TED Community » Richard Luster

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I'm passionate about

Love, Life, Nature, Humanity, true Freedom, Equality, Selflessness, Spiritualism, Technology

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

• A comment on Conversation: If you were to lose your spouse; how would you handle your grief and loss? How will or would you look at future relationships differently?

  Dec 14 2011: I am 44 now and have been joined with my love for 25 of those years, it is unfathomable to think of a loss of this nature let alone any future relation afterwords. There could and never would be a replacement for the way I feel. I do strive to bring the love and respect I feel for all things in existence to the level of what I am lucky enough to have with my wife.
  
  Forever Terry Lee Luster I will love you...
• +3

  A comment on Conversation: What do you think TED is? (almost in a word)

  Nov 30 2011: I believe TED is an meme ( /ˈmiːm/[1]) is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."[2]
  A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.[3]

• A comment on Conversation: How long will it take for society to recover?

  Nov 11 2011: I agree Society needs to recover, the question is how.. we all know that the monitory system is faltering all over the world. we need to change the way we think. instead of using money or trade as a crutch I feel money was a way to justify the thoughts of "I will not help you unless you can give me something" I feel this line of thinking breeds greed, poverty, inequality, war, etc... changing the way we think or Social Engineering is a risky busyness we need to move toward a more spiritually enlightened world and I am not thinking in the lines of organized religion but in the line that we are all connected to each other and the world we live in. some times i like to "daydream" that everyone lives to help and helps to live meaning everybody does anything and everything they could possibly do to help other people live a life plenty if everyone did this than no one would be homeless or hungry or without friendship. and cities of any size would feel like a community again. Even though society seems to be in trouble, dying or dead, nothing will change until there is a catastrophic failure in the current monitory system and /or the governments in the world and then society will be rebuilt and based on what replaces them. this could take generations.

• A reply on Conversation: With recent worldwide monetary issues, would a society without money work?

  Nov 7 2011: if the device was not available in any market or from the manufacturer that would most likely be due to the Limited supply of a natural resource or the item was discontinued due to being obsolete at which point you would be informed of and handed the new iPhone if you had to have the iphone 10 instead of the iphone 11 then the obsolete model could possibly be send to you from the recycling center but would be a used device.
  
  I know I did not go into real depth on any of these but I think I outlined possible ways things could be done "without money"
  
  Not everyone will choose to quit working, those that do still have the basic right to housing, food, water and toys. same as you and me I don't know if you have ever been laid-off or out of work but when you are not working for a month or so you start to get board and want to do something I believe most people are ethically sound and would continue to work then as the technology advances and more and more jobs are replaced by robotics that is when people will start to shift to spirituality, sciences, theoretical sciences and advanced engineering further propelling humanity.

• A reply on Conversation: With recent worldwide monetary issues, would a society without money work?

  Nov 7 2011: Lets look at "Real-Estate" and "Limited supply"
  
  the way I could envision Real-Estate is much the same as it is done today it would be on a first come first serve basis the "Realtors" would be the ones regulating the market. lets say you wanted to live close to "Lake Baikal" you would just visit a realtor in that area who would show you a list of what is available there. If you did not like what was available then a builder (Builders would regulate the available home building plots a plot would be a piece of land that if you were to build on it it would not adversely effect the wildlife or obstruct the view of an existing home while preserving the public use of the lake) could be contacted to see if there are any available plots. This could work the same way for all Real-Estate including inner-city and around schools, Hospitals,sports arenas, Parks etc...
  
  as to the supply of foods and material good there will always be a Limited supply but this could be regulated by the distribution markets, farmers and manufacturers. As I have stated before as it is right now we are not guaranteed a product will be on the shelf when we go to the market, so why should we expect that guarantee in a world without money?
  but anyway lets use "raspberries" and my home city "Dallas" lets say Dallas has a Raspberry Farm and this Farm has standing "orders" from individuals and Markets that total a 1000 pounds of raspberries so the Farmer decides to gear to produce 1250 pounds of raspberries that is 25% over the standing orders. At this point if a market runs out or someone places an order they will have some to send out, if the farmer runs out, he can up his production of raspberries to meet the demand then if the demand exceeds the capacity of the farm the farmer can contact a builder and have a floor added to his farm.
  as for material goods like the iPhone etc... if you get to the market and they are out they could then check availability at other locations and have it sent to you.

• A reply on Conversation: With recent worldwide monetary issues, would a society without money work?

  Nov 7 2011: Hello Pontus,
  First I do not see where anyone "attacked you personally" and certainly no attacks as in the manor that you attacked the creators of the video and website that was the basis of my question. with that being said, lets break down your response.
  (1) devoting your entire life to contribute,
  As it is right now we all devote our lives to contribute, every job I have ever had was there to help society in some way
  
  (2) die to contribute
  I ma not sure what you mean with this but when I die any/all of my organs that are usable by someone else will be donated and the remainder will be cremated and added back to the earth.
  
  (3) doing nothing at all to contribute
  Everybody want's to belong to something. as with any transition some things are hard.
  if we were to go to a system such as this than through education our grandkids and/or there kids would not now "PRICE" they would go to work just like you and me. difference being they could have standing grocery orders that were delivered to their house/apartment which was free of "PRICE/CHARGE" is everyday free of "PRICE/CHARGE". In the interim (right after the transition) on one hand there would be a lot of people that decided to "take a vacation" on the other there are millions out of work because companies can not afford to "Pay" them these people would be returning to work because companies would NOT have to pay them. My brother-in-law and I had a conversation on this he stated there are a lot of people out there only working because they need the money to live that if they did not need the money they would not contribute. I told him those people would quit their jobs because they do not like what they are doing just like him, then I asked him "If you did not have to do what you are doing now. What would you love to do?" He stated he would wright songs and entertain people. I stated that is exactly what you would do then. My point being people would find what they LOVE to do and do that.

• A reply on Conversation: With recent worldwide monetary issues, would a society without money work?

  Nov 5 2011: Gentleman like Dickson Despommier are working on this issue right now the solution is Vertical Farming. These farms can be built anywhere and would insure more then enough food for anyone. and I believe could be expanded to include Ranching (can you see a high-rise building full of livestock?)
  
  http://www.verticalfarm.com/
  (TEDx) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIdP00u2KRA
  
  but still there is no guarantee that you will have any certain product when you go to the store today, but I believe that in a cost free world there would be a better chance of the market having what you want when you want then there is today. If you look at the reasons supermarket shelves go empty now, I can only think of two. one is almost unavoidable this would be "times of crisis" such as a natural or man made disaster and then most man made disasters spawn from the use of money or monetary value of a substance "Oil, Drugs etc..." the other would be a failure of "the current Financial system". In both of these instances it comes down to logistics.
  
  in a "times of crisis" it is usually physical damage and lack of money that stops the distribution flow
  in a "current Financial system failure" nobody would have access to "Money" to be able to buy products such as "raspberries" or fuel hence the distribution flow would stop.
  
  this brings me back to "if everyone just kept doing what they are doing now".
  
  having a cost free money free world is not about having everything available all the time for everyone, it is about having untouchable personal liberties and equality of life for every human.

• A reply on Conversation: With recent worldwide monetary issues, would a society without money work?

  Nov 4 2011: Hi, Andres
  
  The problems I see with doing this gradually are money perpetuates greed and inequality, and I don't think there is any way to put "the money problem aside". I know I am technical enough to be able to build an off grid system using a combination of Hydro, solar and wind for power and supplying my family with enough clean water using a homemade dehumidifier and collecting the condensation, there are plans all over the internet for all of these technologies.
  
  So what stops people from using them right now?
  
  from what i can tell the main reason people don't do this is time they are too busy working to make ends meat to be able to put the stuff together, and then there are the ones who are trying to make busyness out of the technologies but they have to charge in the thousands for a product, to cover the cost of tooling for mass-production and be able to make ends meat as well.
  
  then there are the Laws, regulations and HOAs that stop people from putting these items on, in or around their house.
  
  I believe that gradually getting away from money is like gradually trying to ween a heroin addict off of heroin.
  
  unfortunately, I feel the current system will have to come to a complete and total financial collapse and then the people choosing to replace it with a system of this nature.
  
  people have to believe it will work before it will.

• A reply on Conversation: With recent worldwide monetary issues, would a society without money work?

  Nov 4 2011: My apologies, let me qualify this statement. "everyone just kept doing what they are doing now". without money the financial institutions could not keep doing what they are doing. but everyone else with a job could, when you take money out of the equation that opens the door for the millions of "Unemployed to be able to work. With the "corporations and busynesses" not having to worry about having the "Money" to "Pay" the employee. Or for that matter with not having to worry about the "Money" to start a busyness anyone could start one and it's success would be dependent solely on customer service and product quality. more minds would be freed for innovative thinking, research and development of not only technology but in all facets of being human.
  
  By "Doing what we are doing now" this keeps the social structure from collapsing in on itself while the social system is being rewritten by the population. in this respect I believe there would be progress,

• A comment on Conversation: With recent worldwide monetary issues, would a society without money work?

  Nov 4 2011: There are enough homes/apartments on the planet now for every one to have one. in the USA alone 11.4% are vacant http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/28/real_estate/us_housing_vacancy_rates/index.htm If there were no cost for one these would be filled. it is the same with automobiles it seems there are hundreds just sitting in new and used lots these could all be used or created when one is needed to help manage resources
  
  there would be a boom in inner-city agriculture food could be grown anywhere in the world even in the desert! imagine a high-rise complex in Dubai providing 100,000 acres of food grown.
  
  if tomorrow money were gone but everyone just kept doing what they are doing now and NOT let the fact that you would not get a paycheck stop you but continued because you know you could just go to the store or restaurant and feed your self or get that tv you wanted or trade in your old car for a new one without cost.
  
  so the "HOW" is not in the logistics of actually doing it but is in people "believing it can be done"
  
  "How" to get people to believe in a concept like this?
  
  You can Not be greedy if there is nothing to be greedy about!