TED Community » peter lindsay

More About Me

An idea worth spreading

People in western countries only think they're poor because they watch too much TV.

Talk to me about

science,philosophy,how and why

People don't know that I'm good at

Musical impersonation

Comments

• TEDCred score: +43.90 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Is our faith in the High Priests of Science misplaced?

  Jun 11 2013: In Australia the majority of research is done by the public sector (CSIRO and University based) this at least provides some disconnect between funding and the persuit of profit as the guy doing the research doesn't actually work for the company asking the question.

• A reply on Conversation: Why are companies/corporations allowed to patent things they did not create?

  Jun 7 2013: Can I request that if you are going to make claims regarding the adverse medical effects of GMO consumption you include a link to the study you are getting your data from.

• A comment on Conversation: Why are companies/corporations allowed to patent things they did not create?

  Jun 7 2013: Only in America! In fact in America you can patent things that were invented by other people in other countries as long as they haven't taken out a US patent. The US patent office the only patent office in the western world that doesn't recognise anyone elses patents.

• A comment on Conversation: Pleistocene extinction of megafauna not caused by paleo-indian hunters

  Jun 7 2013: We have the same discussion in Australia. We had diprotodons and giant wombats and other giant marsupials. My theory is that they weren't hunted to extinction but harrassed to extinction. If you live in a small tribe of hunter gatherers, a herd of massive herbivores would be dangerous to hunt, and eat all the vegetation. If you kill the odd one and generally harrass them they might move on allowing smaller more manageable prey animals to move in. Constant harrassment and relocation would interupt the breeding of the large animals. It might have been just enough to push the balance over to gradual extinction.

• A comment on Conversation: What are some realistic and creative ways to reduce wealth inequality?

  Jun 3 2013: How about instead of worrying about wealth inequality we worry about reducing poverty. Is there a correlation between inequality and high levels of poverty or is the opposite true.

• A comment on Conversation: Have the "global warmers" lost the messaging battle?

  May 30 2013: If it wasn't for Al Gore we probably could have had a sensible discussion about climate change.Like "Look guys we're pretty sure this thing is happening and we probably should do something about it. Afteral if we're wrong all we've done is waste our time but if we're right and do nothing it could end badly. OK?" Instead we we had Al "Chicken Little" Gore telling us the world was going to end unless we took immediate action. Hyperbole never helps a reasoned discussion.
• +4

  A reply on Conversation: Department of Energy

  May 27 2013: Anyone who is a regular Tedster, quite quickly identifies the political leanings of different posters. We have people of all political persuasions participating, and that's what makes it worthwhile. Bob's politics might lie to the right of yours and to the right of mine to a lesser extent but don't take offence. The best thing about Ted conversations is that everyone gets to express their opinion including Bob and yourself. Afterall you learn by talking to people that disagree with you.
  Peter
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: 90% (or more) of what we learn in schools is NOT subject related

  May 27 2013: I've been a high school teacher for 13 years and I see my main function as helping a pre-pubescent 11/12 year old make the great journey into adulthood. I teach them science along the way, but teaching them how the adult world works is just as important.

• A reply on Conversation: Can using an introduced animal to control another animal actually work on a large scale?

  May 27 2013: Perhaps the Australian "success" is more attributable to the absence of similar native succulents and the grace that allowed the moth to not find a native species to exploit, rather than any particular genius of the practice of introducing species.
  Agreed. Cactoblastis only worked here because we don't have a whole lot of native cacti. Specificity is the key.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Given the rates of poverty and despair in even our most "advanced" nations and the onset of global warming, is space exploration prudent?

  May 24 2013: On a world wide scale the carbon impact of space exploration is minimal. It is limited to the energy used to create the stuff. And from a fuel perspective as long as the electricity used to release the hydrogen and the aluminium is green then the whole system is prettty green. The total cost to society is a tiny fraction of that spent on the military. And probably a tiny fraction of that spent on entertainment. I wonder what the carbon impact of human recreation is.