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2 pages/β‰ˆ550 words
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MLA
Subject:
Accounting, Finance, SPSS
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Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
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Topic:

Wallace's Insights on the Dangers of Running from our Reality

Essay Instructions:

What I want you to do first is read my powerpoint slides for “This is Water”. It is under Contents (the last document). It is only 17 short slides and talks about System 1 and System 2 (this is from a book called Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnamen (who a Nobel Laureate in Economics). As you can see from the slides, System 1 is our natural default setting. It is about fast thinking. System 2 is about slow thinking. It is about doing something that is not automatic. However, by doing System 2 for a very long time you can make it into System 1 (for example if you play chess long enough you will see a move without having to think about it).
Then I want you to listen (you can only listen to it—as there is no video) of a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace called “This is Water”. Go to https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI
The speech is 22 minutes long. It is a commencement speech from 2005 Kenyon College in Ohio.
After you listen to the speech answer the following discussion questions:
1. In the grocery store when you are waiting in line and you are really tired (part of the speech) what behavior would be your default setting (System 1)? Why?
2. Now what does Wallace think we should do instead if we can (System 2)?
3. Assuming we can do what Wallace advocates in question 2, what will happen to us? That is, what are benefits of what he is talking about?
To me the answers to questions 2 and 3 are really important in life. If you can do what he advocating in questions 2 and 3, you will be a better worker, a better manager, a better finance professional, a better spouse, a better parent, a better teacher, etc. It is hard to do this all the time but with practice it is possible. What he is talking about is very behavioral—maybe not economics or finance—but very important in leading a better life in my opinion.
I admit it is a little weird and maybe a bit too preachy. While you need to do the assignment, you can feel free to ignore the message if you wish.
I am just trying to conclude the class in an unconventional, interesting way.

Essay Sample Content Preview:

WEEK 12 DISCUSSION
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WEEK 12 DISCUSSION
According to David Foster Wallace, in a natural default setting, people tend to be frustrated, occupied with daily events, and have a negative mindset of passing the blame to others. In Wallace's speech "This Is Water," I would be frustrated and blame other people for causing the delay in the line. The importance of this speech is that we all have a natural default setting as people feel they are at the center of the universe and think the negative situations occurring is their fault. The speech focuses on educating us not to act in our natural setting and we must be selfless to think about other people's problems throughout their lives (Skittle, 2005). For instance, he compares the problem of waiting in line to a person with a sick patient who is in a critical condition. Therefore, people have a variation of our default setting, and the intensity depends on the person's needs.
Wallace says that we should not let our default setting drag us back if we have the potential to do something. Even though default settings cause us frustration, we could also think of other people's frustration before giving in to some situations. For instance, we may see our small default setting being stressful, but other people have more frustrations that are more worrying (Professor Morey, n.d.). Wallace applies many examples to make us understand that we have the potential to do something if we believe we can. We should visualize because it is lasting coercion of our potential to facilitate an event or an activity.
Wallace teaches us to do t...
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