TED Community » MR T

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Life

An idea worth spreading

Theres an explanation to be found in everything.

Talk to me about

Anything and everything.

People don't know that I'm good at

Running down stairs.

My TED Story

Has just begun.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +2.10 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: Life's purpose is to serve humanity.

  Apr 27 2013: Thats probably not how our genes see it.

• A comment on Conversation: Do we have an opinion about everything? If not, should we?

  Apr 27 2013: I despise indifference, having opinions gets people talking and the discussions that follow can shape how you view the world.

• A reply on Conversation: Why can't you use the internet to call a landline through a laptop?

  Jul 13 2012: Ok I would have thought that it would be dramatically cheaper than phone to phone....is this the case?

• A reply on Conversation: "Free Will" or genetic illusion for promoting self-survival?

  Jul 13 2012: What are you talking about! I have not brought evidence, this is an experiment, which as of yet is un-tested, so there is no evidence... What data exactly would I be looking for when talking about my life insurance policy?
  
  Of course there will be other factors that might affect whether one bat donates to another, but these such as: existing family bonds can be removed by studying bats in a lab using random individuals introduced at the same time. I'm not here to write a full scientific paper but I did hope atleast that you may get the gist of what I'm trying to say, as it seems to me you have ignored the theory behind the experiment. And are pedantically exploiting those finer points that I haven't cared to mention at this stage in tthe discussion.
  
  Please go on and name me the other factors that I have missed....

• A reply on Conversation: "Free Will" or genetic illusion for promoting self-survival?

  Jul 12 2012: Well I can... Lets say you get a bunch of vampire bats which regurgitate blood to feed those that haven't fed at a cost to themselves, this is altruistic behaviour. You tag each bat and sequence their DNA for comparison, to see which ones are most closely related. You record which individuals are giving out the free meals to other individuals. You compare the frequency of the altruistic behaviours with the closeness of the bats individual genetic sequences. If there is a correllation eg. bats give more free meals to those closely related to themselves then you have support for Altruism and hence (I won't ellaborate here) free will.
  
  If an exception to this correlation (inverse relationship) can be found in nature then this could be used in support of the argument that free will exists. Turning the idea of 'selfish genes' on its head. Get it?
  
  It would be of interest to see precisley what levels of genetic similarity are translated to altruistic behaviours. From studying animal species in the wild, a model could be made to attempt to predict the occurence of this behaviour in humans.

• A reply on Conversation: "Free Will" or genetic illusion for promoting self-survival?

  Jul 12 2012: I should have read your comment before posting but as for an experiment, how about this one?
  
  Find out how far apparent altruistic behaviours can reach between increasingly genetically distant individuals, whether they are more or less frequent in closely related individuals.
  
  This would be best done in a species without family units

• A comment on Conversation: "Free Will" or genetic illusion for promoting self-survival?

  Jul 12 2012: An intersting experiment would be to find out how far apparent altruistic behaviours can reach between increasingly genetically distant species. I believe this may shed some light on an answer to your question.
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  A comment on Conversation: In the pursuit of happiness, what are the key bullet points to take with me on my adventure

  Jul 12 2012: A place is only as good as the people in it
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  A comment on Conversation: Should Synthetic Organisms be released to clean plastic pollution from the ocean?

  Jul 12 2012: A cost benefit analysis is required based on experiments done in large aquariums with current simulation. It is an absolute necessity to make sure these organisms have very little chance, through mutation, by the selective pressure of a lack of plastic, to adapt their biology to consume a different food source that may result in competition with other species.
  
  The problem with this is: Small organisms don't live long so removing their reproductive capability may result in faliure to remove plastic. Keeping a reproductive capability may remove more plastic but as small organisms have short generation times there is increased probability of evolutionary adaptation to a new food source. Perfecting a balanced organism that exists somewhere in the midst of this dichotomy will be very difficult indeed.

• A reply on Conversation: Is there such a thing as a bad person?

  Jul 10 2012: Interesting thoughts, but would you take them?....