Our Simulated Universe

An Initial Advisory: I need to say this from the get-go, that there is no connection whatever, in this essay, postulating a simulation scenario that includes us, between a supernatural all-knowing, all-powerful creator God and what I see as a flawed flesh-and-blood creator person (or extraterrestrial) actually responsible. This 'Supreme Simulator' is no God (with a capital G), any more than the creator of a video game is a God (with a capital G). This has absolutely nothing to do with a supernaturally based religion; everything to do with the natural order and evolution of technological things. This is science (or technology); not superstition or mythology.

Unlike God, for those who believe in a loving God, the Supreme Simulator may not give a royal stuff about you and your fate any more than the creator of a video game cares whether the characters in that creation live happy ever after or not - probably not. I mean, if you simulated billions and billions of humans; generations and generations of them, and assuming you're not all knowing and all powerful, could you keep track of them all?

Now one is perfectly entitled to reject the truism of this simulation hypothesis. I'm not sure I really believe it myself. But of course what we believe or disbelieve is ultimately irrelevant - it's all a function of what is, or is not. While the simulation scenario is straight forward enough, being able to prove, or disprove it, is the real intellectual challenge. That's the issue I'm attempting to think through. And sadly, while I'd like to claim this as my own, the idea isn't original with me - far higher intellects than I have pondered this and there's a massive degree of literature in academic journals and web sites on the possibility.

Terrestrial Examples of Current or Near Future Simulations:

*The Practical: Simulation scenarios prove useful in dealing with everyday traffic management issues and of course the military use them for war-game purposes. Engineers use them to figure out things like will this aircraft fly if we build it this way? Can we build a bridge this way using these materials of such and such a length? It's far cheaper to simulate first - build afterward - secure in the knowledge that what you build will work. Available on the market are all manner of brands of automobile navigation simulations in virtual map form that can guide you from point A to point B without muss or fuss.

*Training: Airline pilots, air traffic controllers, astronauts, medical doctors can practice on simulators first to gain proficiency. Simulations could prove useful in driver training, before actually going out on the road.

*Scientific: Many scientists use simulations to examine 'what if'. Program these set of initial conditions; add these relationships; run for a period of time and see what happens.

*Education: One can explore the planets of the solar system; the realms of interstellar and intergalactic space; the depths of our terrestrial oceans, and other realms too where it isn't really practical or realistic to send someone in person. Data acquired by robotic probes can be translated into simulations that we all can enjoy.

*Entertainment: Video games! Quite apart from that, it's now possible to create entire feature films (note: not cartoon or animation) where all characters and all environments are 100% simulated. No filming on location; no actors need apply for the parts. There's also the tourist trade without all that messing about with airlines and hotels and taxis and suitcases and bad weather. There's all manner of virtual tourist guide packages where you can 'visit' cities and all their tourist attractions (traps).

*Role Playing: It's difficult to insert yourself into a video game, but eventually the technology might be available to do just that. The best futuristic example is the holodeck that features in the latter Star Trek incarnations.

There's one important facet of your life that's already virtual or simulated - at least in theory if not in actual practice. That is, your personal finances. I mean, we've heard of the so-called paperless office (which never really did come to pass - yet). Now we have the virtual wallet and simulated purse. I mean, your payslip or pension is deposited electronically into your account at your financial institution. You can arrange to have your standard bills paid automatically from that account; or you can go online and pay your bills yourself - electronically. You can shop online or at brick-and-mortar stores without the need to carry cash - just use your credit or debit card. You can pay your credit card bill online, or at your financial institution without any cash actually changing hands. You can even use your credit card now to get a soft drink at the vending machine!

At regular intervals your financial institution will send you a piece of paper, or you can see it online, telling you what your accounts are worth. In short, it's now possible to go through your entire financial day-to-day existence, within the entirety of your financial world, without actually having to see or handle actual cash. Money is all virtual money; financial transactions are all simulations of what used to be cash transactions.

So we see that there is nothing unusual with the simulation idea. As an aside, one should note that as little as 100 years ago, such imaginations as would postulate such activities as simulations would have either been writers of fiction or individuals consigned pretty much to the 'nice young men in their clean white coats; coming to take me away, ha-ha, he-he, to the funny farm' set! Given the exponential grown in computing crunch power, what might 100 years from now be like with respect to simulations of reality? Writers of fiction are still pretty safe in speculating; others might still be expecting visits from those 'nice young men in their clean white coats'! All too often however, futurology guesstimates ended up erring too much on the side of caution. What's sort-of expected 100 years hence often proves to be reality in a far shorter time frame. That holodeck might be closer than we think! Now, what kind of simulation might be possible of an extraterrestrial civilization a thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand years in technological advance of ours? A simulation of our Universe (or at least Planet Earth) to them might be as sophisticated as Pac-Man is to us.

The Supreme Simulator: Given the above examples of purpose behind simulations, what's the purpose behind a Supreme Simulator simulating us? Let's assume we're not somebody's toy - created for amusement, rather let's says our Supreme Simulator is a scientist and we're part of their 'what if' experiment. What might be simulated and in what detail?

*The Universe and all it contains to an equal degree of detail.

*The Milky Way Galaxy and all it contains to an equal degree of detail, and all that is beyond that to a far lesser extent of detail.

*Our Solar System and all it contains to an equal degree of detail, and all that is beyond that to a far lesser extent of detail.

*Planet Earth and all it contains to an equal degree of detail, and all that is beyond that to a far lesser extent of detail.

*Your immediate environment and all it contains to an equal degree of detail, and all that is beyond that to a far lesser extent of detail.

*Your mind and all it contains to an equal degree of detail, and all that is beyond that to a far lesser extent of detail except any such time as you interact with something outside of your mind's sphere.

The more detail the simulation has to include, the greater the complexity, the more crunch power is needed to run it. It stands to reason to minimise unnecessary detail, while having the flexibility to add in layers of detail as required. Some examples:

Prior to the invention of the telescope, all you needed to simulate Mars was a moving red dot in the sky. Post telescope, but pre space probes, a bit more detail in the image department was required. Once the Mariner flybys and orbiting probes and landing craft like Viking, Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Phoenix, and a host of others to boot did their thing, a great more detail was required to be simulated, but of course only in those areas where the probes travelled and associated cameras pointed to.

You know there are billions of other simulated people on the simulated Planet Earth and millions of miles of simulated real estate (and tourist traps) and zillions of other simulated animated and unanimated life forms/objects inhabiting that real estate. However, you don't have anything but the vaguest comprehension of the nitty-gritty - the fine print you know not - the details are broad-brush in the extreme. Yet if the simulated you actually goes and visits some of those square miles of real estate and interacts with the natives - animal, mineral or vegetable - then the Supreme Simulator must be able to ramp up the details, and then the fine print leaps into your focus.

Maybe however the Supreme Simulator has for the simulation an unlimited capacity and everything in existence is at the maximum level of detail required, and just because you are ignorant of the landscape detail of Mars or haven't seen every brick in the Great Wall of China doesn't mean that that landscape, and those bricks, exist (in the absence of your presence) in any less detail than the landscape of your backyard and the bricks that make up your home.

In any event, assuming the Supreme Simulator isn't omnipotent and all-knowing and all-powerful then mistakes will be made. Software will need tweaking to minimise if not eliminate inconsistencies, paradoxes, contradictions, and all those nasty square pegs in round holes.

OOPS: Tweaking, Miracles, Upgrades and Patches: So say you feel like playing God and creating a universe, not a real one of course but a simulated one, on your supercomputer (which presumably has greater capacity than your wetware brain which could also create one). So, you (the Supreme Simulator) start writing the initial 'in the beginning' set(s) of software with a view to creating a Big Bang and dictating the parameters that will control the subsequent evolution of your cosmos. Of course, not being a real God, it's hard to think of everything and initially Part 'A' may not mesh totally well with Part 'B', and by the time you get to Part 'Z', everything's an absolute mess. So, you start rewriting and revising and patching things up by tweaking the software here and there so that you end up, down the track, with a cosmos that's a unified and consistent whole.

Oops #1 - Part 'A' created matter; Part 'B' you dictated and created an equal amount of antimatter, making Parts 'C' through 'Z' pretty irrelevant because your cosmos is now pretty boring - just a universe of pure energy! So, tweak #1 is to create Part 'B' but under the surface set the value to an extremely low number. You now have a matter dominated universe.

Oops #2 - In Part 'C' you create gravity along with your matter so as to keep your universe orderly and behaving in a nice clockwork way. Oops, your universe now quickly contracts and undergoes a Big Crunch - end of evolution; end of simulation. Tweak #2: create some antigravity in the form of Dark Energy to prevent that Big Crunch while allowing gravity to maintain the desired clockwork predictability.

Oops #3 - Having taken care of the macro (you've evolved your matter via gravity into planets and stars and galaxies and associated debris) in Part 'D', you now polish off the software, all the bits and pieces needed to control the micro - Part 'E'. Oops, you find that turns out not to be compatible with your macro software. Well, that apparently has no actual bearing on the other parts of your cosmic creation and since you're ultra busy dealing with 1001 other problems and issues, you don't bother to tweak this. You ignore this - no one will be any the wiser! (Oops, you didn't plan on the eventual evolution of cosmologists and quantum physicists!!)

OOPS: Why Are Miracles A Tweak? A miracle is something unexplained and unexplainable. It's a direct violation of the known laws of science. To my mind, a miracle is something that corrects a mistake; a mistake that never should have happened in the first place if the Supreme Simulator had been on the ball. For example, say you have to have a limb amputated, only at a later date it grows back! That's a miracle that corrects what presumably the Supreme Simulator hadn't counted on or programmed or desired. So, count up the number of alleged miraculous events that have been recorded over the eras of human history - that's a lot of alleged tweaks!

Why Don't I Know This? If you and everything around you (out to the farthest boundaries of the Universe) are just a simulation (created either inside the wetware mind or as software in a machine - the Supreme Simulator's supercomputer) you wouldn't know. You'd be programmed not to know or otherwise plain ignorant in the same way that the character in your dream in unaware it's a mental creation - an artefact of your mind. Ditto the characters in a video game - they don't know they are an artificial creation; an artificial life form. Since you are a simulated entity, you are not in control since you are pre-programmed and have to just go with the predetermined flow - the Supreme Simulator's puppet. You can no more control your activity than a calculator can help but calculate that the cube root of 27 is 3. Ditto the entity in your dreams does what your mind commands it to do, even if you aren't aware at the time that your mind is a puppeteer. Your dream character(s) has/have no free will in other words.

Never-the-less there may be ways to come to terms with the correctness or otherwise of the basic scenario that you are simulated and a Supreme Simulator is in control. The hint comes from the above - the need for The Boss to tweak their simulation creation to eliminate discrepancies or paradoxes, which is the same as saying there's evidence that the Supreme Simulator has failed to tweak. The fact that tweaks are necessary in our natural environment is suggestive that we are indeed in a simulation; otherwise parts of the Universe (assuming it's really real) make no real sense. Either Mother Nature screwed up, or the Supreme Simulator did.

Example: Crop circles exist. No explanation for their existence makes total sense. They are obviously made by intelligence, but Mother Nature isn't the guilty party in this case (although Mother Nature is responsible for some geometrical shapes like the spirals in some sea shells, flowers, snowflakes, etc.). No known natural force can account for crop circles. Human intelligence is the most likely explanation, but problems abound like the making of complex patterns in the dark of the night and why haven't those responsible been caught and dealt with? I could list other problems like why England and not Australia? Surely Australia has its share of pranksters. Is an extraterrestrial intelligence responsible perhaps? But what's their possible motive? I'm damned if anything rational comes to the fore. So, I think a tweak is in order here for this puzzlement has gone on far too long

As a general rule of thumb, just about anything science says is near impossible, yet for which there's some degree of credible eyewitness testimony to the contrary, might be a candidate as a quirk courteous of our Supreme Simulator! Collectively, these topics fall under a general umbrella called 'anomalies' and whole books can be read that are full of case histories. For example, your attention is directed to the many volumes compiled by William R. Corliss of anomalies culled from the scientific literature in his Sourcebook Project series. Then there are those wonderful collections of anomaly tomes penned by Charles Fort.

So why are these anomalies allowed to continue? Why hasn't the Supreme Simulator tweaked these? My best guess is that probably its because having set the simulation program in motion, and since none of the quirks are serious enough to cause the program simulation to crash, it's easier just to allow everything to run its course and not 'end program' for the sake of relatively major, but not Universe-threatening, repairs. Minor fixes, like those 'miracle' tweaks can be fixed on the run without interrupting the simulation, just like some upgrades to your computer software can take place while you work, while others don't take effect unless you shut down and boot up again. If you can soldier on and not shut down your operation and live without the upgrade(s), that's okay.

So does that mean our Supreme Simulator, The Boss, is at least 13.7 billion years old since the program running our (presumably) simulated Universe is 13.7 billion years old because it's been 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang? Not really, since there doesn't have to be any relationship between time as experienced by the Supreme Simulator and our perception of time, just like you can watch a two hour movie, but as far as the characters in the movie are concerned, perhaps two days, two weeks, two months, two years or two decades have elapsed. So, perhaps one second passing to The Boss is the equivalent of a decade going by the boards to us.

And just like watching a movie, you can speed the film up, or slow it down - even freeze frame it if you're so inclined. Now if our Supreme Simulator decided to speed up, slow down, even freeze frame (stop) the action, we wouldn't notice because all of our surroundings would be speeded up, or slowed down, or stopped by the exact same amount (which has some obvious parallels with general relativity).

What's the Best Piece of Evidence? If the Universe and all it contains; its physics (relationships, principles, laws, etc.), were created by either Mother Nature (i.e. - naturally) or via an all-knowing, all-powerful, creator God (i.e. - supernaturally), then presumably everything physics would mesh/interlock and be comprehensible, understandable, with no paradoxes, contradictions, anomalies, etc. Translated, one Universe, one set of hardware; contains just one set of unified physics, one set of software. Now your computer hardware runs on not one, but many sets of software - various functions; various sets of software. So, is the Universe like the way the Universe should be, or is it more akin to your computer programs? Unfortunately, the Universe is like your computer. The Universe's physics contains two programs; two sets of software. They don't mesh/interlock; they can not be unified; they are not compatible. Its relativity (macro) software; its quantum mechanics (micro) software and never the twain shall meet. The two are like your basic square peg in a round hole. That's a flawed creation - it's an 'Oops #3' (see above) - the work of a flawed creator, like of the flesh-and-blood kind. The sort that churns out video game programs - like a Supreme Simulator.

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Digital Exam Generators - A Bad Idea

There are several software programs available to teachers today that claim to digitally create standards based tests for teaching units that provide a variety of test question types. While this may be true, and it is quite amazing that these software programs exist, I do not recommend fully depending on any of these programs for testing purposes.

The problem with digital test generators is many of these programs offer a very biased approach to testing on a particular unit. While subjects such as Math or Science may not suffer as greatly from such bias, content areas like English and Social Studies tests that are created offer test questions by the creator that are often very one sided. To further explain, you have to have taught your unit to the test in order for your students to be successful, whether or not your interpretation of the material matches the test creator.

The problem that exists with subjective subjects as well is that students may have interpreted material to fit their own prior knowledge. Although they perhaps learned a new skill along the way such as a literary element for an important date in time, the factual material is not always all that s tested on. Studies show that in these digitally generated tests, students usually perform quite well when tested on hard, tangible material but often do quite poorly on comprehension type questions, not because they don t comprehend the question but because their interpretation of the material does not match that of the test generators.

Teachers should not fully rely on these test generators to create tests for students. A variety of personally written questions combined with the test generated questions would be the best alternative. There are most certainly questions that these software programs generate that are extremely well written. Combining teacher written questions along with the software programs will offer a more valid test as teacher questions can reflect a certain aspect of the unit while the test generators questions can offer another point of view.

Another program that has recently caught the attention of teachers is essay graders. While the test generators can truly be useful to creating more well-rounded tests, I urge all educators to avoid essay graders, at least with the current programs available. A number of colleagues and I conducted an experiment using our textbooks essay grading software a couple of years ago (the same software the company still promotes today). The program picked up on all spelling errors and many grammatical errors but failed to identify issues with essay organization, content, and most importantly plagiarism identification. Granted, the program was likely not designed to go so into depth with grading an essay, its short-comings are quite noticeable. Perhaps in the future, these programs will gain a bit more credibility, but for the time being, you re better off just grading your own essays!

As technology continues to develop on a day-to-day basis, the issues with these programs will likely disappear. For now, it is best to still rely on yourself and what you know you ve taught your students to create solid and credible tests and accurately grade student essays.

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Writing Effective (and Requisite) Essay Openers

When we write for college courses, we write for an audience other than ourselves. And it's an audience of more than one--the professor who assigned the piece. A good way to think of (and never forget) audience is to imagine we are writing the assignment for a popular magazine that sits in multiple copies on the shelves of an equally popular bookstore. For each magazine sold, pretend, we get a percentage.

Our goal, then, is to have as large and widespread a readership as possible--to hook as many browsers as we can--with an effective opener (also known as an introduction). We therefore must engage, first, before we entertain, educate, or inform.

First the Caveats and Comments on Ineffective (Bad) Openers

NO to SNORE openers - Forget burdening or alienating your readers with comments of how many people in many countries have many different ideas about life and society and all those other blah, blah, blah hard-to-wrap-the-brain-around opening commentaries...which really just send the reader off to find a more intriguing read.

NO to OBVIOUS - Similar to the snore generalizations, the obvious comments in an opener will have eyes (if not heads) rolling as readers take in the TV is mental masturbation or ads are used to manipulate us statements you can avoid--by using an old Marshall McCluhan quote or Cleo awards description, for example, instead.

NO to HYPERBOLE - Putting myself through school as a waitress, I had a number of regular customers who were writers, too, they said. They would talk at me all through my shift, reciting their best work. One insisted on reiterating his description of the verdant rolling hills that kissed the edges of the glistening waters at the feet of the majestic span of the Golden Gate Bridge...until I would get so mental I would fantasize about bringing the heft of the glistening glass coffee pot screaming down onto his head. In other words, do not exaggerate. Do not bring in heavy drama and description that will overwhelm and, again, alienate your readers. Stick with the truth. Stick with the openers that work.

We Use Modes for Engaging Openers...and I'm going to Use One Here, Out of Necessity...and Spite

I once read a how-to article on web content writing, on making a site that brings traffic (the attention of many). I had already begrudgingly given in to the understanding that web content writing is very different than academic writing--it has different goals, different audiences, and different elements that lend themselves to an 'A' piece of writing. In fact, it is so different that to write for the web we have to unravel all we have worked to weave, have to unlearn all we have learned as college English writers.

Don't Confuse Web Content/Writing and Academic Writing

So the writer of this article says to start web copy you skip the opener and go directly to the main point (what we in academia know as the thesis). Okay. This made sense, I thought, as web readers read differently: they read fast, they skim, they scan, they skip...to draw the most usable info in the shortest amount of time. (Probably the way you are reading now, hoping I get on with the point).

-I was with Mr. Web when he explained these facts.

-I was with him as he noted the research findings that back up the rationale for sacrificing good academic exposition for web text.

-And I was there with his tips and tricks, which were great...until he went too far, editorializing about writers who actually use openers:

He claimed that writers who rely on openers don't have "the courage" to just get to the point. So he lost me.

Don't Let Anyone Shame Your Learning Writing Tricks

We can adapt to just about any rhetorical style. We can adjust our notions of what makes for good writing. But we should balk when a how-to writer insults other methods of writing. We should even disregard implications of cowardice as unnecessary ad hominem attacks. False attacks. Fallacious and floppy and frivolous teaching. Screw that.

Readers of Academic Essay Writing Appreciate (even Prefer) a Good Opener

Openers in academic writing, whether in a creatively developed literary response or a historical survey, are imperative. They are a gentler way of drawing in, luring our readers. They are at first quite challenging to get right, but our mastering them--which is possible--has nothing to do with courage, which comes from the French word, "coeur," heart. We have plenty of heart. We're studying English, for hell sake.

Against my wishes, then, this page opens with a declaration and gets right to the point. At first. But it also has a "grabber" slipped in--because we're looking at grabbers and because, well, I can't help it. I want to model decent prose for you.

Samples of Effective Essay Openers by Mode/Type

Even better, I'll share with you some samples, written by my former students (who have granted permission for the use of their work as models):

****People Love Stories. We Love to Tell Stories. The Narrative Opener:

Once upon a time, during the era of slavery, whites were afraid of blacks, and the "word" was born. That's why someone came up with the "word." Two hundred years later around my sister's house, the children still use this "word". Sometimes I even hear myself say this "word." But guess what? I check myself and correct myself, because when you use the "word" to address someone, no matter who you are or what color you are, it is totally disrespectful.

The word: "nigger". (1)

****To Establish Credibility, Try a Sober, Scholarly Introduction. The Statistics/Facts Opener:

By the age of forty-four, 47 percent of American women will have had an abortion. (Day 6) To describe this statistic as anything other than a tragedy is to deny the sanctity of human life. The Christian abortion debate rests upon the moral and theological dimension[s] of this issue. To examine the moral dimensions of abortion without examining the social realm is to ignore the mutually dependent relationship that surrounds this debate. (2)

****Appealing to the Senses Lures and Keeps Readers Interested. The Descriptive Opener:

Rain is pelting my car relentlessly as I drive home from [XXX] College. Cars rushing on the freeway cause the water on the pavement to burst into a fine mist, surrounding each and every vehicle with a billowing sheet of opaqueness. Finally, I arrive in front of my little two-bedroom home. With a sigh of relief, I enter my living room.

Lately, this house has turned into a haven of safety, sheltering me as much from nature's elements as from the unpredictable and unprovoked malevolence I experience from one of my instructors. My dread is heightened by the fact that I appear to be the primary recipient of this teacher's outbursts of viciousness. Slowly, my gaze shifts across the room and comes to rest on the play I have to read for my English class. It is Mamet's Oleanna. I pick up the book and soon find myself drawn into the story. Quickly, it becomes clear to me that this play [deals with] the relationship between a teacher (John) and his student (Carol). While both characters show evidence of an interesting variety of behaviors, John mesmerizes me to a greater degree. I begin to wonder whether John displays symptoms of an underlying psychological disorder. (3)

Put the Readers in the Frame, Inside the Paper. The Direct Address Opener:

You are in the midst of a blazing inferno. Your mind is moving at the speed of light. Yet you are paralyzed by fear. The silence is deafening between the confinement of the four walls. You are no longer in control. You wonder how the communication between the members of the family has ceased, specifically between Mother and Father. Each passing day, only silence can be heard. The usual chatter at the dinner table is considerably lessened. It comes down to, "Pass the corn, please." Or one excusing oneself from the table. (4)

Advance Trust, Establish Authority from the Start. The Authoritative Quote Opener:

"Generations of students have studied calculus without ever seeing its power." This statement is found in an article by K.C. Cole titled, "Bringing Calculus Down to Earth," from The Los Angeles Times. I most certainly agree with Cole. At one point earlier in the course of the class (calculus), I was not sure about the use of calculus and the importance of it. Others like me, such as friends, felt the same way. For this reason, I would assume, I am doing this research. This research is for students like myself to realize that "there is something about calculus," as Cole states in the article.... (5)

Keep with the Traditional "Show, Don't Tell" Lesson. The Example Opener:

Sex is great. To me, it is all about feelings and experiences--the feeling of flesh against flesh, the experience of orgasm after orgasm. Sometimes, even, there is that feeling of being special, wanted, and loved. I suppose my parents had sex. It is not really an image I like to bring to mind. But when my father has sex with someone other than my mom, how am I supposed to feel then? (6)

Engage by Asking for the Readers' Opinion and Thoughtful Participation. The Profound Rhetorical Question Opener:

Is the play, True West, written by actor/writer Sam Shepard, a sublimation of his own sibling rivalry or a rationalization of one? He writes of two brothers who are equal in intelligence but opposite in character. The older brother lives by his wit and the younger by his pen. In his unique style, Shepard uses many symbols describing the keen emotions that make up these two brothers. He also uses metaphors that reel you, the audience, into the depths of anger, pain, and the reality of life.... (7)

Finally, the Encouragement of Effective (Good) Openers

YES to APPROPRIATE introductory material. That is, use an opener that is relevant to your essay topic. Use an opener that fits the material. For example, a definition of alcoholism (which might work if you were writing a book) might be too clumsy for a cause and effect paper studying the influences of alcoholism on the family.

YES to APT openers. Do the modes that you are best at writing. And do what you best like doing. Write what works for you, your audience, and your assignment.

YES, modes overlap. A narrative opener will have descriptive details. A quote may be combined with statistics and facts. But instead of tripping on what the exact boundaries are between modes or types of writing passages, focus on the specifics of one type of opener as you understand it. The rest will be bonus material that merely enhances your style.

And YES to engaging, alluring introductions that lead your readers in to the place where your thesis/opinion sits waiting to declare your bold, informed truths. Which should never be denied or neglected...any more than your audience should be.

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Structuring a Basic Argument Essay For a College Course

I really do not know when the custom began, but it has become a norm now to have someone else write for you your presentation. I first learnt of this happening when I heard the term 'speech-writers' used in relation to those people who produce speeches for political leaders. Top officials of both public and private sector organizations often keep a team of speech-writers. When I first knew about this way of obtaining speeches by our leaders my first feeling was that they were not honest really in what they say after all.

We hear such fine speeches made these days that arouse deep feelings, but they were somebody else's thoughts and convictions. I feel this is wrong. If you believe it, say it yourself; say it the best way you can, but say it in your own special way. To me, back in the days, I felt it was dishonest of someone to ask another to say for him what he ought to say. I bet that is how the phrase 'politically correct' came about. People seem to want to hear you say what they want to hear, whether you believe it or not, they care less!

Well, I know I can't change the world, but since everyone has accepted our leaders lying to us, it is no surprise that no one eventually gets to hold them to what they have said. How could anyone, when the speakers themselves are not in touch with the contents of their speech. Someone made them say it, and most of us know it; so who would blame them for not doing what they said!

Writing and speech-making seem to have gone on to take the form described above in our time. If you need anything saying these days and you have the cash, you'd always find someone ready and willing to do it for you. Image makers push out propaganda to make things seem the way they are not. So now people craft up materials and all you need to do is append your name to them. So much for our literary contents these days. With the existence of virtual assistants some even piece-up a book in no time and publish and have it up for sale as their product without making any input whatsoever. Even when they feel the need to proof-read, they also hire another virtual assistant. What a day we live in! And why not, even some women would have others carry their pregnancies for them these days!

The world has become so loose, we ask others to do for us the most personal of services. Even when a husband mistakenly forgets that today is his wedding anniversary he asks someone in his office to go buy a gift for his wife. Anything that person feels is adequate for the occasion does it! With writing, especially on-line writing, you see contents being re-cycled all over using the software everyone knows exist today. Content managers, such as article directories, should not be so hard when they discover that what someone has presented to them as an original has actually been making the rounds for a while.

Is it too late to stop the damage? To have writers write their inspiration and speakers speak from the depth of their hearts? The art of writing and speaking has been corrupted and is in strong danger of being lost; especially with the ease that the internet offers. Will there be something worth bequeathing to the next generation when it's done. Shakespeare, nor Julius Caesar did not get to be this way. It is really up to us, writers and publishers and speakers, what we make of today.

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MBA Essay Tips for MIT Sloan School of Management

On its website, MIT Sloan School of Management highlights programs from Entrepreneurship to the Digital Economy. Innovation is key, and the program seeks interesting students to build a class that can learn from each other and continue the tradition of innovation.

When approaching this set of essays, your task is to remain focused on your overall application strategy and choose the key stories that can showcase your achievements at school, work and extracurricular activities while demonstrating that you will contribute to Sloan's mission.

Essay 1

The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and generate ideas that advance management practice. Discuss how you will contribute toward advancing the mission based on examples of past work and activities. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

The MIT Sloan application relied heavily on "behavioral essays" in the past. This year there is only one essay of this style, that requires you to describe your past accomplishments and experience on a specific level. These questions have typically focused on understanding how you work, think and act in a variety of situations. As you provide examples of past work and activities ideally you are highly specific about your thoughts and actions in the situation.

This question is seeking to understand how you develop and execute on ideas. A work or extracurricular example where you demonstrated the ability to generate strategy and execute upon it would be ideal here. How did you identify your idea? What did you do to develop it? What did you ultimately accomplish? This essay will demonstrate your intellectual capacity and curiosity, which are crucial attributes MIT Sloan is looking for in MBA admits.

Essay 2

Write a professional letter of recommendation on behalf of yourself. Answer the following questions as if you were your most recent supervisor recommending yourself for admission to the MIT Sloan MBA Program: (750 words or fewer)

• How long and in what capacity have you known the applicant?

• How does the applicant stand out from others in a similar capacity?

• Please give an example of the applicant's impact on a person, group, or organization.

• Please give a representative example of how the applicant interacts with other people.

• Which of the applicant's personal or professional characteristics would you change?

• Please tell us anything else you think we should know about this applicant.

MIT Sloan asked candidates to submit a cover letter for their MBA application for several years. This iconic essay challenged candidates every year to encompass career goals, reasons for an MBA and interest in MIT Sloan in a short professional style cover letter.

This year MIT Sloan returns to a typically professional format with a requirement to draft a letter of recommendation for yourself. You are placed in the role of your most recent supervisor and asked a series of questions that MBA programs typically ask of your professional recommenders. The wrinkle to this question is that your most recent supervisor may also be writing an actual letter of recommendation for you. MIT Sloan is one of the few MBA programs without a preference for your current supervisor as a primary recommender, so you could also avoid that scenario. Regardless, this "recommendation letter" should both reflect similar feedback as your actual recommendation letters and provide new information.

The key challenge in answering this question is the tone to take. Ideally you are measured about both your strengths and weaknesses, while showing confidence that you are accomplished and also that you are able to improve when you need to. The ideal tone is mature and logical, without overt bragging. Your actual supervisor may get away with more glowing terms when describing your work, but you will want to keep in mind that self-awareness and interest in improvement are assets to an MBA applicant.

Take note that several elements of this question focus on interpersonal skills. This is your opportunity to showcase leadership and teamwork. Self-awareness about your impact on others will come through here and demonstrates you know yourself and how you come across to your team, managers and peers.

The Admissions Committee invites you to share anything else you would like us to know about you, in any format. If you choose to use a multimedia format, please host the information on a website and provide us the URL.

MIT Sloan's entirely open-ended optional essay invites applicants to respond to the essay in any format desired. This allows you to do anything you need to with this space, including clarifying any concerns or highlighting interesting aspects of your background or profile.

This essay is an ideal opportunity to provide any information that you were unable to work into the other two essays and provide a new angle on your candidacy. If you have an unusual background, hobby or extracurricular experience, this may be an opportunity to provide that information to the admissions committee. With similar questions asked by other MBA programs in the past Stacy Blackman Consulting has advised candidates on everything from photo journalism projects to customized multimedia presentations. The format is far less important than the content, but it's also true that images or presentations can provide a new perspective on your application.

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Introduction and Review: Inbox Cash Techniques

There are a lot of tips and guides for Online Business out there. All these claim that they hold the ultimate techniques in order to provide you quick success and gain a lot of money online in such a short period of time. But as you purchase the guide and read it through, you would only get disappointed and realize that it is not really effective at all, and it comprises nothing but the usual tips and strategies you would have found anywhere all over the internet as a random internet article. But there is one online guide that is very popular in the circulation right now, and claims to be a very helpful strategy guide for novices; the ultimate Inbox Cash Techniques.

Inbox Cash Techniques is a media module that contains 45 videos and a pdf file, which teaches you the essential things in establishing an online business. Just like any other guides, it claims to have a very effective strategy, and offers to show you unique approaches to guarantee such money making online. But what makes it different from the other guides?

Inbox Cash Techniques offers you guidance as you start your business. They are presented in an easy step by step guide, to make sure that you will be able to understand the instructions and principles behind all the actions you will do, even if you are not very adept with computers and Networking. In fact, Inbox Cash Techniques has been designed specifically for the clients who are not knowledgeable in Information Technology.

What is good about the Inbox Cash Techniques is that you do not need to do any Pay Per Click jobs or create essays and websites just so you could make a reasonable income. The only thing that you need using this type of strategy is enough social skills in order to persuade people to look into your website and consider your offer. This strategy emphasizes the importance of connection and trafficking, in order to secure a lot of clients which would be giving you the money you are aiming for.

So far, the Inbox Cash Techniques receives nothing but raging reviews. A lot of people consider this as a very effective and unique approach in attacking the world of online business. This is also allotted to the wonderful success story behind it, one in which the creator, couple Melford and Concetta Bibben shared, wherein they entered a serious financial crisis before discovering and being successful in the field of Online Marketing with this strategy. People take inspiration with this and used it as a motivation for them to try the same thing and hope to be successful as well.

Internet marketing is an innovative approach to marketing and business. Despite its newborn state, it is rendered very effective and a good way for one to earn extra income, especially at such time of recession. As a business, you should learn how to properly manage it, in order to secure your success, and not subject your profit to risk. This particular advice, out of all the tips you could probably gather, is the most important one of all.

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Easy Essays - Follow Five Simple Steps to Write Your Best Essay Ever

Do you struggle with writing essays? Do you put off starting your assignment until the last possible minute, then dash through it to get it over and done with? Do you find yourself making any excuse to stop and procrastinate while you're writing?

Here are five steps that make essay writing easy and even enjoyable:

Brainstorm about your essay topic

When you get given your essay question or topic, you might think "I don't know where to start." Or, worse, you might think, "That's so easy - but how can I spin it out to 3,000 words?" Sitting and staring at your essay topic won't help, though. You need to grab a blank piece of paper.

Got that sheet of paper? Good. Write your essay topic in the middle, and start to brainstorm. Jot down any major points that the topic raises, or any secondary questions that relate to it. Don't worry about your ideas being good, or linking together, at this stage: just write down everything that comes to mind.

Make an essay plan

Once you've spent twenty minutes or so brainstorming, you're ready to mould those initial thoughts into an essay plan. Decide on your thesis first; what do you want to say in your essay? Try to put this down in writing - it'll form part of your introduction and your conclusion.

When you're clear about your thesis, work out two to four points that you're going to use to back it up. Write these down, along with any sub-points for each. Doing this now, rather than launching straight into your essay, means that you won't run out of steam half-way through.

Collate examples to use in your essay

Now that you're clear about the points you want to make, you can look for examples to back up what you're going to say. This means going through relevant books, journals and articles to find experts in your subject who agree with you! Sometimes, you might even want to quote from a source and then disagree with it.

If you're studying a subject like English or History, you'll need to quote from "primary sources" or "first hand sources" (such as novels, in English, or diaries and letters in History). But don't forget to bring in some literary critics or historians too.

Draft your essay in one sitting

Don't get into the habit of writing a sentence or two of your essay, wandering the room for a while, writing another sentence, and stopping for a coffee break. Sit down, switch off your mobile - and your internet connection if you can - and get your plan and all your examples to hand. Then set a timer and start writing.

How long you need to draft an essay depends on how fast you write and on the word length, but try to challenge yourself: if drafting an essay normally takes you three hours, see if you can do it in two.

Leave your essay, then revise

Once you've come to the end of your essay, print it out, and leave it for at least a day. When you come to revise, sit down with the hard copy and a pen, and go through, marking any changes that you want to make. Don't try to edit straight onto the screen, as it's easy to get caught up in "tinkering" and miss the real problems.

If you have time, start a whole new document for the redraft; your writing will often flow much better if you rewrite each paragraph and even each sentence. The first draft was raw creation, this is honing and polishing.

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