Recent Comments

Less than 5 minutes ago: I often wonder about the vast emphasize on our race.
Our race is not the issue, it is our brains that are universally selected.
Brain is the ultimate biological complex, and Just by knowing that a neuron employs electricity to function the brain and that the brain creates technology, we have to realize that our brain is up to a very transformative stage in relation to our biological evolution. The evolution of our brain is a universal matter, a transformation that is more relevant to a universal standard.

Less than 5 minutes ago: Our race is not the subject, it is our brains that are universally selected.
Brain is the ultimate biological complex, and Just by knowing that a neuron employs electricity to function the brain and that the brain creates technology, we have to realize that our brain is up to a very transformative stage in relation to our biological evolution. The evolution of our brain is a universal matter, a transformation that is more relevant to a universal standard.

5 minutes ago: Even if only one girl in the audience went away from this speech, inspired or motivated to try a little bit harder or dream a little bit bigger it would be a successful speech.

That change won't be because of what anyone said - it will be because of what that girl heard...

15 minutes ago: Those last few sentences had quite a big affect on me. Imagine breathing in carbon from the dinosaurs!

35 minutes ago: To quote Randall Munroe: "There is intelligent life out there, it just isn't screaming constantly in all directions on the handful of frequencies we search."

40 minutes ago: I like your thinking & from practical experience, I know it works. The breakthroughs & learning from trial & error are much more powerful than being told what to do.

Sometimes the saying "don't reinvent the wheel" becomes limiting. Imagine if someone did reinvent the wheel!

1 hour ago: i am enjoying the book, "eat, pray, love," because of the content and the way the words flow. it is beautiful and each time she describes her feelings and or the great food she is able to enjoy, i can be there with her and share the times she is taking. a sign of a good book is one that takes you away where you are part of the story.
part of the book which got me really thinking was when she talked about loneliness and depression finding her in rome. this description and the way i could get into what she was relating was as if i was there with her. it was more than that as well, it was as if i had felt those same feelings and had those same over whelming emotions. i am in awe of the way people are able to write when they can make me feel. also. there was the humor and the visual images which hang with me as i am remembering those pages. it is a treat to read this book. i am starting the "pray' part when she is in india. i have never been to india yet i think i will feel like i have.

1 hour ago: Hello! I'm a new member and this is the first TED idea I've seen presented and, of course, my first comment.

During university years I had an optional class of Statistics and the only reason I took it was that I needed those extra credits. I didn't like it at all, but now I realize that the main reason for disliking it was the teacher. Other reason was that the classes of Statistics were not related to the real world, to examples of real life. It was not compared to interesting or ordinary situations that can happen every day.

Now, one of my biggest passions is poker and I have to tell you that I really regret those Statistics classes. I can tell you that is one of the most important thing in poker and I'm learning every day more and more. The result is that my game of poker has improved considerably and I teach others to think statistically.

Ups, now I see that only 1000 characters are allowed :)

So, think statistically!

2 hours ago: Ben you don't need a degree in a particular theology but you do need a pretty good working understanding of exactly what they believe or you can never, ever understand why they live the way they do.
People always assume that religious people are just rule followers. Not so at all. They don't just see a rule in the Bible and slavishly follow it. They live their life acording to a code that they believe makes sense and improves their spiritual life when followed. they know this from experience. It's not 'pie in the sky when you die' it's improved life now.
Religion can never make sense with logic alone. If i show you a food you've never seen before there is no way i can prove to you it's delicious. The only way for you to know is to experience it. You might be swayed to try it by the fact that thousands of other people seem to be happy when they eat it but there is no 'data' or 'proof' that can show it to be great. Eating it is the only way to know. You can always spit it out.

2 hours ago: Adding 'ology' to the end of a word does not automatically imbue it with scientific validity.

Any idiot knows that everything affects the way our mind functions and the conclusions it makes.

If you use critical thinking then finally, despite testing and double testing, when you can't find a superior idea you take on the best explanation for something that you consider to be logical and reasonable. Even then, you are always open to someone or some idea proving you wrong or its self superior. That's about as open minded and critical as you can get. That's the state of mind of most Unificationists that I know.

Most UC detractors have never looked into UC theory in any depth. They are the ones who lack critical thinking because they draw unshakable conclusions before ever considering all sides. They operate on emotion and feel important and superior to be the denouncers. It's amazing how the more you guys talk/accuse, the more you describe your own mental process. Keep it up

2 hours ago: Ah, if only elementary and high school teachers would listen to the complaints of the college profs of beginning math classes as they are getting the New Math students. If it had been a success, we'd be hearing songs of delight about large numbers of students better prepared to do college math. INstead remedial math in college is at an all time high.

2 hours ago: But are you teaching to everyone as the Asians do? If there is a slow learner in the Asian class, even that child will know the material by the end of the year. Some children -- most of you fall into this category were naturally gifted at math. You could move some blocks around and play with rods and never had to be taught to add, subtract, divide or multiply. Your giftedness let you skip learning steps and lep to the generalization phase of learning. The drill and practice needed by so many others would have been boring for you. Other students without your facility in math can reach the same level (at least credible calculus), but not if you expect them to learn as "naturally" as you did. When you impose your games and play and leave out the needed practice and feedback and practice and feedback, they lose and we have the mathmatically illiterate culture we are increasing by the year. I recommend the new version of Mastery Teaching by Hunter and its section on how the brain learns.

2 hours ago: What's really sad is that most education professors were typical students in colleges of ed (4th - 5th grade math level; in my "teaching of math course, I was the only one who could divide by a decimal or do percentages) and so never were adept at algebra, or statistics, much less calculus. Because they can't understand the highest quality research studies except for the final discussion section, they don't engage in scientific decision making for creating curriculum or determining the most effective methods of teaching.

3 hours ago: Americans understand this with their sports and woe be to the coach who doesn't include enough drill. Ever since the 60's we've lost it when teaching other basic skill areas.

3 hours ago: I wish that all American teachers were as wise as you. I was privileged to work with and watch Asian math teachers in a school where they had refused to teach University of Chicago Everyday Math. K and 1 were lots more drill than American teachers would ever stomach, but by the end of first grade the kids could add, subtract, divide, and multiply 2 digit numbers in their heads.....and their teachers were then starting to give them difficult word problems involving critical thinking. Meanwhile the other first grade classes with EM were drawing pictures to try and solve far more basic problems. Come high school, which students do you think soared to the level that so many here want but don't know how to help children reach -- the Asian students (and many had poor illiterate Hmong parents, so the "parents helped" excuse doesn't apply.

3 hours ago: At the end at the end of the evening at an Obama phone bank, I went to add up the numbers of calls for the 15 people there (ex. one woman had 45, another 32, and so on) As I started to add the list, one of the four honors high school students there very kindly said, "Oh -- I 'll go get my calculator for you." When I said that I didn't need it, she gasped, "My God!" as if I had a magic charm. The high school girl standing next to her nudged her arm and said, "People that are older than us know how to do it without a calculator." They watched me as if I were performing an ancient rite.

Are these four girls smarter and do they have more critical thinking skills, because with their creative U of Chicago E Math since kindergarten they never developed the most basic number sense? No,through the years of blocks, and rubber bands, and spiral curriculum they never did learn it to mastery. In the burbs the dirty secret in math ed is massive tutoring . In the inner city --social injustice

4 hours ago: ...You *have* heard of something called "metaphor" right? You know, it's a tool used to describe something by comparing it (or insisting it is) something else. Gilbert and those she quotes are just describing the writing process in ways other than, "I sit down and churn out great works." Sometimes, the truth is boring.

Gilbert and those she quotes *know* that they are the source of the creativity.

4 hours ago: While we can debate the relevence of calculus in real life compared to the relevence of statistics, most will agree the importance of algebra. US highschool often fail to teach algebra, and it seems to me that this is the first question that should be discussed while talking about highschool mathematics.

Afterall, not that many high school students actually take calculus. And as a person who just took calculus, I know that it is impossible to pass the course without solid knowledge of algebra.

4 hours ago: "The bible gives a complete lineage from Adam to Jesus, so by definition there is no "older religion"."
Absolutely hilarious. This is some of the funniest trolling I've seen in a long time!

5 hours ago: I disagree on two counts: FIrst, "our human reticence to war is a proble" - your normative judgment that this great power posturing and geopolitical swinging of dicks justifies the inevitable erosion of liberty and the callous sacrifice of this country's youth (not to mention Guatemalan peasants, Nicaraguan priests, and a generation of Vietnamese);
Second, I would argue that excessive militarization takes resources away from more economically, culturally and technologically productive investments, weighing the country down enough to allow other powers to catch up enough to challenge US hegemony.