A Power To Be Loved and Feared

               In my reading of A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future, I find that Charles Van Doren intends to bestow onto the reader a materialized “compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginning of civilization into the twenty-first century.”His work spans time and nations, fostering a sort of, different context, of which we find knowledge is acquired. We find ourselves dealing with how humanity has acquired knowledge over the span of civilizations and epochs of revolution, declaration, and innovation.

                Searching for the truth may bring us knowledge we wish we hadn’t learned. There is a lot to learn about in the world but sometimes we should just stop and focus on ourselves. Although we all have some clue about who we are, what I want to focus on is why we do the things we do. While having “good values/morals” may be a deciding factor in whether or not we perform certain actions such as murder, there are underlying factors for why we choose to do or not do something. While the answer, “because it’s the right thing to do,” may be suitable enough reason for some people to make a decision, I feel as if we need to explain ourselves to fully understand ourselves. Why do we have the values/morals that we follow and why do we follow those values/morals?

                Now a widely accepted explanation of this following is religion. People believe that if they practice good morals they will go to heaven, be reincarnated into a better life, or many other positive things. Other reasons such as doing something to someone you would want them to do to you or doing something because you get pleasure out of simply helping others may be guiding reasons for performing certain actions as well for everyone including those who don’t follow any religion. One question I have raised from this sort of thinking happens to be, “Is everyone subconsciously selfish and always doing things for themselves?” “But how can doing something to help someone else be selfish?” you may ask. Well, by getting pleasure out of helping others or trying to do to others what you wish they would do to you, you are thinking of yourself in that helping others may bring you happiness or even ascend you to heaven.

                Throughout my educational experience I’ve always been told just how to do something which, may sound alright, but inadvertently leaves room for error. This error I feel could be corrected if we are not only taught how to do something but also how NOT to do something. One place this can really apply to is math. When learning subjects such as algebra or calculus individuals will consistently make the same mistakes when faced with an equation they have learned to solve. By making a simple mistake such as using an incorrect formula, you remember those mistakes and avoid making them in the future. In addition, you may spot certain tricks or clues that may help you remember when a certain formula may be needed. Additionally, why would anyone not want to know common mistakes made when learning how to do anything? By pointing out another’s mistakes you have a reference point to stop yourself when making a similar mistake you might not have realized otherwise.

                In the United States we have the ideal of “innocent until proven guilty.” While the average citizen may uphold this ideal through its practice, those with the duty to “protect and serve” do everything but that. Yes I am talking about cops. Much of the population supports the police but I could not disagree any more with some of their policies than I already do. For now I will focus on just one of those policies and that policy is that police get paid to lie to you and trick you in every way possible in order to get you to confess to a crime. Whether or not you have committed a crime doesn’t matter to the police because it’s their job to bust you for doing almost anything. A friend of mine was recently arrested for the possession of paraphernalia and marijuana. I am not going to debate the legality of marijuana but I am going to show you why you should not trust the police.

Of course we all have the right to remain silent when in an interaction with the police but just how much pressure will it take to break that silence? I spoke to an anonymous police officer who told me, “I know that it seems like cops are just trying to help a criminal by confessing to a crime, but in reality we do anything we can to get a person to confess to a crime to make it easier on us.” What this means is that a cop will try to sugarcoat a punishment, threaten you with more punishment for not complying, or even lie to you about how far they may cross the legal boundary to convict you. When it seems like all odds are against you and that you are facing serious consequences, you may just break your silence in order to save or even defend yourself.

In my friend’s case he was accused of smoking and being in possession of marijuana through an anonymous source which gave them reasonable cause to detain and question him. In this detainment, the legal boundaries of the police would be to search my friend for weapons by patting him down (This is called a Terry Stop) but could not actually search his person and remove his belongings without a warrant. Although smoking alone in a roommate location may be a seemingly harmless crime, 5 cop cars showed up to interrogate my harmless friend. Now, my friend is the most innocuous person you could ever meet and doesn’t look like he would harm a fly so obviously there was no need for 5 cop cars to show up and question him. Some things these cops told my friend were that, “If you comply it will be easier on yourself and you won’t be in as much trouble,” and, “Just give up what you are hiding because we will search you and find it anyway.” What my poor friend didn’t know was that these cops couldn’t do either of these things. Like I said before, the police could not remove any of his belongings without a warrant of which there was not enough evidence or even enough reason to get one according to another to the police officer I spoke to. Additionally, by sticking to your right to remain silent, the charges that you may be acquitted with cannot be any worse as you only incriminate yourself further by speaking out.

Source

One can endure simplicity by simply looking at this picture and concluding that Knowledge is like a puzzle. I'm going to take things one step further and tell you exactly HOW life is like a puzzle. In this picture the word "Knowledge" is spread across two puzzle pieces which is indicative of the inability to fit all information on one single puzzle piece. Now before we continue let me tell you that the puzzle pieces are representatives of information. Allow us to look more in depth at a single puzzle piece.

Puzzle pieces come in various shapes and sizes of which no two puzzle pieces are exactly the same. The same goes for different pieces of knowledge. One might come forth and say, "Oh but Tyler, history repeats itself!" of which I would instantly refute by referring to Mark Twain when he said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." A puzzle piece may be similar in shape to other puzzle pieces but will never be exactly the same. For the sake of exemplification let us give life to a single puzzle piece:

Looking in my fridge I see some leftover buffalo wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. As I am very hungry I would like to eat those wings but should I eat them? Generally, when dealing with leftover perishables such as meat, I would allow the food to sit in my fridge for two days before I throw it out because I know it will go bad and could give me food poisoning. Buffalo wings would be classified as meat and thus should be kept for only two days before being thrown out. Since I first put those buffalo wings in my fridge a little over a day ago they are still good to eat. HOORAY!

In this case there were many puzzle pieces of information I used to come to my conclusion that the wings were still okay to eat, however, the one I want to focus on is the time it takes leftover perishables to go bad. I was taught that leftover chicken should only be kept in the fridge for two days before it is thrown away. This information can also be applied to buffalo wings as they share many of the same qualities as chicken both being meats and even possibly the same kind of chicken. Buffalo wings and chicken differ from each other in their qualities which is why their puzzle pieces would have different shapes and sizes. Now although these two meats have different shaped puzzle pieces the puzzle piece we have been focusing on has been the time is takes leftover perishables to go bad. This puzzle piece can be connected to the puzzle pieces of buffalo wings and chicken because they are similar in shape and size. There is just way too much information in the world to say that what you learn in one place cannot be used in another. Now where do our puzzle pieces originate?

  Before I go on let me make it clear that, unlike tangible puzzle pieces, the intangible ones of which I speak of are not defined and thus have room for change. Moving on...

As we live each day watching, learning, experiencing, we create new puzzle pieces out of the information we obtain through our observations and analyses which add onto what we already know. Sometimes what we learn in a day may even shape old puzzle pieces. For example, what if buffalo wings were actually not perishable? This would lead to the puzzle piece we focused on before, the time I keep a leftover perishable refrigerated, to no longer fit with the puzzle piece of buffalo wings. So, although we've made it this far, we must not forget the goal of putting together puzzle pieces.

  Like before, I need to make something clear before I go on. Information can be valid or invalid, true or untrue. Just because something we have learned isn't true doesn't stop it from being information. Haven't you ever heard someone say, "To my knowledge..."? Okay now i'll continue.

When puzzles are completed they form many different pictures. The same can be seen with information. Time is the table to host our unique puzzles because, as it elapses, our puzzle pieces grow and change forming the entire puzzle known as our knowledge. The way we think, the way we learn, the way we accept or deny, and much more all lead to the shaping of our individual puzzles of knowledge. Every single puzzle that exists represents another person and their knowledge. Each puzzle has a different picture, no matter how similar, and these pictures are what we are. We are made up of the puzzle pieces of our experiences and teachings but the picture of our puzzle is always changing. 

Seeing as I have been focusing on the topic of acquiring knowledge, I have decided to take a look back at my old school district's website to analyze the techniques it is using in appealing to a specific audience. Seeing as this organization, Commack School District, shelters grades K-12; it is apparent that the audience this website appeals to is students of ages 5-18 and parents of said students. The bright gold and blue colors stands out as to hold the focus of any person visiting this website as well as organize the websites links to ease the process of searching for specific pages. For example, all the district's news shares blue text while being separated to the side of the webpage as to keep it separate from other things like the directory of teachers/students and contact information on the top of the page. Although news may be separate, the most important news of recent upcoming events or things that need attention brought to are centered above the images in the center of the page where the entire page revolves around. The school district's / specific school's awards are made clear on the page to give credibility to the success of Commack's school district who's goal is to educate students in order for them to excel in life after high school. This goal is assumed as it tends to be the most common of goals among grade schools throughout the U.S. Since this website is merely a means of organizing information about the school district, it successfully completes this purpose because not only is the website easily maneuverable, it is also friendly because it brings attention to the achievements of members in Commack's community while allowing them access to the information they may need. 

website:

Torture:

Torturing is a very successful way of obtaining knowledge that also happens to be very controversial. This is because many people believe that nobody deserves to be tortured as many people lose their minds and go insane following the torture, many people are killed during the torture itself which can be seen as murder, and being tortured can lead to many problems in the future such as PTSD, anxiety, etc.

Same Sex Education:

Studies have shown that having classes with all students being of the same sex have had higher test scores and have been more successful in the future. This is a very controversial topic because some people believe that you are socially dividing genders by doing this and that it may cause problems with students interactive with the opposite gender in the future. In addition, many students oppose the idea of same sex education because they are interested in the opposite sex while others may be interested in homosexuality which raises more dispute as many people are homophobic and oppose homosexuality.

Animal Experimentation:

Animals are living creatures that have been proven to show emotion and feel pain so experimenting on animals has, for many years, been an extremely controversial topic of debate. Animal rights activists everywhere oppose animal experimentation because it kills animals, tortures them, may cause them pain/bodily harm, and many times is used for product research which shows that people value money over the lives of animals. Some people however may be passive by having limits such as only experimenting on animals for medicines that may seriously benefit mankind instead of simply creating cosmetics.

Technology in the classroom:

The idea of having newer technology in classrooms such as laptops, tablets, phones, etc. have raised much debate amongst teachers and professionals worldwide. The benefits of having technology includes being able to allow more students to be interactive, use programs that improve the rate of relaying information from teachers to students, etc. Some worries of having technology in the classroom include students cheating, students being distracted, students misusing technology to surf the web or social network sites, cyber bullying, etc. Others also argue that technology may become outdated causing new technology to have to be purchased when in fact this is and has been happening anyway with the replacing of chalk boards with projectors, projectors with smart boards, and smart boards are continuously getting smarter.

Home Schooling:

Malicious Software Programming

"Before the fact vote rigging [is] difficult if not impossible...The concern that unscrupulous programmers will try to rig elections through deceptive software has led to specific processes and policies to avoid such an event. For example, software code passes through numerous internal and external checks before use in an actual election, including rigorous certification testing by independent certification bodies. Voting system software is engineered months in advance of actual elections, making it very unlikely for programmers to know who candidates will be and impossible to know how their names will appear on ballots. The source code is held in escrow by various state and federal officials, and local officials do not have access to it, thus preventing code changes at the local level."

-- Election Technology Council  "Frequently Asked Questions" section of website Oct. 2005

P1: Vote rigging would only be a problem if and only if it was present when voting takes place.

P2: Programmers must know a program’s source code in order to make changes to it.

P3: Voting Programs’ source codes are kept secret from programmers so programmers do not know the source code.

P4: Programmers cannot make any changes to Voting Programs’ source code.

P5: Vote rigging is malicious software.

P6: Voting Programs go through checks that find and remove malicious software before voting takes place.

P7: Voting Programs will not have malicious software when voting takes place.

C: Vote rigging is not a problem.

Based upon the standardization of the argument above presented by the Election Technology Council, the argument made is a strong one. The premises presented in this argument are acceptable seeing as it is apparent that one must have something present in order to make physical changes to it or else they can only imagine changing things. In addition, there is no reason to reject the premises in theory but in reality mistakes sometimes happen so nothing is 100% certain. Relevancy is apparent in the logic of this argument as well because the premises presented all relate to the creation and use of malicious software in voting programs. On top of acceptable and relevant premises, a clear conclusion can be made about the problem of vote rigging because if something is prevented from happening then it's existence would have been avoided.

In his article, “Knowledge and the Individual”(08/29/11), Will Fitzhugh claims that there is no better work for a student to acquire knowledge than by undertaking a serious research paper. Fitzhugh uses a quote by Sir Francis Bacon that sums up the points he is trying to make. To establish credibility behind the assigning and execution of a research paper as the best way for students to obtain knowledge is the purpose of this article written in order to give his view on the question, “Are Research Papers a Waste of time?” The target audience of this article is anyone looking for an answer to the question, “Are Research Papers a Waste of Time?” as well as anyone who has their own opinion on the question because it simply gives his side of the argument while touching on opposing views.

P1: Students must discover information by reading before they may acquire knowledge.

P2: Students must digest information for themselves in order to acquire knowledge.

P3: Students must express their understanding of information by writing in order to acquire knowledge.

P4: Research papers force students to learn information by reading, create their own interpretation of the information in their mind through debating what they learned, then expressing what they have learned through writing the actual research paper.

C: Therefore, research papers are the best way for students to acquire knowledge.

I would have to disagree with this article because it speaks about acquiring knowledge, only in theory, using the purpose of a research paper rather than the actual completion of one. In his article, Fitzhugh speaks about how the internet can be large bank of knowledge where people may not actually learn or retain the information they are given. Although this may be the case some of the time, it is also the case with research papers. Students are almost forced to write research papers because it is required in order to pass a class and receive a grade which may defer the purpose of said paper. Although students sometimes are able to select what they research, they still may become bored of a topic or find little to no interest in it which makes it hard to stay focused and motivated in completing said paper. In addition, Fitzhugh simply gave ways of obtaining knowledge and spoke of what knowledge is not rather than defining what knowledge actually is. I would define knowledge as an understanding of a set of ideas or information which doesn’t always take too much effort to obtain. Sometimes all it takes is motivation to come to an understanding of something because, when someone is motivated, they tend to put more effort and thought into whatever is at hand and is usually able to reciprocate their understanding when feelings towards whatever is at hand are strong. One thing that the author and I both may agree on however is that in order for someone to be more knowledgeable on a subject, they must be able to clearly explain their understanding of said subject.  

PRWEB’s article, “Adapt Courseware Executive to Present at Instructional Technology Council eLearning Conference” (02/11/13), is one that is informing readers about an upcoming event where the company Adapt Courseware will be present and what that company is hoping to accomplish by going. By using direct quotes from the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Hank Bowman, the author is establishing a direct look at Adapt Courseware’s objectives in addition to gaining credibility for the actual event by showing how large the Instructional Technology Council is and what its event will result in. The author hopes to give insight to the readers as to what the event taking place is, what the purpose of the event is, and the role Adapt Courseware will play at the event in order to spread awareness of Adapt Courseware and what it hopes to accomplish as well as promote the event. This article is designated towards any readers interested in education no matter their prior knowledge on what is going on because it introduces the event and each company as new entities before going into detail about what the event taking place will accomplish.

http://news.yahoo.com/adapt-courseware-executive-present-instructional-technology-council-elearning-150616109.html;_ylt=A2KJ2UYKHDlRGmAAFpPQtDMD

Well I seem to be stuck at a crossroads because from here on out I will be focusing my blogging about a more specific topic than Knowledge as my About Me page says. Knowledge will remain my topic of focus but of two different research areas I have to choose from as they both are of equal interest to me. Those two areas happen to be the acquisition of knowledge and the misuse of knowledge. Here is where I am stuck at a crossroad because I have plenty of directions to take from a starting point on each of the two areas.

Acquisition:

Motivation

Schooling

Using the Senses

Memorization

Educating

Forceful

Theory / Conspiracy

False Knowledge / Real Knowledge

Practice

etc.

Misuse:

Dictatorship

Classified

Motivational

Assuredness

Trading

Statistics

Bad Arguments

Cheating

Professions

Lying

Destruction of knowledge

Etc.

Where to go from here I am unsure because as Einstein said, "There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there." According to this I should be focusing on researching the acquisition of knowledge so the time when I do not know how I reached a higher plane of knowledge does not come sooner rather than later but according to Herodotus, "The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance." Either way I can't go wrong because as Aristotle once said, "All men by nature desire knowledge," and it is that desire that drives me to continue my research no matter what path I choose to follow.