From American West as Classroom, Art, and Metaphor (NY Times 4 May 2011)  

 For our final presentation, my group played the game Mafia.

We chose this game for two reasons.  First, because playing a game seemed like a good way to engage the class in our presentation.  Second, we chose this game because it appears to be a perfect example of the complicated chiasmus of drawing information alongside modes of communication.  That is to say, this game demonstrates that what the informant may consider and try to communicate as noise and information may not perfectly align with what the perceiver considers to be noise an information.  

       For our project we had a lot of debate and discussion about what we felt was important to each one of us throughout the semester as well as the important topics for the group. In addition to that dilemma, we had no idea of how we wanted to present the information. We know it had to be fun and standing up in from of the class going through slides, like we would have done in other classes, was not an option. It was time to be innovative, creative, and go out with a bang.

 As I go through exam week I can't help returning to the idea of purpose and its importance.  I remember in one of our discussions we talked about whether we needed things in life to have a purpose.  My original thought was that I only need purpose for certain things.  I used the example of running.  I hate to run, but I'm an athlete so I don't really have a choice.  I explained that when I have a reason for running, for instance in a game, or to prepare for a season, I can get through a long run, whereas if it's just running to run I can't force myself to do it.  Versus just hanging out somewhere or sitting outside, which I don't need a specific purpose for doing.  I'm starting to think now though, that maybe purpose is kind of like agency.

   Though this is a bit delayed, (I've finally learned how to post the video I wanted to post) I wanted to have a quick discussion on the Ouroboros. I've been rather curious about it even since we briefly discussed it in class earlier. When I think of the ouroboros, the ouroboros seems like an ominous symbol used by cults where the members, shrouded in dark cloaks, stand around a pit of fire and chant songs in Latin. I've become especially interested in the history of the ouroboros to see where it came from and what it even means. 

  In our final presentation we attempted to create a game that blended the concept of natural selection with the “natural selection” of literature or memetic phrases, movies, or music. We used spoons, forks, knives, cups, and coffee beans to conduct this activity. We dumped coffee beans onto the floor, and after we had given either a fork, spoon, or knife to each individual, we asked them to collect the coffee beans and put them into the cup. We expected that the spoons would be able to collect the most beans the most efficiently, then the forks, and lastly the knives.