20 Minutes of Argument over a Tree

Welcome to the Agglomeration

I love TOK. Forget all the times I've pointed out flaws and hypocrisies and stupid things about TOK. Ignore all the times I will point out all the unnecessary, pointless and completely and utterly incredulous things about TOK in the future. Because in today's lesson, I discovered something that I had suspected for a very long time. I love TOK.

What other class allows you to argue for 20 minutes about who would understand a tree?

What other class allows you to be pedantic for exacting definitions of words that would otherwise seem a completely redundant and impractical activity?

What other class allows you to watch videos that challenge the genre of science videos for 'Worst Videos shown in School ever'?

What other class allows you to not need to learn anything at all because everything is repeated every single lesson, albeit in different phrasing?

Perhaps most importantly, what other class encourages you to completely decimate someone else's point with substantive bricks and stone mortars?

The answer to these questions are Yes, No, No, Yes, Maybe, Look at that Tree, and Fish. But not in that order.

Today in TOK I found myself outnumbered in terms of opinion regarding a certain problem which I will pose here for any readers who might be interested in giving their opinion as well. Which is of course none of you. But being a person who loves doing things with a naivety not unlike that of a person who believes that you don't get wet if you stand in the rain because you're holding a green handbag, I'll pose the question here anyway.

"An artist, a poet, a biologist, an economist, a mathematician, and an economist (no typo, that's really in the question) come to a tree. Is there a way of deciding if any of these individuals can best understand this tree?"

I said Yes. My friends said No. After 20 minutes of painstakingly repetitive analysis, Devil's Advocate and intense questioning, the remaining friend in our heated conversation (the other had decided I was being a dickhead about 3 minutes ago and subsequently ejected himself from our conversation although he could still hear every word because he was the no man's land between my machine gun and my other friend's incoming soldier) conceded that my point was indeed correct. Ironically this was the point I had made about 2 seconds after reading the question, and it supports my motto of 'Always trust my extrapolations'.

It's not so much about the content as the experience, I suppose, as this is probably the first of many verbal armageddons that will be waged throughout the 1.5 years left of TOK. You win some, you lose some. At least when you lose, you get to make the other guy wonder why he wasted 20 minutes of his life and countless atoms of oxygen, even though you have 926 pieces of shrapnel splinters scattered throughout your entire body, rendering your entire essence useless.

I conclude with one last thing. May 15 - Philosophy Day at Ascham. Kill me now.

Till next time, may you agglomerate all your unpremeditated contemplations.