TED Community » Ohad Shaham

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• +1

  A comment on Talk: Jae Rhim Lee: My mushroom burial suit

  Oct 14 2011: This is a great idea on a philosophical and artistic levels. I really enjoyed her way of thinking and would probably agree to be eaten by mushrooms even only for the fun of it.
  
  The environmental assumptions are a bit weird though. Pisphenol-A, and all organic contaminants should be burned (turned to water and CO2) in the cremation process. Heck, in that temperature nothing but base minerals will remain. True, some of these will be trace elements of lead and mercury, but the mushroom solution won't help in that department. metals don't go away by mushroom digestion, in fact it is the sure way of making the metals go straight back to the drinking water. At least in a coffin it will take the metals years to get out...
  
  What will be cool though is to get rid of cemeteries. Graves are beginning to take more and more precious real estate. Whole tombstone cities around the world are being built instead of parks and fields. As there are more and more people, this is beginning to be a real problem. If we drop our dead in a big mushroomy novo-primordial soup, we can sure save some room for trees.

• A reply on Talk: Lauren Zalaznick: The conscience of television

  Sep 17 2011: i think this is just what some researchers do when they try to adapt to new audiences. Maybe she is used to appear in front of all-american crowds so she basically says "wow, there are people here from all over the world? well I will talk about how these concepts are international". Same as: "oh this is tedWOMEN? ok here is an unrelated slide with women from television".
  I must say this is something that I have done too when invited to talk in a conference that does not exactly fit my research theme... Then again, I am not pretending to be TED-worthy.

• A reply on Talk: Lauren Zalaznick: The conscience of television

  Sep 17 2011: I don't know how old you are, but you might remember when the (first) superman movies came out, there were stories of kids jumping out of balconies thinking they can fly. Some people blamed the movies for being irresponsible in allowing a flying man to be a role model. Also in the 80's the Dungeons and Dragons pen and paper role playing game was accused of encouraging satanism in teens.
  Mentally healthy adults can understand the difference between reality and fantasy. Fantasy is an important part of life, be it in books or (wonderful entertaining) tv shows like True Blood.
  If you want TV shows that are *really* morally problematic, you will find them in pseudo-documentaries and reality TV.
  
  BTW- vampire pop culture has been around since the 19th century. There have been relatively few vampire attacks since lord Byron...

• A reply on Talk: Kate Hartman: The art of wearable communication

  Sep 14 2011: I didn't like it either, but I thought it IS supposed to be ART and not design. I know a few (post) modern artists who do such things, explore "what it is to be a wall" or "talk to glaciers" and they have their place... just not sure this is it.
  If she was serious about the DESIGN aspect of her gizmos, than I think she did not do a very god job at it... good design is something people may actually use.
  In any case, there are much better examples of new 'interaction' initiatives, like the flash-mob dancers, free-hug distributes and other neat stuff on the internet.
• +2

  A reply on Talk: Svante Pääbo: DNA clues to our inner neanderthal

  Aug 30 2011: Sure.
  The lecturer didn't say all humans (species of the genus human, Homo sp.) originated in Africa (though it probably is the case as well). Modern humans (Homo sapiens) were "born" in Africa and some of them migrated out to take over the territory of the other species. The Neanderthals and Denisovans had already diverged from a common ancestor (I am guessing Homo erectus, but you should probably read up on this).
  So basically: Homo Erectus in the old world split into 3 species (modern humans in africa, the other two in eurasia) very long ago, and only recently modern humans=Homo sapiens came out of Africa, displacing most of the other two, but mating with a small minority of each.
• +3

  A comment on Talk: Maajid Nawaz: A global culture to fight extremism

  Jul 27 2011: Wow.
  A truly inspiring talk.
  I am so happy that we have Mr. Nawaz on the side of the "good guys" and helping us define just what does it mean to be on that side, regardless of political affiliation.
  It is frightening to realize that such a gifted orator was once an Islamic extremist. The power of such talks over young (and not so young) minds helps me realize how radical ideologies are being spread in places such as Cambridge university and other places we think of as bastions of democratic (dare I say "western"?) culture.
  In any case, thank you for formulating what many of us feel in such a powerful way.
• +2

  A comment on Talk: Rebecca MacKinnon: Let's take back the Internet!

  Jul 13 2011: Just a quick correction: the Israeli government did not ask Facebook to take off the "new uprising" (intifada) page. It was an online petition of civilians, who demanded Facebook to take it down, claiming the page encouraged violence.
  I am trying not to give my opinion here, but it does seem to help the speaker's narrative changing the facts just a bit- "the Israeli government" sounds a lot more 1984ish or "bad guys" than "a group of concerned facebook users".
• +2

  A reply on Talk: Danny Hillis: Understanding cancer through proteomics

  Mar 1 2011: Wow, you have a very dark look on things...
  I don't know much about the american economy, but in places where governments are a bit more social, every sick individual COSTS money to the state (and to his loved ones, which could use the money for better things) and is not a source of profit.
  But if you want a completely cynical analyis:
  Less sick people- more working people- more cash moving around- the capitalistic system profits...
  As to the companies that cell drugs, they will make more money on drugs that actually work than on drugs that sorta kinda works.
  In other words, even the evil corporations don't want you to be sick.
  I wish you good health though, just in case.
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Danny Hillis: Understanding cancer through proteomics

  Mar 1 2011: I am sorry, but you are absolutely wrong about that. Mouse proteins are VERY similar to human proteins. I can't even begin to tell you how wrong your statement "it hasn't helped with any other condition" is.
  You can't do scientific experiments on humans. The clinical ones that you DO make, are the end result and "fine tuning". All of the science which leads to understanding of human disease (and much more that does not) comes from animals, on which you can make experiments. What the proteomics "screen" of humans will allow us is to find correlations, not mechanisms or facts, which will require a scientific proof in, yes, the most appropriate animal model which is the mouse.
  I understand people who object to experiments on animals. But that is a purely moral issue, that you can deal with if you like. I would ask you not to use proclamations such as "animal experiments don't lead to anything" because this is a factual lie, not a moral argument.

• A reply on Talk: Elizabeth Lesser: Take "the Other" to lunch

  Jan 14 2011: Sorry, I misused the term "public gathering". I meant something like "people talking around the office". I totally agree with you that this subject IS important and of course it has a place in TED, but I just thought this particular talk was simplistic and a bit condescending.