TOK Presentation Reflection 2

Reflection on TOK Presentation of Hye Joon Lee, Jiwon Shin, John Kim

Knowledge Issue: How do we know what is ethically right and wrong?

Their group did a presentation on several different areas of knowledge, including ethics, religion and history. The questions they explored, based on the AOKs and real life situations, were: How does exposure to certain ideas affect our ethical decisions? Are the ethical judgments inborn or learnt? Are moral standards universal?

The ways of knowing explored in the presentation were faith, reason, memory and intuition.

In addition, contrary to other presentations, they incorporated many real life situations such as the Thailand riots, chemical weapons in Syria and mosquitoes. The looked at the differences in belief about Thaksin Shinawatra as a leader in Thailand and asked: “What knowledge confirms what we believe to be the truth?" They provided answers to the questions by defining Theory of Knowledge terms and relating them to the real life situations.

The group believed it is because of people’s intuitive understanding of the situation, faith and reason that is reinforcing them that their stance is the truth. When a person comes to the conclusion “Thaksin is a good leader” or “Thaksin is a bad leader”, he or she is not providing propositional knowledge. It is a highly personal knowledge that has been molded by one's’ moral standards and prior experience. In conclusion, perspectives have no singular truth, no singular validity but only subjectivity that skew perception and stance. There is no objective truth when it comes to the political polarization of ideas.

TOK Entry - Translation Activity

Translation Activity in Class

During one of our classes of Theory of Knowledge, we did a translation activity where everyone tried to translate the same poem into different languages. The poem itself had many literary and idiomatic meaning which caused different translations in the presentation. As I mentioned in my previous blog post on language and knowledge, I take both IBH Korean and IBH Literature so I find it very difficult to translate one language to another.  

Three rules of translation are faithfulness, comprehensibility, and back translation. As I translated the poem into Korean, I could relate to these rules because I always had many problems when translating English to Korean because of the back translation. For example, while translating the poem of “The Red Wheelbarrow”, I had to translate the whole poem backwards in order to have the same meaning in Korean. This is where the second rule comes into play as the translation should be comprehensible. In order for other Koreans to understand the poem in the same meaning, I needed to change the direction of the poem and specific uses of words. When I translated my translation back to English, it said “Beside the white chickens/ Glazing rainwater/ Red cart/ It depends on many”.

It is noticeable that the original poem is very different from the translation. Through this activity, I recognized the importance and difficulty of translating a word into a different language while keeping the same exact meaning. I also learned about the three rules of translation and how they play a role as we process words into another language. 

TOK Entry - TOK Presentation

Theory of Knowledge and GMOs

We focused on a personal situation for the real life situation that led us to our topic. Marsha’s grandfather farms in corn fields and he farms genetically modified corn after many failures due to pests and herbicides. GM maize has been used in many countries but some have raised controversy on the harmful impacts on insects and plants and other health issues in human.

Our knowledge question explores the theory of knowledge issues through the topic of GM foods and analyzes different approaches to the knowledge question and how it affects our understanding. So the knowledge question we derived from our real life situation was “What sources of knowledge can we trust in order to decide how to view GMOs?”

There are many benefits that come with GMOs. Many of them have had DNA resistant to bacteria and to herbicides inserted, causing them to become resistant to diseases and to herbicides, which will increase crop yield in the long run. However, not all the aspects of GMOs are so positive. Many environmentalists are worried that if all organisms are changed so that they display a particular gene, it will result in a decrease in biodiversity.

Referring back to our central knowledge question, the crucial idea to take away from this was that it is fundamental to have a clear, well-rounded knowledge base before people make a judgment for themselves. In the case of GMOs, because of the large lack of awareness on the topic, it is all the more important to raise awareness to have both the producers of the products as well as the consumers make informed decisions.  

TOK Presentation Reflection 1

Reflection on TOK Presentation of Floruen Tu and Callum McEachen

Knowledge Question: To what extent is scientific knowledge reliable?

Their presentation was brief and used limited words which allowed them to have more explanations in their speech. The real life situation chosen was the illuminati conspiracy in Atlanta. During the snowstorms in the USA, some people performed an experiment on the snow and found that if you held a lighter to it, it did not melt and black soot marks appeared on the snow. They then claimed that this was because there were chemicals and plastic in the snow that were designed to control our minds. These theories were then debunked by others, who explained that the melted water was being absorbed by the sponge-like structure of the snow, as well as sublimation.

The area of knowledge that was studied was natural science and they used reasoning and faith to explore their knowledge issue. They concluded that these areas and ways of knowledge are useful to determine the extent of the reliability of scientific knowledge. Something special about this TOK presentation was that they explored 2 other real life situations that are related to the knowledge issue that was brought up.

Floruen and Callum's presentation can be improved if it incorporated more TOK vocabulary and explored more areas of knowledge related to the real life situation. I believe the area of human science and language are possible Theory of Knowledge fields that could be incorporated for a more detailed presentation. 

IB Class Entry - Therapeutic Cloning

There are many issues surrounding therapeutic cloning in humans which are important to consider. The idea of cloning often provokes strong negative reactions from people but some information comes from unreliable sources such as science fiction and horror films. When coming to ethical decisions about the right and wrong of therapeutic cloning, it is significant to be well informed.

First it is important to note the difference between the two distinct forms of cloning. Reproductive cloning is making copies of entire organisms and therapeutic cloning is making copies of embryonic stem cells only. In the field of natural science, embryos are used for reproduction only but many people believe that using them for experiments is not right. The use of embryonic stem cells have led to major accomplishments in natural science such as growing skin to repair a burn, growing new heart muscle to repair an ailing heart, and growing new kidney tissue to rebuild a failing kidney. Scientists believe that embryonic stem cells can be used to save lives and reduce pain for patients and that cells are taken at a stage when embryos have no nerve cells so therapeutic cloning should be acceptable.

However, some argue that every human embryo is a potential life and should be given the chance of development. It is also important to know that there is a risk of embryonic cells developing into tumor cells which will lead to death instead of saving lives. In addition, more embryos are produced than needed so a lot of them are destroyed. Is it acceptable to kill many potential human beings? Does the benefits outweigh the ethical implications?

IB Class Entry - Case of Phineas Cage

The case study of Phineas Gage influenced 19th-century discussion about the brain, particularly debate on cerebral localization. It was the first case that suggested damage to specific regions of the brain might affect personality and behavior. Through this psychology study, it is important to consider the ethical issues and limitations in terms of theory of knowledge.

Phineas Gage was a railroad construction foreman and while he was blasting a rock, a thirteen-pound iron rod was shot through his brain. Gage survived the accident and within 2 months he could function properly. However, his once pleasant personality had been replaced by less desirable qualities such as lying, excessive use of abusive language and non-dependability.

Upon examination, it was found that the change in personality was a result of severe damage to the frontal lobes of the brain. There was skepticism at the time about whether the brain could govern human behavior. The case of Phineas Gage was the first to be publicized that demonstrated a biological basis for behavior. It appears that the frontal lobes necessary for language and motor function were unaffected whilst the underside of the frontal lobes were heavily damaged, causing the anti-social behavior. It is agreed that the brain exhibits localization of function so damage to a specific part of the brain results in a drastic loss in its corresponding function.

Some ethic points to consider is that all of Phineas Gage’s accident and his behavior afterwards were published, not protecting him and his identity. In addition, the localization of function has been proved to be outdated thus this case study can not be a valid explanation for all situations related to the biological factors and behaviors of the brain. 

Personal Entry - Sewol Incident

After receiving the shocking news of this tragedy, the Sewol Ferry Disaster, I decided to explore the implications of the captain’s actions and the actions of people in times of trouble. It is important to consider all aspects of the incident, especially through the areas of knowledge in TOK. There are many TOK questions that could be raised and debated on based on this event.

The captain and his crew made decisions that cost hundreds of lives and was done for their own survival. They are criticized in the country of Korea for being selfish and demand for their punishment. The Sewol Incident is very upsetting and disastrous to many people because most of the victims were high school students who had a wide future in front of them. The deaths of so many students made me think about how the captain of Sewol and his crew should be brought to justice. What are the standards for their decisions and how does ethical implications influence justice?

First of all, they were irresponsible of their passengers and cared solely for their own lives. All captains have an expectation and responsibility to save their passengers even if it costs their own lives. This is why many captains that died to save more people are honored and praised highly. There shouldn’t have been any harm or deaths done to any people but this disaster caused hundreds of casualties. The ethical consideration behind this is that the captain should have been more considerate and aware of every individual lives on the ship. So many lives could have been saved if the captain had told the people to evacuate and was prepared for such events.

The captain and his crew’s belief in their lives being more valuable and important have caused hundreds of lives to be lost. If the captain had considered the ethical implications behind his belief then there would have been different consequences and reactions towards the Sewol Disaster.

IB Class Entry - Language and Thought Processes

Language and Theory of Knowledge 

I take both IBH Korean and IBH Literature and I find it very difficult to translate one language to another sometimes. One instance when I realized this was when my IB Korean class talked about the meanings of moral and ethics when I realized that the definitions tended to vary when processed in a different language. I decided to use this experience on language and though processes to write my TOK blog and came upon this article. 

Language can influence our knowledge and our culture. For instance, if we choose the word ‘good’ to describe something then our perspectives on the topic is only focused on the positive aspects rather than the differing perspectives. This influences our knowledge on that topic because we choose to focus on one specific area.

In addition, I used to consider language as a means of communication but through the article I learned that it "influences our culture and even our thought processes." Many people in our school are bilingual and I find that some aspects are understandable but some are implausible. I realized that my understanding tended to differ on which language I was using to think. 

When I translate a word into a different language I find that some are impossible to translate while keeping the same exact meaning. The translation doesn't have the same effect or meaning in English as in Korean or maybe vice versa. I realized that being bilingual actually helps us have deeper insight into our second language. 

I believe that language and knowledge are closely related yet it is difficult to determine which is more influential. The different language usage causes people to have varying cultures and perspectives because language is influential. But knowledge can also influence language because people with more education and knowledge may use more sophisticated words than others. I wondered "how does language and knowledge relate and be influential to each other?" 

http://anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_5.htm

Personal Entry - BBC: Spot the Fake Smile Test

BBC: Spot the Fake Smile Test 

This experiment was designed to test whether one can distinguish the difference between a fake smile and a real smile. It was based on the research by Professor Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California.
I guessed 13 pictures correctly out of 20 and most of the pictures I got wrong were because I marked feigned expressions as real smiles. I personally thought that this test helped me how one's physical characteristics and expressions can both portray and hide emotions. People tend to feign expressions when they want to be polite or hide their emotions. From this test, I realized that it is difficult to notice when people are putting on a real smile or a fake smile. I related this to many other theories connected to emotions and wondered if feigning expressions affect ones' decisions as well. 
In addition, expressions can show one's personality because a bubbly person will have a bigger and more cheerful smile. Each unique smile emphasizes their individuality. Hiding one's smile hides both their personality and individuality. 

IB Class Entry - Ethics in Psychology Case Studies

For my TOK Presentation, I focused on the ethical considerations of one specific psychology case study. I chose IBH Psychology because it was closely related to Theory of Knowledge and many case studies are famous for having low ecological validity and ethical considerations. 

We chose Milgram’s experiment (1963) because it is known as one of the most unethical studies in the field of psychology. Even though Milgram had brought profound knowledge and evidence why we comply to authority figures, the participants were found to be distressed and have traumatic after-effects. This caused controversy on whether the knowledge from Milgram’s study, that used unethical methods, is valid for use. Thus, we came up with the question "How valid is the knowledge we gain from unethical psychology studies?" Through our knowledge question we focused on the validity of the unethical psychological studies. 

Ethicsž is an area of knowledge and are moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior. Ethical guidelines of psychology studies include: informed consent from all participants, no deception, debriefing must take place, confidentiality and the right to withdraw. 

Through our presentation I learned that Milgram’s experiment is considered to be an unethical study because participants were deceived and were not allowed to withdraw during the experiment. Whenever a participant would ask to withdraw, the experimenters would pressure them. Even though some deception is allowed for an experiment, the emotions of the participants indicated extreme distress. Through the after-effects of the experiment, many are convinced that a study cannot bring valid knowledge if the ethical guidelines are not followed. 

TOK Entry - Personal Emotion Inventory

1. List as many emotions as you can that you have personally experienced.

• Happiness, regret, anger, annoyance, confusion, boredom, sleepiness, fear, timid, surprise, uncertainty, sadness... etc. 

2. How intensely do you feel emotion (on a scale of 1-10, then describe)?  Do you cry or laugh easily?

I cry and laugh easily, especially when I am with my family and friends, so I would describe myself as an emotional person. I would rate myself as 6 or 7 because I don't think I would be able to show a lot of emotions in front of strangers. 

3. What physical responses do you have to specific emotions?  Give some examples.

• I tend to clap or jump up and down if I am happy.
• When I am angry, I bite my lips in order to control my anger. 
• Tears are physical responses to sadness
• Annoyance - roll eyes
• I blink a lot when I am sleepy in order to stay awake
• I shudder or shake when I am in fear. 
• Uncertainty/Timid - avoid eye contact by looking down

4. Can you control your emotions, or do they control you?

I think I try to control my emotions but at the same time I feel like the emotions control me sometimes. For instance, I am unsuccessful at controlling my laughter or sadness. But I tend to suppress and control fear and sleepiness because I wouldn't be able to think properly if I am overwhelmed by fright or boredom. 

5. Do you make decisions based on emotion or reason?

I believe I make decisions based on both emotion and reason. Because I am not able to control my feelings, I sometimes make decisions based on my current emotions. When I am able to control my feelings and think rationally, I make decisions based on reason. I believe the choices made through reason are more logical and justifiable while emotions may cause rather rash decisions.  

6. Do you feign/fake emotional response?  Why?  When?  Is it OK to do this?

I tend to laugh at jokes that aren't funny sometimes in order to be polite. Hiding emotions and faking them make me feel guilty because I am lying about my own emotions but I believe it is necessary in certain situations in order to be not rude. 

In addition, I fake emotional response when I am trying to hide my emotions because I don't want others to see them. For example, I try to hide that I am depressed because I don't want to make them worry or bring the mood down. I believe it is acceptable to do this because I am feigning my emotions in order to assure other people. 

Personal Entry - K-Pop and Fans

Ethical Implications of Sasaeng 

K-pop is a music in Korea that started a popular culture known as Hallyu. Many artists and idols have been introduced and became popular among teenagers and young adults. This caused a subculture of fans to be created around the world but many fans are becoming too obsessed with their idols. Koreans call them "sasaengs" because they invade the private lives of their favorite artists. 

There are instances where the sasaengs would break into their house and steal their private items. Some exposed their private phone calls and messages and even installed CCTV cameras in their rooms or presents to watch their actions. 

To make matters worse, some fans hire "special taxi drivers" to follow their idols, These sasaeng taxis chase the vans of their favorite artists at high speed which results in occasional accidents. A Korean media published an article of Korean managers revealing that popular stars have between 100 to 1,000 sasaeng fans and on any given day, the idols have at least 100 stalkers following them. 

EXO, a famous K-pop group have many incidents of sasaengs. Baekhyun, a member of EXO, was attending a private family event when sasaengs suddenly showed up at the event without being invited. They stood on the chairs to get better pictures and ran up to Baekhyun in the middle of the wedding for his signature. His brother's wedding was ruined due to these fans and Baekhyun blamed himself for causing chaos and disruption in his brother's only wedding. 

Many people are raising the ethical consideration of the sasaengs' actions. Idols have their private information invaded and suffer from emotional and psychological stress. EXO had an interview with a Korean media and spoke of how sasaengs had changed their personality and wished people would stop intruding their privacy. It is unethical to gather confidential information without permission and cause traumatic distress in people.

In addition, respect is needed for all humans and it is important in life to be respectful towards people. Sasaengs refuse to acknowledge the value of respect as they do not protect the personal space of the idols. People need their distance but sasaengs are invading the privacy and feel satisfaction in doing so even if they become disrespectful people. These sasaengs are not only violating the idols' lives but also bringing down their reputation in society. People condemn the idols for their sasaengs who make other fans uncomfortable with their actions and behaviors. 

It is important for them to learn the limits and know how to respect. Furthermore, the continuing incidents of sasaengs are ethical issues in society that need to be fixed in order to help idols find the privacy and respect that they deserve. I believe the government and the company of the idols should take certain measures if sasaengs continue to invade the private lives and be disrespectful. 

TOK Entry - Memory

Memory Test

Try some memory tests online; write a field notebook entry (Q3) about your experience, what you noticed about yourself and about memory in general. What strategies do you use to remember things? How good do you think your memory is compared to other people? 

I tried the Brain Metrix, BBC Face Memory Test and the Short Term Memory Test. I did three trials for the Brain Metrix and ended at level 6, 7, 8 in consecutive order. I think I used the first and second test to understand the patterns. I tried to memorize the highlighted rectangles by repeating them in my head. I repeated the number and the place of the rectangles but after the first few levels, I found it more difficult to memorize them. 

For the BBC Face Memory Test I tried to find certain characteristics that stood out in each picture. I didn't know the test would make me sort out the pictures so I wasn't paying much attention on which section the picture belongs to. I was able to identify all the pictures that were not presented in the test but I was unsuccessful at dividing them to the section I saw. I scored high on recognition memory but low on temporal memory. From this I was able to learn that I had more difficulty with memorizing "when" I saw it. 
Lastly, for the Short Term Memory Test, I used a similar strategy that I used for the Brain Metrix but instead of repeating them in my head I repeated them orally. I would look for a certain rhyme and tried to remember the sound of each letter. I was successful for all trials except trial 6 where I missed 1 letter. I speculated that maybe my memory was limited to storing 5 letters. 
I believe my memory is about average because there are many other people around me who have remarkably good memory. Compared to others, I believe my memory is rather average. According to the BBC Memory Test, I have a memory higher than average but I don't think it is safe to rely on one test only. In conclusion, based on the memory tests I may have better memory for recognition but compared to other people, I believe I am relatively low.

BBC Face Memory Test Results

Field Blog Entry #14 - Logical Fallacies (TOK)

Reflection on Fallacies

Logical fallacies are invalid patterns of reasoning that leads to false conclusions. There are many types of fallacies including inductive fallacies and casual fallacies. The logical fallacies presentation really helped me understand about them especially hasty generalization which was what I researched about. Hasty generalization is an example of inductive fallacy and happens when the sample is too small to support an inductive generalization about a population. When someone draws conclusion based on small evidence rather than looking at statistics, that support the conclusions, it leaves an argument incomplete or invalid. One example of logical fallacies is: none of the children in this classroom have blonde hair therefore there are no blonde children at this school.

Even though reasoning can be very helpful in supporting arguments but fallacies are dangerous when coming to conclusions. Some fallacies may not be dangerous but reaching the wrong conclusion can lead to stereotypes and misunderstanding. The video of “Love is a Fallacy” showed how fallacies are applicable and found in many situations in our life. Reflecting on past experience, I realized that I also had the wrong premises and had logical but untrue conclusions. This is why it is important to have the correct premises and come up with a sound and true conclusion. 

     

Field Blog Entry #13 - Understanding Comics (IB Class)

Understanding Comics

During my IBH Literature class, we were required to read a book called "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud. The author explains that comics use language and sense perception, both of which are ways of knowledge in TOK, to help understand comics.

Inside the comic book, the author states that “language was becoming even more direct, conveying meaning simply and quickly, more like pictures.” By saying this, Scott McCloud emphasizes that words have become so developed that it has become similar to pictures where an event is visually told. Instead of distracting the reader from the story, language is now helping people have a balanced understanding through both words and pictures. In addition, the caption in comics and the dialogue used by the characters can portray a huge range of human experiences and emotions.

If there is no language used in comics then people will tend to interpret the same event differently. Pictures merely help the reader visually see the event but they will use reasoning in order to make sense of an event using their own logic, judgment and experience. Sense perception is used when people perceive the pictures used in graphic novels differently. Our internal constructions (cognitive) may differ from the external world (reality) and the different interpretations of what people see may be equally valid.

Through this comic book, which explained the history, techniques and other important usage in comics, I acknowledged that the ways of knowledge is relatable to many subjects. It was quite surprising to find that both language and sense perception was important in understanding comics. This book helped me analyze and understand another graphic novel I read in IB Literature Higher Level class, “Persepolis”, which proved the fact that learning the different ways of knowledge can be applied to comics and further my understanding. I was able to comprehend that the ways of knowledge in Theory of Knowledge is used widely in many sources.