TED Community » Matias Gurmandi

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An idea worth spreading

"Don't gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold." Bob Nesta

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• TEDCred score: +38.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Conversation: What is the future of libraries?

  Sep 15 2011: Well, the academic library in your area is fantastic, I must say! Unfortunately they are not the same everywhere else, especially if they are public libraries (at least in Argentina).
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  A reply on Conversation: What is the language of the future?

  Jul 20 2011: Dear Muhammad, I'm sorry it took me so long to answer your question, but I had not noticed your answer until now. I am from Argentina indeed. Yet we didn't have a single ruling tribe before the Spaniards arrive, so there was not just one single language, but rather lots of languages and dialects depending on the region. When the conquerors came, they impossed Spanish and slaughtered most of the small tribes. Only the languages from the biggest tribes have survived, mainly Quechua (the language of the Incas) in the North, Guarani (from Paraguayan tribes) in the Northeast, and very little Mapuche in Patagonia. We are seeing some efforts today to teach these languages and save them from extintion, and I sincerely hope they succeed.

• A reply on Conversation: What is the language of the future?

  Jul 9 2011: Of course, New Zealanders are an excellent example to follow too. You can easily learn from them that holding on to your roots provides the country with a very strong sense of identity.
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  A comment on Conversation: What is the language of the future?

  Jul 8 2011: I think it is sad that we are losing so many languages at such a fast rate. According to UNESCO, each month a new language is lost on Earth never to be spoken again, leading to a huge cultural loss. Efforts should be made in order to keep them alive, and natives who speak them in contact with their cultural roots. An example of this is Bolivia, which has made official languages the 37 native languages spoken all along the country. Wether this will succeed to help them linger or not, we will see.
  However, I also think English is loosing ground as the dominant languages as people from different ethnic groups thrive on different areas.
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  A comment on Conversation: Why are so many of the answers to questions here "pseudo-answers"?

  Mar 27 2011: David, I think it depends on what you mean by pseudo-answer. It is true that you might find some answers of no value whatsoever, of people who don't put any kind of thought in what they type and answer with one-line frases or even just two or three words.
  But this is not what I see most in TED. Actually, what I find so exciting about TED is that it makes everyone think, investigate, put some thought into their answers. It's probably the only place in the web where us laymen have the unique opportunity to discuss profound topics with remarkable people from all fields of knowledge. Some people are just trying hard to add something of value into a conversation, of course not always succeeding.
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  A comment on Conversation: Which relevant/important events currently unfolding around the world are being ignored by the media? Why are they relevant?

  Feb 26 2011: In my country (Argentina), and probably in many other, some of the world's leading seed production companies are hiring underpaid rural workers in near to slavery conditions. They are paid wages that in many cases don't exceed $500 a month for working up to 12 or 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, in a country with a raging inflation. They are deducted the price of anything they need, from food and water to even work tools, and they don't have access to other ways of getting those materials, since they are confined inside this "estancias" or ranches, with different kinds of threats if they dare leve before the season is over.
  They don't hace access to showers, they don't have electricity, hygiene tools, medical treatments, or safety mesures whatsoever.
  What's more shocking is that this is a common thing among this kind of companies. Pretty much all companies dedicated to this kind of seed production are involved in the same fraud, includins some of the world leadres in this industry like Nidera SA; Southern Seed Production SA; and Status Ager SA.
  Thousands of workers in this conditions have been found, and yet almost none of the major local newspapers is reflecting the case. Of course, it's worth mentioning that the two major media holdings have echonomical interests in the form of shares in some of these companies.
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  A reply on Conversation: Which relevant/important events currently unfolding around the world are being ignored by the media? Why are they relevant?

  Feb 26 2011: I'm afraid I'm still quite skeptical about this whole movement. How trustworthy do you think this news could be?
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  A comment on Conversation: If you could only give your children one piece of advice in life, what would it be?

  Feb 20 2011: Always aim for the moon; if you miss, you might still hit a star.
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  A reply on Talk: Michael Pritchard: How to make filthy water drinkable

  Feb 20 2011: That's a great critical contribution Ward. I'd love to see an in-depth answer by someone competent like Michael Pritchard himself.
  I will actually start a conversation on this talk since I'm really interested in this subject and sincerely hope that people as well informed as you took part on it.

• A reply on Conversation: Desalinate sea water via solar mirrors, magnification, friction from the currents in the ocean.

  Feb 20 2011: Right, with a device like the one created by Michael Pritchard shown at the video I shared below.