TED Community » james carson

About Me

I'm 18, full of questions and I have no one to ask them. I delayed going to university in order to travel as a consequence of academic education being redundant to the actualisation of personal ambitions and passions.

Location:
United Kingdom, Reading,berkshire
Gender:
Male
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  • A reply on Conversation: to what extent does our self-interpretation create behavioural boundaries?

    Oct 8 2012: Yeah, I totally agree with the idea we are constantly changing, impermanence is indisputable. I actually think that it is liberating to view yourself in this way, it aids you in permitting change and development rather than adhering to a rigidly formulated self-concept.
    However, I enjoy this feeling due to the belief I can guide the changes in my decided direction, whereas some endure early experiences that create a foundation with a framework which is largely more inhibitive to flexible change than others. Like children that develop empathetic issues due to not being brought up in a safe, caring and love-consumed environment.
  • A reply on Conversation: to what extent does our self-interpretation create behavioural boundaries?

    Oct 8 2012: I don't think he mentions introspective uncertainty in his memory vs experience talk, ill have to you-tube his Nobel address.

    I completely agree, I don't think that we know ourselves as well as we would like to believe, especially on a psychological level. Yeah I try to use the idea self interpretation loosely, rather than it being an accurate observation of yourself, its kind of a net term that describes how information within our awareness is identified as a characteristic of the personality/identity/self. So like, for example you could have an individual that experiences anxiety during public speech, when the emotion is consciously experienced it is identified as an inherent component of the self, translating what is simply an emotional experience into self-identification.

    I think what Kahneman describes as distorting the significance of memories, illuminates how self-identification could possibly obscure our understanding of the information we experience and remember.I think it's near enough impossible for self-observation to be objective in the sense of having an absolute lucidity in which we can view ourselves. I mean neutrality is so hard to ascertain, emotional equanimity always has an upper hand in observation next to a polarised observer, but its only complementary to lucidity. Our world-view is a deep obstacle, we interpret information within our personal consensus so its so difficult to actually know oneself in an unbiased way. It leads me to question a quote I really love, I feel it expresses the openness, flexibility and adaptability that is necessary for an honest learning process.
    " A man should always look for what is, and never what he thinks should be" Einstein.
    But is this even possible? The foundation of a hypothesis is expectation, estimating what should be!

    Anyway I waffled terribly, I just enjoy having an outlet for thoughts, it is something hard to come by in my day-to-day life as a bored 18 year old. lol
  • A comment on Conversation: Why is Marijuana Illegal?

    Sep 28 2012: This documentary is great, it covers a large number of topics relative to cannabis. From the benefits weed being illegal has on the pharmaceutics companies to private prison systems and the oil industry. It honestly had a huge impact on my understanding of why the drug is illegal, i previously believed it was going to be legalised, now I'm not nearly as confident it will be!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvFRDImJ4QI

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