For some, it is money. For others, it may be family. Nevertheless, people put their beliefs and dedication towards something that they believe will impact their future. Albert Einstein once said, “All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.” Throughout literature, the ecosystem and the human brain, this quote is shown to be relevant and true. In George Orwell’s 1984, How does the human brain decide which memories to store? and Why is Recycling So Important?, what was valuable for people depended on their goals for their futures. First of all, George Orwell’s 1984 follows Einstein’s idea. In the book, what is valuable to Winston corresponds with his hopes for his future. One thing …show more content…
People’s brains take in so much information that they simply can’t remember everything. They have to decide which memories to access and keep instead of others. Paul King, a Computational Neuroscientist, wrote an article answering the question How does the human brain decide which memories to store? The main explanations are repetition, primacy and recency, surprise, emotional impact and leads to a positive or negative outcome. When things happen repeatedly, they are either “highly significant or irrelevant” (King 4). Regardless, they must be remembered so the brain can later distinguish between what is important versus what is not. For primacy and recency, things that occur in the beginning of something are usually “more important because they predict what comes later” (5), and recent facts often are “relevant because they are the closest to the present” (5). The brain retains this key information instead of the middle bits because they are the broad facts that will be looked at later. Surprise plays a role in the deciding which memories the brain should store because “anything that is unusual stands out” (6). Unusual things are remembered because they give the impression of being special, and tend to be more significant than common things. The emotional impact an event has on a person makes it more significant. “A moment correlated with a strong emotional state will be retained …show more content…
There are three options for anyone: throw it on the ground, throw it in the trash or recycle it. Alex Schenker, a recycling enthusiast, wrote the article Why is Recycling So Important? in which he addresses why people should recycle. There is a personal advantage from recycling: “[studies show that] people who do this... [recycle] cut down on buying unwanted things from the supermarket” (Schenker 9). Before buying a product, people who recycle think of how they would reuse it. When a person doesn’t buy as many unnecessary items, they save money. Einstein stated “All that is valuable… depends on the opportunity for development…” Since there are opportunities to save money and financially help the individual, recycling becomes valuable. There are also global advantages to recycling: by recycling, people are “helping to reduce global environment damage and making this earth a better place on which to live” (9). This obvious impact is what makes recycling valuable. There is the opportunity for a cleaner planet, and the way for that to happen is to recycle. Therefore, recycling is valuable to people in any society on