Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Go Hunting
For noon on Saturday, please select a piece found on either Brain Pickings, 3 Quarks Daily, or Arts & Letters Daily (all found on the TOK Links list to the right). Provide a link to the piece, explain what drew you to it, and extract a knowledge question. Finally, connect the knowledge question to a moment of knowledge from your own life that exists in a different area of knowledge than the original article. Welcome back.
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http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2013/09/holy-shit-a-brief-history-of-swearing.html
ReplyDeleteFor the past few days I have been going back and forth between the different websites. Today I just went right to 3quarksdaily and then the first article just caught my attention "Holy shit: A Brief History of Swearing." Who wouldn't want to go and see what it is.
It really only discusses how the different swears have been "developed" and how the uses of swears don't always mean what they mean. It wasn't a really in depth article but gives a brief description of the book.
KQ: To what extent do swears have more meanings than the way they are used?
Something that I thought of that was just recently discussed with someone is how the "F" word can really just be used in any context. But actually it is used in the most random ways but somehow always makes sense.
Also another moment I can connect this to is something we learned about in history. There have been many instances when something has been said but the way people interpret it can be completely different. Such as the statement involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict where the settlement of the Jews in a homeland (not direct quote). This has been very controversial because the wording was very confusing and easily able to be taken several different ways.
The article I chose is called "Is There a Word for That?"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2013/09/is-there-a-word-for-that.html
This article caught my eye because of the frustration I experience when attempting to find the equivalent of an Arabic word or phrase in English. Hence the title, “Is there a Word for That?”
This article discusses British settlers in the United States who coined their own words for both new and old objects. When word got back to Britain, the king’s advisors expressed disapproval.
The knowledge question I extracted from the article is:
To what extent can language be considered a human invention? If it can be considered a human invention, then can we create new ways of knowing?
I can relate this back to the moment of knowledge I had when it dawned on me that mathematics and music could both be considered languages. Different thoughts and ideas can be expressed using different notation, which people all over the world can understand. These two languages tie into my knowledge question by raising the issue of whether or not labeling something brings it into existence. Whenever mathematicians come up with new formulas or new notation to describe an idea, they have created new characters and brought them into existence. However, are the characters the only things being created, or is the idea created along with it? In other words, did the idea already exist in time and space waiting to be discovered, or was it a human being that brought it into existence? This is one real life example of my knowledge question, which can be applied to anything one might classify a language.
For this TOK post, I chose an article from Arts & Letters Daily entitled "The Zombie Argument That Refuses To Die" by David Womersley. This article discusses the denial that the plays of Shakespeare were indeed written by William Shakespeare. Many people dispute this claim, arguing that one or more of Shakespeare's plays were not written by him or were written with the heavy influence of another author. I had heard about this theory before and I was intrigued to learn more about it.
ReplyDeleteThis article isn't particularly informative, but rather brought up the fact that such theories exist. The article mentions that because many of Shakespeare's works are proven to have been a collaborative effort, they cannot bear his name as the creator. However, isn't everyone influenced at one point or another by some force other than themselves. No man is an island, and no one can claim not to have had any outside influences to their thoughts or writing. Certainly Shakespeare had people who influenced his mode of thinking. This prompted me to consider the nature of originality, and inspired my knowledge question.
To what extent is it possible to claim complete originality of thought? As for a connection to a moment in my own life, there was a "debate" in history class today. Each person contributed ideas to the conversations, but once the conversation started, no one could claim that their thinking hadn't been influenced by what someone else had said. Can humans truly lay claim to original thought when they have been brought up in a society where daily human interactions guide our thought process?
http://standpointmag.co.uk/books-july-august-13-the-zombie-argument-that-refuses-to-die-david-womersley-bard?page=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0
How wonderful that, in writing about Shakespeare's originality, you quote John Donne.
DeleteParasite makes mice lose fear of cats permanently.
ReplyDeleteEliot Barford in Nature
I was drawn to this piece, mainly, because I have a strong fascination with mice. In this article it is suggested that the parasite Toxoplsma gondii had the side effect of altering structural change in the brain of mice causing them to have permanently reverse their fear of cats; and actually cause them to be more attracted to cat odour.
KQ: To what extent does the way one is raised shape their fears and opinions?
As I was reading this I thought of how some people are terrified of spiders and ther are willing to pick them up and safely put them outside, instead of watching them be squished. In my opinion this has something to do with the household in which wach person was raised in or in their society. Now I am not sure if this could truly be transferred over to animals. There is no proof that the mama mouse tells her babies, “Now kids, whatever you do, DON’T GO NEAR THE CAT!” This may not be feasible, however children of any species learn from those around them, right?
Another situation I thought of is what we are studying in history, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In these states is it truly each individual deciding whom they like or do not like? Is it truly each individual that decides what they want and where they want to live and where they want a certain type of person not to live? Most of the ideas going through this conflict that are preventing it from being resolved are these ideas that have carried on since the war of 1948 when Israel became a state. If there were no influences by past generations then there would be a better chance of peace.
KQ: To what extent is one’s opinion truly their own opinion?
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/09/20/how-evolution-works-animated/
ReplyDeleteHow Evolution Works, Animated in Minimalist Motion Graphics by Maria Popova
I initially chose this article from Brain Pickings because this week in Bio we have been talking a lot about evolution and just watched a video about the evolution of resistant strains of bacteria that could possibly one day evolve a strong enough resistance to not be affected by any type of antibiotics. This would mean that there would be no way to treat disease caused by bacteria. The article itself doesn’t discuss much, but it reminded me a lot about something that I thought needed to be discussed. One of the videos we watched about evolution was about selection and how in nature males compete with each other to see who would be the individual to pass on their stronger genes and DNA; in the end the female would choose which male to create the best offspring with. The video brought up the point that a little over a century ago men did not think that women had the capacity to choose for themselves which man would be the best fit for them, obviously that is not the case now. Throughout time and history many humans have evolved from this narrow way of thinking.
KQ- What ways of knowing would be best utilized in assessing the “fitness” of a man or woman? What factors could change the answer from person to person in the first question?
For me this moment of knowledge really connects biology and history, which is kind of like what evolution is.
I selected a piece from 3 Quarks Daily called “Why does academic writing on international affairs seem to be of little practical value?” Here is the link to the article: http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2013/09/why-does-academic-writing-on-international-affairs-seem-to-be-of-little-practical-value.html
ReplyDeleteWhen I opened 3 Quarks Daily, I thought the title of the article that Jillian chose was very interesting, but when I looked down, I found a more attractive one to me. From both my personal background and the materials that I am learning in history class now, I think that international relation is a very interesting but complicated topic. For example, I found that the writings about Arab-Israeli conflict have helped me to understand this long lasting issue more, so that they are in some way very “valuable” to me. However, this article is saying that the academic writing on international affairs does not have much practical value, and that made me wonder why. In the article, it argues that the scholars may be afraid to be controversial on some points with others, but the most important reason is the ranking. Most professors and scholars do care the ranking of their departments because it is what brings them attention. From that, I extracted a knowledge question: To what extent is reputation an effective way to learn about something?
My question just reminded me of a small incident I had over the summer. When I was choosing a new toner for my normal-to-oily skin, I checked out a toner ranking on the website. I found two that seemed good to me, and they both had good reputations among their users. However, when I tried to find more details about these two toners, I suddenly realized that they were for different skin types; one was for dry and sensitive skin while the other was for oily skin. This difference let me decide the one I wanted to try, and this small incident taught me that I needed to find the “right” one for myself, but not necessarily the “well-known” one. In this case, reputation was an effective way for me get an idea of what I was looking for, but it may not tell me the best one for me.
I have a habit of dwelling on the lives of the passionate and active, those who have found something worth dying for, and thus something to live for, so “The Daily Routines of Famous Writers” on Brain Pickings caught my attention. It appears that the greats write in solitude. I’m speaking of a solitary mind-state. This led me to the question “In what ways is it better to live as a recluse for those who wish to ‘discover’ themselves?” If we were to live as hermits do, rather than relying on the presence and judgments of individuals who wish to do us no greater good than permitting us to live as confined as we do, we may uncover for ourselves the divine presence on earth spoken of in religious scripts and myths.
ReplyDeleteFurther on I wandered back to the daunting college process and my college essay. Thoreau writes beautifully, with a tearful creativity that provokes jealousy and admiration simultaneously. Those who inform masses of the application process speak of the importance of one’s essay. Could I write with an elegance that will linger in the minds in admissions? Could I write with a humour that charms even when what I write isn’t remotely amusing? Could I write with such intensity that the reader is forced to empathize, appealing to his or her basic humanity? Or maybe illustrate the world through my perspective, permitting them access to a world only exposed on limited occasions. Maybe then these strangers who I am pleading to will recognize my efforts, my obsessive want, yearning, craving to attend my top choice school because I now that I will encounter the passionate and curious. I know my efforts will land me in the school best fit for me.