TED Community » Tony Sandy

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I'm passionate about

Education, philosophy, innovation and all attempt to think about things and find the ultimate truth driving reality

An idea worth spreading

Life works like a gigantic machine or mind and without it, existence breaks down into chaos and confusion (lies and error). If we don't realize how simple life is, then we can never control it but become controlled ourselves (victims of sleight of hand and menace, by those on the defensive against reality or trying to take advantage of the gullibility of others: Only a fool who's fooling himself, can fool another fool).

Talk to me about

Education, language teaching, philosophy, innovation

People don't know that I'm good at

Analyzing things to death and simplifying reality / the truth through this process

Comments

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• A comment on Conversation: Fairer form of taxes for all citizens

  Mar 15 2012: I like your points, especially the last two as they are very sensible. Crime is reduced by paying people something, rather than nothing (takes away the desperation). I also agree that it should be below the minimum wage to act as an incentive to work and gain luxuries, rather than necessities. I also agree about voluntary work and incentives again. You are also right about the intern labour culture as not worth the air its written on (been there, seen it, fell for it twice, just to get away from boring routine).

• A comment on Conversation: Aspartme or sugar - which is healthier?

  Mar 5 2012: Sounds reasonable

• A comment on Conversation: It is not a financial crisis we're facing but a moral and morale one

  Mar 2 2012: You're right, it isn't a religious question but a spiritual one. Spirit means we are in charge. Religion means a God out there that is (abdicating our responsibility for the reality we create by putting it down to fate / karma. The former means we are adults, the latter children in the hands of a God / parent, that can be benevolent or sadistic at its whim.

• A comment on Conversation: Disability or useful control group?

  Feb 29 2012: Thoughtful post again. Damn! I was already aware of upper body athletics and dancing but not getting upstairs in a wheelchair - does it work without a handrail?
  
  The thread I was on, on the other site I was on, implied grossly overweight people as are now being found more nowadays, is down to a virus, not lack of exercise. I'm not convinced as we now drive everywhere, where once we walked or sit in front of the TV or computer screen, rather than go play outside as kids.
  
  Your reply reminds of one I had from a woman, who was secretary of a sheep rearing organization in The UK. I suggested that during the lambing season, heated pads should be used to keep the young sheep warm. She emailed me back, pointing out that they'd get dirty and you had no way of ensuring that the lambs would stay on them, plus Infra red bulbs did a better job because the warmth went everywhere and the lambs couldn't lie on them. She did it also with such good humour that my ego couldn't feel offended and my intellect surrendered to her very objective arguments.
  
  Another thought has just occurred to me and that is unused limbs waste away don't they, not turn to fat?

• A comment on Conversation: Is there an advantage of spin over percussion, when it comes to moving objects through space?

  Feb 29 2012: Actually I don't quite.
  
  What I was trying to get at, was that there's a common principle at work, to do with displacement (That 'Eureka!' moment). Apart from the objects mentioned, I also see it in windmills and swimming - where forward motion is obtained by scooping what is in front of you, behind. In fact I now realize it's the law of motion, about movement in one direction causing equal movement in the opposite direction.

• A comment on Conversation: Corruption keeps society in the dark

  Feb 29 2012: Another sign of this cowardice in society is loads of paperwork and not enough actual service. By this I mean in the UK at least, people cover their backs because of fear of litigation. The situation has become like a legal minefield, feeding lawyers, rather than helping others in society, less well off than the rescuers are. The police, fire service, ambulance service and health service, were set up to protect the innocent, heal the sick, stop homes burning down, so that society could get on with its life in peace and as efficiently as possible. Nowadays all these practitioners are weighed down with paperwork, rather than going out into the world and doing the practical work they were hired for. The innocent stand in front of the law, while the guilty hide behind it, lying in order to gain an advantage over others, to the detriment of society as a whole. By this I mean that they try to manipulate the facts as well as the minds of others, through twisting the truth, threats and actual violence. It's created a situation where the innocent, trying to protect themselves end up in prison for assault or are murdered and the guilty get light sentences, ending up in prison and being treated better than those who served the community well and are now retired.

• A comment on Conversation: It is not a financial crisis we're facing but a moral and morale one

  Feb 29 2012: True, they are both true simultaneously and are related. What I'm trying to say is that money is objectively just paper and metal we exchange in trust, which is a spiritual / emotional response. When we no longer trust the outside world, we cut off from it (No longer believe in it). If we think we have no future, we have none because we don't progress forward anymore. Love is trust. Taking a leap of faith is trust. Fear of the future sends us back into ourselves as we clutch greedily the certain past. It is this movement into the unknown that fills us with dread but if we don't do it, we slide down the mountain into the pit of despair, rather than reach for the stars with our last breath. The dead fear mongers is right. They want to hold onto power, position, wealth - in other words, if they can't take it with them, they don't want to go (Bill Gates seems to be different). It's about addiction (fear of death) and avoiding the truth. Behind greed is fear - how much is too much? How little is not enough? (The addicts dilemma).
  
  I have ideas that haven't taken off and why? Because of the above - fear of movement, fear of the future. Abandon the past and you only have the future to look forward to. Hold onto the past and you have nothing to look forward to, only back upon (The future has no identity - the past is nothing but that i.e. prejudice on an individual or social scale).

• A comment on Conversation: Corruption keeps society in the dark

  Feb 28 2012: Robert Kennedy said 'Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle.' This is because it is harder to stand alone against the crowd as a whistle blower than go with the flow of consensus reality (prejudice is a fashion statement).
  To charge at a pill box with a grenade and a machine gun or conversely to fight in the trenches, despite the inhuman conditions is always easier because your can blend into the background, rather than stand out as a volunteer ('We were only following orders' versus 'I'm not putting up with this any longer!'). The corrupt never stand out or want to stand out (be noticed / 'I am Spartacus!').

• A comment on Conversation: Educational streaming, not to just pick up the brightest but to find what subjects inspire particular pupils, from practical to theoretical

  Feb 27 2012: Thank you. I see your points relevance. I would have the children decide whether they were bored or happy with their choices, in consultation with their teachers. I don't think forcing children in any particular direction is conducive to anything but resistance, which doesn't lead to learning anything. In other words it is the emotional state of the child that should decide multi-disciplinary or single subject pursuit. As you say about basics - that is why I suggested secondary level education stage as before that children would be into more general exploration. Another point is that some people only discover what their true vocation in life is, well after they leave school. It could be something they hated that they unexpectedly went back to or something outside the school curriculum that they stumbled upon at some later date.
  
  As for the unfeeling politician - I don't think you can educate that in (conscience), just bring it out, if it is there. Sociopaths manipulate others because they like the sense of power it gives them: It never stopped Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot etc. sadly.

• A comment on Conversation: The use of male hormones to treat Alzheimer's Disease

  Feb 27 2012: Possibly - has this been tried and how effective is it? My attitude is if it has been tried but the response wasn't strong, try something else and see how the patient responds to that. Yes I believe melatonin would be very helpful as Alzheimer's patients are like hyper active kids at Christmas, not sleeping much but I was wondering if my suggestion had been tried by anyone as a possibility and if it had had any results?