TOK II (Class of 2022)

  The Clock of the Long Now , designed by Daniel Hillis and the Long Now Foundation, is a clock designed to run accurately without interruption and maintenance for 10,000 years. Find out more about how it works here and here and here . Consider: The half-life of enriched uranium (Uranium-235) is 704 million years. That of depleted uranium (Uranium-238) is 4.5 billion years. All of the nuclear waste that has ever been created by humans--that continues to be created at a rate of over 3,000 tons per year in the US alone--will continue to exist and be deadly for longer than the life of the sun. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (above) is a storage facility in southeastern New Mexico designed to "safely" store nuclear waste.  This site is only for "so called low- and midlevel waste,"  but its contents, many thousands of tons of contaminated clothing, building materials, and equipment, are and will remain poisonous beyond any future we can image (Weisman). The longest co...

   Let's begin by watching the following videos, explaining the famous "Trolley Problem", a thought experiment to demonstrate some key ethical dilemmas: After you watch the video, think and discuss: How would you behave in the first example?  What motivates this decision? How about in the revised example?  What, if any, difference is there in your reaction?  What creates this difference? What other modifications to the problem can you come up with that would focus the dilemma in other interesting ways? Finally, this dilemma is not realistic, but we should think about real-world instances of "trolley problem" thinking at work.  Here's one of  my recent favorites . (other take  here  and  here ) This TedEd Video offers some historical and social context to this problem. And now you smart enough to get this Existential Comics cartoon:

  The TOK Guide specifies 3 points of contact between you and me as a part of the TOK Essay process.  After each of these points of contact, you should spend some time reflecting (in writing) about the direction that your TOK Essay is taking The discussion about "Unpacking the Title" that we began last class, and will complete today, counts as your first point of contact.  Next week, I will schedule some time for us to have 1-on-1 conferences about your evolving ideas.  The written form of the work that you bring to this conference is up to you, but I will ask that you have at least considered responses to the following reflective questions What are the most important TOK ideas, issues, and/or concepts that are implicit in your chosen title? How have you chosen to define or clarify these ideas? What initial claims or tentative positions have you developed with regards to the title? ( Write at least 3 concise claims that seem to answer the title at least in part)...

Aims & Objectives make connections between a critical approach to the construction of knowledge, the academic disciplines and the wider world develop an awareness of how individuals and communities construct knowledge and how this is critically examined examine how academic disciplines/areas of knowledge generate and shape knowledge Key Questions What is the role of judgement in art? How do we justify our opinions about art? What makes art good? Start with these clips.  The first comes from Terry Zwigoff's  Art School Confidential , based on the short comic by Daniel Clowes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcg1K_d5MkQ The second is from Zwigoff's earlier film,  Ghost World  (2001), based on the Clowes' comic series turned graphic novel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf6DpIKgtJ0 Now return to your "Art Starter" activity and look at the list of works of art that you generated.  For each work (or for all of them together), list some qualities (of the work, it...

  Key Questions: Can art be judged by its adherence to objective, logical systems? How does a mathematical understanding augment our artistic sensibilities? What are we to make of the maths of beauty? Agenda: First, please enjoy Brewer's unmusical investigation of some of the ways that music is mathematical. For Reference: https://www.spaceandmotion.com/mathematical-physics/mathematics-music-waves-vibrating-space.htm https://plus.maths.org/content/magical-mathematics-music http://www.simplifyingtheory.com/mathematics-and-music/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSo6WlGk5jw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3H621_EdOM Then, Remember this video (Golden Spiral facial adjustment Video): What happens when you run interpretive algorithms on works of art?  Scientists find evidence of mathematical structures in classic books Van Gogh and Fluid Dynamics And what happens when you run them backwards: Computers can now paint like Van Gogh and Picasso An AI Wrote this Movie Kulitta can write ...

 First, we'll talk through Bourdieu's "Sociological Theory of Art Perception". What does Bourdieu have to say about the act of appreciating art? What does Bourdieu have to say about art's relationship to education and social class? How would we go about testing Bourdieu's theory? Then, we can look at the survey. Finally, let's just think for a few minutes about the uses of art. Is art a worthwhile endeavor, and if so, why? What is art really  for ? Here, philosopher Alain de Botton ( Homepage ,  wikipedia ,  Twitter ) takes on the difficult question.

 CAS Day

Central Knowledge Questions Does new knowledge in the arts always build on what is already known? Can art change the way we interpret the world? Can some knowledge in the arts only be gained through experience? How does the medium used change the way that knowledge is produced, shared or understood? Key Concepts: Medium Affordances & Constraints Erasure Let's watch this TEDTalk by artist and author, Austin Kleon. Now consider the implications of his claims on what we understand to be true about the arts, and about creativity and originality more generally. Finally, let's make our own Newspaper Blackout Poems. Topics for discussion: How do the limitations of the words in the article force you to be creative in ways that a "blank page" does not? What limitations does this exercise suggest for ALL forms of art?  How is this related to Picasso's declaration that "art is theft?" Is originality and creativity by necessity really just a form of remixing and...

Your Extended Essay is DUE by midnight TONIGHT.  Please use your time TODAY to work toward meeting that deadline.

   Agenda: Patterns and Practices Opening Inquiry (see above) A Thought and a Thanks Writing at the end... Reminders and Plans: Sign up for OI & T&T Extended Essay Final deadline Monday, 1/10 We will spend Monday doing final checklist and polish TOK Essay We will begin developing these over the next few weeks The first step here is to choose a Title - we will do freewrites on each multiple titles before you decide. CAS: Reflection Due Sunday EE Worktime