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TOK Talk

TOK Talk

Emily Osann

an original podcast talking about Theory of Knowledge for teachers and students of TOK and other curious people...

38 - Role of Imagination!
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  • 38 - Role of Imagination!

    This is one that I could discuss endlessly. Who doesn’t love imagination? I actually recorded this (and a few more episodes) nearly a year ago and have been waiting for the right time. Now seems like the right time for this one, especially as we’re talking about the role of imagination in allowing us to understand and empathize with circumstances outside of our own world. We did go down a little LOTR rabbit hole in this one, let me know if you agree with what we said! But to bring it back to TOK, we talked about imagination in arts, literature, science, history... But we also just discussed the nature of imagining - how do we all imagine differently? Is your imagination a blank canvas? An audio box? Is it a recreation of senses in your mind? How much does it infiltrate your daily narrative? What is imagination? How is it different from reasoning or brainstorming? Are logic and imagination different versions of a similar way of thinking? Is it enough that imagination plays the role of fun and entertainment in producing knowledge about the world? Does it just make things more real and more fun? I really enjoyed this conversation and am immensely grateful for my guests on this (and all episodes) as well as the musicians that help me to put these together. If you’re interested in joining me, please contact me via www.toktalk.org and fill out the contact form. Links we discussed can be found on www.toktalk.org Guests: Brett Fisher, Monica Wahl Music: Hilary Ng playing in the hallway at school

    Sat, 17 Feb 2024 - 30min
  • 37 - How important are Material Tools?

    I met with Jon Rees, another TOK Teacher (as well as teacher of Human Technologies and IB English) here in Hong Kong, and we discussed TOK Exhibition Prompt 23: How important are material tools in the production or acquisition of knowledge? It was a fascinating discussion! Students, you need to be careful in this question about the difference between producing knowledge and producing things. While there is a connection (knowledge is needed to produce things), it is not an obvious connection so an exploration of the knowledge being produced (not just the thing) is required here. I think it would be very hard to argue that material tools (and conceptual tools by extension?) are not essential - and yet there’s room for exploration as you can hear from our conversation. I hope to talk with Mr. Rees again soon, as it was a very interesting and thought provoking conversation. Books & Resources that we referenced and discussed in relation to this talk (for links to all of these, check out www.TOKTalk.org): ‘Sapiens’ by Yuval Noah Harari - this book is essentially an exploration of the role of material tools in the development of humankind, but is especially interesting when he talks about “fictional realities”. ‘Techno Feudalism’ by Yanis Varoufakis - he does a great job from a Marxist perspective explaining how his father taught him the concept of historical materialism, how technological development creates the tools/conditions for the advancement of the socio-cultural context. Then who controls the means of production, power/authority. ‘How to Understand E= MC2’ by Christophe Galfard ‘The Sane Society’ by Eric Fromm - criticism of our focus on consumption in a nuclear age where we can annihilate ourselves ‘Song of the Cell’ by Siddhartha Mukherjee - deep exploration of our understanding of biology - the first chapters are specifically focused on development of the microscope and its influence on the entire field of microbiology and beyond ‘Guns Germs Steel’ by Jared Diamond outlines the theory of geographic determinism, and thus the access to materials and the tools we can therefore make are everything in the development of humankind ‘Knowledge Illusion’ by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach - the illusion of explanatory depth, mistaking shared knowledge for our own Justice with Michael Sandel Little Museum of the World in Chai Wan - A time machine for building peace ‘The Vanishing Face of Gaia’, by James Lovelock - essential wake-up call for humankind ‘Donut Economics’ by Kate Raworth - a hopeful perspective! Nibbling away what we need (not beyond our planetary boundaries) Special Guest: Jon Rees Music from the ISF Student Brass Band playing outside the school gate one morning in December 2023

    Fri, 16 Feb 2024 - 40min
  • 36 - Nothing more exciting than fresh ideas? 2024 TOK Essay Title 3

    May 2024 TOK Essay Title 3 Nothing is more exciting than fresh ideas, so why are areas of knowledge often so slow to adopt them? Discuss with reference to the human sciences and one other area of knowledge. What is the difference between an idea and knowledge? What is slow or fast in terms of ideas? What contexts affect the timeframe? Slow for what? Who? What does it mean to “adopt” an idea? How is that different from acceptance? When does an idea become a theory or law? What makes an idea fresh? What about the possibilities they represent is both exciting and causes disciplines to pause before adopting them? Guests: Brett Fisher and Garrett McKee Sounds from rice fields in Bali

    Wed, 01 Nov 2023 - 23min
  • 35 - Do we need custodians of knowledge? 2024 TOK Essay Title 5

    May 2024 TOK Essay Title 5 Do we need custodians of knowledge? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge. I met with Kevin and recorded this, but I had a technical malfunction so the recording was lost. I’ve tried to recapture the essence of our conversation as best as I could. We unpacked some really interesting questions: How does one become a ‘custodian’ of knowledge? Who has the authority or right? Who decides what is protected? What about knowledge that has been lost or discluded? What other great truths and insights are we not hearing because of the selectivity? As custodians, how do we weigh up this choice? What if we didn’t have custodians of knowledge? What about knowledge that might be dangerous? Links from our conversation: CNN interview - last of a family of Peruvian Potato farmers https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2021/10/25/potato-custodians-peru-spc-intl-c2e.cnn Académie Française: https://www.academie-francaise.fr/ How to contribute to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contributing_to_Wikipedia Guest: Kevin Hoye (though as the original episode was lost, his actual voice is not featured, only his ideas as I have tried to faithfully represent them) Music: Jingle Bell Rock as recorded by the Brown School Shoes in December 2018… no it's not the holidays yet.

    Thu, 26 Oct 2023 - 14min
  • 34 - Specialization vs. Generalization: 2024 TOK Essay Title 2

    May 2024 TOK Essay Title 2: How can we reconcile the opposing demands for specialization and generalization in the production of knowledge? Discuss with reference to mathematics and one other area of knowledge. This is a tough one that requires some confidence to write about examples with confidence in mathematics. A good investigation would offer an exploration of ways that the demands are reconciled. Why do the demands oppose? Are they really opposing demands? Why do we need both specialization and generalization? If one way to reconcile these demands is to create systems and improve communication within and across knowledge communities, what does this actually look like in the real world? Are we (knowledge communities) actually able to reconcile these demands? Link from our discussion: Clay Mathematics Institute Millennium Prize Problems: https://www.claymath.org/millennium-problems/ Guest: Martin Brown Music: random sounds that could be so much better. Do you have music you'd like featured? Please contact me through the form at www.TOKTalk.org

    Mon, 23 Oct 2023 - 12min
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