TED Community » Colin Erskine

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I'm passionate about

morality, choices, technology, life, the universe

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morality, choices, technology, life, the universe

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• A comment on Talk: Lucy McRae: How can technology transform the human body?

  Apr 10 2012: Awesome, lady. Great vision.

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

  Jan 17 2012: Amen. I think he'll make some short-sighted enemies over the art/museum admonitions but over-all I'm totally for this.

• A comment on Talk: Cheryl Hayashi: The magnificence of spider silk

  Dec 8 2011: "prospecting [...] frees us from the constraints of our imagination" - wow, what a quote. :)

• A reply on Conversation: "Morality" is an abused term/concept. Can you suggest a solid definition?

  Nov 3 2011: :)
  "We do have both. Real morality and artificial morality,"
  I would say we have sound conclusions and fallacious conclusions, respectively.

• A reply on Conversation: "Morality" is an abused term/concept. Can you suggest a solid definition?

  Nov 3 2011: "Morality, like common sense, doesn't always seem to be logical, or in the best interest of the individual." - I'll explain my position a bit more: I've observed the opposite to be true. While moral decisions aren't always intuitively logical they are necessarily an attempt at logical soundness. They may be fallacious by chance, but the intent is always soundness, getting things right/accurate in the broadest possible sense, over unsoundness, getting things wrong/inaccurate.
  
  Even if you were religious and you expected some behaviors would please your god while others wouldn't, the moral thing to do in any case would be whatever seemed to logically conclude in the pleasure of your deity. Eat apple = bad, thefeore no-eat apple, kinda thing.
  
  This is to suggest that something like taking care of your first born child and protecting them is actually a more sound conclusion for a parent to act on than the opposite. Especially if the proof for that course of action comes in the form of internalized feelings. Similarly, you could examine the rationality (aka. "morality") of eating when "feeling" hungry. The feeling is real and in the absence of any better ideas, you act on it.. you eat.
  
  That morality might somehow be the superstitious version of rationality while technically no different is highly suspect.

• A reply on Conversation: "Morality" is an abused term/concept. Can you suggest a solid definition?

  Nov 3 2011: Morality and Rationality.. I don't think there's a difference at all. Both are informed and acted on subjectively based on context.

• A reply on Conversation: "Morality" is an abused term/concept. Can you suggest a solid definition?

  Nov 3 2011: "I think we need morality because we have limited resources and space on this planet and therefore we need to ensure that "
  
  to be clear, I think "morality" is in the "therefore."
  
  X is important "because" Y.. that is, certain behaviors are important because they seem to make the most sense in a particular context. Slamming on the breaks is important BECAUSE someone is on the road. Choosing a red tie instead of a blue one for a gift is important BECAUSE jim tends to like red instead of blue. Donating to a charity is important BECAUSE their cause is perceived to be in dire need.
  
  It always seems to work out that there's "Good Reason" behind moral behaviors.

• A reply on Conversation: "Morality" is an abused term/concept. Can you suggest a solid definition?

  Nov 3 2011: "Altruism is to stop believing you are those thoughts called ego." - Which is impossible. For example, I think chairs could be said to be appropriately altruistic but people who make chairs can't be.
  
  "How would you know if that's not an achievable "standard", technically speaking?" - It's impossible to be selfless unless you have no self. Everyone has a self, so selflessness is clearly impossible. That's the way I've seen things for years. Altruism is, it seems to me, an unattainable ideal.

• A reply on Conversation: "Morality" is an abused term/concept. Can you suggest a solid definition?

  Nov 2 2011: Mark Meijer, not sure what you're saying. It's not as though altruism is an achievable standard, technically speaking. I wouldn't ever neglect the role the ego plays in decision making. Without my ego being involved to at least a small extent, I don't think the behavior could be attributed to "me."

• A comment on Talk: Yang Lan: The generation that's remaking China

  Oct 13 2011: This talk has really inspired me to get to know my China better. Especially since it's the only one I've got.
  
  My first thoughts are that it sounds like China's system, which I admittedly know very little about, is more interested in evolving itself to satisfy the emotional needs of it's people than I thought. My second thought is that it seems their very different approach is drawing parallel conclusions to its sister system, the west.
  
  So far, I feel like the Chinese government acts more slowly but with more variety-overhead than all the other countries. They feel very bureaucratic to me. I wonder how my opinions will change over the next few years now that I've gotten this midlife introduction to the Chinese way to consider.