Zee Katamari Ball and Other Stories

Before I write about what I will actually be discussing I would like to take a moment to look at the idea of the game "Katamari". Today William P. Young came to speak to our school about his book and in the private Q&R ( not Q&A because he is Canadian) he gave out a set of statistics. From the very beginning of human history up to the year 2003, he said, humans had gathered 5 billion gigabytes ( I think) of data. He continued on and gave the astonishing statistic that by the end of this year humans will be producing that same amount of data every 10 minutes. Can you all believe that? the amount of data since the beginning of human history until 2003 is the same amount of data we are producing in only ten minutes. Like the game "Katamari" our data systems are growing and we will never be able to go back. The "Katamari" will never shrink therefor he has lost the chance at obtaining points, like our data consumption it will never be the size it was just before a specific moment in its lifetime. Just like the "Katamari" being able to conquer new challenges we are also growing in a way that will allow us to face challenges we never had thought were possible to even comprehend.

Now on to the actual topic of this post...the construction of belief. Throughout the reading I couldn't help but involve Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In this model humans need the basics to survive, we start out with basic food, water, shelter and work our way up adding safety, love and belonging and self esteem only to be rewarded by self actualization. Building the pyramid should not be difficult for the average Joe but where, I wondered (while reading) would belief be? making belief is not a physiological need, it doesn't have to do directly with belonging or with security and I am sure one can have self-esteem without it. This all sounds acceptable but it does not sit right with me. Making belief is one of the most important pieces of the human experience, whether you believe in a deity or just in each other. Belief is what keeps people grounded, belief that Jesus is our savior and died on the cross for us is the base of a religion that millions of people ascribe to...but you have to believe. Could a person get to the pinnacle of Maslow's hierarchy of needs and end in self actualization without belief? I do not believe it to be possible. But how does one believe in an age where "choices are more overt involving competing options"(Wagner 214) so many competing options that it seems impossible to make a well educated choice without having dipped in many sources. This is where the idea of "make-belief" comes into play. In a world where a religion can be as individualized as frozen yogurt there will be a need of structure somewhere, this need of structure will show up eventually, it will create a full cycle of not having choices, to having too many  and back around to wanting less of them. Video gaming may be one of those structures. I am not making a claim that video games that are meaning/belief builders are popular for their specific religious/ritualistic nature but who knows; they may become a stepping stone towards a tech friendly religious structure having to do with the church. Does self actualization include having a "religious" belief?

That is all.