This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
What one feature would you love to see added to TED.com?
The TED team is working on planning the future development and enhancement of TED.com, and the product development team would love to hear your ideas! What's one feature would you love to see on TED.com and why?
Topics:
collaborative innovation design technology
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Tify Ndanoboi 30+
Think about that, what's the value in love? or having children? From a purely economic basis a child is a cost, so basing one life on purely tangible value, the man should walk as soon as the lady is pregnant. As in purely economic terms you're externalizing the cost of life. And ask any CEO, isn't that what they do externalize costs, so why doesn't everyone?
But we don't all think that way, someone I've met has given free education, regardless of color, creed or country to over 300,000 people, whom he probably will never meet. He makes no money (a tangible value) from it. So why would he do it. Where's the tangible value, in making other peoples lives better?
What is tangible value? The Wahhabi where not drilling for oil in the 1930's? Because in the desert is has no value, only to others did it have tangible value.
An example that again connects economics and value to a persons life and to democracy. India was governed by Britain, but many didn't want that, they wanted to govern themselves, but realistically what's the difference? Someone else is just going to be in that job, the job itself still exists, the function of the job is the same. So why bother?
Yet Gandhi, faced prison, starvation, hate, to achieve that goal, but what was the value, he owned nothing, no house, no car, no property of any kind, and yet millions from around the globe came to his funeral. Value?
People do not always do things for value I think that one lesson economics fails to teach us.
In summary the reason for people making comments that only gain points is really a question about the psychological makeup, not only of the individual, but of the species as a whole. To paraphrase Hamlet, "There are more reasons in heaven and earth, Horatio. Than are dreamt of in one philosophy." ...I know, I know not them all.
Fritzie Reisner 100+
That most of us place the greatest value on things with no financial dimension is not controversial either and needs no explanation.
What I don't understand is the assumption that little pluses or points on a website have enough value to anyone to cause them to express ideas that they don't really hold to. I understand that human psychology would be involved, but it is hard for me to believe that little pluses would weigh so heavily to more than a trivial number of people that they would sacrifice their integrity to gain them.
Tify Ndanoboi 30+
See the church with all their pretty colors, see all the stars and stripes that is the military.
Vanity thy name is man.