TED Community » Marcel Paans

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Music, movies, books, learning, solving puzzles (in the broadest sense), thinking multiple steps ahead.

Talk to me about

Music, philosophy, art, cars, movies, books, your personal story and struggles, technology, psychology, etc

People don't know that I'm good at

singing?.. (At least, I think I'm a pretty decent singer.. :p )

Comments

• TEDCred score: +24.60 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Talk: Oliver Sacks: What hallucination reveals about our minds

  Sep 2 2012: Sleep deprivation (lack of REM sleep especially, if I recall correctly) may cause hallucinations. I have phases when I don't sleep too well. If it goes on long enough, I sometimes start to hear things that aren't real.. not loud or very specific, but annoying enough to keep me awake.. I usually turn on some music to help me fall asleep.
• +2

  A comment on Talk: Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days

  May 15 2012: I'm trying to walk or bike for at least half an hour every day, but it's not something new, or what I like to do. I do it because I feel I really should (I've become quite overweight in recent years). Then there are other things like drinking less alcohol and quit smoking, which I think will be easier 30 day challenges for me than the (very mild!) exercise goal. Maybe someone has some good advice how to make it fun and interesting, because that's something I really need to keep going. My selfdiscipline is absolutely terrible.. maybe I should start out with 14 day challenges instead.. :p

• A reply on Talk: Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days

  May 15 2012: Money may indeed not be the best challenge to take on, especially if you don't have a lot to spend in the first place. Maybe you could try to cultivate something creative and/or productive instead. Who knows, maybe you'll end up with a skill or products that you can sell for some extra money.

• A reply on Talk: Joe Smith: How to use a paper towel

  May 2 2012: You might want to check out this talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/catherine_mohr_builds_green.html
  
  It really makes you think twice about what might be 'greener' (at least, it changed my perception)
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Joe Smith: How to use a paper towel

  May 2 2012: I think that's mostly diet related, making sure your stool isn't too hard/soft. Usually, I don't need to wipe more than two or three times, with only about 1.5 - 2 feet of toilet paper each time.. but sometimes the whole situation turns into a disaster, and there's no end to the wiping.. (hate it when that happens!)
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Joe Smith: How to use a paper towel

  May 2 2012: I applaud your point 4. I never quite understood the 'rule' of washing your hands after peeing, especially at home. If anything, you might wanna wash your hands -before- peeing instead of after, cos they do get dirtier during the day than anything in your pants.
  
  Also, I try to avoid touching public door handles and such as much as I can. I don't have a phobia about it or anything, but you can just as easily open most doors with the palm of your hand instead of actually grabbing the whole handle, smearing hundreds of people's sweat and germs over your fingers. Think about -that- when you just washed your hands and are leaving a public bathroom.. ;)
  
  It really just comes down to using your common sense. Anyway, now I -also- know how to properly use a paper towel (tho I usually only needed two).

• A reply on Talk: Brian Greene: Is our universe the only universe?

  Apr 23 2012: My thought exactly. One of the most interesting talks (not TED) that links to this thinking, is Douglas Adams' "Parrots, the universe and everything". There Adams gives a very persuasive explanation as to why we believe (through religion) that this world was made for us. Consider being a fish, living in a pond. Its 'universe' is the pond, and it gives the fish everything it needs. The fish may also think that the pond was created just for fish..
  
  Also, life is very opportunistic (got this from another talk). It'll grow and adapt everywhere it can. Personally, I believe our universe is teeming with life. But considering the distances between solar systems, and the timescale which life needs to evolve to an intelligent species, and on top of that, use (and further develop) tools, I highly doubt we'll ever meet another race that's somewhat on par with our development.
  
  Maybe, in the end, the next step in evolution is to transfer our collective knowledge, and possibly our thoughts, into spaceship-computers. Then we'll be able to experience the universe free from the 60-80 years timespan we're currently bound to, and distances aren't a problem anymore. So what if it takes 100 years to travel between systems? We can search different planets for life, and come back every 10000 years or so to check on the state of evolution there.. or maybe we'll find other spaceship-computers from other civilizations.
  
  But I digress :)
  
  It'd be cool if there are other universes. But I still wonder: what's beyond that? I guess its a never ending search.. I always imagine there's this scale-loop/fractal.. if I'd zoom out far enough, maybe the entire universe is hidden away in an atom somewhere in my brain ;)

• A reply on Conversation: If you could give computers one magical power, what would it be and why?

  Nov 14 2011: You can actually achieve that by drinking a bottle of liquor in one go..
  
  I don't recommend it tho!
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: If you could give computers one magical power, what would it be and why?

  Nov 14 2011: Like Star Trek's Tricorder! :)

• A reply on Conversation: If you could give computers one magical power, what would it be and why?

  Nov 14 2011: That's pretty cool, but I don't think it would work for me.. I'm too lazy to walk over and input what I ate and did for exercise.. too much obstacles there! Now, if it could recognise my voice and inquire, learn my patterns and anticipate (like every morning a coffee), i'd find it more interesting!
  
  I believe that these kind of applications shoud not take more time of your day than absolutely necessary.. I think this is also why the iPhone/Pad/Pod are a success.. there are hardly (if any) obstacles that keep you from getting results.
  
  I'm also working on a Task Manager (just a little pet project for now) that allows me to add, edit, complete and restructure tasks within a matter of seconds. The whole premise is that managing tasks should not become a task itself. I think this should be true for all our interactions with machines/devices.