Technology that is changing our lives

Today we watched this cool video:

We also learnt how to activate subtitles and transcripts in different languages for TED talks...

Inspired by Mr. Rosling (who incidentally has a problem pronouncing "chair" - making it sound like "share"), we settled on the following 2 questions:

What technology is changing your life the most?

What technology are you most thankful for?

Share your thoughts and pictures here:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qLnriHtGzvi_M4wKorPczIEbnNiaKKCPHAhqgOBOLc4/edit?usp=sharing

Week 48 - Learning the lessons of WW2

As I'm away on Monday, here are the rest of the parts of Timothy Snyder's essay that we've been studying over the past few weeks:

Hitler's world may not be so far away - parts 1-6

By now, most of you have read parts 1-3 and as you're reading more quickly, I decided to put up the rest of the article in one go - parts 4-6 are waiting to be read.

Other students are working on their alternatives to Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Inspired by Snyder, we've also begun to look at visions of the future. 

Here is the TED talk we looked at on Wednesday:

Timothy Snyder lecture

As we're in the middle of reading a rather complex essay by Timothy Snyder, you might be interested in the following lecture he gave in Ohio Wesleyan University in 2013: 

Snyder, T. “The Global Holocaust: the Central European Past and Our Future,” Ohio Wesleyan University,
30 January 2013. https://youtu.be/bkdcFWUOc10?t=10m56s

Worth watching for the extra light he sheds on the same subject. Also, the questions and discussion after the lecture are also really good: https://youtu.be/bkdcFWUOc10?t=1h5m16s

Thanks to Isa who shared this!

Litteraturveckan - filmer

We all know that...



but here are some real movies (well short films) to enhance LITERATURE WEEK!


Supermodel survivor - Waris Dirie: https://youtu.be/-pWcOBTdUrc

Paulo Coelho on Luck, Coincidence, and Faith: https://youtu.be/kwkxzx6N6XE

George R.R. Martin Likes "Game Of Thrones" Fans To Be Afraid: https://youtu.be/ulUBDu_97z8

The role of the state

We continue our exploration of themes from Timothy Snyder's essay Hitler's world may not be so far away


In part 2, Snyder describes how state institutions were destroyed in Poland and the Baltic states, causing people to stop thinking reciprocally (i.e. taking care of one another) and begin to kill Jews.

For those working directly with the essay, here is your text: Hitlers world not so far away Part 2

For everyone else...

Many of you made mindmaps of needs, relating them to conditions for those needs.

What conditions did your mindmaps have in common?

In groups, look again at Maslow's hierarchy of needs and draw your own pyramid containing your needs. 

Which needs should the state be engaged in? In what ways can the state help fulfil your needs?

Which needs must you take responsibility for yourself?

Living space

In different ways we're going to be working with ideas from Timothy Snyder's essay, "Hitler's world may not be so far away".

For those of you working directly with the essay, here is part 1: Hitler's world not so far away Part 1

If you have difficulty reading the text, try the podcast: http://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2015/sep/24/podcast-audio-longread-hitler-ethics-history)

Source of the original essay:
Snyder, T. (2015, September 16). Hitler’s world may not be so far away. Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/16/hitlers-world-may-not-be-so-far-away

* * *

For everyone else, I'd like you to think about the concept of "Lebensraum" - the space and resources we need in order to survive.

1) Write down everything you can think of that you (and most other people) need in order to live a happy and fulfilled life.

2) Write down the conditions required for these needs to be fulfilled.

Blog, email or use good old pen and paper to share your answers!