketing presents opportunities and challenges to organizations - Essay Example This has in return triggered the human need to stay connected with their friends, thereby triggering the platforms of social networking like Facebook, Twitter etc. in every corner of the globe. Social networking which provides the power to develop linkages between individuals, communities and even organizations have sponsored the growth and development of digital marketing, which runs exclusively on the people media. The purpose of this discussion is to highlight the advantages and negative aspects of digital marketing. The discussion also intends to cover the strategies in which organizations can implement it in order to generate their competitive advantage in the market. Body Chitty and other writers have outlined in their book on digital marketing that the concept of digital marketing helps to target consumers located in every corner of the globe, irrespective of any impenetrable geographical barriers. Also, another point that was highlighted was the fact that the usage of digital marketing leads to the fact of lower cost per contact with regards to the advertising prospects of other marketing media and platforms (Chitty & et.al, 2011, p. 224).Another unique advantage as cited by Kimmel in his book is the fact that online marketing provides the companies with the chance to increase the level of involvement among the intended target audience (Kimmel, 2010, p. 210).However, Smith and Zook in their book, has outlined the fact that the digital marketing pose a significant amount of challenges as well. The important factor is that in the presence of online communities, the company sponsoring the digital marketing is unable to control the comments and feedback of online users. Thus, it has the potential to destruct a company’s brand image on the basis of negative word of mouth marketing by online users on the social networking sites (Smith and Zook, 2011, p. 152). An extra disadvantage as mentioned by Prakin is the fact the digital marketing by multiple com panies may lead to overload of information to the consumers and this increasingly leads to less amount of retention for any particular brand that has participated in online branding activities (Prakin, 2008, pp. 121-139). It has to be increasingly taken into consideration that digital marketing is another form of marketing where the marketing is done online using the internet, while specifically targeting the consumers with the products and services as desired by them. Hence, it is of extreme importance that the companies need to keep in mind that the online marketing activities should be done in a complementing manner with respect to the entire marketing campaign, so that it adds value and increasingly serves the purpose for the marketing campaigns as a whole. The very initial point that has to be taken into consideration while increasingly implementing the tools of digital marketing is the process of delivering the right message from the organizational point of view to the desired target market, which helps in creating a strong bonding between the organization and the target audience. The delivery medium for the voice can range from company sponsored blog pages, twitter updates to the more commonly used social media interfaces ranging from updates on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. It has to be increasingly kept in mind that the previous mediums that are exclusively sponsored by the companies itself helps in marketing

Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Response - Essay Example Managing things is the most difficult task, which is exactly why there are so many management principles and guidelines. The most important quality which makes a successful manager is foreseeing risks involved. Failing to do so will lead to the entire failure of the project which no matter manager would want. So there are two ways to calculate risks involved namely qualitative and quantitative analysis. The importance of both has already been seen and it is concluded that qualitative analysis is far better than quantitative analysis; qualitative analysis should be carried by any manager before starting a new project to make sure that the various risks involved in the project are taken into equation and a good strategy is developed to deal with the same. It is also concluded that higher the risk, higher the efforts, which basically means that to deal with higher risks the management team has to put in more efforts to face the same. There are some people who believe that hiding the risk will take the risks out of the equation which is an extremely old concept, management has changed al lot these days and this concept has never worked in the favor of nay manager and it will never work in the favor of any manager in the future too. So this should never be practiced because it will only lead to failure. All the above statements point that it is not fair to say that qualitative risk analysis is better to sell to a manager, the same is proved with an example â€Å"There is a classical example. One large oil company performed a drilling of the well with total cost about $2M. Project schedule has been created based of analogs: drilling of similar wells in the similar geological conditions. At the middle of drilling the mud, required to this technological process, starts disappearing. Project engineers have tried different solutions. It delayed the project so significantly that total cost of the well has almost double d. Later on the

Accounting Ethics Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accounting Ethics Case - Essay Example In this case, the company’s expenses had been reported in the balance sheet as an asset. The error in turn made the company look more profitable by reducing the expenses in the income statement and increasing the assets in the balance sheets. As a result, they approached the former CFO of the company, Scott D. Sullivan, who instructed them to cover up the mistake. Fearful of losing their jobs, the two followed the instructions. The issue presented in the case of Troy Normand is one of the many ethical issues affecting employees and companies today. Other includes Ethical decision-making, governance, corporate culture, and corporate social responsibility. Employees acting on behalf of the company have an ethical duty to act in the best interest of stakeholders including being transparent. Employees finding themselves in Normand’s situation can take a number of alternative courses of actions and trade-offs. The best course of action is to act in the best interest of stakeholders by refusing to cover up the mistake and instead insist on making corrections. Increase pressure from top management is usually an indication of fraud in the company. If this does not work, an employee can resolve to whistleblowing at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), whose official name was the â€Å"Public Company Accounting Reform and Investment Protection Act of 2002†. It provides protection for whistleblowers (Spedding, pp. 289). It also imposes criminal penalties for actions taken against whistleblowers. This act recognizes that these people require protection as their careers when reporting suspected illegal activities in a company (Brenkert, pp. 600). Ethical issues are crucial to the success of any company also affects stakeholders. Major stakeholders who can be negatively affected by actions taken by employees as seen in the case of WorldCom include investors and

Critical Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Critical Analysis - Essay Example Predatory pricing is one such strategy that is being used by business organizations across the globe. Predatory pricing involves a strategy in which a firm sells its products at lowest possible rates below the offerings of all the competitors so as to grab the market share of the competitors on the basis of competitive pricing (Denger, American Bar Association & Section of Antitrust Law, 1991, p.3-3). This use of this strategy by business organizations to gain market share and take care of the competition in the market has been questioned by numerous authors and various academic and professional circles. The aspect has been so serious that governments across the world have set up competition policies and also appointed watchdogs to supervise and monitor the competitive strategies so as to maintain a healthy competition in the consumer market. Individuals in favour of predatory pricing state that pricing is an integral part of a company’s unique selling proposition and hence fr eedom must be given to ensure fair balance in the market. It is also in coherence with the free market policy that seeks equal opportunity for all and survival of the fittest. Proponents’ however have slammed this move by stating that predatory pricing ultimately does not help customers in the long run but leads to closure of firms that generates unemployment that can have drastic effects on the total economic scenario of a market. The present study would undertake a critical analysis of the aspect of predatory pricing so as to analyse the actual implications and the pros and cons of this increasingly popular business strategy adopted by corporate across the world. Focus The aspect of predatory pricing has been a subject of debate among academic and professional circles. An article by Gundlach & Guiltnan (1998) states that predatory pricing is an unethical aspect that does not being any benefits in the market. They have argued that a marketer indulging in predatory pricing st rategy tends to reduce the price of the product or service in an attempt to maximise its market share by eating away a chunk of the market share of its competitors. Predators however on the achievement of their objectives of either dislodging their competitors or after gaining a significant market share tend to again increase the prices. Ultimately the customers bargaining power gets considerably reduced in the process. The dislodgement of competitors from the market gives a monopolistic power to the predator that is against the rules of competition and ultimately leads to unhealthy market situation. The authors have stated that the predatory pricing as a competitive strategy has been quite unsuccessful in the past and courts have also pronounced verdicts in famous cases like Brooke thus affirming the faith that predatory pricing is perhaps a negative strategy that has no ultimate benefit to any section of the society or the business world (Gundlach & Guiltnan, 1998, p.884). The vie ws of Gundlach & Guiltnan (1998), however have been refuted by authors like Bolton, Brodley & Riordan (No date) as they have stated that predatory pricing is an integral part of a business strategy of an organization and competing on the basis of cost is normally an outcome of a business’s efficiency to provide products at low prices due to certain organizational efficiency. The authors have slammed the views of critiques advocating the court legislations on cases like Brooke where they have pronounced verdic