TED Community » Kevin Fielder

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Technical / IT Architecture and the benefits it brings to business. The best solution for the organisation / situation not blue sky / abstract best practice. Mentoring and developing people.

An idea worth spreading

Put people first. I have been reading up a lot recently on getting the best from people. The constant corporate push for standardisation is a push for mediocrity and average performance. Allow good people the flexibility in their working environment and style, this will enable them to excel.

Talk to me about

Career opportunities, expertise requests, opportunities to assist with good causes, opportunities to contribute to debate

Comments

• TEDCred score: +22.60 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +2

  A comment on Talk: Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?

  Apr 15 2013: Another talk highlighting praise and satisfaction trump financial rewards any day of the week;
  Praise people and take note of their efforts, and hopefully get the same in return - this makes everyone’s life better both in and out of the office!
  This is a great message, but one I wish people would just learn and live by as it isn't a new concept - taking nothing away from this talk and the obviously good research they have undertaken to back it up, just my hope is for people to actually 'get' these messages..
  The fact we place more value on things we have to work for is no surprise, it's a bad thing when we subjectively place more value on things that have no greater value just because we worked harder (not smarter ;) ). However it's also a great message, and something we can all relate to - things we earn and work for are far more satisfying than things that fall in our lap - how good does that beer (or beverage of choice) taste at the end of a hard days graft?
  Have a look at talks from Dan Pink and Seth Goodwin for more about what motivates us.
• +5

  A comment on Talk: Louie Schwartzberg: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

  Nov 29 2012: One of my favourite things is to stop look around and be amazed by the beauty all around us. It is so easy to miss this and to be down because you can't afford another when being alive and healthy with friends and loved ones in this amazing world / universe is amazing in itself.
  To quote Ferris Bueller - 'life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it'. It's all too easy to miss it every day. Enjoy the beauty around you and share it with others :)
  Fantastically motivational presentation!

• A reply on Talk: Alain de Botton: Atheism 2.0

  Nov 27 2012: My question is; Why is religion given the special status of needing to be disproved.
  This is the trick the Russell's teapot theory hoped to highlight. It is almost impossible to disprove something, especially something as nebulous as a god. Science is based on evidence for something - you create a hypothesis, then this is tested with experiment, against other proven theories etc. Eventually when proven to a high degree of satisfaction the hypothesis becomes a theory and is treated as fact, but with the caveat it may be changed / refined in future if new experimental evidence comes to light.
  Thus, there shouldn't be a need to disprove religion as there is no evidential basis for it. Religion is and should be seen as an unproven hypothesis that to be given credence needs those who think it is true to come up with experiments and rationale for it. Then if these experiments offer evidence for the existence of a god or gods, then the hypothesis may move towards becoming a theory.
  Teaching people not to believe, or at least to be sceptical about, things unless there is evidence for them is on a (-) it is rational. Being sceptical and expecting rational evidence based discussion is not closed or biased. You can be open to anything / everything and while expecting either reasonable levels of evidence or for the topic to be clearly labelled an as yet unproven hypothesis. This to me is better than blindly believing something just because it has not been disproven..

• A comment on Talk: Matt Killingsworth: Want to be happier? Stay in the moment

  Nov 27 2012: They need a more ubiquitous way of collecting the data so the demographic is not so skewed. This does not just mean creating apps for Windows and Android phones (although this would be a very simple step to broaden the test sample). What about collecting paper forms, allowing online data entry, or at least text (SMS) based inputting to allow access to non smart phone enabled communities.
  Take a look as;
  http://www.ted.com/talks/nic_marks_the_happy_planet_index.html
  for a great and considerably broader overview of global happiness and what seems to make people and nations happy.
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!

  Nov 27 2012: I think we can all learn from this, not just those giving aid to nations. How often do we find ourselves with solutions in mind even before we have discussed the issue or need? When someone is talking to you or you are in a meeting at work, are you listening to the whole issue or already working on the solution you think they need?
  Don't enter the discussion with a ready made plan, enter it ready to listen and understand
  Oh and Shut up and listen :)
• +2

  A comment on Talk: Read Montague: What we're learning from 5,000 brains

  Oct 3 2012: Interesting talk about what we are doing, but as some have mentioned a little light on actual facts. Maybe request a follow up talk on what we have learnt?
  Amazing progress in this area, but we still have a very long way to go before we truly understand how the brain works!
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: Is Atheism just another cult, with their own dogma, like religious cults?

  Sep 30 2012: @ John,
  
  I am not sure if you genuinely misunderstand or are just being obtuse.
  
  Yes there is no teapot, that is the point, but you cannot prove that, and any reasonable person would expect me as a 'teapotist' to prove it's existence, not for you as a teapot atheist to disprove it. That is the point of the example, religion is a belief, and that is fine if people admit it is just that. Otherwise don't hid being the 'you can't disprove it' fallacy and offer some genuine proof. Simple.
  
  Atheism is NOT a journey to disprove something, it is a position that this something does not exist and a statement that there is no real proof for it. It amazes me how words are twisted and games played rather than openness from those who claim to be honest and pious. This does not seem to align with my understanding of the point of religion. But then as an agnostic I guess I can claim I wouldn't understand.
  
  As per my reply to Peter, I don't think atheism is remotely cult like. Some proponent of atheism have been mistakenly drawn into reason and evidence free debates on this subject that does not do them any favours when we should stick to the scientific position of expecting reason and evidence, but that is as far as it goes for me.
  
  As my previous post stated this likely will go round in circles, and we clearly have opposing views the other is unlikely to change. This is proving to be true.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Is Atheism just another cult, with their own dogma, like religious cults?

  Sep 30 2012: Hi Peter,
  
  I would suggest anything could be made into a cult, but most that I have heard of have a leader or leader who claim some divine or supernatural right for their position and for the cult so I guess it may be more difficult when your position is that there is no supernatural or divine being..
  
  I'd certainly suggest atheism isn't a cult as it is just a position on whether the is a god or not, nothing more. If some people who hold that position take a too strong a view or position that doesn't change the view point or it's validity. I expect you wouldn't want your entire religion judged because a few extremists under that banner may become a cult or go too far?

• A comment on Conversation: Is Atheism just another cult, with their own dogma, like religious cults?

  Sep 29 2012: Ah sorry I must have been mistaken by the question. I thought we were talking about evidence for or against atheism and theism, not evidence for human being having existed, or a book with having been written than has no evidence to back up any of its claims.
  
  Remember Scientology has as much provenance as any other religion - a person or people existed, and a book was written..
  
  You are correct no one knows, however I refer you back to that teapot not knowing doesn't mean there is something magic and unexplainable, it is just not yet knowing.
  
  It is a belief system based on books written long ago that have no proof to back up any of their claims, it is not based on any provable facts. Based on your last response I'll caveat that with provable facts about the existence of any supreme being or miracles etc. Things like a country exists or xx human being exists may be true, but as stated these facts are very different from the fact that a supreme being or being exists.
  
  People want to believe in something, people don't want to thing death is the end (if may not be even without the existence of any gods..), people want to belong and fit in, people want to identify with others - there are many reasons on top of the whole indoctrination issue why religions are so successful. As I said I also thing we need to keep religion and the actual existence of a god or gods as separate issues.
  
  The other point as you are talking about different religions is that they all claim to be right, and the amusing thing is if any single one does turn out to be correct most are wrong.. And depending upon which one that is all the other religions may be in a bit of trouble for worshipping the wrong god(s) or the right god but in the wrong way.
  
  These arguments always become very circular because those on the 'gods' side offer not proof for god, and expect those on the other side to offer proof against something you can't see / feel etc. which is pretty much impossible.

• A comment on Conversation: Is Atheism just another cult, with their own dogma, like religious cults?

  Sep 29 2012: Hi John.
  
  My concern with the whole debate is that one side has no evidence and the other side is expected to disprove something that cannot be seen or heard, and cannot in anyway be proven to exist, let alone not exist!
  
  Logic will always fail when faced with blind faith.
  
  Thus to even the field - I eagerly await a single piece of evidence from the theist camp..
  
  Disproving something, even something concrete is known to be extremely difficult which is why theists fall to this rather than admitting there is actually no evidence what-so-ever.
  
  For me I really don't mind what people want to believe and whether they want just belief or something where evidence and experiment are required. I do however have many issues with organised religion from indoctrination (teach kids it's just a belief and expose them to science!) to the petty rules (this being created the entire universe and everything in it, but care about the direction you face when you pray, or whether you eat pork, or whatever... really?). That is however a separate issue to whether you belief in some supreme being or beings or not. This does often muddy the waters, many theists vehemently defend their religion rather than theism and many atheists are much more concerned with issues around organised religion than pure atheism vs. theism.
  Maybe that could be your next question..