Counterintuitive Spring 2023

Click to access Halmos.pdf

It seems counterintuitive that mathematics, a highly structured and rigorous discipline, could be considered a creative art. But this is precisley what is is argued by P. R. Halmos in his essay “Mathematics as A Creative Art” and I could not agree with him more. Engaging in mathematics throughout high school was refreshing and never dull for me. Not because of the problem solving that was involved but because of what I learned about that universe from solving those problems.

Men Defining Rape: A History

1) It seems counterintuitive that among what we know as a species could lie two or more entirely separate species but it is apparently the case.

Through DNA sequencing, researchers like Markus Pfenninger and Klaus Schwenk, are able analyze the genetic information of a species and find “cryptic species“, species that were previously unknown without DNA analysis, and classify and define the populations. It is estimated that the percentage of cryptic species could be as high as 30%. In five to ten years, a complete work of fish and birds could be used to accurately estimate how many cryptic species exist throughout the animal kingdom.

The DNA sequencing technology is a relatively inexpensive way of increasing our knowledge on biodiversity, infectious diseases and evolution. With this technology, we have already found a cryptic species in the African elephant and found that they were vulnerable to extinction.

2) It seems counterintuitive that by verifying that you are a human online, you are helping to digitize human knowledge. Luis von Ahn and his team of professionals developed a web security system called Captcha to protect websites from programs that could artificially register for these websites millions of times. To verify that you are a human being signing up for this website, Captcha simply asks you type a random assortment of characters from an image, something that computers cannot do. To make this program productive instead of wasting millions of peoples’ 10 seconds, von Anh  reworked Captcha into reCaptcha. Instead of typing random character, the person using the reCaptcha types random words which are used to assist word recognition technology that is currently digitizing books.

3) It seems counterintuitive that we like babies because they are cute but instead babies are cute because we like them. Along with things like sweetness and sexiness, Dan Dennett uses Darwin’s theory of evolution to explain why things are sweet, sexy, and cute. Glucose is a chemical that can be broken down and used for energy. There is no inherent sweetness to glucose but it is necessary for our bodies and because of that, we do not like glucose because it is sweet, glucose is sweet because we like it. The same goes for babies. Because we need to take care of them, their cuteness is attractive.

Link to The  The Hair Part Theory

It seems counterintuitive that the way we part our hair has a huge impact on people’s impression of us. However, two siblings, John Walter and Catherine Walter developed the Hair Part Theory, claiming that where we part our hair sends off different messages to people.

After many research and comparing the different hairstyles, the siblings claim that the hair part has a psychological affect. The siblings reveal that where we choose to part hair draws attention to a particular brain hemisphere and associate us to that brain hemisphere’s function. For example, people who part their hair on the left draw more attention to the left hemisphere of the brain, which gives off the impression of someone very rational because the left hemisphere of the brain associates with memorization, math, and logical related things. On the other hand, people who part their hair on the right side, will have more focus to the right hemisphere, giving an impression that relates to the right hemisphere’s qualities like creativity, art, and so on.

Though this sounds questionable, it is evident that many leaders have certain hair parts to give off an aura that they are looking for. For instance, many strong leaders tend to have their hair parted on the left side for a more serious impression. An example would be in Cullen Murphy’s “The Mirror of Dorian Gray,” he stated that “Margaret Thatcher’s left-side part supposedly enhanced her aura of strength and will…”

Therefore, they way we look can tell a lot about ourselves to people, even the way we part our hair.

Link to the Source

It seems counterintuitive that our way of treating depression is bizarre and far from helping the depressant.

Our advance technology has taken us steps forward in increasing our health and lifespan. If we are diagnosed with depression, we are given many options to choose to help relieve our depression. The common method is to have therapy, which seems helpful because by taking therapy, we have the opportunity to express our inner troubles with someone who is trained in the field of psychology. However, to other parts of the world, the method seems to be very odd. For instance, people in East Africa think depressants should go outside into sunlight for them to feel happier, listen to music or drums for their blood to circulate, have the community involved for support, and the people view depression as an invasive spirit. Yet, in America we put depressants in little room and make them talk about their problems and we view it as sad emotions and an illness.

Though people who study psychology and specialize in he medical field tell us that help for depression is available, there is very little knowledge about depression and how to cure it.

http://www.examiner.com/article/doctors-who-see-poorer-patients-get-poorer-performance-ratings?cid=rss

It is counterintuitive that patients have more control on how well doctors serve them. Research on Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston shows that doctors tend to perform better for wealthy people. Initial thoughts were that doctors were biased and helped the wealthier people more to get more out of their pay; however, that assumption was proven false because doctors have no way in telling which family had the more income or not. What studies are suggesting is that people who are poor have trouble in communicating their needs; therefore, not receiving the doctor’s best performance.

1. Elderly Animals- http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/01/portraits-elderly-animals – It seems counterintuative that you would even think of an elderly animal being a huge debate but it is sadly. Some people think it is wrong to keep them alive and let them age and get old, when they could be used for food or put out of their misery. Others think like I do as well, animals should be able to live their lives out just like we do as humans. The people that choose the ides of not letting elderly animals live usually are thinking of themselves and not the animals. Have no compassion in their hearts at all. The people that do let the animals live until they die naturally have compassion and a deeper understanding for life itself.

2. Elephant Cruelty- http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/10/ringling-bros-elephant-abuse – It seems counterintuative that elephants are being treated in such cruelty and it just disgusts me. What is sad is that animal trainers can care less because of at the end of the day they get their money and the people get a show. So whatever has to be done to the elephants beaten, sick, or whatever is done so the elephants perform the show correctly. Its sad that the government covered up for the circus company just because they gave a donation to elephants in need. Good, you gave a donation bit that doesn’t cover the fact that an elephant died from salmonella disease and you knew he was sick and still made him do the show. It made the animal rights activists very upset!

3. Is Walmart Really Organic or Local?- http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-groceries-organic-local-food-deserts – It seems counterintuative that Walmart is selling Organic food in their commercials and stores but it is locally grown or it is grown on a big farm somewhere? Some people believe that Walmart is selling organic food but not sourced locally because of how the products look and taste. Others just are dimwitted and believe everything that the advertisements, TV, Newspaper, etc.. says it is true and its not, alot of companies are putting chemicals in their foods today so no one really knows whats , what!

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/lenders-vet-borrowers-social-media-facebook

It seems counter-intuitive that social media networks people use today can put themselves in a financial issue, when it comes to loans. Social media networks have became a world wide use, when trying to find information on someone else such as a friend, family, anyone. These days loan lenders have began to use social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and linkedIn as a new form of information data to determine the credit worthiness of loan applicants. Many U.S based lenders for an example, LendUp, which is based out of San Francisco checks Facebook and Twitter profiles of potential borrowers to see the number of friends they have and how often they interact with others through the site. The company LendUP views an active social media life as an indicator of stability. Other companies especially international lenders use similar tactics like ones in the U.S. Lenddo loan company denies credit to applicants, who are Facebook friends with someone who was late or didn’t repay a Lenddo loan. The problem that many consumer advocates believe is applicants can be subject to unfair and discriminatory decisions by lenders.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

It seems counterintuitive to help heroin addicts recover by giving them free and pure heroin to better their addiction. Vancouver is a port town, which mean its a hub for drugs by boat from the pacific, including heroin. Vancouver has set up a safe zone called, Insite, where addicts can shoot up under supervision of a nurse without having to deal with any law-enforcements. We tend to believe that in order to help any kind of addict, we must have to make them not want to do their addiction anymore, but Vancouver believes we should give them their drug as a form of treatment.

Link to 2nd article: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/vancouver-experiments-with-prescription-heroin/383086/

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/10/ringling-bros-elephant-abuse

It seems counterintuitive to enjoy a circus show of elephants or to enjoy riding one but it can be animal abuse, when viewed under a different light. In the Jacksonville Coliseum a circus show comes on in the afternoon and evening with performances of elephants doing aerobic tricks and stunts. Kenny, a 3 year old elephant, who performs in the Coliseum showed signs of sickness during his performance, such as slow movements, missed choreography, and ab-normal noises. After Kenny’s afternoon show he developed diarrhea  and began bleeding from his bottom. After his next evening show an attendant found Kenny’s bloodied body across the concrete floor. Consequences were later faced to the Ringling Bros, the ones who operate and care for all animals in their show. For years animal rights organizations had been releasing videos showing Ringling trainers abusing elephants, but USDA investigations never produced evidence to shut them down. Ringling Bros are a successful circus show that thousands come to see, but many of the audience doesn’t see what happens to those elephants behind the curtains.

1). The Daily Shower Can Be a Killer 

It seems counterintuitive that we take showers to be clean, but we can also die from them. People each year suffer from falls and either get injured or much worse. Old age people have a high risk of falling down and getting severely injured. How about if someone told us that we can die from showers. Would that affect the way we go about our daily routine? The healthy life expectancy is around 90 years old; however, people die early from sickness or even falling. Showers can be deadly because senior citizens can slip and fall. This will end tragically; stepping on a step stool can be deadly as well (even climbing a ladder). A person does not have to change the way they live because they might enjoy doing these dangerous things. People are more self-aware that these common things (going up the stairs, taking a shower, etc.) can actually be very deadly,

2.) Thought Experiment #2

It seems counterintuitive that every time we look at a picture we relatively see the same image; however, one little change in the caption can change our we perceive the message to be.   There was a photograph of a little toy left behind by a young child after the war in Israeli. There were three version of the image, but all three had different captions. This goes to show that people are influenced by the captions because we might think one thing in the first image, but then the third image will change our mind. Captions are things that changes our points of view when a photograph is presented to us.

3.) What Does the Marshmallow Test Actually Test?

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2012-10-17/what-does-the-marshmallow-test-actually-test

It seems counterintuitive that kids are given a marshmallow to eat, but they can’t eat it yet. Walter Mischel conducted a test where kids are given a single marshmallow to eat; however, if they wait 15 minutes, the kids can get another marshmallow. Some of the kids waited and some of them didn’t.Celeste Kidd created a similar test, but she put a group of kids into one group and the others in another. One group was put into a room where they had a reliable adult and the other unreliable. The reliable adult and unreliable adult told the kids they could wait if they wanted better writing utensils and bigger stickers. When the adults came back to the waiting children, the reliable adult brought back markers and crayons while the other did not bring anything back. After that test, the kids were given marshmallows and they were told that if they waited until the adult came back they could get another marshmallow. The kids that waited were the ones in the reliable adult group while the others that didn’t wait were from the unreliable adult group. Kidd concluded that waiting for the marshmallow is based on trust. The kids will wait when they know that the adult will actually get them something instead of nothing.

Men Defining Rape: A History

It seems counterintuitive that men were always the ones to define what the rape is, whether or not the rapist should be punished or was the woman actually victimized.

Throughout the history of relationship between man and woman females were abused by different laws established by male. At some periods of the time it was impossible to prove that you were raped if you got pregnant after that. Different scientists and lawmakers would insist that female body can shut the whole thing down; in remaining cases, people believed that woman can’t be conceived. Another thing is that punishment for rapist would depend on what’s the victim’s social status or sexual experience. Some laws would allow men to rape women on daily basis if woman is married to the rapist or if she was “impure”.

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2012-10-17/what-does-the-marshmallow-test-actually-test

It seems counterintuitive that small marshmallow test can define what kind of person child may become depending on results.

Walter Mischel’s well known marshmallow test examines kids’ ability to hold out for getting a promised better reward. Based on result of the test, children who can wait usually would be better in life. However, according to Celeste Kidd’s research marshmallow experiment also tests kids’ belief and trust. Children that were raised in poor or dysfunctional family most likely wouldn’t expect adults to give them better things, so they would just take what they were offered at the moment.

It seems counterintuitive that human’s life is always in danger. People that live comfortably and have fast access to medications and professional doctor’s help underestimate a danger of small things like slipping in the shower or falling on the sidewalk. These accidents have a higher possibility percentage than the ones that are beyond our control or cause many deaths. On the other hand, people that live closely with nature, wild life and no professional medical care learned how to avoid the actual potential danger coming from our habitat  and usual things that surround us in our normal life.