WELCOME
TEK TOK THEORY
Steven Monahan
Founder CEO
Senior Global Financial Experience
TEDx Mentor
Prior Sr Global Financial Executive
TEK = KNOWLEDGE OF TECHNOLOGY
In the wide range of knowledge questions can be formulated around modern topics like technology, AI, and digital currencies. These topics often fall under the "Knowledge and Technology" theme in the IB TOK curriculum or can be explored through the lens of existing Areas of Knowledge like the human sciences (economics for digital coins) or natural sciences (AI algorithms).
Here are examples of knowledge questions for each area:
Technology (General)These questions focus on the influence of technology on knowledge production and human cognition. Examples include:
- How does the internet change what it means to know something?
- How do different media (like social media vs. books) affect how knowledge is produced, shared, and understood?
- Are technologies like telescopes and microscopes just tools to enhance our senses, or do they offer new ways of perceiving the world?
- How has technology impacted the preservation of collective memory and historical knowledge?
- To what extent can personal biases be integrated into software and algorithms?
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
These questions often explore the boundaries of machine capability and human understanding. Some examples are:
- Can a machine truly "know" something, and if so, in what sense?
- Is AI limited to processing information, or can it genuinely acquire knowledge?
- What ethical criteria should guide the programming of AI systems, such as in autonomous vehicles?
- How does AI's ability to enhance written work affect authorship and academic honesty?
- Given issues like "hallucinations" and opaque decision-making, how reliable is knowledge produced by AI?
Digital Currencies and Blockchain
These questions can link to the Human Sciences (specifically economics) and Ethics. Examples include:
- How can we justify the value of a digital currency not backed by a government or physical assets?
- How does the decentralized nature of blockchain challenge traditional views on who owns or controls financial knowledge and data?
- To what extent should ethical constraints and government regulation apply to the pursuit of knowledge in digital finance?
- Can the significant price volatility of digital coins impact our ability to establish reliable economic knowledge or make predictions?
TOK = THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
Theory of Knowledge (TOK), or epistemology, is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, origin, scope, and limits of knowledge. It fundamentally explores the question, "How do we know what we claim to know?"
TOK is also a core, mandatory component of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme, designed to encourage critical thinking and reflective learning across different academic disciplines.
Core Concepts in the Theory of Knowledge.
Philosophical and academic discussions of the theory of knowledge center around several key concepts:
- Definition of Knowledge: Knowledge is traditionally defined in philosophy as justified true belief (JTB). This means for someone to "know" a proposition, they must believe it, the belief must be true, and they must have sufficient justification for that belief. However, this definition has been challenged by "Gettier cases" and alternative theories exist, such as reliabilism and virtue epistemology.
- Justification: This refers to the evidence or good reasons a person has for holding a belief. Epistemologists debate whether justification depends on internal mental states (internalism) or external factors like reliable belief-forming processes (externalism).
- Sources of Knowledge: Common sources of knowledge discussed include:
- Perception: Knowledge gained through the five senses.
- Reason: Knowledge acquired through logic and rational thought, independent of sensory experience (a priori knowledge).
- Memory: Recalling information and past experiences.
- Testimony: Knowledge obtained from others through communication, such as in a conversation, book, or newspaper.
- Introspection: Awareness of one's own internal mental states.
- Skepticism: This is the philosophical position that questions the possibility of human knowledge or the ability to attain it with certainty.
TOK in the International Baccalaureate (IB)In the IB Diploma Programme, the TOK course provides a framework for students to reflect on knowledge itself and how it is constructed. Key elements of the IB TOK curriculum include:
- Ways of Knowing (WOKs): The specific methods through which we acquire and interpret knowledge, including language, sense perception, emotion, and reason.
- Areas of Knowledge (AOKs): Specific branches of knowledge that have distinct methods and norms for producing knowledge, such as mathematics, the natural sciences, the arts, history, and ethics.
- Assessment: Students are assessed through an externally examined essay and an internally assessed exhibition, which replaced the previous presentation component in 2022.
The overarching goal of the TOK course is to develop students into self-aware, critical, and open-minded thinkers who can navigate complex real-world issues by questioning assumptions and evaluating evidence from diverse perspectives.
