TED Community » Dinoop Menon

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understanding the basics of biological life.

An idea worth spreading

After more than 50 years of R & D we are only able to bring down the mortality rate due to cancer by just 5%, why? Is it that AS A Research community we are not asking enough questions ? or is it that we are asking the wrong questions? My personal perspective is that we are probably asking the wrong questions. The issue is that we ask a lot of questions..but the majority of them just starts and end in the same point "can this drug cure cancer" ?? "yes it does a bit better than placebo"!! "and of course it cure cancer in Mice" . Dont you think as a an average normal citizen of this world that there is something that we are doing wrong here?? 3 years before starting my research career i thought the same and now I Have almost completed My PhD and my conclusion is that ..yes we ask enough questions but not the right one's. If you want to tackle cancer you would first need to Understand the disease and The problem is that we dont ask enough questions to understand the disease?

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  A reply on Talk: Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley

  May 12 2013: @ Romee ..I know you are listening to all kind of advice here:)..Just one more from my side..In life 80% of the things just happen to you.. and you will have absolutely no control over it.. But the rest 20% is how you respond to what happens to you ..
  And that defines whether you are the next Steve Jobs or a great musician or whatever u decide to be..Just follow your heart and intuitions..it will exactly tell you where you have to go..
  I understand your situation as I went through the same during the school days most of the time either sleeping through the school ours or day dreaming..
  To be frank it doesn't matter.. All it matters is find that thing that you love to do in life and which you would keep on doing independent of whatsoever happening in your life..best wishes

• A reply on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 22 2013: Statistics is correct, but the way you read it is completely wrong . you are talking of a violent city with 37% African Americans(Chicago) leading to cultural tensions and on the other hand comparing it to a place where you have 6% of African Americans. This difference is the major cause of the difference you see there not the number of guns. So to make a comparison compare similar cities with similar demographics and who only differ in number of guns the average house hold possess.
  
  And for the decrease in crime rate
  "Based on this, framework, one model for the per-capital gun death rate D would be D = V * G * k, where V is the average tendency toward violence and G is availability of guns, with killing power k factored in. One could get fancier by through stratification: different groups have a different rate of V, and different guns have different effects, and so on. But the core idea is the same."
  So here you are comparing a city with high V to a city with Low V.
  
  Further this article say
  Horgan points out that since 1993, the number of gun homicides has decreased, despite the fact that there are more guns than ever. Therefore, he asserts, more guns (G) do not lead to more killing.
  
  "The logical hole here is that the parameter V has declined over time, as part of an overall decrease in crime." And in the same period non violent crimes also decreased suggesting that its not the guns its a tendency to do the crime has decreased over a time from 1993.

• A reply on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 21 2013: so do you meant to say suicides are ok. Its just a split of a seconds thought that drives a human to suicide and if he survives that instinct or notion then he may survive and live his life. If a person can survive that depression for a while he may think again and may change his mind. And easy access of a lethal weapon will make it always easier for the person to take that decision . There is no way that he is going to kill himself with a knife because he knows its not easy. Firearms account for 50 percent of all suicides in US and statistics itself speak for it.

• A reply on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 21 2013: You can send me in the statistics once you have time.But your argument then boils down to a simple point that who has a bigger gun or more fire power a criminal or a civilian.Then ask the logical question who would invest more money on guns a criminal or a civilian. May be a normal civilian will invest some money in buying a normal gun for self protection but a criminal would invest more than 10 times on it because its his professional tool.
  
  But lets say if guns are not available in market , then you don't need guns to protect yourself from some one having guns. And every illegal gun in America is legally made.

• A reply on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 21 2013: The issue is that every illegal gun possessed by criminals is legally made in America. So the only option is to reduce the avaialbility of guns and make stringent rule for licenses.Only give licenses if there is an imminet life threat on the person and scrutinize every application like you scrutinize Indians applying for American Visa :) .That is the only way ahead, rest of it both of us can argue and point fingers on whose fault it is.
  
  stats don't lie , higher the percentage of average house holds having a gun , higher is the gun related death rates.So you ahve to bring down that percentage to less than 10 to really curb the gun related death rate.
  Comparison with in America
  http://election.princeton.edu/2012/12/22/scientific-americans-gun-error/
  Comparison world
  http://guncontrol.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/moregunsmoredeaths2012.pdf

• A reply on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 21 2013: The question is not of death, the question is how you die: the question is after 60 whether you die of cancer or heart disease.. or do you get shot at 20 or 30 that makes a huge difference...even if it is happening to less number of people..
  .anyways all will die some day...so you can argue that it doesn't make a difference. But the question is not just of death. the question is also about the morality of a civilized society where people like John Moonstroller think its a part of your culture.
  I am an outsider and I don't have a say in your culture, but as an average human being I feel saddened to see innocents dying and when nothing is done about it. I feel the same in Kashmir and I feel the same here.

• A reply on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 21 2013: *Throughout the world, it is clearly seen that the more guns that the common people have in possession, the lower the rate of violent crime becomes.*
  
  
  Completely wrong, The more normal house holds possess fire arms the more is the fire arm related death, Come on guys this is not rocket science. I don't understand why would people make such Bizarre arguments. Ok I can make another bizarre counter argument, better to wear bullet proof jackets and travel around,
  
  Just have a look at the below article which compares the percentage of population per country having firearms and gun related death rate
  http://election.princeton.edu/2012/12/22/scientific-americans-gun-error/
  
  http://guncontrol.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/moregunsmoredeaths2012.pdf

• A reply on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 21 2013: I think some wikipedia would help
  
  Country Total firearm-related death rate
  El Salvador 50.36
  Jamaica 47.44
  Honduras 46.70
  Guatemala 38.52
  Swaziland 37.16
  Mexico 25.14
  Colombia 11.10
  Brazil 11.01
  Panama 10.92
  United States 10.2
  
  I think you guys are the only developed country who could make it to the top 10 list, Congrats

• A comment on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 21 2013: I think to keep the industry working what you can do is to have some games or recreational activities involving guns, and promote them. But this should be done in exclusive recreational centers which the gun companies can invest and run. The guns should be only allowed to be used in these centers for recreational purposes, so that the gun lovers will get a peace of mind and the companies still would be able to run their business at least in a sustainable way, But anyways its impossible to generate revenues like they are generating now from these activities.

• A reply on Conversation: Solving gun violence in the US in today's insane political climate requires a solution that makes it painless for everyone.

  Jan 20 2013: its not a bad idea to give those guards a gun, but it would just contain a disaster than preventing them. May be 5 innocent will die instead of 10, but it is impossible to micro monitor a society with armed people to ensure security. If that was the case a group of armed cops would have been enough to maintain law and order.The point is you cant give everyone a gun to protect everyone else from it, when a product is freely available in market , its always difficult to contain who possess it either legally or illegally. In a country where Guns are scarcely used by public its easy to trace their smuggling and other illegal activities. But the same is much difficult in a country where 47% of civilian household possess a gun.And it just require less than 1 % of psychopaths or mentally ill people to cause a disaster every month