TED Community » Brandon Alexander

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  A reply on Talk: Melissa Marshall: Talk nerdy to me

  Oct 11 2012: Honestly, sounds like you're a bit lazy, and suffer from some delusions of superiority. People like you turn a lot of talented people off from science because they don't want to be associated with people that are so arrogant. Just saying...
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: What place does creativity have in education?

  Oct 23 2011: I agree a lot with your point about teachers not getting the time. I myself stopped teaching for that very reason. Cheaper education means less teachers. Less teachears means less time for the teachers that are left. Less time means we don't have the means to give students the mindshare they deserve. When I was teaching, I completely ignored my "orders" and taught the way I wanted. My kids always loved my class, and their performance in the areas that count like self esteem, integrity, self expression, flexibility, and above all creativity were excellent. I always clashed with the board though, however, I practice what I preech. I would not compromise just so they can pad their schools score in the education system. Their solution was to run me ragged and it worked, because I quit, and I only do private mentoring now.

• A comment on Conversation: What place does creativity have in education?

  Oct 23 2011: Hey good questions. I think you are spot on actually. I think you are correct in your assumption that primary school is designed to indoctrinate everyone to have the same values (your words in a nutshell in my words). The "experts" did this shortly after ww2 in order to better insure stability within their country and help prevent any kind of civil war. That, and everyone was so spooked that the only way they could calm down is to make their lives ridgid and completely uncreative. These days however, we have the internet which eliminates the need for this. We arent likely to burn witches at the stake, or care if someone is jewish or white, or black or whatever. These days we are pretty cool with being different. The school system is pretty out dated, and we are realizing now that creativity and different thinking are, like you said, paving the way for humanity. I think the powers that be just arent sure what's gonna happen if they give everyone the same degree of mental freedom that their own kids get in their private schools, and thats probably why they arent in any hurry.

• A reply on Conversation: We can learn by exchanging and discussing our own lists of "10 Things I Know to be True."

  Oct 23 2011: If you want you can replace "state of mind" with "mood" or "feelings toward" if that makes more sense. State of mind is the same thing though. "state of mind" is only a temporary psycological condition by definition. Mental condition is a where the factors of the problem (or "difference" as I like to put it.) are constant.
  
  The best analogy I can give you is to think of a persons mental condition as rocks in a stream. A state of mind would be the water flowing down the stream. When the water hits a rock, it has no choice but to flow around it. But on its own, its free to choose where to go.

• A reply on Conversation: We can learn by exchanging and discussing our own lists of "10 Things I Know to be True."

  Oct 23 2011: no problem, I added a bit to the above comment. The simplest way I can put it is, if it is impossible for someone to control and will always occur regardless, that is a mental condition. If it is changable, then it is a state of mind. My original point on my list "all states of mind are a conscious choice" was simply to clarify that if it's possible to change your mood or state of mind at all about something, then it is possible to change your mood or state of mind completely about something no matter how difficult. It more directly relates to emotional reactions than anything else.

• A reply on Conversation: We can learn by exchanging and discussing our own lists of "10 Things I Know to be True."

  Oct 23 2011: I would say that your friend cant control what voices he hears, as obviously thats his condition. I do however believe that he has a choice to let those voices bother him. unless of course he has another condition that inhibits him from tuning it out, like autism. As for his physical reaction, most likely that is triggered by involuntary motor controls of the brain, which I would say is a condition of everyones brain. I'm honestly just trying to explain the difference, I know its not as simple as most people think lol.

• A reply on Conversation: We can learn by exchanging and discussing our own lists of "10 Things I Know to be True."

  Oct 23 2011: A state of mind is a variable that falls inside the boundaries of ones mental condition.

• A reply on Conversation: We can learn by exchanging and discussing our own lists of "10 Things I Know to be True."

  Oct 23 2011: I think you are confusing a state of mind with a condition of mind sir.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: We can learn by exchanging and discussing our own lists of "10 Things I Know to be True."

  Oct 22 2011: 1. The past can never be fixed, the only release is to choose to stop caring about it, and no, that doesn't make one a bad person.
  2. The more one's mind is like a child's, the faster one will learn.
  3. All states of mind are a conscious choice.
  4. Inner strength begins with knowing who you are, being proud of who you are, then becoming absolutely uncompromizing on your values.
  5. Empathetic people are at risk of becoming manipulative and corrupt once they start to understand other peoples feelings a little too well, and how easy it would be to control them.
  6. The true test of a leader is not to become cynical after you realize how stupid the world is.
  7. One should not believe anything in it's entirety unless they are themselves the witness, and even then, one should reflect upon it and criticize ones judgement before making a decision.
  8. To claim ones faith is correct is a paradox. One does not have faith unless they accept the possibility that they could be wrong. If there was no possibility of it being wrong, then it would simply be fact.
  9. Families are more successful the more they act as a single entity, financially, emotionally, and otherwise.
  10. Money has no real value, and its purpose has been heavily perverted over the past 200 years. (probably longer)

• A comment on Conversation: Advertising.......is it still worth the money ?

  Apr 12 2011: The problem with advertising is that a lot of it is delivered to the wrong people who have no interest, and it is wasted. There is still a ton of work to be done in advertising about where, when, how, and to whom you should advertise. A lot of this can be done by understanding how your consumers think, and making more sense of how certain products appeal the the same audience, and advertise them together.
  
  A lot of money has been spent to try and figure this out, but in my opinion, the people spearheading the efforts to do so arent very bright, and havent made much progress. If i could offer my own personal 2 cents on the topic, they could start by realizing that consumers are dynamic, and by the time they do a study on 20 year olds this year, that is obsolete information about what 20 year olds next year will like. Current advertisers are making big mistakes by spending a lot of money to "figure out" what 20 year old white males like, and then they think they are done, and use the same information for add campaigns 5 or 6 years later, and then after wonder why it didnt work.
  
  Think locally, and ask questions constantly to evolve your message to match your consumers. Most of this is actually done via word of mouth.To answer your question~ yes it is worth the money. But only if you use your head. A local expert would be very valuable to work with while you draw up your ideas for your add campaign. A lot of this is common sense, if you want to sell something to 25 year old females from monterrey, get some smart (and socially involved) 25 year old females from monterrey to help you advertise. (or at least tell your marketting department to do so.)