TED Community » Mathew Naismith
About Me
I am a semi retired carpenter/joiner interested in spirituality.
- Location:
- Australia, Maryborough
- Gender:
- Male
- My website links:
- The World of True Spiritual Acceptance
More About Me
I'm passionate about
Life, spirituality, science
An idea worth spreading
Only through true acceptance can true spiritual awareness be obtained.
I have my own blog so it's all there http://spiritualityscience.aussieblogs.com.au/.
Talk to me about
Life in general
Comments
Load 10 more Comments (Showing 1 - 10 of 480)Favorite talks
This member doesn't have any favorite talks yet.
TEDCred score: +15.90 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.
A reply on Conversation: If there were no such thing as sleep, what would you do at night?
But still, do you think music has always been better, or is it just a current phenomenon? What would explain either situation? That is a hard question to answer, I don’t think music was better over flicks & I would say personally that it is a current phenomenon only because the flicks these days rely too much on special effects however in saying that some of the flicks put out these days have good content without relying on special effects. I think it depends on the individual’s likes & dislikes. I can sit & watch silent flicks & enjoy them more than today’s flicks but like I said it does depend upon the flicks & their content.
Yes I thoroughly enjoyed documentaries when I was watching TV & I do tend to like the less popular flicks, I think the reason for this is I’m not looking or have a need for sensationalism in my life as I’m quite content with it, some people need to be stimulated to enjoy life I just enjoy life for what it is even after our home invasion.
We tracked down the young bloke who robed us, we know he’s name & everything, he is so lucky I’m a pacifist these days & that I’m not still hanging around with bikies from Sydney who used to produce amphetamines for their main income, he wouldn’t be around in one peace.
Love
Mathew
A reply on Conversation: If there were no such thing as sleep, what would you do at night?
When you get up in the middle of the night to go to the loo & find people in your house it’s sort of a bit of a shock, it was a good thing they weren’t violent. The one I saw jumped straight out of the window 10ft or more to escape & by the time I got to the front door he was right up the street. The one I saw came through our kitchen window.
I live in town these days & by the sounds of it violence & other crimes have escalated somewhat in the past few years, sign of the times!!
I would say music is of a higher quality, we do listen to a lot of US artists & thankfully this hasn’t gone the same way as the shows in my opinion anyway. I think the music quality is better these days for sure & even the artists are more in tune (professional) in my opinion.
Love
Mathew
A reply on Conversation: If there were no such thing as sleep, what would you do at night?
Mindless rubbish to me would be different to what you deem mindless rubbish & the same goes with anyone.
Recently we experienced a home invasion & the forensic police officers said to me don't expect to much it's nothing like what you see on TV especially the programs from the US, the British programs are a little more true to life. If your going to right about life as it is right how it is not insert fantasy within the truth.
Do I deem some music to be mindless rubbish like I would movies? Yes of course but I don't deem all TV, movies & music to be mindless rubbish, to me there's a lot more mindless rubbish on TV these days than any other media but of course I also deem a lot of movies made these days mindless as well mainly because they rely on the special effects more than the story line.
I use to watch shows like compass, four corners & insight which were about real life & other shows that were just about entertainment like Foyles war, A country practice & Mash which some people deemed as rubbish & I suppose it was to a certain extent.
A lot of the US shows these days I deem as mindless rubbish but a lot of the British shows to me are going the same way & the never ending reality shows that Aussies put out is astoundingly boring to me but not to other however in saying that a lot of people with more TV stations are saying there's nothing to watch. When I was a kid we had two to three TV stations to pick from & didn't seem to have a problem in finding something worth watching.
Love
Mathew
PS I have the whole series of Mash & Get smart which of course to many is & was mindless rubbish, each to there own I say.
A reply on Conversation: Two questions: 1) What's your favorite book? 2) If it's different from your favorite, what one book would you recommend to others?
It's is funny to think they where more advanced in certain areas than European's but they were. I know a fair bit about Mayan, Incan & Aztec civilisations, we only see them as blood thirsty heavens, who proved they were more blood thirsty?
Love
Mathew
A reply on Conversation: Human history is a history of conflict and misunderstanding. Will it ever stop?
In WWII 1.7 to 3.1 % of the world population was killed off compared to the Mongol conquests which was estimated to be 17.1% of the world population however when we take this 17.1% over 162yrs compared to 5+ yrs we were far more violent over a shorter period of time, could you imagine if WWII went for 162yrs? 54.4% to a total wipe out would have occurred & this is working it out by numbers not by threat of violence.
Yes thankfully we have the threat of a total wipe out or mass annihilation by certain nations towards other nations however if we didn’t have this one sided threat & that every nation had equal military power my guess we would be at it big time even more than ever. In the olden days the military prowess between two armies or nations was minimal however since the discovery of gun powder this military prowess has changed somewhat but in saying this nuclear weapons are bridging this gap again to a certain extent which makes things a little more volatile.
It doesn’t seem to matter how I do the figures it comes up that we are just as much if not more violent than ever.
Love
Mathew
A comment on Conversation: Human history is a history of conflict and misunderstanding. Will it ever stop?
This is actually looking at the numbers of kills & if we take in per population ratio we seem less violent however when you also take into consideration how long it took for the same the kill rate over a certain period we are far more violent today. You can't just take in the per population ratio however if in the past they killed at the same rate as we do today that would be different but it's not.
However in saying all this if they had the weapons back then than we do today would they have been more violent in accordance with the kill rate over a certain period? Probably which is only a probability.
Love
Mathew
A comment on Conversation: Human history is a history of conflict and misunderstanding. Will it ever stop?
Here are some facts & figures in regards to violence.
In world WWII 40-72 million people were killed over just a 5yr + period, the next worst carnage happened during the Mongol conquests 30-70 million & of course if you take in per populous percentage we seem today to be far less violent however when you take into consideration the time period it took to kill this number of people we far out way any other period in human history in regards to being violent. War or conflicts are always a good indication in how violent a people are in that time period.
Let’s take a look at WWII again, the Russians raped over 100,000 German women alone, over ten thousand of these women were raped to death or died from being raped, nowhere in human history can I find a figure that matches this & I’m only talking about German women over a 5yr+ period.
Here is a link showing a list of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_anthropogenic_disasters_by_death_toll
Going by this info a massive amount of people were killed between 1911-1945 around 62.5 million to 156.5 million people & the nearest estimation to this is between 1202-1368 but the death toll is puny in relation to the 1900’s also we are only talking about 34yrs in the 1900’s compared to 166yrs in the 1200 to 1300’s, if you add the figures up we are far more violent today.
Love
Mathew
A reply on Conversation: Human history is a history of conflict and misunderstanding. Will it ever stop?
Having a threat of extreme violence has deterred us from killing each other because if we measure violence by numbers this is a huge threat to any nation.
If we take in consideration of north Korea ,Iran or even Pakistan for instance the threat of massive violence is quite possible if we are measuring by numbers in how many people will be killed & of course this could escalate. Take a look at the Cuban missile crises in the sixties, we came extremely close to an all out nuclear war which would have been world wide, would these people saying we are less violent todays say that after a nuclear holocaust?
What would happen if we had another world war today, nations just like the US did in WWII would just let fly, self preservation over common sense is a very strong human trait especially if we looked at multinationals in how they preserve their own wealth at a huge cost to society & the environment which to me isn't just violent but vile.
I'm measuring violence not by numbers but by the threat of violence, "if you don't do what we say we are going to take action", this sounds awfully violent. Take a look at the US or NATO in how it threatens nations. The rest of the world is getting tired of living under this continues threat & dictatorship, it's going to end in a really violent way especially when measuring violence by numbers. The next world war will tell us how non-violent we are suppose to be these days in the kill ratio & threats of violence, it won't matter how you measure it it will be worse than any other time in human history. Of course you have people saying this will never happen but are they 110% sure, they can't be, a threat is showing an intent of violence, to threaten one with violence is violent.
Love
Mathew
A reply on Conversation: Human history is a history of conflict and misunderstanding. Will it ever stop?
Has the decline of violence got something to do with how many people we kill or the threat of mass annihilation which wasn't possible in the past like it is now? I suppose it's the threat of mass annihilation that keeps us from slaughtering each other like we have in the past. I think it depends in how we measure violence by numbers or by threat!!
Now if we looked at this in a different way, any threat of violence is still violence & never in the history of man has there ever been a bigger threat than now, look at the violent threatening weapons for starters, biological, gas, nuclear, germ warfare & so on which all represent violence on a mass scale never seen before. Massive amounts of money over the last 100 yrs spent on weapons is astonishing & again has never occurred in human history before on such a mass scale & by doing this something has got to suffer the consequences of such spending like with hospitals & health care & roads which cost peoples lives day in day out.
So are we less violent? I don't think so because it depends on how you measure violence.
This is so much like inflation in how they measure it now, if the workers wages go up inflation is said to have gone up however if insurances, bank fees, food, health care, fuel & so on go up that's not included within the inflation figures these days but they once were . A threat of being massively annihilated at any time represents violence but that's probably just me in how I see things.
Love
Mathew
A reply on Conversation: Human history is a history of conflict and misunderstanding. Will it ever stop?
I can't watch the vid's because I'm on limited down loads.
I think even when they where worshipping sun Gods & alike have we had moral tendencies however they did make sacrifices like virgins & babies which by todays standards wouldn't seem too ethical however any type of organised clan or ideological beliefs system has some sort of moral standings imbedded.
If we looked at organised religion it hasn't been that moral either over time however within the clan or congregation itself it does have moral standards, I suppose it's depends on our standards at the time if we are moral or not. Are we all that moral today with all the wars & bloodshed we have inflicted on each other over the last 100 yrs or so, in a thousand years time people of that time will probably look at us as being barbarous which at times certainly seems that way.
Love
Mathew