TED Community » Maria Cangemi

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• A reply on Conversation: You want to make God laugh? Tell him about your plans...

  Apr 16 2012: Hi Ella,
  
  Thansk for your reply :)
  
  I think that the experience is fundamental to became aware of who you are and what you can do.
  I did not intend to say that we should not try. But there is a time to try, and a time to undestand the result of us trying. I think that this is what in general is missed of the youth: the life full of possibilities.
  As whe you grew up, you became aware that you cannot do anything, but only something.
  I'm not being cynical and I am in general really optimistic, but I try also to be realistic.

• A reply on Conversation: I propose that religeon is the major factor holding back the advancement of the human race.

  Apr 12 2012: Hi Zdenek,
  
  This is indeed a really interesting matter.
  
  Atheists do believe, as they think gods are not existing.
  The absence of belief is proper of agnostics, who said: I do not know if a god exists and I do not care.
  I am talking about "belief" for religious and atheists as in both of cases there is no scientific proof or concrete evidence for any of the alternatives.
  As you said, "atheists do not see proof therefore it does not exist for them". For religious people, the contrary is true.
  After all, nodody has come back from death to tell us what there is after, or if there s anything. (unless we took into consideration Risen Christ, but He cannot be a valid argument in this discussion :) )
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: I propose that religeon is the major factor holding back the advancement of the human race.

  Apr 12 2012: Hi Gerald,
  
  I disagree with the common believe that religious people are less intelligent or less educated then atheist or agnostic people.
  Generations of great philosophers, scientists, artists have been and are still now religious, and this does not make them less great.
  Also, I agree with Edward.
  A believer believes in the existence of a God without any scientific proof of His existence.
  An atheist believes in the non existence of God without any scientific evidence.
  They are both dogmatic, even if they are opposite.
  
  The existence of God has been an argument for philosophers for centuries, but I think that now we can say that it is an undecidable statement, to use Godel words.

• A reply on Conversation: I propose that religeon is the major factor holding back the advancement of the human race.

  Apr 12 2012: Hi Dale,
  
  Thank you for your reply.
  
  I do not know other Christian religions, so I do not know what they teach about hell and heaven, but I do know the catholic one, and I can tell that there is no-one who can say if someone is eternally damned or not, neither the pope, as no-one can know the inscrutable God's mercy.
  Hell, however, is only the eternal absence of God, and it is up to every man decide whether or not choose God during their life.
  
  Also, I am failing to understand why the only fact to have a religion can prevent human progress. The scientist can, as the great names quoted above show, arrive to great discovery whether or not they believe in God.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: I propose that religeon is the major factor holding back the advancement of the human race.

  Apr 12 2012: Hi,
  
  I totally disagree with this statement.
  
  Of course, it depends on point of view and on the type of religious education that everyone receive, but I do not think that Religion is just a way to avoid to use our brains.
  
  I will speak about Catholicism., as this is the Religion I know better.
  There is no teaching in the Catholicism which says to obey for the sake of obbedience.
  Hence, in the Gospel you can read that when Jesus was asked what was the most important commandment to follow he replied: "Love God with all your heart, strenght and mind, and Love your neithbor as yourself".
  
  This is similar also to the Torah (the Jewish Law):
  
  Rabbi Hillel (c.110 BCE-10 CE)said: “What is hateful to thyself do not do to another. That is the whole Law, the rest is Commentary.”Hillel recognized brotherly love as the fundamental principle of Jewish moral law.
  Rabbi Akiva (50-135 C.E.) also recognised as the chief and greatest principle of Judaism the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself".
  
  Saint Augustine, one of Father of the Catholic Church, said: Love, and do what you want.
  
  These are only a few examples, but the fundamental principle of the Catholic Church is the Love to God and to other human beings. And a Catholic is free. free to judge, free to make mistake, there is no constriction because the only reason to follow the 10 commandaments and the other rules it is your Love to God.
  
  And a great deal of philosophers and scientists in the Western World were Catholics, or Anglicans, or Luterans.
  
  Kopenico was Catholic, Newton was Anglican. Would you say that their works hold back the humanity development?
  Mendel, father of Genetic, was a monk.
  Jérome Lejeune, discovered the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome, catholic
  Louis Pasteur, Catholic ( no need of presentation!)
  Compton, Arthur Holly, Nobel Prize for Phisycs, Cristian Baptist
  Charles Darwin, Anglican
  Karl Heisenberg, Luteran
  Enrico Fermi, Catholic.
  Leonardo Da Vinci (Catholic)

• A comment on Conversation: You want to make God laugh? Tell him about your plans...

  Apr 12 2012: I agree that the quote: “The secret to happiness is low expectations” is cynical and negative.
  
  But it is true that one of the reasons of the sadness is too high expectations about what it is possible.
  
  I do not know what it the secret of happiness, but I think that one of the key to reach it is the awareness of what you can really do, and what you cannot do.
  
  If you are conscious about what are your skills and your possibilities in life, you will not have "low" expectations, but you will have "realistic" expectations. That can seems the same thing, if you are a pessimistic, but in my opinion is not.
  Dream about a better world is inspiring. It is necessary also to imagine the real actions that can be taken to make a better world possible. And if you are engaged in working toward it, the world will became better for you, as you will be happier to live in it.
  
  My mother used to say to me: "Do not expect from people more than what they can offer." I think this is another key of happiness. Too often we rely on the others as our source of happiness, and this is quite natural as we are social being.
  But also here, what is fundamental (in my opinion) is the consciousness. We cannot ask to others more than what they can offer, and this can be either remember a date, or helping us in an important project.
  
  In conclusion, I think I would say: The secret of happiness is an expectation based on being concrete.

• A comment on Talk: Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom

  Apr 12 2012: I loved this talk.
  We learnt how to do the right thing and taking the right decision as children, but then growing up and starting to work in this environment makes everyone to forget this, and start to take decisions based only on profit and selfishness.
  
  This talk helps me to remember that it is always better to do the right thing for the right reasons, as in this there is the dignity of the human being.
  
  "A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures — and that is the basis of all human morality." John F. Kennedy
• +6

  A comment on Talk: JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure

  Apr 12 2012: I like very much this talk.
  
  It is encouraging, inspiring, and it also appeals to our sense of reponability towards the rest of the world.
  Listening to this talk makes you wisht to do not live a selfish life.
  I used to think that the Steve Josb address to Stanford in 2005 was the most inspiring talk ever.
  They are really different, but after listining to this, I have to say I prefer this one.

• A reply on Conversation: Can and will books ever be replaced by something other than we know it today?

  Apr 11 2012: I agree. Sometimes is also a way to start a conversation, and you can discover new interesting people for this reason:)
• +2

  A reply on Talk: Sheryl WuDunn: Our century's greatest injustice

  Apr 9 2012: The invention of the atom bomb was not an injustice, was an invention.
  An invention can be right or wrong depending on the use.
  An injustice is, simply, wrong.