TED Community » Patricio O'Shee

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Neuroscience, philosophy, music, arts, photography

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• TEDCred score: +6.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Talk: Paul Root Wolpe: It's time to question bio-engineering

  Mar 28 2011: You must mean mules. Donkeys are perfectly capable of reproducing.
• +2

  A comment on Talk: Catherine Mohr: Surgery's past, present and robotic future

  Jun 19 2009: @Niall Bruckshaw: I got that info through different websties. Still, this info depends a lot on patient, hospital, physician, medications used, health care plan, etc.
  I've seen estimates range from 25,000 to 250,000. I chose a figure in between to draw the comparison with TB treatment in Bangladesh (approx. $250 in 1998), which is btw cheaper than TB treatment in South Africa ($2,000 in 1995, I think).
  
  My point is we cannot listen to this and simply say "Don't worry, prices will drop." That's an unreasonable assumption. Some prices never drop, and even when some do, sometimes it doesn't even matter: How much did bread cost in in the early 90s? And yet, what happened in Sudan in 1993?
  
  You don't need expensive bread to have famines, and you don't need a $1 million dollar machine to have generalized health. Findings are nothing. Application is everything.
  
  I'm NOT saying "stop researching" or "stop developing new tech", I'm saying that research and technology do nothing by themselves.

• A reply on Talk: Catherine Mohr: Surgery's past, present and robotic future

  Jun 19 2009: Kidney transplantation was developed 60 years ago. Today, it still costs U$S100,000 for a patient in the U.S. to have that procedure, the same amount that it costs for 500 people to be treated of TB in Bangladesh.
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Louise Fresco on feeding the whole world

  Jun 15 2009: "Real" people? What am I, a hologram?
  
  I agree about part of your comment, though: research in Chemistry and the destruction of the organic myth is, quite literally, vital for the survival of millions of people. And Norman Borlaug is a hero.
• +2

  A reply on Talk: Kaki King rocks out to "Pink Noise"

  May 31 2009: I don't see how relaxation equates with music. In Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, Penderecki reminded us of devastation and suffering. Is it not music?

• A comment on Talk: Kaki King rocks out to "Pink Noise"

  May 29 2009: Wow! She's a lot taller than I expected. ;-)
  Anyway, her sound speaks for (it)herself. Nice thoughts about infinity, too.

• A comment on Talk: Jay Walker on the world's English mania

  May 26 2009: Like Chris said, the Chinese government doesn't encourage learning English so that we can all solve problems like poverty and climate change together. It's "the language of international law, and more importantly of commerce and business".
  
  This doesn't mean there will be a single way of speaking, acting, or deciding. It doesn't mean we will start working towards the same goals all of a sudden. Many more barriers, historical and necessary impediments, will continue to exist. What this means is that, just maybe, some day there will be one language we can all disagree in. And that's also ok.
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Joachim de Posada: Don't eat the marshmallow!

  May 26 2009: (Second reply)
  
  I realize that my first comment may have been offensive. If it was, I sincerely apologize. I would hate to be the basis of the sterile polarization that I speak against.
  
  I hope you return to TED to deliver another inspiring, informative, and this time longer talk. Saludos muy cordiales
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Joachim de Posada: Don't eat the marshmallow!

  May 26 2009: Dear Joachim:
  Thanks for answering my comment as well as everyone else's. I also believe that delayed gratification is absolutely *fundamental* if we want to lead more satisfactory lifes, but it worries me when principles turn into "hype", which almost invariably leads us to underestimate other factors that may be equally important. I'd say we have the opportunity (and even the responsibility!) to communicate these findings, but many people are all too eager to hear about universal answers and panaceas, so sometimes we should tone things down to allow for a broader approach to personal construction/education/developmental psychology/etc. Let's not forget about the fragility of belief building! Dan Ariely's talks are interesting in that respect.

• A comment on Talk: Joachim de Posada: Don't eat the marshmallow!

  May 25 2009: "The most important principle for success, which is the ability to delay gratification" Exactly the kind of thing I DID NOT want to hear in a TED Talk. Seems to be a classic method: take a relevant and interesting scientific finding, blow it out of proportions and turn it into a catchy phrase (and, ultimately, a best-seller).
  
  I think that de Posada fell into the same pit as those impuslive children: instead of exploring the issue further, he jumped into conclusions which already fit our common sense perfectly (but not as perfectly as to actually sound common).