IB Theory of Knowledge - an ongoing list of interesting finds

Politically correct? Or just plain ridiculous? "'Brainstorming', the buzzword used by executives to generate ideas among their staff, has been deemed politically incorrect by civil servants because it is thought to be offensive to people with brain disorders." " Now brainstorms are off the agenda " (McDonald, Henry.   The Guardian , June 26, 2005).

"Every day millions of people ask Google life’s most difficult questions...." An in-depth look at what makes the Mona Lisa so fascinating and so famous .   The piece tackles some of the better-known justifications, such as DaVinci's (apparent) use of "golden ratio," and the focus on his style and technique.  It also, though, poses an interpretation on the "smile" justification which is a different take on other theories I've read in the past.  Definitely an interesting perspective for those art lovers out there. Or for those who continue to ask what or who determines what is "good art." People look at the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo Da Vinci at its new home in the Louvre museum, in Paris. Photograph: Lydie/EPA

This article from BBC Magazine presents a question that has come up several times in our own class during the past year - to what extent can artificial intelligence truly comprehend knowledge? In this case, ethical knowledge. Note:  Included in the article is the widely-used "trolley" philosophy problem (so much so, in fact, that it should be considered cliché when it comes to your TOK assignments!).   Also included in the article is a link to the BBC Radio 4 program where this issue is discussed in detail.  Both the article and the radio program present an interesting and detailed look at this ongoing debate.

Consider every time you've tried to explain something to someone, but couldn't quite find the right word to illustrate what you were feeling.  Sometimes it seems more appropriate to describe a feeling because there just isn't a word in the English language that will communicate exactly  what you want to say. https://goo.gl/kRbSAe Here are a series of links to words that illustrate just that - sometimes, the word that we are looking for simply cannot be easily translated. Cachero, Paulina, Keira Edgett and Shani Tsur. " An untranslatable word for pure joy ."  BBC Culture. Web. July 21, 2017. Lomas, Tim. ' The Magic of "Untranslatable" Words .' Scientific American. Web. July 12, 2016.  Macdonald, Fiona. " Eleven untranslatable words ." BBC Culture. Web. October 21, 2014.  Oxenham, Jason. CEO. " 20 of the World's Most Beautiful Untranslatable Words ." Rocket Languages. Blog. November 27, 2016.  Robson, D...

One particular event this week helped to clearly illustrate the powerful driving force of media and social media. Donald Trump, during a late-night inspiration, decided he was going to comment via Twitter on recent frustrations.  Unfortunately, his post left quite a bit up to the imagination... What immediately followed was a flurry of activity that began with confusion and concern, quickly moving onto humour and ridicule.  Check out the highlights posted on The Guardian: " What is covfefe? The tweet by Donald Trump that baffled the internet ." (The Guardian Online, May 31 2017). The New York Times article, " What's a 'Covfefe'? Trump Tweet Unites a Bewildered Nation " also explored the immediate confusion with a humourous twist - that which confuses the heck out of a nation, also unites them.   CNN, in their article entitled " 'Covfefe' tells you all you need to know about Donald Trump ," interviewed people to see what they tho...

And do we have a right, so many decades later, to reinterpret or redefine an iconic work of literature?  Can we accept that the novel is a "simple folk tale," as claimed by L. Frank Baum, the author?  Must we always attempt to interpret works of art or reason their "deeper meanings"?   Can a work of art simply stand as a piece of knowledge itself outside of our responses to it?  How valid is our personal knowledge or interpretation of a piece of art? Does it matter in the end what the artist may have "intended"? To what extent can we actually know what was "intended" by an artist without their direct input? An intriguing video that explores these questions and more. 

An article appeared in The Guardian  yesterday that I found quite amusing -  Do sea monsters exist? Yes, but they go by another name … .  It touches on the human need to create stories and to sensationalize that which we do not understand. The journalist, Jules Howard, points out the familiar narrative pattern : a rotting carcass washed up on the shore in Indonesia and, due to its advanced state of composition, a storm of activity began in the media from those attempting to define what this "sea monster" could be. "And so, within hours, a familiar narrative was playing out in the world’s media as the whale became a dead sea monster that no one could identify, a Scooby Doo mystery that could be maintained by journalists for days as long as nobody checked Twitter, where 10,000 scientists were screaming “That is clearly a whale” at each other. As such, in the news reports, the whale’s decomposing skin became “fur” and its blood became “mysterious red fluid” floating in ...