TED Community » Sylvain Herbaux

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• +1

  A comment on Conversation: What was your biggest obstacle or frustration during your years of conventional education?

  Mar 30 2012: There are 2 sentences that made me go in the wrong way:
  
  - "Yes, you've got the right answer, but you didn't explain enough how you find it"
  Actually, I understand now that I don't think in a linear way, and nobody could teach me to think this way, with diagram, sketches or plan, instead of the classic linear way to explain maths. I didn't fail, but I was always average. I totally agree Ken Robinson : teachers have problems to walk in their students shoes,
  
  - "You are too good in class to do short studies". I did always love to work with wood, metal, clay, etc. But I wasn't bad at writing at school. And of course, all my teachers wouldn't imagine that a good student would want to be a woodworker if he could have an "intelligent" work. And now? I have a master's degree in communication, I worked several years as a communication executive, and I am bored. At 29, I plan to become a woodworker, starting all over again. Teachers, parents, education experts: Everybody should invent ways for students to discover and develop their skills. And encourage it, even if they are not "intelligent". The world doesn't need only big brains, but also skilled hands, strong arms, sympathetic smiles. I think THIS is the main problem of the education. How can we avoid it? I don't know. In a dream world, every child should spend some time with a worker, discovering a job he like, and every worker should show his job to kids.
  I don't know if it's clear, I think it's pretty much Ken Robinson's ideas, and I know it's really difficult to change a system like that... But we need it!

• A comment on Conversation: Passion versus enough money to make a living

  Mar 30 2012: Thank you for this question.
  I don't really have an "aswer" to it, juste more questions: and what about this guy who has lots of passions, from art to woodcraft, writing or languages... Could there be one dream job with all of these hobbies?
  
  I think there are lots of people like him, or like me, who do a job for a living, and develop other skills "for fun". Do we miss a new Gauss, a new Beethoven ot a new Einstein? Maybe.
  Or maybe not. Edison have been a telegrapher befor he inveted the light bulb, Einstein worked as an assistant examiner (at the Federal Office for Intellectual Property), to earn a living while working on his theories...
  And there are many examples like this.
  
  And there could be even more with the internet: In the past inventors, scientists had to be already well known to spread their ideas, just because of the books' costs. Today everyone can have and develop an idea, and become the world reference about it. And finish making a living out of it.
  That's the "cognitive surplus", the part of you that you don't put into your job: http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cognitive_surplus_will_change_the_world.html
  
  In my opinion, we don't take the measure of the deep change happening because of internet: It allow people who want to develop an idea to meet people who are ready to pay for it. No matter how far they live, or how different they are.
  
  I think when you really get bored of a job, and when you really enjoy a hobby, you can make a living with it. It takes some will, maybe some time to prepare it, but it is possible.

• A comment on Conversation: Development or Destruction, where are we heading?

  Mar 30 2012: That's one of the best questions of our times. Maybe because no one can answer it.
  
  Sometimes I think we are "gods with animal instincts". As gods, we have the power to change the world, to shape the life as we want it. And as animals, all our actions refers to 3 basic instincts:
  - reproduction (a look at the world population, all the innovation in medicine against infertility...)
  - self-preservation (eat more, produce more, make the best "nest" possible)
  - domination (having "the biggest one", "the best one" is a key of innovation these days)
  
  And with this 3 motivations, the majority of us just follow the pack, heading faster and faster toward destruction, guided by people who don't want any change. But the power of acting, changing is not anymore in their hands, TED shows it every days.
  And there are never been so much people willing to change, to go for "the best evolution".
  
  I don't think we should look for "development", because it involves an idea of "more".
  To me, the big challenge for the 21st century (or the 3rd millennium?) will be to replace "growth" by "balance". We've never been a balance species: a species defines itself by the relationships with its neighbours : flowers are nothing without bees, rabbits would never be that fertile without foxes... We are the only species which is totally out of balance, and we have to survive it if we want to keep a place on the earth. We don't have any predator anymore (which is a good thing), but we should learn to balance our population by ourselves. and we don't need force or war for that: education, health care and sensibilisation to this problem should be enough.
  
  A TED talk related to this idea: http://www.ted.com/talks/graham_hill_less_stuff_more_happiness.html

• A comment on Talk: Regina Dugan: From mach-20 glider to humming bird drone

  Mar 29 2012: I liked this talk very much, and I understand why he asked this questions at the end. Just to remember that yes, the military is the first field of innovation. I don't think it is good or bad, neither "leftwing" or "rightwing": it's just a fact, but it's still good to keep it in mind!
  The first use of the atomic technology was on Hiroshima, long befor the nuclear energy used for electricity.
  I suspect almost every tool we invented to be used first for war, before peace. I might be fatalistice, but I think planes, explosions, even spear and fire were first used as weapons, not only against animals. We shouldn't make a judgement about it, but just make sure that this technologies will be used for peace and relationships between human beings as soon as possible.
  And no, everybody doesn't know what DARPA is or do: I am french, and I never heard of it before this talk.

• A comment on Conversation: Couldn't voice synthesis be used to hear text translations instead of reading subtitles?

  Jan 20 2012: Totally agree with you !
  I am also a english-to-french TED talks translator, and since I signed in, I cannot translate any talks, I am always too late. We should be able to translate every talks (and the TED website itself, why not?).
  
  That is how we can spread Ideas!
  
  (and ok, it's a bit funnuy to answer you in english, but if we want everybody to understand our conversations...)
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Nate Garvis: Change our culture, change our world

  Jan 20 2012: Just one question about this talks (and a lot of other TEDxtalks): Why aren't they subtitled? I can translate it from english to french, but I can't choose it in the translation dashboard...
  Actually, there must be more english-to-french translators than english-speaking talks to translate...
  
  Lots of people like me would love to help spreading ideas like this for people who don't speak english.
  You should think about that!

• A comment on Talk: Daniel Goldstein: The battle between your present and future self

  Jan 2 2012: I am not sure if this talk worth a TEDtalk.
  And it just consider the money point of vue.
  One can be happy and have friends even in a small place, AND save money for retirement at the same time.
  For me the interesting part of this talk is the beginning, just to realize that we don't have any will, and we need commitment device. Doesn't take 18 mn to explain it.