TED Community » Christophe Cop

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Science, truth, social games, life, Japan

An idea worth spreading

offer all children of the world the possibility to see Ted-talks ted talks (from a certain age, say 10 and up).
Each of those kids should at least know what adults can dream about.

Talk to me about

Statistics, TedxFlanders, Philosophy of science

People don't know that I'm good at

Appreciating them

My TED Story

July 3rd 2009: I organised the first TEDx event in Belgium. It was small scale, low budget. I did get 3 good speakers and an audience of 70 people. I see this as a step towards more events
October 2009: foundation of non profit organisation: IdeasWE vzw (Ideas Worth Executing).
January 22nd 2010: TEDx Flanders II. Four speakers, 70 people, warm atmosphere, very nice food during the break,... September 5th 2010 TEDxFlanders @the ZOO was our first big event, and now we do simulcasts, salons, and are planning our next big venue September 24th 2011

Comments

• TEDCred score: +10310 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Technology doesn't kill the magic

  Mar 30 2012: I think my answer is in line with Richard Feynman
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSZNsIFID28
  
  Science and technology only add to the beauty and the mystery.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Clean technology, while a huge opportunity, will not go to scale in time to prevent a global economic and social crisis.

  Mar 28 2012: If the crisis is inevitable, should we then just stop innovating as we will be doomed anyway?
  
  I would try and be optimistic (urgent optimism as Jane McGonigal calls it http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html)
  
  Nor can we sit back and wait for the technology to arrive.
  
  If the problem is really this bad (and I have no reason to assume it isn't), then we do need to support all actions towards that goal, and act ourselves.
  We do need some climate psychologists and lobby groups as well... to implement and scale the current solutions.
  
  Even if it will be to slow, it seems the only reasonable thing to do...
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: What is the Mayan calendar really telling us?

  Mar 27 2012: Aside from the fact that your bet has nothing to do with the Mayans... (but you are free to think it does)
  
  Ok, let's proceed with the practicalities:
  
  How do you propose we measure this change? Maybe a questionnaire around people's attitude around misconceptions, greed/corruption, spirituality and leadership.
  We use lickert scales and have a random sample of 1000 people. Then we give the same questionnaire next year (to the same and/or different people), and we do a simple T-test on the total score. When we see a significant increase in the aspects you predict to go up, then you win the wager. If not, I win the bet.
  
  As for payment: I suppose we make a contract that the loser of the bet pays the whole test, sends a bottle of campaign to the winner and confirms that he will admit that his beliefs were wrong.
  
  Or do you propose a different method?

• A comment on Conversation: How can we promote TED and TEDx to our local community?

  Mar 27 2012: You can have promotional partnerships, as long as it is within the TEDx guidelines.
  
  Anyway, I think it says more about local media if they think TED and TEDx are not worth spreading...
  As a TEDx organiser, we send out press releases, and then it's up to them to publish it or not. (Media coverage is quite ok in Belgium though, but of course it should be much much more in my opinion).
• +3

  A comment on Conversation: Cannabis should be grown freely to promote the change within the humanr ace necessary to cohabitively live on the earth.

  Mar 27 2012: read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp
  
  Well, there are countries and regions where Cannabis can be grown more or less freely.
  I don't know whether it promotes the change you are referring to there... maybe you can study that.
  
  But other than that: Hemp is a great plant with a lot of uses (canvas rope and bags, paper, the THC, as bio-fuel, biodegradable plastics,...)
  
  And then we have the flower that can be used for smoking to get you high or stoned...
  I don't see a rational reason why it is forbidden in so many countries and regions in the world, especially if you compare it to other substances that are legal or illegal.
  
  Of course, there are some drawbacks with the drug (it does not make you very productive for example, and it can help trigger psychotic episodes or schizophrenia-related symptoms). But it also has a lot of medical benefits...
  
  So sure... make it legal to grow, and inform the people about the benefits and drawbacks.
  I would not promote the use of it through advertising though.

• A comment on Conversation: What is the Mayan calendar really telling us?

  Mar 27 2012: The Mayan calendar means:
  The calendar that the Mayan's used.
  It tells us how the Mayan culture tracked time, how they thought about the flow of time, and how it was interwoven in their rituals.
  
  And it has only meaning in a historical/cultural context, in the same way all calenders from all cultures in the past and present...
  
  It has no meaning for 21st century society. It does not produce any hypothesis worth testing.
  
  Anyone who wants to do a prediction based on that calender: let them propose a bet, and I will probably accept it... I'm quite confident it has no predictive value above chance level.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: What is the power behind a shared experience?

  Mar 24 2012: ???
  And how about the more visual, auditory and tactile stimuli people experience together, combined with empathy or mirror neurons as an explanation?
  
  I don't see how these effects have been accounted for.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: ¿Quiénes van al TEDxSummit?

  Mar 24 2012: http://tedxsummit.ted.com/openingnight/

• A reply on Conversation: How are different body parts connected to the emotions we traditionally associate with them?

  Mar 23 2012: Cool!
  I also found:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetocardiography
  
  Next question would be: does the body use the magnetism to some extent (i.e. can it capture the information that might be contained in it).
  
  Looking forward to be surprised in this young field of research!
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Can we transfer our DNA to a sound and then discover its language?

  Mar 23 2012: I'm not really an expert on this one, but here is a way you can go around it:
  
  Here is a site where you can download the human genome http://hgdownload.cse.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/hg19/chromosomes/ (found it through Wiki).
  - find software that can translate it (if it is not done already) to
  then choose a tone for every amino acid.
  Then you probably need to write some code to translate it again (i.e. find someone who can do that)
  
  listen to it, and maybe change tones
  
  I only think the melody might not be awesome... but maybe sampling the better parts might end up in some neat composition.