Your assignment for today's presentaion by Dr. Polhemus is to respond to the following 3 questions. Don't just state your opinion; try to justify your answers. Why do you think the way you do? Are you using logic to support your ideas? Emotion? Sense perception? Authority? Consensus? Faith? Something else?
A second part of this assignment is to respond/comment on the responses of at least two other responses.
- After listening to and viewing Dr. Polhemus, do you think dark matter exists? Did he convince you? Why or why not?
- What problems exist that may make it difficult for scientists to come to knowledge in an area like dark matter?
- Dr. P. gave several examples of times when astrophysicists have been wrong in the past, but because of new findings, they have shifted to a new way of thinking. (This is called a paradigm shift.) Explain a paradigm shift you have experienced. What was the original idea or theory, and what caused you to shift?
This is due by next Friday, Oct. 31.
352 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 352 of 3521) Well I am no science or astrophysics expert, but from what Dr. Polhemus described to us it seems to me that dark matter may actually exist. Unfortunately, I know very little about astronomy and how things work out there in all of the galaxies, but by knowing how experienced Dr. P was with this particular subject and his outstanding credentials; his presentation on the theory of dark matter was very convincing. Right now I do believe dark matter exists not because a bunch of people have claimed its existence (consensus), but I believe in its existence, because of the visual images and explanations that Dr. Polhemus provided us with. Also the fact that he showed a lot of commitment to the study of dark matter and had a lot of faith in his work and its existence to me made his presentation of dark matter even more convincing. To me, I believe, that I am basing my answer off of logic and faith. His presentation overall was very logical and he presented it in order for us to understand why it is believed that what has been observed is dark matter. Also with some things that don’t exactly directly affect you, you just have to go off of what is given to you and have faith and believe that it is true until proven differently.
2.) When it comes to subjects like dark matter, many problems are bound to occur. The main reason for this, I believe is because dark matter is not something you can physically obtain and observe up close. This then makes it very difficult for scientists to get things right through observation and with calculations. Also their answers and reasoning for the existence of dark matter will not be concrete and exact. Therefore, the scientists can only then come up with theories and cannot provide any answers this is definitely a potential problem. Although a definite answer is not always provided their theories are very practical and can still be developed.
3.) Paradigm shift? Well I would have say that a paradigm shift that I have experienced would be when I realized that I would not necessarily be taken away or killed by La Llorona, if I went outside without my parents past nine. It is an old legend/story that is told to many young children by their parents in order to keep them safe. If a child were to go out past nine La Llorona (the crying lady), who drowned her kids long ago would mistake you for her own and take you away with her. Well once I got older and felt brave enough to test this legend/ theory, and found out there was not true, first I felt less scared to go outside and second it just made me realize it was a way for my parents to keep me safe.
I have to agree with Laura Jo, with the fact that when working with a concept like dark matter, scientists are working with an intangible theory. That when scientists come up with evidence they are not completely sure if it is reliable evidence and whether or not it is something they can work with. Also, along with Laura Jo’s comment on the problems that may exist with the knowledge in the area like dark matter, Hannah brings up an interesting point about technology and its affect. I completely agree with Hannah and I also believe that technology limits our knowledge because it is not advanced enough to give us actual proof.
Dark matter... something that can not be physically proven to exist (as of yet), but through "scientific logic," is supposedly there. In my opinion, Dr. Polhemus presented the idea of dark matter in a relatively convincing manner...providing a strong bit of speculative information to back up the theory in an understandable way. However, I also believe that given enough time, and providing enough of this 'speculative information,' it's possible to "prove" just about anything--but by no means do I wish to down-play Dr. Polhemus' efforts to convince me. At the moment, I am not quite sold on the theory that the vastness of space is comprised of matter. I do accept that it [space] is comprised of molecules--I believe that that's a "given," but whether or not those molecules could be considered matter is the point that I don't believe has been sufficiently supported. I also believe that if this space is indeed found to be full of dark matter, that the earth's atmosphere should also be considered to be full of dark matter as well... after all, both consist of similar molecules. Merely for the reason of lack of ability to determine what dark matter truly is, I believe that that alone makes scientific exploration of the subject nearly impossible. Honestly, I think that the theory of dark matter is a bit absurd at this point... given the fact that there has been such a broad array of speculation accompanied by such a small amount of actual evidence.
As much as I dislike it, my best example of paradigm shift in my life pertains to politics. When I was younger, I would've considered my self a die-hard conservative--almost completely siding with the beliefs of the one political party pretty much no matter what they stood for. This complete dedication to this party was mostly due to the great influence from family and close friends. So, to skip a few minor details, I would now consider my views to be of a more independent stance, interpreting issues on a more personal level instead of completely siding with a party for the sole purpose of siding with that party. This gradual shift of my beliefs was (and is) due to me being more observant of my surroundings--what benefits me, my town, my country, etc.
3. The most recent paradigm shift that I encountered was one that came with a new class. This year as an elective I am taking a marketing class.. a non IB or AP class with what one might call "normal" students in it. My thoughts going into this class were that a) it would be an unbelievably easy a and tha b) the people in the class wouldn't care about school, also I thought that I wouldn't be able to relate to any of them. During the first days of the class myself and my fellow IB friend did feel a bit separated from the other students in the class mostly because we didnt know any of them, so we kept to ourselves. As the class progressed I got to know some of the other students in the class and contrary to my original belief I have become very good friends with some of them and I can relate to them very well. They are hard working students who care about doing well in school just as any IB student would. As far as the difficulty of the class goes, obviously the level and subject of work is much different than that of any IB class I have ever taken, the class is not a breeze and although I have ended up with good grades in that class I have had to work for them. There has been no easily obtained A+. I suppose my original ideas were based on perceptions of others and biases of others that I had, but now they have been disproved through my own personal experiences.
I'd just like to agree with Selina about her statement concerning the lack of concrete evidence surrounding dark matter. I mean, it truly is impossible to capture something that cannot be attained--let alone measure it. And I'd like to ask: What is it that drives scientists to attempt to uncover something that so obscure, or even arguably, non-existant?
In response to what Amelia A. said about understanding Dark Matter I must admit I feel the same way. Even without the reading on the subject that I know she has done I still heavily rely on authority to form my own opinions on this. Sometimes we proclaim it best to make our own judgements (as if to say knowledge is more valuable if it is justified through means different that authority, justifications specific to each person like experience), but in this circumstance I think that the best justification I can provide for what I claim to "know" concerning Dark Matter is through authority. Essentially it is almost impossible to say which justification is "best" becaus it differs from situation to situation. Similar to Amelia I could not base my knowledge off of visual perception because I do not understand nor see things the way scientists such as Dr. P. do.
Among others contributors, Susie mentioned the effectiveness Dr. Polhemus' presentation due to his true belief and seemingly natural interest in the subject of dark matter. This sense of emotional attachment to the subject is then projected onto the audience--making it much more likely for acceptance of the theory. Personally though, I generally rely on numerical or solid results and conclusions... which certainly seems to be something that the theorists of dark matter are struggling with.
1.) No Dr. P did not convince me of anything, mostly because he did not justify his own statement. Maybe if he had explained it and justified it more, I could possibly see something like dark matter really existing, but as it were, Dr. P did not so me that he really knew enough to convince me. And because they cannot go out and get it for themselves. They do not have the technological advances for a trip to outer space. And all they have seen is little tiny pictures that could possibly hint that there is dark matter, but its rather hard to prove that something is there when there is nothing there.
Hey guys, this just in:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081105/sc_nm/us_space_darkmatter
Maybe this will help scientists locate dark matter more easily, and hopefully prove its existence to the public
Commenting on CJ's last part, I have to agree to support our scientists rather than giving our 'celebrities' unlimited power to do whatever stupid actions they wish. but then again what is media without them? I'm not trying to defend anyone but moreover stating that to help us as a human race advance in this "life" and to stride for knowledge, I Think its important that we as a human race think more of what we should accomplish during our time rather than spending money or resources on "celebrities".
I have to agree with Don also, because the thing that will drive the world in the end is the scientists, not the celebrities.
Something sad, though, is that we spend so much money where it shouldnt be spent, and alot of the greatest minds in the world, the minds of the scientists, are being left out in the cold because of a lack of funding.
I'm sorry this is late... I thought they were due this friday, not last friday...
1) Ok so Dr. Polhemus is one brilliant man. I agree that dark matter is definitely one of the major components of our universe. It makes sense because we can know and feel to an extent the enormity of the universe if we simply look up into the sky. A valid explanation for it is that dark matter exists.
I was unaware of dark matter before this speech but I'm glad i was able to listen to Dr. P talk about something he obviously loves.
Dr. P had so much enthusiam and obvious love for this topic that it was easy to listen to him and follow the logic behind it. He gave us lots of evidence to support the hypothesis that is does exist. At this point, I can't think of how any other ideas could provide as much support and evidence.
He used the graphs and pictures well to explain in a way we could all grasp and understand. This was important because we all don't have the levels of schooling as Dr. P but he was still able to talk to us and explain in a simple (ish) way. I loved that he showed us different types of pictures and such to illustrate and show us his points. The way he talked about dark matter helped me to believe that it is indeed out there.
I just read the news that Ethan had posted on Yahoo and it seemed pretty interesting. This kind of thing could be the type of discovery that would go down in history and knowing about it and kind of being in that time period is pretty sweet. I'm always surprised at how smart and creative scientists are because they are constantly developing new ideas of how to discover everything. They're creative and ability to infer and detect and all the skills that they posses are amazing. Back to the article though. Making progress like this seems tough to me, but it's the small steps that lead to the big event that unravels the mystery of it all. Since dark matter cannot be perceived easily, there needs to be many genius ways to overcome that barrier and find ways to prove it exists or show what it is made out of. The one thing about this article that isn't so great is that the "evidence" or "step" is a computer simulation. Computers can't do our research for us, so a simulation from a computer is never as good as actually viewing what's going on at present, but of course, watching the evolution of galaxies can't really be seen in the short lifetime of a human. Still, the word "simulation" somehow implies the meaning "fake" to me, which might not be a good reference. Still, this article is recent and progress is being made, something I like to see in science.
I liked reading CJ's comments about his paradigm shift and the stuff about how people spend their money. The paradigm shift seems to apply to a lot of people, as there is an obvious pattern of how our parents' opinions affect our own, especially as we are growing up as younger kids. Our reliance on our parents is obviously typical and so we trust them and believe what they say, sometimes without even a reason why, and even if they give us a reason, we don't always know what it means, or we take that reason as true, but we never get a view of the other side, or sides, of the argument. I guess I never realized that, and reading CJ's comments helped me understand that individuals need to be individuals and not like anyone else. I also liked the bit about how people spend their money. I suppose people are self-oriented and can't see past the scope of themselves. Still, it is definitely easier to criticize others about having too much money when we, ourselves, don't, because we "don't" have money to donate to science or charities. We promise to ourselves that if we do ever become rich, we'll donate most of it away, and I do trust that, but there are those that are like, ok, first I'm going to buy a big house, a few cars, and a lot of cool stuff, then I'll give the rest to charity, and what ends of happening is, is that, they've used all their money, so it is easy to criticize, but I do also agree with CJ, because it is easy to criticize people with a lot of money. Hm... I'm not sure how much of what I just wrote makes sense, but continuing on. People do make a lot of bad choices with their money. Bare necessities may not be a great way to live life, and that doesn't have to be the case, but no person needs to live in a huge house with only 4 people in it. Why not buy a huge house and have a lot of homeless people live in it and take care of it? I suppose there could be a lot of potential problems with hypothetical situations like that, but no one really does need a $2 million dollar cell phone to survive, or even live happy. So yeah, CJ is definitely right about that one, and I'm sure many others have noticed how famous people have more money that scientists/doctors who are trying to better understand the world.
1)i do believe that dark matter exists. i'm not really sure why i believe this, but its something that makes sense. its such an abstract idea that it just seems to make me stop and think and process to make sense. dr. p convinced me with the way he talked about this complex idea. the word language and the visuals really helped me. I am a very auditorial learner so the way that he explained things, the metaphors, and the way he aproached this was benificial for me.
3)i think the fact that this concept cannot be tested in any way makes difficult for scientists to agree with it but really the other option is to admit that the laws of gravity are wrong which has been around for years and would be harder to let go then to accept something new.
3)paradigm shifts are interesting to me. the fact that people are able to switch their opinions of things to a new idea completely is inspiring almost. i am trying to think of an example, but all i can think of personally are events in my life that aren't huge and durastic such as a comment someone has made in a situation or realizations because of an event which have changed the way i look at things. this is a small paradigm shift that i have expirenced personally.
1) Whether or not dark matter exists is still inconclusive at the moment due to the fact that there are particular "holes" of information or exceptions to the matter, which prevent a wide acceptance of the subject. The information so far has pointed towards the existence of such a concept. Without this needed information, Dr. P cannot fully prove the concept of dark matter, though he can definitely convey the current info in such a manner to convince others, as he spectacularly did at the TOK session. Another convincing aspect is that at the moment, there's no contradictory evidence to the existence of dark matter...interesting. I myself am open, and think dark matter exists, though I'm still waiting for news to see whether or not it's actually true, which might take years! This idea alludes to proving the idea of continental drift originally proposed by Alfred Wegener, proposed in 1912. Not until a paramount of evidence with continental margins lining up, fossils of similar ancestry on differing continents and paleomagnetism did geologists finally accept his theory in the 1960s, fifty years after he proposed it.
2) Well, the root to all scientific delays lie in the restrictions of the funding of course. Without the money, scientists can't construct tools such as the gigantic satellite that Dr. P mentioned to study the universe. There are reasons for the funding...etc. but it truly is preventing scientists from achieving the backing for them to go out and improving the technology to test such matters like dark matter, although the interest isn't at the least subpar. Another aspect that creates problems is the fact that the area they're studying deals with objects tremendously far away, making it difficult to provide an accurate means to study it, which is mainly through pictures that at times may be very confusing with odd anomalies that Dr P pointed out. Despite these restrictions however, the scientists are able to formulate incredible theories of dark matter existing, developing them further as these restrictions can be bypassed with new technology.
3) A huge paradigm shift that I’ve obtained is my perspective at the interactions between one another. I came upon this change when trying to find some coolio glasses to wear :P. Have you ever tried to get those Canadian guards with the tall black hats to laugh and completely fail? Well, one behavior I had before was trying to say/do one thing to get a response from another person, thus making myself WAY too conscientious of my actions and thus creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. I believed that I needed to make others laugh and what not to have a good time, though this idea worked counter intuitively against me. From this, I shifted similar to water to a more carefree and selfish attitude (like a butterfly), achieved through simply being more aware of everything around me. The “selfish attitude” I mentioned connotates how I looked toward myself for improvement than to others around me. Now, I can simply relax: be myself around my friends and have the golden times through a simple change in perspective J. It amazes me how powerful the way we view things can effect our actions
1. Nope. My feeling is that scientists can not explain what is happening and why calculations are incorrect so they invent some reason. I am not saying they are idiots for doing that, in fact far from it. What I am saying is that they are making educated guesses. After listening to his speech, it almost made me wonder if dark matter was really light particles. He said that only a few of these particles stop, so we don't know how many there are. SO maybe Dark Matter is light particles, just the ones that haven't stopped for our instruments yet.
2) Well, for one, what if it doesn't exist? If it isn't there, there is no way for scientists to learn about. Another thing is what if Dark Matter is something else (like light particles)? Then scientists would know all about it without knowing anything about it. Just a thought.
3) My problem is that I think I know everything, but I don't. Occasionally I'll say something that I really just invented on the spot. Someone will tell me I am wrong and present the facts. I am then forced to agree with them.
I know this may be a little off topic, but Kyle Gibbs said that paradigm shift had to do with American Childhood. I completely disagree. Even after going over it in class I thought it was a horrible book (no offense Mrs. King). The only thing was that I do think she had some high level stuff in her book, but that didn't change it all in my eyes.
James and many others state that Dr. P had very good evidence that Dark Matter exists. I disagree. Dr. P presented evidence that something was missing in our galaxy, something we could not put a finger on. As I said earlier, I think Dark Matter is a blank filler. It goes there until we can truly identify what is actually wrong with our calculations.
On another note. I would make this its own post, but I don't know how. So here it is.
On the note of dark matter and space and all the jazz, I came across this interesting article. Enjoy!
This is interesting. Does it matter? What makes something "matter"? What gives it significance? Does dark matter effect the lives of the entire planet? a few people? every organism ever created? or nothing at all?
I hate to be an IB nerd but how about "to what extent (haha) does Dark Matter matter?" In this case, and even the root question, the answers become too broad and inconcise. Looking at my own personal knowers perspective, I feel like dark matter has a huge significance to me and to the very fabrics of existence because it is obviously a much greater force than anything we will ever comprehend (what was it, like 70% of all the universe?!). From what I understand, and let me say that I know as much about physics as guys know about girls, dark matter has an incredibly prominent effect on gravity (as seen with the pictures of various star clusters and solar systems that were aranged in the way they were because of dark matter). Not caring about dark mattter seems to me to be not caring about a massive damn above your city, holding the key to the survival of the people and in dark matter's case, existence as we know it. A lot of faith, however, is involved in this, as I'm basing all of this off of what Dr. P said (If I was him I would just make up a bunch of random spheal just to watch IB kids squirm!). The way he presents this, though, his speach, metaphors, pictures, put it in a way that actually made sense to my mind and allowed me to say "oh yeah, thats why dark matter is real".
The last thing I would like to point out (although I'm sure I lost most of my readers a couple lines in) is that dark matter is an unknown: an entity that we barely understand except that it holds an incredible force in the universe. Even if there is no "perceptive" evidence, the fact that the theoretical evidence is so powerful and that the extent of dark matter (its not a small isuue obviously) shows that further inquriry is needed to determine its significance and even its existence. As a little kid, you can't just say that the monster under the bed just "doesn't matter" because it could either become your good monster friend and help you with TOK homework (thanks Ogman)or it could devour you in the middle of the night. Likewise, dark matter could be the key to unlocking more secrets of the universe and possibly catapault our civilization/species into a new age of discovery and knowing. On the other hand it could turn out to be an unstable force of the universe that can obliterate our world from the universe at random.
Dark matter matter's because it is unknown, and we'll never truly except it's significance or insignificance unless we get up and look under the bed.
P.S. Isn't it interesting how we have no perceptive evidence except the lack theroff? Wouldn't the lack of seeing something also be perceptive? Remember the slides he showed us? There was all that empty space that had a huge gravitational field but nothing, no stars or anything to have that gravitational pull! That is perceptive because we DON'T see anything when we should, which, doesn't make any sense unless.... there is something.... Ohhhhh.... dark matter.... duh duh duhhhh!!!!
In response to Ariel's post (read before reading mine please)
Are you serious?! you actually talked to non-IB kids? I didn't know they could talk to us! I thought they spoke differently! Are you infected with anything?
Ha on a more serious note I believe that after being in IB, we all grow a sense of superiority towards the non-IB students (regular students maybe? I don't know). We in IB are, from my view, one massive Zinn reading clique that alienates ourselves (mostly) from the rest of the school. While we rarely sterotype ourselves as the best atheletes (except tennis, haha), there has always been a sense of superiority as far as our knowledge goes.
I think we need to WAKE UP! we are know better than the rest of the school, we is not more smarted. They just learn in a different method and style as we do, which is not wrong nor worse than the IB method, its just different. It is mostly true, however, that we see IB students going to the IV league and fancy pants schools but that, in my opinion, is not because we are smarter. Oh no, once again this goes back to the method of teaching and learning that IB portrays. It's just different!
READ THIS: (I'm not fully serious here, so don't get mad at me Mrs. King and Mr. Malone, well, Malone I don't care what you think :)
-IB has ONE difference from other programs: It sucessfully and essentially and facetiously (what?!) teaches you HOW TO BULL SHIT!!!!! Hahah I said it!!!
1. After our lecture, I was fairly convinced that dark matter was in fact a very real part of our universe. I felt this for two reasons:
a) Because it would be so bogus if you guys made us go to a seminar which turned out to be a bunch of hooey (just kidding!)
b) Because I know one of my limitations as a knower is grappling with difficulties in comprehending complex issues in the scientific area of knowledge, some thing that cannot be said for Dr. P. He was logical and authoritative that, even if I didn't fully understand the concept, I was prepared to accept what he was saying as fact simply because I was all too willing to follow his authority.
2. One problem that exists for astrophysicists is the enormity of scale which they are dealing with- a scale that is almost too vast to be very accurately or definitely measured. And with a phenomena like dark matter, where so much of the information about it comes from studying things like clustering of stars and galaxies... Which could be affected by any number of things. Dark matter by it's very nature is difficult to prove or disprove as it can't be definitely said to exist.
3) As far as paradigm shifts go, I have had a couple, ranging from relatively minor (starting to eat bananas after years of intensely disliking them.) I could easily write a Mr. T or Batman related answer but this one could be more legitimate: I used to hold my right to have free-time sacrosanct. In elementary school, the prospect of missing a single recess was unbearable and made me... Well... Angry. And you didn't like me when I was angry. Especially back then. I was not a nice kid!
Tangents aside, I placed far too much value on leisure time... But as I got older and matured more and more I knew that there were more important things than recesses and I signed up for IB.
Haven't had a moment of free time since.
Guess I don't really value it anymore...
That response may strike some of you as a bit sarcastic but the truth of the matter was that I was a very lazy elementary school student, and went into IB because all the cool kids were doing it. There I learned the value of working hard, and how to balance the value I placed on goofing off with the value of getting work done.. Though some may still argue that I goof off when I should be working.
In RESPONSE TO BEN (AKA WHITE CHOCOLATE)
Ben has proof that God exists for him. I was diagnosed with the betes (type 1 diabetes) on November 17 of my Freshman year. We are good friends are we not? We chilled and so he knew the symptoms I had (peeing every hour! whoa! ask malone how I went to the bathroom 6 times in a block period and he made fun of me :(, jerk) and my extreme fatigue and weight loss. then, that summer he saw his younger brother, Will, experience the same symptoms and was able to catch it before he was in a serious condition like me.
It was divine fate, that Ben and I should meet and become friends because who knows what would have happened had Ben not diagnosed Will when he did. God was watching over the Olsen family that year. God does exist. (although I'm pretty pissed that he killed my pancreas!)
And now for part two... Responding to other people!
In response to Nathan's comment on the debate of IB vs. Non-IB, I think he's absolutely right. One of my best friends is a non-IB student, and he is one of the smartest people that I know... Albeit not one of the most academically motivated. And I would say that is the big different between IB and Non-IB classes, is the motivation and drive that IB students have...
However, some don't really find this to be an admirable quality, looking at one of the editorials in the a Silver Quill arguing about how IB kids seemed to be taking control of the various leadership groups, and how the groups were no longer representative of Poudre because of it. Is IB some sort of totalitarian regime, where only the IB party is legal or something? It's not like it's just the IB kids who disriminate against the other groups.
In response to appleifreak and others who found themselves unconvinced by Dr. P's presentation, I can understand their views. I was on the fence slightly, as the whole concept of dark matter struck me as a bit like that of imaginary numbers... "Oh crap! This isn't mathematically possible! Wait, it is now, if we use this number that doesn't actually exist that we just made up!" It's like... They can't explain it, so they make up a theory that cannot be definitively proven but just MIGHT be true.
But on the other hand, I am completely passionless about science, and while some details about dark matter are sketchy, I felt like the presentation convinced me because I simply didn't care enough to really question it. I was more than willing to accept what Dr. P said and just go about my life...
I know that isn't a good outlook, but when it comes to science it's all too prevalent to me...
I find it interesting that most people either believe in dark matter or feel like they don't have enough information to accept or deny the theory of dark matter. I saw a few different comments where people said that the information was easy to understand and also a few who said they didn’t understand it at all. The range between these two opinions is interesting to me. It makes me wonder how honest people are being in their answers. I wonder if some people are saying they agree with Dr. P. just because they think they’re supposed to, because they’ve never been exposed to a different theory, or for both reasons.
Through the lack of hard evidence it’s more difficult to just accept the fact that dark matter exists. The way dark matter was presented however, helps make the idea more realistic in the eyes of many of those present for Dr. P’s presentation. The fact that many people who were there look at Dr. P. as a reliable and credible source makes it easier to believe in dark matter. It also won’t change much in our immediate lives if we do or don’t believe.
1. It's hard to say whether or not Dr. P convinced me because I don't have any previous knowledge on the subject, and because I havn't heard an argument from another, equally qualified, scientist from the other "side" of this debate. Although I'm in a Physics class this year, Dr. P still lost me in parts of his presentation. However the sheer weight of Dr. P's experience and knowledge on this subject does make it hard to doubt what he said, and all of the visual support that he had certaintly helped his case for me. However, since I havn't heard an argument against Dark Matter I don't know if I can say with certainty that Dark Matter exists.
2. The reason that it is so hard for scientists to come to a consensus on issues like Dark Matter is that it is such a new idea, but scientists are mostly working with old theories. Although science, by necessity, has to change, I think that it can be hard for all scientists to join together on one new idea that cannot be proven. This is especially true since scientists are trying to do future research with modern tools; since technology hasn't caught up to the theories, it is almost impossible to definitivly say that Dark Matter exists, and without proof it is hard to get a consensus.
3. A paradigm shift for me would actually have taken place during my sixth grade year, when my parents got divorced. Although I had friends whose parents were no longer together, it wasn't really a possibility that I had ever considered for my family, because (since I was so young) I saw my parents as nothing more then my parents, who would stay together for really no more reason then that's what I saw parents as doing. When they did tell me that they were splitting up, however, it required a huge leap in thinking for me, because I had to realize that my family wasn't as perfect as I had thought, and I had to realize that bad things happen to everyone.
I really like Ariels description of her paradigm shift about non-IB kids, because I think it's a bias that a lot of us share. Since we (mostly :]) put a lot of effort into our schoolwork, and since many of us don't have classes with others outside of the IB program, I think that it's a bias that comes out of a lack of knowledge about the effort that non-IB kids put in. It's a complicated question though, because even though I know logically that being IB or not dosn't determine how much you care, a part of me still wonders, "If you care so much, why didn't you do IB?". So the question is really, how can we get rid of these assumptions? Interacting with non-IB students? Do AP students put he same amount of effort in? What about non-AP or IB students?
I would also like to comment on Mr. T's comment about how science is mostly lost on him, and how it's therefore hard for him to make an arguement either way. I have to agree with him on this. I'm not a science person, and honestly most science related things go right over my head; therefore it's really hard for me to be convinced either way. Since it's hard for me to understand it's also really hard for me to muster up enough enthusiasm to be convinced either way. Does that make me a bad student? Even more importantly, does that me I'm a bad thinker? Do I have to have an opinion on everything, even the things that it's hard for me to really care about? As interesting as I found the presentation that Dr. P gave, it's hard for me to be convinced because I don't have much enthusiasm for the subject.
2) I think the fact that we can't really prove anything 100% may make scientists skeptical of dark matter. It is a way to explain the extra matter in our universe but there are also other possibilities. Scientists can't really know about dark matter fully yet because we haven't found a way to do so yet. Thechnology isn't there yet. Scientists still have unanswered questions and untested ideas that need to be discovered before we can truly know about dark matter. We are still questioning and learning so it hasn't yet become a definite answer to the problem of the missing matter of the universe.
3) Paradigm shifts happen all the time I think. In many of my classes I start by thinking one thing about a situation/event but as I learn more and more about it I change my original thinking and find new ways to view it. In English, I will go into a new unit or subject knowing some about it and by the end I will have learned more and more and will have changed my originaly views. This has happened in the Hamlet unit we are in know, I began reading it with one thing in mind but as I read and learn more about it my opinions and thoughts regarding it have changed.
Dr. P. gave several examples of times when astrophysicists have been wrong in the past, but because of new findings, they have shifted to a new way of thinking. (This is called a paradigm shift.) Explain a paradigm shift you have experienced. What was the original idea or theory, and what caused you to shift?
A paradigm shift I experienced was on my travels to Hawaii and m first experience scuba diving. I originally believed strongly in my dream to be a marine biologist, however after actually trying scuba I found how immense the world was I planned to study, while I was initially intrigued I was forced to take up a career that would be easier to do day to day. As scuba, while entertaining, is stressful.
It glitched and my original comment was erased, so I get to retype the entire thing
After listening to and viewing Dr. Polhemus, do you think dark matter exists? Did he convince you? Why or why not?What problems exist that may make it difficult for scientists to come to knowledge in an area like dark matter?
I believe that dark matter was adequately proven through his presentation, he gave many examples through pictures as to the problems with the formation of the universe in accordance with the conservation of mass, for example, the universe is missing a large amount of mass in the form of Dark matter which is the only explanation they have for something they quite literally are in the dark about. I believe that he showed through many detailed diagrams and reports as to the existence of dark matter. It is very difficult to prove its existence because it has no charge and doesn't react with anything. The only way to prove it is the very rule that suggested its existence, the conservation of mass. With a new particle accelerator they can crash two particles into one an other and prove the concept if mass is lost.
@zoew
I think the issue is not only money its theory of proving something without a charge. It's difficult to be sure it's there unless we prove mass is lost or see it with a microscope
@ phil sen
I never thought about it but political views consist of MANY MANY paradigm shifts, for example I used to consider myself a strong liberal however as of late found I like the independents views more, sure they don't get elected, but one can dream.
1. After listening to and viewing Dr. Polhemus, do you think dark matter exists? Did he convince you? Why or why not?
Dr. Polhemus knows what he’s talking about; all I could really do as we went along was to ooh and aah at the pretty pictures of stars and galaxies and dust and planets. What I did get from his presentation is that calculations made by astrophysicists far more knowledgeable and intelligent than us pointed to a massive error in assumptions, or something completely unknown out there which accounted for undetectable mass – which was promptly termed “Dark Matter.” I’m all for a theory that pops right in to give a solution to an unanswerable question – however, the existence of “unaccounted forces” within the universe does not point to any specific solution. Dark Matter could be the answer, and yet so could some other strange extra-terrestrial phenomenon not even speculated upon yet by science-fiction. An estimated 90 plus percent of the universe is missing! Dark Matter seems the most feasible answer to this puzzle, but then again, it’s the only one within grasp, the one explanation that we can wrap our heads around. There’s more stuff out there than we saw? It must be just invisible stuff then! It may take years of advancement in knowledge and technology to fully understand this absence of matter. As of now, it seems to me most of the research is part speculation… Data is drawn from one thing to another, but a correlation doesn’t always prove a direct cause-and-effect.
2. What problems exist that may make it difficult for scientists to come to knowledge in an area like dark matter?
In astrophysics, any knowledge about extremely large and extremely far away bodies of mass is pieced together at the expense of a lot of brainpower, calculations, equipment, and experienced theorists… Also, as of now, concepts may not have evolved to an extent where we can even begin to understand some of the forces that come into play within our universe, especially when we take it beyond earth. Albert Einstein said of his theories that up until that point, it was impossible to have conceived of them because we had not even developed the appropriate metaphors needed to capture the concept down (or at least something along those lines…).
3. Dr. P. gave several examples of times when astrophysicists have been wrong in the past, but because of new findings, they have shifted to a new way of thinking. (This is called a paradigm shift.) Explain a paradigm shift you have experienced. What was the original idea or theory, and what caused you to shift?
Paradigm shifts. In a way life is a series of personal definition and redefinition of what we know and what we don’t know. A personal shift in my way of thinking was thinking that the richer upper/middle class slice of the social pyramid was always more fortunate than the rest of the world, and that technology always brought better quality of life. Progression. Success. Money. These were principles our society was based on. On a classic “service trip” to Yunnan Province in China, where we were to visit two villages to dig trenches and lay pipes, I got a glimpse of “the other side,” where people could do without “progress,” “success,” and wealth. They were happier than I could ever picture our suburbanite families being, and there was a great deal of kindness and generosity radiating from every person we managed to talk to, or interact with. Their quality of life was better than ours, in terms of happiness and fulfillment, which is what in the end life measures down to.
@selina lujan
Not that I don't agree with what you said about Dr. Polhemus being extremely dedicated and knowledgeable in this particular field of study most of all, but does the right credentials and conviction in opinion mean that everything an expert says is what we should accept at face value? Instead of believing all we say while passively waiting for "something to prove it wrong," shouldn't we just take the presented information and interpretations and dive off the formulate our own opinions?
Of course as counterargument, you could argue that with astrophysics, it's sometimes better to leave it to the experts as it's a very resource-exhausting and intensive field of study...
@ Nathan & Cypress
"Does Dark Matter matter?" I think as of now, the issue is a more of an intellectual battle with our "collective ignorance" - a main precept in the field of science... Much of what we pursue in academically does not seem to "matter" in terms of real-life application,like the arts, but we continue to expand our fields of knowledge because it is within our ability to grasp, and also for it's possible intrinsic value to our world later on. Not knowing about Dark Matter won't make 90% of the universe disappear, and we weren't all bobbing around in the air before Newton "discovered" gravity. Having the knowledge to piece together our universe compounds our understanding of Reality, and shapes the manner in which society as as a whole deems fit to act within what we know to be real.
Kelly Rappé:
1.After listening to and viewing Dr. Polhemus, do you think dark matter exists? Did he convince you? Why or why not?: I think that really, in this matter, I'm not fully educated. I do have parents in the science field but physics and I aren't good buddies. I think that after this presentation I am leaning towards believeing. I use sense perception, the graphs as a way of knowing. I think that he convinced me when he showed other point of views and how they, in his mind, are possibly wrong. I think what really threw me over the edge was the fact that Dr. Polhemus had feelings about it and it really did change my perspective in thinking whether he was just looking at the logic. My knowledge: logic isn't advance so I feel that I'm not expereinced enough to fully come to a complete choice.
2.What problems exist that may make it difficult for scientists to come to knowledge in an area like dark matter?: There is one huge problem I can see with this knowledge: the fact that dark matter isn't even visible. I think that for humans to understand something that can't even be sturcturally shown is, atleast for me, not possible. I'm a visual learner, I need the actual structure to come to full faith and belief in the matter. I think that people that are more audio may come to temrs with this if the can hear it but that isn't even possible. One thing I forgot was the fact that there was a visual but it was so complex that I would have to atleast be in beginning calculus to understand.
3. Dr. P. gave several examples of times when astrophysicists have been wrong in the past, but because of new findings, they have shifted to a new way of thinking. (This is called a paradigm shift.) Explain a paradigm shift you have experienced. What was the original idea or theory, and what caused you to shift? : I think that everyone has been through this experience. I think an example that most of us have experienced is in elementary school when you thought that your parents knew everything. But when you went to your parents about something they didn't really understand they told you that they didn't know. For me, as a child, it was difficult to deal with. I still face that in a way of shock. When I come home and tell my parents about something in a class that they don't know I am a little bewildered. THEY DON'T KNOW??? HOW CAN THAT BE? But this theory has been proven wrong and I have learned to understand it, for a fact.
Comment to Bonnie:
I agree with you totally but in the necessary linkage I have to relate this to English where we are discussing absurdism and how the idea behind it is there is no point, but knowing that we can step back and understand the fact that the reality is that we actually can consider that things in life are fun. like learning about the gravity and understanding how therories can be wrong are important.
James Rogers comment: I find the claim: "It's difficult to be sure it's there unless we prove mass is lost or see it with a microscope" interesting because the idea is that this idea is based off of sense per. but the fact is that the therory is based off of the opposite but in the form of logic and emotion the ideas behind the theory are proven. The idea of needing this way of knowing to get the knowledge is incorrect because for Mr. P his ideas are set on the faith f his logic and emotion and pure passion for the sentimental theories
1)Honestly, it was after listening to Dr. Polhemus that I found out about dark matter. I never had thought about it before but after listening to him, I have a better idea of it. I am not exactly sure whether dark matter exists or not but his presentation was convincing enough to convince me that it could exist. He did a great job of supporting his theory with the evidence he provided like the pictures as well as describing the significance of them. His presentation was convincing, in my opinion, because his powerpoint and the whole presetation itself had by the end convinced me that it did exist. If he had just talked about it verbally without any proof (pictures on powerpoint) I might not have believed him as much. Also, he seemed to me like he knew exactly what he was talking about just by the way he talked, using various terminology, or maybe his words were big enough to impress me, as well as convince me to believe him.
2)I belive that there could be numerous problems that exist which make it difficult for scientists to gain knowledge about something like dark matter because first of all the distance. They are trying to study dark matter from billions of miles away and there can be many things that can't even see, versus if dark matter was closer to earth, a great deal of knowledge could be gained by studying it. I think that the knowledge they have so far could be limited to area which are visible to them, which might not always be what they're looking for.
3)Paradigm shift occurs to everyone all the time, whenever one learns someting new. I think that the biggest paradigm shift I have experienced would be school itself because from elementary to high school, my views have changed about different things taught in school, in different subjects, due to me gaining more knowledge about them while elevating throughout school life. An example could be in history, in elementary school I was taught about the Revolutionary War, which at the time seemed to me like we were the "good guys" and the British were the "bad guys." Not so much now, because I have learned about the American Revolutionary War from different perspectives of countries. That didn't completely change my beliefs to us the Americans being the "bad guys" but it did give me a better understanding of different viewpoints of the war, which caused to me to slightly shift my thoughts about it.
I agree with Peter XP's comment regarding Dr. Polhemus's presentation. I do believe that he is preseting to his best ability the information which is current. He might not have all the knowledge about dark matter but he did do a great job presenting the knowledge which he has about dark matter, as of now. I am also curious about why there isn't any contradictory argument concerning black matter, I guess it could be since not many have fully discovered and gained complete knowledge or even any different knowledge other than what scientists have right now.
Concerning Selina's comment, I agree with her about the fact that dark matter is certainly not something scientists on earth are able to physically obtain and study, it is something which is far away, which hinders scientists on the amount of knowledge they are able to obtain about dark matter. Also, I think that it's pretty funny that she used to believe in that story, especially since I've heard in some of my spanish classes, and the teacher said that kids used to believe it.
***I think that Dark Matter exists, but the thing that I keep getting stuck on is the fact that nobody knows what it is. I understand that something is there, because as Dr. Polhemus said, 90% of the matter is missing from the universe. This explanation is what convinced me because it is a good reason to explain why this is occuring.
***Some of the problems that exist with coming into knowledge in an area such as this is are there because we don't know so much about the universe. There is so much to be learned, that will help us in understanding, that it is difficult to understand what we are even searching for. It is like someone giving you a handful of puzzle pieces from a thousand piece puzzle, and then asking you to tell them what the picture is. Plus, the enormity of the knowledge that we are looking for is an impediment by itself. The scientists are trying to figure out the entire universe. We don't even understand our own planet, let alone the universe. Also, the problem isn't a tangible thing to work with. The dark matter is something that we have detected in the absense of other matter. Why should we be able to explain something that, in theory, isn't actually there?
***My paradigm shift is the way that I view my parents. When I was younger, I believed that everything my parents did was the coolest, for my own good, and I was supposed to do everything that they told me to do. I was very sheltered, and wasn't exposed to much, and I never really had a chance to think for myself. But, when I entered Junior High, everything changed, because I was being thrust into such a different environment. That was when I found that I could actually think for myself, and it was a strange turnpoint of self revelation. I wasn't memorizing the facts in school anymore, I was actually learning and finding out the how and why. This new style of thinking caused me to realize that my parents might be thinking everything they do is for my own good, but sometimes, it is exactly the opposite. I learned how to actually think beyond my parents decisions to see how they were goign to affect me in the long run, and I made decisions about how to counteract some of theirs, for my own benefit. It is a strange thing, but I have learned how to be a parent to myself.
I find it interesting that most people either believe in dark matter or feel like they don't have enough information to accept or deny the theory of dark matter. I saw a few different comments where people said that the information was easy to understand and also a few who said they didn’t understand it at all. The range between these two opinions is interesting to me. It makes me wonder how honest people are being in their answers. I wonder if some people are saying they agree with Dr. P. just because they think they’re supposed to, because they’ve never been exposed to a different theory, or for both reasons.
In response to Kiah's comment, I think it is interesting too. It is very weird that people feel that it is an ultimatum. Personally, I feel like Dark Matter exists, in the sense that it is a name for what what the universe is missing. I don't think that Dark Matter is a thing though. I believe it is a range of events, and causes within the universe, that we don't understand.
-- Dark matter exists if and only if grey matter exists in the heads of those who perceive it. Without a willingness to comprehend, then it is impossible to justify the existence of anything, whether it be dark chocolate or dark matter.
-- The inability to truly perceive using the limited range of mankind's natural sense perception (i.e. their ability to see, touch, hear, smell, and taste WITHOUT the use of machinery) makes it extremely difficult to claim whether or not something as abstract as dark matter exists. Also, the truth test known as Correspondence Theory raises another major obstacle in claiming knowledge about dark matter, because its existence is a fairly new theory which does not necessarily correlate with past scientific discoveries.
-- I used to believe that the United States was an awesome place to live because we have freedom of speech, freedom to basically do whatever the **** you want, and a military on steroids preventing anyone else in the world from denying us these freedoms. As I grew older, I slowly realized that many of these freedoms have limitations, and that most Americans are ironically entrapped within the economic system and materialistic way of life that we have become so infamous for. This has not entirely changed my original theory; it has simply altered it to make me more appreciative of the actual freedoms we have (e.g. unrestricted world wide web, free education, etc.)
1) Dr. Polhemus' presentation did convince me that dark matter exists… however this was something that I already believed. But just because it is something that I believe certainly doesn’t make it true. I was further convinced of my belief dark matter’s existence through the logic Dr. Polhemus used, as well as sense perception, and authority. Certainly, all of the photos that Dr. Polhemus showed, and his logical reasoning behind how they showed that dark matter existed were enough to confirm my belief that dark matter existed. This was largely influenced by my sense perception (what I was seeing), and the visuals helped concrete my belief that dark matter existed, although I still feel that I came nowhere near understanding the subject thouroughly enough to have reached that conclusion by myself. This has mostly to do with authority: Dr. Polhemus is an expert on the subject of dark matter, and so I was very inclined to simply trust him in his belief that dark matter existed. So instead of seeing evidence and forming my own belief around dark matter’s existence, I think I think I based my beliefs on the prefice that Dr. Polhemus was right because he was an expert, and so whatever he believed about dark matter, I believed.
2) I think that there are many problems surrounding the concept of dark matter, and its discovery. The methods that Dr. Polhemus talked about in his presentation were not direct at all. Scientists are only able to use evidence that shows correlation in their detection of dark matter… and this brings up a huge issue in sense perception: correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation. Scientists are simply doing what they do best when they study dark matter, testing a theory. And like many theories before it, dark matter could be based on false premises and end up rejected, with a new theory in it’s place. Scientists haven’t managed to detect dark matter’s existence until recently, which is a simple indicator of just how very evasive and mysterious it is: we have so much to learn still.
3) Paradigm Shift: Before I began taking a Psychology class, I was under the impression that the mind and the brain were one and the same. After learning more about human thought, behavior and brain function I began to question my original assumption that the two operate as a whole. Now I believe that the mind and the brain interact, but are not necessarily the same thing. I know that others also formed their beliefs around this subject, but in the opposite direction. This was something that I had not really thought to question before, and it was a sort of an eye opener for that there are still ideas out there that I haven’t really formed beliefs around yet.
Janessa had an intersting comment about her paradigm shift. She said that she used to believe in Jesus as a divine being, but now she is not quite as sure. I would like to comment on the fact that this is one of my paradigm shifts too. I used to be a believer that Jesus was the "son of god" and such, but now I think he was just a guy. This concept of struggling with whether Jesus was divine or not has echoed throughout history since his coming about. A good spin-off of this concept is the book "The DaVinci Code". This is only one of the few that asks if the whole thing was just a cover-up. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What is the world hiding from us?
1)After listening to DR. P and his presentation on dark matter i am pretty convinced that it is out there mainly because there really isn't any reason for me not to believe that there isn't cause i haven't seen the other side of the argument. Dr. P's presentation was very concvincing especially the scientific knowledge that he threw at at makes it seem legitamite.
2) After Dr. P's presentation of dark matter it is evident that studying dark matter is extremely difficult for scientists. The first reason and most likely the most obvious is that we cant actually see it (hence the word dark), meaning that the only way for us to understand and learn about dark matter is by studying objects effected around it. This problem of not being able to see dark matter also presents the problem that we probably wont ever know exactly what it is. Also another problem for studying dark matter is the fact that the pitures we get are pics from back in time. Unless we go the area where we see this dark matter we can only study its actions and really never predict its movements or even if it moves. So overall dark matter is tough to study because it is so far away and it "dark".
3) Growing up i was under the impression that america in world war two just came in and dominated the war putting an end to it. But as i learned more about the subject in a sense we did put an end to the war, however we did have much more losses that i thought. D-day we lost a lot of people trying to take the beaches and on the sea we lost most of our naval fleet at pearl harbor but somehow through pure courage and determination we were able, to with the help of the allies, subdue the Japanese and the Germans. From this knowledge that i learned about world war two my thought previosly thinking that the U.S just dominates wars and wins all the time changed my view to that there really is no winner cause every side suffers losses, war is decided on who suffers the least amount of losses.
1) I agree with Zoe on this — I'm not really sure, largely because so much of it is so far beyond my knowledge… as much as I believe Dr. Polhemus due to his justifications and models, I can't be certain unless I can see all of this for myself, and understand the underlying principles better. Immediately after the presentation, though, I felt quite certain of its existence – it took some time for me to think it over, and realise that while the argument for dark matter was quite convincing, the argument against it probably is probably equally convincing, but because I hadn't heard it, I couldn't be sure that it was invalid… the fact that one can't perceive dark matter makes me less certain of its existence, as it can only remain a theory until we find it… but for the time being, I'm quite sure it does exist, due to Dr. Polhemus's status as an authority, and his convincing argument. Someday, I would be quite interested to see the argument against dark matter, to see how much it would change my opinion.
2) The greatest problem I see scientists as having when they attempt to find the truth about things like dark matter is that it's impossible to see or perceive, regardless of how high tech your instruments may be — the only way to show its presence is through observations of other occurrences, and attempting to form a theory that explains why other theories are false… That said, I might also agree with Shellie on that our instruments may simply be too basic, but it may someday be possible to detect dark matter more precisely than we can now… we shall have to wait and see…
3) A major paradigm shift I experienced relates to my opinion of the Greater Scheme of Things, as well as religion… for a long time, starting as a young kid, I'd been strictly anti-religious – I was not only atheist, but also strongly certain that my beliefs were right… I wasn't really opposed to people of other religions, though, so long as they kept their beliefs to themselves. With time, though, my view has shifted to a belief that I don't really care about what religious beliefs someone has, so long as they don't force them on others… as for my own beliefs, I've decided that there must be some higher power, be that Fate, Luck, or something else… it's been the only way I can explain some odd coincidences, and something to blame when things aren't going quite right… as much as that, I think this shift was also due to meeting new people of all religions, as well as making friends whose beliefs shaped mine, with me taking parts that I agreed with and then building upon them… I also believe that this is a never-ending process, and further paradigm shifts are quite possible, too…
Umm do I have to say hi to everyone... Well anyway. I thought Dr. P did a very good job. Talk about a hard subject to lecture on. But he keep it very interesting and invlolved. His slide show was very effective too. Well dark matter is definitely a TOK thing because we really don't know what's out there. And even if we are totally sure we know what space is made of it is really only an educated guess. I thought it was interesting that for the longest time poeple thought certain things about space and they were pretty set in their ways. But when inconsistencies turned up, we had to completely overhaul our believes. What if our entire perception of the world around us was completely wrong. That would be a bummer for sure.
1) Dr. P. did convince me that dark matter really does exist because he provided a substantial amount of evidence to support his claim. Some of things that he explained were hard to comprehend but for the most part he was really clear in what he had to say and he gave good examples as to why dark matter was real. So i do believe that dark matter exists, but i'm still not sure exactly WHAT it is. i believe that it's a gravitational pull that has a mass but doesn't appear as anything to the naked eye or any other visual device. i really liked Dr. P's presentation. it was really informative and was understandable for the most part.
2) Well for one, dark matter isn't something that can be seen which would probably make it difficult to for sure know that it is there. the scientists also have different theories as to why their equations don't work. each idea furthers them from definitively knowing whether dark matter really exists or if it's just some unexplainable phenomenon. although these problems are existant, the scientists do have practical explanations as to what dark matter is, roughly.
3) alright, well if i can really stretch this idea of paradigm shifts i will. a lot of times in songs, i don't really understand the lyrics to it. once i figure them out it causes me to look at the song in a new way as well as the artist of the song. this isn't that important of a paradigm shift but it does happen a lot to me and so it's relevant.
i agreed with what kgibbs (kyle) said because dark matter is just another lable for something that is unknown. it does seem like a fitting title since it is dark and has matter. i also thought that he spoke very educationally but also simply for everyone to understand.
i would have to disagree with nathan b. cause i don't think that ib students alienate themselves from regular poudre kids or that we think we're smarter (unless maybe you do nathan:) a lot of times i see ib kids trying to meet new people regardless of if they're in ib or not. i've heard this pesimistic argument before but i would have to strongly disagree with it.
Kara's thoughts...
1. I have to say that I am not sure about if dark matter exists after Dr. Polhemus’ lecture. Because he is a teacher and the fact that he has studied the issue in great detail that I am inclined to believe what he is saying, but the simple fact is that I am not quite sure what he said. He may have simplified it for us, but I am still loss, but not really inclined to have my questions answered. And so I come to the reason that I am not ready to believe that dark matter exists solely on authority. I have a lot of issues with physics and cosmology in general, and in most cases don’t see the point to them. Without any really empirical evidence or logic, I want to disbelieve anything that they state is true, just out of spite. It is very bad of me to do, but it is the truth. And so I am inclined to not believe in dark matter because of that. In the end, I just don’t really care if it really exists or not. I will not keep up on the matter or research it. If by some way it comes to my knowledge that the scientists come to a solid conclusion about dark matter really existing, I’ll take their word and then move on. And if it turns out that they’re wrong, I’ll laugh at how they once again are wrong, think about how pointless physics is and then promptly forget about the entire affair (this is purely my opinion, if you happen to love these two fields of science, more power to you and don’t be offended by my limited view).
2. I think that the biggest problem with knowing if dark matter truly exist is sense perception. Scientists use the Hubble telescope and other things to take pictures for them, for they can’t see it without them. That itself makes the existence of dark matter questionable, for pictures can and are biased. One sees what they want to see, whether it is dark matter or simply a malfunction in the telescope, or a thousand other things. Who can say that they caught all of the mysteries of space in one shot of outer space?
3. I think one of my paradigm shifts would have to be about different cultures. When I was very young, I couldn’t understand why different cultures had different languages. In my very naïve point of view, I saw other languages like the silly codes that children use to be cool. One word for one other, even though everyone thought in English. Looking back now I can’t believe that I actually thought this, but I did. I now understand that different languages are more than just a code, but the concept was very difficult for me to grasp when I was littler, and I got to admit that even know the whole idea of language boggles my mind. Just trying to think about the evolution of language and how different yet similar they are gives one the biggest headache. And the concept that there are some words in one language that aren’t in the other is fascinating and extremely frustrating at the same time. I am not a solid view about language yet, and most likely never will, but I do know that English isn’t the universal “thought language” and that different languages are so much more than a simple code.
Kara D.
Mr. Polhemus reinforced my view that dark matter does in fact exist because 1) the evidence presented followed the scientific method, 2) the alternative explanations throw out phenomenon like gravity that we already perceive as being correct. Why throw out a perfectly valid idea to accommodate an anomaly that could be as adequately explained via another theory? The problems with studying dark matter seem to be the immensity of the theory (the whole known universe and potentially beyond) as well as the extreme difficulty of capturing and studying the matter itself. The best example of a paradigm shift I experienced was my view on our laws. I used to believe that laws should have no exceptions, that they should be utilized in all cases as they are written. However, after reading about multiple cases in the news where the letter of the law being followed lead to what I would consider an injustice, I have come to the conclusion that a loose construction of laws is best (if not, why have judges?) because, as has been drilled into me by chem class, "there are ALWAYS exceptions".
1) Dr. Polhemus' presentation did convince me that dark matter exists. I knew nothing about the subject previously as I am not into astronomy or anything, but the idea was intriguing. I like that he started with the basics and then worked up to the complex theory of dark matter. The visuals also helped me conceptualize the idea and understand where he was coming from. I feel that as Dr. Polhemus is an expert on the subject of dark matter, I was able to believe his case.
2) Well, currently there is no way to really “measure” dark matter. This makes it harder for people to believe that it exists. They say “seeing is believing”, but why do so many people believe in this thing that they can’t see? Is it because they know nothing about astronomy and simply take the opinions of experts because of their training? Don’t get me wrong, the education of a person in a subject should affect your ability to believe them. The thing I am interested in is why is it that people like me who don’t fully understand the concept in the first place take the belief that is given to us rather than make up our own.
3) Paradigm Shift: I don’t know is this is really a paradigm shift, but as I have grown up from elementary to high school I have observed that many of my peers originally just believed what their parents told them. There really was no thought that went into their thinking (yes, I know this is an oxymoron but it makes sense to me). Now as they have gotten older they begin to question their upbringing and the ideas surrounding it.
In response to Ian...
I definitely agree that some of the greatest minds in the world are laid waste because our pop culture doesn’t value them as much as, say, the newest blockbuster. It is sad, yet true.
minds
In response to Rachel...
I feel the same way about just agreeing with Dr. P because I know nothing of the subject. I wrote about this in my own comments before reading yours and am glad someone shares my sentiments.
Well it seems as if Dr. P had lost 90% of his audience from the start. A subject such as dark matter seems too foreign to be captivating to most teenagers today. It seemed like a difficult issue to really engage our age group in because it is such a foreign topic.
1. With the presentation that Dr. P gave to us on the matter of dark matter, (no pun intended), I have come to the decision that dark matter must exist. The visual powerpoint I believe added significant measure to this belief, not only mine but surely others, but one logical stance stood lightened my reasoning. Present authorial knowledge coming from Dr. P as he is known to be a very smart man, and the fact that the pictures of the large molecule smasher in Europe gave me a sense that not only do alot of people believe this theory, but they are willing to go to great lengths to create funds for this accelerator. WIth this in mind I thought that the images of sensually gave viewers the ability to conceptually understand this physics based theory without even being in a physics class, let alone one of that high caliber. He did overall convince me, it was hard not to be.
2. Well obviously this theory is dealign with outerspace, we cannot easily get to outerspace, and the only people that can are highly trained. Once these people reach space we have another problem, we are uncertain how infinitely large outerspace is. I know this sounds very pessimistic (spelling) but it does provide a very illogical reason to try and prove this argument. Plus what purpose will deciding whether dark matter or energy exists have on our small human race? The evidence that they have found is also very subjective in that they must look at other evidence to prove things that we cannot completely prove.
3. A pradigm shift that I have experienced in the past month or so, is one that deals with political view. I just recently turned 18, so I was able to vote in the past election. I have been under the impression that democratic ideas were the only good ones. Im sure many of you believe this, but as I have gotten more involved in politics I think that some other ideas are just as relevant. I began to look at Republican ideas because I really thought it was my duty to understand both sides. I think the cause of this was simply being able to vote, and understanding my right to vote.
Response 1) Responding to anna's point on why we reach so far out to find the minutest answers I think that it is because we have the ability. THe ability arises from finding answers and the more answers we have we can ultimately go further and further.
Response 2) In response to Zoew's response to rachels ideas I think that this question is very relevant, and one of the largest issues that Dr. P did not address. If we do understand dark matter and energy in some time perhaps an even greater discovery will come out of it.
--Griffin Mark Carpenter
1) Dr. P convinced me. This may have to do with my lacking understanding of much about space and his ability to explain things as complicated as dark matter in a way that even I could understand. It's one thing to be able to explain something in the way you were taught it, for Dr. P, in scientific terms and explanations I wouldn't understand. However, it is evidence of an even higher level of understanding to be able to explain a concept in a way everybody can understand. This is evidence of the depth of Dr. P's knowledge. There is also an emotional component to his presentation, I want to believe we know about the infinite space. Dark matter would be an incredible discovery and I want to believe that this incredible discovery is real.
2) Finding evidence would be very difficult because dark matter is not something tangible, you have to work around it, you can't work with it. This would cause some incredible difficulties when trying to study it.
3)In the media, we see a variety of representations of illegal immigrants. The image I had was that of criminals sneaking across the border in the dead of night. Although I was never for a fence, I was not sure how I felt about these "criminals." Then, I met some. These people are not bad, they simply hoped for a better life in the US. I still understand that what they did was illegal, and that it has caused problems that we must figure out. However, I also now have a face to put with the title. Meeting these people changed my views, proved to me that they are just trying to make a better life for themselves, and often their families. They are not sneaky thieves, but people with few or no other options.
Response 1 to Griffin's Response) We look to find the minutest facts because we all want to understand the way the world works and find answers to why life is as it is. We look every where for these answers, including to space.
1) Dr. P did a good job and gave a convincing presentation giving us a lot of insight into a subject and area I personally know little about. I think that according to the data and findings he presented us with, that there is definitely something there, whether it is truly "dark matter" or not, I have no idea. But it does seem a lot more plausible that there is something there that is effecting the gravity, etc. So he did convince me for the most part, but I couldn't in good faith say I believe in it 100% being that it can't be fully proved.
2) Dark matter is a very difficult area and topic to study being that it is extremely hard to record reliable data and facts in an area that is so vast. This makes it extremely hard to really believe in something like dark matter without believing on partly faith since raw data and facts are hard to come by and can come along with limitations and error.
3) Paradigm shifts happen for me through gaining knowledge on topics that I had little previous knowledge but based my opinions on my own mindset and possibly even stereotypes. I generally can be stubborn and have many opinions about something like a movie, book, or even person or group before I get to know anything about it. I didn't used to like reading poetry and literature and explicating it at all, but once I got to do more and more of it through the years and learned more about different authors and types of literature, it is now something I like a lot more than I used to and can appreciate works a lot more.
In response to the third post by kgibbs, I too experienced a paradigm shift with the book An American Childhood. At first I hated it and had a lot of opinions of what the book would be like by people that had read it before me, and went into reading it with a really negative attitude. As soon as I got halfway or so through the book my mindset changed and I actually tried to think more about why the author wrote the book and what I could make from it, instead of just hating it and dreading reading every single page. This was a good thing for me because I tend to do that with a lot of things and let other's opinions about things such as books, effect my own.
I would like to respond to Don Park's first post...and I agree with what he says about the information that was presented to us being just from one source, or at least one side to the argument. I think that although Dr. P did a good job and gave a really well developed and convincing presentation, he didn't really address the other side to the argument.
In resonse to allen,
Interesting Allen, from agnostic to actually caring. The more important part is what you choose, which will wait until you can vote. Is it really a paradigm shift if you didn't believe one way? If you just didn't pay attention?
Most people seem to be repeating the same old theme. It will be impossible to prove or disprove dark matter until we can travel in space and find a way to perceive it. Also it is likely that future discoveries in physics will change/refine our view of the universe. In that field little is set in stone.
1. After viewing Dr. P's presentation, I am mostly convinced that dark matter exists. Though he presented a very solid case, I think part of my doubt is due to the high level of physics he was talking about. Though he slowly eased us into the idea of galaxies and matter, parts of the presentation were just beyond my comprehension level. Other doubt I will credit to the fact that I do not know Dr. P's credentials and accomplishments to assert him as a reliable source. I have no doubt that knows exactly what he's talking about, I have picked that up from reading multiple other responses, but I am definitely a person who needs to see the information from multiple sources before I'll just go along with it. I believe the reason that I am partially convinced is because of his logical approach and the amount of visuals he used. I am a visual learner and someone who has to see it to believe it.
2) I think one of the most difficult aspects of studying dark matter is that there isn't a way to access it to study it. If you want to find out what kind of matter is in a river you go take a sample, but there isn't that opportunity with dark matter. Another limitation is the expenses that come with studying dark matter. At a point you have to start to wonder is it really worth it to study?
3) A paradigm shift for me was choosing to go to Poudre rather than attending my neighborhood school Rocky. I had been with the same kids since kindergarden and was looking change in scenery. I didn't really have an original theory on life or anything, but adjusting to Poudre definitely changed the way I viewed other people when I first met them. It also made me reconsider how I wanted to present myself to people I hadn't met before.
1. After listening to Dr. P. I am still confused and uncertain about what dark matter is. If I had to say if I believed in it or not, Id have to say no, just because the argument he was stating was very one sided. I think I would have to hear the opposition to dark matter before being able to say weather dark matter really exists. I also feel that we should be focusing more on researching what we don't know about earth, our planet, rather than space. The presentation was very interesting however and it amazing me how much information scientists can get from space. Even through all the problems in getting data and valid data,they still go on and are so interested and determined to get good answers and make good conclusions. The graphs and images were a great additon and helped me understand more about what the speaker was saying. However, just because dark matter is a new thing to me and is so complex, Im still not sure if I believe in it or even understand what it is.
2.It is hard for scientists to get data from space because one, the equipment is very difficult to get and very expensive. Also many aspects or "objects" in space aren't tangible and it is hard to say weather it is real or not. Space is so far away and we cannot, as humans, do all we want to get answers. Also it takes a lot of time to get data, make sure it is valid, and then make conclusions and graphs that make sense and would be accepted by others. Space is very foreign and therefore very difficult to study because it is so new and we hardly know anything about it.
3. For me, I'd have to say that my paradigm shift would relate to my views on IB. At first, the only reasons for my doing IB was because my parents wanted me to and to get into a good college. Now that I am a junior, I realize that the homework load may be tedious and I might not enjoy school all the time, but whatever I learn will help me in the future and will aid my growing process. If I am exposed to IB thinking and styles of learning, I will develop in so many ways that will help me throughout and in every aspect of life. Even if I don't go to a great college, I had the experience and opportunity to learn in a deeper, higher level. I had the opportunity to take my education higher and take a risk. IB is a program that teaches you like basics, reading, writing and arithmatic, but also life skills and how to appreciate everything you see and learn and how to just live life. I now have a very different view of IB and even though I may be cursing it now, I will be so thankful in the future, that I took the risk and challenges and did IB.
I would have to agree with Paige, I don't think that Dr. P had a strong enough argument in supporting dark matter. I think he could have better supported dark matter if he included some opposition to it but he just gave us some vague and unclear facts and data but he didn't seem to knowledgable about the facts. Dr. P probably knows a fair amount, but it didn't seem like he presented all of it to us. It is also very hard to get data and information from space since we can't all go out into space and study everything. I also think that Dr.P. could have defined dark matter more clearly at the beginning of his presentation, because I still don't know exactly what it is.
In response to the "bee gee's" paradigm shift, I also used to view the United States in the same way. Recently I have looked back on that and thought of all the "non-freedoms" we have and the rights that we don't have, especially as teenagers. I feel it totally wrong that America cannot allow same-sex marraige in every state, every where and that banning abortion would even be an option. But I look at other nations and realize that we as Americans, have so many rights and so much freedom that I can't even think of complaining or thinking that we don't any more. We are free to practice whatever relgion we want, everyone at a certain age has the right to vote, women can vote and the societal view is not that they are property. After thinking this through, I am going back to my original belief, that yes, the U.S. provides its people with so much freedom and so many rights.
I thought that Eric's response to the second question was very interesting.I definitely agree that the research of dark matter shouldn't be the main focus. It reminds of the question: How come we have scientists creating seedless watermelon when we still don't have a cure for cancer? Though I don't believe we should put a halt to all dark matter research, but if it exists then it will be there for a while so we should focus scienfic energies on more pressing matters to earth's population.
I can relate to a lot of the people who felt like their paridigm shift had to do with religion. I was raised a Catholic and went to church almost every sunday and went to religious ed from first until sixth grade. After sixth grade I was allowed to make my own choices. Like many others' responses I have read, it was a major change in my life to decide how I viewed god without my parents' influences.
I really do now believe that dark matter is real because even with my lack of any physics he was able to make a legitimate argument. Due to this I believe dark matter exists because if there is this great amount of theory for people who know almost nothing, there most quite some theorem and possible facts for better educated people. I could see the problem so scientists have with accepting this because space already is very tangible but they something even more in-tangible would be difficult. Then even if there was a machine to display or discover this matter it could be easily disproved because no one knows what dark matter really is.
A paradigm shift I have had was with my theory on how sugar worked in the body. At first I knew that it was easy to break down and thus could deliver the energy quicker than other carbohydrates. This last week in chemistry has changed my view because I saw a demonstration on the energy inside pure sugar. The results where in the form of a fiery ball of sugar. This makes my theory in parts wrong and I understand better how sugar has effected on my body because not only does it break down to energy quickly but it also has insane amounts of energy to produce
I thought it was interesting how a majority of the people who were convinced by Dr. P's lecture, including me, mentioned that it was partly because he was a figure of authority. This got me to thinking that we do this a lot in life and that maybe we should stray away from this habit and do research and find evidence ourselves.
I agree with Kyle, very little is know about our universe so it is hard to set anything in stone. All accept a few observations we make are from earth, which compared to the universe is tiny. How can we really expect to find out that much about our universe until we move beyond earth.
Right well the good doctor P like I said before did a good job. I'm not altogether sure what to believe on dark matter. He made his case well, but I feel like I should leave all this space stuff and heavy brain power stuff up to the scientist who know lot's about it. I can't go researching everything in life so I got to find what interests me those most.
Well as far as a paradigm shift in my life, i would have to say, my perception of high school was changed significantly since I got here. I definitely thought I thought I was going to be I was going to be stuck in a trashcan... in fact many people predicted I was going to stuffed in a trash can.
I didn't!
I was surprised at how friendly everyone is here. So kudos to mankind!
1) well, from Mr P's presentation, I have to say that I believe in what he says, since he is the 'authorative' figure. We all know that he earned a PhD in physics and no less in Stanford, so we can rely on him to be person with great information. But still, the language that he used were a bit of a problem for me. Even though I'm a physic's student, I still have problem with the language in that class. Since it's my first year taking the class and have no relation whatsoever with physics, the language is still hard for me. And the languages Mr P used was hard for me to understand too. And because of the language i might still be hesitant to believe fully of whether black matter exists, but with Mr P's standing, it still had an effect on me - and even the visual evidences, hence the seeing part of the sense perception, encouraged the thought of the existance of dark matter.
2) A problem that the scientists have with dark matter is the fact that they can't see the dark matter. There is no sense perception that the scientists can use. And becuase they can't see visually, there's no real evidence or confirmation of their theories.
3) hm... a paradigm shift... -_-;;
ah! um...from what i had experienced in the past, i thought that true art was something that was like those typical classical paintings of real figures, of rich families, or of portraits of other people, or sculptures of the human body - the greek and roman art. But as i grew, from studying other kinds of art - the abstract arts, comercial art, photography, architecture, i knew that the classic paintings weren't the only true art. there were other kinds of genres of art that were considered a true art.
blckpanda aka Judith (Sunjoo)
I agree with kgibbs when he says that if we could actually interact and see the dark matter it would give us more knowledge on dark matter. I also agree with laura jo washle when she says that once we do prove dark matter, then what? What do we do once we have finally proven dark matter really exists? I can find no idea, but I'm sure the scientist will find one to support why finding dark matter really exist is important.
I would have to agree with elle's agreement with my previous post, as she (?) elaborated on many things which I had overlooked / failed to mention regarding my paradigm shift. When mentioning examples of true freedoms in the United States, I hadn't even considered freedom of religion and the right to vote (although both have their limitations) which she mentioned in her post. Such freedoms are aspects of American life which I often take for granted.
Also, I agree with Don in that celebrities are given way too much attention. The idolatry of the 21st Century is gradually yet surely leading society on a path towards self-destruction.
Sincerely yours until the end,
Braden G.
1. I had read previously about dark matter in a scientific journal, so that authority was
simply backed up by Dr. Polhemus' presentation. His presentation alone probably wouldn't
have convinced me, but it did agree with what i had already read.
2. I think dark matter becomes a problem for scientists because they can't see it, and can't
measure it in any way that they are used to. When they examined the effects of dark matter,
they had to decide--do they depend upon their perceptions, and assume that just does
freaky things at zero gravity? or is it something else that they don't know about? Like the
crooked room, we want to stick with the idea that gravity doesn't change. But if we assume
that, we could just be wrong. Its a vicious circle.
3. The most significant paradigm shift in my life was my realization of “time” as a continuum. No, I didn't know the terminology at the time. I was in elementary, and it was just this realization that hit me that time is always moving. I suppose before I hadn't spent any time thinking about it, really, but once I did it was amazing. And pretty funny, now that I look back on it.
In response to Phil's comment--why does it matter? I don't agree that dark matter doesn't exist, or it wouldn't be affecting light out there. Its something beyond our areas of knowledge, and we certainly can't have any first hand experience with it, forcing is to rely on others' authority and research. But logically, if scientists discover that something is "missing" in space, we take their word for it. And when they find out what it is, we believe them.
I think its the very idea of it being so obscure, and yet so important, that drives scientists and researchers to try and solve the puzzle. It is the human thing to do.
I like what allenzhu is saying. Its extremely common to let your own situation get in the way of your morals--and criticize others for not doing the moral thing, when you don't know if you'd even do the moral thing. I suppose its an ego thing; we always want to make ourselves seem better than we are, and pretend that we'd do better than someone else if we were in their position.
1) Just as Anna said, Dr. P's position as a scientific authority, due to his PhD from a recognized university, made me believe that Dark Matter does exist, even though I do not understand everything that he said. His knowledge claim was well justified with scientific proof and logic, but sometimes it was very hard to grasp the ideas behind the evidence proving that dark matter exists because it seemed as if his presentation was meant for people with some understanding of physics and science.
2) the main issue that would occur, i think, would involve the fact that because dark matter is not a tangible sunstance it would be difficult to prove the theories that one develops about it. This is what Selina said as well, which makes me think that others would have the same doubts about the credibility of dark matter findings as I do. Like she said, because everything is based on assumptions, things are more difficult to prove.
3) I am unsure about how to answer this question, but perhaps the most significant shift occured when I moved to the USA from mozambique. Before arriving I was really scared because the media had portrayed americans as "obese, conservative, bush-supporters" and I had to come here before I realized that this wasnt how everybody was, and only a small amount of people - at least in Fort Collins.
Because of Doctor Polhemus’ authority, and experience, and the collective authority and experience of the majority of researchers who support the theory, I’ll agree with his position on dark matter. Because of my ignorance in this area, I can’t say that I truly can know this subject. I usually depend on my logic and reasoning to make a decision about the validity of a subject, but because my ignorance and unfamiliarity prevents me from doing this in respect to dark matter, I went off of authority and consensus to make a leap of faith in assuming that dark matter exists.
The main problems preventing scientists from confirming the existence of dark matter are mainly financial and technological. Technologically, scientists don’t currently have any equipment capable of analyzing dark matter with certainty from a distance, an engine fast enough to propel a probe into the nearest dark mater in our lifetime or a transmission system capable of relaying its findings. From the financial perspective, its hard to justify the kind of spending a program like this would need to the public, which is more interested in the prospects of manned spaceflight, tax cuts or job growth, or the government, which is more interested in military spending or infrastructure repair.
One major paradigm shift I’ve had occurred when I was about in preschool. Prior to my shift, I assumed that all events in the world occurred at most, only a few states away. I couldn’t comprehend how large the world was. For instance, I got Germany and Kansas confused and thought the US invaded Kansas during WWII to stop Hitler from invading Missouri. My sense of scale was very confused. I realized how big the world was when I discovered that a local pond, which until then I’d assumed was some sort of ocean, couldn’t float anything bigger than a 10 foot sailboat without it running aground. Because I knew that the Mayflower or pirate ships were bigger than my house, it made me realize how big a lake would have to be to float one, let alone make one sail for weeks to reach the other side. Discovering how truly vast the world was made me feel a lot less important and gave me a more mature perspective.
I agree with Scott. It's really hard to be sure about dark matter's existance because most of us don't have the scientific background and knowledge to understand the concept fully. It's very hard to take an idea for granted without context. If anything, Dr. P's presentation showed how important context is. Without much background knowledge, my options for understanding dark matter were limited to accepting the consensus of the scientific community or rejecting it and remaining completly in the dark.
In response to Micha's first post, I agree that it seems as if Dr. Polhemus' presentation seemed geared towards those with at least a basic understanding of the subject. Does anyone else think that assumptions can affect our ways of knowing?
1) I think Dr. Polhemus did a really good job of explaining dark matter to those of us who are not up on their scientific theories. However, I still cant say I understood a word of what he said. This doesnt mean though that i dont believe in dark matter, I guess its just not for the right reason. I believe it exists because He believe it exists. Because he is poudre's "resident genius" i am more inclined to believe everything he says. Also, the fact that I dont understand science in any way shape or form causes me to tune out whenever someone starts talking about complex theories. As simple as it was, the language he used still went over my head, probably because of the concept behind it, not because i'm stupid.
2) It is dificult for scientists to come to knowledge especially in an area like dark matter, because it is something that cannot be collected as physical data, and cannot be studied in close proximity. It goes back to the question "do our senses give us truth?" in this situation, we cannot use our senses at all, except when analyzing photographs. Alot of complex science is studied in this way, because it is on such a huge (dark matter) or small (atoms) scale. we just have to trust our scientists to make generalizations or inferences regarding theories such as these, until they are proven wrong.
3) I dont have a great example of a paradigm shift that i've expreienced. however, the closest thing i've come to is my opinion of art. Before I started taking HL Art i thought that you have to be technically advanced in realistic drawing or painting to be a "good" artist. however, I realized after researching several famous artists, and even some of my fellow classmates that good art doesnt have to be realistic. Good art is all about debating, but there is definitely artistic merit to alot of abstract art, that doesnt look realistic in any way. it does take quite a bit of skill to paint like grant wood or norman rockwell, but you cant discredit anyone like wassily kandinsky or monet, just because their paintings werent realistic looking.
After listening to Dr. Polhemus, I do believe dark matter exists. This is because I really have no reason to believe anything else…and everything I know about space that anyone has ever told me doesn’t give me a reason not to believe in dark matter. He convinced me that dark matter exists by giving a good answer to a problem scientists were having in their calculations and such. The mian problem that makes it difficult for scientists to come to knowledge in areas like dark matter is lack in our knowledge of space exploration and science. We have come a long way as far as our knowledge of space, but we hardly know anything. This leaves scientists in the dark on a lot of things, especially issues like dark matter. I believe that lots of little paradigm shifts and alteration in your knowledge and experience are what define your knowledge and essentially who you are. Ever since elementary, I have been taught that Christopher Columbus is a hero, no question. This last year however, we read some articles on herofication in history and it really made me think of not only Columbus totally differently, but I question pretty much my knowledge of all historical figures more closely now.
I was reading through these entries, and Allen's comment on an article
"Since dark matter cannot be perceived easily, there needs to be many genius ways to overcome that barrier and find ways to prove it exists"
got me thinking about how hard it really is to prove things like this, and the shots in the dark these people have to take. I agree with him, and i have experience a paradigm shift in how a think about scientists that work in areas like dark matter.
1. I am still really questioning whether or not dark matter exists because although Dr. P did a great job explaining things and using helpful vocabulary I still had questions. It felt like they proved something was there just because our understanding of gravity says it is. Well what if our understanding of gravity is wrong?
2. The problems that arise for scientists in properly justifying a true belief that dark matter exists comes mainly from the idea that we can't see it, hold it, or explain it easily and its not here on earth. This makes it harder for people to believe. Also there is an issue of caring. Some people could care less about the existence of dark matter because it doesn't affect us.
3. A paradigm shift I have experienced is in the sports world. When I was younger the concept of steroids didn't exist in my mind. I thought all professional athletes got to that level through hard work and some luck. Now however my mindset has changed because I know that some athletes cheat to reach there goals. Although I think this is wrong my way of thinking about pro sports certainly has changed.
1. I am still really questioning whether or not dark matter exists because although Dr. P did a great job explaining things and using helpful vocabulary I still had questions. It felt like they proved something was there just because our understanding of gravity says it is. Well what if our understanding of gravity is wrong?
2. The problems that arise for scientists in properly justifying a true belief that dark matter exists comes mainly from the idea that we can't see it, hold it, or explain it easily and its not here on earth. This makes it harder for people to believe. Also there is an issue of caring. Some people could care less about the existence of dark matter because it doesn't affect us.
3. A paradigm shift I have experienced is in the sports world. When I was younger the concept of steroids didn't exist in my mind. I thought all professional athletes got to that level through hard work and some luck. Now however my mindset has changed because I know that some athletes cheat to reach there goals. Although I think this is wrong my way of thinking about pro sports certainly has changed.
orange was me i forgot to change my name. I'm not just copying above
I agree with Selina when she says that Dr. P is far more convincing due to his authority of being a crazy insane genus! However i realized after reading her comment that i only have one justification for Dr. P being a genus, censensus. Honestly, i have only heard his talk on dark matter. I have heard a little here and there about other things he has done, but i can only be sure of one thing, he can talk about dark matter, and what is to say that he isn't just blowing hot air? I realize that the censensus is strong enough for me to believe him almost with out doubt, but it is important to understand why you except him as an authority.
Phil's comment interested me. I saw a lot of almost emotional connection to the belief of dark matter. I'm sure that he, as most all of us, can't understand what Dr. P was talking about, and it seems that this has created an emotional tendency toward not believing it. He used the term speculitive imformation but honestly all of the imformation that he presented was concrete. It wasn't the information that was speculative but the the conclusions based on the information. I think that emotion and a lack of sense perception has led many of us toward trying to question the facts, when in fact the information can be proven.
After reading through all of the posts, I have found some general trends that appear.
1) Starting with Zoe's post about how she is "not 100% sure" there are a variety of instances where people appear wary. This leads me to ask, was Dr. P's presentation persuasive? Did he have any internal bias towards believing Dark Matter?
2)Many people (myself, and Drivebracket included) That there is no definite method of 'knowing' we have theories and ideas that seem to fit the matter, so there must be an inductive leap in order to fully believe in Dark Matter.
-Lucas Buccafusca
(I apologize for the use of the pseudonym)
1)First of all I would like to say that this is not Oliver, this is Will Jacobi. I thought I had posted almost a month earlier, but evidently it didn't work. As for dark matter, I am quite convinced of its existence. Much of my acceptance stems from the fact that I already had a bit of previous (although very basic)knowledge on the subject, and I was eager to believe information that confirmed a tentative belief that I already had. This confirmation bias, combined with Dr. P's logic and effective teaching, made me a believer. I was most impressed with the visual aides and statistics; they proved his point with sense perception, one of my strongest ways of knowing. I should also mention that I am inclined to believe things that make my imagination fire up, especially in regards to a field as inherently imaginative as physics. After reading briefly about quantum/particle physics, I will be likely to believe almost anything with a shred of logic.
1. Dr. Polhemus’ presentation left me with the belief that there is definitely something out there, some kind of gravitational pull that is keeping the universe together. It would be difficult for me to say whether this force should be termed “dark matter” because even after the presentation I feel that I know very little about what qualifies, defines, and distinguishes “dark matter” from the other names that could be given to the theorized gravitational pull. I’ll admit, before the seminar given by Dr. Polhemus I had never given any thought to what holds galaxies together, nor had I ever seen any theories surrounding the topic so the argument that dark matter exists reached my impressionable mind and stuck without hesitation. However, I’m sure that if I had any previous knowledge of other theories, the “dark matter” argument still would have become something that I believe in because Dr. Polhemus’ presentation was backed up with loads of evidence, explanations, and even some questions to support this theory that “dark matter” truly is a matter of universal significance.
2. When it comes to studying “dark matter” scientists are at a real disadvantage because as of now there are few tools in existence to help them conduct their research. Sure humans have mastered traveling to space and are now able to make more accurate measurements and observations, but despite all this scientists still do not posses utensils that can lend themselves to improving the quality of “dark matter” studies.
3. To say the least, this third question has left me with a serious case of “writer’s block” for quite a while. In all honesty, I can’t think of a single-moment paradigm shift that is worth writing about or even remembering, so I guess my take on this question will be a little different. Every time I get a piece of music (be it sheet music, a jazz tune, or even an audition piece) I feel overwhelmed until I hear it played by someone else so that I know exactly how it should sound. It’s always nice when I have that chance to listen to the music before playing it myself, but unfortunately that opportunity doesn’t come around very often. With each piece that I don’t get to learn by ear, I end up playing bits of it completely wrong (I think of this as the “theory” part of my paradigm shift experience). Then after I have learned the piece fairly well, I usually come across some way to listen to it played by another person, and then my “theory” of how to play the music is changed/corrected. This modified version of the paradigm shift is present in many parts of my life, but it seems to appear most often in the process of learning new music.
In response to Elliot's paradigm shift, I absolutely agree, although from afar you might believe me saying this b.s...who cares. Certain students put too much attachment into getting their high grades and maintaining perfect GPAs that they don't enjoy the classes themselves for what they provide. You see them fretting about the next quiz or when they do particularly horrible on a test (a B) that it really is ridiculous, no offense though to you guys. Wait...OMG, im surrounded by these people! See, when you learn to simply look at it as a learning experience or a challenge, you take more pleasure in all your accomplishments, have a better time learning, and have fun with those around you when you do. It's almost like eating whipped cream. Still though, i get completly jealous when these guys/girls pwn me on tests (GAH!).
And Elliot, i hate to admit it, but you're right. I am a frigin complete genious, too bad the world doesn't know eh? XP
Haha, Scott, your perceptive change is awesome, though you probably need more grammar classes (bleh!) I, the mighty Peter P, once thought that High School might have been a difficult experience, despite the fact that I had many known people transferring from junior high in Lesher, unlike you dear junior high Scottie. So much for that reality tv junk Ive been watching. I'm in junior year, having a blast with my homie gs and whatnot and still keeping it real in the classrooms. The environment at Poudre is truly friendly, and it's only our mindset that held us back when we first entered as freshmen. Hopefully the Link Cru gets this down for next year's bunch.
After listening to Dr. Polhemus it seems pretty clear to me that dark mater exists but that may be because I have known about dark matter for some time and i have done some research into it, all he did was confirm my believe. He presented the information in such a way that he made it understandable and interesting. he didn’t just drone on and he went through the evidence before he made a real claim. The problem with dark matter is that we can never know if it exists or not because we cannot see it touch it or test for it. One paradign shift that I have gone through is when I was little I believed that George Washington was a really great guy with no skeletons in his closet but then I read Howard Zinn’s opinion of him and it completely changed my perspective. It did not change the fact that he was a hero but it made him more human; it gave him flaws instead of him just being this god amongst men. I would have to disagree with Eric on the authenticity of dark matter because I believe that the evidence that Dr. Polhemus presented passed the coherence truth test and it is also practical for right now maybe in the future it will change but for now it is built off past and present science and it is convenient for me to believe it right now. On the other hand I partially agree with drivebracket, I have no idea who this is, on that the main reason why I believe Dr. Polhemus is that he is an authority that has a good presence while presenting, but I do not think that I would believe in something like dark matter without some of my other justifications, like logic, consensuses and intuition.
I think Dr. P did a good job trying to convey the existance of dark matter to us. He used a lot of visual perception such as pictures and graphs to support that dark matter exists. However, I am not totally convinced it exists. I know I saw the graphs during the presentation and I know that there are many scientists who may be working on further proving the existance of dark matter, and that there's a lot of money going into the research, but...why does it matter? Dark matter seems to be something very very removed from our lives--we cannot see it, we cannot feel it, touch it nor experience it personally with any of our sense perception except for what the computers and the pictures tell us. The vast distance that this has, between the dark matter and the everyday normal people in society, makes it very hard to comprehend the existance of such matter.
It is this separation and distance that makes it difficult for the scientists to research about it too. So...why are they still learning about it? Why not exert their intellectual efforts in something more useful such as finding a cure for cancer which is one of the leading causes of death in America? Or finding a cure for HIV/AIDS? Or preventing poverty/hunger? Why are so many people and money being directed towards this research when there are plenty of other things that the funds and intelligence could be used to improve our society directly? Why focus on dark matter which does not affect us directly (from what I know)?
Anyways, an example of a paradigm shift I had is through an event called Relay for Life last summer. This event is sponsored by the American Cancer Society--a 24-hour walk-a-thon and the goal is to raise awareness about cancer. It's also a fundraiser. Prior to the event, I did not know a lot about cancer. I mean, I knew that it existed, that it didn't have a cure yet and that it killed people--the basic knowledge I had, but what I didn't know was how present it was in our society. I did not know personally anyone who had cancer nor died from cancer, so I felt fairly removed from the situation prior to the event. But at the relay-for-life, I saw so many people who were affected by it: I saw numerous cancer surviviors and those still fighting cancer, wearing the purple t-shirts and participating in the relay. There were a myriad of paperbag lanterns with the names of so-and-so's beloved who had passed away from cancer. The speech by one of the cancer-surviviors during the event was so moving as she described her experience and her conquer against the disease--the whole experience shifted my perspective on the subject of cancer very much. Through the event, I was able to see how much it affected our society today; even when I may not be personally acquainted with any experience of cancer, I was able to understand how present it is in society and how so many people are fighting against it, which I had previously not been so aware of before.
In response to Rachel's comment: Yes, I do agree with you in that Dr. P presented dark matter very well and that he probably is very intelligent; but is it justifiable to belive something just because the person who presented it seems credible? Dark matter is not something that can be seen or felt through our direct senses; we can see them throught he pictures and graphs the computers tell us, but that's like a filtered truth--there may be aspects of the truth that may be missing. Also, dark matter doesn't affect us...(does it?)--with all the evidence from direct sense perception missing, how are we sure that dark matter exists? What if someone credible, say, a reknowned scientist, said something that may not be true, such as that the earth will be destroyed next week? Would people believe it? Are our opinions based way too much on the credibility of the source and not the credibility of the knowledge claim? Just a thought...
I agree with Adriene's comment in that perhaps I would believe in dark matter more if I had more understanding/knowledge of it or maybe even previous thoughts for it. Upon reading the comment, I think it may not only be the inability to percieve it directly through our senses that bars me from completely believing in it, but also my lack of curiosity/knowledge/previous thought for it. Perhaps if I had heard about dark matter before the presentation by Dr. P, I would believe it more. Availability Heuristic anyone?
had some trouble posting...
1. After listening to Dr. P's presentation on dark matter I'm now convinced of it's existence. I entered the lecture with a small amount of cursory knowledge on the subject and an opinion that was already leaning towards the positive existence of dark matter. I realize that I was swayed by the authority figure that Dr. P represents. I agree with Elliot's statement because I also "trust [Dr. P's] research and credentials to be accurate" and the authority he represents in the field of physics greatly influences this belief. Also I would consider myself a very logical thinker, using logic as the primary WoK I use. The arguments presented to me in the lecture were logical in nature and the method by which they were laid out in front of me, allowed me to not only grasp my head around them better, but also to have a great ability to recognize them as knowledge.
2. The primary problem I had (and one that I'm sure translates to scientists as well) with the acceptance of the dark matter theory is the nature of today's advanced science as a whole. Dr. P said it himself when he described the way that everyone thought of the universe was completely transformed with any little new piece of evidence. Can people really accept anything as truth when they very well could wake up the next morning to find that it has just been proven wrong? The evidence for dark matter is already limited because of the sheer physical distances that humans are dealing with between ourselves and the perceived evidence we are using to prove its existence. This coupled with the truth that any moment our entire perception of dark matter could change in an instant, present a huge problem to me and scientists alike.
3. First of all, I would like to comment of Drew K's comments about his paradigm shift involving steroids. I know sports are a big deal for Drew so I like how he found a shift that hit him so close to home and one that I'm sure he has had to deal with in the past. My personal paradigm shift occurred a month or two ago and is far less interesting or significant. I was driving my brother to school when I hit a red light on the route I usually take to his school. I got really frustrated and elected to take a turn into some neighborhood close by and ended up finding a new route to my brother's school that was faster that the previous one. This shift of thinking on my part definitely wasn't life changing but now I get to save a little gas!
Dr. P's presentation on dark matter was convincing to a certain degree. He used a variety of images and his obviously extensive knowlege to convince many that dark matter exists. To me it seems just so difficult to automatically beleive something that scientists don't even know much about. Basically they think that there is a bunch of "stuff" out there holding the universe together. I obviously have no knowlege on the amount of calculation and years of observation it has taken scientists to reach this theory, but once again, it is still a theory, or an idea that cannot be proven, at least not in today's world. I recently read an article in Discover magazine (yes, im nerdy like that but hey im an IB kid) about a scientist who had changed one of Newton's formulas so slightly, that it in essence remained the same, yet disproved the idea of dark matter existing, and in fact came up with an entirely different explanation all together. I wish i had a website or magazine source i could list but the article is from a few months ago and i don't remember where i put it if i still have it. But The point is that science is constatly changing, and to say that Dr. P "convinced me" is a loaded statement. The problem that exists is that dark matter is essentially invisable and that our technology has not reached the point where we can have solid proof of the existance of dark matter, even though we know there is "something" out there, as Dr. P showed with his images. Technology has only taken us so far. And with theories constatly changing and being challenged, such as this one by the scientists i mentioned earlier, again sorry i have no source, scentists own thoughts have to be just as rapidly changing and re-calculating. it justs takes so long for scientists to reach conclusions and it is sometimes not an "exact science". A paradigm shift i have experienced recently is that i will have to work a little harder if i want to maintain my high GPA as an IB student. In the past i have been able to not do that much work and still slide by with some pretty good grades. THis year will not be so easy. What caused me to shift was when i saw that my grades had drastically changed sicne the last time i checked... so changes had to be made. Yes, this is a very cheap answer but its an answer none the less. HA
I also agree with Minny. I have done a little bit of research on my own about dark matter but not enough to really have gained an interest in it. Plus, there are very few people who have actually done enough research to understand exactly what it is and why scientists think it exsists for as i stated earlier, we don't have the calculations right in front of us.
I'm dissapointed in that Paul has automatically beleived everything Dr. P presented on dark matter. How he is now "convinced". As i stated in my previous two posts, no one who was in the auditorium that day with the excption of perhaps Dr. P knows enough about dark matter, even after his presentation, to say that they now know it to be true. No one can say that unless that have invested a scientists time and work into researching it for themselves. I try my best not to beleive something right off the bat unless i have researched it myself... even though i fail to do that sometimes.
After reading Alex's comment about her personal paradigm shift I was left with a sad realization about the media. We are all aware that the media significantly influences the general public when dealing with which products we as consumers should be spending our money on, but we also let the media shape our perceptions of people (like Alex's example of immigrants). It's disheartening that the media has such a power over us, but when you think about it all the other influences that can help shape our perceptions pail in comparison to the size and availability of the media. Thanks for making this comment though Alex! I probably never would have thought of a paradigm shift in this light if you hadn't.
1. Although we are supposed to tell whether or not we think dark matter exists, I am still not quite sure. The thing is that, I don't really have an argument to prove it does not exist, besides the fact that it is not visible to the human eye (or at least this is what I have been led to think). On one side, I feel that with Dr. Polhemus's convincing arguments and visual theories, that the existence of dark matter is highly substantial. I don't really have a full opinion yet, but I am working on it.
2. Problems for scientists to prove the existence of dark matter is that it’s not exactly a cheap method to prove, as Zoe previously said. I would think that dark matter would be hard, if not impossible to 100% prove its existence, not only because of the fact that it’s not actually physically visible or tangible, but also because people are headstrong in their beliefs. This way, it’s practically impossible to prove that dark matter exists to a headstrong person who believes otherwise, because there is hardly any physical or substantial proof to provide. This applies to faith and emotions simply due to the set ideas that human minds come up with. Just like many headstrong scientists fully believe in dark matter, there are many headstrong people who do not. That's just how our world is.
3. The paradigm shift question is kind of funny to me, because I am pretty gullible or easily influenced with my beliefs. This only really applies to ideas in English class or Art, or any kind of opinionated classes like that. (I would say TOK, but I am not physically in that class yet). On the other hand, I am very headstrong about my religious beliefs, such as the existence of God. There is no way somebody could influence me to believe he does not exist, but I do respect others opinions. This contrasts to art or English, because in those classes I come up with my own opinions that are not important to me personally, and then I listen to the ideas of others, and then figure out which argument seems more substantial, and go with whichever one.
Response #1:
I pretty much agree with Ryan when he said that people shouldn't be convinced immediately after hearing what Dr. P. said because of lack of information. I know, I am still unsure of my beliefs, but I completely understand how it’s a bit gullible to believe what the Dr. said, without really getting a lesser biased perspective on it. I know nothing in life is unbiased, but we really were getting a point of view on dark matter, through a man who believes in it whole-heartedly.
Response #2:
I agree with Mrs. King, when she said that dark matter is hard to prove considering it solely comes from logic, and there is a lack of proof in the perceptual department. This also leads me to think about human emotions and how senses really are important to us, and without visual or physically truth or proof for dark matter, many people do not believe in its existence.
1. Thinking back to Dr. P's presentation I remember being really confused. It was hard for me to focus on this subject because I felt like it all went way over my head. However he seemed to know what he was talking about quite well and appeared to be a very good source on the subject of dark matter. I am not sure if I think dark matter exists or not. I guess it is a fairly reasonbale explanation for whatever is affecting gravity but I am not fully convinced. I would be interested in hearing from the people who do not think there is such thing as dark matter. I do not feel like I know enough to come to a conclusion about the topic.
2. Scientists have a lot of problems justifying their ideas for black matter. This is because of many reasons such as the fact that it can not be tested really it can only be observed. In fact the black matter itself can't be fully observed if you think about it, the things around the "black matter" are what is observed. Also the equipment to study it is quite expensive.
3. Hmm I am having trouble thinking of a significant paradigm shift. I have always thought of a paradigm shift to be fairly significant at least, but as I read some of these examples posted I suppose they can be life changing or just simply make you view somthing differently. I guess a recent one I had was with the "Twilight" phenomenon. All of my friends were in love with it and had read all the books and were so excited to see the movie, but I didn't see the big deal with it and was not interested. Then I got dragged along to the movie and LOVED IT! Now I am going to start reading the books, etc. I guess I had just viewed it as weird with the idea of vampires and all but it was not at all like I expected.
Response 1
A few people talked about how we are very likely to agree with Dr. P because of his "accredited authority" and I definitely agree with that. Also that we are too lazy to find out for ourselves. I think that is a very good point. It is like "oh yeah he probably knows what he is talking about I will just agree with him instead of researching more la la la"
Response 2
I can relate to Natalie's paradigm shift with not liking to really look at literature, like we do in IB all the time. But now that I have done it a gazillion times I have a better appreciation for it and have realized how it helps me understand more of it.
I agree with Natalie when she explained her paradigm shift. I only did IB at first because of influences from my parents and my cousins. However, I am incredibly happy now that I am a part of the program and I know it will pay off in the long run.
I can also relate to Kaitlyn's paradigm shift in regards to English, specifically Hamlet. I didn't think I would be able to understand any of it and I wouldn't find it interesting. But after learning about it and further analyzing it in class, I realized that Hamlet was actually a really good play!
I agree with the paradigm shift when looking at literature. I never realized just how much significance one word or comma can have, and how much meaning it can have.
I agree with what Haylee said, that we shouldn't believe what Dr. P said right away without looking at both sides, because he is biased. However, as Callaghan said, it's unlikely I'm going to look it up and really try to understand the issue, and this leaves me to accept the only information I have. This is especially common in our society today. Political other adds are examples of this, and to educate ourselves about the issues is the best way to overcome this. At the same time however, we can't all know all sides of all these issues. We simply must choose what issues we want to know the ins and outs of, and acknowledge that we don't know everything on the others. On these, we can try to identify propaganda and try to listen to others opinions to decide what we think without spending hours doing research.
1) yes i believe that dark matter exsists. i think this mostly based on authority, as i am not in physics and i am trusting Dr. P's knowledge of physics. Also, though he discussed it very little and because he believes in it is biased, he did say that a lot of other people who rejected the idea at first have now accepted that there is something like dark matter. so this is more convincing, based on authority again, that many people in the feild have accepted that there is dark matter. i think that Dr. P presented it well, and it was as understandable as possible and the fact that he was so convinced in his argument made it really easy to believe.
2)well i think the fact that, up until recently there was really no one very sure that dark matter exsisted and there was really no real argument shows how difficult the information about it is to come by. this seems to be mostly due to our sense perception and our eyes, which we rely on the most. the fact that we can't see dark matter makes it really hard for us to believe that it is there because this is how we verify things daily. and for someone who is not knowledgable in the area of physic's and for those who are, it seems that it would be hard to convince yourself it was there. also, as others have said, accesability and money are very necessary to the research of dark matter, the technology and the time cost a lot.
i guess a paradigm shift i have had has been about the world in general, and it's sort of in-progress. I tend to forget that people around the world do not have the same rights and freedom and opportunities, even within the U.S. i forget that there are places in the world where racism is not looked down upon like it is in our society and i forget that its hard to travel to certain places because of violence and polititcal reasons etc. etc. i think for some reason i have this belief that things like civil rights and being able to vote is the accepted standard around the world, and really it's not. i am slowly gaining more and more knowledge about the realities of governments and societies that i didn't think could possibly still exsist. i think i realize there is a war in Iraq, but i don't fully comprehend that those people believe what they believe just as firmly as i believe in free speech. it's hard to remember when i am not around extremes like that every single day and i forget that there is a lot of passion involved in wars like this one. it seems weird becuase i hear about it on the news and watch it on t.v. but i guess its sort of the difference between knowlegde and wisdom, or morals and ethics. just becuase you think something doesn't mean you understand. i don't think that i am proving any of this very well using TOK stuff, it's just that despite properly justified true belief, i still feel like knowledge is the surface, it's just facts, whereas wisdom is experience and understanding, so in this context the definition of knowledge is different than the one we have learned to use.
i just wanted to comment on firefeather's paradigm shift about the realization that time is always moving. time for me is a really weird concept, because half the time i feel like i am running out and the other half i feel like i have all the time in the world, and i don't really mean on a day to day basis, because generally then i feel like i never have enough. but for my life in general, i tend to have mood swings about my ideas on time. i tend to relate time to age and then compare myself to others in this subject. for example, the olympics, i see the really young gymnasts who are 16 and 17, my age, doing really big things and acheiving the goals they want to achieve, and this makes me feel like i am running out of time, like i am supposed to have already acheived my big goals. and then i see that one female swimmer who was like 42 or somewhere around there and i feel like i've got all the time in the world, 42 seems millions of miles away. i just think it's interesting that when we see different situations, (at least i) tend to compare them to mine and it totally changes my perspective in an instant.
commenting on what janessa said, i feel like she really to the perspective or how dark matter related to herself, which i thought was interesting. i think that it is easier to see and believe things when the hold some personal connection or even if distant, a distinct relation to us. it seems logical that we would see things that way, considering we've only ever truly known ourselves, and i don't think that we all really truly know ourselves anyway, but it is still interesting that we see things that way.
-1. Yes after the lecture on dark matter I was pretty throughly convinced that dark matter exists. For one thing, Dr. P. is a very authoritive figure in my mind, and was able to explain dark matter and his justifications for its existance well enough that it justified the existance of dark matter to me. Also, I'm generally a trusting person and would hope that we wouldn't have to sit through a lecture on something that science didn't believe was knowledge, so while this may not be a good thing I didn't really quesition the existance of dark matter that much.
-2. There are lots of problems that exist with knowledge of things that are way out there. Such as the fact that they are way out there and we can only percieve them using instruments and other such things. Also things like dark matter which don't really interact and don't really DO much, with much make it difficult to completely know that it exists. But I would also say that because something has been proven (or at least I think so) to exist to the best of our scientific ability, we can call it whatever we like as long as it's understood that there is a bit of a gray area and call it knowledge. As scientific technology advances it will either support or disprove this knowledge and from that new knowledge can be built based on our best understandings and judgements.
-3. Hmmmmm. This question is hard but I would have to go along with ZoeW and say that the paradigm shift that I can remember best would have to be about a person. I would like to think of myself as a generally nice, fair person but there are some people that I just don't like very much when I first meet them. One such person I met and they got on my nerves right away because they were more outspoken and somewhat obnoxious in their opinions. Luckily, I was able to get to know them better and now I totally respect their ability to always say exactly what they think and we are good friends. :)
1)(John G) Dr. P did a great job reaching down to our level of understanding and used very convincing statistics and as of now i believe dark matter does exist, however since of the limitations set upon this subject such as the the distance in space and the limited perspective, in reality there could be something completely different. Another major problem with the current theory on dark matter is that the only evidence that supports it are visuals and movements that are being watched from incredible distances.
2)The largest problem with our evidence is the strict limitations of our evidence. The sheer distance of space creates a dilemma for those trying to study this subject. This is also diificult to study because nothing like darkmatter has been studied before with the same detail. This means there are no proven techniques or tests for this area of science.
3) A major paradigm shift for me definetly involved how history has been taught. An example of this is in elementry school i believed that the founding fathers were near flawless people who were incredibly dedicated to what they preached. However as my education furthered i realized that these men were no less flawed than any other person. That even though they preached freedom they held slaves, this removal of herofication was one of the largest paradigm shifts for me.
1.Response I agree with ethan that in order to further our knowledge of Dark Matter and we would have to learn the vocabulary that Dr P would normally use whiel explaining dark matter.
2.Response I disagree with Vincent about dark matter, although dark matter may not affect our lives now there is a possibility that it will one day. If we all were apathetic about things greater than ourselves we would still think the earth is the center of the universe and the word gravity would have no meaning.
1) Though I am no science expert, I was convinced by Dr. Polhemus that dark matter does exist. I was confused on some of the specifics he was discussing, yet I have no reason to doubt what he was saying. He has clearly spent the time to get a very clear understanding of it, and because I have not, I have to trust and go by what he said. Because he is an authority figure, I tend to believe that what he says must be true. I have learned to trust in what the teachings of teachers who are also authorative figures, so it is natural for me not to doubt what he claims, also because I have no other knowledge of dark matter.
2) Subjects like dark matter will obviously have issues becasue sense perception is heavily relied on to make educated guesses when piecing all the scientific evidence together. Today, scientific instruments can only take us so far, but that is not enough to get a definate answer on theories. We have to rely on the fact that we are able to make intelligent conclusions based on the solid facts that we are able to obtain.
3) This question stumped me at first, and it really took me a while to think of a time when I experienced a paradigm shift. I've always thought that most movies that end up perfect and happy are mislelading and ridiclous becasue it doesn't seem probable that all things will work out in the end, but I've realized that is not the case. People do have the ability to change the outcome of their lives for the better, it just depends on your mindset. I still believe that the so called 'happily ever after' is still far fetched, but true happiness is not. I think that I used to be very negative in my thoughts, but I've realized that it is a waste of time. The power of positive thinking is quite impressive.
Commenting on Taylor's response to the paradigm shift, I can relate to what she said. I find that I sometimes make judgments of new people without getting to know them, but after I spend time with them I see a completely different side and my opinions are immediately changed. These new ways of thinking might be small, but they do affect me in one way or another.
I agree with jessi's thoughts on how the world is overall not as accepting and kind as we may think. I am always stunned when I realize how ignorant I can be about issues around the world that destroy lives every day. Whenever I hear about a tragedy in the news it makes me feel foolish about little pointless things that annoyed me earlier in the day. Hearing about these horrible practices such as bombings or genocide always stuns me, however I've found that it has always been consistent throughout history.
2) I agree with almost everyone who has responded to this question that the most significant knowledge issue surrounding dark matter is the availability of technology, support, and money. Because resources such as these are so hard to come by, scientists hoping to study dark matter are required to join an existing research group or if they are lucky, create a large one of their own. To me, this would be very difficult. I love learning the most when it is an individual pursuit and I can pursue knowledge according to my own whims and desires. The intimacy of knowledge gained like this has no parallel in my eyes. Having to share power, or even to hold no power and simply do the bidding of my superiors, would be a highly frustrating process for me. Many scientists in areas such as this cannot find knowledge in the ways that they would wish because the nature of their research makes it impossible.
Will Jacobi
3) One of my most notable paradigm shifts took place last summer when I met a schizophrenic (sp?) homeless man in Tennessee. I was there visiting my grandparents and had wandered away from them while at the mall. I found myself lounging in one of those massage chairs in the center of the hall, and next to me was a man who was very obviously homeless. I have a habit of talking to people that most wouldn't approach, so I struck up a conversation with the man and bought him a coke. I soon realized that this conversation was unlike any other I had ever had; this man was not speaking in terms that made any sense to me, and his thoughts were quick and fleeting. Nothing I said seemed to make sense to him, and his eyes constantly flickered back and forth, up and down behind me. It seemed as if he was living in a completely different world than I was, and had been for a while judging by what he was talking about. I had taken enough psychology to realize that he was probably not what we would call "normal," and my best guess was schizophrenia. This in itself, although peculiar to observe, was not what made such a huge impression on me. What truly struck me was the fact that this man was convinced that his perception of the world was the true version; anyone he interacted with, including me, was strange. Our two perspectives were very, very different, yet we were both utterly convinced that we had a concrete handle on the world around us. It shook my foundations when I recognized the fact that at least one of us was wrong in something we believed so strongly in, and it made me question how I really knew what I knew (TOK didn't hurt either). Since then, I have been much more hesitant to form solid and unchangeable beliefs out of expectance that they will t some point be torn out from under me.
I forgot to sign my last response. Will Jacobi. Whoops
kgibbs said earlier that they had a paradigm shift in regards to the novel American Childhood. After reading the book themselves they hated it, but after listening to classmates and re-reading it they changed their opinion. I totally understand where kgibbs is coming from and have seen similar instances elsewhere, but I would challenge them to validate their change in opinion. I think many people will concede to the views of others because of some perceived authority or a desire to fit in, when in fact their own opinions were accurate. I often do the same thing, and it is scary how much I find myself changing my opinion and agreeing with someone else just because that person seemed to have authority.
Will Jacobi
Phil S said:
I'd just like to agree with Selina about her statement concerning the lack of concrete evidence surrounding dark matter. I mean, it truly is impossible to capture something that cannot be attained--let alone measure it. And I'd like to ask: What is it that drives scientists to attempt to uncover something that so obscure, or even arguably, non-existant?
My answer to this would be that it is the same thing that drives us towards religion. Whenever we are trying to explain something that seems utterly beyond us, there is a combination of curiosity, a desire for personal pride, and an urge to relinquish fear that spurs us on. I think that we as humans cannot help but fear what we do not understand, and it is this fear that drives us to find the truth behind all that is around us.
Will Jacobi
1) I do believe dark matter exists. This is because there is obviously something affecting the physical matter we can see, and the dark matter explanation made the most sense to me. Another reason he convinced me was because he has an immense amount of knowledge on the subject compared to me, and so I accept hi authority on the subject.
2)The largest is that we have no way to see it. We know something is affecting the objects in space, but we can't see what it is. the next problem we encounter is that even though we know something is doing something, we have no concrete way of knowing exactly what it is. The final problem is that it is very expensive, and we don't have enough money.
3) umm.... lets see, for me it would have to be when i started playing bass. There are multiple ways to play a bass, and two of the most common are with a pick or with your fingers. When I started, I knew very little about what I was doing. So I just used my fingers, cause it felt natural and a lot of the bassists i listened to then played finger-style. As my lessons progressed, I began using a pick, because the bands I was exposed to had pick-style bassists, and because it had a more aggressive tone. Then, i switched back to finger-style, because I realized if I adjusted the settings on my bass and amplifier, I could get a tone similar to the pick-style, but using my fingers.
After Dr. P's presentation on the drak matter I believe that there may be such thing as dark matter. However, before Dr. P I was not aware of dark matter and had never heard of it. I honestly couldn't tell you if I believe in it or not yet because I am still a little uncertain. This drark matter presentation was in fact very interesting and it definently made me think. For me it's always a stretch thinking about space it almost can be overwhelming looking into space knowing that there is so much more out there. But bringing up the concept of the possibilty of drak matter almost made it easier to grasp. However where my uncertainty comes in is the idea that dark matter can not be seen it can onlt be proven through calculations which gives it kinda the uncertainty if it exists or not. Personally I really enjoyed this presentation and certainly made me think about the greater aspects to life and space. Very interesting.
Well I think the main problem with figuring out if drak matter really exists is the fact that scientist can really never know if it is "real" because it cannot be seen. Even through advanced technology and calculations it still puts a slight barrior around grasping the concept of dark matter.
hmmmm...a paradigm shift. Well an example of a paradigm shift I've experienced I would have to say would be when I learned to play the harp. I started to play harp with a poor techique. Elbows up, slouched back, too much fingernails, etc. There were many problems. However I eventually learned the correct techniques through an instructor and just more experience in general. It kind of shows how you can start from one place maybe not doing everything right to another "place" and getting things more correct through practice and repetition.
Commenting on talyor dolak's..I agree with Talyor on the fact that there are many problems with dark matter because as she says,"that they are way out there and we can only percieve them using instruments." That certainly shows that dark matter is 100% real.
In response to Alex Kreger...
I agree that being in the position where I do not know much about space, Dr. P certainly has me convinced on the concept of dark matter. However, as I've stated before I would like to have more proof that it truly exists. But through the presentation I am convinced dark matter exist. I would only want ot know more in depth about it.
After seeing Dr. P's presentation on Dark Matter and having heard him mention it in class, I believe dark matter does exist. Based on the evidence that Dr. P presented in the form of pictures mostly, it is logical that there must be something in the universe which will refract light like that. The scientist in me knows that there must be a scientific explanation for this and based on Dr. P's indirect "evidence", dark matter is an explanation for this. I trust Dr. P as an authority figure, not only because he is a brilliant teacher, but because he is a researcher who is genuinely interested in this area of science. Also, I believe we have to have a small amount of faith in scientists to find explanations such as dark matter, since not all of us can research this outselves.
2. The main knowledge issue that exists with dark matter especially, is that it redefines the term "to see". Scientific technology has not yet been invented for us to see (in the traditional sense) what the particle looks like. This goes back to the saying "Seeing is believing" and the idea that people are often afraid of things which they cannot see. This causes some people to be skeptical of science, since there is no concrete evidence. Like Meredith mentioned, this creates sort of a vicious cycle: people don't trust scientists since they can't tangibly see the results, and scientists are therefore unable to get funding and backing to continue their research. This creates problems in advancing the knowledge in this area of science.
3. The only significant paradigm shift I've experienced recently was in connection with certain friendships. During this past summer, certain actions done hurt our friendship to a point where I consider it impossible to go back to "before". Not only did this shift my entire perspective on friendship in general, it made me go back and remember past experiences, how I had acted in those situations.
I agree with ZoeW, the powerpoint was very persuasive with the pictures. I liked how mr. p asked us what we saw first whenever we saw a slide though. It was cool to identify for ourselves those galaxy streaks bending around clusters, and it made it more convincing that, if all communities of knowers can identify the presence of dark matter, doesn't it make it true?
Anna talked about authority, and how that plays a large part in the IB students belief of dark matter. mr. p knows the broader picture, and was the only person in the auditorium who knew exactly what he was talking about, making authority an important persuader when presenting an abstract idea like dark matter. nobody in the room would take the theory seriously if i were to present it.
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