Month: June 2020

A room of collaborative ones await

Yet someone defensive may turn the room to hate

Like a chicken in a red zone

We can turn to detest by one alone

A positive role model can make reform

In a vulnerable situation by the swarm

Defensiveness does not protect

Nor will our fears deflect

To end it by the whole

We must follow our three goals

At first we must bring it to light

Even though it may feel uptight

Slowing down is the next step

But make sure not to over-prep

To check your negative self-talk

Allows teamwork in a flock

Last we must remember to make a new start

As an attempt to put our mistakes to heart

Many times, we as a society tend to be like chickens. Now you may say, we as humans are more intelligent or more caring or whatever. But too many times we, humans on this earth, act ignorant and aren’t willing to collaborate. We will see the outcome of this in two different groups of chickens.

Chickens often want to be the hen which lays the most eggs. How they do this is they peck other hens who are minding their own business and trying to lay eggs. Their unwillingness to collaborate eventually led to them having a group of them get killed or almost got pecked to death. Many times, we too, simply refuse to collaborate, just like those chickens, we will peck each other and cause the ultimate and tragic destruction of humanity. We need to collaborate and work together.

If we do this, just like the other group of chickens who worked together and made 265% more eggs than the previous year. We will make our community 265% better than the previous year! Perhaps best explained by MJ’s quotation: “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”. We have to realize that the only way to truly succeed is to work together!

Coronavirus is spreading fast and many want to help, but how? There are many ways, but some of the most interesting and many are trying to do is to find a cure or create some sort of robot or technology that will help lower the spread. This comes with a downside though, as many people are doing it, there are bound to be some bad apples. Many will purposely or accidentally put some sort of bias in their creations, try not to.
First, are you listening to experts and vulnerable communities? You should try to see what problems need the most solving at the moment. Also browse social media and see if people even need you. Check and see what they want or need most. Also, find credible sources or experts. This will help you decide whether or not something is beneficial or harmful.
Next, check to see if your tech does what it says it will do. Does it work always? Or only in simulated environments? Is is scientifically backed up? Or do you only say it is. You must know all your technology’s weaknesses and abilities. You must always check if what you are saying is completely true.
Lastly, who does your tech give power to? Does it benefit everyone? Or if someone owns it do they have all the power. More people are skeptical about new tech. See if it enables the government to spy or take advantage of consumers. You must always see if your tech is truly beneficial.
In conclusion, if are you making tech, you must always check if it is truly helping. You must see if it is needed. Also, you must check if it does what it says it will do. Lastly you must decide whether or not if it is helping everyone, and if it can be taken advantage of. If you want to make tech to help, you must check for every possible problem.

In this Ted talk the guy is talking about how people can become extremely defensive. When you start to become defensive you can’t think properly and you can even get everyone else to be defensive . I think that he makes a good point saying that there are many ways that you can see that you start to become defensive. I think that sometimes I am defensive. My problem is that I can’t notice my own defensiveness.
He said that if you are able to see that you are becoming defensive then you could easily stop. How can you notice your own defensiveness though? A good idea that he said is to figure out the thing that you do when you do become defensive, and to use it as an alarm system and then when you are able to notice these things then you can stop right away.
I think that some signals for me would be that I sometimes start to raise my voice, sometimes I might start breathing very heavily, or I might stand up very suddenly. If I am able to note to myself that these things are happening then I can stop myself from becoming defensive. There are probably many other ways to stop yourself from being defensive but this works the best for me.
In conclusion, I think that this talk was very good it talked about how people become defensive and how to stop it. He talks about how being defensive effects how you are able to cooperate with others. This talk will probably help me a lot in controlling myself.

The TedX talk is about how Jim Tamm talks about how one of the first steps to collaborating is to stop being defensive. He relates to a story of how chickens can peck their possible rivals to death in order to get the top seat.

I can unquestionably relate to this and have been defensive more times than I can enumerate. I did get confused about the chickens, that instead of killing each other, why not just stay equal, or take turns as top dog? Staying in the green zone can be a challenge. He says that there are lots of examples of ways you can calm yourself down. These are logical ideas, and I have tried these before. They work. There are some ideas that I have never thought of, and have been nonplus about how many there are, I will surely try some of these out.

I like how he gives an example of how quickly you can turn from the green zone into the red zone. He says, “…as you exhale, try too become one with this paper…”, then suddenly yanks it and rips it, and turns it into a smoldering piece of wreckage. (Not really smoldering) I think there might be another hint. It may not just be yourself, but also how that a diaphanous piece of paper can turn into a mutilated piece worth zilch.

To recapitulate, I think Jim Tamm is a brilliance, and I am astounded to see so many examples he can give. I perfectly enjoyed this didactic talk. I would definitely endorse this to everyone.

-Justin

Tech could hurt the fight against Coronavirus if we’re not careful. Here are the four questions we have to ask ourselves. Are you listening to experts and vulnerable communities? Can you join existing efforts? Can your technology do what you say it’s going to do? How does your technology shift power?

The first question is “Are you listening to experts and vulnerable communities?” It is about understanding the social context, about knowing what is helpful or harmful. You have to find credible or reliable sources. The second question, “Can you join existing efforts?”, is about searching for a team that can answer all three of these questions. You also have to find a project that involves experts, community involvement, and with ethical frameworks in place.

The third question is “Can your technology do what you say it’s going to do?” This is about if your solution improves the real world, or if it only works in some environments. You have to complete and test your work in a certain timeframe, and you will also need all the resources to finish your project, or you will need to abandon it. The last question is, “How does your technology shift power?” You have to consider who your projects shifts power from, and to. You have to think about who will have access to your technology and if it helps vulnerable communities and those who are most in need.

Being defensive is a part of an average person’s life. Everybody gets angry and frustrated unless you’re a complete optimist who can even find a positive point about accidentally falling off a cliff and dying. However, defending yourself from others isn’t a good thing. In fact, you’re not even defending yourself from somebody else! You’re defending yourself from your fears that you don’t want to be with. A recent study at Purdue University has shown that the more collaborative and friendly you are, the better your chance of survival is among your group. If you do not trust others, you will probably get into a fight. This means your survival chances are very low, for both you and your community/society. Also, when you get defensive, you start to have more stubborn thinking, and then you just become stupid. You can’t do anything that requires high IQ, like problem-solving. Once you’re defensive, you won’t be able to see the world positively.

Now that we know that being defensive is bad, how do we not be defensive, or how do we notice and stop it as soon as possible? Make a warning system! Figure out the signs of you getting defensive, then use that as a warning that you are becoming defensive. When you realize you’re getting defensive, calm down, take a walk, listen to some nice classical music, or do whatever you want that helps you relax.

I personally learned a lot from the Ted Talk, like when the guy said when we become defensive, there are actually a lot of ways to show you are.
When your body turns into defensive mode, your body might not even know it. But there are symptoms, sort of like a when you get sick, you sneeze. The “symptoms ” included playing poor me of withdrawing deadly silence. I realized I became defensive because sometimes I withdraw into silence. Other symptoms might include wanting the last word of high charge of energy.
Luckily, the speaker listed a entire list of ways to settle down your defensive mode of get back to regular. Some of the easy ways was to like take a few deep breaths of go hang out in the bathroom for a few minutes, which really surprised me. The first step of the list he included was to acknowledge it. Next was to slow down, like stop talking. Then is to check your self talk. I guess make sure you don’t say I am stupid of I am the worst. Also, create a action step. Do something to try to stop your defensive mode. The last step us to start over.
Another interesting thing the talker said was to about the chickens. He and his friend had two groups, some that could cooperate, and some that wanted to be the best buy pecking the other. His friend put the chickens that can cooperate in one cage while the other chickens were put into another cage. What happened was very interesting, the green side chickens, the ones who could cooperate produced a lot of eggs while the red zone chickens, the other one produced very little eggs. In fact, there was only two red zone chickens left, the others were pecked to death.
Therefore, this ted talker explained what it was like to be in the red zones, not being able to cooperate.

At a first glance, a story can seem boring and meaningless, but the theme can have a deeper meaning. Every story possesses its own unique themes and main ideas. The short story, “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, is about a family of African Americans. The narrator is an African American mother, and she tries her best to help her daughter Dee out. Dee is an extremely spoiled girl who is not grateful for anything she receives. There are many themes presented within this piece of writing. Three themes that were highlighted in the story and which can apply to the real world are the Golden Rule and how one should be grateful for themselves.

The Golden Rule is the rule that one should treat others the way they want to be treated. There were three main occasions in which Dee’s behavior topped the roof. First, when their old house burnt down, Dee felt happy because she did not enjoy living in the other house. Dee is selfish when assuming that her family members do not care about their house also. Secondly, when her mother calls her Dee, she informs her that she has changed her name to Wangero. Her mother then tells her Dee is a name passed down from generations, but Dee does not care. Lastly, Dee does not accept education. Her mother and many of the members in church worked day and night in order to earn the money to bring Dee to school, but she refuses to attend. Neither her sister nor mother have gotten a proper education, and Dee simply denies such a great opportunity. These terrible actions truly prove that Dee treats others terribly. At the end of the story when Dee leaves, her mother and sister are happy that she is gone. Looking back at the golden rule, Dee’s terrible ways of treatment towards others backfired, and she ended up being erased from her family. The golden rule can also be applied into real life. When a child is being bullied in school, revenge is the only thought on their mind. When teachers are being nice, the students will want to give them gifts. These are just a few of the many ways the golden rule can be applied into reality.

Gratefulness is the appreciation of what somebody possesses, and it is extremely important. In an uncountable amount of situations, Dee disapproves of what her relatives give her. Dee does not accept education, a home, her family members, love. All of these are too impossible to reject for a sane individual. Gratefulness is such an important ability to possess in real life, there is even a holiday dedicated towards it, Thanksgiving. On most people’s thankful list, possessions such as a home, a computer, friends, and family are the most common. These “items” are to be “loved” by the thankful being. If Dee had to write her own list of possessions she is thankful (Dee is not thankful for anything basically) for, it would mostly contain the same list as an average person, but the items would be used to impress others rather than used to help oneself. This is the difference between Dee and someone else. Being grateful can even strengthen bonds between people, and as Gordon B. Hinckley, an american religious leader, once said, “Gratitude creates the most wonderful feelings. It can resolve disputes. It can strengthen friendships.” Not having gratefulness can cause the complete opposite. It will destroy friendships, break love, and induce the most terrible feelings, unless it’s Dee. Thankfulness is important and should not be discarded.

In conclusion, the themes presented in “Everyday Use” can have great effect when applied into reality. These two themes are both powerful at creating friendships and maintaining them. The golden rule states how one should treat others the way they want to be treated, which helps create friendships. Gratefulness is a powerful feeling that can strengthen friendships. The theme of a story can provide much more information than expected.

Warnings and threats have limited impact, and often does not prevent people from doing things they aren’t supposed to. In fact, research tells us that threatening does not encourage action but inaction. Fear immobilizes people, so they tend to choose avoiding the problem instead of facing it head on. Since people usually change their beliefs towards the desirable opinion, we should motivate people in a more positive way. This includes social incentives, immediate rewards, and progress monitoring.

We tend to compare ourselves with others too much, but it comes in handy in situations like motivation. People dislike feeling that they are inferior to others, so when they see others that are better, they feel discontent. Nobody likes being looked down upon or being underestimated. It ignites action and it drives people to be more like them, to do what everyone else does. They willingly push themselves to change and improve.

People are more willing to do something when they know they will gain something. They’ll tell themselves that their hard work will be worth it. This is also why people prefer immediate rewards over getting a benefit in the future. The future is unknown, but the present is predictable. When they see that their work pays off, they’ll want to work more. If they don’t see the results of their work however, they lose the hope and motivation to do more work, to change.

We are motivated when we see progress, as we feel that we are improving. It gives us a feeling of accomplishment, and it makes us crave for more. Hence, we continue to work hard to see how much more we have done and rejoice in the achievements that follow. So when motivating others we should highlight, emphasize their progress and not the decline.

When motivating others we should keep in mind that threatening them and making them feel wrong won’t change the problem. You should use positive means to lead them out, instead of unintentionally making the situation worse through fear. Focus on helping them make the changes and not leaving them on their own after stressing about all the problems they will face.