Jul 4 2012: This sentiment of non-contradiction is very narrow minded. If you are trying to maintain that we, as fallible and complicated, can exist in some state that lacks contradiction then you are simply wrong. For instance, if you consider yourself a logical individual, by implying that acceptance of personal contradiction leads to societal stagnation, you have committed both a false causation fallacy and a slippery slope fallacy. I appreciate evidence for a claim rather than conjecture and declaration.
And as a person who considers themselves a contemplative and rigorously consistent person, I still find myself in constant contradiction. The former dictates ensure that. Every time I think I've worked the world out, I find ideas that clash and am left with another conundrum with which to wrestle. As an example, in my studies I have to think of the world as deterministic but still live my life as if I have complete independent volition. A contradiction for sure, but one that I do not have the presumption or evidence to currently deal with. Does it stop me from thinking about it and doing research on that particular problem? Absolutely not.
Contradiction #2 - Aren't 'feelings' directly related to what becoming a 'better person' is? But ethics gets intrinsically messy so I'll leave it at that.
Jul 4 2012: I need to quit skipping over these teen teds because they tend to be absolutely wonderful. Loved the talk because it was far more lucid and poignant than most of the college professors I've heard on the topic of feminism. Heartfelt, funny, and honest make any talk a good one.
Feb 14 2012: Bravo to this guy. Chase your dream. But I can't help but interject all the comments are way too positive or way too negative (a lot of negativity for some reason).
I worked with a deaf guy. The difference between me and everybody else we worked with was I bothered to learn the alphabet and then got tired of spelling things like apple out every time I wanted to say apple. This progressed pretty naturally until the unthinkable happened.
We we're in a restaurant. I was honing my skills in sign and told him that he had made the waitress uncomfortable because, while he ignored her, I had to explain that he was deaf. She didn't know what to do, she told me to get his attention, I said he's still deciding and she walked away unnerved.
I signed that the waitress hadn't known that he was deaf, and he cracked up. Nothing was funnier to him than making people uncomfortable. Especially, when he talked and it threw people for a loop since he talked really funny. I made fun of him a little bit for the slurring the s sounds and things like that.
He pointed at the fingers on my left hand that I had had reattached after a table saw accident and signed, 'you sound a lot dumber than me with your stupid lisp.' And we laughed.
There isn't anything here about ability, its all about perspective. And legislation in this case.
So knock 'em dead, all you people that are told you have a disability. Because its not real. Its simply made up by people that think they are complete masters of the universe and that you are somehow deficient.
Jan 28 2012: Okay, so I guess my response would be to wonder how to get people to trust the drugs before they embrace chakras and the like. Planes crash of course. But how do you get people that drive the much less safe automobile to approach the flying situation rationally? Statistically safer, irrationally much scarier. Think MMR vaccine.
Jan 28 2012: I agree with this wholeheartedly and think that one solution might be to generate awareness of the difficulty and complexity of making such a device (see making my own toaster, great talk). I have worked as a machinist and woodworker, as well as butchering my own animals (with regards to your processing point), and feel that I do have a lot more perspective as far as the need for instant gratification simply because of my experiences. On the down side, I have no idea how to use anyone's I phone. Hell, I don't even text.
Point though, colleges require PE and things like that. Why not make shop a requirement or something in that sort of vein that makes you proud your capable of actually making something useful, not just buying it from a factory. Or even just promote some sort of make your own stuff movement. Just a thought.
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A reply on Talk: Tavi Gevinson: A teen just trying to figure it out
And as a person who considers themselves a contemplative and rigorously consistent person, I still find myself in constant contradiction. The former dictates ensure that. Every time I think I've worked the world out, I find ideas that clash and am left with another conundrum with which to wrestle. As an example, in my studies I have to think of the world as deterministic but still live my life as if I have complete independent volition. A contradiction for sure, but one that I do not have the presumption or evidence to currently deal with. Does it stop me from thinking about it and doing research on that particular problem? Absolutely not.
Contradiction #2 - Aren't 'feelings' directly related to what becoming a 'better person' is? But ethics gets intrinsically messy so I'll leave it at that.
A comment on Talk: Tavi Gevinson: A teen just trying to figure it out
A comment on Talk: Frans de Waal: Moral behavior in animals
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A comment on Talk: Keith Nolan: Deaf in the military
I worked with a deaf guy. The difference between me and everybody else we worked with was I bothered to learn the alphabet and then got tired of spelling things like apple out every time I wanted to say apple. This progressed pretty naturally until the unthinkable happened.
We we're in a restaurant. I was honing my skills in sign and told him that he had made the waitress uncomfortable because, while he ignored her, I had to explain that he was deaf. She didn't know what to do, she told me to get his attention, I said he's still deciding and she walked away unnerved.
I signed that the waitress hadn't known that he was deaf, and he cracked up. Nothing was funnier to him than making people uncomfortable. Especially, when he talked and it threw people for a loop since he talked really funny. I made fun of him a little bit for the slurring the s sounds and things like that.
He pointed at the fingers on my left hand that I had had reattached after a table saw accident and signed, 'you sound a lot dumber than me with your stupid lisp.' And we laughed.
There isn't anything here about ability, its all about perspective. And legislation in this case.
So knock 'em dead, all you people that are told you have a disability. Because its not real. Its simply made up by people that think they are complete masters of the universe and that you are somehow deficient.
A reply on Conversation: Do unfairly marketed placebos, such as homeopathic remedies, lead to a distrust in actual medicine?
A reply on Conversation: Do unfairly marketed placebos, such as homeopathic remedies, lead to a distrust in actual medicine?
A reply on Conversation: The Culture of Want; the Now generation
Point though, colleges require PE and things like that. Why not make shop a requirement or something in that sort of vein that makes you proud your capable of actually making something useful, not just buying it from a factory. Or even just promote some sort of make your own stuff movement. Just a thought.
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A comment on Talk: Bobby McFerrin plays... the audience!