TED Community » Sander de Koning

More About Me

I'm passionate about

The body, the brain, the mind, the self, other minds and selves, disadvantages (e.g. disease and disorder) and advantages (e.g. evolution and training) and how all of it is connected.

People don't know that I'm good at

visualizing and using visualization to understand 'how things work' and 'how things could work.' Putting that vision into words for others to understand is something I'm still working on.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.80 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Conversation: Is feminism right or wrong?

  Jun 20 2012: That might be because a wife taking up a job is seen by some as a wife taking up a hobby because she's bored around the house. So if the wife has been at her hobby all day, and he's been working for the income she better does something in the house too. A masculinity thing where a bloke wants to be the main provider to feel manly I guess.
  
  Ofcourse if your partner has a fulltime job and you stay home, it's not wrong to do the chores. But though it worked for generations, I don't think it's the best solution. Goes for men and women.
  Bringing up the children should be done together in whatever scenario, since that's the best for the kids I think.
  
  Some people take chores too far though, I've lived with a landlord that cleaned his house every single day, bordering the obsessive. You'd think it's a showroom if you didn't know better. Many people could do with a little dust on the shelves if it gives them a lot of time on their hands.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: what is the unknown things about brain that science hadn't found reasons for them till now?

  Jun 20 2012: Déjà vu is pretty weird to me, I've heard of some of the theories involving that kind of brain lag or a memory of something similar but vague enough to be changed into the same event you're experiencing now. But my own experience with déjà vu sometimes involves a short time of knowing what's going to happen next. Could be lucky guessing, but it feels a bit "what the fuck is going on" when it happens.

• A reply on Conversation: Is feminism right or wrong?

  Jun 20 2012: Yes, that's what I was talking about. No offence though.

• A reply on Conversation: Is feminism right or wrong?

  Jun 20 2012: "have to clean this dirty floor."
  
  Was that pun intended? If I would be drinking milk, it would be all over my screen now.

• A comment on Conversation: GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP REQUESTS TO GOOGLE CALLED "ALARMING"

  Jun 19 2012: I'm interested in what the subject of the requests were and what subjects were approved.
  
  I could understand if something like childporn got a censorship request and approval, though just censorship from google doesn't solve that problem. But where do you draw the line?

• A comment on Conversation: Running an engine by using water.

  Jun 18 2012: I think the biggest problem here is that both reactions aren't 100% efficient. Energy is lost as heat at the electrolysis stage and again when it is combusted to move the engine. Compressing the gas also requires energy, further reducing the energy conversion efficiency.
  
  This means there has to be an external energy source in the system, maybe solar energy or something. But even then the hydrogen would be used up faster then the water can be cracked.
  
  But I'm no expert though.

• A reply on Conversation: Tomorrows technology, all smoke and mirrors.

  Jun 18 2012: I'm not stating that the discussion is about huge technological artifacts, I'm just saying 'old' technology is more complex then people think. Creating something is more then just putting the materials together.
  
  Building a structure out of mortar and stone you'll need to know where and how to support the roof and walls. A seaworthy boat doesn't only have to float and not leak, it also has to withstand a rough sea. Back then there weren't any engines, so you'll need to create an efficient sail too.
  
  Next to the in depth knowledge to build these things you'll need tools to shape the materials and connect them in a secure way.
  
  After a disaster happens there won't be stacks of readily made parts and tools with an in depth blueprint and a crew of able bodied workmen at conveniently placed locations.
  
  Using household materials to make some inefficient watermill is not retaining the current technology. The technology we have now is already over the point you're talking about.
  
  Anyway, that's the risk of high technology. The higher it is, the more difficult it is to make.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: How should birthday be calculated

  Jun 14 2012: The nakshatra system is probably more acurate, I never really looked into it, but for me it doesn't have a practical advantage to use one over the other for determining my birthday.

• A comment on Conversation: How should birthday be calculated

  Jun 12 2012: Didn't we already correct for that with the leap year?
  I think it doesn't really matter that much if it's a bit off, it's just an indication of how long a person has been around.

• A reply on Conversation: Tomorrows technology, all smoke and mirrors.

  Jun 12 2012: 30 years ago we had had people in space.
  
  I don't think you have the knowledge to recreate a cathedral, or a seaworthy boat, nor do I. A cathedral is a great feat of architecture, not a collection of mortar and stone that you simply put together, even when given the blueprints. A seaworthy boat, able to withstand the elements is more complex then you think.
  Even a lens would be quite a challenge. First try making glass clear enough to function as one. Maybe you can get really pure crystals, but then you'll still have to cut and polish it very precisely if you want it to work.
  
  If we go even further back, there's piramids and other great achievements that go above the common knowledge of the citizens, and not something you figure out by simply thinking hard on it.