TED Community » Cindy Ward

More About Me

I'm passionate about

I'm passionate about change - but respect a stability mindset (within reason). I'm also passionate about fostering humanitarian knowledge (but it's o.k. that not everyone is into that).

An idea worth spreading

Cut power world-wide for 7 days. People may develop true friendships.

Talk to me about

Fear - otherwise known as human motivation.

People don't know that I'm good at

Billiards. B.S.ing

My TED Story

I'm frustrated. I think TED is wonderful - but, in some ways it's preaching to the 'already convinced.' This might sound crazy, but I wish to reach a broader audience - everyday people. I could try working my way down from the top (via politics? etc?), but that's a dead horse. I can't run for office because a lot of people don't understand that they can't have free health-care and lower taxes at the same time. I think I need to become a celebrity (of course, I'd have to stop drinking now, so that I don't get sucked into a vortex of self-destruction). WHAT IS MY MESSAGE? It's complicated - it's kinda to remind people of what is true - and do it 'simply', cuz there's sooooo much data for everyone to sift through. So, what is true? A coupla hundred things. One of them is that we are individuals living on a wet, grassy rock in a very large universe. Another is that we are motivated by fear - and we do lots of stuff because of it.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.30 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: Why are people resistant to change? What's wrong with some stability?

  Oct 16 2011: Very thoughtful Salim - simple, but there's a ring of truth to it. Your last comment makes me wonder if fear isn't a contributing factor. Sometimes I wonder if fear isn't a huge motivator for humans overall.

• A reply on Conversation: If you could change one thing about the world...

  Oct 16 2011: I agree Ashley - I'd love to see it as well - I wish we lived in a world where that kind of stuff mattered to everyone - we are falsely lead into a whole host of social issues all stemming from supposed 'entertainment' - as they say, you can lead a horse to water . . . . cheers Ashley - your thoughtfulness is good stuff.

• A comment on Conversation: If you could go back in time and meet yourself as a kid, what would you do?

  Oct 15 2011: Explain my situation to myself and that everything is o.k. - I would also tell myself that money DOES matter and that, despite the movie "Pretty Women," love does not equal sex.

• A comment on Conversation: Why is China still referred to as a "developing country"?

  Oct 15 2011: I don't know much about China - I suspect, than unless people have visited China (and not just main cities) that they wouldn't know much either - this being said, we take our understanding about these things from media around us - even well informed media.
  
  I guess what you're saying is that 'developing' is not an accurate statement? who knew?
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: What's your TED habit?

  Oct 15 2011: I'm busy - a whole talk (15 mins) is a lot of time for me. I don't do it daily. I come here for inspiration and communication. I do watch a talk or two about once/month. Sometimes I binge-talk (watch several at once) - when I'm feeling needy. I'm frustrated in my field of social psychology - trying to find a way to a make a difference once and for all.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: What if Hawks & Doves Married Moral Codes?

  Oct 15 2011: As humans, I feel like there's a balance of both worlds - let's look at this individualistically first - there are things that we'd like remain stable - within ourselves - our ability to stand tall, feel proud and look after ourselves; sometimes that means dealing with adversaries - but, we'd have to do it, or we'd lose our self-esteem and then we'd drain our life, rather than live it.
  
  However, we also like striving to change and become better people, gain knowledge, balance our diet, love and understand more.
  
  It's like Yin and Yan - we need to hold onto our strengths and stability before we can MOVE ON to the change we want to see happen.
  
  I think the key is changing the definition of 'hawks' - We need to establish stability FIRST (like infant attachment) before we can explore 'sharing' etc.
  
  The problem, as I see it, is that society has pitted stability against change - such that this 'pitting' has been seen through a lens much like a social 'norm' - i.e., it's 'normal' that stability and change are at odds - and it can't be that way - i strongly believe that in order to see change, we need to allow stability to have it's way (to a degree) so that people don't feel like they have to give up one in order to have the other.
  
  Perhpas we can be both hawks (re-defined) and doves.

• A comment on Conversation: If you could change one thing about the world...

  Oct 15 2011: I agree Ashley - completely - but from what I know about scientific publications (and the media's interpretation of such), I think people would get lost in competing data. What about . . . "Did you know that . . ." kinda stuff. Simple and to the point. " Did you know that . . . we are all individuals, living on a wet and mossy rock in a big giant universe? " . . . that kinda stuff

• A comment on Conversation: What would you do if this were your last day?

  Oct 15 2011: I would tell everyone that I love them - I would share thier beauty with them. I would send 1000 books to publishers and insist they print them in 'rock' and then I'd have a great meal and several drinks with my family.

• A comment on Conversation: What knowledge changes your perception of whether or not something is beautiful?

  Oct 15 2011: We see beauty when we FEEL beautiful.