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Steven Pinker and Yo-Yo Ma both touch upon the points of how science plays a major role in our society, but the solutions we need to take in order to fully understand what’s going on around us. I believe that we must educate ourselves in different ways other than solely based off of scientific facts to better understand ourselves through the eyes of others. Pinker addresses this issue by writing, “To understand the world, we must cultivate work-arounds for our cognitive limitations, including skepticism, open debate, formal precision, and empirical tests, often requiring feats of ingenuity.” This means we need to educate our mindsets to work around the limits we have on perceptions by adapting new outlooks. Pinker notes that this process of opening our minds through the eyes of other requires a high amount of effort, but can be achieved through something as simple as a debate or a test. Ma has a simpler approach of expanding our minds by saying, “To be able to put oneself in another’s shoes without prejudgement is an essential skill.” He goes on to elaborate on this by noting how the usage of art can give you a visual perception on how someone else’s life may be going. If we can simply try our best to see through the eyes of others, that will give us a far stronger outlook on our own lives rather than simply trying to depict that through science. Although Pinker doesn’t go into as much detail on the ideas of art and science coinciding, both him and Ma can agree that we cannot simply use our own judgement and knowledge to generate and perceive information from the field of science around us. We must be able to educate alternatives for our limitations by putting ourselves in the shoes of others.

 

One part I immediately picked up from Steven Pinker’s essay that I could relate to was the idea of having the capability to simplify information that can be difficult to understand. An example of this is being in college and going into the medical field, I know there are going to be plenty of rigorous classes along the way, many of which taught by professors who’ve been through years of schooling, some even with their Doctorate. My hope is that when I’m being taught a difficult subject or idea, that the Professor has the capability to convey the topic in a simpler fashion than they know. Pinker touches upon this topic when discussing scientists and their vast knowledge of the world when he says, “When reading these thinkers, I often long to travel back in time and offer them some bit of twenty-first-century freshman science that would fill a gap in their arguments or guide them around a stumbling block.” He’s essentially stating that he wishes these brilliant scientists could be able to simplify their understandings on a topic to something he’s already learned rather than completely new complicated information being thrown at him that makes no sense. Going back to the last paragraph comparing Pinker and Ma’s thoughts, these scientists and Doctors need to learn how to put themselves in the shoes of those they’re teaching. Unfortunately, many of them are so bright, that they cannot seem to teach the topic on a smaller more simple scale. It takes years of hard work and talent to be able to get to where these professionals are but along the way, it seems as though they’re never taught how to convey the message back to those in a younger generation that obviously don’t contain the knowledge on that subject that they do.

 

Overall, I thought this text went into a ton of detail in regards to the current issues surrounding neuroscience and modern physics and how the human mind interprets different ideas whether they’re simple or complicated. It took Lehrer quite a while to hit home on his main point that art should be incorporated into science, but he does a nice job at going in depth with the current issues around the brain and how they can be resolved. He starts off talking about art in a small piece when he discusses the Bohr model and the visual representation that it gives us. He then goes off discussing how there’s still much more to learn about the universe than we think and how our unknowns haven’t receded very much. He then notes that neuroscience has to develop an intimate understanding of higher order mental events which seemed confusing at first, but it made sense when he put the concepts of arts and science together later to elaborate how these unresolved problems can be solved. He states that art can teach us who we are and what everything surrounding us is which is something that you have to attain from both art and science.

 

Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: Establishes a limit to the precision at which something such as particles can be known (Dictionary).

“The bridging principle” (You may have to look at the text itself, for this definition.): Used to connect one idea to another? (art vs. science).

Reductionism: The practice of describing a complex issue in terms of facts held to represent a more fundamental level (Dictionary).

Synapse: A junction between 2 cells which is composed of a minute gap across them in which impulses can pass via diffusion of a neurotransmitter (Dictionary).

Epiphenomenon: A secondary effect that can arise but not influence a certain process or experiment (Dictionary).

Holistic perspective: Different factors taken into account to help generate a picture of a certain culture as a whole (Study.com).

My annotations I feel like are improving. I was able to use my annotations to summarize, ask questions, and define a few words here and there.

 

The essay “Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education” by Yo-Yo Ma was originally published on the World Post and was launched in January of 2014 in Davos, Switzerland. I noticed in Ma’s bio that he began performing at 5 years old, won more than 17 grammy awards, and produced more than 90 albums. He graduated from Harvard University and has won numerous awards throughout his career. Based on his bio, I can tell he’s a successful musician and could probably give in depth advice on how art and music has changed his life.

My personal reading experience on this essay was fine. I don’t care for the department of arts by any means in fact, I never supported a mandatory taking of an art and music class during junior high and high school years, however I felt as though Ma brought up a good point toward the end of his paper when he discussed the idea of being more cultured. My purpose of reading this text was to get a different perspective of learning beside the basic STEM program and after the read, I slightly support his ideas of STEAM more than I would have before reading this.

Ma basically begins the essay giving some background on why he feels as though our country is so “uneducated” and how we shouldn’t just focus on “innovation”, rather place ourselves in someone else’s shoes and see their perspective and try to understand that. He discusses how art can teach people “values of collaboration, flexibility, imagination, and innovation” which is tied back to his point of changing the STEM program to STEAM in incorporate the ideas of art into everyone’s life. People who have a well balanced education in their own major plus the adapted cultures of others will have reached a point of equilibrium which is a major concept he repeatedly uses in his essay. At the end he provides examples of countries that have “shared their knowledge but are also curious and eager to learn other forms of expression” which builds off his point of equilibrium. There are many more ways of life to people than we see on the outside which is why we need to put ourselves in their shoes in order to get an entirely new culture and perspective on life.

 

Posited: Assuming as a fact or putting forward as the basis of an argument (Dictionary).

Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of others (Dictionary).

Invigorate: Giving a certain type of strength or energy to someone or something (Dictionary).

I have to say I was a big fan of “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott because I felt like it really distressed my worries about having to write a really good sounding first paper with little to no mistakes. I understand now that the first draft is meant to have tons of errors and it’s the second draft that should be used to compile all those pieces into one structure. For me, my first draft somewhat compared to the ones that she was describing, particularly when she mentioned the opening paragraph taking up a whole page. My strategy for making my first draft was to try writing more than what was expected just to get all my ideas out there and then trim some parts of my essay back to make it sound more clear and concise. Overall, I enjoyed the reading, especially the sense of humor Lamott uses in her discussion.

 

 

After reading my peers comments and having the peer review in class, I definitely know that I need to reorganize parts of my essay and cut back a little on some of my thoughts by trimming down words and combining paragraphs. My biggest goal obviously is to convert my paper from a “shitty first draft” to a coherent well sounding final piece of work that is clear to any reader.

 

In order to achieve this goals I feel that I must:

• Restructure my opening paragraph so it goes from general to specific rather than going from general to specific and back to general
• Change around the order of my paragraphs and read it aloud which was recommended by one of my peers
• Consider combining a couple of my paragraphs that are very similarly related and cut back words from each one so it doesn’t take up an entire page.
• Make sure that I don’t start a sentence off with a quote, but instead, address the author’s name and then list the quote followed by analysis and synthesis
• Try not to end my paragraphs with another claim unless it directly relates to my next paragraph. Starting with a claim sounds more professional than finishing with one.
• Make sure my reader understands my references such as “the furniture” from Erard before I mention it in my own words.

 

Out of these goals I’ve listed, there are some I feel will me more challenging to achieve than others. I think changing the structure of my opening paragraph will be alright because one of my peers listed the order I could set it up in and I liked the way that looked. Changing and combining paragraphs might be a pain, but if it doesn’t sound any better, then I can always revert it back to the original. The claim and quote issues will be minor tweaks which I can revise simply by reading back over my work carefully. The hardest goal for me to challenge myself with is the last one which is making sure the reader understands what exactly I’m referring to before I refer to it. I like to write with an advanced style of language that may not settle as easy with peers as it does with an instructor, however I did notice there were some parts of my essay that probably wouldn’t sound clear to the majority of the audience reading it. I plan to go back and make my essay as clear and organized as possible while still hitting home on all my claims to tie back to the thesis.

When I was giving feedback, I definitely found it more challenging to come up with global edits rather than local edits, however it will hopefully be more beneficial to the writer. I’ve noticed that in using global edits, I’ve had to dig deeper in my comments than simply reading and correctly small errors in spelling or grammar. Global editing requires you not only to read the text, but interpret it and be able to find areas that the writer should expand on. Most of my edits were about expanding on the text and trying to incorporate more examples from Geary, Erard, and Khullar’s texts instead of just making a point and moving on. This I would find helpful if I were a writer, especially if my word count didn’t meet the expectations because it gives you the opportunity to expand upon thoughts rather than just simply making a simple spelling or grammatical correction. Global editing it appears can really do a nice job at turning a C paper into an A paper compared to the local edits which can just tidy up very small errors that might not even have an affect on your overall grade. It’s essential to get the deepest feedback that you can whether it be taking out words or expanding upon others. Nobody wants a short essay without background but at the same time, people don’t want to read a 10 page paper that rambles and reiterates the same ideas over and over again. Global editing allows you to find that happy medium on the right about of details in the essay by simply looking at sentences that should be added to and sentences that should be removed. In my revision, I tried my best to give detailed insights on where the writer could expands their thoughts and I was able to provide specific quotes for some of their points that they could add in.

 

 

          Imagine living in a world where you have the capabilities to not only control your own thoughts, but to control the thoughts of those around you. Some may claim that “It’s impossible to control someone” which is entirely true physically, but metaphorically, this idea becomes a whole different ball game. Using the language of metaphors, you possess an entirely new set of abilities with the English language. You may simply use metaphors to compare two objects to one another or to something totally different, yet you also have the ability to completely alter someone’s perception on a specific topic for the rest of their life. Metaphors offer us a world of tools that we can establish through our vocals, hands, body, and mind. The most interesting aspect of metaphors that I find is how often we use them, yet how often we forget to use them when it matters the most such as a persuasive essay or a debate. Writers around the world frequently incorporate metaphors into their papers or novels to offer a rollercoaster ride of their topic and still we read their words, try to make our best perception of them but fail to interpret and understand their true meaning and continue on to the next chapter. I’m nearly certain, the metaphor assimilated into that last sentence was missed as well. This is the problem with those of us who read and communicate worldwide which is the simple statement that we’re missing out on the bigger picture. We’ll spend hours reading a book or talking to a friend, but in the end, how much have we actually gotten out of that reading or discussion and do we have the memory to be able to retain it down the road? Did we visualize the text and be able to generate a response? Did we absorb the words our friend delivered and did they intake our own input? The best way to approach this issue is to find the metaphor. That said, take a moment to slow down the pace, reread the text, and document important compelling points that could invoke a response. When communication with someone, listen to them rather than thinking about what you have to say next. Metaphors give us the opportunity to stay fully engaged with our reading and communications to completely gain the maximum understanding of whatever topic you’re on. These metaphors are a gift that we need to unpack slowly by carefully unwrapping them rather than going straight through the packaging and damaging that gift that will quickly be forgotten unless fixed by re-reading or asking questions when communicating. As soon as we have the capability to recognize these metaphors around us to be able to interpret and reuse them, we’ll then be able to turn the tides to shape our own world around metaphors. We not only have the ability to better understand those around us, but we have the ability to change those surroundings forever simply through the power of the metaphor.

 

          Metaphors are a wonderful tool in which we can use to generate a world of new ideas and perceptions about any topic out there. They help us simplify society by assigning certain aspects into certain categories. All pets are fun but all jobs are bad. We use metaphors far more often then we think and more frequently do we read about them. Authors and writers use the power of the metaphor to generate a list of ideas that connect characters to certain categories which sways the readers opinion on their thoughts on certain characters. We as humans come up with metaphors on the daily and continue to create new ideas to give each other new perceptions on aspects of life. However, metaphors aren’t all positive. Some may ask, “What are the downsides to metaphors?” And although I would love to respond to that with, “sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me” unfortunately, words often have a greater pain that goes far more in depth than simply a cut on the wrist. When we’re in difficult situations, metaphors only seem to knock us down even more instead of picking us up and giving us the outlook on life that we need to see. Sometimes, we assume that what we say to attempt to cheer someone up is actually bringing them down and because of the metaphor, we are no longer in control of what we say, because even if something may be false, it also happens to be metaphorically true. Therefore, it’s nearly impossible to get every single person off board with associating two negative ideas against someone. The metaphorical dictionary will always work against the English dictionary of the way we think because essentially, everything works in reverse. Anyone who’s ever been in a difficult situation, specifically the hospital, understands that they have a way or multiple ways of trying to look at that idea to push through it, although the world around us who may view it in an entirely different manner, wish to alter our outlook and change the way we feel. This may have no physical impact, but mentally, there’s almost no climb out of that hole. It’s simply like being in an argument where you have one idea about a topic, but the people around you all view it differently and because of a certain “metaphorical rule”, they are no longer willing to cooperate to suit the best of your needs. Anyone who’s ever dealt with health issues or know someone who’s dealt with this type of hardship must take action in order to better our lives as well as those around us. The only way to pursue and achieve this goal of trying to restore our mental health through the use of language is to recognize how often we use metaphors, understand their power with how they change our perspectives, and realize that even the brightest people in the world such as medical professionals have to change their language.