Recently I met with Naomi Chevannes who teaches Design Technology here in Hong Kong. We discussed TOK Exhibition Prompt 15: What constraints are there on the pursuit of knowledge? Breaking this down we discussed constraints such as access, tools, time, language, personal experience, motivation, perspectives, funding… We found possible divisions of these constraints such as inner and outer constraints, as well as an elegant distinction between constraints to the pursuit of knowledge which are within or without our control. We talked about knowledge as a buffet, and contrasted that with a famine (we may have gotten a little carried away with our food metaphor, as we were meeting just before lunch!! I really enjoyed this conversation, so thank you so much to Naomi for taking time out of a busy day to sit down and talk TOK with me. 

Today I enjoyed tea and talked some TOK with Kevin Hoye (IB English Literature and TOK Teacher) about 2023 TOK Essay Title 5: Are visual representations always helpful in the communication of knowledge? Discuss with reference to the human sciences and mathematics. We talked a lot about different ways into understanding this question, beginning with ∞ 

​Links:

• The Mathematical Art Of M.C. Escher | Video | Abakcus
• A Summary of Modern Cosmology
• A New Way to See Art - The Atlantic​

Thank you to the random street Shanghai musician, once again for the music bringing us in and out of this track.

In this episode, I met with Dr. PS and Janka Steinkamp (both IB English teachers to talk about Essay Title 4: Do you agree that it is “astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power” (Bertrand Russell)? Discuss with reference to the natural sciences and one other area of knowledge.

I hope you find this episode as interesting as we did. If you’re looking for the TOK Essay Title Posters I mentioned, you can find them here.

“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance” (Confucius in 500 BC)
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Links:

• Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot
• Sir Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigms  TED Talk
• Decolonise IB: How international school alumni are mobilising to diversify the expat curriculum | by Xoài David | Medium
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: "Europe and the West must also be decolonised" | CCCB LAB
• The Big Bang Theory S06E08 The 43 Peculiarity - Wormhole generator test

Music is courtesy of Plastic Daizi Band, just one of our warm up sessions from many moons ago.

Today I sat down with Jim Faherty, an experienced University Guidance Counsellor here in Hong Kong to exchange views on Exhibition Prompt 7 What are the implications of having or not having knowledge? Because of his background in university applications and guidance, we discussed this question in relation to how having knowledge within this realm expands and helps to refine options for future choices in a young person's life. We go beyond this, and discuss the implications of having knowledge, one of those being the responsibility to share knowledge with others. We consider the reliability of sources, which is not only relevant to university choices but to all aspects of knowing about the world. We also explore what responsibility might come with having knowledge, and the relationship of money, power and knowledge.

We discuss the implications of not having knowledge as well again in light of having access to education (and therefore certain forms of knowledge) as well as the war in Ukraine and the race for a vaccine for Covid. We begin to think about knowledge as a resource, and only begin to ponder the problem of how we could better manage this resource on the internet. I hope you enjoy this episode and think again about the implications of having or not having knowledge.

Links:
Unifrog University guidance platform
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari