TOK Essays

Ok kiddos, just as a reminder: 

Your holiday homework is to write your TOK essay on the title you chose.  You have until January 14th to write a 1200 to 1600 essay on the prescibed title of your choice.  It must contain page numbers, referencing and a bibliography (preferably one that does not cite TOK lesson material :-)) 

Have a great holiday and we'll meet back on January 8th. 

TTFN

PS -  no bloggy-wog work for the holidays!

Are our senses deceiving us...blip blip blip...

So we've finished off sense perception and I've left you all wondering whether or not our reality is 'real'.  I forgot to tell you that you are to check out the Matrix site I had you copy the address down for.  For those who are interested, here's a list of various sources that're out there to explore how our senses and perception can create different realities:

Film
Memento
The Matrix
The Truman Show
Dark City
The Thirteenth Floor
TV
The Prisoner (1960s tv show - brilliant!!!)
Lost
Star Trek 'The Menagerie'
Quantum Leap
On the Net
Simulated Reality Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality
Simulism Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulism#Precedents_in_popular_culture
Games
World of Warcraft (video game)
The Sims (2 and 3)
Books
Permutation City by Greg Egan
Time out of Joint by Phillip K. Dick

So here's your blog homework for next week.  Answer the following in your blogs:
1)  Which of the problems of perception limit human knowledge the most and the least? Why? Give examples.
2)  How might humans overcome these problems? What forms of technology do we use already? Do these forms have their limitations also? What other ways might we use?
 
TTFN

Perception - Our Senses

Well I think I've managed to draw you all back into loving TOK again with our perception lesson.  We have one more next week and then we get to do some more TOK essay fun...

But for now...let me just give you a bit more to ponder.  For your bloggy wogs this week, I'd like you all to read the wikipedia article on the isolation tank - follow the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_tank#History

Then, read an article on sense deprivation at Guantanamo Bay from 2002 - follow the link: http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2002/01/27/story484486728.asp

When you've read that, then read about death row in the US and sensory deprivation - follow the link: http://www.mcia-inc.org/resources/wilson_bad_juju_v2.pdf

On your blogs, I would like you to discuss the effects of sensory deprivation - What are its benefits?  Is it a form of torture?  Does the work on sense deprivation lead you to any conclusions about where you stand on the sense perceptions spectrum...are you a realist, idealist, representationalist or phenomanalist now?

TTFN

PS: Here's the colour blind test from today's lesson:
http://www.eye2eyeopticians.com/COLOUR-BLIND-TEST/colour-blindness-tests.htm