Margaret Dobson
I have recently given up working for myself as an environmental management consultant. Not doing paid work means that there is time to follow leisure pursuits such as learning. Online is entirely new
Location West Midlands
Activity
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
As a lay - person I wonder if feeling depressed makes a person less inclined to seek, be curious, take action and I imagine intentionality may be restricted and modifications of intentionality would likewise be affected. Having bad feelings may occur but response to all feelings would seem to be uncomfortable. Is it generally pleasurable to be aware and...
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I don't recognise ultimate good and bad in the reproductive success considered. It seems that good and bad are more than survival of genes. What is good or bad about a gene? Does it really matter if a gene survives or not? Good and bad seem objective and humanity has a stressful situation in that "ought" doesn't necessarily fit with genetic survival.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am not always looking at my phone but even as an older person I feel the stress of everything being expected to be instant. I feel like being on a hamster wheel. My computer is on to do this course but it has windows flashing that mail is received, etc. It is a real effort not to keep looking or using a search engine.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Where does the need for meaning fit in? Today we seem to be geared up for satisfying material needs but personally I still look for meaning. Is our attendance on this course likely to be affected by this?
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Riding a bike is unconscious but it is difficult if consciousness cuts in. When you are learning to ride and it is still conscious, balance particularly is difficult. If you start to think about riding a bike, even as an experienced cyclist, it is a recipe for accidents such as being unbalanced, not steering and generally being liable to fall.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Got this bit. Seems like a reason for consciousness and at the same time it gave an insight into what consciousness could be.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Is the brain causing consciousness or is it just associated with it? So far I have seen experiments that stimulate parts of the brain and experiences occur similarly when someone is having an experience a part of the brain shows an affect. I can't see how it is known whether the brain generates the consciousness or whether consciousness affects us with an...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am looking forward to "consciousness" in week 3. So far, I am not at all convinced by the idea that behaviour makes me think something has consciousness as I do.
Am I not making a lot of assumptions about my perception of the entire organism not just how it behaves? It seems that behaviour tells me more about if something is alive. It could show a...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Eliza goes on even if you suggest we stop talking
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am new to the Turing Test although I've heard it mentioned before. I thought the Turing Test would be something more mathematical. If the computer was programmed, wouldn't whatever was done to explore its qualities have problems because it would explore not what was intrinsic to the computer. It would test the programme and the programmer rather than the...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
To me the spiral that looks like a bit of primitive rock art seem to represent a human mind in so far as anything can represent the unpresentable
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Professor Solm's analysis seems understandable in attributing utility to feelings and thoughts derived from them but I am still puzzled by awareness of "being" I imagine consciousness to be more than thoughts derived from feelings and more an awareness of "being". Is consciousness a part of reality or could it just be a rather subjective response to collective...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
As we know them, computers are machines made and programmed by man so any aspects of "mind" they display goes back to whatever we have. I can't see them as separate to their makers.
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Does the idea of Programming rule out any Mind-like qualities? It does seem to me that Agency and Intentionality come from behind the machine. I do wonder if mind always has Intentionality and Agency as fixed characteristics but feelings whatever they are seem to be fundamental.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
If I had a better understanding of what a mind is I'd think the course was a great success. I have recently done a short course on philosophy and am very interested in the mind and body dichotomy if in deed the two can or should be separated. The "hard problem of consciousness" makes my trust in science equivocal at best so it would be good to know what...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Good pace but some grammar seemed weird. I could generally follow what was being said but I did get confused when the making of a new stand was described. I think I'd had a very simple idea of unzipping and replicating but the replication of short sections with a rather Japanese sounding name got me in a fog. I think I'll need to reread that bit.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
It was interesting that most dementia sufferers are at home. I'd like to know more about informal care issues for somebody alone in the own home. I have concerns about money (e.g. needed for food), medication and the risk/benefits currently involved with an epidemic.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
An audio on the current likely support would be good. A scheme that is discontinued is not relevant.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Including clients is critical "Does he take sugar?" is all too often displayed even by professionals. I need to learn not just to get louder and louder. It seems to be a bit of a default for me both in the talking to clients and in talking with foreigners or anybody who doesn't immediately latch onto my meaning which can be hidden by assumptions.
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Is there anything on driving that relates to the risk of accident and perhaps the danger to other road users? Giving up driving could curtail liberty but might be a risk reduction measure from the point of view of others. How are such things considered? I guess all this means that I am wondering about the general interest and not just the best interest of the...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Does the Human Rights Act include caveats about protecting society in an epidemic? Assembly and freedoms are very restricted to try to curtail the epidemic's effects.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Is distress always obvious? Could somebody appear OK but feel unhappy?
I have seen some older people who seemed distressed (shouting, crying wandering) and when our cat got very old it mewed pitifully and didn't seem to know where it was - wandering around and unsettled! Now the only dementia sufferer I know well seems entirely calm and oblivious to any...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Is the bungalow still available for him anyway? As a lay person I feel that this man is showing that his decision making is seriously impaired and it would be within the "rights" of a clinician to decide something in his better interests. I say better because I do wonder if his daughter has a "right" to be considered in all of this. What is good for her? What...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Oh dear!
I think the ethical/legal issues are greatly exacerbated during an epidemic. Everybody has restricted freedom in the UK and a dementia sufferer is potentially unable to understand that they need to conform to risk reducing behaviours and they could affect everybody else. It is a really big change and somebody who is "fine" so long as things are as...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am concerned that so much reliance seems to be put on the internet. Older folks, carers and sufferers, may not have access to the internet or find it difficult to use. Can information be provided by means that are easy for everybody regardless of age, aptitude or wealth? Sometimes I think a person on the end of a 'phone is a great source of support...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am getting the impression that medication is of very limited value and that an enjoyable life style and its enhancement and maintenance are great. I think much of what is being said is useful for everybody, regardless of whether they have dementia, so I'd like to "sell" the happy, fulfilling lifestyle approach as something for every human. This angle could...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think the epidemic has knocked out a lot of the opportunities for socialising and doing new things out and about. Will dementia show up more?
My life style suited me and lowered risks so the anti-poor health things were part of my choosing anyway for current happiness. It is difficult to think of what I might do differently. Perhaps I could have a bit...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
It seems to me that the avoidable risks are the same as factors that affect many other aspects of health. Taking steps towards avoiding dementia are also useful in reducing risks of many other problems.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
The corona virus means that routines have been changed for all of us and this seems a particular blow for those with cognitive impairment. It is also difficult to behave helpfully oneself. It is frustrating that a person with dementia doesn't' recognise the impact of the epidemic for everyone but being calm and patient remain important. This is particularly...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Executive function as a catch-all is, from my experience which is very limited, important but could appear in so many ways that its absolute effect on daily life could be hugely varied. I guess the severity of any of the listed effects of dementia will also change the impact on how easy it is to function day to day.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think considering a material/chemical blob impacts on how all people are viewed. If the brain's abilities become entrenched and are traceable to materials and chemicals, it seems that people are less responsible for their "good" and "bad" traits.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I have a friend who has dementia and I'd like to know more about what seems to be totally baffling. They seem fine talking about the now but as soon as planning or memory are needed they have huge problems.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I wonder if political correctness is leading to a form of censorship in the West. I am not sure if is often formally controlled (I think sometimes laws back up the exclusion of things likely to be offensive or inflammatory) but including something "offensive" to some victim is a constant issue. If you are not up to speed with all the cultural "norms" of our...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Looking at the 3 versions of Pilgrim's Progress, I felt the early version emphasised the fairy-tale quality whereas the later versions suggested a drier, more serious, academic type study. Learning via a more mythical tale would appeal to me as a reader.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I'd like to do a bit of Dracula. I think a bite and lack of a reflection in a mirror could lend themselves to a short film with some effects that aren't too complicated. I suppose Gothic horror is in my mind for Victorian writing but perhaps there is a lot more if I had a better understanding.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am not very tuned in to feminism but nevertheless I thought this film was a great joy. It seems to me that some really fine ideas sprang from the constraints of time, lack of sound, and limitations as well as opportunities for effects. An entertainment is produced regardless of any thoughts or discernment of latent meanings that might be provoked.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Special effects are a bit limited by today's standards but the idea is timeless. Responding to the bizarre is going to be very varied. Each viewer will have their own interpretation so today's audiences and those of the turn of the century (and all those in between) will all have their feelings aroused but what of those feelings? They could be quite different...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I loved the baby incubator. It seems that the Victorians could be playfully cynical and enjoy the folly of some of their own patent inventions and so on.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I feel the limited availability of film and other news media was such that the Victorians could still enjoy it. There seemed to be space for people. Our age seems to have such an overwhelming load of information such as news of all sorts that it is tiresome and needs to be consumed with restrictions in place. It is not possible to empathise with every issue...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I personally like something that will last an hour or more. Very short clips wouldn't allow me to settle for a relaxing evening. I suppose if something is long - two hours or more it would need to be very interesting.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I wasn't at all educated on the moving picture devices that preceded moving films. It was good to learn how film using multiple photographs could be seen as an extension of shows that depended on other pictures. Learning of all the devices that made a spectacle was unexpected.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I chose the Lumiere Brothers because I read about the cine film they presented of people leaving a factory in France. (I took moving film to be what was implied perhaps I shouldn't have)
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I hadn't realised there were so many variations on the theme. Flashing through pictures via a slot machine to get a thrill on the seaside pier is about all I'd experienced. I suppose some of the spectacles were based not on moving images but on other illusions such as the stereo views. I remember, as part of a training course back in the 70s, looking at aerial...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think of her as old fashioned, elderly, prim and proper. Giving her name to the Age, it seems both are tarred with my selective brush.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am a victim of many of the assumptions mentioned but is what comes via films skewed? It was pointed out that we see outdoors only. Do we see a representative sample of society or is there a tendency to film special events and middle class and above activities?
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think of people being generally poor, crowded and unprotected. (I imagine richer people were benefitting from good education but was that for everybody?) I think of the Victorians, even the emergent middle-class richer folks, being affected by lack of knowledge/controls in their lives as consumers. Being intelligent is not going to overcome the problems...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am a recreational learner. I have always enjoyed history not least what went on at the turn of the century. This is coupled with an appetite for watching old films. I have tended to choose silent classics which perhaps come more from around the 1920s. This online course will hopefully fit in well with "Staying at Home" and February's dark evenings enabling...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I had thought of forensic archaeology as being about exploring very old remains from an historical perspective so this last section has been a jolt. Escapism and recreation have turned to re-entering a mindset that wonders about how our human world is arranged. It is all rather chilling and I for one am guilty of living in a quiet bubble of selfishness and...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
What is a padlet? As an online novice I am at a loss as to some of the jargon which is used by FutureLearn courses
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
All this week's material was very interesting to me. I didn't find it more technical than all the content about bones. I wasn't up to speed with the names of parts of skulls and skeletons. Earlier weeks introduced a lot of bone and part of bone names which were not at all familiar to a non-medic/anatomist like me so this last week was actually more accessible...
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Margaret Dobson replied to Sylvia Windsor
I was likewise baffled. What do the colours mean?
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I don't know what if anything would show up but I do wonder if UK residents are eating more varied food now. Many older residents will have gone through changes from wartime rations, meat and two veg to more exotic foods. My parents had meat and two veg. cooked at home. Younger folks, at least before the epidemic, might have eaten out more and chosen more...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am fascinated about how well known history can be revisited using DNA so I shall look at the suggested links. It was good to read the summary but I am muddled in that I thought the Tsar had 4 daughters and a son. 5 children in all. The summary doesn't mention Olga - another daughter I think. Also there is an unusual spelling with an "m" Yekaterimburg in the...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I've just found "bp" on the internet as a unit describing length in terms of "base pairs". It seems very small being around 3.4 angstroms. This puts it in the picometre/nanometre scale. I found that an angstrom is 10 to the power minus 10 metres, 100 picometres, 0.1 nanometre. (Hope this is correct - copied from Wikipedia. I came across angstroms in school...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
A useful summary of DNA stuff but what is 16569 bp?
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Margaret Dobson replied to Corinne HG
@CorinneHG I'm stuck with bp too
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think the teeth look very sound and thus I'd suspect a youngish adult. I'll have to look up sex issues again as I can't remember what you might see for men and women.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
It looks to me as if the child was hit on the head or perhaps had a fall banging he head and the round hole (sharp edges) is an unsuccessful trepan to try to reduce the problem of the damage.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I thought the mandible had a big cut at the bottom (sorry for lack of a technical term) which looked perimortem because it was the same colour as the rest of the bone. Bearing that in mind, I was uncertain what the black meant round the angular hole in the scapular.
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Margaret Dobson replied to Vivien Teasdale
Dogs (not ones I own - I'm a cat person) bother me but I'm not sure I've got as good a reason as you. I have had some bites however affecting soft tissue - I don't imagine the teeth got to the bone. Owners often emphasise how friendly the dog is but I'm not keen on being jumped on and slobbered over.
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Yes I am not familiar with names of bones (and parts of bones) so I would struggle if I was trying seriously to learn them
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think the person would have been over 30 as the fusions seem complete.
I do wonder if the bone shows some pitting which might come from advancing years but I can't remember exactly where holes would appear and how old somebody might be.
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I think this is a young child around 4 or 5 years old
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I'd say male but I'm not sure whether its just probable or definite.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I imagine the nature of the bone could have a big influence. Spongy bones might be affected more by diagenesis and break down to leave little trace.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I was fascinated that some quite simple observations can be useful, e.g. recognisable things found in particular layers of soil, time-recorded cuts into stratigraphic layers, changes in appearance of plants and landscape features at a disturbed site. I shall enjoy learning about how even the relative beginner can understand much from better observation. Having...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Coming across bones is not a huge rarity in country walks so knowing that they are animal rather than human would be reassuring. I have tended to assume a sheep or similar has died but it would be interesting to know more.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am doing this from a purely recreational viewpoint. I have a scientific background but (through age mainly) missed out on learning much about DNA. I imagine developments in DNA studies as well as other techniques will lead to this being an interesting course for somebody who was fascinated by missing Romanovs, finding Richard III as well as detective work in...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
An era that I'm interested in but this course has offered me insights that haven't come from books and films I've watched and some of my prejudices have been lessened by your teaching. I have seen Tudors as ambitious opportunists who usurped power in England. Their personal influence emphasised in parts of this course has made me think that the monarchs can...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I am pleased that in history white folk appeared to be accepting and appreciative of some "others" who looked different. It suggests that tribalism may not be an inevitable consequence of being human but today our consciousness of race and prejudice might be picking up on something that is not consistent in all contexts.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
It seems to me that we are very prejudiced against age. This seems to show up more in women but overall our current culture concentrates on the young. The article describing the problems of gerontocracy perhaps emphasises that we see age itself as a problem rather than something that can cause lack of energy and enthusiasm whilst sticking limpet-like to stale...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I guess Bess's attributes would have been vaunted in a man but in a woman the same qualities are maligned. I wonder if she would have been useful in Elizabeth's ruling elite as we pondered recently when we thought of the gerontocracy?
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I came across an article by a foreign Catholic who labelled her a tyrant which was a surprise to an English person brought up on history which emphasised Elizabeth as a success. Is this another example of a reader latching onto information that supports what you already think? I have particularly noticed myself doing this in responding to the news about how we...
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I was put in mind of Henry too
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
It seems she didn't have sufficient able persons around to help run the country. I imagine that younger people might have brought the right blend of enthusiasm and experience but I'm not sure overall competence is necessarily always the one of the attributes of new brooms.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Presumably the effects were disastrous at the time and have contributed to the long lasting troubles on the Island of Ireland which have been horrible for the Irish and a running sore for Britain. Having grown up in the 1960s, I imagine Elizabeth's policy has much to answer for.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I wonder if she was blessed with intelligence including common sense and a long reign. I presume those factors combined with propitious circumstances, e.g. less than very competent opponents, made for success.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think people would feel that they belonged and were citizens not just ruled subjects. Getting everybody involved means that suddenly there are stakeholders rather than just governed, alienated nobodies.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I imagine gender would have been an issue but I am conscious that I live in the West in the 21st Century. Preoccupations with gender today are probably quite different to those in the time of Elizabeth. I really don't know much about Tudor times as far as views of the expected roles of men and women are concerned.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
All these rulers seemed to have short turbulent reigns when it was not possible to establish lasting change as the monarch would wish. On this basis I think all of them would be disappointed and feel unsuccessful.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Film makers are not the only ones to imaginatively use real human beings to convey messages. We recently looked at painters doing the same and I wonder, if it is made clear that historical accuracy should not be assumed, we could enjoy film or whatever based on our appreciation of what is on offer.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
To me Jane I would make as much sense as any Tudor having the throne. They seem to have come to the crown by dubious means and Henry VII could not therefore offer any other Tudors of his line clear legitimacy. Balanced against this, it seems that a crown is a very contentious thing and the Tudors weren't the first or the last holders to gain it by force or...
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@GILLIANMcIver I certainly think packaging and book covers have an effect. Even knowing the content should be paramount, I would be likely to be influenced by a cover or any presentation material.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I have just been thinking about communication. Stories and visual images convey much that sometimes the code of words struggle to do. Often a painted message, whether historical or not, is much more memorable.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
It seems to me that there were no obvious successors so Jane had as much right as anybody. She is portrayed above as an innocent victim and I have no reason to think otherwise. Mary also seems to have been a victim of Henry's caprice so under normal circumstances I can see that she would not have had any legitimate challenger. Catherine of Aragon was married...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I feel that for ordinary people the changes to religion and the monasteries could have been worrying but as you got closer to power there seems to have been reason to be very afraid. Henry and those that made his government work seem to have been very ruthless and a type of "police state" even without our modern professional force comes through my reading. I'd...
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Kateryn Parr seems to have been very accomplished and learned. I wonder if she had an effect as a behind the scenes promoter of religious learning. Perhaps today we will appreciate her more too. I for one have been inspired by learning of her learning.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think debility and pain that arose as a result of accidents coupled with aging would be enough to make many vulnerable people stressed and vengeful. When he was young, fit and active there would have been plenty of sweet pleasures to make him happy and amiable but disability and pain could be very damaging psychologically.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Having come across Cromwell elsewhere I am in awe of his brain power. I think he was a great "can do" man for Henry and his own agenda which came together in radically changing the structure of religion and promoting a protestant reformation.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
This welcome development has been used by henry to exercise more power and control. He seems to shout I'm the "great leader" from this front page. He is the mouthpiece for God or is he actually morphing in his mind to be the source of all?
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
The monasteries were a source of possible opposition to Henry. They seem to have been given up quite easily even though they were quite big concerns in themselves and as hubs of the community. It reminds me of Jewish folk being smashed and opposition largely collapsing in The Third Reich.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I wonder about marrying Henry. I think you'd need to be a bit unimaginative to do that. I've read that she was mousy but sticking up for Mary seems to suggest a conviction in her character. Overall she seems an enigma to a modern person.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think it was murder. However bothersome her character, I can't see justification for killing her.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
Puts me in mind of ancient kings "I am Ashurbanipal King of the World, King of Assyria". Henry seems to follow in a well trodden tradition. Ozymandius was rather grand too but today his traces seem lost in the desert.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
It seems that things had already progressed when Rochford made inflammatory comments at the trial. I can see this would have been hugely annoying but Anne was already in trouble by then. Was he restating something that was known to have been blabbed earlier?
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I wonder quite apart from specific brain damage whether Henry would have suffered frustration as a result of suddenly holding back on physical activities
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I imagine I'd have tried to keep away from getting fingered to take an oath but if I'd been pushed I expect I would have agreed to anything to save trouble and ensure my safety but perhaps I would have used some convoluted justifications as Henry seemed to do.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I think portraying More as an exemplar of constancy and others as exemplars of expediency make the film thought provoking for everyone quite apart from any questions of historical accuracy.
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Margaret Dobson made a comment
I guess it would be hard for Tudor folk to assess More but today when religious questions are little debated in the public arena it is even more difficult to appreciate him. Having been a devotee of "A Man for all Seasons" I have to say I admire his firm attachment to conviction but more recently I have learned of his persecution of "heretics" which is very...
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As a western woman of the 21st Century, I am likewise unconvinced by Henry. It all seems like trying to justify something (changing wives as a result of love for Anne Boleyn) you've already set your heart on. The heir is to me something that could exercise a king but is probably secondary to passion.