TED Community » Brogan Bouwhuis

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• A comment on Conversation: ADHD, Friendships, Social Skills and Medication Am I wrong to not wanting to medicate my son ?

  Apr 14 2011: Almost 15% of the children in America's public schooling system are on some sort of medication for ADD or ADHD. I find it hard to believe that this is because over six million children in the United States have this disorder. Medication seems to be a first resort for any sort of mental or social incongruity. Psychostimulants, or sit-down-and-shut-up pills as I call them, have a horrible impact on a child's creative output. I've experienced a similar thing with my experience with childhood onset Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. My case is a rather mild one, and by the time I hit high school I had worked out the quirks in my mind to the point that it didn't affect me socially. I would hallucinate music, and it was looking like I would have an enjoyable career as a composer. It was at that point that it was decided I should probably be put on medication. I was on three different medications, two of which almost killed me. My skill as a musician was also killed, and even though I have been off of any sort of medication for six months I still can't write music like I could. I started on medication when I was 18. Imagine how medication would affect your song if you started him at this young of an age. I have immense respect for you as a parent for taking the time to find out what is best for your son. My personal advice is to be patient and realize that one day your son is going to do something wonderful that no one else can even imagine.
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  A comment on Talk: Sebastian Thrun: Google's driverless car

  Mar 31 2011: I for one welcome our new robot overlords.

• A reply on Talk: Bobby McFerrin plays... the audience!

  Mar 31 2011: Music is a lot more about logic than people realize, but I still think you're failing to take into account that these people don't have musical training. These scales may be hardwired into us, but it's instinctual. There have been studies done on secluded nomadic tribes in Africa and Asia that have had no exposure to Western culture. These people have a completely different system of music and completely different scales than we use, yet every single time they can still identify the emotion of the peace. Music isn't just the shadow of language, it is the universal language.
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  A comment on Talk: Bobby McFerrin plays... the audience!

  Jan 25 2011: Music is emotion in purest form. Everyone at one point has felt extreme happiness, just as everyone at one point has felt extreme sadness. Music reminds us of the joy and sorrow we have experienced. The reason it is so universal is it shows us that others have felt the exact things we have felt. It shows us not only that are we not completely alone, but that we have a family of almost seven billion people that understands us.

• A comment on Talk: Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigms

  Jan 25 2011: The problematic thing with education is that left-brained analytical thinking is easier to teach in a group setting. This results in a system where only analytical thinking is taught, when in reality it is a combination of analytical and creative thinking that is needed to succeed. Creativity can be taught, but it requires more of an individual approach. Teachers must take the time with each student individually to learn about their personal history, methods of expression, and personal way of learning. The public schooling system that exists today is far to congested for such teaching to take place. We need more teachers with smaller class sizes, not cramped classrooms with so many students that some students have to sit on the floor or are forced to leave due to fire code.
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  A comment on Talk: Tony Porter: A call to men

  Jan 19 2011: Those of you saying that the man box must be okay because women are attracted to it: women are only attracted to men of such nature because that's what society today has taught them. When you grow up seeing your father being emotionally and physically abusive to your mother you're going to think that is what a man is. When at a young age you see your friends sexually assaulted you're going to think that is what men do. If you watch five minutes or more of public television you're going to start to think of yourself as only a sex object. It is true that many women are attracted to men (I use the term loosely) that treat them like dirt, but that isn't natural or acceptable in any way, shape, or form. Breaking free of the man box doesn't necessarily mean shedding masculinity. Treating your spouse as an equal doesn't mean you can't hold a job or go whitewater rafting, it just means you respect them and don't do anything to make them feel physically, emotionally, or mentally inferior.
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  A comment on Talk: Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight

  Jan 18 2011: As a schizophrenic, I disagree with her statement that those with psychotic disorders can't achieve their dreams. As a schizophrenic and human being, I need to say that everyone using Taylor's presentation to promote LSD and other similar drugs is being a tad ridiculous. Any substance that leaves one half of your brain inoperable (psychedelic drugs shutting down the left hemisphere, anti-psychotics shutting down the right hemisphere) is going to hinder your ability to act. Society today has hindered the use of the right brain through the way we raise children, and it has had a negative impact on our culture, but using the right hemisphere of the brain more than the left will have just as bad of an effect. Both portions of the brain are equally important, and if one gains control of the other a sort of mental anarchy will ensue.