TOK Lesson        2/21/2017

•1. Which of these claims do you regard as being scientific? Justify your answers. What are your criteria?

During the first seven days after birth, it is dangerous to expose a child to the outdoors or to strangers.

= (the immune system of the child might be very weak and could it pose serious health risks prematurely exposing it to a bacteria filled environment)

When a man and a woman both have sickle-cell anemia, it is dangerous for them to have children

= (sickle cell anemia is a recessive mutation. If both parents have it, there is 100% chance that their offspring will have the same disease. Sickle cell anemia is responsible with many circulatory system issues and can present serious health risks

Smoking cigarettes is dangerous

= (it has been proven that tobacco is a carcinogen and there is a scientifically established cause-effect relationship between cigarette use and certain types of cancer. All components in cigarettes are known to be toxic )

A live, non-insulated electric wire is dangerous to touch.

= (based upon our knowledge on how electricity behaves, it is well known that electrons take the path of least resistance and will flow through the human body into the ground because of its water based composition. Depending on the current, the water in the body heats up and expands, leading to ruptures which can be fatal)

Driving after drinking alcohol is dangerous.

= (alcohol is absorbed in the bloodstream and affects certain areas in the brain. This decreases awareness and reduces threat correspondence which could lead to road accidents when driving)

•2. Suggest how each of them could have come into existence. What sort of thinking processes might have been involved?

Each of them probably came into existence based off of experiences and observations. The scientific ones just underwent rigorous testing and analyses while the non-scientific ones where largely created due to generalizations or other forms of irrational conclusions.

•3. Is it possible to construct very different, but equally believable routes by which these claims could have come into existence? Compare different claims

The scientific method is critically acclaimed and thought in all credible education systems for a reason. This is because it provides the most credible results which can be analyzed and used for further knowledge. Other routes may also be believable but cannot provide the same standard form with any experiment can be tested against.

•4. If science and taboos are both laws, then how, if at all, do these types of laws differ?

Only scientifically viable laws can withstand the scrutiny of the scientific method. Therefore, they are more credible and can be used as anchor points of society to improve and develop. Laws that have not been proven beneficial simply serve as an obstacle to human development and the greater good.