TED Community » Steven Bates

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• A comment on Talk: Alain de Botton: Atheism 2.0

  Feb 19 2012: I am skeptical,for it is within an atheist's mindset to be so. It is to my belief that the ritualistic behavior of religion is part of the reason why atheists tend to stray from the idea of believing in something without the support of evidence. As history has shown us, it can be very easy to be caught in a trap when a mass of people adapt a ritualistic mindset. I don't think the premise of this talk was to "blindly believe" in the theory of evolution or any other common understood logic identified by atheist; however, the idea of herding atheists together in order to discuss ideas of morality and to accept them as understood and identified between all atheists seems contradictory to the secular nature atheists have already adopted. Perhaps "blindly believing" may not be the best choice of words when describing a ritualistic setting, (as it would be insulting to both parties regarding faith) but perhaps taking certain ideas for granted without much deep thought might be appropriate to an extent. Honestly I'd rather stick to chaotic debate over what is morality than simply coming together in a sermon type of location or feel and having someone preach what is to be understood as correct by all. I don't mind looking to culture over and over again for provoking thought, but certainly not to accept it as pure truth. What if it's wrong? Atheism is secular. I believe it should stay that way on every level. I'd rather not have a holiday where we celebrate atheism or have common greetings among one another expressing our great "love" for atheism or anything of the sort. The idea of picking and choosing from religion and taking what's good from them seems like it would be better suited for the individual rather than for the masses. It's so easy not to think for one's self when so many others have claimed to have already thought for you, which is clearly evident in today's world. Coming together with like minded people is nice but as far as having a sermon, I'd rather not.

• A reply on Conversation: What song, or music has influenced you?

  Feb 17 2012: Sure! I'll list some artists that make the instrumentals.
  
  Sinitus Tempo
  Evan Awake
  Nujabes (my personal favorite, also considered somewhat the father of this kind of music)
  14?
  Flying Lotus
  Shin Ski
  Blazo
  
  Those are just a few off the top of my head, I normally just get lost in youtube by clicking on the related videos over and over again, sometimes I find an artist that I really like and forget to write him or her down, but hopefully these guys can give you a general idea.

• A comment on Conversation: What song, or music has influenced you?

  Feb 16 2012: Underground hip hop is at the top of the list for me when it comes to this question. There are hip hop instrumentals that do not contain anyone singing or rapping over them. To me, this is the best kind of music because it combines every element of music and culture and mixes them together in order to create something completely new, unique, and very much artistic. Samples of every genre can be found in remixes of songs. I myself tend to lean more towards the jazz remixes simply because I prefer the taste better other types of music. :)
  
  In a deeper sense, I like to look at this type of music as a metaphor for society. It is a blend of many different cultures and expressions that have the ability to come together and create something beautiful. You could look at it this way, kind of like when you have a chef prepare you a meal with different spices and ingredients that eventually make their way into your mouth to reward you with an overwhelming explosion of delectable flavors.
  
  Thanks for the question! I always love talking about music and revealing what I love about it.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: How important are the arts?

  Feb 16 2012: Why separate the two extremes? Rather than looking at the arts verses math and science I'd like to imagine one might mix the two in order to build upon one or the other to better promote a goal or achievement he or she desires to accomplish. Coming from a scholastic world class drum line that participated in competition across the United States, I have seen how music can be very technical and contain vast amounts of math and science integrated into a performance in order to better execute a creative expression through various dynamics and technicalities. In turn, as a student who had creative teachers through high school, I have also observed ways in which the arts better promoted lessons of math and science that left an engrained imprint in the minds of young adults that responded better to the quirks of creativity rather than the popular method of constantly hammering in lessons through repetition.
  
  Basically what I'm trying to say is that in my opinion, the importance of one or the other depends on the situation. The arts can not cure cancer; however, science and math can not express the gravity of such a disease.
  
  People are very culturally driven and respond to the arts well. We are informed through journalism, music, propaganda, and so on of different aspects regarding that of math and science. Just like a cycle, math and science also aid the ways in which the arts can be expressed.
  
  As an ultimatum to your question, I believe that in order of importance in regards to the arts verses math and science, neither has a greater significance in the overall scheme of things as it is to my observation that both use one another in order to better serve their purpose.