TED Community » Ricky Thompson

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Using the web to narrow the disparity in opportunities created by economic inequality. Encouraging people to recognise the web as the great enabler of ideas, education, and cultural exchange.

People don't know that I'm good at

telling the time to a high degree of accuracy just by looking at the sky! I am always accurate to within +/- 10 minutes regardless of whether it is day or night!

Comments

• TEDCred score: +1.30 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Conversation: If the technology advances enough will people ever be willing to use an artificial Intelligence machine as a counsellor?

  Jun 25 2012: Hi Barry.
  
  I don't doubt that something simlar or proto-typey has already been done. For instance, I was listening to the BBC World Service this week and they described this game, Sparx, which could be said to be somewhere in the general vicinity of what I described. http://sparx.org.nz/ ...
  
  ...but I'm not sure how without real A.I. it could have really been done in a way that really reflects my question. After all, a patient receiving therapy needs to feel some level of empathy or sympathy, no matter how neutral the therapist attempts to be - this is something that computers are not yet capable of evincing from humans as we do not believe them to be sentient.
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  A reply on Conversation: Is there actually any wisdom displayed by the crowd? Or is it just the latest pet term to describe quantifiable results from chaos? .

  Jun 20 2012: I disagree.
  
  The market, and the speculators that make it/drive it, is guided by economic theories. The forming of these (academic) economic theories are not immune from the pressures that are typical of group-think. In fact, they seem particularly susceptible to these pressures.
  
  For instance, the current neo-liberal approach to economics routinely fails to look sufficiently at alternatives, displays massive data bias, is overly optimistic in terms of risk-taking, etc.
  
  The deregulation of financial markets by politicians (at the bidding of economists and the markets)that gathered ever-increasing pace since somewhere in the seventies saw politicians join in this group-think.
  
  The global economic collapse that emerged fully in 2008 is a result of listening to the markets. Group-think quietened the voices and thinking that could have prevented it happening. Market-led group-think is currently paralysing the European Union and plunging countries such as Greece into despair.
  
  The market is often portrayed (basically by itself) as an efficient process driven by supply and demand, an 'invisible hand' (as Adam Smith put it) that self-regulates. If it ever was, it certainly isn't now. The 'purity' of supply and demand has been distorted by things such as derivatives, and other dubious financial gambits. The market is not an automated process as it is not rational - chaos is always present.
  
  Economics (and hence the market) is a social science that is very much prone to group-think - do economists, financial journalists etc have a tendency to (in a broad sense) agree? Absolutely - especially if they want a successful career.
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  A reply on Conversation: Does society deliberately and systemically under-educate a major proportion of its citizens in order to condition them for lower paid jobs?

  Jun 20 2012: Wow...I appreciate the National Health Service here in the UK more than ever now.
  
  Again...wow.

• A comment on Conversation: Is there actually any wisdom displayed by the crowd? Or is it just the latest pet term to describe quantifiable results from chaos? .

  Jun 19 2012: I think the right answer might be 'it depends'.
  
  For instance some say that 'the market knows' when it comes to economic/political matters. But the market is often just an example of group-think rather than the wisdom of crowds.

• A comment on Conversation: How do you deal with criticism?

  Jun 19 2012: Oh, and it depends on if they are criticizing me personally or simply how I approached a particular task/problem.
  
  If it is personal then ignore them or flame them back!

• A comment on Conversation: How do you deal with criticism?

  Jun 19 2012: If I'm criticised about something that isn't urgent I usually just say something like 'that's an interesting way of looking at it' in a neutral tone of voice.
  
  It's non-commital, can be taken as if I'm belitting their criticism, thinking about their criticism, or don't care about their criticism either way. This gives me the space to stay empowered and not be weakened by malicious criticism.
  
  It also gives me time later on to think about what they have said properly and work out if it had merit, or even if it was just an attack disguised as criticism.
  
  Thus I'm better prepared to react in an appropriate way next time that they offer a view.

• A reply on Conversation: Does society deliberately and systemically under-educate a major proportion of its citizens in order to condition them for lower paid jobs?

  Jun 19 2012: Haha! I really hope you didn't mean that last sentence, Linda!

• A reply on Conversation: Does society deliberately and systemically under-educate a major proportion of its citizens in order to condition them for lower paid jobs?

  Jun 19 2012: If this is so I presume that the pay for unskilled laborers etc is rising quickly in order to attract more people, yes? (the question is to both of you, Peter and Sina)

• A reply on Conversation: Does society deliberately and systemically under-educate a major proportion of its citizens in order to condition them for lower paid jobs?

  Jun 19 2012: I'm not buying (yet) the argument that under education isn't deliberate but I do find your example of educating to underpay very interesting!

• A reply on Conversation: Does society deliberately and systemically under-educate a major proportion of its citizens in order to condition them for lower paid jobs?

  Jun 19 2012: But surely only a minority of people can/will be entrepreneurs (at least ones that make enough money to live to a decent standard).