Session 1:
Click for video clip:
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_green_ ... ce_by_2030
Q1.Do you think the world is going to be a better place next year? In the next decade? Can we end hunger, achieve gender equality, halt climate change, all in the next 15 years? Why or why not?
Q2.What is the most desperate problem to be solve in Taiwan do you think that is stopping our society from progressing? Any good policies or arrangements you are approval of and are now elevating our social progress index?
Q3. How can you contribute to make the world a better place?
Session 2 (A previous article used by Sherry)
Your Sixth Sense
By Matthew Hutson, published on July 03, 2012
https://www.psychologytoday.com/article ... ixth-sense
The job of the conscious mind is to form a story out of all our sensations and reflections. Life as we experience it is not just a series of unconnected thoughts and events; it's a coherent narrative unfolding in an orderly universe. But sometimes we have experiences that don't fit our expectations and may even contradict what science has taught us is possible. In our attempts to accommodate such outlier phenomena, we often turn to unproven forces or entities. We start to believe in the paranormal.
One of the most common anomalous experiences is the sense of being stared at. When you see someone gazing directly at you, emotions become activated—it can be exciting or comforting or creepy—and this visceral charge can give the impression that gazes transfer energy. Further, if you feel uncomfortable and check to see whether someone is looking at you, your movement may draw attention—confirming your suspicions.
Another common experience is déjà vu, a phenomenon two in three people report. Most of us shrug it off as a mental hiccup. Indeed, researchers propose it's a sense of familiarity without a recollection of why something is familiar, or perhaps a timing issue in the brain where thoughts are experienced twice because of a slight wiring delay, lending the second occurrence an odd sensation of repetition. But some people believe it's a glimpse into a past life.
Pattern-finding is so central to survival and success that we see patterns everywhere, even in random data—a phenomenon called apophenia. We spot faces in clouds and hear messages in records played backward. And while we expect some level of order in the world, on occasion our pattern-spotting gets away from us and makes a connection we wouldn't expect. When that happens, we demand, at least subconsciously, an explanation.
It turns out that our favorite kinds of explanations involve "agents"—beings capable of intentional action. The agent could be a person, a god, or a superintelligent robot. We're biased to blame even simple events on agents—spotting them or their footprints allows us to manage them if they are dangerous: It is better to mistake a twig for a snake than to mistake a snake for a twig.
Unconscious pattern recognition underlies a variety of automatic processes, including those we associate with accurate intuitions or a sixth sense (see II Psychic Abilities on page 2). Sensing danger in a combat zone or suddenly "knowing" that a partner is cheating or a friend is pregnant are instances in which we've pieced a pattern together wholly unconsciously. The suddenness with which it bursts into our consciousness can feel as if the hunch is born of clairvoyance.
Some people are too good at spotting patterns. In the run-up to his killing of John Lennon, Mark David Chapman noted all kinds of coincidences and saw them as signs to proceed. He once drew 50 connections between Holden Caulfield's time in New York City in The Catcher in the Rye and his own life there prior to the murder. He may have been suffering from schizophrenia, a disease characterized by overactive dopamine transmission. This neurotransmitter helps us find meaningful connections between things. But the same excessive pattern-finding that sends some people off the rails can lead others to be creative, as insight requires yoking distantly related ideas.
Questions for Discussion:
Session 2
Q1: The article observed that “the sense of being stared at” and “déjà vu” are two common anomalous experiences. Have you ever had such kinds of experiences? Do you have any paranormal experiences which cannot be explained by science? Please share them with your group members.
Q2: Further to question 1, what is your explanation for those events or phenomena?
Q3: Do you think you are a rational or a gut-trusting thinker? When you need to make a decision, do you usually rely on your rational thought/known facts or follow your instinct (if they are in conflict)?
Q4: Do you believe in extrasensory perception (a.k.a. ESP, a category of phenomena that includes precognition, remote viewing, and mental telepathy)? Do you believe in the sense of psychokinesis (PK)?
Q5: Some say that intuitive people tend to be more curious and imaginative, which makes them be more creative. Do you think so? In your opinions, what are the factors that affect creativity?
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agenda:
3:45 ~ 4:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
4:00 ~ 4:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
4:10 ~ 4:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
4:50 ~ 5:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
5:10 ~ 5:15pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
5:15 ~ 5:55pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
6:00 ~ 6:20pm Summarization (20 mins)
6:20 ~ 6:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ********************************************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間：請準時 4:00 pm 到 ~ 約 6:30 pm 左右結束
星期六聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
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注意事項：
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給新朋友的話：
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(10/24 Sat.)Making the world a better place (host: Sunny)
Re: (10/24 Sat.)Making the world a better place (host: Sunny
Excellent topic - Making the world a better place!!!
To be honest, just this subject itself with the TED Talk is enough for the whole two sessions. So much to think about the social progress index, and so many expressions that we can delve into. I particulary like this one:
"Each extra dollar of GDP is buying less and less social progress. And with more and more of the world's population living on this part of the curve, it means GDP is becoming less and less useful as a guide to our development.
How can we truly measure the human society wellbing? GDP is an indicator, but it definitely does not give us the whole picture. Social progress index provides a more well-rounded view about the human wellbeing. It would be interesting to know where Taiwan stands in terms of the social progress index.
To be honest, just this subject itself with the TED Talk is enough for the whole two sessions. So much to think about the social progress index, and so many expressions that we can delve into. I particulary like this one:
"Each extra dollar of GDP is buying less and less social progress. And with more and more of the world's population living on this part of the curve, it means GDP is becoming less and less useful as a guide to our development.
How can we truly measure the human society wellbing? GDP is an indicator, but it definitely does not give us the whole picture. Social progress index provides a more well-rounded view about the human wellbeing. It would be interesting to know where Taiwan stands in terms of the social progress index.
Re: (10/24 Sat.)Making the world a better place (host: Sunny
The idea that we can "grow" out of our problems have been championed by many, but this TED talk has numbers to suggest otherwise. I for one would love to see the three descriptions Mr. Green puts out for well-being - safe, healthy, and free – as being independent of the wealth factor on the policy level. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous book, “Why We Can't Wait,” speaks to the conviction that civil rights need to be realized NOW, before those oppressed somehow have to earn enough to afford them. A person, and indeed a nation, deserves to be safe, healthy, and free, and should aim for those goals, even when they're “poorer” than others.