Class will meet at the usual time; I have an exercise for you to do with the other students. But I will also send an e-mail about arranging alternate hours so I can extend our 1-on-1 talk to greater than 10 minutes per student.
For those who remain interested in Taleb, here is the most important essay he wrote during the financial crisis in 2008. And here is his Twitter feed.
Your next task is to create a philosophical 'map for thinking'... it doesn't need to be the same as Beane, Gladwell, Taleb, or Lady Gaga. My suggestion for an outline is to actually start with the same exercise I did, which was to draw a map/chart. Then I would suggest making a standard paragraph outline divided by sections or categories of the chart. Or by problematic areas of the chart that require further explanation. For each section, try to come up with at least two demonstrative examples that easily fit, and one that doesn't fit or can't be explained. Why? Multiple examples will create a redundancy so your essay draft is less fragile... in other words it will give you more choices in case your first example doesn't really work out. And why a non-fitting example? Because examples that don't fit will help you draw those boundaries between domains more precisely, or help you re-think your system. (Of course we have become somewhat skeptical of maps in general, but a good map actually indicates its own limitations.) I would also recommend that you try to think of a "they say" for the start of your essay... in other words it would be much easier to begin by contrasting your 'map' with some other one that you find to be inadequate or misleading.
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I don't quite get the idea about "map of thinking". Thinking what? Is that we have to create a topic and make a "map of thinking" the topic? I found out that I couldn't read and understand your example of the "map" after class last week( even in the class I didn't quite understand...)
ReplyDeleteAaron Chen:
ReplyDeleteTiara said that producing a successful movie is more difficult than founding a good baseball team. Because the only purpose that the baseball manager has to achieve is win the game. To produce a successful movie, the movie company should not only care awards' judges but audiences. Short to say, movie company's managers can not just care whether you win the oscar or not, because there are a lot of aspects that the movie compant should consider, for example box office and so on. Moneyball's strategies are too simple to have a succeful movie. I think her opinions are helpful.
catherine
ReplyDeletei have read a book which said: man goes to bathroom usually for nature's call, but bathroom for women may represent a place of social connection and consolation. i want to use this difference as an introduction in my article. however, cathy said this theory is not absolutely because some men also chat in the bathroom. she also bring up the mixed idea about social stereotype and the real biological-resulted element, and i would try to clarify these two idea in my essay.
Tiara:
ReplyDeleteAaron argues that the theory of playing volleyball may be applied on some other situations. He thinks that while practicing or playing volleyball, one may learn something like how to do with teamwork or be more mature in his mind, and he think these can be used in other situations. He claims that maybe the skills of playing volleyball can not be used in other things, but what one learns to cooperate with others or how to trust one's companion is indeed helpful in life. I think his opinion is helpful.
People say that Dale Carnegie training method is a way to change people's thoughts or even give them brainwash in order to achieve their goals. However, information has to be filtered at first to be accpeted into human brains. Therefore, it is people brainwash themselves rather than being brainwashed by others.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though "the one way" is the safe way to the future, so as we often believed, so as my parents firmly believed, and deviating from the way will lead us to an uncertainty or even a mess. Okay, let me assume that people who follow the norms are guaranteed to a more or less prosperous future, but what about those who can't even make it to the 'right way'? Those who are too poor to go to school, or those who are deemed abnormal since the day that they are born. Fully beliving in the model of norms will eliminate the chance these people might succeed.
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ReplyDeleteDoll provides a theory of the great power of "Many a little makes a Mickle". I think it is a influence of habit. This theory is reminding people not to ignore the casual habit brings impact in the future. Yet I am confusing the quantity and scale of "little".
ReplyDeleteKim suggests that instead of lots of different examples, I could focus on some specific people I know and compare the feelings I hold towards them as the relationship developes. Also, it seems that "bias/prejudice" and "first impressions" would become important issues in my essay.
ReplyDelete(Doll)
ReplyDeleteAlice talks about the three elements of "Social Cognitive Theory": 1.cognition (or way to think) 2.environment 3. act. Briefly, in the theory, the three elements are influnenced by one another. One example of Alice is that when XXX thinks about learning English,XXX may immediately chicken out and quit(act)bacause other people tell XXX "learning English is difficult"(environment)and also because XXX thinks back that he has always been stupid in learning.
Yet I think it is up to one to listen to the other people or the environment. In other words, one can actually choose to be influenced or not influenced. I take myself as an example: I am born in a traditional Twanese-speaking family. Since I can remember, everyone speaks Taiwanese around me and none of my family learns English. However the fact is I don't speak Taiwanese and my English is better than Taiwanes. The reason is that I don't like Taiwanese and I am interested in English. So I choose all these myself!
Elsa believes that climate skeptic's argument is lack of evidence, and it may be used by some people who want to get benefit from their industry or business. I, Peter, agree with her that this negative theory might be used by some poeple; but on the other hand, I suspect that some people are also be benefited by the opposite theory. In other words, the environmental protection activity also help another group of people earn money and fame. As to the evidence, some scientific evidences indeed exist to support climate skeptic's argument. So we cannot sure that which side of them is correct.
ReplyDeleteI think jealousy is a very interesting emotion because it grows in the base of inferiority and it can grnerates great dynamic. And I want to look into the paradox between the great power of jealousy and the weakness in the person who feel jealous of others. However, Catherine argues that one's weakness doesn't directly lead to jealousy. It can be other feelings, such as arrogance. I think that's also a possible route about feeling inferior to others, though that's not the point I want to highlight in my essay, maybe I can mention that briefly in my essay.
ReplyDeletethey say i say part about the outline:
ReplyDeletePeter says nothing but the topic is strange and tiny to write. no comment and argument.
Taleb's The Black Swan sells like wild fire after it's published; it seems it's an unprecedent outstanding theory ever being created. However, our farmiliar Chaos Theory holds similar view with this seemingly unpredictable black swan.
ReplyDeleteElsa... I hope your question has been answered now. You don't necessarily need to map "thinking" in general, but you do need to create a map of thinking about some particular issue. Here is a full list of topics the class is writing about.
ReplyDelete-Is there a difference between "men's thinking" and "women's thinking," and if so what?
-How does "jealous thinking" occur and what can be done to reduce it?
-What is the thinking process of meeting new people and developing relationships? What potential for mistake or error is there?
-Is it possible for a tourist/travel experience to produce real learning, or is it only an instance of "ludic fallacy"?
-What is the best theory and best practice for a movie production company? How similar is it to another entertainment business like baseball? What role does the black swan play?
-How can we relate "social-cognitive" theories of language to the ideas in Taleb and Gladwell? Specifically, what parts of the educational process cannot be controlled in a textbook or classroom?
-Do the theories of "gradual accumulation of small units" that we read in traditional Chinese proverbs suit the modern world of extremer Extremistan? In what situations? And are there also warnings about fragility/robustness in traditional proverbs?
-How can black swan thinking be applied to personal career planning?
-What process do people use to incorporate new information into their mental "database"?
-Who has more credibility in the climate debate? How can we apply black swan thinking?
-How can we extend or challenge the theories of Gladwell/Taleb by creating a theory of personality difference? (or) What thought process do people use in romantic relationships?
As for these posts... it was quite funny, because I realized my instructions were confusing.
ReplyDeleteSome of you helped your partner to invent a "they say vs. I say" to use in your essay.
Some of you used your partner to be the "they" or the "I."
I think both could be quite helpful, actually.
Esther, black swan theory is not exactly like chaos theory. Taleb specifically addresses this... perhaps I deleted that page from your copy.
ReplyDeleteIf I understand correctly, it is difficult to determine the _exact_ probability of "chaos" events, for instance at the subatomic level, but you can provide a matrix or range of expected probabilities if you have a good mathematical model. I also think there are not "extreme" variations of scale of impact. So Taleb actually uses chaos theory as an example of something that mathematical models do a good job explaining. Unless I'm misunderstanding, which is definitely possible.
Sorry, I've a question. Do we have class this Wednesday? June 23? Or we just have to turn in our Essay #3 on Google?
ReplyDelete