TED Community » Michael McLoughlin

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Learning and discovering things! I love to try new things and go new places and meet new people and ponder great mysteries, to see beauty of the world and to dream of all that's possible.

An idea worth spreading

For better or worse, We're all in this together

Talk to me about

Science, Discovery, the Universe, Beethoven, and anything at all! What is there in a spontaneous and random talk but an Adventure!

People don't know that I'm good at

Yo-yoing and whistling.

My TED Story

I discovered TED thanks to my fantastic Biology teacher. She was one of those few who could fill every moment with that golden light of discovery. Since, the site has grown on me over time and now I return to it and watch a video nearly every day. I think that TED is one facet of many in this digital revolution that stands testament to the remarkable power of bringing people together and sharing ideas as we craft the future. I have no doubts, but every video on TED, big or small, fills me with hope and a profound sense of wonder. We have here a collection of the greatest human endeavors, innovators from around the world in dozens of languages in virtually all areas of expertise who all come together to cast some light and share their stories.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +4.70 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +1

  A comment on Conversation: What is the most important thing you've learned on your own?

  Mar 3 2013: Connection is the most important thing in the universe. Be it art or love or philosophy or science or nature or friendship or literature or conversation or music or tea or meditation or compassion or understanding or industry or...well it hardly matters which, and what these mean for each person I can hardly say; discovering who and what to connect with, and how and why, and to what degree and to what end is different for each person. It is, however, the one certain thing we all share, the path we voyage, and that which gives meaning and context to the lives we lead.

• A reply on Conversation: Strange questions that humans have not yet found an answer for!

  Aug 4 2012: I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'standard' but I think I may.
  
  As best I know it, the sizes, or cardinalities, of various infinite sets only make sense when drawn up in comparison to on another. I don't think it makes sense to think about things like the smallest infinity or an infinity from which all others are measured (a standard). To say, for example, some infinity A is twice Infinity B is nonsensical. All we could say, rather, is that A is larger than B.
  
  To compare infinities, one checks to see if one can create a function from one infinite set to another that is both one-to-one and onto. The function is just a way of relating the infinities. If such a function can be found, it tells us that the infinities have the same size.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: In double slit experiment of Thomas Young, why do electrons (particles) behave like waves when we aren't observing them?

  Jul 31 2012: You're welcome.
  
  And yeah! Definitely.
  Consciousness is rather bizarre and no one's figured it out completely. Yet!
  
  But when it's all said and done, I'd place my bets on consciousness being an entirely physical phenomenon. I feel that a lot of people may find that idea rather disenchanting but I think it's lovely, imagining everything that I identify as 'me' as just a curious consequence of the very universe I'm a part of.
• +3

  A reply on Conversation: In double slit experiment of Thomas Young, why do electrons (particles) behave like waves when we aren't observing them?

  Jul 31 2012: As it turns out, consciousness does not have any intentional effect on physical world.
  
  That is to say, no matter how many people are thinking or how hard they think, physics goes on, entirely undisturbed.
  
  They idea that anyone's thoughts effect the outcome of the double slit experiment (or any other experiment or physical event) is an unfortunate misunderstanding that results from the use of the word 'observer'.
  
  When physicists say that they 'observe' a particle in the double slit experiment they do not literally mean that someone actually looked at it, or thought about its location during experiment. In fact, there is no 'observer' at all in the sense of the term where observer means conscious agent (like a scientist, for example). Instead, the 'observer' is actually a detector that is part of the experimental apparatus. In order to make an observation though, the detector must interact with the particle as it travels along. Imagine being blind; the only way to 'observe' the location of, say, the remote control would be to touch it to discover its location. The touching, crucially, is the observation without which nothing could be definitively known. In the same way, any detector must 'touch' the particle to find out something about it: like how fast it's moving or where it is or what slit it went through. Crucially, however, by doing this, by 'touching' or 'observing' the particle, the particle's state is irrevocably changed (like leaving fingerprints on the remote) thereby altering the outcome of the experiment.
  
  While admittedly bizarre, the way in which these experiments play out, both observed and otherwise, is completely and thoroughly explained by quantum mechanics.
  
  Non-intuitive and difficult to understand? Yes. Sixth sense? Not so much.
  
  This is rather interesting if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment
  Read it carefully.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Strange questions that humans have not yet found an answer for!

  Jul 30 2012: Infinity is, more than anything else, a concept related to sizes of things (like sets of numbers).
  and yes, there are many infinities. In fact, one can show that there are an infinite number of them and that they are of various sizes. Meaning, some infinities are bigger than others.
  
  Wrap your head around that one, lol

• A reply on Conversation: Strange questions that humans have not yet found an answer for!

  Jul 30 2012: The resolution of Zeno's paradox is tied up with the idea of convergence.
  One can show (using calculus, or infinite series, for example) that in certain cases, an infinite number of steps in a process (like reaching point B) does actually result in a finite quantity. That is to say, the steps 'converge.'
  This is nice because, in reality, one reaches point B easily.
  
  But even these very good mathematical arguments can be disputed in clever ways. In considering such questions, one dives the unfathomable depths a philosophical rabbit hole.
  It'd be fun to do some research on this question if you're interested! But I warn that you'll likely lose even more sleep over what you find! lol
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Matt Mills: Image recognition that triggers augmented reality

  Jul 21 2012: This is amazing. Really, remarkable.
  
  Now all we have to do is wait for this technology to get merged with something like Google's Project Glass and become mainstream.
  The possibilities are literally endless.
  
  Hold on to your hats!

• A comment on Talk: Sunni Brown: Doodlers, unite!

  Sep 26 2011: Doodle on!

• A comment on Talk: Jeremy Gilley: One day of peace

  Aug 10 2011: Symbolism:
  http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1297353/v_for_vendetta_people_should_not_be_afraid_of_their_government/
  
  Three Cheers for a better world!
  Step by Step by Step.
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Jonathan Drori: The beautiful tricks of flowers

  Jul 8 2011: I love his stunning enthusiasm.