TED Community » Austin Kiesewetter

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• A reply on Conversation: Are you comfortable in a world in which the United States is not the largest global super power?

  Jan 21 2012: Are those AIDS vaccine trials representative of foreign aid to Africa as a whole?

• A reply on Conversation: Are you comfortable in a world in which the United States is not the largest global super power?

  Jan 20 2012: Thank you for your well thought response. There are some things I think Americans can be proud of. We're the big leader in foreign aid to developing countries, are we not?

• A reply on Conversation: Can advertising be both a force for commerce AND a force for good?

  Jan 18 2012: I like the examples you give. Tell you the truth, I had never seen an ad of the "Arctic White-out" campaign or any of the "Mean Stinks". I may have grown very cynical of advertising. I usually chose to ignore it. However, if I think about it, recent anti-smoking ads in magazines and on TV have had a huge impact on the perception of smoking, informing the potential and current smokers of its dangers. That would be an example of advertising as a force for good.
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  A comment on Conversation: Is Music dying?

  Jan 15 2012: It all depends on what you listen to. Music isn't dying, it's just getting harder to find.

• A reply on Conversation: Should newspapers be truth vigilantes?

  Jan 15 2012: While a media that regulates itself sounds great, it doesn't sound realistic. It is not in the interest of news organizations to self-regulate, so they won't do it. In relation to your nurse metaphor, nurses are compeled to not abuse patients by the power of the law. Then should the media be compelled to present the truth by the law?

• A comment on Conversation: Was the universe created by God, or by the Big Bang Theory?

  Jan 14 2012: "The big bang still remains a theory, and there is no way was can 100%"
  
  You don't understand the meaning of theory. Do you know, besides the big bang, what else is a theory? Gravity. Do you believe in gravity?
  
  Theories are the results of seemingly endless scientific testing and supported by a large body of evidence. No, we can't know for sure, but that's what's great about scientific discovery. Based on the evidence at this time, we can assume a large explosion created the know universe we inhabit: the big bang.

• A comment on Conversation: Can advertising be both a force for commerce AND a force for good?

  Jan 14 2012: To tell you the truth I can't think of any advertisers that are serving both roles in a genuine way. Is there something I'm not seeing?
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  A comment on Conversation: Should newspapers be truth vigilantes?

  Jan 14 2012: Newspapers shouldn't be truth vigilantes, because reporting without a bias is impossible (though they should try their hardest to do so). Newspaper readers should be the real truth vigilantes. It's up to you, the reader, to know what you're reading and who wrote it, and how both those things affect perception of the truth.

• A comment on Conversation: Internet connectivity in the world - encouraging high-bamdwith and high-quality connectivity to be treated like a basic service

  Jan 13 2012: An even bigger wall to climb, besides the price, is government censorship. Chinese leaders have no problem blocking important information on the internet it deems too critical of leaders and government policies. Many regimes feel internet access is a threat to their authority, and will make every effort to block it.

• A reply on Conversation: Should There be Rules on How the Dead are Treated During War?

  Jan 13 2012: I agree that there should be distinct regulations pertaining to the treatment of the dead. My point is that, in war, people will die. We cannot infer from the video of the urination under what circumstances the dead were killed. Were marines lives at stake? If killing these people ment saving an innocent's life, does that make their death justified? I think it does. The fury over this video should not be pointed at the act of killing, because it may have saved another, but at the act of desecrating the bodies, which is wrong in any circumstance.
  
  With regards to my last statement, you're right, our actions shouldn't be predicated on the possible action of our enemies. I feel I may have misspoken.