TOK Essay Title #3
Does it matter if our acquisition of knowledge happens in “bubbles” where some information and voices are excluded? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge
This is a prompt that I'm not a huge fan of. I don't like this one because usually a prompt will let a couple of ideas come into my mind. While I can think of reasons why echo chambers (bubbles) are bad, it may take a bit of research to think about why they're good. Remember that you need to provide perspectives on both sides of the issue! More thoughts and a video will be uploaded shortly. If you want extra help, tutoring, or proofreading, click here to have me read your essay!
Evidence from my Video
My Notes:
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This is the prompt I don’t like. But it’s very timely.
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This is a Yes/No prompt, but don’t organize it too simplistically.
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Think about terms of scale. Yes it matters…but how much. Approach this like a To What Extent prompt even though it isn’t.
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Your conclusion should come up with a yes or no answer. While you can have some caveats, I’d try to take a strong stand.
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Echo Chambers- understand these and how social media specifically creates a bubble of knowledge. Actually research this concept!
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Obvious answer: ‘yes! It matters!’ Try and think about ways that it wont matter.
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Watch my essay organization videos! Make sure that all perspectives are explored and come with challenging perspectives.
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Easy answers: fake news, qanon, social media communities etc. Those could be related to political science, which is a discipline of the human sciences. Just make sure, however, that you aren’t just pulling from current events but actually relate things inside of an AOK.
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Research the concept of false balance. This is when we provide a voice to a small minority, and it makes it seem like their beliefs are more prevalent than they actually are.
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In thinking about history or the sciences, you might focus on people who were in small, exclusive communities that came up with important discoveries. For example Barbara McClintock, when shut outside of the bubble of science because she was a woman, said that she was able to do a lot of research because her voice was excluded. That’s an interesting idea. You can research her Nobel Prize acceptance speech for more on this. I’ll link it in the description.