What's Invisible? More than we think apparently

TED talks are the best at conveying ideas, well thats what they are meant for. This TED talk that was shown to us in class really sparked the sense of a train of thought. Well before we dive into the nitty gritty of the video lets take a moment or a couple of moments to watch it.

The video has a beauty of making people rethink the idea of our life as a whole. It does a good job about being really self explanatory and the ideas of the video seem to be straight forward more or less. However lets look at some particular aspects of the video that probably stood out. 

"We don't know one percent of one millionth about anything", Thomas Edison. True or false?? Well i strongly believe in the that idea and I am not going to go against Thomas Edison a bright man who made the light bulb, so i am going to let some ethos roll in. We live in an era where a lot is known to man such as atoms, distance, programming, engineering but also of the times  most of the knowledge are based on constant rules that humans don't fully understand such as gravity.Humans know the concept of gravity but don't know why it exists or probably why gravity is the way it is. But humans being people who always want an answer for something we base theories in the current context of why it exists or why it is important. We are not completely sure about what we know and a lot of the assumptions are made to keep different aspects of live in firm. An programming example of this is P is not equal to NP. The assumption is made that it is not equal but it is not exactly proven and also if you prove that the significant counter parts are equal you can go and cash in a million bucks (if you do win remember who told you about it :P). If P is equal to NP then there is this complete loop in the fundamentals of programming. So to sum in down, we are not sure of what we know and there is a lot more to know. The earth being one of the 8 plants which is part of the solar system, which is part of a galaxy which is part of the whole universe and in comparison what we know about our planet earth is really elementary or like the mass of a neutron, almost nothing. However that doesn't make what we know any less significant and we humans should strive to know more. Two reasons why can be answered with two quotes, "knowledge is power" and "more the merrier". Well the fact that humans are superior when compared to animals is from the sole reason that we know more than them or so we think. But i can safely say the animals haven't set up a hospital of there own so I guess we know more about animals in the medical field. and more the merrier, it doesn't hurt to know to much weather it is relative to life or not, thats why people spend there life asking if desks move when we are not around them, cause they don't mind investing their life to know more. Knowing more makes us appreciate the beauty of live even more and makes us think about and appreciate for the creation of the world a lot more. We know to admire and admire to love. 

Fact be told, humans are always uncertain of something or the other and there is always and essence of something man does not know. If humans knew everything then we would have flying cars and hover boards but sadly no. If enough questions were asked about something the hint of uncertainty and doubt would be discovered. Think about it, keep asking a why to something you know for sure. Lets say why is the apple red? well scientifically there are reason and going into that would make this a science blog but we do we say red is red? and how do you know the red you see is the red someone else sees? There are so many uncertainties in the world that man is unaware off but is a constant effort to be understood. 

"We can see matter but we can't see whats the matter". Humans are not aided with eyes to see up close. Atoms at first sight are not visible to man. However with the help of hi tech equipment and hi tech magnifying glasses (I wonder where all the money comes from) we are able to perceive atoms. However even past atoms everything becomes an invisible blur and in the end it is only a energy. We are incapable of seeing this but we can see what all those adds up to make with our eyes. Oxygen is an essential component on something essential to our lives to keep our live sustaining but is not visible to human lives. It is funny how something not visible to us and is life sustaining is taken for granted. 

The final two questions posed were quite significant to our present lives. "Why are we here?" and "What are we going to do about it?". These questions posed some significant meaning and practically sums down everything there is to life. The two questions that have no definite answers are questions that determine out purpose and the reason for our existence. The second question emphasises on the fact what we are going to do once we realise this purpose and that practically sums everything down. The reason to live, that life longing purpose of ones life is a question to many and when you think about it why are you brought into this world is a mystery to many. Well those two questions where quite essential and one possible answer is, "The earth was made to discover the purpose of life and we all are computer algorithms working towards that answer.", well if thats the case, we'll get there someday. 

Whats the deal with TOK?

To be short Theory of Knowledge is an added subject to the six subjects you choose in IB and the reason you do them because it is an IB requirement to get the IB diploma. But thats not all to it, perhaps in the literal sense but TOK is more than just an IB requirement, its a course that lets you take a step back and think about what you know and how you know them. It is an interesting concept cause everything we know is not something we were born with, we were not born with knowledge but then how did we know everything we know and thats the idea TOK likes to exploit. So if you are in a TOK class and the question "How do you know" hasn't come up, then you are defiantly in the wrong class or you can just be proactive about it and ask the teacher the same question and then you get back on track.

Well although theory of knowledge is done as part of an IB requirement, the hidden reason behind it is that it makes us more open, we are exposed to more and we know how we know more, we tend to think about our lives more; perhaps it accomplishes what Middle Year Program has relentlessly being try to make us which is more open minded and critical thinkers. Being aware of the world we live in is essential in the future and makes us more proactive in the world we live in. That and the extra points you get for TOK factors into our incentive for the lesson and well if you have a great TOK teacher you have another reason to look forward to some activity enriched fun classes.

Well my expertise on TOK is budding flower but reflecting on the process is makes you think a lot more and well if it dint come to you as a surprise, its a part of the TOK requirements; not really but we have to do it anyways.

How do we know, what we know? thats a good question. Most of what we know are affected by our senses, our understanding of the world is painted by our sense perception and most of what we know is affected by sense perception. Reason is another one, we has human beings try to come to a rational logical conclusion for everything. Language yet another one, never clearly got that one, will figure it out sooner or later. Faith believing in things that might not be so evident and that factors into
how we know. Emotion is also another factor. Intuition thats a beauty cause most of the things are just you gut feelings. Lastly experience counts as one of the major ways we know, our past experiences alter future ones.

The essence of Theory of knowledge is that it helps us to consider how we know what we know and also is relatively good chance of knowing more about what you know how. The fun rests in the arguments and the discussions and the learning that come out of the two is enlightening. Personally the thought of more mind boggling questions is really a wonderful thought to behold as it arises a lot of arguments that makes one consider situations and possibilities never considered before.