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TOK Talk

TOK Talk

​AN ORIGINAL PODCAST FOR TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND OTHER CURIOUS PEOPLE

Prompt 30. What role does imagination play in producing knowledge about the world?

2/17/2024

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TOK Talk · 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 coming soon!) 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 than reasoning or brainstorming? Is reason 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?

Links in relation to this talk:

  • Haruki Murakami- a Japanese Author (I absolutely love) the short story I mentioned in this talk is called ‘The Kangaroo Communique’ in the book ‘The Elephant Vanishes’.
  • “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (King James Bible, Ecclesiastes 1:9)
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!

Guests: Brett Fisher, Monica Wahl
Music: Hilary Ng playing in the hallway at school

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PROMPT 23. HOW IMPORTANT ARE MATERIAL TOOLS IN THE PRODUCTION OR ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE?

2/16/2024

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TOK Talk · 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:
  • ‘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”.  For a quicker insight, watch this: Why humans run the world TED talk with Yuval Noah Harari ​
  • ‘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)

Guest: Jon Rees
Music from the ISF Student Brass Band playing outside the school gate one morning in December 2023

Thank you to Waffling Beans for letting us use your space to record!
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    Podcast
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    Emily Osann
    TOK Coordinator 
    Teacher of TOK & Visual Arts based in Hong Kong

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