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sissij

Quantum Gravity Loops Back To Ancient Atomic Logic, and The Big Bang Becomes A Big Boun... - 0 views

  • Greeks had the “first true alphabet”: a “universal” writing system that used a few letters to encode the infinite variety of all possible utterances. Similarly, all matter is written in a "language… of atoms."
  • Mysterious “meanings” still surround 100-year-old quantum mechanics equations
  • Their meaning/function/grammar is relational and sequential and word-like. The information encoded in matching sequential text-like compositions matters (DNA—>RNA, letters—>“social cartesian” lexicon).
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  • Beyond the grammars of geometry and algebra lies a domain of not math-like but text-like compositions and meanings (of semantics beyond mathematics).
  • 17. Word and world both have grammars that don’t fit our available mathematical rules.
  • 18. Reality is relational, and not entirely objective. Subject and object aren’t separable, they’re entangled, inescapably. “Objective” is always relative to some other system/observer. 
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    I find it very interesting that the author is trying o look at the world from a different perspective than mathematics. He thinks atoms as a language that have grammar and meanings. He thinks mathematical rules cannot fully explain our world because it is too objective. He involves the idea of language to describe how the world is entangled and relational. As we learned in TOK, language is an important AOK that shows human civilization in a very complicated way. Language is flexible, emotional and relational. It gives things meaning as human likes to assign meaning and pattern to things around. The world around us are not just cold fact, we as observers give them meaning to exist. In that sense, the concept of language can better help us depict the world. --Sissi (2/27/2017)
sissij

How "Arrival"'s Alien Language Might Actually Make You See the Future | Big Think - 0 views

  • The language we speak can help us see the future.
  • First, learning a language makes you smarter.
  • children learn languages more easily because the plasticity of their developing brains lets them use both hemispheres in language acquisition, while in most adults language is lateralized to one hemisphere - usually the left
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  • Second, Time isn’t really linear
  • time is really just “your assessment of how long something took.”
  • Time can also feel faster or slower depending on how we experience it.
  • “Language doesn’t determine how you think, but it can determine how you think about things.”
  • Defining snow with such specific language grants it multiple meanings, and those multiple meanings increase its significance within the culture of the people using the language.
  • sees beyond the linear bounds of time
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    In TOK, we discussed about the what language can affect us. Language doesn't shape who we are, but it oblige us to think in certain ways. By speaking in different languages, we can switch among different mindsets. In this article, the author also uses the example of the descriptive snow words in Eskimos cliche to show that language can enable us to see through different lenses since different languages focus on different stresses and significances. The "time traveler" in the title doesn't give the literal meaning, we get to travel from time to time because we can see beyond linear bounds of time. We are switching perspective from one observer of time to another observer of time. --Sissi (2/13/2017)
sissij

The Phrase Putin Never Uses About Terrorism (and Trump Does) - The New York Times - 0 views

  • once famously saying he would find Chechen terrorists sitting in the “outhouse” and “rub them out.”
  • He and President Trump, notably dismissive of political correctness, would seem to have found common language on fighting terrorism — except on one point of, well, language.
  • criticized President Obama for declining to use the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism.”
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  • He has never described terrorists as “Islamic” and has repeatedly gone out of his way to denounce such language.
  • a group he often refers to as “the so-called Islamic State,” to emphasize a distinction with the Islamic religion.
  • Mr. Putin spoke of terrorists who “cynically exploit religious feelings for political aims.”
  • and added that “their ideology is built on lies and blatant distortions of Islam.”
  • He was careful to add, “Muslim leaders are bravely and fearlessly using their own influence to resist this extremist propaganda.”
  • Instead, Russian counterterrorism strategy focused on financing and militarily backing moderate Muslim leaders
  • “He cannot say ‘Islamic terrorism’ for a simple reason. He doesn’t want to alienate millions of Russians.”
  • In a phone call on Friday, President Trump and Mr. Putin discussed “real cooperation” in fighting terrorist groups in Syria. They could agree on an enemy. But the Kremlin statement described a “priority placed on uniting forces in the fight against the main threat — international terrorism.”
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    I find this article very interesting because it does some analysis to the language president use in politics. It sort of related to the language topic we discussed in TOK. President is a job that has to make sure he get the majority right, so what language he uses is very important. In this article, Putin's language when he addresses the terrorism of Islamic extremists is very interesting. Russia is a country with a lot of Muslims, so he has to be careful about not to labeling the entire religious groups as terrorists. Whenever he describe the group, he carefully distinguish the moderates from the extremists to keep the support from the majority of Russian. Trump should do some thinking on the language he is using since he is a president now. --Sissi (2/2/2017)
sissij

Turning Negative Thinkers Into Positive Ones - The New York Times - 0 views

  • I leave the Y grinning from ear to ear, uplifted not just by my own workout but even more so by my interaction with these darling representatives of the next generation.
  • I lived for half a century with a man who suffered from periodic bouts of depression, so I understand how challenging negativism can be.
  • “micro-moments of positivity,”
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  • The research that Dr. Fredrickson and others have done demonstrates that the extent to which we can generate positive emotions from even everyday activities can determine who flourishes and who doesn’t.
  • Clearly, there are times and situations that naturally result in negative feelings in the most upbeat of individuals. Worry, sadness, anger and other such “downers” have their place in any normal life.
  • Negative feelings activate a region of the brain called the amygdala, which is involved in processing fear and anxiety and other emotions.
  • Both he and Dr. Fredrickson and their colleagues have demonstrated that the brain is “plastic,” or capable of generating new cells and pathways, and it is possible to train the circuitry in the brain to promote more positive responses.
  • reinforce positivity
  • Practice mindfulness. Ruminating on past problems or future difficulties drains mental resources and steals attention from current pleasures.
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    The distance between negative attitude and positive attitude is not that far away. Just by changing a few wordings in the sentence, we can describe an event in a really positive manner. From my personal experience, attitude is like a habit. If you always like to think negatively, then you brain tends to give pessimistic response to events. So sometimes, you have to train your brain into positive thinkers. As we learned in TOK, we tends to see things and think in pattern, so it is very importantly to create a good pattern for our thinking. --Sissi (4/3/2017)
sissij

The 'Goddess' Yi Wan Ka: Ivanka Trump Is a Hit in China - The New York Times - 1 views

  • But in China, Ms. Trump is widely adored. Her lavish lifestyle and business acumen resonate with many young professionals who are hungry for fame and fortune in a society that often equates material wealth with success.
  • “She’s very independent,” said Wang Jiabao, 28, a reality television producer in Beijing. “She represents what we’re looking for — to marry into a decent family, to look good, and to also have your own career.”
  • Chinese companies have also tried to profit from Ms. Trump’s popularity, filing hundreds of trademark applications using her name — Yi Wan Ka in Chinese — on products and services such as shoes, spa treatments, plastic surgery and pottery.
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  • “Underneath her image are very traditional values,” said Dai Linjia, a communications consultant. “Her family is almost like a dynasty.”
  • Many younger Chinese will be watching this week’s meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi for signs of Ms. Trump.
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    I found it very interesting that Chinese people tends to have a really good impression on Ivanka Trump. For many people, Ivanka even becomes the reason why they like Mr. Trump. I think the popularity of Ivanka is sort of related to the culture and value of Chinese people. Chinese are well known for that they value their children's education a lot. And Ivanka's story appeals to them as a successful model of raising a child. It reminds me of what we learned in TOK. People are eccentric. They like to take in what appeals to them what they are familiar with.Ivanka becomes a successful stereotype. --Sissi 4/6/2017)
sissij

Medical Chimera: Tilapia Skins Are Being Used to Treat Burn Patients in Brazil | Big Think - 0 views

  • Unlike their American counterparts, material and supply shortages have forced some Brazilian burn centers to deviate from the standard medical practice which advocates for early skin grafts, instead being relegated to using traditional gauze-and-silver sulfadiazine cream dressings.
  • After undergoing a thorough cleaning process, the sterilized tilapia skins are applied directly to the wound.
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    As the old saying goes: "natural world is our best teacher', the is a new science called biomimicry that dedicated in learning from the natural world. I found this article very interesting. It talked about the advantages of fish skin that can benefit the studies in bandages. As we discussed in TOK, the discoveries in science needs a leap of imagination and creativity, I think using fish skin as bandage is a very good example of that. --Sissi (3/25/2017)
sissij

Liberals and Conservatives Read Different Science Books, Except for One Subject | Big T... - 0 views

  • While scientists generally try to stay out politics, letting evidence-based research to speak for itself, the strong division in American society has spread to science.
  • By analyzing millions of online purchases, researchers from Cornell, Yale and University of Chicago found that there are clear partisan preferences in how we buy books on scientific topics.
  • The study’s authors think it’s likely that people who buy political books get science books to support their views rather than out of a general interest in science.
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  • One topic popular with both sides - books on dinosaurs. These were bought across the whole political spectrum.
  • Is there a way science could help heal the division in the country?
  • While the study is illuminating, it  has some limitations, with political scientist Toby Bolsen cautioning that this research did not draw on a random sample of books, relying instead on how the online sellers categorized them.
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    As we discussed in TOK, people selectively read about science due to confirmation bias. When reading about science, people tends to ignore the limitation and uncertainties in science, this is because of the source amnesia. It is not surprise that liberals and conservatives read different science book because the policies they make are so different that they need different scientific paper to support. Although science is trying to stay out of politics, but it cannot stop politicians from using science. However, it is totally a surprise for me to see that science books on dinosaurs are read by author throughout the political spectrum. It doesn't seem to fit in with my hypothesis earlier. --Sissi (4/10/2017)
sgardner35

Shooting of Boston Terror Suspect Highlights Concerns Over Reach of ISIS - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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    Relates to history and TOK because I found it interesting on the different conclusions the eye witnesses came to after the man with the knife was shot. His close friends thought it was unjustified because he was shot in the back even though he pulled a knife on officers 
nolan_delaney

Intellectuals and Politics - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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    Article that ponders the role of intellectuals and social scientists (economists) in politics.  It is in 'The Opinion Pages' of the New York Times, so this article does not conclusively offer factual information, but may cause you to think about your own opinion and the role of some of what we have learned in TOK this year
nolan_delaney

White House Still Backs Annual Testing in Schools - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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    this relates to TOK because it has to do with how our government feels is the best ways to learn and test learning in students
dpittenger

How Many Things Are There? - 1 views

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    This is a youtube video that discusses how many "things" there are. He defines the definition of things and then he eventually calculates how many things there are. This is related to TOK because it shows how "things" can be relative to a person, and it also shows that everything could possible be limited.
sissij

Beginning 'Brexit' and Bracing for Impact - The New York Times - 1 views

  • Britain’s exit from Europe — Brexit
  • But the reassuring talk did not reckon with one significant detail: Nothing has actually happened yet.
  • The markets essentially shrugged. The move was as expected as the next Super Bowl. The pound dipped a tad. So did shares on London’s stock market.
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  • Trade would revert to the rules of the World Trade Organization, making Britain’s exports to Europe vulnerable to tariffs and other barriers to commerce, including health and safety rules.
  • Brexit supporters called the outcome a template for how a pragmatic British government would prevent businesses from abandoning its shores — with tax cuts, friendly regulation and deal making.
  • But consumer spending has been increasingly paid for by debt. The British pound has surrendered 17 percent of its value against the dollar since the referendum, raising the cost of imported goods.
  • During the campaign, Brexit supporters argued that Europe would ultimately make it happen because its most powerful member, Germany, now sends a parade of BMWs, Audis and Volkswagens to Britain.
  • Even if European leaders seek middle ground, any one of the member nations could hijack the proceedings with their demands while the clock ticks away.
  • Britain really is departing the largest consumer market on earth.
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    As we learned in TOK, economics is a very hard to predict human social study. The depression and recession has already showed how market failure affect our optimistic prediction in economics. I think this also shows how the confidence of the general population is important for economics. We can not yet make a conclusion whether the departure of Britain from the Europe league is good or bad. --Sissi (3/30/2017)
dicindioha

When Mismatched Voices and Lips Make Your Brain Play Tricks - The New York Times - 1 views

  • The good news is, the human brain is flexible and efficient. This helps us make sense of the world. But the bad news is, the human brain is flexible and efficient. This means the brain can sometimes make mistakes.
    • dicindioha
       
      This is a great way to say what we talked about with human perception and survival reflexes!
  • You can watch this tension play out when the brain tries to connect auditory and visual speech.
  • By comparing mathematical models for how the brain integrates senses important in detecting speech, they found that the brain uses vision, hearing and experience when making sense of speech.
    • dicindioha
       
      mathematical modeling involved too
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  • “But it turns out that what their face is doing is actually profoundly influencing what you are perceiving.”
  • The brain asks itself: “Is it likely that these two things go together or not?”
  • “In science we’ve assumed that people do that, always put together everything,” Dr. Beauchamp said. “It turns out that might not be right.”
  • brain most likely processes information about lip movements and sound in a part of the brain called the superior temporal sulcus.
  • clinicians understand and improve your hearing as you age, Dr. Magnotti said.
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    This is really interesting because it relates to sense perception, and how we connect our eyes and ears. Our brains try to make sense of things and put things together that might not always go together. It's always funny when you watch a video that you saw before with a new voice over, and it really looks like it's happening. I did not think of this as being connected to TOK, but it is. I also found it really interesting that learning more about the McGurk effect could help clinicians improve hearing as we get older.
sissij

Is the New York Times a Serious News Source? | Power Line - 2 views

  • The New York Times tells us we should subscribe because truth propaganda is expensive
  • They can’t keep their partisanship under control.
  • What a dopey comedian says is “news,” according to this once-respected newspaper.
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  • This is just one more indication that the Times can’t tell the difference between real news and fake news. Earlier today, the paper had to recant because it reported an obviously fake tweet as news.
  • The New York Times, overwhelmed by ignorance and bias, may have arrived at that juncture.
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    I found it very interesting that there is actually people accusing the New York Times. I remember on the biased news graph we saw in the TOK, the New York Times, it is in the rank-two group of media. Although it is obviously not the best source of news, it is not that bad that is "overwhelmed by ignorance and bias". The first quote in this article is very interesting as the author modified the advertisement from "truth" to "propaganda", suggesting that the mass media now value profit more than providing fair news sources. --Sissi (February. 15, 2017)
sissij

Unsealed Documents Raise Questions on Monsanto Weed Killer - The New York Times - 0 views

  • The court documents included Monsanto’s internal emails and email traffic between the company and federal regulators. The records suggested that Monsanto had ghostwritten research that was later attributed to academics and indicated that a senior official at the Environmental Protection Agency had worked to quash a review of Roundup’s main ingredient, glyphosate, that was to have been conducted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
  • The safety of glyphosate is not settled science.
  • In a statement, Monsanto said, “Glyphosate is not a carcinogen.”
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  • Monsanto also rebutted suggestions that the disclosures highlighted concerns that the academic research it underwrites is compromised.
  • they could ghostwrite research on glyphosate by hiring academics to put their names on papers that were actually written by Monsanto.
  • The issue of glyphosate’s safety is not a trivial one for Americans. Over the last two decades, Monsanto has genetically re-engineered corn, soybeans and cotton so it is much easier to spray them with the weed killer, and some 220 million pounds of glyphosate were used in 2015 in the United States.
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    This news shows that there are a lot of cases that companies use science as a shield to convince people that their product is safe and good. Honesty is scientific papers has always been an important issue when we talk about the reliability of those papers. As we discussed in TOK, science is more like a social project that involves a lot of people and all human works are more or less biased and subjective. Now, science is intertwined with benefit and economics so the issue become much more complicated. I think we should identify the sources of the paper before citing any word from the paper because who write the paper is a big factor of which side the paper is standing. --Sissi (3/14/2017)
sissij

Norway Is the World's Happiest Country, Survey Finds - The New York Times - 0 views

  • Norwegians have one more reason to smile, not that they need it.
  • The authors of the report found that a half-dozen socioeconomic factors explain much of the difference in happiness among countries, but that social factors play an underappreciated role.
  • As evidence, they cite periods of substantial economic growth that were nonetheless matched by declining happiness in China and the United States, which ranked 14th.
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  • Still, there are outliers.
  • Humanity is about halfway up the ladder, with an average global score of 5.3, based on hundreds of thousands of surveys conducted by Gallup over those years.
  • The authors found that three-quarters of the variation among countries can be explained by six economic and social factors: gross domestic product per capita (a basic measure of national wealth); healthy years of life expectancy; social support (having someone to rely on during times of trouble); trust (a perceived absence of corruption in government and business); the perceived freedom to make life choices; and generosity (measured by donations).
  • “We’re getting richer, but our social capital is deteriorating,” Dr. Sachs said.
  • To fix that social fraying, Dr. Sachs argues policy makers should work toward campaign finance reform, reducing income and wealth inequality, improving social relations between native-born and immigrant populations, overcoming the national culture of fear induced by the Sept. 11 attacks, and improving the educational system.
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    As we learned in TOK, human social science is far more complicated than natural sciences as they are multiple factors leading to a phenomenon and the standard scientific method used in natural sciences are useless when applied in social sciences. The results of some social study are often found out of our expectation. For example, in tis article, the research find out that the growth in substantial economic is probably inversely proportional to the happiness of the residences. And in some cases, economics alone did not explain the high rates of happiness. As many countries put the improvement in GDP as their first priority, they should really consider improving other aspects such as social equality, educational system, and etc so  residences can feel happy from the bottom of their heart. --Sissi (3/20/2017)
sissij

Trump Is a Chinese Agent - The New York Times - 0 views

  • The big story everyone is chasing is whether President Trump is a Russian stooge. Wrong. That’s all a smoke screen. Trump is actually a Chinese agent. He is clearly out to make China great again. Just look at the facts.
  • That’s called l-e-v-e-r-a-g-e, and Trump just threw it away … because he promised to in the campaign — without, I’d bet, ever reading TPP. What a chump! I can still hear the clinking of champagne glasses in Beijing.
  • O.K., Mr. President, let’s assume for a second that climate change is a hoax. Do you believe in math?
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  • How can America be great if we don’t dominate the next great global industry — clean power?
  • Finally, Trump wants to slash the State Department and foreign aid budgets and make it harder for people to immigrate to America, particularly Muslims. This opens the way for China to expand its influence across the developing world and signals the smartest math and science students in the world to start their start-ups overseas and not in America.
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    After we watched about storytelling in politics today in TOK class, I think it is very interesting that people with good stories are often very popular. In entertainment industry, it is very common that the stars create stories intentionally to keep them hot and famous. Sometimes, they even create scandals and affairs to make their story interesting to the general population. I think the news are keep telling stories about Donald Trump, or Trump intentionally make himself a great story to be told. People that with different perspectives have different stories to tell about Trump. Trump is very "famous" in this sense. --Sissi (3/29/2017)
sissij

Two Cities Launch Plans for a Flying Taxi Service by the 2030s | Big Think - 0 views

  • Few things are infuriating as traffic. Think about all the hours lost over a lifetime just sitting there, instead of being home, enjoying some quality time with your partner, or having a drink with friends.
  • It’s slated to become a reality. Singapore is investing in flying, driverless drones, which could take riders anywhere in the city.
  • Singapore is a relatively small city with a high population and a tremendous traffic problem, which is expected only to worsen over time.
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    Flying cars have always been on the list of innovations that would be soon achieve. This is actually not a very new idea by now. Some people have made their own flying car out of their original cars. However, the manufacturing of this kind of car has not yet been accomplished. This is one of the innovative ideas that I have witnessed it developing from scrap to real life. As we learned in TOK that the ultimate goal of science should serve the common interest of human and improve human life. This is a great example of people using technology to solve daily problems. --Sissi (3/31/2017)
sissij

Millicent Fawcett Is First Woman to Get Statue in London's Parliament Square - The New ... - 0 views

  • LONDON — Britain, which has its second female prime minister and a queen who is the world’s longest-reigning monarch, is getting its first statue of a woman in Parliament Square in London, where there are 11 statues of men.
  • It is right and proper that she is honored in Parliament Square alongside former leaders who changed our country. Her statue will stand as a reminder of how politics only has value if it works for everyone in society.”
  • Mrs. Fawcett considered herself a suffragist, a moderate opposed to the sometimes violent protests of campaigners like Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, a mother and daughter who were known as suffragettes.
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  • Mrs. Fawcett inspired a women’s rights charity, the Fawcett Society. Its chief executive, Sam Smethers, said of plans for a statue in her honor: “Her contribution was great, but she has been overlooked and unrecognized until now. By honoring her, we also honor the wider suffrage movement.”
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    As now we are learning about history in TOK, I think the value of history can be giving us courage. For example, in this article, we can see that how women in the past take hold of the strong pressure possessed on them to be themselves rather than a belonging and property of their husband. I think the history of this woman is very encouraging and valuable for the feminism in nowadays. History gives us inspiration. --Sissi (4/2/2017)
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