TED Community » Mike Robinson

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I'm passionate about

ideas and experimentation

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• A reply on Conversation: Is it best to give your honest opinion all the time?

  Jun 27 2012: Is a lie a lie when it serves a more noble purpose? Consider the lies told by the people who hid Jews and Gypsys from the Nazis to divert them away from discovery. Sure the Nazis would consider it a lie, but morally or ethically telling the truth at that point wouldn't have been the right thing to do, and not offering an answer would have meant discovery and death for everyone on the wrong end of a gun.
  
  So while it may still be a lie, the context is important to consider.

• A reply on Talk: Juan Enriquez: Will our kids be a different species?

  Jun 27 2012: Tough to know for sure but since evolution has been an inexorable process for almost 4 billion years, the odds are significantly in favour of evolution continuing in it's random way; sometimes incrementally and sometimes in leaps and bounds. That said, the people who do the most procreating are generally speaking not the the outliers who seem to be showing the signs Dr. Enriquez alludes to. This leads to the conclusion that we will end up with a world that looks sort of like the dystopian future presented in the movie "Idiocracy" I guess we'll have to wait and see!
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  A reply on Talk: Juan Enriquez: Will our kids be a different species?

  Jun 27 2012: History shows that when the gap between the rich and poor grows too big revolutions happen. If I am hungry enough I will eat an elite!
  
  If they are wise the elite will engineer a bacteria that reduces the 99% to imbeciles who can be more easily controlled but still be able to wash toilets and make lattes....
  
  The really big question I am asking myself is, "Why am I sharing these immorally pragmatic ideas on a public forum where a billionaire might read it?"
  
  ;-P Cheers and good luck to everyone!

• A reply on Conversation: The biggest threat to mankind. What will end the world as we know ?

  Jun 26 2012: Yes Sina, it takes all types to make a world. When we, as a collective, learn to respect and value all the various contributions that the full spectrum of humanity offers, we will have finally matured as a species.
  
  I am not sure wolves are the best example to use when discussing parallel social groups. Better perhaps are chimpanzees, where the Alpha gets first opportunity, then the Betas, while those lower in the social order seems to have more success with clandestine affairs off in the bushes with adventurous females often from neighbouring clans.
  
  Also I wasn't suggesting Alpha males fail to mate, just that they don't mate with any more frequency than the rest of us, suggesting that strength has only limited practical applications in reproduction of homo sapiens. In many other animals it seems to be the final arbitrator, though careful observation often reveals that opportunity, luck and initiative can play a part as well.
  
  Yes back to the subject! Thanks for your great moderation on this forum. Best I have encountered!

• A reply on Conversation: The biggest threat to mankind. What will end the world as we know ?

  Jun 25 2012: Thank you for adding a wonderful word to my lexicon! Conviviocracy! I always loved Ivan Illich's term "Tools for Conviviality".

• A reply on Conversation: The biggest threat to mankind. What will end the world as we know ?

  Jun 25 2012: Agreed that the strongest ones have a certain success rate but if strength were the only or primary selector we would all be alpha males. Fortunately that isn't the case! Have you ever tried working in organizations with too many alpha males? Complete dysfunction in my experience. Always trying to assert their perceived dominance.
  When the Alpha Arses and their Beta Boys go over to the next valley to thump some heads and steal a few mates they sometimes run into resistance and don't return. That leaves a village full of ladies for the Gamma Guys and Delta Dudes to procreate with... thus leading to a world full of "average" folks.
  
  I'll check out John Nash... cheers M

• A reply on Conversation: The biggest threat to mankind. What will end the world as we know ?

  Jun 25 2012: I am just surfing my brain-waves Sina... but it could be that, like the ridiculous tail of a Bird of Paradise, our big brains may have evolved not from being an effective adaptation for survival (long-term) but from sexual selection. Women like smart dudes... or smart dudes have sex more often than simpler fellows.
  Call this theory a possibility that remains unproven but shouldn't be discounted! The jury is out on whether a big brain will be a longterm positive adaptive trait.
  Personally I think our brains evolved as one of many animal experiments intended to get bacteria into space and onto other host-worlds but that is another topic.

• A comment on Conversation: Is it best to give your honest opinion all the time?

  Jun 25 2012: This begs the question, "When is a lie not a lie?" By not saying something are you lying by omission? Are all lies "bad"?
  
  Regardless one way of getting around the thorny question of what the "truth" is, is to present an opinion, when asked or when ethics demand, by saying "In my opinion...", or "It seems to me..." or "I feel.... That way at least you are presenting your truth as a subjective opinion rather than an objective fact.

• A comment on Conversation: The biggest threat to mankind. What will end the world as we know ?

  Jun 25 2012: The movie Idiocracy comes to mind as a parable about a very real threat that appears to be manifesting itself.
  
  Sperm counts have been dropping since plastics became common... so (as I posted below) it may be only men that disappear (parthenogenesis)
  
  Surely some mad (or very sane) scientist has been tinkering in lab on some kind of pathogen that will wipe most of us out... a karma-germ would be nice if it is going to happen!
  
  But as for all of us going extinct, it is probable that the last blade of grass on Earth will be eaten by a human. We are pretty darned adaptable!
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  A reply on Conversation: The biggest threat to mankind. What will end the world as we know ?

  Jun 25 2012: I posted this TED link at the bottom of this page in question to another post about fear. What do you think? http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_gilding_the_earth_is_full.html