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Ben Maudlin
Bondi Beach, Sydney
Australia

Registered Nurse, Prince of Wales Hospital

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If everyone in the world did one altruistic thing or helped one person everyday, that would be over 7 billion good acts done in a day.

If everyone in the world did one altruistic thing or helped one person (without selfish motivation) everyday that would be over 7 billion good acts done in a day, 49 billion a week, 196 billion per month and 2555 billion or 2.555 trillion. See the big picture now? Would make a big difference to everyone including you and me.

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wong gino
- 0
Dec 1 2011: I think ben you have a great idea. like what Elizabeta said the world is taught to be selfish. it's would be great if people starts even an act of kindness a day to 1 person. that would spark a greater good to the world. with so many things happening around the world people without jobs, food and we are just rushing but not living as we ought to.

You share a common goal as i have. to start touching lives by act of kindness!
- Ben Maudlin
  - +1
  Dec 1 2011: It is my guess that there are many more people out there that share our goal. The hard part is organising them, but if we all spread the word then anything is possible and it is only a matter of time before it take hold!
Juliette Zahn 50+
- 0
Nov 30 2011: I am not sure how many of the 7 billion people are babies and elderly. BTW Those are super amazing TED Talks.
- Ben Maudlin
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  Dec 1 2011: According to the CIA world fact-book updated in July 2011,
  
  0-14 years: 26.3% (male 944,987,919/female 884,268,378)
  15-64 years: 65.9% (male 2,234,860,865/female 2,187,838,153)
  65 years and over: 7.9% (male 227,164,176/female 289,048,221) (2011 est.)
  
  That's still over 4 billion people and I don't see why those over 65 can't get involved either!
Colleen Steen 500+
- +1
Nov 30 2011: YES BEN...I see the big picture...let's go for it!!! Every journey starts with a single step:>)
- Ben Maudlin
  - 0
  Dec 1 2011: Couldn't have said it better myself. I started doing this long ago, extending a hand as often as I could to friends, family and employers!
edward long 100+
- +2
Nov 30 2011: Ben, I don't think this old world's weariness is caused by too few acts of altruism, but too many acts of narcissism.
- Faja Anser
  - 0
  Nov 30 2011: I think edward long has a point. No matter how much good you pour on sh.. you still have the sh... I agree there is much sh.. we could do without. I, being so grey minded, have difficulty judging good and bad. Everything always seems to add to, even negatives. I think there are many places simple things could make huge impacts. I think most people are too busy thinking of themselves and their own (in this tough world) to think of much. I feel we must have peace and good will toward ourselves, if we are to truly give it to others. In this chaotic world we live I feel we don't muse enough.
  - Ben Maudlin
    
    +1
    Dec 1 2011: I agree with this however, I would use the example of me helping a person at my local cafe. His Barista had just resigned giving him no notice. Societal expectations are that I listen, ignore and do nothing. Instead I spoke to some friends and found him someone to start work net week. In the meantime I'd offer a helping hand on my days off. This does turn the sh.. situation into something better.
    To quote Buddha "suffering is universal" but through good acts one can alleviate suffering from some. Try walking for a day and simply smile at people, see how many smile back :-D
    - edward long 100+
      
      0
      
      Dec 1 2011: Commendable, my good man. You are correct, Ben. I have no quarrel with people being helpful to one onother, in fact I try to do it every so often. But, your idea is for 7,000,000,000 acts of kindness to be performed every day. I suspect that is already happening. Unfortunately, there are probably 21,000,000,000 acts of hurtful selfishness every day. I guess we differ on how to improve the world. You say grow the good. I say reduce the bad.
      I also appreciate the subtle word "everyrone" in your statement. It conjures up the idea that there are those among us for whom an act of kindness would me a first! And, who knows, maybe they would like the feeling that results. The bad would be reduced and the good grown!
Blake Ekelund
- +2
Nov 30 2011: Start small. Impact another. It WILL spread. Join the club, many are doing positives everyday, but we need the help of others to create the hopeful 7 Billion helpful actions across the Globe!
- Ben Maudlin
  - +1
  Dec 1 2011: If we all suggest this to one other person imagine the snowball effect this could have. It is about time that word of mouth marketed something worth spreading rather than rumours and the latest fad.
Gerald O'brian 50+
- 0
Nov 29 2011: Let me know when to start.
- Ben Maudlin
  - 0
  Dec 1 2011: My advice - start yesterday!
Faja Anser
- 0
Nov 29 2011: Epitome of an epic. An epiphany starting an epidemic of epiphenomena. My idea is to spread HOPE using a fictional story as a guide.
Please keep an open mind. The idea is to write a book that inspires people to do what the book says. The book is the fictional story of The Second Foundation bringing these ideas (H2OPE, The A.R.C., and S.O.R.O.S.) to reality. Think of the book as a screenplay or business plan for the world. It would use computer modeling to get as close as possible to what could happen. It would sprinkle planned events through the book, that will happen after the book is out. For example, in chapter 2, there could be this charity ball where Oprah buys a bottle of H2OPE for a million dollars, this would then take place in real life (right on cue). This kind of thing, would be spread all through the book. The roll of a lifetime, an appearance in the book that aims to change the world. The book should be as accurate as possible as to be the manual. Showing people what to do and what will happen when they do. The book will show that by purchasing the H2OPE all that will happen. H2OPE (message in a bottle) is the unifier. It has many attributes, it can be quantified, by being distinctive it allows people to see others following the plan, this is a critical component for generating faith. It is easy to market; 1) buy one and someone in the world gets one for free; 2) start a collection (messages are infinite) your collection shows your contribution and can be used during an emergency; 3) use to teach another language, show duck in multiple languages; 4) use code or rfid to link to web sites generating traffic i.e. get Linden Dollars in Second Life; many marketing strategies are available. The idea is to release H2OPE at the same time as the book. Reality starts to mirror the book and the ball is rolling. This is by no means the whole plan.
Please visit my photos to get a little better understanding of the H2OPE, The ARC, and the SOROS. I look forward to ALL
- Ben Maudlin
  - 0
  Dec 1 2011: This is an interesting idea and i think it has great potential! You should start this as a separate idea so that you don't get lost in this idea as i think your idea is to good to get lost in such a way!
  
  That would be a lovely way to market a product and I can see the positive potential of NGOs and NFPO selling products (at cost) in such a way. You must just be sure it doesn't get misconstrued as a cleverly marketed product rather than a message of H2OPE.
  
  Very clever though!
Elizabeta Petrovic 50+
- +2
TED Translator

Nov 29 2011: It should be like that that, because it would make a chain of good things, not to say happiness for the moment or longer. I know i always feel better as a human even with helping someone to pick up a pen they dropped, not to mention something bigger. People have walls around them, everyone are taught to be selfish. This is one of the ways to wake up the goodness in people that has been sleeping in for too long.
- Ben Maudlin
  - +2
  Dec 1 2011: My sentiment exactly if we can show people how by being altruistic can benefit them personally then it can start to change people to do good onto others. It is a shame that it takes showing them the personal gains of being good to others in order to get people to start. But it is better than everyone just blundering along in their own selfish (for lack of a better word) paths. Collective good is a phrase that I hear being thrown about a lot at the moment with the EU financial crisis but why does this term only extend to matters of finance nowadays. Collective good is exactly why I am involved in TED. Groups of people trying to share ideas for the collective good of everyone.
Rhona Pavis 50+
- +1
Nov 29 2011: Ben, I think your thinking and expression of that is right on the nose. We have the power right now to co-create the world of our highest dreams. All we need to do is to live according to our highest, positive beliefs. No point in waiting for others to get it. I suspect we have begun. And I know we are having positive impacts. At this very moment good things are happening to good people. Some of those things may have been caused by good things you or I did 3 or 7 years ago. Occasionally, I receive feedback from people that things I said or did a long time ago had positive impacts. There are lag times in information flows. I believe.....positive cause/positive effect. Let us continue. There is a contagion of positive acts. You and I are a part of it. Everyone who says or does anything that is positive is a part of it. This is our world. Let's co-create it to make everyone healthy, prosperous and happy. May as well.
- Ben Maudlin
  - +1
  Dec 1 2011: Couldn't agree more. This is exactly what we need to do spread the idea however we can and hope that people see the benefit from doing good things!
  - Rhona Pavis 50+
    
    0
    Dec 1 2011: We are doing it and we are succeeding. Maybe things will speed up. I hope so. In the meantime, we will just continue doing all the positive things we do and having positive impacts of which we are mostly unaware. But who cares! We understand the positive cause/positive effect relationships and we are aware of our individual and joint power to accomplish all of our positive goals. It's hard to see sometimes, but I know we are succeeding. Right on!
Lucas Burns 500+
- +2
TEDx Organizer

Nov 28 2011: How about a day every few months dedicated to altruism to "shape" the year with some altruism? Form a group of people who dedicate themselves to this, hold events, write about altruism and "selfish-altruism", have every member tweet the one altruistic thing they did each altruism day, and spread the word. Spread it virally and we may be one step closer to a more altruistic world. :)
- Ben Maudlin
  - 0
  Dec 1 2011: This is exactly what I commented just before, that it is It is about time that word of mouth marketed something worth spreading rather than rumours and the latest fad. The same goes for internet sensations and viral emails, tweets and videos. Imagine the possibility of doing such a thing. I am looking at the possibility of trying to run a TEDxHealth event looking at the disadvantaged, perhaps after that I we can collaborate and run a TEDxAltruism Event in to countries. Now that would spread the idea quickly! In the meantime I'm telling as many people as I can and will continue to do my altruistic things each day. It doesn't even take any real extra effort, things happen right in front of you that you can help. The example given before of dropping something when your hands are full seems like such a trivial example. But it has happened to all of us and when someone stops and helps you it really does make your day. Imagine doing that for someone whenever you could. Holding a door or an elevator, such incites have been lost in the modern world!

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