Phantom Limb

A phantom limb is a reality in an amputees mind.  Evaluate a different situation where a reality only exists in a persons mind.  Have you every experienced a reality that only existed in your mind?

An example of a situation where a reality only exists in a person’s mind is when a person has multiple personalities known as schizophrenia.  A person who has schizophrenia has multiple personalities and believe that there are many people/characteristics in their mind.  They speak in many perspectives with many different characteristics.  Another example is when a child has an imaginary friend.  He/she may believe that this ‘friend’ really exists, but really it only existed in his/her mind.

I think that as a kid, everyone have had the experience of having an imaginary friend.  I think it happened to me when I was a kid because when you’re a kid, you believe everything in your mind.

If something lies outside our realm of perception, then how can we know it?

I think that we necessary don’t know what lies outside our realm of perception, we just believe what others tell us.  We really don’t know or understand what we haven’t seen or been to unless we experience it on our own, but sometimes that’s not possible, therefore we just believe what others tell us because they have evidences to prove and support their points.  For example, the landing on the moon in 1969.  When Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, I wasn’t even near the surface of earth yet, but even if I was I would believe the event took place.  It was a time when the space race between the US and the Russian was so famous and talked about, and of course if someone said Neil walked on the moon, I would believe it.  I think that the people of the United States and the ones all around the world at first probably didn’t believe it, but since they have photographs and video tapes of the landing to support the walk on the moon, people obviously thought it was true.  Base on the evidences given to the people, they automatically believe it and that’s just how things work.

Even though the event of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon took place and was out of my realm of perception, I believe that it really did happen and it’s true because of how well known it was in the American history.  Since it was an event that was well known, you just have to believe that it really did happen and you have no doubt about it.  It’s all over the world and written about in most American history textbooks.  Yeah, the event took place nearly 40 years back, way before I was born, but since I learned about it and since there are so many resources about the event, you just can’t doubt it.  I know it happened because everyone does, it’s written down in history and while growing up, you have to soak it up into your memory.  But now since that I saw that video about trying to prove that the walked on the moon was fake, I don’t know what to believe anymore.  Both sides have very good evidences and points, it’s hard to know now because technology can do anything.

 

 

 

Propaganda

Why does nearly all propaganda take the form of art?

I think that nearly all propaganda take the form of art because it’s easier to attract the attention of the viewer or someone walking by rather than a cluster of words.  I know that written language and music are both art (plus more other), but my focus here is on pictures and drawings.  Since pictures are known as something that speak more than a thousand words, it’ll be easier to get the message out in just once glance rather than reading a whole paragraph.  If a person was to walk by a paragraph, it’ll be harder for that person to finish it and remember it, especially if he/she is in a rush or just doesn’t want to read it.  On the other hand, if the same person walk by a photo/image of something, the message will be clearer and the image will be locked in his/her mind even if he/she is in a rush.  Plus propaganda is trying to catch someone’s attention or persuade someone to do something; the best choice is to use art because it’s creative, colorful, and attractive.

Knowledge Issue Associated with North Korea

Identify a knowledge issue associated with North Korea? Justify it as a TOK knowledge issue.

Well, since North Korea is trying to isolate itself from the rest of the world and from watching the documentary videos, I think that a good knowledge issue that is associated with North Korea can be on its government and civilization. North Korea is considered a ‘secret state’ and because of that, only the people who are allowed into the country for documentations only captured what the government wanted the rest of the world to see. So by only being able to put things that the government wanted the rest of the world to see really limited on their true color about their government and their civilization. North Korea is also known as a country who gives back to the peasants (correct me if I am wrong), but as I recalled from the “illegal” documentary video, this was not even true and the government didn’t even carry out on his own words. He basically ignored all the orphans and no one really did anything to help feed them. They’re in poverty, hungry and are totally homeless.

With all being said, some examples of TOK Knowledge issues are:

Why would the government of North Korea, who is considered to give back to his people, especially the peasants backing out on his own words? If he claimed to have had exchanged a pair of red boots for wet sneakers as a kid, why can’t he do the same now and help civilize the people of the outskirt in North Korea? Why keep every “bad” things that doesn’t fit his words away from the rest of the world and show only what he wanted us to see?

History

Are we being taught “fake” stuff in history?  Explain.

I don’t think it’s necessary “fake” stuff that we learned in history.  I think that since there are so many different views on different things that happened in the past, we just have to pin point what actually happened from what was an exaggeration.  For example, let’s look at the beginning of the World War 1.  If you’re reading two different articles from two different view points on who to blame for the start of the war.  Out of the two reports, one being a German report and the other being a Britain, of course the Britain will bad mouthed the Germans and obviously blame the Germans for everything.  If you were to read the other report from a German’s perspective, the blame obviously goes to everyone.  

There is no “fake” stuff in history.  Everything that is written down is being researched thoroughly by many historians who backed up everything with facts and evidences that they found.  What are being taught to us, are work of many historians who had done tons and tons of researching to prove what they believe is truth.  It’s really up to you or me, to decide what to believe and what not to, base on what we know about the past of the topic.  We can either go with the studies of many historians or follow our gut feeling.

Language

Which form of language; written, spoken, or body language; would be most effective to convince someone that the world is round?  Explain.

I think that the best form of language to convince someone that the earth is round would be spoken language.  I believe that spoken language is the best form of language because you can support your idea with many facts and it’s so much easier to do then the other two forms.  One pro for spoken language is that it’s so much easier to say it then write and form it with your hands or body.  Another one is that you can show how you feel (show emotion in your voice) about it verbally and make it come across as a fact.  You can use so many words to support the idea of the roundness of the earth and you have endless possibility of words choice to choose from.  You can’t use your hands and write it out is the cons for spoken language.

Written and body language don’t have the ability to allow you to express your thought thoroughly because it’s so much harder to put your heart out on paper and in body language then to express it verbally with emotions.  So that’s why spoken language is the best way to convince someone that the earth is round.  

Art

Describe an example of when analyzing art diminished the value of the art.

I believe that artwork of another person should not be graded because the person who is analyzing the art does not know or feel the piece of art like the artist does.  When someone analyzes someone else’s work, it usually takes away the value of the art because the examiner has a different view on it then the artist.  The artist’s vision should be the only one that counts.  Possible suggestions are allow to help open the eyes of the artist to a new different direction, but I strictly don’t believe that anyone has the right to say an artwork isn’t art.  I believe that the only person who can really judge his/her work is the artist him/herself.  

An example about art losing their value when being analyzed is during the IB Art Exam.  Emily and Arcadia made a strong point about it in their presentation.  I agreed with both of them and art should never be analyzed once it’s done, but suggestions during the process of the work should be allow.  Art is the heart and soul of the artist, and no one has a right to say, “That’s not art.” or “That’s not right, you should do it this way and that.”   It’s the vision of the artist, you just have to take it like it is and if you think you can do it better, then let’s have you do it. 

Mathematics

Are mathematical constants (π, e, the golden ratio, etc.) natural or man-made?  Pick one and explain.

I believe that mathematical constants such as pi, e or the golden ratio are natural but the process of their discovery is man made.  What I mean by this is that the world is full mysteries and has many things still out there waiting for people to discover them.  Good examples are life, science and math.  Life, science and math all have many things out there that already existed but the process for its existence is still a blur to us and we have to create that process and follow it to find it.  Looking at the golden ratio, it was already out there, it existed, but in order to find it and to prove that it actually exists we need to find how to get it.  Someone eventually found the process of finding its existence by measuring the human body and doing a whole bunch of math.  So therefore, the mathematical constants are natural, but the process of finding what already exist and proving its existence are all man made. 

Human Science

Is religion a human science? Explain.

There is a difference between the study of religion and religion itself.  I believe that religion itself is not part of human science because religion in general defines the beliefs of oneself, but the study of how religion plays a role in the everyday life of the person is part of human science.  The study of religion and how it affects the people’s actions is human science.  For example, in our presentation, we mentioned psychology and spiritual inquiry.  Psychology is the study of the brain, and that’s a human science, but just the brain itself is not.  The other one was spiritual inquiry, and it’s the study of the human spirit and the role that the spirit plays in the world.  If it was just to study the spirit in general, then it is not human science.  In order to be part of human science, whatever field the studying is in, it must have an affect on the human being, therefore religion in general is not and the study of religion on the human being is.   

Ethics

Can ethical questions be quantified? Describe an example or counterexample.

I don’t think that ethical questions can’t be quantified because different people have different perspectives on different things.  Meaning, not everyone has the same beliefs or are from the same cultural background; therefore their views on certain things will be different.  An example that was brought up during the presentation was stealing.  The question was “Is it okay to steal money from someone?”  If you were to look at this in two perspectives: How much was stolen?  Who stole it?  The view on it can be different.  People would say that it would be okay to steal $5 because $5 isn’t that much money, but if you are looking at it in the other direction, saying $200, then people would say it’s a wrong thing to steal.  Another way to look at this is who stole the money.  If a kid stole the money he/she wouldn’t be under that much trouble, but if an older person was to steal the money, others would look at him/her as a thief and maybe he/she will get more versus the kid.  The world is made up of many different people and no one can change the way the people view things, therefore ethical questions cannot be quantified.