TED Community » Kris Nordgren

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• A comment on Conversation: "WHY is the patient the most under-used resource in healthcare?? How did that happen?" (Follow-up to LIVE TED Conversation July 27)

  Jul 27 2011: I haven't had time to read all comments but I wonder if one of the reasons patients are under-utilized as a resource is because they are ILL? People who are in pain, fatigued, depressed, etc. are in no position to be empowered and informed. They may struggle to find the energy, concentration, and stamina needed to educate and diagnose themselves, not to mention stand up to a doctor and convince them to take note and pay attention. The worst kinds of rare, lingering, chronic and wasting diseases are difficult to diagnose and really take a lot out of the patient. It should be the doctor's job to investigate what is wrong, with caring, compassion and competence.

• A comment on Conversation: Grow new body parts. Is it possible?

  May 9 2011: Check out http://www.ted.com/search?q=anthony+atala
  and http://www.ted.com/search?q=susan+lim
  
  Anthony Atala and Susan Lim have TEDtalks about this very subject!

• A comment on Talk: Anthony Atala: Growing new organs

  Apr 16 2011: I wonder if this would work for pituitary glands, and other glands in the body? The current research seems to focus on kidneys and livers because that's what the majority of people on the waiting lists for donor organs are waiting for. Are pituitaries more complex than kidneys and livers, or similar?
  
  I imagined a cyborg solution to the problem of broken pituitaries, using nanotechnology. It seems the cell biology approach is the more likely candidate for success.
  http://whymothersneverdrinkhottea.blogspot.com/2011/04/regeneration-and-rejuvenation-science.html

• A comment on Talk: Susan Lim: Transplant cells, not organs

  Apr 16 2011: I wonder if this would work for pituitary glands, and other glands in the body? The current research seems to focus on kidneys and livers because that's what the majority of people on the waiting lists for donor organs are waiting for. Are pituitaries more complex than kidneys and livers, or similar?
  
  I imagined a cyborg solution to the problem of broken pituitaries, using nanotechnology. It seems the cell biology approach is the more likely candidate for success.
  http://whymothersneverdrinkhottea.blogspot.com/2011/04/regeneration-and-rejuvenation-science.html

• A comment on Conversation: I'd like to build a charter school around video, open source books, facilitators, projects. Cheaper, more collaborative than public school.

  Apr 9 2011: Check out Quest to Learn http://q2l.org/
  It's a public school in New York based on gaming principles.

• A comment on Conversation: Gaming is frowned upon at the high school level. How can we turn that gaming interest into a positive in the classroom at this level?

  Mar 17 2011: Check out anything by Jane McGonigal on this site, and read her book. She knows all about changing the world for the better through gaming.
  
  You don't necessarily have to use the games themselves, but use game-mechanics to make lessons more interesting. Set a clear goal, make up some rules, and have a feedback system. Probably not so much in secondary school, but in primary school they've done away with competition, grading and goals. Kids have no idea that what they're doing is important and just a step in gaining properly interesting knowledge. Once I told my kids there was such a thing as reading levels and that he was on the lowest one, he was a lot more motivated to level up!
  
  Otherwise, in the current Call of Duty there are things like CoD money and Wager matches. Could be interesting to learn about money, probabilities, investment/risk... Also, in World of Warcraft, there are plenty of opportunities to explore geography, trade/supply and demand/business, strategy, planning, group and team work etc.
  
  If you want to use games, you're going to have to play them to gain an understanding of how they work. Just pasting a pretend interest in gaming onto your lessons won't work, but it doesn't sound like that's what you meant. Well done.
  
  I've also spotted some common misconceptions in your question. Ask the girls in your class what games they play, because they are as likely to be gamers as the boys! Also, plenty if not most games are not violent at all. There are loads of non-violent games, they just get less publicity.

• A comment on Conversation: Our current world is the best there is - we don't need change

  Mar 6 2011: Interesting! What has struck me about 'change' and 'progress' is that we often fail to recognize when a change has already occurred. I'm thinking for example of certain feminist or anti-racist goals. It may well do to sit back and realize that the fight has been won. Continuing to fight often leads to change for the sake of it, or even causes the pendulum to swing too far and effect negative changes.
  
  I don't think a philosophy of doing nothing at all will become dominant, but bringing it up as a counterpoint may well serve to get people to slow down and carefully identify the elements of the world that need changing, and how much and how fast.

• A comment on Conversation: Western culture is wasteful. Is it fair to suggest that most people have to ask themselves what is worth more: luxuries or the future?

  Mar 6 2011: I refuse to see this question as a simple either-or. It is perfectly conceivable that we can maintain our current lifestyles with 'luxuries' like healthcare, education, comfortable homes, entertainment, varied diets, etc. by innovation and invention. Resources are limited only because humankind is still quite inefficient at acquiring and employing them to the fullest. I look forward to a future in which all people have the same luxuries we currently enjoy and more.

• A comment on Conversation: How do we instil morals in our community without a holier-than-thou approach? To create effective change, we need good people!

  Mar 6 2011: As moral values are neither absolute nor imperative, the only possible way to instill them in others is through what you term a 'holier-than-thou' approach. Morals can only be passed on by people (society, parents,...) through leading by example, judging others by the same standards, and attaching real negative consequences to amoral and immoral behaviour.

• A comment on Conversation: Web-based "Career Matchmaking 4 Kids" that helps 12-21 yr. olds get a running start in finding their personal mission & living their dreams.

  Feb 19 2011: Great idea... When I started university I majored in Art History and Philosophy and I can honestly say, I didn't actually realise that I would later actually have to work in that field. I really wasn't thinking that far ahead, which, in hindsight, I wish someone had helped me realise.
  I now regret not having studied languages, communication, media... something like that. It's what I work with now, and I've had to build up my skills and knowledge from scratch instead, setting me back compared to others.