TED Community » Max Wedding

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Human rights and dignity, most of all. I love exploring why we think the things we think and do the things we do.

Talk to me about

The Gay Rights movement. The US/Mexico border. The food system. A good short story.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.60 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: Facial Beauty is unique to Humans and supports the accelerated proliferation of Intellectual traits.

  Jun 8 2011: So, do you think that animals choose mates on pheromones alone? That they have absolutely no discriminatory actions on the basis of aesthetics specific to that species? It's an intriguing idea, but I'm not sure it holds up considering the intricate mating rituals of plenty of animals.
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  A comment on Conversation: what happens after death?

  Jun 8 2011: Is there even a method in existence of observing this? Because if you're looking for scientific fact without the correct instruments to log quantifiable results, you're only going to be getting opinions back at you.

• A comment on Conversation: What is important in life? Is it okay to live only for the benefit of oneself and ones nearest and dearest?

  Jun 8 2011: Considering that that sounds like the basis of capitalism ("I'm gonna look out for me and my friends, screw the others"), which is basically what's threatening society right now, I'mma say it's about time to move past that.

• A reply on Conversation: Is true gender-neutrality/genderlessness possible?

  Jun 8 2011: I don't really agree with you that the evolutional histories and hormonal balances make the foundation our gender identities. Sex identities, sure, but not gender -- I think that a concept that's been pretty much fabricated by humans throughout history. Whether or not we can make it past the women-give-birth-and-men-don't point is something I always tend to rub up against, though. Like, can we have different biological functions but neutral societal spaces within those differences? And what of transfolk or anyone else who aren't within the M/F binary?

• A reply on Conversation: Is true gender-neutrality/genderlessness possible?

  Jun 8 2011: I'm totally with you on the gender-indifference, and I do think we're on the right track. Rocks my world whenever I genderfuck and somebody couldn't care less. But we're nowhere near where we need to be. The fact that feminism is still an f-word is testament to that. I guess I'm just wondering what society would look like if the concept of gender had never been invented, or if it were uninvented somewhere. Not that I think either is necessarily possible, but it's an interesting question for me.

• A reply on Conversation: Is true gender-neutrality/genderlessness possible?

  Jun 8 2011: Hi Debra!
  
  That's a really interesting story. How did you come across it? I'd love to read more about the parents and what reactions they/the kid have received. Thanks!

• A reply on Conversation: How do you see the future of literature? Do yo think that shorter forms such as poetry and microstories will gain more weight?

  Mar 17 2011: I disagree -- many short stories give the reader ample opportunity to fall in love and sympathize with the characters involved, if done correctly. I end up loving Anders by the end of "Bullet in the Brain", and if it were any longer than it is, it would do something drastically different than it does. Not any better or worse, just different. And if poetry doesn't give writers a chance to "play around", I don't know what does. A lot of contemporary poetry works hard to subvert the traditional concept of sentence structure, and once you deconstruct a thought down to its essentials as poetry tends to do, you can build it back up however you want without the constraints of typical subject>predicate>direct object sentence. Not saying that novels can't do this, but novels have to sustain an engaging voice for a far longer period of time, and the brevity of voice that short forms allow for readers to engage a type of voice, many novels would fail at attempting.

• A reply on Conversation: Why do so many think that population growth is an important issue for the environment? Don't they know the facts of demographics?

  Feb 19 2011: Hans, I'd love to hear the Bangladeshi Minister of Environment's speech -- is it online somewhere that you're aware of?

• A reply on Conversation: The failure of multiculturalism. The genius of multiculturalism. Which one is it? And how do we ensure multicultural societies thrive?

  Feb 18 2011: So, do you believe we have absolutely nothing to learn from peoples that we deem "uncivilized"?
  
  Also, I'm confused by the syntax of "but by virtue of numbers they will most likely destroy the civilized environment." Are you saying that New York City'c "civilized environment" would be destroyed by this hypothetical tribe?

• A comment on Conversation: With the internet leveling the information advantage gap, will universities play such a pivotal role in higher education in the future?

  Feb 18 2011: Goddamnit. My apologies for the 80 billion comments. I never know when my replies are actually posting.
  
  (n00b with campus internet.)