discussion

Week 1: One Idea That Must Die (worth 10 points)

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**To get full credit, reply by the first day due date–Sun night. For partial credit, you may submit by the second, “Allow until” date.** You need one paragraph minimum for full credit. A paragraph is usually around 5- 6 sentences, depending how long your sentences are.

Our reading this week is from a book called The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. For Essay 1, you will be asked to assert which ideas you personally think are dead (no longer useful in the world). Here is a chance to see what your classmates think and discuss ideas with them.

If you have the time, you may also find it helpful to listen to a podcast on the same topic, called “One Idea That Must Die.” (This is optional, not required, but it may give you some more ideas for selecting your own to write about here and in Essay 1).

The authors of the controversial book Freakonomics maintain a podcast with some very interesting topics. Listen to this recording of one of their podcasts called “One Idea that Must Die.” In this episode, different scholars/authors each give one idea that they think has outlived its usefulness and “must die.”

 http://freakonomics.com/2015/03/05/this-idea-must-die-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/ (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。

In this thread, tell us YOUR one idea that must die–an idea in culture, politics, religion, science, etc. that you think has outlived its usefulness and/or actually causes harm. Make sure to tell us why (you think it has outlived its usefulness and/or actually causes harm). We all understand that we are not scientists or economists or whatever–we are speaking freely as 30-some L.A. residents who are connected to this English 103 class. So, you don’t need to worry about your qualifications for deciding which idea must die.

You may pick an idea that is specific to one community (e.g. “In my religion we believe that —- but I think this idea is harmful because—” or “In my country there is a law that ____ but I think this idea is harmful because—“) or you may pick a more general idea. In short, be creative and pick anything!