TED Community » Jonas Hjalmar Blom

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• +1

  A reply on Talk: Juan Enriquez: The next species of human

  Jan 4 2013: I somewhat agree with you, that the Utopia would be an all-equal beginning, where race, classor socio-economic status would not matter, and of couse not your genetic setup either. Truth is, though, that it does and therefore I see no other alternative than to "go with the flow"...
  
  One of the mere thoughts of evolution is that some species will be weaker than others. And if it is like Enriquez proposes, that the speciation occurs, Homo Sapiens and HomomEvolutis will follow the natural selection.
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index

  Dec 15 2012: The stunning thing is the simplicity of the five things everyone can do on the individual level. All it takes is a bit of habit formation and courage. Thankfulness, the act of giving and the joy of learning, is possible every day for everyone.
  
  I also hope that more people will see this talk, including leaders and people in power positions. I also recommend the TED Book by Nic Marks, in which he deepens the stor further.

• A reply on Talk: Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom

  Aug 15 2012: I find that rules, in many ways, stimulates creativity and wisdom, since you need creativity and wisdom to reach your goals and to overcome the obstacles that the rules might form.
  
  But, when rules are being made just to make sure that people follow rules, I draw parallels to medicine. It is the same phenomena as taking one pill to overcome the side effect of another pill, which might be to cure the side effect of another medicine as well.
  
  All these rules just add up to a never-ending bunch of rules, which inhibit the creativity and wisdom.

• A comment on Talk: Nathalie Miebach: Art made of storms

  Jul 1 2012: This talk gives me the thought that everything we see is a bit context-dependent. Certain things can be viewed in a concert hall and be seen as music, in a gallery it is seen as art, in a museum it is seen as a weather sculpture. It is a challenge to see, and search for, a range of different meanings in the same context.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: What can we do and what do we do about bullying?

  Jul 1 2012: I see some important human principles mentioned in the description, as well as what is said afterwards. I take the point-of-view that these behaviors we see in games can, in some way, be generalized to everyday life.
  
  My first approach is on the significance of rewards and punishment, and the time-aspect of this. In the game, the rewards for a certain behavior are immediate and easy to understand. You get points for killing, and since you value the points, you will kill if you have the opportunity. in real life, our rewards are a bit more abstract than points on the screen, but take for example social feedback from peers while bullying, which is immediate reward for the person who makes the bullying. As long as the reward is immediate, and possible losses (punishment from others such as parents or teachers or bosses) in the future, people are more likely to behave in a way that gives you the immediate reward.
  
  In this matter, the games are really good metaphors for our everyday life. Basic human (and other species) behavior becomes clarified and we can gain knowledge from this.
  
  I have one example of a school in Sweden that has taken this knowledge and implemented it into their school environment. From the first grade, the most important thing to teach the pupils is that certain behavior is acceptable, and certain behavior is unacceptable. It is not acceptable to bully someone, it is not acceptable to ostracize someone. The teachers in classes and on school-yard is really zealous in reminding this, both in rewards (encouraging acceptable behavior) and punishment (making clear that some behavior is unacceptable. It demands a close attendance by the teachers. If they see that someone is being ostracized or bullied on the school-yard, they are immediately there and makes clear that it is not acceptable behavior. And, if someone is behaving in a good way, they encourage it.
  
  The important point is to focus on the behavior instead of person.

• A reply on Talk: Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover

  Jul 1 2012: I agree, and I encourage your opinion that there are certain mathematical skills that are more important than others, such as the ability to be independent thinkers. The important point here is, for enhancing motivation among the students, to create problems and solutions together. Looking back at my own math education, I remember books with countless problems served to me (often with the key at the end of the book). It is a better way to enhance motivation and curiosity to climb down the ladder of abstraction and to create together.

• A reply on Talk: Gever Tulley: Life lessons through tinkering

  Jul 1 2012: Indian children gives away their childhood for the sake of earning. American kids in Tinkering School earns their childhood by learning...

• A reply on Conversation: When adults PLAY greatness is born...

  Jul 1 2012: I'm trying to approach this topic from both an anthropological and psychological view. And I come to the conclusion, like many of us who have seen Tim Brown's speech among others, that playfulness is essential to humans. In all times, we have playing, and in all times, we have gained benefits from it.
  
  Tim Brown mentions that to be able to play, we need to feel trust. And I think that it goes in the opposite direction as well, to be able to trust, we need to play. We need to remind ourselves that us and the world is important in many aspects, and irrelevant in others.

• A comment on Conversation: the economy of happiness

  Jul 1 2012: Thank you Sina. That story about the surgeon is very on-the-point of what I'm talking about.
  
  Let us keep trying to convince people that there are other dopamine-raising activities than watching sitcoms and eating junk food, and do it in a language that speaks to them. Which is really a challenge.
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  A comment on Talk: Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom

  Jun 23 2012: This talk reminds me of something I saw just a couple of days ago in my home town in Sweden. A playground, where kids was playing, right next to a small grove. Some of the kids wanted to play in the grove but their teachers told them to stay on the playground.
  
  It reminded me that a simple sign with an imposition, made the teachers see the real playground as something un-playable. For what is a grove, if not a playground?