TED Community » Gibryon Bhojraj

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I'm passionate about

Open-Source, Social issues, Science, DIY, Innovation, Equality, Freedom

An idea worth spreading

Governments should put more effort into making advances in science and having a uniform knowledge base for students all over the world. Encouraging and helping students into research positions is important, as bright teens can often be drawn more to profitable careers in economics, law or medical care. My high school employed several teachers with Ph.D.s because they didn't want to take jobs as post-docs, and they explained to us how the system worked and what "sacrificing [our] lives for science" would really mean. For humanity to flourish and spread, we need to keep making headways into science that will help us combat those factors that are holding us back, not to mention those that cause the suffering of thousands. If we could put aside our fears of competition and annihilation long enough to nurture the minds of all people, then maybe we can transcend the limitations of our carrying capacity, fight hunger and slavery, and even find our place among the stars.

Talk to me about

Anything. If I don't know anything about the topic, I'll try to educate myself before getting back to you.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.80 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: The leader or the follower?

  Sep 3 2011: "And I would like to thank all the people that helped out, for which this endeavor would not have been possible." - Many leaders

• A comment on Conversation: Is Shaffi Mather's idea for fighting corruption practical?

  Sep 2 2011: I agree with your second point, and that's one of the things I was worried about. Accountability and transparency in terms of the organization is the only way you could go about trying to defend against bribes, but there's only so far that could go. It's even possible that, as a for-profit, after a while the bribery business could run dry. Sure, it's a good short-term solution, but when a for-profit starts to see it's profits dwindling, it can flip sides. Or end up trying to keep itself alive by creating more of the problem it exists to solve.
  
  There's also the case that any organization would be pretty hard to use over various countries, because these organizations use existing intranational laws to fight corruption. They have no control over the countries.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: Your life in a Haiku.

  Sep 2 2011: .
  Devote my life to
  One girl or fixing the world
  Can I save either?

• A comment on Conversation: Is our destiny to be one world with one language?

  Aug 15 2011: I definitely hope we do. Not that I wish different languages to be eradicated- they're great for art, expression, unity, and secrecy- but I think that we can achieve so much more as a global entity if we can transcend the barriers of language. Even though it'd be "fairer" if we could use a constructed language, nations obviously would resist, especially the ones that possess the "soft power" to spread their language. I think we will see a rise in English and Mandarin speakers, though we can't know which one will come out on top.
  
  Countries and businesses could save valuable time and money by not needing to hire translators or deal with translation errors. Knowing a second or third wouldn't be a significant advantage in the workforce (though that may only seem a good thing to my monolingual self). I think international cooperation would rise, not just on the Country level, but on individual levels as well. This would have dramatic impacts not just on culture, but on promoting empathy, morality, and understanding across the world. We'd better understand other customs and the problems of those suffering. We'd understand their cries, and they'd understand our solutions.
  
  Culture is a collection of gestures, customs, traditions, expression, and memes. Cultures that have existed are the product of geographic isolation over centuries. I don't feel like cultures are meant to or can be kept in a stasis, and that as cultures have grown through "Cultural Diffusion" over the ages, they will grow through globalization. It's impossible to preserve a mere phenomenon. But it's not something that's lost or needs to be mourned for. Just as periods of artwork- Impressionism, Romanticism, etc- came and went, so do cultural practices, but we still see people trying to capture the themes of those periods in artwork. So, even as cultures get "tainted" with globalization, I believe that what we value in those cultures will remain and still grow, if not in a "pure" way, still a worthy one.
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  A comment on Conversation: Beyond race, creed, color, nationality and personal narratives there is a universal humanity. Where is this? How do you go there?

  Aug 11 2011: Schools are definitely the place. If you want to change something, change the children. In my public high school in New York City, while you can see racial and economic cliques formed, there's definitely an appreciation of diversity and understanding. Kids, forced to interact, eventually come to befriend and rely on each other. And that's where they start to branch out from their respective bubbles and touch other cultures, and form the beginnings of that global relationship we hope to have some day. But it starts with kids, getting to meet and appreciate different people.
• +2

  A comment on Talk: Jeremy Gilley: One day of peace

  Aug 11 2011: How cruel could the world be without idealists?
  
  I know lots of people have problems with this concept as a distraction and a useless measure, but I think in the grand scheme of doing things, it still has a place. Right now, we know one day of peace isn't going to end current wars. A ceasefire can always be followed by someone breaking the silence with a gunshot. But as some commenters said, that's not really the purpose of this.
  
  One of the reasons this idea appeals to me is because it fosters a global idea of peace, transcending culture and religion. We don't have many global ideas to unify us as humans, not factions. And even if it doesn't stop current wars or prevent future ones, things like the polio vaccination in Afghanistan save innocent lives. It's a chance for individuals, for future generations, to say "Wow, I don't have to worry about a bomb falling on my head today" and realize violence doesn't have to happen, and that peace isn't just Pax Romana or Pax Mongolica, but something we can achieve around the world. And when people can be told that peace isn't just a dream, but shown in a day, people can be persuaded that peace isn't just a day to look forward to, but a goal they can strive for. And when you have people striving for peace, not just resigning their lives or others' lives to the slaughter, that's when we've got that force of change that addresses economic issues. The force that can erupt in peaceful protests and Jasmine revolutions. Those forces that come from the ground up that can change governments and capture the world attention, combined with a global idea of peace (unlike seeming like a "western" idea, like democracy), are the forces that need to exist for things to change. For people around the world to establish peace, and then turn around and help people of another ethnicity, religion, and geography establish peace.
  
  Even addressing the economic problems that spark wars takes a large public opinion to enact, and then only domestically
• +1

  A comment on Talk: Josette Sheeran: Ending hunger now

  Jul 28 2011: Also, to talk about the worry about population growth, like Ms. Sheeran said, there's enough food to go around. In The Economist's special on World Hunger this year, the magazine highlighted the fact that there's a great disparity between technology in the developed and underdeveloped world. Some nations have great botanists scientifically breeding plants with huge yields, having the kind of machinery to manage them on an enormous scale, while other nations, with more small farmers, don't have the tools or resources to empower their farmers. For the present, there's food, and with the right help (like Marcin Jakubowski's TEDTalk "Open Sourced Blueprints for Civilization on the Global Village Starter Kit project), there's still room for increased food production in the world.
  
  I like that she mentioned Brazil and Bolsa Família. It seems like such a good program, for combating hunger, disease (vaccination) and increasing education- pulling people out from under the poverty line.
  
  I actually didn't know it could be so cheap for the WFP to produce nutritious food. I also wasn't aware of the distribution problem or the WFP solution. I think it's really great that we have the capabilities to help people by shuffling the cards a little, offering markets to those who need them, and food to those who need them. It's also nice that we can add economic justification, because along with the humanitarian justification, there isn't really a reason to not want to help programs like these.

• A reply on Conversation: Isn't it time to eliminate grades in education?

  Jul 28 2011: While I too feel like exams encourage cramming and robotic learning, it's still one of the easiest ways to assess learning. Multiple-choice tests are the easiest to administer, and are one of the most counterproductive- just guessing on the ones you don't know doesn't tell the student or the teacher what skills need to be further explained.
  
  I think essays and short-answer tests are the most important tools for educators. They are, however, more time consuming to grade. I like experiments as a part of the grade because it helps foster a sense of reality in the learning experience. Some teachers in my high school, when dealing with Laboratory grades, would deduct points off a student's Lab grade if their experiment produced too high a percent error.
  
  My problem with including things like presentations and group activities in the grade is that they can become too subjective, especially when all students have an ample time to prepare. While public speaking and presentation are important in real world job markets, I hate to think a student who possesses a mastery of the subject would loose standing in an academic class, not because her theory or application or understanding was wrong, but because she failed to dazzle her audience. Some schools integrate "Leadership" classes to help students become more outspoken and assertive. While I'm sure they make great tools in encouraging students to grasp the material, it doesn't help much in ranking them.