TED Community » Spencer Anderson

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Very passionate about music and life in general.

An idea worth spreading

Don't ever let anyone tell you, you can't achieve anything. When it comes to accomplishing your goals, the word "NO" shouldn't be in your vocabulary.

Talk to me about

Technology, world problems and crisis.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.50 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: Genetically altering - Is it morally wrong or a new way to control evolution?

  Nov 13 2011: To me, it's wrong. I am a Christian and we're not supposed to play God. I'm pretty sure other religions have the same sort of philosophy, along those lines. I believe that in the future, we'll see that modifying foods will harm us just like they have for years, but we're busy with our cell phones, microwaves and other devices that emit radiation in some form (regardless of testing, lobbyists can be VERY persuasive) that mix into the other factors and create a perfect storm for cancer.

• A comment on Conversation: What makes a good conversation? What draws you in and engages you? Let's build TED-capacity by sharing what we're learning with each other.

  Nov 3 2011: What engages me? The things that I'm vested in or find vague or intriguing. One thing that constantly puzzles me, that I can never figure out, is bottlenecking in traffic. If everyone travels the same speed, or at least does 5 MPH over, shouldn't the line keep flowing at a constant rate?
  
  But to answer my own question, people get over to their exit, people forget where they're going and just lose track in the madness of rush-hour traffic.
  
  It's things like this that get my brain going. Things of, what will technology look like in 10 years? Will we be talking to our phones with more advancement than today's "Siri"? What will become of the US education system and it's "participants" in the future?

• A reply on Conversation: Is it damaging to one's personality if one were to listen to excessive amounts of music?

  Oct 27 2011: What I meant by the drug use: from my description of how "in-tune" I am with music, I didn't want anyone to think that I happened to be a drug user because the people I know who smoke marijuana or take ecstasy, they go crazy when a song comes on.
  
  However, that's true when I think about the social aspect. I am missing out on conversing with other individuals and it is true that people in big cities like to keep to themselves. I don't striking up conversations with strangers, but I just really love to listen to music. Keeps me upbeat and keeps me going (energy-wise).
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: An emphasis on technology actually reduces the amount of learning.

  Oct 26 2011: It's true. Using technology further scatters our brains and makes us think we can "multitask" when, in fact, we really cannot. I watched a video in my Electronic Multimedia and Society class last year about technology in classrooms. The video is called: "Digital Nation: Life on the Digital Frontier" and the link: (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/)there was a topic brought up about a Stanford (or Harvard) study done with students who thought they could multitask.
  The study proved that even though the students thought they could multitask well (read while watching TV or listening to music; or read while facebooking and listening to music) they, in fact, could not.
  
  It's smart for the technology leaders to do this because kids today, in some well-off schools, provide their elementary students with iPads. It's great to learn these technologies when you're at a young age so you'll be well-off and familiar with the technology when you're older; at the same time, it opens up this Pandora's Box of chaos that can ultimately affect the child's learning capacity, ability and maybe even creativity.
  
  At that age, their mind is still developing and I believe that is why a large number of kids these days are ADD or have ADHD. They sit for hours at the computer, playing games of various sorts, browsing their favorites social media site and probably listening to music and or reading while they're doing it. But I digress...
  
  I remember when I was a child, I had Legos to play with. I felt like I was an engineer of sorts, because I would very seldom build according to the instructions. I loved to see what I could create with just my imagination. I would build spaceships or rockets or boats or cars just with what I had.
  I think children and young adults are hampered by their computers or gadgets because it requires a heavy time investment on our part to keep up with the tec
• +3

  A comment on Conversation: Pepper Spray in Schools, used by Security Guards. Good or Bad?

  Oct 26 2011: Well, first of all, I must ask, how dangerous were these fights? Were they mere petty fights? I would think that it's safe to assume the food fight was non life-threatening to the officer. On the other hand, how dangerous could the real fight have been (the latter fight in the same week)?.
  
  Let me first examine the food fight. Food fights are harmless and I'm pretty sure middle school children aren't packing razor blades in their mashed potatoes and hurling them at each other, unless this was prison or something. That being said, the pepper spray should not have been utilized in this case. It was total overkill for the security guard to do that and he or she definitely stepped out of line by abusing their powers.
  
  As for the second fight, the pepper spray should have been used depending on where it happened (after school, in school, on or off school grounds) and the severity of the fight (fists, knives, other weapons, etc.). I believe that if it was just a harmless fist fight, the security guard should have warned the students that he or she was going to use pepper spray on the assailants BEFORE spraying it.
  
  With young teens and preteens, I think it's important to realize that they're still developing and that even though studies have been done about pepper spray, I believe PS can still damage vision down the line.
  
  The security guard should have warned before spraying it. If the fight was more severe, with knives, et. al., then the security guard was within power. If it happened anywhere else, off campus or it just a petty fist fight, I think he or she was just power hungry and wanted to teach (and make examples of) the students a lesson on what will happen if you start bullying and/or fighting in his or her school.