TED Community » MR T

About Me

Location:
United Kingdom, Bristol
Gender:
Male


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: Truths and Facts. Does Science prove anything?

    25 minutes ago: "I think science has revealed uncertainty at a more fundamental level - where things are uncertain even if there is infinite precision of observation"

    On what scale? ours? If science can reveal something that profound then surely its not so limited after all...

    "I mean it can be pretty useful to believe that there is a supernatural God who is looking after our actions - useful because that can help to maintain a moral order"

    I totally agree, in essence this is very similar to my previous statement... 'In my opinion the only big limit of the scientific process is that it cant tell you what questions you should be asking in the first place' ...science is a process of finding the answer to a question, it doesnt presume to say you should do this or that with it or ask this question.
  • A reply on Conversation: Truths and Facts. Does Science prove anything?

    50 minutes ago: Its my belief that its not possible to have absolute knowledge about anything at any time, science of course is no different. The essence of that is that we are fundamentally human and limited in our capabilities.

    Say you have an experiment and the result of which has a 99.99% certainty. You can say what you have found is likely to be fact, this is useful as now you can use it to make decisions. Whether it is absolute truth or not is irrelevant, if you know something has 99.99% certainty of being correct then it is pretty useful.

    In my opinion the only big limit of the scientific process is that it cant tell you what questions you should be asking in the first place.

    Lastly who is saying the results of science are absolute anyway?
  • A reply on Conversation: Truths and Facts. Does Science prove anything?

    1 hour ago: The origin of the word science is quite irrelevant, the meaning of words can change over time, this discussion is about what science is now.

    Spot on! science is the main process used for advancing technology. Its more of a general statement I made using specific examples but what Im saying is that I'm tired of hearing people so easily 'poo poo' a methodology that gives the world so much!

    I can quite confidently say that science/technology has saved more lives than say horoscopes, as I can think of a million ways in which science does on a daily basis, a million more than for horoscopes, ask your self the same question, how many can you think of for each?

    Of course I cannot say that is absolute 100% fact as with anything but if everyone had to note that at the end of every statement, they would waste a lot of time!
  • A comment on Conversation: What are some realistic and creative ways to reduce wealth inequality?

    8 hours ago: Perhaps if someone is born unable to walk, everyone else should have their legs broken, now thats creative..
  • A comment on Conversation: Truths and Facts. Does Science prove anything?

    8 hours ago: Wow, the amount of times someone that doesn't understand what science is has said to me

    "science is just theories anyway' or 'science is never 100% so nothing science finds is true' or 'science is just another way of thinking about things'

    Science is a PROCESS, you have an idea, conduct an experiment in a LOGICAL way, get a result then publish so other people can repeat the experiment and scrutinise you.

    So far it is the ONLY decent process humanity has discovered for investigating the world around us and producing reliable, useful information. There is a reason the technology in hospitals or modern computers isn't made by reading horoscopes or the bible. Would you deny it to be TRUE that both these devices save lives in some way or another?
  • 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.
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