Hearsay and Anecdotal Evidence

Hearsay, by definition, is evidence that is heard by one person and then repeated to another. It is most commonly known as gossip or rumors. Hearsay is notoriously unreliable, where words are twisted and comments are taken out of context. This kind of evidence is all too common for me and many people my age. Over a short 24 hours, my friends were giving my roommate and me cold shoulders. We soon realized we were the subject being talked about by another friend. My friend and my roommate and I were having a small tiff, which soon became known to the people around us. Those friends giving the cold shoulder were being given biased information and forming opinions only knowing one side of the story. Thankfully, we were able to sort everything out.

Anecdotal, similar to hearsay, is evidence based on personal testimonies. This is also unreliable because of inaccurate memory and the tendency exaggeration. Anecdotal is popular when telling a story to another friend is an attempt to brag about your experience. Both of these types of evidence should be avoided at all costs, even in everyday conversation. People can be misled and those on the other end, like me, can be hurt.

UFO No...maybe.

While reading "Perspectives on Evaluating Evidence for the Existence of Unidentified Flying Objects", three scientists gave their opinion on the research being done on UFO sightings. Edward Condon explains how UFO research is not beneficial for major scientific discoveries and should therefore not be looked into. He concludes that the research should be dismissed based on misrepresentation of UFO sightings to the public and the reoccurring rejection of the sightings by scientist. However, Astronomer J. Allen Hynek defends the UFO sightings saying the research should be given a chance, statistically or specifically. He concludes that if "definite patterns and other correlations" can be established for UFOs reported throughout the world, the probability that they represent something real in science would be certain. Royston Paynter sits in the middle of the two, explaining how the UFO community would need to take on proper scientific standards of investigation and proof in their work in order for conclusions to be made. He defends his conclusion stressing how many people need physical evidence in order to believe something or to be convinced.
I see Royston Paynter's argument as the most convincing argument because he explained how he could neither accept nor deny the UFO sightings, and stressed how important high standards would need to be placed on this kind of research, this including "probative evidence" and "rigorous reasoning" in order to form a plausible conclusion. I personally would like to see more effort and research put into UFO sightings because it is a very popular topic, and whether it is found real or not, people want answers.

Knowledge and Wisdom

Knowledge and wisdom may come across as the same thing. In reality, they are quite different. By definition, knowledge is information which we believe to be true and for which we have justification or evidence. Knowledge can be gained uniformly between students, can be pulled from a book, and is easily accessible with today's technology. Wisdom, on the other hand, cannot be found in books or on the web. It must be gained through experience and life events. An example of wisdom is knowing how to live on a college budget, which can only truly be learned through going to college. At college, I am acquiring both knowledge and wisdom. The education aspect is giving me knowledge, through textbooks, researching, and lectures, while the college experience (such as living in the dorms, having low finances, becoming independent) is giving me wisdom on life situations. The information age has made us much more knowledgeable because all of our questions and curiosity can easily be answered with a few clicks on a computer or phone. Many people are forgetting that the best way to find answers is to answer them yourself, instead of have the web answer for you.

Lies.

Lie: A deliberate attempt to mislead without the prior consent of the target. We have all done it, in one way or another. A study was shown that people lie a third of the time in their interactions with others. Its frightening to learn how much lying occurs, and the individual must conclude what really is the real truth. When people tell lie, there are cues that can be picked up to uncover them. Those telling a lie tend to tell the story chronologically, while those who are not will jump around, adding parts of the story here and there. Liars will move and blink less when telling their lie because they are using all their energy to keep thier story straight. They will also make fewer speech errors than truth tellers, and become more tense or high-pitched. This information can actually be very usefull in my life. I cannot wait to actually apply what I have learned to my everyday life. Can't wait to catch those liars!

My Use of Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical devices is the use of psychological persuasion, as opposed to using reason, to persuade others. One is the most common form of device I use is sarcasm, which is the use of ridicule, insults, taunting, and/or caustic irony. The most recent occurrence of sarcasm I have used was when I walked into my dorm after a shower, my room looked at my hair and asked if I had taken a shower. I responded saying, "No, I just dumped my head in the toilet." She laughed right away, so I knew she understood it was sarcasm. Another device I used was hyperbole, which is used as an exaggeration. I used hyperbole when I made a comment about the weather at night. I had said, "It's so cold, I could freeze to death." Obviously, I was exaggerating as I was not going to die from walking in 45 degree weather for three minutes. I have used both of these rhetorical devices countless number of times, but almost always jokingly.

Ride: Critical Thinker

Sally Ride was the first, and the youngest at the time, American woman in space, and "loved to solve problems". It was not hard to noticed that displays good critical thinking skills. One of the characteristics of a good critical thinker is having effective communication skills. Ride displays being an effect communicator through her double major in English and Physics. She applied these skills when she had to address the United Nations and compose a report for NASA. Later on, Ride's communication skills were used to write several children's books on space exploration. Ride's double major also helps for the research and inquiry skills need for critical thinking because she took into account the importance of communication to achieve her goals. Ride has also used collaborative learning when she helped create NASA's Office of Exploration. These examples, and many more not mentioned, show that Ride was a true critical thinker.

Dreams

One fascinating piece of information that I was drawn to was the section about dreams and problem solving. It was interesting to learn how through a persons dream, problems could be solve just by depicting what was going on. I had never though that my crazy dreams could actually be my own way of figuring out a solution to a problem I've been having. I recently had a dream that I had to move into a new, one-story apartment complex to trade places with a girl who wanted my dorm room. The apartments were creepy, old, and disgusting. When I went into the bathroom to see if there was drawer space for me, a mouse crawled in front of me. Following the mouse was a HUGE cricket, who actually eating parts of the mouse. If that wasn't weird, a human baby was crawling after the cricket. Also, the whole apartment was surround by a pool! We had to cross over a bride to get to the rooms! That was one of the weirdest dreams I had. It would be awesome if it actually meant something, any guesses?

Claims about God

Evolution and a belief in God are not incompatible as Dawkins claims. Dawkins targets and nit-picks at Aquinas argument and discusses how Aquinas claims will not work for his argument. Dawkins never really gives his answers the questions that Aquinas answered, such as when Aquinas addressed the question of movement, cause/effect, or degrees of perfection. Here, Aquinas gives his reason to all of the questions and answers them by explaining God was the reason for all of these. Dawkins only points out that his claims are not a sufficient proof that God exist. It would have made his argument stronger if he had not only said that Aquinas was wrong, but proved him wrong with what he believed was the real reason these things occurred. If Aquinas was alive today, I believe he would be asking for the same thing I am, what he believes is the correct answer to why those things are. Anyone can have an opinion on a view point - but it does not mean much if you cannot back it up.

My Reasoning

The type of reasoning I tend to be strongest in is how my decisions will affect me in the long run, such as when choosing a career. I ask myself, how will it affect my financial stability? Will I need to travel a lot? Will there be a position available for me in this career? How will it affect my future family? Most importantly, will I be happy will my career? I first began college being a Marketing Major. I know I was going to get paid well, and I would be about to comfortably support my family. I know that it was not going to an easy career, with long hours and Marketing being a competitive field. I chose this major because I had taken Marketing classes back in high school. I felt, since this is what I know and I good at, I should select Marketing as a lifelong career. That was until I discovered Hospitality, Recreation, and Tourism Management as a major. I had always DREAMED of becoming a wedding planner even since I was a little girl. I had never though it was an option for me because I was always told that they do not get paid well, and since I appreciate the finer things in life, I never did consider it. But as I went through my own reasoning process, I came to realize that as long as I have this passion and love for the job, my career path will be just fine.