The Road: Radiolab Podcast "Morality

2/7/2020

Below you will find three embedded portions of NPR: Radiolab's podcast, "Morality." The fourth embedded link is the full hour of the podcast if you have the time to listen to it in its totality in one sitting.

Your assignment for this last blog entry for The Road is to listen to this podcast and comment upon it in a holistic sense (listen to all 3 portions before composing your blog entry).Possible questions to start your blog post: Where does our sense of right and wrong come from? What is the relationship between morality, humanity, and the individual?
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Please note: This blog entry and your understanding of this concept (morality) is necessary for the final summative assessment for The Road. Next week, we will be using this blog as a significant element of your final essay. This will be your most rigorous essay of this unit.
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Part One Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class as your nom de plume.
DUE: Sunday night at midnight (2/9)! PLEASE INCLUDE WORD COUNT!

Part Two Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing.
DUE: Monday night at midnight (2/10)!

Sam J. Miller

2/9/2020 12:08:23 pm

The sense of wrong and right come from parents and teachers. As a child these adults influence our sense on what we are doing is right or wrong. Just like in The Road the Boy gets his sense of wrong and right from the Man. The Man tells the boy that they carry the fire and it’s the reason why they don’t eat other people. The relationship between morality in humanity and individuals is we all follow the basic morals like to be nice to others. Sometimes the morals we place are more powerful to other individuals and it’s due to experience. Just like in the Road the Boy believes in helping others in need, but the Man feels that they shouldn’t help other people. The Man taught the Boy all his morals, but they believe heavily in different morals. The Boy believes that they should help other people, but because the Man experienced bad encounters with other people he doesn’t believe in that anymore. The Man does believe in helping others when he tells stories about it, but he believes in more about not giving up. He wants to teach the Boy that no matter what they shouldn’t have to resort to eating others because to them it’s immoral.
Count: 210

Maurice Carlos Ruffin

2/10/2020 11:19:59 am

I love your connection to education and how you incorporate the fact that most people in society spend time in school and that shapes their personality types. I think that was a really advanced connection to be made and it's actually really relevant since we spend most of our time in school. I also think that's really applicable since the Boy is in that age where he would be in school. Good job.

Emily St. John Mandel

2/10/2020 11:23:43 am

I like that you emphasize the environmental factor of morality. The moral values of your parents and the people around you is important in deciding the morality of a child. This could be where a child starts to develop their morality. Sometimes these role models will impose unrealistic moral values or values they do not practice themselves on children. That makes it hard to follow through with these values as they become older. Children who grow up with bad moral role models are not necessarily doomed to be immoral for the rest of their life. Would they be able to learn new moral values? People can make personal choices about their morality as they become older. So is it more about a combination of personal choices and environment.

Word Count: 128

Jesse Ball

2/10/2020 02:32:48 pm

I wouldn't say the boy gets his absolute sense of right and wrong from his father, but most of his ideas of right and wrong come from his father. The son is very much unlike his father willing to give those around him a chance, and believes it is right to do so. The father on the other hand thinks that it is wrong to help those because of their own survival. Besides that I like how you really center the idea of why people things are right and wrong; our parents are really what we look to when deciding what to do in the means of right and wrong.

name

2/10/2020 02:38:25 pm

this was my exact feelings toward the morality podcast. i believe that teaching the boy no to eat others was essential in his survival. morals that we learn are powerful to life experience. if your a morally good person than good things will follow.

Ling Ma

2/10/2020 10:43:23 pm

I agree with your reasoning behind how our sense of wrong and right comes from our environment; specifically our parents and teachers. Through our parents, we learn the difference between obedience and disobedience, and figure out that disobedience has punishment while obedience has reward. In the novel, the man did his best to show the boy how to survive, even though it goes against some moral beliefs; which includes helping others in need. The man believed him and his son's safety came first before anything else, but the boy believed putting others first was also important. It was interesting to see the boy develop his own sense of morality even though it differed from the man who taught him everything that he knows.

Word Count: 123

Maurice Carlos Ruffin

2/9/2020 12:38:45 pm

Our sense of right and wrong is based on the expectations of the person and the limitations of society around them. Take for example the classic Heinz dilemma, here we see a man struggle with saving his wife by stealing or letting her die and facing no consequences. In this moment we see that his human instinct is to protect the one who he loves but societal limitations prevents him for getting what he needs; a combination of a struggle for morality versus a struggle against humanity. Naturally he’d prefer for his wife not to die but there’s consequences if he commits the crime that allows her to live. In this particular example, it’s clear that his sense of right and wrong is shaped by the limitations of society and the rules they impose. A child would avoid stealing to avoid punishment, which brings in the childlike aspect of his dilemma. In that case , as explained in the podcast, it’s a black and white, good-versus-evil. However, if all laws where to be abolished then concepts such a stealing and crime are nothing more than meaningless phrases that hold no weight. The only thing that overpowers a lack regulation is the foundation of human nature that allows us to differentiate right from wrong from our own evolutionary beliefs, which is found in the novel. The man reflects the old world: full of rules and structure. But without them, he’s nothing more than a man trying to preserve his humanity in a dissolving world around him.

Sam J. Miller

2/10/2020 11:07:00 am

I like how you incorporate the idea of Heinz dilemma because it connects with the Road. The Man in the Road is following pre-conventional morality and post conventional morality because he tries to follow the old world rules , but he kills others people since other people don't believe in the rules anymore. The Man wants to follow the rules because he wants to preserve humanity and teach his son about the rules in the world. The Man find it difficult to not kill because other people are trying to kill them. The Boy thinks killing is bad and he tries to prevent his dad to kill others.
Count: 107

Emily St. John Mandel

2/10/2020 11:13:13 am

I like how you mentioned examples from the video and explained them with your own interpretation. I also like that you brought up how morality would be structured if there were no laws to follow. This shows that some moral values we have now might be insignificant without laws to uphold them. This also emphasizes the importance of human nature in deciding our moral values on personal basis, and also a universal basis as well. Without human nature, would there be right and wrong? What would laws be? Would they be solely based on logic? Would emotion play a part?

Word Count: 103

Kazuo Ishiguro

2/10/2020 01:17:59 pm

I completely agree that it’s based on the expectations of the person and the standards of society. I like how you used the Heinz dilemma to back up your claim because it explains in great detail how society can mold how we think and what actions to take. Our morals now, like you said, wouldn’t be what we live by if there aren’t laws. The man in the Road tries to teach his son these morals, so he won’t end up like the rest of society in a nonexistent world. However, it is difficult because everywhere and everyone around them go against those old values.
Word count: 105

Jesse Ball

2/10/2020 02:40:45 pm

I very much agree with what you said. The limits that society has are what stop a person from murdering another, or the example you suggested. Human beings I wouldn't say are selfish, but when it comes to getting what we want ,we will stop at nothing until it is ours. With things like laws "in the way" we aren't able to do what we really want, or have what we desire. It is a good thing to have regulations on things, but how much limits are too much on a society, I guess that was the question McCarthy was trying to figure out.

Word Count 104

Emily St. John Mandel

2/9/2020 01:55:23 pm

The idea that morality is a result of different parts of a human’s brain fighting overpower each other shows that morality is not universal. Moral values differ from person to person, and might result in inconsistencies in their behavior. More rational people might be able to disregard the more moral choice, and make the most logical one. This also suggests that a person’s sense of morality might result from their personality. Some people might have a stronger inner chimp that can allow them to follow their basic human instincts while others have a better ability to think things through. This does not necessarily make them immoral, but it might lead them to make more sensible decisions.

I think it also interesting that during the podcast they explored when children developed their morality, but also paired this with the levels of empathy and the happy victimizer effect. This showed evidence that a child’s reasoning of what is right and wrong is lasting. Also, any lapse in their morality can have a lasting effect on them in the future. Morality has a stronger effect on behavior as people become older. This might hint to the fact that morality grows with a person and is not stagnant.

Word Count: 204

Sophie Mackintosh

2/10/2020 11:18:23 am

I completely agree, both the idea that the different parts of the brain fight each other and with the concept of children developing their morals. I believe that people’s peers and environments have a lot to do with the emotional area of the brain. For example, when debating whether or not to push the man, people may push him through the lack of emotion or for opposite reasons. If you were choosing to save your family by pushing a stranger then you would, but if you were pushing a family member to save strangers then most likely you wouldn’t. This shows how the people around you relate to the emotional aspect of your brain.
Word Count: 114

Rob Hart

2/10/2020 09:42:51 pm

It seems as if there is a Nature vs. Nurture debate brewing in your blog post. I can't help but wonder whether humans internally and subconsciously battle nature through experience. If genetics gives a person a bigger frontal lobe for empathic purposes then will you grow up to be more empathetic?
Or is the natural brain change with experience? In other terms, will the frontal lobe develop more through more empathetic experiences?
In my ponderings, I feel as though we are given a certain capacity to empathize but we are the ones who must expand upon it. We must take our experiences and find ways to empathize. If we decide not to learn from our mistakes, we simply miss out on an opportunity to connect with others.

Word Count: 130

Ling Ma

2/10/2020 11:01:41 pm

I agree with your statement stating that "morality grows with a person and is not stagnant". One's morals are always changing with age and continues to influence our everyday behavior. As we age, it's evident that our mentality as a toddler isn't the same as our mentality as of right now (teenagers). With age, comes different changes in morals and an increase of empathy. Depending on how we grew up and factors influencing our choices, our morals may be positively or negatively affected. As you mentioned, depending on the situation, the most logical and sensible choice may be a better option in comparison to the "moral choice".

Word Count: 107

Kazuo Ishiguro

2/9/2020 05:06:35 pm

Our sense of right and wrong comes from our experiences and our perceived notion of the future. When an individual understands that a punishment is in affect after their action, they would take into consideration all the possible choices in their dilemma. Also, if something bad does happen in, let’s say the lever situation from the podcast, and someone pushes the lever instead of physically pushing a person, they could blame it on the lever saying it was a malfunction. They could think they’re doing the right thing, but if it actually came down to who would take the blame they would turn the tables real quick. In The Road, we see cannibalism as a wicked action that shouldn’t be committed and so does the father and son. Our morality defines what’s right and what’s wrong and our humanity acts upon that. Morally, we know that cannibalism is wrong. As humans, we don’t think to go down that route because it’s disgusting. We have been raised against that since there was no need for it. The cannibals have their morality switched around because of the experiences they went through trying to survive. They probably have lost others and don’t want themselves nor the others remaining to go through that. Somewhere inside their brain they know it’s wrong, but their human nature is pushed by the nonexistent world to understand that cannibalism is the only way to survive.

Word Count: 237

Rob Hart

2/10/2020 09:57:28 pm

I think that's an interesting point. Within your own argument, you were able to display a sense of empathy with those that are generally not empathize with, the cannibals.

What I find interesting is what goes through those cannibals minds? Brainless and crazed non-human frenzy for the flesh of their kin, or perhaps (as you brought up) doing-- what we consider-- wrong for the good of others. It seems as though you hint at the cannibals being people who look for those that wander miserably around the streets burdened by a will to spare them of the carnage the world is demonstrating.

The idea that the cannibals are good-willed would be a great spin-off series where we get to see the perspective of the Roadrat up until his murder. We could see why the Roadrat kills, and what his motive for survival is. Could it be possible that the Roadrats have hope for a better world, just as the Man and the Boy? To get to the point where the world becomes better they have to do what they can to survive-- and that sadly is to eat humans.

Word Count: 225 - 38 = 187

Jesse Ball

2/9/2020 08:26:57 pm

Right and Wrong are much more than black and white as the school system has tried to force on us . If you were to ask any person the question that was asked in the first part of the podcast most would say they wouldn't push that person of that train track, but if let’s say it was a criminal they wouldn't mind the push. They would deem it as morally right because they are “protecting society”, but isn't it still considered murder? Yes your killing a known criminal, but are they not also human just like you or me; they just picked the wrong path. A better example of the Heinz dilemma where a man struggles between what is right, and wrong. He has to choose between stealing a drug to help save his dying wife, or just watch probably the love of his life die. Most people would hopefully pick the first one, but one word in that whole sentence changes the probability that the first one would likely be picked: steal. Theft is something a child is taught not to, but if there was no such thing as a punishment for theft as said in the podcast, wouldn't we all be taking what we needed? Since there is a black and white concept to theft we choose not to do it, but if there wasn't a choice, I’m pretty sure everyone would take what they needed.

Maurice Carlos Ruffin

2/10/2020 12:00:22 pm

I like how you included the idea of education playing a major factor in our own personal beliefs. I also like how you included the hypothetical of them being a criminal. By adding that as a variable it completely changes the perception of the issue and I think that's something that people would definitely consider. I love the way you compare the two dilemmas to further your analysis.

Ling Ma

2/9/2020 11:14:09 pm

Even as children, we were taught the difference between right and wrong. Children hearing the phrases, "don't do that! or that's not very nice" enables them to understand that certain behaviors aren't socially accepting and can cause harm not only to themselves but others. The ability to make corrections to a behavior and begin to realize the difference between right or wrong is an important skill to have. In the Heinz dilemma for instance, the man knew saving his wife was his first and only priority, but he also knew the difference between right and wrong. Everyone has a choice to make, but depending on the situation, our definition of 'right and wrong" may change. In the road, the man would do his best to guide his son in the right direction and let him know whether he was right or wrong in a situation. The boy took his father's advice and corrected himself when he was wrong. However, the boy developed his own sense of morality and individualism and wanted to be his own self. The boy understood that times were tough but throughout this he wanted to help others and be a source of hope for his father. Throughout the novel, the man and the boy never specifically talked about the difference between right and wrong. Their main focus was to survive and stay alive to see the next day.

Word Choice: 232

Sam J. Miller

2/10/2020 11:20:40 am

I agree that the Boy developed his own sense of morality because throughout the novel the Boy tries to tell his father to help a person or not to kill them. The Boy understands that his father does wrong things for their safety and protection, but the Boy wants to believe in the good in the world. I agree that morality is created based on the person's belief in following their morals. Not everyone will have the same morals to follow, but all of us follow the some of the same ones. In the Road it will be hard to follow morals when society has fallen apart. The Man tries his best to guide the Boy, but it's hard when other's are following no morals and trying to survive.
Count: 129

Sophie Mackintosh

2/10/2020 11:27:56 am

I agree, children are a perfect example of how we are gradually taught from day one by hearing repetitive phrases on what is acceptable and not acceptable. We are given specific ideas that help shape our idea of right and wrong, such as “treat others the way you want to be treated”. People may be influenced by a variety of things such as their religion and beliefs or their past. Adults can have a big impact on our sense of right and wrong. As children, we are taught that older people have more experience so peers and other people can also have a major impact on our ideas of right and wrong.
Word Count: 112

Kazuo Ishiguro

2/10/2020 01:27:36 pm

Children do develop morals when they are younger because they don’t have enough experience to say otherwise. Their parents impose that on their children to raise them “appropriately” to the standards of society. As they grow older and begin to experience hardships, their morals change a little bit because they’re not being fed what’s wrong or right from their parents anymore. They have to become independent yet still understand how society works in a way. I do agree that the boy had a transformation. In the beginning of the novel, he would always follow his father’s footsteps without questioning his actions, but as the novel comes to a close we can see that he developed his own sense of right and wrong.
Count: 122

Naomi Alderman

2/10/2020 02:07:21 pm

I agree that similar to the Heinz dilemma, the young boy had a sense of right and wrong but still made decisions based off of what he felt was right. So many different variables can contribute to the way someone develops their perception of right and wrong including the society and morals they're raised in and the persons circumstances, but at the end of the day one will still chose what they feel is right.

Cherrie

2/10/2020 11:06:38 am

The unnamed man was born before the big catastrophe before everything, so he knows the importance of morals and tries to hold on to them and to pass them on to his son. He shows what he is willing to do when he feels threatened, when he and his son are surprised by a group of savages on a truck. They were able to escape from the group but were confronted by one man when the man and the boy tried to hide from them. The man initially has no desire to hurt the other man with his “grey and rotting teeth. Claggy with human flesh.” (McCarthy 75) He simply wants to make sure that he will not run back to the truck to get back-up so they could hunt them down. This shows that even though the man realized that the other one posed a threat to him and the child, the man acts according to his moral code and is willing to spare his life, because he seemed unarmed and without the help of the other people they outnumbered him. But the situation changes when the man refuses to go with them and instead attacks the helpless boy. Instead of surrendering to their destiny and the father kills the man without hesitation. For him, the safety of the boy is more important than everything else as he explains to him: “My job is to take care of you ... I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you.” (McCarthy 77) because in the end ” the boy was all that stood between him and death.” (McCarthy 29).

Word count: 272

Sophie Mackintosh

2/10/2020 11:10:38 am

Our sense of right and wrong comes from who we are surrounded by and our environment. We see this in the podcast when it talks about the development of children’s morals. They are gradually influenced as they grow up due to new experiences and situations. Both the environment and your brain have an impact on what you see as right and wrong. Although surrounding factors can influence your decisions, we are also majorly influenced by the different sections of our brain which think both logically and emotionally. We see this in the example with the railroad. The two sections of the brain fight each other because logically, pushing a person into the railroad to save 5 people makes sense, but emotionally you don’t want to do it because you are putting the fault on yourself. This shows also that morals can vary from person to person, depending on what they have been exposed to. People may be influenced by a variety of things such as their religion and beliefs or their past. Adults can have a big impact on our sense of right and wrong. As children, we are taught that older people have more experience so peers and other people can also have a major impact on our ideas of right and wrong.

Word Count: 214

Rob Hart

2/10/2020 11:30:45 am

What is Morality? Morality is empathic in nature, it’s a form of creating a better society for the greater good. Based on the podcast, Morality comes from a pivotal moment in a child’s life when they learn empathy after realizing that victimizing others causes pain.

The problematic nature of morality is that everything can change based on the individual. From individual to individual, morality changes. Justice, for example, is controversial. Let’s say a man killed another man in a car accident. For one person, they may cite “an eye for an eye” as a key point of their belief because the punishment is equal to the action. While another person may believe that the “murder” was committed accidental and the individual accused will may need rehabilitation to eventually to return to society.

In a lawless world, your own moral compass is the only thing you have. For the Man and the Boy, the question posed was Goodness versus Survival. Morality versus Primitive Tendencies. If like the Roadrat, there is a desperate nature to survive then cannibalism has no bounds. But when Goodness is in the way, your ability to survive is inhibited, but you keep your dignity and peace of mind. Would you rather be full and crazy, or starved and decent?

Word Count: 215

Naomi Alderman

2/11/2020 05:37:53 am

A person's circumstances has a lot to do with how they handle situations which in turn can affect their idea of right and wrong. I like that you highlighted that that plays an important role in the development of someones morals, because a persons circumstance and how they chose to deal with it ties into their morals because it affects how they chose what is right and wrong. But even though they may know what is right or wrong, they may still ultimately do what is best for them or their survival.

Naomi Alderman

2/10/2020 02:03:21 pm

A person's sense of right and wrong seems as though it is both innate and developed through one's personal life experiences. This is true because despite the morals and ethics we learn throughout life, we ultimately can abandon what we have been taught to instead choose what we ultimately believe is right and just. A perfect example of this is The Road. Although the father persistently preaches self preservation, the young boy time and time again begs and pleads that they lend a helping hand to others. As you can see, despite what he has been taught, he still has a moral compass and contrasting beliefs from his father. One of the podcasts detailed an experiment where researchers looked at a PET scan of the test subjects’ brains before during and after being asked questions that challenged their beliefs and tested their morals. This illustrates an innate or biological influence on our morals. In this way your individual life experiences, the society you are raised in play a role in forming your perception of right and wrong.

Colson Whitehead

2/11/2020 05:52:53 am

I agree that there is a balance between humans learning morality from their environment while also being innate. We never gain that wisdom to differentiate between right and wrong until we're told what is right or wrong. The father's choices to refrain from helping others is for the sake of protecting both him and the son. I believe that the son comprehends the need for survival, yet he comes off as naive at times due to his innocence. I do believe that biology plays a role in what we perceive as morally right or wrong. At some point, we'll gain that instinct or gut feeling telling us that something is not right. In addition to learning about morality through our experiences, I agree that our innate nature definitely plays a role.

Word Count: 131 words

name

2/10/2020 02:33:51 pm

Our sense of right and wrong comes from our parents and the environment around us. We learn from a young age morals in which a parent Teaches a child for them to grow up respectable. Although, the choices we make and people around us also manipulates peoples behavior.
we she this when we were given the railroad example. we had to chose killing five people by doing nothing or pulling a lever to only kill one. We dont like the idea of killing anyone, but by pulling something materialistic like a lever we feel actions would be justified. But we were given a choice, the same scenario, but to push the person instead. This inst something like a lever, its a physical act of killing. The physical act definitely makes us think harder on the situation.
This is given in the road when we think about cannibalism as for survival. The roadrats kill and eat in order to survive, but in normal society this would be horrible. Even though cannibalistic in the road eat to survive there is still other ways to survive. In my opinion this is what separates us from morally good people and people who lack morality.

word count 200

Colson Whitehead

2/11/2020 06:05:09 am

I respect your thinking. May I ask you this one question? What can be defined as respectable? Some people in certain cultures may believe that one action may be respectable, whereas another person living in a different culture may disagree. I definitely believe that one's cultural standards in addition to their upbringing will define the amount of respect an individual has. I would also like to mention that the wording effect plays a role in why people believe pulling the lever is more appropriate then pushing a I agree that there is a balance between humans learning morality from their environment while also being innate. We never gain that wisdom to differentiate between right and wrong until we're told what is right or wrong. The father's choices to refrain from helping others is for the sake of protecting both him and the son. I believe that the son comprehends the need for survival, yet he comes off as naive at times due to his innocence. I do believe that biology plays a role in what we perceive as morally right or wrong. At some point, we'll gain that instinct or gut feeling telling us that something is not right. In addition to learning about morality through our experiences, I agree that our innate nature definitely plays a role. I also believe that the wording effect plays a role in why people believe pulling the lever is more appropriate than pushing the person. No one wants to be seen as a murderer because in a majority of cultures, murdering an individual is seen as immoral. Thus, people are more likely to select the option to pull the lever in order to save the 5 people because they "did not" murder the person.

Word Count: 291 words.

Colson Whitehead

2/11/2020 05:38:38 am

I believe our exposure to our reality alters our innocence and our perception of right and wrong. I also believe that our own societal and cultural influences play a significant role in what we deem as moral. Shall I begin with the ladder? As mentioned in the podcast titled Crime and Penitence, Phildephians’ way of owning up to guilt involves people confessing at a town castle. Through this method, more people living in the city become self-conscious of their wrongdoings. In addition to the identification of wrong doings being noted, a citizen’s likelihood of self-awareness increases, as they become aware of the scrutiny that may ensue. Interestingly, many cultures seem to have a similar way of addressing wrongdoings. The question is: how do we know if this doing is morally wrong in another culture?

As mentioned in Morality, “having a moral sense is a special and unique human quality”; this moral sense may allow the individual to change in order to fit their society’s standards. Thus, allowing one’s perception of good and bad to change. For example, if an individual living in a conservative nation believes in LGBTQ+ rights, they may deem anyone in the LGBTQ+ community to be morally right when expressing their sexuality. On the other hand, that individual’s neighbors or countrymen may deem LGBTQ+ rights as being bad because it goes against their religion or beliefs. Those same people may resort to violence in order to guarantee that any supporter of LGBTQ+ rights is eliminated. To them, violence is more moral than being gay or lesbian. Is that right? No, but this is the reality in certain countries around the world.

Word Count: 274 words.

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AP Literature and Composition Blog

The Road: Radiolab Podcast "Morality

Below you will find three embedded portions of NPR: Radiolab's podcast, "Morality." The fourth embedded link is the full hour of the podcast if you have the time to listen to it in its totality in one sitting.

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