What is the truth?

    Over the course of this term, I've been thinking a lot about the truth; how to find it, and how to know if it's accurate. That made me start thinking even more; what is the truth?

From Merriam-Webster Online:

the truth : the real facts about something : the things that are true

: the quality or state of being true

: a statement or idea that is true or accepted as true

     But what exactly does this mean? After all, what we see is always affected by our point of view. 

 Is there a way to escape from being subjected to point of view entirely or will we ever be able to see the world as it is, not as it appears. I think that, for the purpose of science, humans decided that "the truth" was whatever they could observe after eliminating as many different viewpoints as they could.

I'm not sure there's anything that a human can do to escape being subjected to a point of view. I've begun to wonder if "the truth" is anything real at all. Perhaps it's just something humans came up with to try to convince people that they are right. Maybe the real truth (now there's a good paradox) is completely unobservable to anyone.

War: My Thoughts On It

While looking at other people's blogs, I discovered that a lot of people mentioned war and its effects on humanity, whether in the present or past. Rather than write my thoughts in comments that would grow quite long, I decided to write a blog post of my own on the topic.

To start, I think that Good and Bad are subjective, so just about everything can be good or bad depending on your perspective. This got me thinking, when is war good? For starters, I think war would be good for whoever can make money off of it, namely companies that make things like weapons, ammunition, and heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and tanks. Also, fuel companies have potential to make a bundle from a war; it can't be cheap to run numerous fighter jets, submarines, trucks, tanks, and ships, can it? I mean, fuel efficiency doesn't exactly come to mind when thinking of tanks and hummers.

If combat vehicles use a lot of fuel, that means they're also polluting a lot, which is one of the many negative effects of war. Burning fossil fuels in vehicles like jets and trucks is a major cause of pollution, and contributes greatly to climate change. Also, many places are destroyed when bombs are dropped or land mines blown up. With the growing number of people in the world, I think people should want to protect what land we have, and not blow it up.

Perhaps the way war directly affects humans the most is in how many lives are lost. Not only do soldiers die in times of combat, but so do many innocent civilians. The lives lost just seem like such a waste, especially since all the energy used for killing and grieving for the dead could be put to use doing something more productive.

Overall, I think the negative effects of war out way the good things. The world will be an ideal place when fighting has stopped and nations and religions can be at peace with each other.

Pages 23-28

     I thought this section was as interesting, if not more so, than chapter 1. I still find it interesting that back in ancient Greece, schools were more about thinking and knowledge than just learning plain facts like it is today. As Mary said in the comments on my first post, the value place on knowledge has shifted, but where did it shift? Was there one event or a series of events that caused it to shift?

     Another thing that I thought was cool was the difference between definitions and explanations. I like how a definition is more of a confined answer, like a fact. An explanation is much broader, kind of like a definition that expands into more discussion, like a sort of conversation starter about the meaning of something. I think both are necessary, because definitions are nice to have, as they provide a quick answer to something, while explanations expand our thinking more about the subject.

Thoughts on the State of the Union Address

     Earlier this week I watched The President's State of the Union Address. I thought it was interesting and well-presented. I like how President Obama uses language that is familiar to the average person, and not more technical terms that not everyone may understand.

     I think, overall, it was pretty good. I think President Obama has the right ideas to improve the country, but he might run into trouble finding support to help him implement them since he only has two years left in office.

     One thing I don't really understand is why it's 2015, and we still don't have widespread renewable energy, equal pay for men and women, and higher minimum wages. I would think that people would come to realize that these are all things we need if we want to grow and develop as a nation and succeed in the world.

     This was the first year that I watched the State of the Union Address, and I think it helped me see where we are as a nation, which isn't something I think about every day. It sounds like there is great hope for the future, and I look forward to seeing it come.

Chapter 1

     I'm not really sure what I thought of chapter 1. Some of it was confusing, some of it was slightly boring, and some of was inspirational. I guess that's what makes up a school textbook.

     I find it interesting that so much of what we do today (and how we do it) seems to have started along the Mediterranean Sea around the year 1, give or take a few hundred years. Back then, it seems that there were schools everywhere and learning was a main focus. Now it seems that learning is, in general, something young students dread school. What changed?