TED Community » Mark Trent

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Life Sciences (medical, dental, veterinary)
Protection of Animals and Wildlife
Protection and proper use of our Environment.
Spreading information & knowledge through Technology

An idea worth spreading

I am passionately excited over the potentials I see in the environmental sciences.

We have tremendous technological capabilities growing each day to better research and monitor our environment, wildlife and ecosystem. Much of these technologies have not been tapped into to protect and exploit our worlds environment in a POSITIVE and PRODUCTIVE way.

There are energy and resources in abundance that we have simply been unable to use due to lack of creativity and technology. These resources can easily meet our world needs while easily protecting our environment as well.

In short, we can keep our world green, safe and clean yet grow. Technology is the answer. We are working very hard to find it.

Talk to me about

Environmental & wildlife monitoring. Ecosystem Energy Extraction.

I am also highly interested in information dissemination through advanced educational technology.

People don't know that I'm good at

I care deeply about animals and wildlife. I am a strong supporter of anti-vivisection type research. Using animals in research is as antiquated and barbaric as using leaches to heal humans.

My TED Story

I discovered TED several years ago from the success coach Anthony Robbins. He is a major influence in my life from family to career.

I was absolutely entranced by the TED vision simply due to its concept of sharing complex and varying ideas with others. Both my wife and I live for life long learning and enrichment. It is critical to my psychological well being. I strongly believe we are meant to learn all our lives. The moment we stop this we are destined to end.

I have made TED a fundamental part of my educational and advancement mindset. I try my best to encourage all those I interact with to do the same.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +10.30 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: Do you appreciate loyalty. What does it mean for you?

  Apr 24 2012: Great question Pocahontas! Actually an incredible one because it really made me think about the driving forces behind the concept itself.
  
  First, naturally, I would say I appreciate loyalty especially when it comes to subjects or concepts that matter to me. A person who demonstrates loyalty to various situations, people, places, things, etc. always commands my respect. IT seems to me to be somewhat linked to a defined set of morals.
  
  The converse is what really confuses me. In other words, why would a given individual demonstrate loyalty to a subject that would naturally discourage loyalty? Example: the concept of loyalty to an individual who all common sense and logic would show that the individual should not command any level of loyalty. This confuses me greatly. The case would be such as having loyalty to a criminal friend when you are a criminal yourself? Why?!
  
  My best guess at an explanation for this come down to the six human needs as Tony Robbins have define them. The concept of loyalty is likely driven by some amount of meeting the majority of the six human needs. By this I would mean that the loyalty creates a self generated sense of significance, stability, excitement, etc.
  
  Does this make any sense?
  
  Best Regards,
  
  Mark Trent
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Regenerating human teeth?

  Apr 24 2012: Hi Don,
  
  My wife is a Dentist and researcher so I spend quite a bit of time talking about teeth...whether I like to or not. I believe the answer to your question is partially due to the design of human teeth vs. other species teeth. Depending upon the species use of the teeth drives the way the teeth have evolved or were designed (depending upon your religious positions). In short, some species such as rabbits must have regenerating teeth simply due to their use. They are used for processing very highly abrasive compounds vs. what a human might eat. So, if they did not regenerate, the rabbit would need dentures in a few months. Conversely, humans simply cannot process the compounds that a rabbit can so the teeth were destined to be a somewhat singular attribute that grows to a fixed state and is consistent for the remainder of the human life (depending upon care and maint.)
  
  Your question spawns an interesting thought though...could we through genetic manipulation cause teeth to regrow. I believe the answer to that is yes. But, it would take serious genetic manipulation to pull it off. This could also be dangerous simply because some of the genes that drive teeth growth also impact skeletal growth. So trying to manipulate tooth regrowth could possibly trigger dangerous other growths we would not want.
  
  An interesting concept to contemplate for a bio-geneticist.
  
  Very Best Regards,
  
  Mark Trent
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: What's one lesson you find super compelling?

  Apr 23 2012: My compliments Jordan - what an incredible question!
  
  My answer to that would be taken from my experience with the success coach Anthony Robbins. What I learned from Tony's programs and technology can all be summed up in the concept of "understanding yourself FIRST in life." Translated, that means to me that you must spend time in your life learning what makes you do the things you do and what you really like and dislike. So many of us never spend any of their life learning to interpret our own mindset and abilities/limitations. For so many, they spend their entire life doing what they thought they liked to do and only at the end, reflect back and realize they wasted everything.
  
  When I did this about 15 years ago, I changed my entire life. I stopped living my life in a cubicle as a number cruncher and broke out to later become a business owner in charge of my destiny. It has made me much more happy and wealthier. I has allowed me to achieve so much!
  
  With that said, I wish our educational system would make self analysis and the process of "learning about ourselves" a fundamental part of our formal education. If we did this, imagine how many scientists might become artists, artists might become scientists, dreamers might become business leaders and so on and so on! I honestly believe it would make the world a much better place for all.