IB Theory of Knowledge - an ongoing list of interesting finds

"Tank Man" by Jeff Widener, 1989. On the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests (1989), authorities in China continue to go to great lengths to censor knowledge of what happened that day, where "hundreds, possibly thousands, had been shot dead."  To test the extent of the censorship, here is a video of a BBC reporter walking the streets of Beijing to find out how many people recognize the most iconic image of the protests, that of "Tank Man" - a lone man standing in front of a line of tanks a day after the massacre at Tiananmen Square.  In a testament to the strength of censorship in China, most of those interviewed claimed not to recognize the image, even if they were old enough to remember the tragic outcome of the protests.

"Letting an athlete compete with too much of an inbuilt biological advantage feels unfair to their rivals; stopping someone competing as the woman she naturally is feels monumentally unfair to her. There is no way of resolving the moral dilemma without someone ending up wronged." There is much to debate in terms of the ongoing controversy surrounding 800m Olympic champion  Caster Semenya's high testosterone levels and apparent unfair advantage in her race category.  Here is an opinion column that looks at the ethics behind the decision-making process , weighing the various perspectives (utilitarian, consequentialist, relativist, etc.) that are at the core of this RLS. Public opinion is quite divided, with many suggesting this is a gross injustice while others argue the ruling is necessary to preserve the integrity of the sport.

How do you keep a story "alive" when those who experienced it have passed?  In a decision that has received quite a bit of praise, but also quite a lot of criticism, an Israeli tech executive and his daughter have created an Instagram account entitled "Eva Stories" to coincide with the start of Israel’s annual Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day. "In 70 short episodes, a British actress playing Eva takes followers along on her Holocaust journey: a happy bourgeois prewar existence interrupted by the Nazi invasion of her hometown in what was then Hungary; her family’s forced move into the cramped chaos of the ghetto; and the packed train that ultimately transports her to Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp from which she never returns." (Kershner)  A relevant and refreshing attempt to educate today's youth on the trauma and tragedy, or a "trivializing and cheapening the Holocaust" ? Resources : Associated Press. " Hol...

For those interested in the "anti-vaxxer" debate, here is an article about parents in Ontario who have received judicial support to refuse immunization , even citing an anti-vaccination 'expert.' And in an ironic twist, the subheading reads:  "While the case was being heard, both children contracted whooping cough, one of the diseases covered by standard childhood vaccinations."  The article also contains a comprehensive infographic illustrating vaccination trends in Canada as well as comparative immunization rates against other countries. 

The death blow preserved at one particular site.  EXCERPT:  "New research released Friday captures a fossilized snapshot of the day nearly 66 million years ago when an asteroid smacked Earth, fire rained from the sky and the ground shook far worse than any modern earthquake. It was the day that nearly all life on Earth went extinct, including the dinosaurs. The researchers say they found evidence in North Dakota of the asteroid hit in Mexico, including fish with hot glass in their gills from flaming debris that showered back down on Earth. They also reported the discovery of charred trees, evidence of an inland tsunami and melted amber." Current controversy stems from the fact that access to the site is highly restricted and that, aside from the current researchers, the knowledge discovered has not and cannot be verified by other scientists or other experts.

"Scientists in India have hit out at speakers at a major conference for making irrational claims, including that ancient Hindus invented stem cell research. Some academics at the annual Indian Science Congress dismissed the findings of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Hindu mythology and religion-based theories have increasingly become part of the Indian Science Congress agenda. But experts said remarks at this year's summit were especially ludicrous...." An Indian scientist said that Albert Einstein (pictured) was wrong and that gravitational waves should be renamed "Narendra Modi Waves"

We should all know that memory can be unreliable - influenced by our own perspectives, selection, interpretation and emotions, it can be difficult to be "certain" of our powers of recollection.  But "false memory"? Delve briefly into this concept via the links below to explore the ways in which memory can not only be problematic , but also wrong.  Resources : Bryce, Emma. " False memories and false confessions: the psychology of imagined crimes ." WIRED.  July 22, 2017.  " False memory syndrome ." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. July 18, 2013. " Elizabeth Loftus and Eye Witness Testimony ."  BBC Sounds. Interview. Web. April 17, 2011. Fraser, Scott.  " Why eyewitnesses get it wrong ."  TEDxUSC. TED. May 2012. Hogenboom, Melissa.  " Why does the human brain create false memories? "  BBC Science & Environment.  September 29, 2013. Loftus, Elizabeth. " How reliable is your ...

Interestingly, following our discussion last class about the ethics surrounding the "study" of nomadic tribes, National Geographic has published a feature article this month addressing some of the same difficult topics raised. The feature presents quite a detailed look at the influence of modern societies/technology on indigenous tribes in both Peru and Brasil, delving into where the two worlds either overlap or collide.  The pictures in the piece show a very rural, indigenous lifestyle, but the feature also makes mention of tribes having access to smartphones and guns, or offering their expertise as armed "guardians" of their territory. Quite an engaging look at a very complex ongoing controversy.

A viral photo of a crying Honduran girl didn't tell the whole story. Does it matter? A powerful image of a young Honduran girl detained at the U.S.-Mexico border has come to symbolize the separation of families by border officials. But the girl and her mother were not separated, as many came to believe.  A look at the powerful effects of media images and how the narrative can shift or change in meaning or context because of the "viral" nature of the web.

'It’s hard to tell what the rules are anymore,' - Parker Molloy, a senior writer for Upworthy.  Following the recent racist Tweet from sitcom TV star, Roseanne Barr, and the subsequent cancellation of the namesake TV show, this piece seems aptly timed to discuss the evolving styles of language used in the world of media today.  In the piece entitled, " Roseanne, Twitter and racism: Why acceptable language is up for debate in the age of Trump ," two journalists ask a poignant question -  What are the boundaries — or lack thereof — for acceptable speech?

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).

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.

In this opinion column, journalist Arwa Mahdawi explores the limitations of gendered language such as mansplaining  and girlboss. These neologisms seem to have been created to illustrate a criticism of gendered language, but end up having the reverse effect. Mahdawi explores how we create language to subvert the sexism within current phrases, titles or expressions, but in the end Mahdawi argues that  " It doesn’t tear down the sexism encoded in language, it reinforces it." Sophia Amoruso, who popularised the term girlboss, at the premiere of Netflix’s Girlboss TV show. The problem with gendered language

An emotional and though-provoking feature article that explores the efforts of Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem ("A Memorial and a Name"), who, since 1954, have been working to recover the names of all the victims, and to date has managed to identify some 4.7 million. Dr Alexander Avram, director of Yad Vashem's Hall of Names and the Central Database of Shoah [Holocaust] Victims' Names states that "Every new name we can add to our database is a victory against the Nazis, against the intent of the Nazis to wipe out the Jewish people. Every new name is a small victory against oblivion." The Hall of Names is a haunting memorial to those who were lost during the Holocaust - a literal collection of names, facts and stories about individuals who perished.  A daunting task as much is based on memory and piecing together of information, and yet is highly symbolic in terms of what it represents.  The memorial and the efforts behind it beg the question ...

"Truth was the first casualty of the Great Depression. Reflecting the anguish of the time, propaganda was manufactured on an unprecedented scale. As economic disaster threatened to trigger shooting wars so, as George Orwell said, useful lies were preferred to harmful truths. He went further, declaring that history stopped in 1936; after that there was only propaganda." A feature article that explores the blurring of lines and the manipulation of truth. An international collection of propaganda posters from before and during the second world war. Composite: UIG/VGC via Getty Images Death of truth

An intriguing look at the idea of history repeating itself in current events and politics. While there is a common understanding that history plays a significant role in helping us avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, there are many who argue that the human pattern unfortunately illustrates the opposite. With links to historical examples of fascism and Nazism, and then current political climates, the article attempts to illustrate a blindness that we have to the warning patterns of history. Are you paying attention?

In this piece, philosopher Bertrand Russell tackles a very personal question about whether he considers himself to be an atheist or an agnostic.  He addresses practicalities such as that of evidence  of a God as well as the ideal that one should be able to believe in whatever they believe in. An interesting and reflective personal debate on a highly controversial topic. Atheist or Agnostic? 

New York art world bitterly divided over ‘ cultural appropriation ’ of 1955 photograph of murdered 14-year-old Emmett Till "It is one of the most powerful images to emerge from the racism that infected the southern states of America in the 1950s – the photograph of a badly beaten 14-year-old boy, lynched after being falsely accused of flirting with a white woman, lying in a funeral casket. Now protests over a painting based on the photograph, included in a New York museum show, are dividing the city’s art world amid claims of racist exploitation and censorship. At the centre of the battle over cultural appropriation is artist Dana Schutz’s expressionist painting Open Casket (2016), a gruesome depiction of Emmett Till, lynched in Mississippi in 1955. The painting, on display at the Whitney Biennial exhibition, initially drew swift condemnation from critics who claimed Schutz, who is white, was taking advantage of a defining moment in African American history." Ar...

With a thorough exploration of Oppenheimer's background, influences, anxieties and motivations, this feature explores the effects of nuclear weaponry. In the piece, Oppenheimer is likened to notable scientists who, in an attempt to prevent further war or further destruction, utilize science.  Like the others listed in the passage below, however, he is unable to to so. An excerpt: " The distressing human predilection for the occasional blood-feast did, of course, impede man’s progress toward these ever-appealing ends. Alfred Nobel had hoped that his invention of dynamite, which enhanced exponentially the possibilities for battle carnage, would put people off war forever; it didn’t happen. Albert Einstein, equally peaceable but more discerning, said of the weaponry developed before the First World War — machine guns, massive artillery — that entrusting human beings with modern technology was like putting a meat ax in the hands of a psychopath. The flower of Wilhelmine chem...

A post from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History that outlines "issues that arise at the crossroads of science and religion, particularly in relation to the scientific accounts of evolution and human origins..."  As the Smithsonian's Committee points out, "Cultural divides in the United States over the acceptance of evolution and scientific understandings of human origins make this interchange relevant. They also offer an opportunity to inspire a positive relationship between science and religion. "  (February 8, 2016) For a biting scientific retort to Creationism, check out: Scientific American's relatively scathing "15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense"  (July 1, 2002). Dr. Dave Hone's " Why creationists are out of time with history and science " (April 27, 2016). Alternately, Answers in Genesis' website offers counter arguments and further explanation to central Creationist theories and the potential overl...