Destiny, Fate and Free

Destiny, Fate and Free Will Essay Really an entity such as destiny or fate that exists? Does each and â€Å"everyone† of us have a destiny, â€Å" A set of predetermined events within our lives that we take an active course in shaping† Or a fate, â€Å"The preordained course of your life that will occur because of or in spite of your actions,† and as you/one would expect, the obvious existence of our own free will, â€Å"The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion. † Here, in a conversation between Forrest Gump and his Momma, we get an authentic and ordinary question about destiny and fate that most of us in all likelihood would ask. Not only in the question, â€Å"What’s my destiny,† but also in the statement, â€Å"Death is just a part of life,† it illustrates that the two are connected with each other. The choices you make are your destiny, and will ultimately lead you through the path to meet your death, (fate). As Forrest stands there looking down, wondering how sick his Momma is. He queries. â€Å"Why are you dying momma? † She looks up at him, and with a great expression of love. She expresses. â€Å" It’s my time. It’s just my time. Oh now, don’t you be afraid, sweetheart. Death is just a part of life. It’s 2 something we’re all destined to do. I didn’t know it, but I was destined to be your momma. I did the best I could. † As he responds with an acceptable assertion. â€Å" You did good, Momma. † â€Å" Well, I happened to believe you make your own destiny. † â€Å" What’s my destiny, Momma? † â€Å" Life is like a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what your going to get. † (Winston Groom) Destiny is more complex to come by than fate, because it involves the inner working’s of ones psyche. We advance on the road to our destiny when we tread the path of individuation. Destiny can involve choices that make no sense; risks that we’d rather not take; challenges that make us want to squirrel away under a rock; and certain moments in time that push us past our limits. Just as in the comment that Momma say’s to Forrest, â€Å"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what your going to get,† Is a good paradigm of the choices that we must all make. As we delve into the conversation between Forrest and his Momma. We begin to understand that the choices we make are part of our destiny which leads us to our fate’s end. Most of us believe in a higher power greater than ourselves; that something else is in control of our lives, and as we explore into the undeniable emergence of our fate. â€Å"The inescapable destiny of man. † We are compelled to go back millennia, to the times of mythological gods, and look at the Moirai. The Moirai were the three mythological goddesses of fate, They directed the symbolic thread of life of every mortal from birth to death. Clotho, â€Å"The spinner† spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle. Lachesis, â€Å"The allotter† or drawer of lots, measured the thread 3 of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod. Atropos, â€Å"The inevitable† was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each persons death; and when their time was come, she cut their life-thread with, Her abhorred shears. † The Moirai were autonomous, even though they had command of one’s fate appointed to them by the perpetual laws. They were responsible for making sure that fate would take it’s sequence in life without hindrance. They did not abruptly interfere in the matters of man, even man himself, in his freedom was allowed to exercise a certain amount of influence in his fate by the choices he makes. As a man’s fate end’s with his death, the goddesses of fate essentially become the goddesses of death. â€Å"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her. But once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game. † (Voltaire) Within this quote made prominent by the prolific writer Voltaire. It conveys to us that this game of life is full of choice’s, and how we make the decision’s of witch path to follow define’s the measurement of our success in the game of life. Just as the Moirai do not interfere with our life, but allow us to make our own choice’s. Even though the two words are used in similar manners, fate and destiny can be distinguished. Paradoxically when the two words are used to mean the same thing, fate often assumes a negative association as is emphasized by the similar words â€Å"fatal,† â€Å"fateful,† and â€Å"fatalism. † Destiny traditionally suggests a more positive conclusion, such as people being more in control of their destinies. As we take in the considerations of destiny and fate; now we must consider the aspect of free will, â€Å"The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at 4 one’s own discretion. † What free will tries to account for, is our introverted belief that we are in control of many of our choices, and thus our destiny-that we are free to think and choose for ourselves. We consciously make choices and decisions that are far more independent than that of nature and nurture than any animals. We have the conscious ability to think of the consequences of our choices, whether good or bad. These are the meaningful differences that lead to the idea of free will. I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. (Charles Dickens) In conclusion, fate is predestined. Everyone’s life is fated to it’s termination; to meet his maker; to finally be judged; and even though we cannot conquer fate, we can accept the fact that our future lies within our own selves and not within the hands of fate. We do not let fate decide our future. We have the power to make choices by being the creator and writer of our own destiny. We have the power of free will. The way you wear the chain that you have forged link by link, and yard by yard is completely up to you. Just remember that you girded it of your own free will, and it is you solely that will have to wear it.

Why do I really need knowledge?

Why do I really need knowledge? Knowledge is defined as â€Å"justified true belief†[1]. This means that knowledge is any justified belief that can be proven to be true. The question ‘The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning purpose in our personal lives.’ will be the basis for my essay. This statement claims that as we gain knowledge, we gain meaning and purpose that affect our personal lives, which is to say, we find the answers we were looking for and also a thirst to know more. However, I do not believe that, when we gain knowledge, it affects everyone around us. My mother is a banker, the knowledge she has gained, not only helps her, but mainly impacts on others around her, because with that knowledge she has started her own bank. Whenever we gain knowledge, we also gain answers and more questions. In the Oscar Pistorius case, police investigators wanted to establish why he killed his girlfriend (meaning) and whether it was even him that killed his girlfriend (purpose).[2] I n this case, meaning is linked to intent, because there needs to be a reason for it and purpose is linked to opportunity, because there needs to be a way. When we gain new knowledge we feel better aware and more curious about our surroundings. That is to say, we learn to give ourselves meaning and purpose and in turn affect others, there are many cases where this is proven. Isaac Newton can be an example, when he first wondered about gravity he was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on his head. It was then that he wondered what force made things fall. He sought to find meaning to why the objects always fell back to earth, so he began experimenting on different objects, using reason, he used the resulting knowledge he got from his observation to determine that anything that goes up must fall down to the ground[3]. These discover he made were later called the laws of gravity and since they have many uses. It has become common sense since people now know to be cautious when deali ng with high places. When I was little, I picked up my baby sister from her crib while she was sleeping, when my mother found me with my sister dangling by a foot, she screamed. This is because she knows the fundamentals about gravity and that if my sister fell, she would’ve been hurt. Isaac Newton also developed the laws of motion, which states that an object in motion will continue to stay in motion until and external force is acted on it[4]. The laws of motion are used in different fields like car manufacturing, car testing, aeronautics, These laws also have provided a basis for many creations, for example, parachutes, trampolines, diving boards, etc. When a person is driving and suddenly sees someone or something on the road in front of them, they immediately hit the brakes, as they know that if they kept going, they would collide with the person/thing in front of them, causing damage to the person/thing, or to themselves/their car. Also, when they hit the brakes, an opposing force is acted on the cars forward motion, which in turn stops the car from moving. Two summers ago, I was riding a bike in my cousin’s house really fast. I wanted to slow down so I could get off the bike, but I mistakenly pressed the brakes, the bike stop abruptly and I was thrown out of the seat, I flipped over the handlebars and landed on my head. This is how the laws of motion would apply, because I hit the brakes, the bike stopped, but I didn’t stop, so that was why I flew off. When Isaac Newton discovered these laws, it was not for any higher reason than just to learn the answers for the why’s and the what’s of knowledge, in this, he had gained the meaning, but he still had no intention of gaining a purpose for his life from this, it was later, that other people found the meaning and purpose in the knowledge that he had discovered. Medical professionals (doctors, dentists, veterinaries, etc.) who have learnt medicine, anatomy, biology, etc. they used the knowledge they learnt to achieve a meaning of understanding how animal and plant bodied work, and the purpose of using that knowledge to help examine, treat or cure any injuries or illnesses within the body. My sister told me that she wants to become a pediatrician; she can only gain this knowledge for the purpose of helping children. Whenever there is a terrorist attack, whether Boko Haram, ISIS, Al Qaeda, investigators always researches everything, not only the terrorists attacking, but the victims being attacked, this is so that they can stop more attacks from happening. This is because if they can understand why a place was attacked (meaning), then it would be easier to stop other attacks in other locations (purpose). In economics, perfect competition is described as a situation where firms in an industry are relatively small in stature, have perfect knowledge of each other and are price takers[5]. This is mainly theoretically though as it cannot be practically implemented due to a wide range of unknown and inconstant variables. Although it is proven that this situation cannot exist, economists use the theory of perfect competition to determine the effect on the economy if it were to be practiced. This example is different because there is no real life scenario to go with it, but it still boosters the main point as the economists that theorized this scenario used whatever experimentation they had to come to the conclusion that it cannot exist, that is to say that the economists gained meaning from this experiment and the purpose of proving or disproving other economic scenarios. A monopoly is a situation where by a single firm has control over an entire industry, so they enjoy economies of scale and have price setting abilities[6]. In Nigeria, there are four main telecommunications companies; MTN, Airtel, Glo Etisalat, these four are individually owned by private firm. In Ethiopia, there is only one telecommunications company that is government owned. The Nigerian companies not only offer variety, but they also have an unrestricted service plan, meaning there are no limitations or restrictions to the use of the service, this is because their main aim of these firms is to make profit. The consumer can simply switch from one service provider to another if that customer is unsatisfied with their current service plan provider. The Ethiopian company is the only provider, so there is no need for any variety of services, they do not need to offer special plans or promotions or discounts because there is no competition for the company, there will also be heavily mo nitored and restricted use of the services because the main aim of the company is not to make profit, but to promote citizen optimization as they see fit, meaning that they will not allow any misuse of the service plan. There is also the fact that even if the customers are not satisfied with the service, there is nothing that they can do because they cannot change their service plan there is only one telecommunication company in the country. Here I have given two economic scenarios, the one in Nigeria is monopolistic competition, and the other in Ethiopia is a monopoly. In the first scenario, we can tell that there will be excess consumer satisfaction by the choice of four different service plans and the unrestricted access. However, in the second scenario, there would be excess dissatisfaction by the inability of choice, and the heavily restricted access. From my perception of these two scenarios, I can reason that the Nigerian telecommunication system is better because if offers t he right of choice and other benefits as opposed to the Ethiopian telecommunication system which would only offer on choice with no special benefits and at whatever price the government sets. Here is an example of how we can gain meaning but not purpose, because if someone can gain the knowledge of the monopoly of the Ethiopian telecommunications company, they can now understand why people would want to move from Ethiopia to Nigeria, but they will have nothing to do with this knowledge. The only reason for acquiring any form of knowledge would be to gain both meaning and purpose in our lives because once we have the knowledge, we understand how it involves up, meaning, and what we set out to accomplish with it. References: google. theory+of+knowledge. n.d. website. 22 November 2014. ib-theory-of-knowledge-website. n.d. Webpage. 22 January 2015. theoryofknowledgestudents.com. n.d. webpage. 2 December 2014. Blink, Jocelyn and Ian Dorton. Economics Course Companion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 1 [1] The philosopher Plato’s definition of knowledge [2] Oscar Pistorius murder investigation [3] Newton’s first law of gravity [4] Isaac Newton’s first law of motion [5] Theory of perfect competition [6] Theory of monopoly

Problems of Uninformed Voters

Problems of Uninformed Voters Did you know many Democrats are opposed to standardized testing? Did you know many Republicans don’t believe there should be a set minimum wage? Many people don’t even know what the parties and candidates they are voting for represent. In the 2012 Presidential Election, Bipartisan Policy Center estimated there were about 126 million voters. Voting is essential in a democracy. Voting is the definition of a democracy. A democracy is a form of government in which people elect leaders by voting according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. Throughout American history, thousands of people have fought for this right to vote. We advocated for men of all ethnicities to be able vote, and later we extended this right to women. However, a democracy functions best when informed citizens vote. Unfortunately, much of today’s population is not quite as informed as they should be. Many adults lack the crucial knowledge to make informed political decisions, like voting. First, we will examine how uninformed voting is a problem today. Second, we will discuss why uninformed voting occurs as often as it does. Finally, I will offer a solution for this perpetual problem.   Ignorant voters hurt democracy. You cannot run an effective democracy when the citizenship is weak. Voting is a crucial aspect of citizenship. It is how you display commitment and respect to your country and form of government. People do not take this responsibility seriously enough. When people vote impulsively or don’t put enough thought into their decisions, our democracy is not a true reflection of what the people want. A survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2012 to determine how knowledgeable the public was on the presidential campaign. Their findings were alarming. Only 60% of registered voters were aware that Romney opposes gay marriage. Only 66% of registered voters knew of Obamas policy that allows undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as juveniles to remain here and apply for work permits. Additionally, in a 2006 Zogby Poll, 73% of Americans were able to identify the names of The Three Stooges, while a whopping 42% could identify the three bra nches of government. 77% of Americans could name off two of Snow White’s Seven Dwarves. On the other hand, 24% of people could name off two of the nine Supreme Court Justices. As sad as it is, the average voter probably spends more time becoming informed on which car to buy than who they want to run their country. Who you elect into office has such a huge impact on the future of all Americans, not just yourself. So don’t you agree we should be somewhat familiar with the candidates stances on current issues? And that we should understand the basic setup of our government and the officials that run it before we vote? Not knowing crucial details of a candidates intentions, you may be disappointed when they do something you weren’t expecting. And unfortunately, once your ballot is casted, you cannot take it back. For this reason, voters need to stay relatively updated on campaign issues, current events, and general workings of the U.S. political system.   Obviously, you can see how prevalent uninformed voting is in today’s society. But why is this happening so frequently? Well, think about like this. From the moment children are born, their lives are being shaped by those around them, in other words children learn what they live. And they spend the first eighteen years of their lives, some of the most influential ones, living with their immediate family. Inevitably, families who vocalize their political beliefs will naturally sway their child in that direction. Furthermore, their circle of friends will play a factor too. In my American Civics class last year, we put on a mock trial. Before the trial, we had to determine our political affiliation. As a class, we had to get up and divide ourselves into groups based on which party we wanted to represent in the trial. I observed that everyone just so happened to fall into the same group as their friends did. There were cliques within the parties. No one had the confidence to sp lit from their friends and represent their individual ideas. Family and friends can inhibit people from forming their own opinions. This results in a biased political perspective which may not reflect your core values. In other cases, it’s simply that people don’t care enough to become informed. They just vote to because they feel obligated to, but don’t give the decision much thought. People have disengaged themselves from politics because they don’t think it directly affects them. However, this could not be further from the truth. U.S. government and politics regulates so many aspects of our lives. It funds our public school, provides grants and loans for higher education, builds and maintains the roads we drive on everyday, provides the water that runs through our homes, and determines how much we pay in taxes. Most citizen have at least one political interest or concern. By voting, you can have a say in it. So take advantage of this opportunity and ta ke it seriously.   Now, how do we go about addressing this problem? Ideally, people would take matters into their own hands. You would perform research on the issues and stances of the politicians running for office. Once you establish where you stand, then you can compare the politicians views with your own and the one you are most compatible with is the politician you should vote to elect. It would also benefit you greatly to follow significant world-wide events. You should also be able to accurately depict the functioning of our government and which branches are responsible for which tasks. Reading the politics section in your paper, flipping to the news channel every once in a while, tuning into electoral debates during campaigns, and subscribing to magazines like Time, Newsweek, or U.S. News and World Report will keep you in the know. For someone who is apathetic in politics, the motivation to become informed has to come from within you. And to be brutally honest, many people would hear this a nd it would go in one ear and come right back out the next. As a last resort, we could require that all registered voters pass a comprehension test to prove their knowledge of politics. If we threaten to take the option to vote away from the uninformed, it could be just the spark we need to get them thinking seriously about politics. Amendments 15, 19, 24, and 26 to the Constitution only say that you cannot deny someone a vote on account of race, sex, failure to pay tax, or age after the individual reaches 18. Immigrants have to pass a test before being allowed to vote. Why do we assume that that all American-born citizens already know everything they need to know before voting? We have now analyzed the consequences of being an uninformed voter, the root cause of uninformed voting, and potential solutions to the problem. Winston Churchill once said, â€Å"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.† It doesn’t have to be that way. We can all become more informed.

Roman Religions :: essays research papers

The ancient Romand worshiped many gods, godesses and spirits, each of whom was responsible for a different part of life. Juno was the goddess of woman; Jupiter, the king of the gods was also the god of the sky; Mercury was the god of merchants; Wulcan the god of fire; Mars the god of war; Minerva the goddess of wisdom; Venus the goddess of fertility and love. The ancient Romans adopted gods and goddesses from other cultures as well. Bacchusor or Dionysus, the Greek god of wine; Cybelle, the Turkish goddess of motherhood; and Isis from the Egyptian pantheon who was concerned with reincarnation. Emperors and empresses were sometimes worshiped after their deaths.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emperors showed their devotion to their favored deities by building temples to them. Roman citizens left offerings such as food, milk, wine, money, jewels or statues at temple alters and engaged in ceremonies and animal sacrifices to win the gods approval.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Romans were generally accepting of other people’s religions but persecuted the Christians because, among other things, they displeased the gods by refusing to patricipate in such animal sacrifices and unjust ceremonies. Christianity finally because the official religion during the 4th century in Rome.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Romans built large temples for these many gods. They were often built in places that people believed were special to their gods. The Acropolis, in Greece is one of these places.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In ancient Greece, the Greeksk alson believed in many gods and goddesses. The gods behaved much like ordinary people, but they had great wisdon. They were wiser, more cunning, and more powerful. The gods not only controlled nature, but they also controlled people’s fate. There were 12 main gods of the Greek belief, known as the Olympians. Some of the most famous included Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, and Apollo.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When you walked into a Greek or Roman temple, you would find a statue of a god or goddess at the end of a long, dark room. A row of columns ran down the center of the room along both sides. A worshiper of the time might have visited the temple to thank the god for a favor and leave them a gift.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The inside of the temple wasn’t a gathering place for worship like churches and sacred buildings of today. Worship services were held outside on an alter. The temple protects the statur of the god from the weather and anyone who would come along and harm it.

Accounting Systems Essay -- Business Management

Accounting Systems In accounting systems, certain controls are needed to ensure that employees are doing their jobs properly and ensure that the system runs properly. These checks are in the best interest of the organization. These controls come in the form of internal and external controls for the system. The internal controls are the checks that are placed in the system by the company's own management and directors. Today more and more companies are moving from the manual accounting systems to computerized accounting information systems. The advantages of a computerized system are increases in the speed and accuracy of processing accounting information. However, as systems become computerized, the internal controls for that system has to be adapted accordingly. This is because computerized systems bring with them certain unique problems that can only be removed or minimized by adapting the present controls and adding new controls. In a manual system there is a paper trail for the internal auditor to follow. All records and transactions are kept on paper and so an auditor has clear and documented proof of what has transpired. Computerized systems rarely have a clear paper trail to follow. Since computers do all of the sorting of the information the company rarely sorts the source documents. Also the computer does most of the calculations and processing so there would not be the amount of documentation that there would be in a manual system. Another problem of computer systems is the fact that there can be difficulty in determining who entered the data. In a manual system the identity of the person entering the data can be identified possibly by the person's handwriting. This cannot be done in a computerized system. ... ... disaster. This includes transaction logs of complete system dumps which will make periodic backups of all the transactions that occur within the system. Computerized accounting systems bring with then a set of new and unique problems. The internal controls that have been put into place for a manual system to help the internal auditor cannot fully prevent or minimize the possibility of errors or fraud that come with the computerized systems. Therefore the old controls must be modified for the new system and new controls must be put in. Only then can the internal auditor ensure that the number of errors that occur within the system be minimized or even eliminated. Bibliography Basset P.H. (1993) Computerized accounts, NCC Blackwell. Grudinsku G., Burch J., (1998), Information Systems Theory and Practice, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Cheerleading Is a Sport

March 15, 2010 Cheerleading is a sport Do you consider cheerleading to be a sport like football, or any other sport? In most cases, many people tend to laugh at the idea of cheerleading being called a â€Å"sport†. People sometimes laugh because they are use to seeing cheerleaders cheer, and doing basic jumps only on the sidelines of games. In reality, they should know that cheerleading can be as dangerous as most sports. In the following essay I will be telling you why I consider cheerleading is a sport. Some part of the confusion on whether cheerleading is considered a sport or not; comes from the history of cheerleading. It all started during a football game at Princeton University. No one is sure about the date, but it is said to have started in the 1880s. At that time cheerleaders were limited to basic jumps. For example, back then they were only aloud to do cartwheels. Many years’ later competitions for cheerleading started. These competitions were not about what team can scream the loudest. These competitions were about whom can do the best stunts, have the most solid pyramid, and lastly have the best tumbling Many cheerleaders, coaches, and others involved in cheerleading, know that what cheerleaders do is just as challenging as other sports, For example, like cross-country, they run. Football players toss others, they toss girls up in the air, and the girls expect to be catch by their teammates. Like soccer players kick, they can have high kicks. Lastly, they can jump and tumble like gymnast. Cheerleaders also risk themselves building up pyramids. They are risking themselves because it can be dangerous when some one falls off or something might have gone wrong. Cheerleaders also have injuries through out the year and tryouts like all other sports. Cheerleading takes just as much dedication and skills as any other sport. Most people in this country would define a sport as an activity that pushes the individual physically and mentally to perform at their levels. And also to have some competitive component involved. Today, the games that cheerleaders attend for their school are mostly practice compared to the competitive events. If people doubt that cheerleading is a sport, they can easily take a look at some cheerleading squads performing a routine. People can go ahead and look at them on ESPN (the cable sports network). ESPN officially declared cheerleading a sport. They also began showing the national cheerleading competitions that were taking place around the country. In this show you will be able to see members of the squad leap across the matt’s. Also complete tumbling just like gymnast. Hopefully one day cheerleading will be considered a sport as football or any other sport to everyone in this country. Maybe even appear in the Olympics, since cheerleaders are just athletic and physically fit as those involved and accepted as sports.

Journey to the Dwarf Planet Essay

Pluto is a space object that has been mistaken for a planet and a comet in the past. New evidence has revealed that the previously thought ninth planet of our solar system is actually just an ice-dwarf, and comparable to all other objects in the Kuiper Belt. This paper explores Pluto through the vision of New Horizons, the fastest spacecraft ever launched. This spacecraft would travel to Pluto in approximately nine years and reveal much about the surface of this unusual space object that humanity feels especially attached to, given that it was â€Å"a part of our solar system† for a long time. Using S. Alan Stern’s explanation of the importance of Pluto’s surface – that, in fact, this space object carries essential information about the origins of the solar system – this paper provides a reason for humanity’s interest in the mission to Pluto. It is suggested that Pluto’s environment would provide important clues about the Earth’s environment. And even if it does not, all news is good news in the world of science. It may very well be that the mission to Pluto would teach humanity nothing new, and only renew its appreciation for the living environment of Earth. Perhaps this new awareness and appreciation would somehow help to save the Earth’s environment. JOURNEY TO THE DWARF PLANET Page # 3 Journey to the Dwarf Planet Pluto is only 1413 miles in diameter, with a surface that is believed to be made up of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and water ices. Many of the moons in the solar system are bigger in size than Pluto. Moreover, Pluto is said to have its own satellite, Charon, which may or may not be considered a regular kind of satellite, given that it is almost as big as Pluto (Connor, 2006). According S. Alan Stern (2002), writing for Scientific American, the material on Pluto’s surface may sublimate â€Å"into a rarefied atmosphere when the planet is in the part of its orbit that is closest to the sun. † In addition, scientists believe that Pluto’s surface may be experiencing the eruption of geysers on occasion. Gas and ice may be shooting above the surface of the planet in plumes. Today, we understand that Pluto is a dwarf planet, not a real one. It has been called the ice-dwarf, too, seeing that this space object is far different from the planets in our solar system. The rotation of Pluto, for instance, is in the opposite direction to the rotation of the eight planets we know – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto is most unlike the Earth, which is a rocky planet. It is also unlike the gaseous Jupiter (Connor). Hence, scientists have been wondering about the real nature of Pluto for quite some time. Pluto has been referred to as a comet to boot (Wilker, 2006). It all started only ten years after Pluto was first discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 (Connor). During the 1940s and 1950s, researchers suggested that perhaps Pluto was the brightest of a vast group of icy space objects in the area that it occupies. This JOURNEY TO THE DWARF PLANET Page # 4 concept came to be known as the Kuiper Belt, named after the Dutch-American astronomer, Gerard Kuiper, who was foremost in casting doubts about Pluto’s status in our solar system (Stern). Based on new evidence, scientists have come to the conclusion that the Kuiper Belt contains at least one hundred thousand objects that are larger than 100 kilometers across. In fact, the Kuiper Belt may very well be â€Å"the big brother to the asteroid belt,† writes Stern. This big brother of the asteroid belt has more mass, more objects, including those of larger sizes, and â€Å"a greater supply of ancient, icy and organic material left over from the birth of the solar system. † Stern adds: It is now clear that Pluto is not an anomaly. Instead it lies within a vast swarm of smaller bodies orbiting between about five billion and at least eight billion kilometers from the sun. Because this far-off region may hold important clues to the early development of the solar system, astronomers are keenly interested in learning more about Pluto, its moon, Charon, and the bodies making up the Kuiper Belt. It is not only the astronomers that are interested in learning more about Pluto. Rather, it seems that the entire humanity is longing to find out about its own origins, and how it came to occupy the environment that it lives in today. Given that greater awareness about Pluto and its environment would provide humanity with clues regarding the origin of the Earth’s environment – scientists have worked very hard to reach JOURNEY TO THE DWARF PLANET Page # 5 Pluto somehow. Explaining their efforts in his article, â€Å"Journey to the Farthest Planet,† Stern introduces to the reader the $488 million project called New Horizons. This is a mission established by the Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, Texas, and the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University. New Horizons is further supported by a team of scientists from various universities, research institutes, and NASA centers. The mission is, of course, for humanity to explore Pluto and its so-called â€Å"double,† Charon (Connor). According to Stern, this mission is â€Å"equivalent of conducting an archaeological dig into the history of the outer solar system – a place where researchers can get a valuable glimpse of the long-gone era of planetary formation. †