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To avoid confusion, I shall define the following terms first (These definitions may differ from how you might define it): Justification – In order for a statement/conclusion/principle to be justified, it must involve valid reasoning. This may include deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning Ethics – A system of moral principles Well Supported – I [...] I think we live in a paradoxical society in which on the one hand, we have the tendency to conform to the majority, whilst on the other hand, we have progressed through the ages because of change, not conformity. I watched a video recently about a psychologist or neuroscientist of some sort doing a [...] Perhaps our brains are wired to share common values. Maybe this partly why we are the most successful species on the planet. Since ideas about human rights come from our brains, it would be affected by many different factors, for example, culture: Example: Should gay marriage be legalised? In a liberal societies, the culture [...] http://sdrv.ms/U8u5cU If anything, this exercise suggests that no theory can be used to make moral decisions for every situation, as there will always be exceptions. I used risk assessments to determine which policy (legal or illegal is better). For example, if the risk for saving the woman alone is not as high as the [...] From the most “right” to theleast “right”: Friend > Male > Boatman > Lady > Sleeper The friend had the highest ranking because he told the truth. I think that was the most valuable characteristic of any character in the whole story. The Male came second because he broke up with a partner that [...] These were a couple of TedTalks I found quite interesting: 1. Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html In a world where social interactiion and extrovert qualities are valued more than introverted ones, we come to a point where we basically ignore the fact that about half the population of the world are introverts. In fact [...] There were some questions raised during TOK Day that were a bit… weird. Many of them were subjective questions like “What is good art and what is bad art?” One cannot define good art and bad art. For example, I would say that the Mona Lisa is not half as good as the piece [...] The difference between opinion and bias is that an opinion is what someone thinks about a certain topic when a bias is how someone thinks feels and reacts about a topic based on something from their past……for example I hate the color purple because my biological father likes purple. That is a bias when [...] I’m not particularly familiar with any of these terms, since people use them in all sorts of ways (dictionary definitions don’t help either). However, I would say that depending on the context in which you use these words, their differences might be different. For example, a biased textbook is one that provides a one [...] If maths is discovered not invented do we ever really have new mathematical knowledge? First, we must define what we mean by Maths. The term used in the question could mean 2 very different things: Mathematical Principles that define the universe and are therefore universal and are there all the time Mathematical Languages, which [...] One of the implicit messages in the movie we watched about 2D shapes is that those in authority love to supress knowledge in order to stay in power. In the movie, the circles supress knowledge on 3D shapes so the other shapes will continue to follow the “perfection” of the circles. I think we [...] When we are discussing Mathematics in terms of communication, there are 3 things that we should take into account: The difference between Mathematical Principles and Mathematical Language The purpose of language Whether the laws for mathematics are universal. 1. When we were discussing whether extraterrestrial sentient lifeforms would understand the Mathematics that we are speaking to [...] Carrying on from the discussion in class, because this universe is governed by one set of mathematical rules, flying a spaceship to another planet will not cause the spaceship or anything to stop functioning, because the mathematics of the spaceship will still exist, and the mathematics of the surroundings around it would be the [...] I wanted to try something new so I decided to do something about ethical reasoning. I think it could be structured in a more coherent manner. I tend to overcomplicate and might not do as well in terms of the structure of presentations, but I think the real TOK presentation will not have this [...] We live in an imperfect world. So where is the perfect world? Do we need one? Can’t it be an abstract concept (e.g. a line or a point)? What satisfaction will it bring you if you discover that the world you live in has been maade up of imitations of real world objects all [...] None of them vanished; the area used for all the 14 leprechauns in The Vainishing Leprechaun remains the same when the paper is swapped to form 15 leprechauns. However, notice that parts of the legs or body of some of the leprechauns in the arrangement of 14 leprechauns are not there anymore in the [...] Is Mathematics important? Most certainly. The accomplishments arising from concepts and formulas aimed at understanding quantity, structure, space and change are ubiquitous. To name a few examples, the house you are living in relies on architechtural designs, which require the application of mathematics (trigonometry, right angles, area, volume etc.) Even the computer that you are using [...] Q: How important is the study of literature in individual/ ethical development? In terms of making individuals aware of the plethora of ideals and values different people have in the world, literature is crucial. For example, Confucian literature defined much of Chinese culture for many years in the past, and even today still has [...] The term storying telling needs a definition that is widely accepted, since it could refer to a narrow set of things, or could accomodate a whole range of things. For example, one person might say storytelling is all about telling a story, regardless of whether it is true or not; another might say that [...] Naming streets, boulevards, avenues and roads in a town after people?… Sounds fun Before doing that, lets define boulevard, streets and roads: Boulevard: Two lanes in each direction seperated by a median of trees or greenery Avenue: Two lanes in each direction in a nicer part of town Street: Any number of lanes in [...] From the reports and information on Mark Pullen, we can make a smart guess that he is just another college student. Confirming the identity of the person can be done through facial recognition, or if a conclusive identity is needed, DNA match. On Friday 6th June, Mark Pullen had a dental apointment at 0915. [...] “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it” – George Santayana This seems to be the quote that stood out from the rest. Throughout history there were accounts of skirmishes between the militaries of different nations. Many military commanders failed to win battles because after winning about 80% of the battle, [...] The concept of ritual and civilisation is interesting because what one civilisation defines as ritual may be culture to another. When I first read the article, I was thinking: “This is what a more advanced alien species would say about the human race!” For example, an extraterrestrial species might not have restrooms like we [...] I shall address two different viewpoints regarding the observer effect. The First viewpoint: If we know someone is watching us, we will change our behaviour. First, allow me to define “behaviour”; behaviour refers to the acts and mannerisms of an organism. I shall begin with an analogy about domestic animals. Before humans had the [...] If our brains were simple, we would be too simple to understand them. – Mario Puzo This is statement is valid because it highlights the fact that our brains are incredibly complicated. Neurologists and other biologists have studied the human brain for a very long time, but every conclusion raises new questions, and explanations [...] When trying to determine my favourite places to live in, there are 3 things that are most important: People – I would love to be surrounded by people with similar interests and a similar level of motivation and ambition. These are the people that i can learn from the most Location – Convenient, but [...] Many influential people in history have used the same techniques shown in the documentary today. As long as the speaker “brings out” emotions within the crowd, he/she can influence them very easily. For example, not long after 9/11, George Bush made a speech that evoked anger against Iraq. This ultimately led to support for [...] It is becoming apparent that the human condition is affecting even the most innovative and unbiased method of acquiring knowledge: The Scientific Method. From everything to the origins of life and the universe to the fact that scientists refuse to get rid of the ever confusing concept of the conventional current in the field [...] - Which of the two theories do you think presents the best argument (Genesis or Multiverse), taking into account the fact that the beliefs of people have affected their ability to be unbiased in their research? - Scientists not in favour of the Genesis theory are trying to disprove it, and likewise those in [...] From the descriptions in the letter show that he does, to an extent, make use of the scientific method in his research, except that he does not have a set hypothesis. A hypothesis must be a prediction; you cannot say that I predict I will find the truth, since it would defeat the purpose [...] We briefly discussed the placebo effect in drugs; when doctors give patients placebo drugs, even if the drugs did not help them with their recovery, the psychological assurance given to the patients allowed them to recover from their illnesses. This is an example of the placebo effect. According to “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, [...] Some people think The Scientific Method and the experimental sciences are synonymous with each other. This is not true. The scientific method is a process which in which someone has to go through in order to come out with an observation based conclusion. Experimental sciences are fields of study that make use of it [...] According to the article “The Science of Why We Don’t Believe in Science”, conservative people are less likely (than their liberal counterparts) to change their views on topics like Climate Change and Vaccine – Autism links. It states that this is due to the fact that people (especially conservative people) tend to agree with [...] While I tested the Ted Talks app on my new iPad 2, I came across this really interesting video on what the presenter (Paul Zak) calls the Moral Molecule! It is important to note that while we dismiss scientific discoveries, our thoughts are actually greatly influenced by what is produced in our bodies. [...] “Intuition is perception via the unconcious” – Carl Gustav Jung I came across this quote while researching “intuition” online. Perhaps what Jung said may have some truth in it. When we speak of the brain and its processing, we refer to the unconcious/subconcious and concious brain. Since I despise talking about supernatural intuition and [...] I take it that most of us would think that lying is bad, yes? Perhaps you are right in certain cases, but most of the time, maybe not. As I said in class, white lies are important because it does not cause the 2nd party to become agitated if you speak of the truth. [...] Though one can say otherwise, in my opinion, Spock’s reaction in the scene in the video was the right one, because from my perspective, one should not be emotional during work, as it will, almost most of the time be detrimental for our work and may sometimes cause bad things to happen. In the [...] “Anger is never without a reason, but seldom a good one” – Benjamin Franklin This is espeically true in men. Anger tends to get in the way of getting things done. Often when people get angry (like mood swings), they do so with a reason. However, when we examine the reasons for this, we [...] I was browsing youtube for videos about Inductive and Decuctive reasoning, and from the video with the clearest explanations… Deductive Reasoning involves making a conclusion based on previously known facts. We can see how this works in Science experiments. Our observations from the investigations that we do are our premises that back up our [...] He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave. ~Andrew Carnegie The statement by Andrew Carnegie might be criticising 3 types of people. Those that cannot reason, those that will not reason and those that dare not reason. It makes perfect sense [...] Before I talked about the selfish gene. It is the selfish gene that allowed homo sapiens to keep away from extinction. Nevertheless, the selfish gene is something that every single organism has. What makes us humans so special, is that we can pretend to “hide” the effects it has on our phenotype simply by [...] The name Richard Dawkins sounded really familiar. I confirmed much later that he was the author of one of the books that I really liked: “The Selfish Gene”. The book talks about the controversial topics of evolution, and explains why all organisms, from a simple amoeba in the water to a complex multicellular human, [...] One Man or One Million? Tragedy vs Statistic? I came across this a couple of times in several sites. It appears that Steve Job’s death has attracted huge amounts of attention, to the extent that some used his name and his importance to compare public reactions to different kinds of people. The interesting [...] It is quite fun trying to figure out what it would be like being in a virtual reality, and what it would be like being in a virtual reality of that virtual reality. That way, we couldn’t tell if the “reality” we were in is actually the real “reality”. Though I was thinking about [...] There is no doubt that every single language in the world has evolved, and will evolve in the future. We discussed this in class, but I would like to bring this up again in the blog because I did not mention this in class. (I thought it would be easier to understand this on [...] |
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