No, that is not a phrase uttered by my five-year old cousin. Surprisingly (or not, if you know me), it comes from me, a soon to be 17 year old teenager. “What, Dion? How can you? Vegetables are good!”, you might say, or scream. Throughout my life, my vegetable intake has been significantly less than that of my peers. I always had an aversion to vegetables. When asked why, I simply said, “They do not taste good”.

Any TOK reader would quickly realize that I focus way too much on one way of knowing: sensory perception. Taste is one of the five sensory organs we use to interpret the world around us. You might have accepted this argument if I were 5, recalling that you might have felt the same. Given my age, many of my peers, like my parents, would quickly brush off my argument.

However, a study conducted by the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia demonstrates that there might be a genetic basis to my argument. According to their research, there is a gene, TAS2R38, that might be responsible for my aversion to vegetables. This gene is responsible for determining our sensitivity to bitter tastes; depending on the gene variants, some of us are simply more sensitive to the bitter tastes in vegetables and thus reject them as part of our meals.

He really does not like veggies!

In addition, our age does affect our taste. Dr. Oz, who appeared on the Montreal TV show, stated that children are born with over “10,000 taste buds [which diminish] as time goes by” (Roach). However, the “average adult has about 3,000 taste buds” (Roach). The increased number of taste buds intensifies the bitter flavors in vegetables. Looking at my case, I probably still have my 10,000 taste buds.

Despite the biological aspects of our taste buds, there could also be socio-cultural reasons for my dislike of vegetables. Robert Ross, author of rawfoodlife.com, argues that our taste buds have actually been naturally apt at selecting out the good foods, such as vegetables. There exists a small amount of sugar in healthy food. However, big businesses have been able to artificially replicate these sugars and place them in unhealthy food in the form of MSG. Over time, our taste buds got used to larger amounts of these MSG and avoided the healthier vegetables which contain less sugar.

At this point, I have to acknowledge the possible inaccuracies in my sources. The first study and “Dr. Oz” was provided by Associated Content, owned by Yahoo!, which adds to its credibility. However, they provided little information about “Dr. Oz”, which leads me to doubt its information. My second source comes from a personal, and somewhat commercial website: www.rawfoodlife.com. Thus, its argument can be questioned.

Even though vegetables may “taste bad” to me, I never denied their health benefits. According to a website by Harvard School of Public Health, there has been “compelling evidence” that vegetables can lower the risk of heart disease, stroke and even blood pressure.

However, you might want to be careful in buying your vegetables. According a Donald R. Davis, a former research associate with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, Austin, the average vegetable found in American supermarket is “anywhere from 5% to 40% lower in minerals than those harvested just 50 years ago” (Stephey). The implication is that the vegetables we eat may not have as much nutrients as it had and thus less healthy as before. It is also suggested within the Times article that vegetables actually do “taste worse than it did in [our] grandparents’ days” (so who can blame me for not eating them?).

In conclusion, despite the “compelling evidence” for the health benefits of vegetables, my sensory perception still dominates over my biological understanding. And if you still want to convince me to eat vegetables?

Join the line.

Work Cited

Roach, Carol. “Why Children Hate Vegetables, Page 2 of 2.” Associated Content from Yahoo! – Associatedcontent.com. 14 Jan. 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2591307/why_children_hate_vegetables_pg2.html?cat=>.

Ross, Robert Alan. “Raw Guide For People Who Hate Vegetables.” Raw Food Life – the Science of Raw Food! Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.rawfoodlife.com/i_hate-vegetables.html>.

Stephey, M.J. “Eating Your Veggies: Not As Good For You? – TIME.” Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews – TIME.com. Time Inc., 18 Feb. 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1880145,00.html>.

“Vegetables and Fruits: Get Plenty Every Day – What Should You Eat? – The Nutrition Source – Harvard School of Public Health.” Harvard School of Public Health – HSPH. Harvard University. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vegetables-full-story/>.

Although this book doesn’t contain any TOK information or ideas, I still think it might be worthy of being mentioned in this blog. The book is Cat’s Eye, by Theresa Shreffler.

It’s not the contents of the book I would like to type about, but the way the book was created. Theresa, or CrystalMaiden (the name I’ve come to recognize her for two years) has her own website. Anyone interested can visit her here. On her website, she posts the stories she’s written. Now that Cat’s Eye is published, she can’t exactly have it on the Internet for everyone to read for free, but I’ve had the privilege of reading it online (when it was still there), and writing reviews for this book before it was published.

I love the story, the plot, the characters. This was truly an enjoyable story to read. Contrary to what some people might think, there are some stories on the Internet that are as good as, if not better, than some published books. They just tend to be rare, and hard to find. But, if you’re an avid reader like me, who was desperate for a good story, you can find them.

Back to the point. This novel started out as a simple story, published on sites like Fictionpress. Since it’s on the Internet, it’s shared around the world. So people from every country, from every culture, every background, with various different viewpoints…they can all read and comment as long as they have a computer with Internet access. By doing this, she’s received reviews from people around the globe. All these people have given her encouragement, have criticized and offered advice on her book, who needs a professional editor when there are hundreds who will do that job for free?

I don’t know if CrystalMaiden had an editor, but this concept fascinates me. With the rise of the Internet, communication has become so much easier. The only real limit I can think of is time zones. But even then, it doesn’t really affect communication. For things like this, the middleman can be cut out, for the audience itself is giving feedback. Isn’t that what so many companies want? Considering the surveys that constantly bombard Internet users, I would think so.

With so many things now using the Internet, I can see that the future will be very Internet based. When I was younger, the thought of ebooks was depressing, since it got rid of the need for paper books, and I love the feel of paper books. But now, with the way the world is slowly destroying itself, and to save trees, perhaps ebooks are not such a bad idea. Think of the Amazon Kindle. It’s quick, convenient, easy to use, easy to carry and it saves trees.

Think of all the worldwide communication the Internet can offer. Think of how maybe, just maybe, all those companies that publish paper books might be in trouble.

It’s not just books either. By using the Internet, artists (deviantART), musicians and really just about anyone has the chance to display and perhaps be recognized for their talents. I remember an article I once read, (can’t remember it now, so I can’t give a link. But once I find it again, I shall post it here) about how even though digital piracy is worsening, the music industry is flourishing because of concerts. Some bands have started out by uploading their music onto the Internet. Many people will download and listen to their music, and so they come to be widely recognized. Since they’re so well known, by the time they decide to perform, many people will buy the tickets. DeviantART is Internet based as well. Instead of being hired as part of a large company, the artists can receive commissions through deviantART or sell prints through that website.

Perhaps in the future, our jobs will be centered around the computer. Maybe, even to save office space, we’ll just all work from home,by using the internet. The internet’s providing even more ways for people to make money. It’s amazing.

(http://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0061122416/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207496222&sr=8-1)

      I’ve read a book entitled The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The novel is mainly about the journey of the protagonist, a boy named Santiago. Santiago is a shepherd living in Andalusia. He has a recurring dream, in which a kid takes him to the pyramids. Then, one day, an old gypsy appears and offers to tell him where the treasure is buried in exchange of one tenth of his lamb.Santiago first hesitates, but he decides to go to find the treasure. As destined, Santiago realizes the true value of striving to achieve one’s dream through overcoming a number of obstacles en route to Egypt.

     This book was recommended to me by my father, and I was really curious about the book because it was the first time my father recommended me a book. Since my father suggested the book, I thought the story would be a typical one that tries to teach some moral lessons including how I should respect others, especially my parents. However, after reading the first chapter, I realized that I was wrong. The book was about the adventure of a boy, who seems to be same age with me. I thought the fact that a boy gives up everything he has to find his treasure, to achieve his dream, was very interesting and funny. I have to admit that I thought Santiago is a stupid boy who cannot weighs the reality impartially. However, as kept reading the book, I realized how great ‘man’ he is, and how I should also appreciate my dreams and peruse them.

     After reading the novel, I really admired Santiago and felt a little jealous in a way because he has a life that he wants while I don’t. Through reading this novel, I had an opportunity to ponder about what my true dream is. Before reading this novel, I thought my ultimate dream is getting into Harvard or other great colleges out there in the world. However, I realized that getting into a well-known college is not what I truly want. What I truly want is to become a cosmopolitan citizen who can contribute to building better society in this world. Hence, this novel enables me to conclude that like me, all high school students over the world should not waste their high school years trying to make our transcripts look better to impress the colleges. We should acknowledge our dreams and plan and prepare to achieve our dreams in the future during this high school years. The colleges should be only one of the huddles in our life, not our ultimate goal.

     I totally thought that this book would be related to the concepts of TOK since the book enables the readers to reevaluate their beliefs and values. I personally recommend you to read this book, and have some time to think about your DREAMS.

?

We’re now covering applications of ToK in the sciences, where the integrity of a knowledge claim is tied directly to the truth of its supporting evidence. Thus, though proving a claim in the sciences may be tedious and mechanical, it is comparatively simple due to the straightforward nature of scientific truths.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the world of liberal arts- one that is governed not by the laws of physics, but by the unfathomable and perhaps nonexistent laws of human nature. As counter-intuitive as it seems, I’ve found that in this particular field, truth and knowledge are more often than not mutually exclusive. So then, when it comes down to truth versus knowledge– Which is more important?

It’s a dilemma faced by all writers, whether they realize it or not. Pure, raw truth tends to be just as confused and self-contradictory as the world that produces it and the people that lay claim to it. It’s prone to misconception and bias, and often smattered with unnecessary and distracting details that can detract from any knowledge that might lay hidden within. And though some might argue otherwise, the job of a writer is to convey a particular piece of knowledge in the most straightforward and convincing way possible. However, just as in scientific claims, the reliability of supporting truths gives strength and credibility to any forthcoming statements. Literature has naturally split itself to accomodate both extremes of truth versus knowledge, with news columns and documentaries favouring truth while lengthy works of fiction opting to work completely outside of reality. Of course, as with most things in literature, this division is not absolute. In between, there are works like Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.

We covered it in Higher Level English earlier this year– and one of O’Brien’s most significant points, one that he returns to periodically across the span of the book, is concerning the truth of a story. O’Brien claims that a war story which is completely true, or needs to be completely true in order to have significance, has no moral– or no knowledge to impart on its own. This claim suggests that the knowledge of a story does not depend on the truth of the events or details of the story, but on the truth of the moral or emotional feeling propagated by the story.

As many people know, music has a profound impact on today’s society. Music is an open form of expression that is valued by almost every person in this world. Music can spread emotions, ideas, thoughts and, moreover, knowledge. As many of you have probably heard during TOK class, I am currently reading a book called, “Musicophilia” by Oliver Sacks. I find this a truly incredible guide to understanding why music plays such a major role in peoples lives. Sacks explains several different occurrences where music has not only been a blessing but also a curse. There are people that have had chemical reactions in their brain that has music torment them. They hear it constantly and there is no way to get rid of it. He speaks of a deaf woman who lost her hearing but was able to hear before and how her “music receptors” in her brain have not been stimulated for so long that they start to produce music themselves. The woman can neither remember nor does she know the music playing in her head. “It’s like I have my own little orchestra in my head that plays just for me.” She thought, at first, that she was regaining her hearing again but then noticed how it was just music that she was able to hear. At first, she thought it was a nice change for once. Then, after a while, she was being tormented. She heard the music everywhere she went, could not fall asleep because of it, would wake because of it but could never remember the actual melody. Another patient of Sacks’ was talking on a public pay-phone in a park and was suddenly thrown backwards. Lightning had struck him. He was taken to a hospital and miraculously had no major injuries. He was released from the hospital after a week and nothing seemed out of place except that he had trouble remembering the names of people he had known for years and had a close relationship with. This, however, was explained to him as nothing out of the ordinary. He slowly started to be able to put names with the faces and everything was thought to be fine again. Then, a month after being released from the hospital, the man started hearing music in his head. He had never been musical in his life but suddenly found the urge to listen and play piano music. He started to write down what the melodies sounded like and would try and play them on the piano. He taught himself how to play piano and soon was able to play like a professional. He soon held a concert where people were eager to see him play. Everything went well. He saw it as “a blessing from above”. Although his marriage and profession started to fall apart and he got a divorce because he had no time for anything but the piano and music, he saw the only way to be happy was to be musically involved. Some people may see this as a curse. Hearing music 24/7 and not being able to control when you want to hear it and when not. Many cases in this book show a downside and an upside to the “curse” of music. There are reports of people finding algorithms and other things because music allowed them to think and rationalize their thoughts. When it seems that you are cursed with music, look at it in a different way and try to do something with this gift. Being musical myself, playing trombone in the school band for 6 years and playing drums for 3 years in my own band, I have truly been taken in by this book filled with music phenomenon’s and their explanations. This is a must read for the people who like to indulge themselves with strange happenings and scientific knowledge.

Recently, I’ve read a book called The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. The novel portrays the afterlife of Eddie, the protagonists, who has been working at an amusement park for all his life; he dies due to an accident at the amusement park. In heaven, Eddie meets five people: a monster person who died because of Eddie, the Lieutenant of Eddie’s unit, his father who he hated, his wife who he loved so much, and a little girl who was killed by him. After meeting these five people, Eddie fully understands the meaning of his life; comprehending the meaning of love, forgiveness, and destiny, Eddie finally receives an everlasting life. Heaven was the place to take a look at life, to understand it, and to find the eternal peace.

To me, the first impression of the novel wasn’t really a ‘fun book’ because I thought the book would be a typical humanitarian novel. However, from the beginning, the novel grasps my interest; the novel starts with an old man dying. The Albom decodes mystery of the old man’s life in a unique way; Albom uses the heaven, or afterlife, to reveal the true meaning of life. I thought this was very fascinating because it was such an imaginative way to write a novel. In addition, the novel teaches a few moral lessons. It helps one to think about life; I am influenced by everyone and so does everyone else. We don’t realize that simple truth but even at this instance we are affecting others. And by realizing that here’s a conclusion we reach; because of this connection to each other, our lives are all connected also, and all of sudden our lives becomes one unified life.

After reading the novel, I thought, although I may not be old enough, life may seem boring and meaningless but indeed every life has purpose. If every word I say may sometimes be hope to some people as it can also be a dreadful curse, why not influence in positive ways; I thought about my behavior and manner to others. I, then, reached a conclusion that I want to dream and achieve everything I can in life, hoping that influence I have over others is a positive one; I wish that I give hope to others and in return I may as well be happy.

As I said above, this book certainly allows one to think about one’s life and I thought the book would be relevant to theory of knowledge because of its nature to instigate emotional and philosophical responses of readers. I strongly recommend this book. What’s truly important in your life? Read the book and see if you can find out.

After reading one of the previous posts here, The Cracking Boundaries, I was reminded of this satirical sci-fi piece that my sister recommended to me called Feed.

Feed is about a futuristic society in which every person relies on a “feed”, a transmitter implanted directly into the brain. These include dictionaries, encyclopedias, instant messaging services, videos, music, and any form of information that we have access to through the Web today, except carried out on a whole new level: in our heads. The feeds are as crucial a part of their society as the World Wide Web is to ours, as it is their primary source of information and connectivity: “After all, how else would they know where to party on the moon, how to get bargains at Weatherbee & Crotch…?” With this endless resource of information at a society’s fingertips, how could anything go wrong? Isn’t that what we are trying to do anyway – to give as many people as much access to information as possible? (the likes of one-laptop-per-child)

I haven’t had a chance to read this book yet, but from what my sister told me, and from reading the covers, I think we can all make a few inferences about the societal dangers that this book is trying to imply. Imagine these brain-feeds as a part of our daily life….

First of all, what happens to us as a society when we become intellectually reliant on technology? What happens when we no longer need to learn to read and write and communicate with people? Why should I, when that feed in my brain just does it all? It definitely eliminates the purpose of going to school, because why make bricks if the whole darn house is already standing in front of you?

Ironically, the one thing that was meant to give us control over our knowledge could bring about intellectual chaos if something were to go wrong, such as a glitch in the system, or a terrorist conspiracy. Without the constant ping of information that we would have grown to rely on, we’d spend quite a while wandering around with faint half-memories of that verb we looked up in our dictionary feed last week, and no way to communicate. Our whole social infrastructure would come crashing down the minute someone knocks over the delicate digital supports.

And what about ads? Sure, we get enough of that already in the form of spam, commercials, and billboards, and I don’t think advertisers would be ready to stop there. Perhaps this brain-feed notion would finally be the perfect way for advertisers to finally get to our heads.

Speaking of getting to our heads, if ads, why not political propaganda? And on top of that, why not mental censorship? – could authorities influence us in a way that would strip us of our own opinions and notions, essentially brainwashing us? After all, they already do it with newpapers and webpages. Free speech we may be able to live without, but what about free thought?

In the end, it may all boil down to trying to create a sort of Utopia, where every individual is under psychological control and every spark of objection or disagreement is tamed. Because only then will authorities have real control over an entire body of people – only then can they obtain what is called “peace”.

I think a trend is developing in recent popular novels. The last two or three new books I’ve read have been about controlling societies wearing the sheep’s clothing of social benefits, the opportunity for physical beauty, or cutting-edge convenience, taking advantage of human vanity and greed. One of my favorites is the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld, which tells about a society in which everyone turns “pretty” at the age of 16. But they must pay a price that they do not even know about.

Perhaps modern writers are trying to caution us about the potential consequences of “advancements” (bait!) in society and technology. Personally, I doubt that the future will turn into an apocalyptic Ray Bradbury nightmare, but I think there are signs in our society today that are worth keeping our eyes peeled for.

I have been reading a book in french class called ” Racism explained to my son”. It discusses different aspects of racisms and enlightens young readers on the prominent issues of racism. The book actually carries out in a question-response type of dialogue between a father and his child. One paragraph especially interested me as it discuesses the use of word “race”. The father excalims that there is no ”race”. However, there are genres of people. Race simply cannot be used to demonstrate the diversity of human being. Rather, some people think that people exploit the word to exagerate the physical differences between people and make offensive remarks to people who are different to them.

I do believe that genre and race are different words fo race is used to represent a specific genetic population whereas genre can be used for any group of people with a specific trait. A dictionary definition of race states:

“…an arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, esp. formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape..”

As the definition states that it is an arbitrary classification of humans in the past, there is some proof that people might have misused the word before. However, right now in this society, race is more commonly regarded as a scientific term rather than a misused and exploited term. For example, now, a question regarding the race of a certain person would be neutral rather than offensive to some others. Sure, racists still take the definition of race to an extreme by basing their believes of social ranks on ”race”. However, for the rest of us, race is just another word to add to our identity, individuality; to merge into our confidence and pride. Therefore, ”race” should no longer be taken in an derogatory or offensive manner, rather, we should take pride in its definition.

Below is a link for a video clip on the “N” word. It actually discusses who has the right to say the word. Many people think this term is a derogatory term and should not be used. It really depends on who uses this word. Like race, people who take pride in their identity can use this word confidently while there still are some racists who use their word to put down others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbm8omCMko

Napolean’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History by Penny LeCouteur and Jay Burreson came highly recommended to me by a science teacher who I met recently at an IB Chemistry workshop. Each chapter is devoted to a particular molecule, e.g., glucose, olive oil, silk, spices, salt, morphine, aspirin, caffeine and how it changed history. Lots of positive reviews on Amazon.

From Publishers Weekly

A three-year-old toddler is “a grammatical genius”–master of most constructions, obeying adult rules of language. To Pinker, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology psycholinguist, the explanation for this miracle is that language is an instinct, an evolutionary adaptation that is partly “hard-wired” into the brain and partly learned. In this exciting synthesis–an entertaining, totally accessible study that will regale language lovers and challenge professionals in many disciplines–Pinker builds a bridge between “innatists” like MIT linguist Noam Chomsky, who hold that infants are biologically programmed for language, and “social interactionists” who contend that they acquire it largely from the environment. If Pinker is right, the origins of language go much further back than 30,000 years ago (the date most commonly given in textbooks)–perhaps to Homo habilis , who lived 2.5 million years ago, or even eons earlier. Peppered with mind-stretching language exercises, the narrative first unravels how babies learn to talk and how people make sense of speech. Professor and co-director of MIT’s Center for Cognitive Science, Pinker demolishes linguistic determinism, which holds that differences among languages cause marked differences in the thoughts of their speakers. He then follows neurolinguists in their quest for language centers in the brain and for genes that might help build brain circuits controlling grammar and speech. Pinker also argues that claims for chimpanzees’ acquisition of language (via symbols or American Sign Language) are vastly exaggerated and rest on skimpy data. Finally, he takes delightful swipes at “language mavens” like William Safire and Richard Lederer, accusing them of rigidity and of grossly underestimating the average person’s language skills. Pinker’s book is a beautiful hymn to the infinite creative potential of language.