Aug 19 2012: Seeking happiness may be proved the most dangerous chimera in the human life. Separating life by its emotional content of happiness – unhappiness tears us apart to pieces, and then we are trying to reject the unhappy parts of our life. Many people choose to evaluate their life by the number of achieved goals. They do the job for the fleeting, elusive moment of happiness when the goal is succeeded. And then another goal is offered to follow. I believe that life cannot be separated. Real and lasting happiness can only be come from a higher level of understanding and a point of view less egoistic. Everything in our life is an achievement, a unique moment of experience. Seeing life’s events as a curse or bless is what divides our internal world and makes us to hate or desire. We must see every act as a challenge, a challenge where we can submit with passion, devotion and awareness. Happiness is then every moment of experience during that, and not only an elusive glimpse at the end.
Aug 16 2012: In a world of companies fighting endlessly for profit there is very little time for a designer to check every aspect of a product before it goes to production and then to market. Usually he chooses the most fancy and catching option which has the highest probability to drag the attention of a candidate customer. But obviously it’s not the most operational, or effective, or ergonomic or more important the safest.
As a result we have lots of examples where we wander: Hmm! This is silly. How did they design it? Didn’t they have tried it first?
I would like to thank you for this very interesting speech, I’ve learned a lot.
Aug 15 2012: Reality is an illusion caused by lack of alcohol said someone, and I believe that he was right. It's strange how we love to fall in our own mind traps by inventing things so big like universe, god etc and then struggling to explain them logically!!! Good headache to everybody, I’m going for a cold beer. Cheers!!
Aug 14 2012: Last years I tried hard to find where democracy is hiding. I’ve come to believe that democracy is another tool used in a refined way to govern people. Democracy is very good, maybe to good for us. Because it can give to the people what is needed to grow, to evolve, and to be free. So democracy is kept under control of a system by those who have the power and they want to keep the people on the line. They give people “democracy” adapted to their requirements. They give us the illusion of “choice” to elect a different political scheme, the illusion of equality, to education, but in fact it’s the plutocracy who has all the winning cards. The game is not fair for the weak. Tyrants of the past have been hiding behind democracy today, using mass media, and not risking exposing themselves, manipulating the government. I don’t believe in a conspiracy theory by referring to “they” I just believe that the need of a system to spread and control more and more is fundamental and vital for it.
Aug 10 2012: Seeing in universe is not the same as seeing on earth. Here we just turn our eyes to a direction and the object is at a straight line from us. Some distortion from air temperature can bend this line or refraction when light goes from one medium to another (glass-water-air). Light travels in universe always non straight. It travels, following the space that is shaped by massive objects, like stars, black holes, etc. I believe that the concept of a bubble like universe is very simplified and misleading. Observable universe appears to be under expansion, but we cannot be sure about the direction of this. Maybe universe is self folded like a crumbled ball of paper, we are living in the surface of this paper. Again this is an analogy maybe misleading as well. I don’t thing that there is something outside of the universe, because there is not outside. This expansion is like un-folding the ball of paper. The paper remains the same the shape changes only. But do not stick to this analogy again. Thanks for the inspiring question.
Aug 10 2012: I want to share a little story of a local town here in Greece.
In the central square of this town tangerine trees have been planted everywhere, a few years ago. Beautiful trees indeed but their fruit is not directly edible, you can make a desert from them only. When the time is come and the fruits are ready, they fall down and rot on the ground, giving an unpleasant appearance, dragging a variety of insects, and smelling bad. When someone asked a counselor of the mayor why we don’t have planted orange trees instead he replied: “But then they will eat them!!!”
I’ve lived a long time in Athens but now I’m living in a small village where you can see edible trees and plants in every house. It’s very common here, it’s the rule. Towns need this approach now like never before. With an economic crisis over our heads this is a positive action. For the children is an opportunity to learn in an interesting way. For those who believe that the fruits and vegetables grown on the supermarkets in a shelf, and every day are replaced magically with new ones, well this can be a learning shock. Very good speech, thanks.
Aug 4 2012: In my mind when art is created to satisfy the masses it’s not art. It’s a product for consumption. Real art is what it shakes us and wakes us from the sleep. Only then at an elevated consciousness can we accept and assimilate the content. An artist must create a work without thoughts about its attractiveness. Of course if he doing that for living risks to put himself in difficulties. (Please excuse my poor English)
Aug 3 2012: This is not about music alone. It is about everything we do, and we’ve been bored to death. We must find the magic under the thick layer of habits that covers our lives. Because what kills us slowly is that repeatable non creative, indifferent, thing we do again and again. He calls for a shift of mind, for a different look to the things, just like kids with widely open eyes to a renewed day by day world. This kind of madness is required. A great and (not only) entertaining speech, by a great talent. Thank you!
Jul 31 2012: It’s all about control. Systems are like living organisms, they are organized. They are trying to survive in a hostile environment. During this they test themselves and evolve. And grow, laying control over its surroundings. We have these primitive control systems where a brutal government uses terror against people, and we have other more exquisite systems where the people feel free but actually manipulated by mass media. Which one is more effective? I thing the “Matrix” movie was a good example of a sleeping society, dreaming a life in ignorance. We have a lot of control systems today, trying to lead our minds for their purposes. We have a unique weapon, and this is the web, as long as it stays free. A poet and a hero of my country he said “Anyone who things freely, things well”.
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A comment on Talk: Andrew Blum: What is the Internet, really?
A comment on Conversation: Why do people who have many advantages in life struggle with ongoing happiness whilst others with far less to be happy about are happier?
A comment on Talk: Timothy Prestero: Design for people, not awards
As a result we have lots of examples where we wander: Hmm! This is silly. How did they design it? Didn’t they have tried it first?
I would like to thank you for this very interesting speech, I’ve learned a lot.
A comment on Conversation: If the universe is expanding - what is it expanding into?
A comment on Talk: Ivan Krastev: Can democracy exist without trust?
A comment on Conversation: If the universe is expanding - what is it expanding into?
A comment on Talk: Pam Warhurst: How we can eat our landscapes
In the central square of this town tangerine trees have been planted everywhere, a few years ago. Beautiful trees indeed but their fruit is not directly edible, you can make a desert from them only. When the time is come and the fruits are ready, they fall down and rot on the ground, giving an unpleasant appearance, dragging a variety of insects, and smelling bad. When someone asked a counselor of the mayor why we don’t have planted orange trees instead he replied: “But then they will eat them!!!”
I’ve lived a long time in Athens but now I’m living in a small village where you can see edible trees and plants in every house. It’s very common here, it’s the rule. Towns need this approach now like never before. With an economic crisis over our heads this is a positive action. For the children is an opportunity to learn in an interesting way. For those who believe that the fruits and vegetables grown on the supermarkets in a shelf, and every day are replaced magically with new ones, well this can be a learning shock. Very good speech, thanks.
A comment on Talk: Mark Applebaum: The mad scientist of music
A comment on Talk: Mark Applebaum: The mad scientist of music
A comment on Talk: Michael Anti: Behind the Great Firewall of China