TED Community » Nikolaos Benias

Comments

• TEDCred score: +65.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: In a democracy should voting be compulsory

  May 10 2012: I'm writing from Greece, the country that gave democracy to the people.
  Before expressing my thought, let me just tell you that according to our Constitution, voting is mandatory in Greece.
  
  All European country leaders are concerned about the elections we had last Sunday.
  I have relatives and friends who voted and others who didn't.
  We have been having this same conversation that you are asking every time we have election in Greece.
  I'm always one of those persons who wake up early in the morning every time we have elections and exercise my right to do so.
  Others say that since we have democracy not voting is a choice.
  Last Sunday the abstention rate was 35%. This means that a lot of people didn’t vote, although these were (and still are since we still have no government) very crucial elections. This resulted in 65% of the Greeks to choose for the rest
  Also, due to some recent amendments in our election laws, whichever party gets the most votes is given 50 more seats in our Parliament as a bonus and parties that do not get a least 3% of the votes (this is a new limit that never existed) are not represented in the Parliament.
  This resulted in 20% of those who voted not being represented in the Parliament, since small parties got less than 3%!!!!
  The thing is that the politicians are given the power to manipulate the masses and the voting results in their favor every time.
  If there was a mechanism ever to be invented that could protect the citizens from the above, then it does not matter if voting is mandatory or compulsory.
  Until then, politicians shall do as they please, no matter if you and I vote or not.

• A comment on Conversation: Why memorize?

  Apr 15 2011: Going back to my school days, I can remember tons of things that we were taught, but I do not use daily, nor weekly, nor monthly, nor annually - some of them I've never used them again since that day.
  
  Indeed, there is no need to memorize every single thing you/we are taught.
  The bad thing is that you cannot know ahead which things you need to remember, based on your job, your interests etc.
  Thus, you are not able to pre-determine which information is useful or not in the long run.
  
  In general, memorization saves you time (not only in the sense of time=money) and makes you more efficient in lots of daily things.
  For the rest of the time, you need to be able to locate the information you are looking for quickly and correctly. This, I believe, is the purpose of memorization for not-daily issues.
  
  As for the real purpose of education is (or at least should be, according to my understanding) to provide you with the information (= knowledge) and to improve your critical thinking.

• A comment on Conversation: What is the greatest security challenge facing humanity today?

  Apr 15 2011: I'd say that securing critical infrastructures and services over the Internet is the greatest security challenge that humanity is already facing today and will be for the next 10 or so years.
  
  It's beyond doubt that everything nowadays depends on technology and to be more specific on computers.
  Those computer systems need to be interconnected, in order to provide their services either directly or indirectly to people.
  
  The IRS, SSN, banks, medical records, cctv systems, billings (water, fixed and mobile phones, electricity etc) are all on-line.
  If anyone get's access to such systems, then everybody is a potential victim and could be in danger some time in the future.
  Stuxnet is a very good example of what worms and viruses (hence people) are able to achieve.
  This is just the beginning of a series of cyber warfare operations going on.
  And there are a lot of people who already have illegal access to such systems all over the world.
  Individuals, governments, terrorist or not groups, activists etc.
  
  Securing all those infrastructures IS the hardest thing to do, since the most safe PC is the one that is locked in a basement room, with no power and no Ethernet connection whatsoever.

• A comment on Conversation: Should TED allow demonstrations of military equipment and uniform on the TED stage?

  Mar 31 2011: I believe it's just a matter of the product itself.
  If it's some kind of weapon that its sole use is to kill or injure people, then NO, it shouldn't be allowed.
  If it's some kind of research for a new camouflage or survival kit or robot technology or satellite images (the list is really long), then YES, because almost all major inventions where discovered either during a war (eg radar) or preparing for war (eg cryptography, stealth technology etc).
  
  PS: Allow me to remind you that war does not necessarily mean that someone is preparing to attack a nation. Most of the times he is preparing to defend his country.