TED Community » Thomas Yurysta

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Energy & sustainability. A world beyond the burdens of dogmatic religions, monetary based economies, and resource exploitation.

An idea worth spreading

The Venus Project

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.10 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Talk: Lewis Pugh's mind-shifting Everest swim

  Sep 11 2011: Quick point regarding solar power: assuming you mean photovoltaic, not true that it takes more power to produce than it generates. PV modules achieve energy payback after 1 to 3 years depending on module type and deployment location.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Is war a national right?

  Jul 24 2011: But is allowing violence to happen a form of violence in itself? "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
  
  I agree with you though, it is a slippery slope. Violence inevitably begets more violence. And war inevitably claims innocent lives, and when that happens you have to question the act no matter how much theoretical prevention of violence the war may bring about.

• A reply on Conversation: Is war a national right?

  Jul 24 2011: Hmm, think I agree with your statement! But can a nation act on an individuals behalf to assert those rights if the individual is incapable of doing so?

• A comment on Conversation: Is war a national right?

  Jul 24 2011: Wow, great topic. I view it as a subtopic of the general question: Is it right to use violence to prevent violence? E.g. can I shoot an armed robber as he enters a bank to prevent possible death? Or example of a more eminent threat, can I shoot someone to prevent a violent crime in progress if no alternative exists?
  
  If you answer yes to either these scenarios, than a logical pathway exists leading to a nation being justified in war. If we agree that we can use force/violence to assert the rights of an individual who isn't able to assert their rights for themselves, then what does it matter who is doing the asserting? The nation is just the vehicle.

• A reply on Talk: Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: The gentle genius of bonobos

  Jul 18 2011: Ant species have been known to engage in the equivalent of war! And some chimps in the wild have led organized raids on neighboring troops, without immediately apparent motive as it doesn't seem to be for food or mates. Its not known whether there were significant oil deposits in the neighboring troops territory : )
  Not sure of any instances of good/bad moral judgments in animals, you may be right on that one.
  I do agree there are characteristics such as wisdom that set us apart from other species, and these characteristics are unique in that they are mental/intangible adaptations rather than purely physical ones. Nonetheless, as unique as our branch may be its still a part of the same tree.

• A reply on Talk: Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: The gentle genius of bonobos

  Jul 18 2011: The clips played in the video could be skewed I agree, she only had a limited amount of time and so showed the highest impact footage. Still, I think you underestimate them a bit.
  Chimps in the wild have shown to use language. You can play back their own sounds and they will react in different ways (e.g. they have different calls for different types of predators, and if you play back the call for a certain land based predator all the chimps will scramble into trees). Can't remember where I read that but pretty interesting. So its not so crazy to suspect that these chimps are exhibiting language, even if its a bit early to say they are learning to write.
  But hey, if a dog can learn the word for 'walk' and run to go get its collar, I am not putting it past a chimp to draw a triangle on the floor to indicate going outside.

• A reply on Talk: Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: The gentle genius of bonobos

  Jul 18 2011: Interesting thoughts Justen! Sadly though, we probably won't have the opportunity to witness them evolve intelligence or follow along the human path of evolution. Given their small range in the wild and how quickly we humans are changing the natural environment, they may lose their chance to evolve naturally and become dependent on our charity to continue to survive at all. If they do continue to develop human traits, would probably only be in lab settings such as these.

• A reply on Talk: Richard Dawkins: Militant atheism

  Jul 15 2011: I'd say the pursuit of knowledge through tangible, quantifiable methods.
  His hilarious parody in the 11th minute of the Quarterly Journal articles on extinction of dinosaurs is a perfect example. This is what it looks like when you replace scientific inquiry with conjecture and dogma. Viewed through this light, the basis for religion looks silly.

• A reply on Talk: William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

  Jul 14 2011: If the applause was disproportional it was because he was poor and lacking resources, not because of his ethnicity or nationality. Hopefully we can look at people and not immediately categorize them.
  It seems that no one else in the area had ever implemented this sort of thing (or I assume it wouldn't be so newsworthy) which indicates his thinking was pretty original and innovative. That's just as impressive as his mechanical aptitude!