TED Community » Sam Luk

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Lateral thinking, fresh ideas, neuroscience, space exploration, human behaviour, psychology, technology, music, sustainability design... everything! I LOVE BBC Focus Magazine.

An idea worth spreading

Education, education, education - life is a lesson, it's stupid to claim we know it all. A man can be wise with a little knowledge but a knowledgeable man cannot claim to be wise.

Talk to me about

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle. So, lets talk about everything!

People don't know that I'm good at

Sudoku?

My TED Story

I'm an utter Philomath! I have been given this link by a wonderful friend... curse her for making me addicted. There is so much in the archive - I'm particularly fond of the talk by Douglas Adams.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +33.50 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Talk: Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted

  Aug 3 2011: i'm glad you shared your story Mr. Lewis.
  
  It's admirable that you didn't dwell that much on your journey of recovery because I can't begin to imagine what you had to endure to get through those dark days (years). The result of the IQ tests is proof that the human mind is incredibly powerful, if only our population isn't seduced by mindless trivia - as a human race we could be so much more...
  
  If only we put our minds to it :)

• A comment on Talk: Paul Bloom: The origins of pleasure

  Aug 2 2011: Is this why Burger King chips tastes better than my ordinary oven chips?...
  
  No wait.
  
  This is why home-cooked meal tastes better than everything else! :D

• A comment on Talk: Nathan Myhrvold: Cooking as never seen before

  Aug 1 2011: A wee bit eccentric but fascinating, I enjoy my cooking but I think I would like to rely on my heart and old family recipes than a calculator and a bar chart...
  
  Still, I'm still gonna buy the book to satisfy my curiosity!

• A comment on Talk: Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling

  May 15 2011: Love his creative slide! Less powerpoint - more cool slides!
  
  On the subject of smiles, it's weird isn't it? We can tell when someone is faking a smile, I personally think it's muscle to the side of your eyes, when we smile we express joy in our eyes too, it's natural. A fake smile is literally a dead smile because you can't see the joy from the eyes and the muscles are tense too?
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Sebastian Thrun: Google's driverless car

  Apr 25 2011: I believe Jay Leno is a car enthusiasts, and he had a great idea on Top Gear - basically we should economise our every day vehicles and leave the use of petrol cars as a hobby. Essentially a driverless car equate to greater efficiency - therefore restricting the use of fossil fuels for part-time fun drive, in your instance a weekend in your cool hot rod convertible!
  
  (I only say cool cos we don't have hot rods in England!)

• A comment on Conversation: Can design save the world?

  Apr 21 2011: :)
  
  A good thought, hmm. We do live in a complex world, some people can live rich beyond comprehension, whilst their neighbours cannot earn enough to feed their children. It's definitely subjective for each of us. I'm guilty of simplifying the subject, so perhaps I should unbox the subject and call it 'the things we can do to help others'. :D
  
  I had a thought last night when I went to bed, what if there was an organisation that brought together agencies to encourage their creative staff to donate their time to tackle an issue that's important to them? I know the industry is very competitive and also move at an incredible pace, many young designers are caught in the machine, which I think can be soul-destroying. It would be nice to say 'Hey, you like solving problems, here's a very human problem for you... would you like to take part?
  
  The D&AD Awards (British Design & Art Direction) is like an Oscar award for international designers, there's an entry fee for submissions. What if we have a new category (something like) 'Global Design' and waive the entry free - that presents an incentive for innovation. The creatives might be motivated by prestige and fame, BUT it does encourage the flow of ideas or smart design that can be used for good.
  
  I'm trying to think what type of carrots to dangle...
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Mick Ebeling: The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist

  Apr 21 2011: It takes vision to recognise opportunity, it takes commitment to pursue the goal, but importantly it takes heart to offer help in the first place.
  
  I'm very impressed by Mick Ebeling as a person, his device is ingenious and I hope there are people watching who can not only push the technology but also keep the manual in public domain.
  
  Bravo!

• A reply on Conversation: How to train my self to be creative?

  Apr 19 2011: I was once told by my teacher in college - you will either have the talent or you don't, if you do, it will always be there.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: How to train my self to be creative?

  Apr 19 2011: I suppose creativity is fun, as others have mentioned I'm sure. I see it was playfulness because the whole idea of creation can be varied from making gifts for your partner or brainstorming on an international brand. I have been fortunate to have studied in a Graphic Design course with a high priority for good ideas. In my youth I believed that somehow thinking hard equated to better ideas, when something wasn't good enough, I'd think harder to solve the problem (then I'd get headaches!).
  
  As I grew older I realised that was wrong, it was much easier to let an idea arrive - rather than forced. For example, when I'm stuck with a brief, I would do something else, something simple like washing the dishes or take a walk, doing something mundane certainly helps because the question is simmering in the back of the head, I have often reached my solution whilst doing something else. A pen and small pad is always handy to have for every little thought you wish to jot down.
  
  I guess it boils down to... give your mind something to think about, you do something else... and leave your subconscious alone to do the work :D
• +2

  A comment on Talk: Sebastian Thrun: Google's driverless car

  Apr 19 2011: I think the point of driving is, personal freedom, in the manner we enjoy the car like an extension of us, we enjoy the response from speeding for example (or cornering) and controlling that shell. I think we might find it difficult to give up that control, therefore a much better application could be in public transport, such as cabs, trains, trams or metros, because a computerised system can make them run on time, calculate destination time better, and errr...... avoid union strikes (lol!) - whether that's good or bad... is another point.
  
  On a plus side, with existing routes, the random factor is reduced greatly compared to the idea of every personal vehicle being computerised.