Recent Comments

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  • Rodger Fox

    A reply on Talk: Diane Benscoter on how cults rewire the brain

    1 hour ago: I partly agree. I like a lot of people who happen to use the term meme, but it seems to just obfusticate the solutions. Instead of saying we need to innoculate kids with good memes, We could just say we need to teach kids better critical thinking and make them aware of their inherent psychological vulnerabilities.
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    Robert Whited

    A comment on Talk: Robert Full on engineering and evolution

    1 hour ago: Just wait until there's millions of little suicide-bomber robots everywhere taking over the world, all responding to the remote in David Rockefeller's bunker.
  • Nick Price

    A reply on Talk: Richard Dawkins on militant atheism

    2 hours ago: There are no people of credibility, if any at all, that say they either know or have seen an Easter bunny or the Elephants on the moon that you mentioned. There is no need to disprove them; no one is suggesting that we believe in them except perhaps those that have also seen Lucy (in the sky with ...). However there are billions that say they have encountered the living God. That is a fair amount of evidence to consider isn't it?
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    Mark Savage

    A comment on Talk: Rodney Brooks says robots will invade our lives

    2 hours ago: Robots are a great addition to man.. But with great power comes great responsibilities!!!
  • Nick Price

    A reply on Talk: Richard Dawkins on militant atheism

    2 hours ago: The freedom to do and say as we please is self evident. Just because many people have used religion to gain power or wealth does not change the God whose nature they pervert.

    Historically it is much more accurate to say that the revelations represent a standard of behaviour and life far beyond the morality of the time of the revelation. Over time society moves away from and corrupts the original ideas. For example, yours would be a very hard position to maintain over the life and context of Jesus. He is certainly no conformist or product of his time or any time for that matter.
  • Ray Givler

    A comment on Talk: Juan Enriquez wants to grow energy

    2 hours ago: I'm afraid I have to play contrarian yet again. Regulating the price of oil via a tax is just plain silly. Why do so many otherwise smart people have the knee-jerk reaction that government intervention (usually via regulation and tax) is the solution to a problem? The whole spirit of TED is doing things WITHOUT government - via collaboration. Here's an idea: target your innovation to beat oil *at its lowest recent price*, then you don't have to worry about price volatility. Y'all really need to check out mises.org.

    However, I'm not an absolutist. One reasonable regulation could be to make patent-sitting a criminal offense (perhaps even as high as treason depending on the impact).

    On a positive note, how about engineering me a tree that generates an electrical current, i.e. bio-solar (I'll settle for DC)? Then we can cut out the middle men of time, heat, pressure, microbe flatulence, distribution, burning/generation, and re-distribution via the electrical grid.
  • Indigo Dingo

    A comment on Talk: Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

    2 hours ago: I think the more pertinent point to take up for discussion is not whether daemons exist, but what a future looks like where we disentangle the creative process from suffering. Elizabeth looks to the past to propose a one possible solution, but instead of debating the merits of this as the only solution, perhaps we should spend more time and energy on what the best way to positively nurture and encourage creativity in our children and future generations might look like?
  • Nick Price

    A reply on Talk: Richard Dawkins on militant atheism

    2 hours ago: Jorgen,

    You imply that I have said that there is a conflict between religion and evolution and that I was concerned. I read Darwin because I wanted to know what he said rather than what people say that he said.

    I am fascinated by the variety of life on the planet. It is awesome.

    What I can't see now is your insistance that somehow evolutionary theory can do any more than improve our understanding of the variety of life.

    The conjecture that it somehow menas that there is no creator and all the history of man's encounter with God is false untenable.

    Your argument that because all theists don't agree there is no God is also flawed as any historian will confirm there are many representations of events. Just compare the Soviet (as was) version of European history to that studied in England. What people say for whatever motivation does not change what is fact.
  • Indigo Dingo

    A comment on Talk: Matthew White gives the euphonium a new voice

    3 hours ago: I don't think it matters who did it "first," sounds inspired by the didgeridoo to me, and Australian Aboriginals have been doing that since a long time before these instruments were even invented!
  • Ray Givler

    A comment on Talk: Rachel Armstrong: Architecture that repairs itself?

    3 hours ago: Self-repairing roads and bridges would be nice.
  • Bartosz Grynberg

    A reply on Talk: Brian Greene on string theory

    3 hours ago: It may be true, but yet there are still macro-forces we don't fully understand, like forces that make the universe expanding and the expansion itself accelerating. Actually, there are many phenomenons that I myself see as possibly driven by macro-forces from larger dimensions. Take for example evolution.
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    Mark Savage

    A comment on Talk: Pilobolus perform "Symbiosis"

    3 hours ago: This is interesting... Puts you in a lot of different moods... Make you see things that may or may not be there. The human body is complex. Thanks for posting!
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    Mark Savage

    A comment on Talk: Aimee Mullins and her 12 pairs of legs

    3 hours ago: Great speech Aimee! Now I am thinking of a way to make super arms..lol But, it is true humans will move towards more innovative and unique designs for prosthetics. Soon Robo cop will be real... Keep inspiring! -ILML
  • Mezie Anaba

    A comment on Talk: Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

    3 hours ago: Chima,
    I choose to tell a "SINGLE STORY" about you and your inspirational message so beautiful and inspirational; intelligently and captivatingly told. I am proud to know you, see and hear you talk and tell your 'single story';
    Above all, I am so inspired to unashamedly display my green international passport (which most Nigerians are ashamed to carry as a result of unfortunate 'Single Story' told by some powers that be.) not for the love of color green, but for the love and admiration of Nigerians/Africans like you. If ALL single stories convey this quality and perfectly delivered message as this; I must confess my reluctance to abandon a 'Single Story'. I love your 'Single Story" Tell us more.
  • Jake Mixon

    A reply on Talk: Nathan Myhrvold on archeology, animal photography, BBQ ...

    3 hours ago: I think that during the lecture while he discuses the mesozoic era, he directly relates CO2 levels to a warmer climate.
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    Mark Savage

    A reply on Talk: James Burchfield plays (invisible) turntables

    4 hours ago: I agree.. The best of the best should come from all genres Kyra. TED may not have searched far, or may have not had the right judges, but what ever.. James did a good job now lets move forward and raise the bar.
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    Mark Savage

    A comment on Talk: Majora Carter's tale of urban renewal

    4 hours ago: GREAT speech Majora Carter! I want to do something like this in Philadelphia. It seems you are way ahead of me, but I will be there soon. Like you said we are responsible for our futures... The earth can survive without us, but we cant without it. I want to help humanity....
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    Robert Whited

    A comment on Talk: David Merrill demos Siftables

    4 hours ago: I would have laughed if those little asian kids would have turned to the camera and said, "Yeah, but it's still not better than going outside." Hahahaha.

    I think every tech invention is learning to glom itself onto its educational possibilities while ignoring the further drift into virtual "reality."
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    Robert Whited

    A comment on Talk: Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense

    4 hours ago: It won't be long before we get this device small enough to be injected into the forehead. Mark of the Beast anyone? Step right up!

    Also remember every step you remove people from interacting with each other and impose a filtered medium between them, you remove humanity and make of all existence a value judgment coldly decided from the left brain.
  • Indigo Dingo

    A comment on Talk: Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do

    4 hours ago: I have never been a Tony Robbins fan, but I listened to this hoping to find something new. I didn't. Instead of playing to the audience's insecurities like he does when people come seeking help and deliverance at his conferences, he panders to their egos as "the TED audience is different" to his normal poor suckers, right? We get it because we all have such "great minds!" Two things bother me about this: one is the evangelism he if not actually encourages, then certainly does little to discourage. The second and far more worrying for me, is the philosophy that you can make your life whatever you want, ergo if its bad, its your own fault. So, you have been abused, born into poverty or sent to war or child prostitution, but hey, you really just aren't trying hard enough! Be more resourceful! This kind of thinking is dangerous if followed to its natural conclusion, it creates a culture of blame and instills an "us and them" mentality for those who "get it" versus those who don't.

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