Movie Assignment – “Paranormal Activity”

Belief in supernatural occurrences is a common phenomenon in the world. Many do or do not believe in it. However this movie was one that may shake perceptions of such beliefs. Paramount Pictures presents a film by Oren Peli “Paranormal Activity” starring Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong and Ashley Palmer. The film was directed, written and edited by Oren Peli. It was produced by Jason Blum and Oren Peli. “Paranormal Activity” is one of the creepiest of horror films I have ever witnessed and given me what one may call ‘true entertainment’. The plot is pretty straight forward that is of a young, middle class couple who move into what seems like a typical suburban tract house, however the main conspiracy lies in how they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic, but is certainly most active in the middle of the night, especially when they are asleep. It is one such movie that grips its viewers and leaves them in absolute awe and dumbstruck. As each scene builds on or moves on to the next I was left in absolute curiosity. It questions are beliefs on supernatural occurrences or fantastical things such as demons, spirits and ghosts. Some scenes completely baffle you to reason out your beliefs and this is when our emotions are aroused and takes over our thoughts blocking our mind to think any sort of reality to justify our beliefs depicted in the film. However this is my perspective generalized. The director and producer of this film have taken utmost advantage of technology to display what they want us to believe. Shooting the film has been done in a very skilful manner not allowing its viewers to take second opinions on it, for example many viewers would often try to justify themselves with the position and angles the camera had been place to shoot the film in order for them to confirm that such surreal happenings are false. However I too was one such viewer who was unsuccessful in uncovering the ‘behind the scenes’ mystery, and fell into the trap of the director. In fact the film was such a success in laying out its plan that a few days after the first screening, the director, Peli, had being approached by all kinds of people from that first audience, men and women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. They all reported having problems of sleeping at night, sometimes for several nights. “At first I thought people were just using a figure of speech to describe a scary movie,” Peli says. “But reports of sleeplessness have persisted after every screening since.” So we may see the impact this film had on the emotions of its audience who miserably failed to reason. Language is another key factor that aided the advancement of the plot. This film had been rated R for language; it was in English with colloquial dialogues used by its actors. This added flavour in bringing about the intensity and disturbing atmosphere of the story. At the end of the film I was convinced of existence of supernatural beings being taken aback by this marvellous production.

Discuss the claim that some areas of knowledge are discovered and others are invented

An invention may be defined as a new device, method, or process developed from study and experimentation whereas a discovery is an act or process of finding something or somebody, or learning about something that was not known about before. Invention is result of human intelligence and is formed by the medium of reasoning, but discovery is the revelation or unleashing something that already exists. Invention is usually material and discovery is generally natural. However, in the case of different areas of knowledge, the question that creates diverse perspectives is, whether or not, some of the areas of knowledge discovered or are they invented. This question itself may have many biases as the word ‘invention’ may also be figuratively recognized as something ‘fabricated’, as a false statement. Hence different outlooks of the same may also be verified.

Taking for example in the case of Isaac Newton; the instance when he witnessed the apple falling from the tree on to the ground caused him to reason that every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the particles and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, this was the discovery of Gravitation. Yet, the law itself was invented by him. Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation states:

F=Gm₁m₂/d²

F is the force of gravity, G is a constant (the Gravitational Constant) which can be measured, m₁ and m₂ are the masses of the two objects (earth and apple), and d is the distance between them.

However, opposing this is the metamorphic fact that this idea is just a ‘fabrication’ in the form of an untrue statement. This means that there may be a possibility for this ‘invention’ to be falsified.

Philosophically put, ‘invention’ means that the laws of nature are nothing but an outgrowth of human activities. It may be some approximation to something essentially intangible, because there are no absolute truths, ‘discovery’ on the other hand means that the laws of nature exist in a defined form and that there is a possibility to determine them in total or in parts and to describe them in some language.

Hence, following this we may take an example from art; whether it is invented or discovered? It is important to distinguish between two truths, the work of art and what the art tries to convey. The work of art itself, such as the poem or the painting, is an invention. However what the art conveys will most certainly be a discovery this may be either the artists or the discovery that some other human made. For example, there are paintings that challenge our visual perceptions, for example in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, the Mona Lisa; the facial expressions for instance may signify something. It is this significance that accounts to be a discovery for the artwork. This certainly conveys something we did not invent, as they are our own perceptual abilities and hence our discovery.

The origin of language, also known as ‘glottology’, is a topic that has attracted attention throughout human history. Language too is considered as a particular Area of Knowledge unclear whether discovered or invented. Language may be said to be discovered with aid from the past. This is because it is due to these ancient scriptures, may it be in the form of drawings, engravings, body language, sounds or words, of the past that evolves language and rediscovering new aspects of it unseen previously. Nevertheless, it may be argued that language originally may be believed to be invented as a result of human thinking. If supposed animals had language before humans, it might be said that man discovered language from animals, but then humans invented their own by fabricating over the older versions of language.

In the field of Music too a similar scenario is seen. Music is a subject that is originally discovered. This is because no one invented music; it is simply sounds put together. Music can include any type of sound. It could be the thundering of the skies and rain on a monsoon day that can create music. Music may evolve from self driven emotions which can make one perceive what one wants music to be. The earliest humans would make music by putting sounds together which could be beating on something, rubbing sticks together, clapping, humming, whistling or making any other such sounds or noises. The evolution of music is what provokes ‘inventions’. It is not music that is invented but its elements. Common elements of music are pitch, rhythm, tempo, meter, articulation, dynamics, timbre and texture.

The creation of different musical instruments that play a particular sound is regarded to be ‘inventions’, for that simple reason that it is a brand new idea of a man to create something by himself which has never before been created. From sounds put together by hitting strings on a guitar to pressing keys on a piano that creates different pitches. Again, music is simply sounds put together. The different genres of music such as hip-hop, r n b, rap, rock, psychedelic, etc, may also be considered as a form of ‘discovery’ since it is on the basis of the elements that these genres are formed. These may be discoveries derived from inventions.

Another interesting area of knowledge that is invented is Mathematics. An interesting example is under its sub-topic, trigonometry. The history of trigonometry goes back to the earliest dated mathematics in Egypt and Babylon. Until the time of the Greeks, no considerable amounts of trigonometry exist. In the 2nd century BC the astronomer Hipparchus compiled a trigonometric table for solving triangles. He is regarded as the inventor of trigonometry. It is this table that is now recalled the sine table. This invention has lead to the discovery of many computations in astronomy, for example, the fact that only the planets moved on the sphere and that earth is also a planet was discovered from the basis of this table.

Another example under the same field can be taken from the famous Pythagoras Theorem which states that in any right triangle, the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares whose sides are the two legs (the two sides that meet at a right angle). This Theorem has been invented by Greek Mathematician Pythagoras. The formula he invented is:

Visualize a flight of stairs; we may discover from these stairs that the Pythagoras Theorem has been utilized for its construction. This is because if realized the staircase too is in a right angle triangle. Hence, based on the invented formula, the length and angles of each of its sides and vertices may be discovered.

Thereby, in my personal opinion there are cases where an area of knowledge is either a definite invention or a discovery. However, both are almost always relied and dependant on each other and at times creates one another. It can be concluded by saying that inventions and discoveries may go hand in hand. But which is more relevant may be uncertain as, there is no absolute truth. Thus the claim that some areas of knowledge are discovered and others invented stands plausible.

The three things in history that has impacted our lives.

History has an impact mankind right from the moment of its birth. Since then it has altered our lives as a whole and is a major contributor to mankind's evolution. Similarly there have often been instances where my opinion about history has been turned over.
a very striking example that shook my opinions of the NASA completely was that of the 'moon landing conspiracy'. Before this conspiracy I was very impressed by the NASA as it was a well-known organization that discovers and creates. Well it sure did seem to 'create'. It used to stand up to me like an institute that was filled with mysteries waiting to be resolved. A body, that was in contact with the world above earth, into the stars, the different moons and planets,etc. However my idea of this is shaken. I could not believe the different conspiracies I read of in the newspapers and on T.V. of how the landing on the moon was a bluff as it was supposedly filmed and no one in reality landed on the moon. It was just breath-taking and made me perceive for the moment that nothing in this world of lies can be trusted upon.
Another example is when I studied about a particular concept called 'Gross National Happiness' in economics. So far I had studies about gross domestic and national income of an economy it was very amusing to learn that in Bhutan the King, instead of looking more at the economical prosperity in his kingdom considers emotions of his people far greater of importance,;hence in Bhutan they try to calculate the rate of happiness among the locals of the kingdom. It interested me that there were such interesting facts of economics i had not known about in the fourth year of my studying in Economics.
A third example of an impact on me was in terms of theater. The theater of the Absurd was an unknown theater art form to me until I had joined the IB course. The fact that this theater was also called Nonsensical Theater amazed me and got me thinking. It was only after a play I witnessed, 'Waiting For Godot', that I realized the essence of this theater type. It had no start, no plot and no end. One could derive his\her own message from this play based on his own reasoning. I tried to derive something but landed up with nothing to understand. this theater form had left me amidst confusion but interest of knowing what it really means and what is its relevance.

The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.

History is the study of the past, with special attention to the written record of the activities of human beings over time. But the question lies whether history is relevant or not and if it really is then what is its importance. Hence arise numerous perspectives leading onto conflicting emotions as a result of an effort of justifying individual reasoning.
Do we learn nothing from history? All the tales and stories of past kings, countries, cultures, religions, etc, do they give us accurate knowledge from which one may be able to learn something? In my personal opinion I think so. Even though history is not always proved, it does have its perspective of its own from which a knower may learn from whether they are in reality learning of the whole truth or not. Learning can be in any form, good or bad, for the positive or negative, it is all a part of learning. For example in 1912 the ocean liner Titanic was considered the safest ship afloat but hit an iceberg and sank on its first voyage. This gives out a clear message that nothing in this world can be really relied on completely as everything in the world has its drawbacks may it be the safest ship in the world or anything else. Based on this example another reasoning can also be drawn; if this event would not have occured there would probably not have been any major technological advancement in the nautical industry of the world, no improvement in ships for instance would take place.
Another thing we learn from history is not to make the stupid mistakes that generations before us have made. However this generalization may aslo be refuted with another:
For example, governments repeat the same mistakes every time. Britain built an empire, colonised half the world at one time, and so did the Nazis. Politics is the same mistakes repeating themselves. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes they don't. It is no longer countries that seek Empires but ideals. Thereby, it may be argued that if we learned from History, these ideals would never have been allowed to enter our world.
Even a simple social issue may be essential. The Bra Burning movement: In the late 1960s, some of the emblems of femininity became targets of feminist activism. Feminists charged that these objects, typified as patriarchal, reduced women to the status of sex objects. Some women publicly disavowed bras in an anti-sexist act of female liberation. As a result of this movement the women of the world have been released (though not completely) from the clutches of sex discrimination. History hence is a boon her,e as educated human beings learn to respect the opposite sex.
However, it should be realised that what is important to learn from history is more important than what we individually want to perceive. That is the reason why the question of for and against comes up because we as knowers have not realized what should be true and what should not. It's not that we DO learn from or mistakes, it's that we SHOULD learn from our mistakes. If we don't learn from the mistakes of the past it will happen again. The world has blindly derived something out of nothing and thus does not not know what to be considered as a lesson from history and what a boon.

REPORT TO DETAIL ALLEGED ABUSE INSIDE CIA SECRET PRISONS

The knowledge claim of this article is whether to or not to prosecute CIA officers who have been considered guilty in ill treating prisoners in order to extract information from them regarding terrorist activities and other crimes. The extract provided is based on many perceptions of the same which have been tried to be justified in their own ways. However, the biased information in the article makes it difficult for the reader to reason out the reality of the situation and hence to come to a perfect conclusion.
In the article we may witness how perceptions themselves are biased between individuals. In the beginning we read that a particular source alleges abuse on a Abd al-Rahim (a former terrorist) by the CIA who used torture as a method of communication in order to retrieve 'supposed' information of terrorist activities. A similar perspective is shared by Newsweek and Anthony D. Romero (executive of the ACLU), who perceive that the emotions of fear have been used as a language inorder to disclose information from terrorist by illtreating them in an 'illgal' manner such as, for example, firing a gun in the room next to one terrorist suspect so he would think that another prisoner was being executed. The final intention was to scare the suspect to such an extent that he would eventually give out information may it be the truth or just a false story to get away from being tortured.
These prosecutors reason these events out by displaying their proof which they aquired from a leaked CIA Inspector General's report; also another official claims that a dozen of officers were accused of misconduct with the prisoners/ detainees, however most of them escaped punishment as the case was referred to the Justice Department.
In contrast another perception from the CIA's spokesman, Paul Gimiliano's point of view also arises. He says that the CIA is not responsible for the acts commited as they had been discussed with Department of Justice before hand and 'that's how the system works'. But, another CIA spokesman could not talk of the specifics of the reports as he might not be having any reason to debate, but he mentioned that the subject was reviewed by government prosecutors.
On the other hand the Bush administration had taken measures to prevent such happenings by shifting such detainees from these secret prisons to federal prison. Why? This was the result of emotion. Humanitarian Laws brought justice to these detainees.
A good correlation to India can also be made here when we speak of the Indian Freedom Struggle and how freedom fighters were considered terrorists for example Bhagat Singh and how he and his other mates were tortured physically and psychologically to submit to the British Government, for instance when they poisonous milk was forced down their throat. Also similar things were done with the Jews under Hitler's dictatorship, for example, being locked up in rooms filled with poison gas.
The problem however still lies in the bias of right and wrong. Who was actually at fault and who wasn't. This is what creates a question mark on justification. However, to a large extent the final decision is taken on terms of generalizations to reach some conclusion may it be the right one or not.

The Little Prince Ch.10

In this chapter the author brings us to a very small planet which consisted of a lamp and a lamplighter. We see that a biased opinion by the little prince is brought about when he tries to bring about a reason for this planet. So far we had read of how the little prince criticized the grown-ups on the basis of his trips to the different planets; but in this particular chapter we may realize that he too has started thinking like a grown up himself. This I say because when the little prince sees this planet from a distance he can see nothing but a lamp and a lamplighter present in it. This just like any of the other planets was something unusual or rather absurd, yet now the prince tries making assumptions based on fallacious reasoning that this particular planet had a reason to be present.

The reason being presumed, that ‘when the lamplighter lights his street lamp, it was as if he brought one more star to life or one flower. When he puts out his lamp, he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep. That was a beautiful occupation. And since it was beautiful, it is truly useful’.

This justification by any ordinary person would not be looked upon as plausible as it lacks any confirmation to any sort of evidence. However, the little prince’s perception is not long lasted when he learns of the actual reason by the lamplighter; of being ‘orders’ to put up a lamp. The lamplighter then explains of how his emotions are distorted and that how in the olden times his work was reasonable as the days were longer and he got more rest and how his rest is destroyed as he has to stand all day long putting out and lighting the lamp since each day lasts only one minute now due to the position of the planet.

The lesson learnt here is that any sort of reason should be formed only by the support of proofs that provide as feasible evidences. The little prince’s reasoning was incorrect and may be simply described as not well irrational as he generalized that 'beautiful is useful'. Philosophically, not all beautiful things are useless, for example when people learnt of the theory of the earth being flat it was a beautiful spectacle for them but as soon as it was proved that the earth is not flat but roundish, this 'beautiful' theory became useless. Same in the case of Economics, Keynesian and Monetarist (Neo Classical) types of economics, the beautifully structured Keynesian type is now useless.

Towards the end it is shown that the little prince wanted to stay on this planet because of his want to see the 1440 sunsets which he loved but he hides his truth by simply saying that this planet was too small for him to stay and that there was no room for two people to stay.

We may conclude on the note that it would be erroneous to blindly follow the beliefs of the little prince as they seem to be very mystified and confused, making it difficult for the knower to comprehend where he is saying the truth and not; for example: what if he had something positive in mind for the other planets he visited? So such in such a case the knower is left in a biased opinion as a consequence of the style in which the little prince talks pessimistically of other planets.

Q. Whose intuitions should you trust? Are some people’s intuitions better than others?

Ans. This question is much in relevance to the concept of ‘generalizations’. ‘Generalizations’ are common opinions perceived by a large number of people. Often this is what actually drives people to believe in other people’s intuitions. For e.g. ‘The Mother’ is a spiritual leader through whose preaching people were enlightened by the messages she gave. The mother’s teachings were followed as they are very practical and reasonable. Hence, she had many followers/ disciples. This leaves a good impression of the mother’s faith. Her popularity is to be credited for it i.e. the general opinion people have of her makes one to trust this common intuition.
However, it is very difficult to determine whose intuition is better, as that is based on personal perception. In most cases Generalizations are the most reliable sources of knowledge and are these forms of intuitions are worth trusting; but there are times when they too are awry. For .e.g. many people suggest that Muslims are terrorists, just because a few of them have been involved in such crimes. This is wrong intuition, which one must not trust and must follow ones own senses, what one feels is correct. The entire Muslim community cannot be blamed because of the actions of a few of them. So one must trust the intuitions of those who reason seem plausible enough to be believed. This can be achieved by seeing to it that your beliefs are not driven by your emotions only, but more by reason to justify.

Q. If something is intuitively obvious, must everyone agree about it? (Is there anything that everyone agrees about?)

Ans. Intuitions are considered to be a source of knowledge. ‘Intuitions’ are associated with the Aha moment of insight where one suddenly stumbles upon a solution to a problem without undergoing any conscious process of reasoning. The term ‘intuitively obvious’ in the question arises generally when someone is asked to justify their reasons for something. For e.g. in the olden days one may have said that it is intuitively obvious that the world is flat as that was what they believed the reality was, however, now one may say this as he/ she have evidence that the world is not flat but round, this evidence may be in form of pictures, videos etc to justify her reasoning. So, if backed by proof, everyone must agree about it; at least for the time being until they have not proved this philosophy wrong too. However, there are cases where it is not necessary for everyone to agree about, that something, that is ‘intuitively obvious’. This is because there cases where one person/party would have a strong intuition for something, whereas the other, would disagree. For e.g. is sati an ethical practice; for most of the people it would be intuitively obvious that burning a woman alive is absolutely unethical and absurd, however there are people in rural areas of our country who yet believe in this hysterical practice; here, we witness what one person thinks to be incorrect may be different from the perceptions of others. Hence, until proved, it is not necessary that everyone has to agree that something is intuitively obvious.

K@W Assignment

TOI Lead India Advertisement
Link:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smnTG-QS6tg&feature=player_embedded

This is a video advert produced by the Times of India Group initiating the Lead India Program. ‘Lead India’ is a youth television program that is a hunt to identify ‘new leaders for a new India’; men and women with the vision and ability to empower is selected. However, there is a bigger reason and meaning behind this video that brings out several perceptions towards it. The means of language used in order to communicate with the viewers and evoke their inner emotions, in this video, are mostly visual, but it also consists of various sound effects and music that amplify the reason of the final message that it tries to deliver.
We are introduced to a social issue in this video i.e. the lack of unity and boldness in individuals among their own countrymen or community. The video commences with how a fallen tree creates traffic and how different people react to the situation by passing comments or cribbing instead of taking any effort of lifting the tree and moving it. We see that the cops are least bothered (in fact one of them is seen relaxing in the police car instead of trying to control the traffic or do anything about the tree that stands as a barrier) and are just shunning away passer-bys who are facing the problem.
Next we are given a glimpse into the field of politics where we see that the particular politician has already arranged for a car on the other side of this obstacle. These are our leaders; without carrying for the common mans’ problem, the politician just ignores this situation and continues on his own journey.
On the other side we can witness a typical chaotic street scene where people are blaming each other, horns blowing away from different vehicles, street kids playing around, etc. Here, is when a small school boy comes out of his bus, walks towards the fallen tree and begins to push it, this is the most powerful scene in the video that actually reveals the whole reason and the important message. At this time the perfect background music adds into the language of connecting the video with the viewer when the singer sings: “Tum chalo to Hindustan chale”, that means: “If you walk, so will India”, this is not only plausible for India, but to any nation in the world. Finally, through the means of this one boy, each person present at this scene feel ashamed of consciousness, get motivated and join in helping to shift the tree with a lot of effort, and eventually the hard work paid off well with success. We witness how each person realizes their own self-responsibilities (in this case, especially towards the nation) through their emotions. We also observe how the language of actions may speak louder than words and how the language has driven emotions of the people. The moral value of unity comes in major play here when people from different castes, creeds, sexes and ages come together as one to combat in combating problems.
The example of the Indian Independence in history stands as a striking and stronger ‘large-scale’ example based on this same principle. As there too people of different societies, creeds, colors, tongues, cultures, backgrounds, genders, etc, all came together as one word, ‘Indian’ to fight against the British for their freedom.
Finally, in conclusion I would perceive that the most important lesson reasoned out in this mini-clip would be:
“United We Stand Divided We Fall”

30th March 2009

The topic of discussion is REASON which is one of the 4 ways of knowing. We learn bout and understand the meaning of the different types of Reasoning i.e. Inductive and Deductive Reasoning.

I learn how Deductive Reasoning is from something general to something specific and particular whereas Inductive Reasoning is the other way round from something particular to something general. The question here is:

Q. What do I understand by the word 'General' or rather 'Generalizing'?

Ans. It is a common opinion to which many people agree upon.

An example brought about the same:

• People who do PCM are nerds. - Deductive Reasoning
• ‘X’ person who is doing PCM is a nerd. – Inductive Reasoning

-Deductive is more certain and less informative.

-Inductive is more informative and less certain.

But the important fact explained to us is that:

In reality both will neither be certain nor informative in practice.

E.g. All Pakistanis are Muslims.

Here if experimented, we may see that if 500 Pakistanis are selected at random then there are possibilities that all turn out to be Muslims, however we can not overlook the fact that the remaining population of Pakistanis may also consist of other religions; there may be Sikhs, Hindus, etc.

Here upon our topic is connected to Logic and Truth where we comprehend that Logic may be divided into VALID and INVALID.

This means that things can be proven and justified/validated but it is not possible to find the Whole Truth.

Here on our discussions move onto Beliefs and Knowledge. We revisit these two topics studied earlier in class where we had learnt that Belief is Probable and Knowledge is certain.

I feel satisfied on revisiting these two topics as I clear my doubts regarding the same of knowing whether ‘Common Beliefs’ are Generalizations and the answer I get is yes.

The discussions finally end on the definition of Knowledge:

‘Knowledge is justified true beliefs.’

With the ending of this class I am content on knowing more about Reason, Belief, Knowledge, Logic and Truth as we did go into some depth in these respective topics and I am looking forward to my future classes in TOK that seem to be getting more interesting as I am curious to unfold the mysteries of the boundless Knowledge.