TED Community » Simon Tam

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Advocating for the underserved, the arts (especially spoken word and music), cross-cultural studies, philosophy & religion, literature, thought provoking debate, and food!

An idea worth spreading

Keep your marketing organic - dump the artificiliaty of buzz words or trendsetting and stick to natural, quality products and services.

Talk to me about

Music, marketing, business development, Asian and Asian American issues, LGBTQ rights, and great food.

People don't know that I'm good at

Cooking. I grew up with two professional chefs in the family!

My TED Story

I first encountered TED, like many people, through watching one of the videos. The inspiration received was addicted! Since then, I've been subscribing and sharing videos, attending TED related events whenever possible, and supporting the speakers buy purchasing their books or looking into their organizations.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +5.30 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Talk: Keith Chen: Could your language affect your ability to save money?

  Feb 19 2013: Hi,
  
  My original comment was in response to another's comment about this, which has now been posted further below for some reason. They were arguing that language forms culture (see below), in response to my statement that "I think that it may be more complex than just the language, it could also be attributed to the culture built around the language as well." II agree, it's a much more complicated idea that can't be dictated in pieces (i.e, only looking at the role language plays).
  
  "Jens Ottese
  2 hours ago: A point of the talk is that language forms the culture.
  Smoking, saving, and all kinds off behaviour is exactly what culture is...
  So it doesn't make sense to say he hasn't considered that different languages often have different cultures... That is the point of the talk! Different languages is the cause of differetn culture."
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Keith Chen: Could your language affect your ability to save money?

  Feb 19 2013: Hi,
  
  The talk is that language forms the behavior, not culture. Language is one aspect of a culture but it doesn't define it (in fact, language is often dictated by culture). Another thing that isn't considered is how language evolves. While the rules of grammar usually take longer to evolve, words come and go quite quickly. I'd be interested to see the proportion of savings over a historical perspective as well as the present, real data. For example, did Hong Kong's behavior shift when under British control vs. Chinese control? What about the newly established nations vs. older countries that formed new nations?
  
  Regards,
  Simon

• A reply on Talk: Keith Chen: Could your language affect your ability to save money?

  Feb 19 2013: Hi Peter,
  
  I speak Mandarin. It's true, the tense formation in Mandarin is much different than English so the words depend greatly on context. In Mandarin, you literally would say "yesterday rain" instead of "it rained yesterday." There are no tenses in Mandarin like you see in the suffix of English, Spanish, etc.
  
  On your second point, I do agree that the multi-language nations present an interesting problem. I think that it may be more complex than just the language, it could also be attributed to the culture built around the language as well.
  
  For example, I think the U.S has a very "futurist" culture" where as I don't experience the same with Chinese culture.

• A reply on Talk: Keith Chen: Could your language affect your ability to save money?

  Feb 19 2013: Hi Jay,
  
  I think he's just measuring the data flat across the board. China is a rather large country with approx. 1.3 billion people. Visiting any part of China wouldn't really give an entire picture of the entire picture. Another thing to consider: smoking is most popular in the densely populated metro areas (Beijing, Hong Kong, etc.), where English is widely taught and spoken and less so in rural areas, where hey speak primarily a variation of Chinese.
  
  II haven't seen the data either way but before jumping to conclusions, it would be good to give the presenter the benefit of the doubt since I am sure he has.
  
  Regards,
  Simon

• A comment on Conversation: Youtube/ User Generated Content on TV

  Jul 11 2012: It's an interesting idea, though I don't think Google would be willing to do it.
  
  With over 24 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube per minute, that's a lot of content to sort through - not only that, but they don't want to be held responsible for inappropriate content let alone deal with copyright/licensing releases on all of that. Additionally, they'd have to pay for broadcast television rather than simply driving more traffic to their website(s) and apps. However, many newer DVD players and other entertainment hub devices do have a YouTube app that can pull the top rated or highlighted videos of the day direct to the TV...

• A reply on Conversation: How do we make a kickstarer/crowdfunding website for innovators from the developing nations ?

  Jul 11 2012: Correct, it's just the payment system - the user has to have an Amazon.com payments account in order to receive payments (it is verified through Amazon through a US bank, etc.). I've just completed a campaign on there myself.

• A comment on Conversation: How do we make a kickstarer/crowdfunding website for innovators from the developing nations ?

  Jul 11 2012: There's always Kiva (kiva.org), which is a site that allows for users to create micro-loans in order to help invest into the lives of others in developing nations. It doesn't necessarily revolve around the arts as Kickstarter, Rockethub, or IndieGoGo does, but the concept is pretty similar: people investing into each other's ideas.

• A reply on Conversation: want to change the world? consider music.

  Jul 11 2012: I think it's also important to remember that not everyone on stage is out there to preach. Many artists just want to create art but get their personal lives, habits. activities, problems, etc. thrown under the limelight. It's one of the costs of fame, sure, but there are those who just want to make a sustainable career and treat it as such, whether they are making good role models or not. The same could be said for anyone in entertainment or the public sphere - actors, athletes, and so on.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: want to change the world? consider music.

  Jul 11 2012: The arts have always been a powerful way to create a lasting impact - not just musicians but writers, film makers, painters, dancers, etc. as well. Whether one chooses to use that medium to create change in the system or not is a different story.
  
  Currently, I'm using music as a platform to create social change to address social iniquities, racism, etc. Our music isn't "political" in the strict sense but the music career has helped the message spread.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: In the pursuit of happiness, what are the key bullet points to take with me on my adventure

  Jul 11 2012: Success and happiness are found on the journey, not the destination.