TED Community » Oliver Rowland

Comments

• TEDCred score: +2.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Talk: Questions no one knows the answers to

  Mar 15 2012: Thanks, yes, it's certainly one of the things that intrigues me most, and I think it will be important for future physics. It's not nothing, as it has dimensions. Nor is it just the stuff that's in it, however many bits of particle and rays of one kind or another may be found out in deep space; the actual fabric of space is a thing in itself, but of a different kind, that I don't think can be properly described yet.
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Jonathan Haidt: Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence

  Mar 14 2012: I didn't think the link between the kinds of mystical oneness experiences some people report and the phenomenon of people enjoying feeling a part of a group movement was very strongly made, or that either has to have anything to do with religion as such.

• A comment on Talk: Deep ocean mysteries and wonders

  Mar 13 2012: I'm trying to rate this and the rating box keeps popping up mostly hidden by the video. Anyone know what's up with that? Anyway, a beautiful and interesting talk I thought; and very nicely presented

• A comment on Talk: Paul Gilding: The Earth is full

  Mar 13 2012: Thanks Mitch, that's an interesting point. What's the difference between a fiat currency and a meta one though?
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Questions no one knows the answers to

  Mar 13 2012: What is the universe expanding into? What is space made of? What is time and could we travel forward and back in it? If so, though, how come we've never met any time travellers?

• A reply on Talk: Questions no one knows the answers to

  Mar 13 2012: Sam's book is available very cheaply as a Kindle version. I find his argument persuasive. It's an interesting thought, that maybe we don't actually have any choice about how things unfold in our lives after all. I guess it can still be interesting though, like a book is, even though it's written and we can't change it. And it is humbling to those who think their success is all down to their own brilliance, or comforting to those who beat themselves up a lot about things going wrong.

• A reply on Talk: Questions no one knows the answers to

  Mar 13 2012: What sort of answer is that? Religion answers mankind's wish to live on eternally by making up mutually contradictory and unproveable stories. However the almost ubiquity of such cultural constructs around the world does show strongly the fact that surviving death is a deep seated wish of our species. I do think that one day science will make it a fact whereas for now religions just offer wishful thinking, or vague possibilities at best.

• A reply on Talk: Peter Diamandis: Abundance is our future

  Mar 3 2012: It's important to see what definitions are being used when people talk about poverty figures. 100 years ago poverty in the west was eg. families of 15 living in one or two rooms, a tin bath and a shared outdoor toilet, with a continual struggle just to feed and clothe themselves, with life expectancies of 40 or so, high illiteracy and and childhood and maternal mortality. People had to darn their socks and patch their clothes; sometimes children went barefoot because their parents couldn't afford shoes. Now most people who would be defined as poor have a reasonable basic standard of living with good clothes and varied food, good educational opportunities, adequate accommodation with central heating and decent plumbing, access to healthcare and entertainment, communications technologies, transport etc. And I know, for example, the UK government defines "poverty" as having an income below a certain percentage of the national mean, so in that case all it takes is for there to be more millionaires and billionaires and suddenly you have more "poor" people. Not to say too many people don't still struggle for a decent standard of living for themselves and their families, but in absolute terms, things have demonstrably improved.
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Peter Diamandis: Abundance is our future

  Mar 3 2012: It's true that the media is disproportionally negative, because that's what makes for more exciting stories. It gives the impression that there is contant murder and rape and war and disaster and so on, whereas if you look at what is happening among your own friends and family, for many people it's not the case. Probably in most western countries the average person is more prosperous and safer than ever before.
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Paul Gilding: The Earth is full

  Mar 3 2012: I'm sure there must be a simpler way to make whatever point you are making here (despite you starting off talking about simplicity and clarifying things for confused people)... this post seems to me rather convoluted and some parts especially so, like:
  
  Energy is in the domain of the physical. Agency arises from the meta (perception->knowledge(potential agency)->agency.
  
  Is your penultimate sentence your main point, basically: " In absence of power/money worship, people must revert to physical trade" ? Do you mean reverting to economies based on trading goods and services as opposed to more complicated financial transactions that don't deal with "real" things?