Q&A Session

Okay! It's first blogging assigment time! Yes, I managed to pull myself away from the Wii long enough to do something constructive. I'm not at all sure what I'm planning to construct, however.

Some Questions and Answers:

Dr. Priest indicated that math is SALT - a Science, Art, Language and Tool. Can you give examples of each?

We did, of course, just talk about this kind of thing today. So here are some examples:

A Science: According to dictionary dot com, anything which ends in "ology" is a science, and "ology" is a general term to describe the study of something. I suppose by that logic Psychology is, in fact, a science. So let's say my example for a science is psychology, the study of human behavior.

An Art: This is the vaguest category. An art would seem to be an action, preferably a useful action, which can be honed to a sharp degree and become something even more useful. Many unassuming things have been taken by a gifted individual and transformed into an art, like what artists (in a different sense) did with film in the early photography era, or like what Lance Armstrong did with winning the Tour de France.

A Language: A language is an arbitrary system of sounds or characters used for communication between humans. Math has the distinction of being a universal language, which has transcended cultures to become understandable to all. A similar thing (perhaps more similar than we know) is the language of music, which is also, to a more ancient degree, universal.

A Tool: Another broad category. If some item is used to help a human progress in his or her life, it's probably a tool. One of the base signs of sentient life is the use of tools. Even apes use rudimentary tools to do those silly things apes do. I'll give a piece of paper and a pencil as my example of a tool. Both are used in conjunction to write our ideas, or perhaps our math problems, down in a permanent (hopefully) location so we can forget it and come back later. It's a tool to augment (or weaken?) our memory.

On to the next:

Dr. Priest indicated that he believes math to be discovered, not invented or created. What did he mean by this? Being that, as indicated in the reading, a lot of mathematics is applicable to things in the physical world, what are some conclusions that we can reach following Dr. Priest's line of thought?

I remember Dr. Priest saying "I'll give God the credit" or something to that extent in conjunction with the above statement. Obviously he believes that math, like fire, is a natural force which has always been, and it only remains for a human with brains enough to use numbers to figure it out. Of course I'm only able to add small digits together before I stop paying attention, but for those of us from more of a left-brained position, math can be quite a bit more helpful than fire.

Do we place too much value on statistics?

A while ago, for another similar class, I read a book by Neil Postman titled Technopoly. It was the author's tirade on the prevalence of technology and the hold it has on the nation. Quite an interesting and eye-opening read (some of you who are taking other Honors courses may be familiar with it). One of the items he went off on was our unswerving loyalty to statistics. How many chapel speeches, essays, or docu-dramas have you seen or heard which open with some kind of shocking percentage? How many have you believed? Postman pointed out that these kind of things are a problem in that to so many people, they are the highest authority. Who can argue with numbers, facts, and bar graphs? Which brings me to my next answer...

Can we truly trust any information or theories that are based on statistics?

"Correlation, not causation." That has always been a true statement. Statistics and polls are useful, but we as discerning individuals have to be careful of becoming gluttons of information. What's really true? Where did this info come from? Who compiled it? Can we really ever have the right answer? Who knows. The bottom line is not to believe everything you hear (just like your mom told you, hopefully).

Thus, my interview is complete. But wait, there's more! I have to take a couple minutes to showcase one of the best things about the Nintendo Wii: Mii creating! In the Wii universe, there exists a system which allows one to create a tiny, cartoonish version of oneself for use with Wii Sports and, presumably, other forthcoming Nintendo games. Here is my Mii of myself:


Mmm. Cartoonish self.



That's not all, though. There is no limit to the amount of Miis which can populate your little Mii plaza, so naturally I've been making cute, balloon-headed versions of basically everyone I know.




Here's one you may recognize:







Look familiar?
















Unfortunately, "Picklesimer" didn't fit in the name box. But hey, our professor might show up on my baseball team or in the audience at my next bowling game! Hey!!