Is Ignorance Bliss? http://belindawhitemanthesis.wordpress.com/

Is ignorance bliss? No. It is a relevant subject because it is a timeless topic. Ignorance is not bliss. Bliss is contentment, not happiness. People must keep striving for excellence and be dissatisfied with their circumstance. Knowledge ultimately equals power. Be inform and curious. People can rise from any predicament with education. Searching for knowledge is what helps mankind to evolve. In today’s society being smart is having a lot of money, old age and a higher education. I believe intelligence comes from being open to new ideas and experiences.

The animated short and eBook I am working on will express this notion. The audience for my film and book is for children 4 and up. I am skilled enough to animate a short. I will be using After Effect, Flash, Illustrator and Photoshop during my project. I’ll be painting the backgrounds in Illustrator and in Photoshop. The storyboards and layout of the book will be the same. So far I’ve started painting one background, created some character designs, made a rough animatic and walk cycle. The only issues I have are with coding the eBook. I plan to use iauthor but I need to know html and java script. Creating an eBook and animated short for children is the best way to express a complex message to the masses.

The type of research this thesis needs is going to deal with philosophy and ethics. This is a popular topic with the thinkers throughout history. The famous philosopher Socrates said “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”. Socrates was explaining, to be smart is to acknowledge that the world is far more complex than anyone imagine. Once a person realizes that then they are free to open their mind to any possibilities.

George Bernard Shaw, who was a famous play write once said, “A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it; it would be hell on earth.” Who wants to be happy? The greatest inventions come from pain and struggle. George Bernard Shaw goes on to say, “One man who has a mind and knows it can always beat ten men haven’t and don’t” When people know the potential they have they can achieve anything.

Another quote about this topic is by John Stewart Mill who said, “Better to be Socrates and dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.” People should never be content and complacent. There must always be a sense of curiosity in the world. That is the only way to gain more knowledge.

Inspirations and precedents for this project are children’s books like Curious George and Corduroy. Both are about animals that travel and explore new places. Another inspiration is the Academy Award winning animated short, Harvie Krumpet. The film is about the life of a man who’s had many difficulties. Throughout the film Harvie continuous collects facts and information despite the troubles that he faces.

Children books and entertainment I don’t want to be like are The Berenstain Bears and Veggie Tales. These books and shorts tell kids not question authority and to stay within the status quo. I would love to self publish a hardcover of this book someday and get into Barnes and Nobles. I would like a mentor that understood how to self publish and market the book on a big scale. I’m really interested in how to market projects on a huge scale.

In the narrative there is a bear that lives in the woods. He is considered the village idiot in the forest. The bear is content in being dumb until a girl bear moves into the forest. The bear doesn’t want to be stupid anymore. He wants to be able to impress the girl bear with his intellect.

The bear visits the owl, which is the most educated animal in the forest. The owl cannot answer any questions that are not in a textbook. The bear goes to the donkey, which is the richest in the forest. The donkey is only good at organizing and using people. The bear travels to see the turtle, which is the oldest in the forest. The turtle doesn’t want to be bothered with new questions and ideas. The turtle is stuck in his old ways and doesn’t move around much. While visiting these three animals the bear realizes that they don’t have all the answers.

The other animals aren’t anymore happier or wiser than he is. The best solution is to go outside the forest and explore new places. The bear goes over to the girl bear and expresses how he doesn’t know anything but he is willing to learn with her. This makes him different than the other animals. The bear win the girl bear’s heart. He doesn’t want to go back and be content in life. The bear wants to travel and have new experiences outside the content life in the forest. It is okay to be stupid because then he is able to grow and evolve. He realizes this and wants to keep questioning, creating, and bothering people.

The only issue right now with the narrative is how to express book smarts without belittling education. I don't want the message to get confusing.

In the thesis a controversial topic that may come up is scientific racism. This is when science to put down the minority’s intellect. The characters in my narrative are all different animals with hierarchies and this can be easily misinterpreted as scientific racism. The message of the story over rides scientific racism. Though the animals have all different builds, they all possess the same organs.

In the article, Brain Imaging Studies of Intelligence and Creativity: What is the Picture of Education? both Richard Haier and Rex Jung discuss how the brain works with the notion of intelligence and creativity. The article explains the neuroscience of the brain and how it can help educators teach their students. Haier and Jung write, “a) not all brains work the same way, (b) some optimal combination of tissue density and activation in frontal and more posterior brain regions appear to underlie both intelligence and creativity”(177). Through every brain works differently, intelligence and creativity are in the same area of the brain. In order to have intelligence one must have creativity. Also the theme is about how the idea of knowledge is so abstract. The world is constantly changing and people can never achieve the textbook definition of “knowledge.”

All humans possess the same brain material that functions in the same matter. However, people continue to label others as smarter individuals. What makes an individual smart is their creativity and curiosity. An important part of the piece mention how intelligence and fueled by creativity. The authors of the article writes, “What all researchers tend to agree upon is that intelligence, and particularly the acquisition of domain-specific skills and knowledge (i.e., preparation) stored within the posterior part of the brain (Heilman, Nadeau, & Beversdorf, 2003), is necessary for the creative process to occur but not sufficientto ensure its manifestation.” (175). Being creative and inquisitive are the qualities that the world brightest people have.

Great thinkers like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are considered smart because of their creativity to bring new ideas and to explore new avenues. The bear in the story is thinking differently than the other animals in the forest. He is creating problems and asking for solutions. This makes the bear one of the smartest animals in the forest, not the dumbest.

Glossary   Knowledge - acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition:   Curiosity - the desire to learn or know about anything; inquisitiveness   Wisdom - the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight   Content - satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.   Complacent - pleased, especially with oneself or one's merits, advantages, situation, etc., often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied    

Dissatisfied - not satisfied or pleased; discontented.   Satisfied - to fulfill the desires, expectations, needs, or demands of (a person, the mind, etc.); give full contentment to   Exploring - to traverse or range over (a region, area, etc.) for the purpose of discovery   Ignorance - lack of knowledge, learning, information   Bliss - supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment   Happiness - good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy

References   Hair, Richard, and Rex Jung. “Brain Imaging Studies of Intelligence and Creativity: What is the Picture of Education?.” Roeper Review .30(2008); 171-180