TED Community » George Holevas

More About Me

I'm passionate about

soccer, music, djing, goal setting, traveling, new experiences

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• TEDCred score: +1.20 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Will making rockstars out of women in science get more girls interested in science/technology/engineering/math (i.e. STEM) fields?

  Apr 16 2013: I agree with the Big Bang Theory's notion that the "source" of the problem occurs in middle school or at a very young age. Although, many people do not choose what occupations to pursue or fields to study until well into adulthood, the options must be kept open from a very young age. It is easy for a young girl to grow up with the notion that "engineering is for boys" and have the stigma subconsciously stick with her as she develops further interests in her academic future. I think it is important to emphasize at a young age, the important advantage that female engineers would have in an over saturated male engineering environment. Females inherently "think" and act in distinctively different ways from males. This alternate gender and under represented approach to real world problem solving could pave the way for miraculous advancements, that would otherwise be left untouched by the male mind.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: Is the heart overlooked when it comes to intelligence?

  Apr 16 2013: Hi Hadar,
  
  It is interesting to ponder possibilities of an alternate intellectual infrastructure of the human body, however, I don't think that evidence of a cardioelectromagenetic field affecting a human in close proximity is evidence that a deeper intellectual system manifested in the heart or other organs may exist. Why is this alleged cause and effect relationship between an electromagnetic field and a human different from the sense of touch or any other sensory input that the brain perceives? I'm not sure what you mean by "intelligence" though. Many complex and "intelligent" processes occur to make even the simplest of bodily processes possible. At least for me personally, these findings will not have any affect on how I interact with other humans. Even if I do believe a person's heart is "smart", what difference does the source (brain or other organ) of intelligence make? Just my two cents.
  
  George

• A reply on Conversation: How can we better harness our human capabilities to develop medical technology?

  Apr 9 2013: I agree. I think the very fact that you used a term such as "bottle it" implies how abstract this human "x-factor" is --- almost as if it cannot even be ascertained sufficiently even to describe, let alone capture and replicate. Would love to hear some opinions from the TED community on what this other component to human perception can be.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: How can we better harness our human capabilities to develop medical technology?

  Apr 6 2013: Hi Alison,
  
  As Kraft quotes, in order to 'surpass the ability of the human mind', the technology that is developed has to be able to perform better than doctors with extensive experience. What do experienced doctors posses that modern technology doesn't? This is most likely the ability to correlate input they receive from the human five sensory input system and formulate connections with diseases they have diagnosed in the past. Benji Straus's TEDx talk: We Need a Better Way to Communicate emphasizes the clear advantages of five sense communication in medical diagnosis. Medical technology will progress with the development of technology that can better imitate human perception.

• A comment on Conversation: What good is being able to control our dreams?

  Apr 3 2013: Jonathan Yellow,
  
  I do believe that learning to control our dreams enables us to have more power over our brain. Some neurologists even prescribe lucid dreaming as a method to relieve chronic migraines or night terrors. It may not be possible to determine for sure what advantages lucid dreaming will invoke during our awake phase, however, it is undeniable that the technique provides us with more control.
  
  -George

• A reply on Conversation: Is the use of EMS(electrical muscle stimulation) a form of doping?

  Mar 12 2013: Although I do not believe electrical stimulation should be considered doping, I don't see it comparable to taking a protein shake. Consuming a protein shake is analagous to consuming a healthy high protein piece of food. Electrical stimulation on the other hand, offers many benefits without consuming any energy. An outside source, electricity, is utilized to enhance performance.

• A reply on Conversation: Do you believe the human brain will continue to increase its capabilities?

  Mar 12 2013: Jay, I highly recommend you watch the sci-fi comedy "Idiocracy". It portrays a future world, exactly how you describe, where natural selection no longer is applicable because human's rely on technology rather than intelligence to make decisions. I agree with you that we will probably learn to force evolution faster than nature can.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Do you believe the human brain will continue to increase its capabilities?

  Mar 7 2013: Hi Suresh,
  Your analogy is incredible to think about. Every aspect of our physical and non physical bodies can be paralleled by man made computer terminology. But, are we really upgrading our own bio computer through the sensory input we receive from the environment? Or just downloading new information? I can download a new advanced software on my computer and one might call it "smarter", however, my computer had the ability to run that software from the day I bought it. Is it really possible to upgrade for instance, the motherboard, or processor of our bio-computers? Thank you for your comment! The analogy presents a pathway for a new and fresh way to look at the question posed.
  
  -George

• A reply on Conversation: Do you believe the human brain will continue to increase its capabilities?

  Mar 7 2013: Hi Arkady,
  
  You bring up an interesting point when you speculate on the different skills possessed within a single generation gap. The prospect of humans developing a certain part of their brain just from continued use in order to interact with their environment is amazing. People have understood the fact that we can manipulate our bodies and lose fat or gain muscle by exercising. It is not common knowledge, however, that we can physically alter the neural pathways of our brain by thought and action. Given the fast paced change in modern society, maybe we aren't far off after all from a major worldwide neural development which would benefit the continued success of mankind in some unforeseen way.

• A reply on Conversation: Do you believe the human brain will continue to increase its capabilities?

  Mar 7 2013: Hi Chris,
  
  I'm not sure if I completely agree with you when you say the physical brain is no more able to generate thought than the physical heart generates emotions. In brain activity studies, certain neural networks in deferent parts of the brain were observed to be more active during a particular thought or emotional experience, suggesting that the brain does play a role in generating thought, or at least processing it.
  
  Many people believe that the brain is the source of our consciousness because it is the least understood organ of our body. Every other organ can be identified as performing some mechanical function crucial to the proper function of our bodies. The brain has been said to contain more possible neural permutations than elementary particles in the universe so its complexity may never truly be understood. If our consciousness does not live in and originate from our brain, then where does it originate from?