Operation: Enduring Yale 250s Forum

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pdaines

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by pdaines » Sun Aug 31, 2014 10:54 am

Max the Scientist puts his cat Schrodinger into a box. This box will kill the cat if an atom fissions, a “quantum” event which occurs one half of the time.

The Many Worlds interpretation of this experiment says that, when Max runs the machine, the world splits into two distinct universes: one in which the particle fissions and Schrodinger dies, one in which the particle stays whole and so does the cat. Each universe also contains a Max the Scientist. When the Max’s look inside the box, they discover whether they are Max-One, who is in the universe with a live cat, or Max-Two, with a dead one.

As bizarre as this sounds, it is a very plausible way of translating quantum mechanical theory into the physical world with which we are familiar. But it has some strange consequences:

Max climbs into the box and triggers the experiment. The universe splits into two: one with a live Max, one with a dead Max. But the thing about being dead is that you are not around to notice the fact. Subjectively, Max only perceives the universe in which he still lives.

The universe is just this experiment writ large. Every event that could possibly kill you is a result of quantum interactions which divide the universe into worlds in which you are alive and worlds in which you are dead. Subjectively, you will only experience those universes where you continue to live. Subjectively, you will never die. You have “quantum immortality.”

This is great. But because I am an anal law student, I am going to point out that just because the universe splits (presuming that it actually does) every time there are multiple options does not necessitate that every time your death is an option, that your lack of death will also be an option. Ergo, you live longer or shorter in various realities, but since there is a zero percent probability that you will live to be a thousand, there can be no possible realities in which you live that long.

999342

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by 999342 » Sat Sep 13, 2014 6:48 pm

173/3.8/Weak softs
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Last year, I conducted an experiment: I used she, instead of he, as a universal pronoun in a final essay. The grader circled every she and her on the page. The addition of one extra letter alerted him to gendered pronouns. Female pronouns exclude men, but male pronouns do not exclude women. For some unknown reason, men are the default in our society.

My experiment was the culmination of over a year of self-study in an attempt to understand the philosophical origins and consequences of our gendered society. My goal was not to catalog the disadvantages women face—I began this journey because I had an insatiable desire to understand why. Gender theory is a rigorous analysis of who we are as a society. Distinct, unequal genders span all cultures, and gender theory can provide universal yet intimate explanations for this inequality. However, as I moved through the gender theory canon, with each book I became more disappointed. Contradictions, archaic ideas, circular arguments—I began to wonder if the answer was even there.

I am an economics student. I am used to answers being readily available or mathematically derivable. But the answer I came to was neither of these things. Why does he encompass all genders, but she refer only to women? Over fifteen books later, the only conclusion I have come to is that we do not, and may never, understand the universality of the male.

Phyr

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by Phyr » Thu Jan 07, 2016 6:52 pm

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Last edited by Phyr on Sun Jan 17, 2016 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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3pianists

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by 3pianists » Thu Jan 07, 2016 10:03 pm

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RictusErectus

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by RictusErectus » Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:36 am

jamesieee wrote:Here's mine. Hope it helps a soul or two. I applied in early January and was accepted in mid-March.
jamiesieee, you have probably graduated from Yale by now and are off to somewhere else in life. But I just want to tell you that your 250 is beautiful: not just for being a self-reflexive act of agony over application writing but also for the prose comprising it. I'm in awe.
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RictusErectus

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by RictusErectus » Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:56 am

chopsticks3092 wrote:After weeks of having no idea whatsoever what I was going to do with the 250, came up with this one. Admitted.
I loved your 250, chopsticks3092! Way to put a compelling and deep story behind what would only be a bullet point in our resume. Wonderful.

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Platopus

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by Platopus » Sun Nov 26, 2017 11:07 pm

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JKFinn22

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by JKFinn22 » Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:14 am

Platopus wrote:Bump for this cycle. Currently struggling with the 250 and would love to read more examples.
In the same boat. This was a very instructive thread. Any other commiserators want to exchange Y250 drafts?

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Platopus

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by Platopus » Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:36 am

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aegor

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by aegor » Mon Nov 27, 2017 1:52 am

Most, but not all, of the Y250s in this thread are personal in nature. I wanted to use mine to summarize a current theological debate and examine some of its more technical aspects. Is this too boring or impersonal?

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KENYADIGG1T

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by KENYADIGG1T » Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:32 am

aegor wrote:Most, but not all, of the Y250s in this thread are personal in nature. I wanted to use mine to summarize a current theological debate and examine some of its more technical aspects. Is this too boring or impersonal?
I have a very harrowing personal story that I used for my PS, so my 250 was academic in nature (since my life affected my decision to do political philosophy). Happy to share mine via PM if it'll help.

ETA: I've already submitted my YLS app, but I'll def read some 250s as my schedule allows.

ruthenium44

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by ruthenium44 » Tue Dec 05, 2017 3:02 pm

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goingnutslawschool

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by goingnutslawschool » Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:51 pm

Are you posting the above because you already submitted it and just want to share or are you asking for opinions?

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KENYADIGG1T

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by KENYADIGG1T » Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:29 am

In the spirit of the thread, I'm posting my 250 for posterity (admitted).

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When we talk about the 12 million people without status in the US, our language is key. Depending on who is talking, we are either “illegal” or “undocumented.”

“Illegal”, though dehumanizing, is accurate. Though I believe that no human being ought to be illegal, the law can and does refer to us as “illegal aliens”. This usage is important because the terms embedded within law allow the public to conflate what is legal with what is right.

“Undocumented,” however, suggests that lacking status is not a choice, but rather an effect of escaping poverty, violence, or lack of opportunity. However, while “undocumented”’ succeeds in humanizing us, it fails to describe what we deal with daily. Undocumented immigrants in fact have documents: diplomas, medical records, certifications. “Papers” are clearly not the problem.

And even if we get status, what then? As the Black Lives Matter movement makes clear, formal citizenship means nothing if some are systemically oppressed, prevented from enjoying their rights.

Thus, I argue that, when discussing those without status, the term “illegalized” is preferable to “illegal” and “undocumented”, because it captures the ongoing, dynamic processes by which legal institutions marginalize people based on their social identities, denying them due recognition under the law.

“Illegalization” as a lens is important because while the terms we use must recognize our humanity, those terms—and the analytical frameworks motivating them—must also interrogate the world in which we live. Combating illegalization is an international, intersectional, and interdisciplinary mission we all must undertake.

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Re: Operation: Enduring Yale 250s

Post by jjs671 » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:47 am

If anyone still writing wants to discuss the 250, feel free to PM (submitted back in Nov).

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