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An idea worth spreading

Life is not fair. This works in both directions. You can handle pessimism by seeing perspective. You can leave behind anger by understanding. Not suffering from what you deem wrong will make you proud. It should. This pride can make you fight your worst instincts. Helping people is not fair - you don't sacrifice anything, you maximize happiness. It's not a balanced game, everyone can win if we can tell truth from illusion and necessity from destruction.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +12.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Talk: Charles Fleischer insists: All things are Moleeds

  Jan 17 2010: If he tried to confuse people, it worked!
  I was sure this was a parody on Garrett Lisi's presentation of his Theory of Everything, until I saw this talk is actually older.

• A reply on Talk: VS Ramachandran: The neurons that shaped civilization

  Jan 5 2010: What you are thinking of is true, by identifying electric flow through the brain it is possible to know what the person is thinking of (to some extent). In fact, companies are already exploring the possibility of this.
  An example is Emotiv Systems, making brain-wave helmets that can be used for computer games.
  For demonstrations type in 'emotiv' in youtube or go to http://mark.laabs.net/?tag=emotiv .

• A reply on Talk: Beau Lotto: Optical illusions show how we see

  Oct 8 2009: Haha, I was first thinking of Gestalt psychology, so maybe you are right about a lot of what he's saying not being too revolutionary apart from the new tricks and techniques.
  Of course, our view of the world is extremely distorted by how our brains are shaped (what we have learned before).
  Many philosophers have said similar things before, starting with Plato and Protagoras. But even if the originality of his ideas can be disputed, I think It has always been an idea worth sharing.

• A reply on Talk: James Balog: Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss

  Sep 17 2009: To answer your questions seriously:
  The ice of the North Pole is melting because the atmosphere is getting warmer. As mr. Balog explained, this is not part of a natural cycle but climate change caused by human activity. Ideally we don't want global warming to become any worse, or even restore the climate to how it was before we screwed up. This is a very difficult thing to do, so most countries agree that we want to keep the warming under (the arbitrary number of) 2
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  A reply on Talk: Josh Silver demos adjustable liquid-filled eyeglasses

  Sep 1 2009: It's even worse here. Connection error, video won't start at all.
  ( Unable to play the video specified: rtmp:1935//streaming.ted.com/talks/JoshSilver_2009G-stream-Movement_high )
  
  EDIT: It suddenly works now, after ten minutes of leaving the page open. Interesting invention indeed!
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  A reply on Talk: Michael Pritchard: How to make filthy water drinkable

  Aug 4 2009: I searched more information about chemicals and more neutral user feedback, and apparently the user manual says:
  "The activated carbon filter is made of high specification activated carbon which reduces a broad spectrum of chemical residues including pesticides, endocrine disrupting compounds, medical residues and heavy metals."
  
  It almost sounds to good to be true! I hope the idea of using this on a massive scale is understood by politicians.
  
  Source of user review: http://tinyurl.com/r38t73
  Source of manual (PDF): http://www.lifesaversystems.com/Instruction%20Manual.pdf
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  A reply on Talk: Kary Mullis' next-gen cure for killer infections

  Jul 12 2009: I think Carlos has a little point regarding (for example) the president Bush-comment. Not that I don't agree with him, it's just so that this talk that is so interesting for a larger audience should not be targeted only to people with a certain political vision. Even if they make up most of the audience.
  Anyway, this looks so brilliant. I was skeptical about this man presenting such a breakthrough and such awesome data until I saw he's a Nobel Prize winner.
  I only wonder if it is so easy to attach the molecules to the right bacteria.

• A reply on Talk: Yann Arthus-Bertrand captures fragile Earth in wide-angle

  Jun 5 2009: As Bertrand concludes, it's too late to be pessimistic. Still, it's sad that caring enough to act means making sacrifices. Sometimes this is easy and brings mental satisfaction, sometimes it seems like choosing the lesser of two evils. Either way, you can adapt to it. I think that what makes us happy is not what we have but what we think about what we have. This gives me hope that with a shift in thinking about our impact, we can make more and faster progress in the long run. It will be necessary.
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  A comment on Talk: Carolyn Porco: Could a Saturn moon harbor life?

  May 21 2009: Possiblity of alien life within our own solar system is so damn exciting, I only wish she had told us some more.

• A comment on Talk: Seth Godin: The tribes we lead

  May 11 2009: This is why I come to TED, to get ideas and see if I like them, then sharing them afterwards. I love this talk. In that sense, I just joined your Seths start a movement-movement. He describes choosing whatever you support and gives the sincere desire for influence that rests in the back of our mind a voice to get up and activate people for the right cause!