I Think Therefore IB » Emotion

History; Reason

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:04:16 +0000

Four versions of 450 years of British history: The Subjectivity of History
Laws are based on reason, but sometimes reason makes no sense: A Sudanese Family Reunites in Brooklyn

Reading Materials

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:11:13 +0000

Some more articles you might enjoy (or find interesting, depending on the topic):

Scientific Research into Humour. Somewhat related is this article, which considers the scientific nature of blushing.

Remember that ludicrous Facebook Quiz “Are you a potato?”? Seems like Proctor & Gamble should have taken that quiz: Pringles Are Potato Chips.

Not so light-hearted, on the other hand, this report on illegal abortions and their consequences: The Deathly Toll of Abortions

Articles to Read, Things to Know

ithinkthereforeib — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:39:04 +0000

Although I realise that you might be ignoring my postings at this point (though you do still get a grade for commenting), I will continue to share. I don’t believe that knowledge and learning stop once a particular deadline has been met or a report card has been issued. Plus, some of these articles are likely to contain excellent examples for your ToK essays!

So, peruse at your own leisure:
Mathematically Calculating Love: Yes, you have read correctly.
Gay Divorce Still Legal: Legal Messes….
Moving to Raze an Ancient City: Uighur Kashgar: I’m not sure what example there is in this – but it is an interesting, though saddening read. If nothing else, this article is to share with you some of our amazing human cultural heritage that, if you have the chance, you should go visit before it is destroyed.
Retouching Beauty: The Socio-cultural impact of photoshopping celebrities.
Human Language Gene Changes How Mice Squeak: Absolutely fascinating research into areas we know so little about…

More to come soon!

Elves 101 and Other Topics

ithinkthereforeib — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:59:20 +0000

A number of articles you mind find interesting:

Since we have been talking about belief and superstition in relation to the “Darwin’s God” article, this piece on Elf Detection 101 struck me as rather intriguing.

I also came across “Tag, You’re It“, which reminded me of the G-Block presentation on “The Human Circus”.

And finally, a piece that is not for the faint-hearted, dealing with “The Castration of Sex Offenders”, but that is worth a read for those of you who can stomach it, simply because the article points to one of those immensely complex issues that are part of our human reality but that we would rather not think about.

Reading and a Film Recommendation

ithinkthereforeib — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:46:38 +0000

Reading recommendations:

Slate asks Who should pay for in vitro fertilization?, a question that has arisen as part of the recent octuplets controversy. Also related to some of the presentation topics (e.g. “Synthetic Biology”) we have seen in class is another Slate article, which considers the the bad uses of good technology.

I would also like to recommend a film. As you may or may not know, I rather adore movies, particularly non-mainstream ones. I have seen most of those independent features available at my local video store, but the store manager pointed out one I had missed: Så som i Himmelen (As It Is in Heaven), a Swedish film from 2004. Why it is of interest to us? Although the film deals with a variety of noteworthy and complex issues (human relationships, moral responsibility of the individual in a community that has a long-established and unwritten agreement of ’silence’ and ‘looking away’), central to it is the power of music. Some of the most pivotal scenes in Så som i Himmelen communicate their message through this different form of language. As I watched the film, I was moved by the power of this – of a song that contained words, but, sung in Swedish, being only partially comprehensible to me (“Gabriellas sång”) as well as (SPOILER ALERT!) of the wordless sounds of the final scene. Of course, both these clips will make much more sense to you if you watch all of Så som i Himmelen!

Some Reading…

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:54:49 +0000

A Modern-Day Gattaca: “A Baby, Please. Freckles, Blond, Hold the Colic”

Fallen Soldiers, Coming Home in Public:…From our discussion in F-period today, a real-life example of a current discussion on how certain images – or the lack thereof – in media outlets can shape our views.

Plastic Surgery Confidential

Textual Misconduct: What to do about teens and their dumb naked photos of themselves

Update on the Octuplets

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:35:47 +0000

Lisa Belkins raises the question“How many children is too many?” on her blog, providing a link to a first interview with the mother, Nadya Suleman. The blog entry itself was posted only a couple of hours ago, but the comments from readers are multiplying by the minute, which seems to suggest how strongly the public feels about this issue. Do browse through the readers’ remarks, as some raise interesting points. The general consensus remains the same though: fourteen is too much.
Slate’s XX Factor Blog (written by Slate’s women journalists) also features a number of entries on the octuplets – but you have to scroll down the screen to find them, as other blog entries are interspersed.

Religion and Self-Control

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:25:57 +0000

I am on a roll… posting, just in case you are planning to stay up late tomorrow night and get bored at some point.

Anyhow: An NYT article on how religious belief and piety promote self-control.

Saving Face: Face Transplants for the “Socially Crippled”

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:02:56 +0000

I don´t think I yet posted this article, which has been up on Slate for some ten days.

And since you probably weren´t paying much attention to such issues in your pre-ToK time, here are some more articles:

First Face Transplant Carried Out in France (November 2005) – also check the links to articles on the top right
Facing Up to Face Transplants: Ethical Questions and Concerns. Again, check articles on the side.
Face Transplant in China…with accompanying pictures (WARNING: Includes somewhat graphic images that you may find disturbing).

The Universal Language: Facial Expressions

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:16:51 +0000

A BBC article echoes our reading of “The Universal Language”, detailing recent research on the innateness of facial expressions connected to particular emotions: “Smiles and scowls ´in our genes´”.

Blindsight: Blind, Yet Seeing

ithinkthereforeib — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:16:28 +0000

Fascinating scientific research on blindsight, “the native ability to sense things using the brain’s primitive, subcortical — and entirely subconscious — visual system” – read about it here.

Shoes, Feet and Dogs

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 05:37:04 +0000

If you have been reading the news, you might be aware of the recent ’shoe-throwing incident’. I don’t want to go into the politics of that, but we can learn something about cultural practices and beliefs from it. Slate nicely does us the favour of listing the significance of shoes and feet across a range of cultures and religions, examples that might come in handy for a future ToK essay.
Although in this case people seem most focused on the shoe-throwing, the incident also involved Muntader al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, shouting “You dog”. The explanation for the phrase is that this too was meant as an insult as in Arab culture dogs are considered “unclean” and are not even commonly pets. I myself have had friends that would not touch certain animals they considered “dirty” and “disgusting” because of their cultural and/or religious upbringing. This might all seem rather bizarre to you, but such beliefs do differ. You can see it with food too – different religions do not allow certain types of animals for consumption. But, it is not all a ‘hate’ relationship, it goes the other way too: in India cows are revered and wherever you might go you are likely to encounter a cow – in the middle of the road, right next to your car, on the playground, next to the water fountain in the shopping area and looking right into a shop window. I’m not joking! These are dusty, dirty (and skinny) cows that may go wherever they like, they defecate everywhere too – and no one complains.

Happy Birthday, Mouse!

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:10:18 +0000

The computer mouse is celebrating its fortieth birthday. Seems hard to believe, doesn’t it? The BBC also published another article, detailing the technological advances ever since the mouse was invented – it’s gone from wood mouse to touch pad. At this point in time computer developers are working with so-called “gestural computer mechanisms like touch screens and facial recognition devices”. According to the second article, these mechanisms “recognise your face in real time” and distinguish “even when you smile”. It also reports that new “emotive systems where you can wear a headset and control a computer by simply thinking” have been on the market since September. All of this is of course highly interesting for us, and evokes some complex questions, including CAN A MACHINE THINK? – which was a ToK essay title a few years back.

What do you believe? Can a machine think?
And, do you agree or disagree with the second article that the computer mouse will die out? (Personally I do… I rarely use a mouse. And although ‘mouse potato’ – in lieu of ‘couch potato’ – was one of the new words of 2006, I don’t think it’s anywhere near as catchy as the original word, nor as permanent).

And Monkeys Go on Strike

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:55:44 +0000

An interesting article reporting on scientific research on animals and emotion:

“Studies Show Dogs Have a Sense of Fairness”

I had to chuckle when reading about the monkeys going on strike. (-:

ToKish…

ithinkthereforeib — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:51:25 +0000

I thought I should find you some more articles that might inspire one or the other journal entry and hopped over to Slate, which is always a good place to find something ToKish. A new article, entitled
Obama in Your Heart, yet again discusses emotion. A few days ago, I also came across a discussion on DNA testing children for sports they are more likely to excel in, which raises all kinds of scientific as well as ethical questions and links to the eugenic presentation that we saw in Block G. Finally, if you want to rest your TOK-strained brain for a while and simply need a chuckle, you may read about the end of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

New York Times Article on Emotions

ithinkthereforeib — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:51:38 +0000

….discussing, in part, the genetics of emotions and to what extent they can also be controlled:

The Cool Factor: Never Let Them See You Sweat

An Article to Peruse

ithinkthereforeib — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:41:58 +0000

California’s Proposition 8

The Wacky and Weird World of Natural Sciences

ithinkthereforeib — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:35:53 +0000

When discussing inductive reasoning in the natural sciences in F-period today, I mentioned an experiment I had read about the other day on certain types of sea sponges that conduct light to their interior. Interestingly, the article even mentions that the experiment was based on previous observations.
I also happened to stumble across another article with the eye-catching title “Impregnating Your Mother-in-Law” that connects us to another side of science (as well as ethics, and it invokes issues of language too). Of course, an article with such a title just had to be ToK material – and indeed it is. Really, ask yourself how has parenthood changed over time and what is scientifically possible now that was not fifty or even only twenty-five years ago (or less?)? How does it complicate things for social scientists as they draw up a family tree? Must we redefine ‘incest’ (which is, of course, a subjective term to start with, yet apparently a universal taboo)? Why is it permissible for a grandmother to carry her own grandchildren, or a grandfather to father (yes, father) his daughter-in-law’s child but not for a brother and sister to procreate? The couple explains their controversial case here and this article on a science blog discusses why this should not be a crime. The blogger, an archeologist, brings up a number of scientific arguments related to genetic defects that the German couple used in their attempt to overturn German incest law. Additionally, he makes the point that because the couple was brought up separately (and without knowing of the existence of the other sibling) “[t]heir anti-incest biological programming never had any opportunity to do its thing”. We might at this point recall our reading on “The Universal Language” when discussing the definition for “innate”, stating that we are biologically programmed to learn every language but that certain conditions must be present at a certain time in order for us to learn any one language. Here, with the incest case, the argument of course is that these two siblings could never “biological imprint” their ‘innate digust factor’ (if that is what we want to call it) to not see each other as possible partners.
Finally, I also mentioned genes in one class, stating that the term had existed for a long time, although not the precise scientific knowledge that we have now – though this was not something I had been aware of until reading this article on our evolving understanding of genes and the human genome.

Three Interesting Articles

ithinkthereforeib — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:44:51 +0000

“The Unappreciated, Holding Our Lives in Balance (“Sensory Heroes”)”: Related to Sense Perception.

“What? Me Biased?”: Links to a test that allows you to determine your unconscious bias.

“Fly Me to Deity”: An article on science and religion, reflection on the first space (unmanned) space mission to the moon by a nation that worships the satellite as a deity.

Symbols: “Me and My Swastika”

ithinkthereforeib — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:45:44 +0000

BBC article: “Me and My Swastika”
“Me and My Swastika” – audio report (29 min)

Swastika on Wikipedia- The section on what the symbol signifies in different religions is particularly interesting.
“The Origin of the Swastika”

Well, Excuuuuuse Meee!

ithinkthereforeib — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:45:58 +0000

I have been meaning to post this article “Well, Excuuuuuse Meee! (Why Humans Are So Quick to Take Offense)” for a while – finally, here it is!

Presidential Campaign: Group Polarisation at Rallies

ithinkthereforeib — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:38:31 +0000

I don’t know whether or not you are following the elections in the US. Last week, there were reports of John McCain being booed at one of his own rallies when he stated that Obama was a decent man and that he would fight against him “with respect”. Today, Slate posted an article reflecting on theories of group polarisation in social psychology that try to explain this kind of behaviour. Take a look! P.S. Now I know why I am so, so liberal!

Various Articles from Various Sources

ithinkthereforeib — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:36:34 +0000

Since we are studying emotions at the moment, I thought this article would be perfect for sharing with you:

Babies Know Happy from Sad Songs

And here is one quite unrelated to our current studies, but still worth reading:
Mathematical Beauty

Yoga: Why Some People May Take Offense

ithinkthereforeib — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:27:14 +0000

MSNCB posted a very discussable article today about “parents…peeved about yoga”:

Yoga at School Causes Stress among Some

The article is quite interesting – but please don’t dismiss it as “nonsense” right away. Rather, try to consider why some people might find yoga inappropriate to be taught at school. What WoKs are relevant here? And which AoKs are evidently playing a role and in what way? How does this reflect the current cultural/religious climate in the USA?