TED Community » Steven Lowell

More About Me

I'm passionate about

People, psychology, solving problems

People don't know that I'm good at

Investigating fraud,

Comments

• TEDCred score: +1.70 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Talk: Arianna Huffington: How to succeed? Get more sleep

  Nov 29 2011: What I find funny in this talk.... My step-mom was a high ranking exec at Lehmann Brothers. She retired in 2002. She used to go to bed at 8pm every day, and woke at 6am.
  
  Where is Lehmann today? LOL

• A comment on Talk: Charlie Todd: The shared experience of absurdity

  Nov 13 2011: Absolutely brilliant.

• A comment on Conversation: Whose responsibility is it to educate our young people on healthy eating, physical activity, and positive self esteem?

  Oct 22 2011: If you look at numbers, you can always prove a point that society has hit rock bottom. But think...how different are times now, compared to the 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, etc.
  
  In 1977, my parents divorced when I was 4 yrs old. And that was during the beginning of the women's movement, where divorcing was seen as a sign of rebellion, and courts or religions barely favored the wife. So, a mother with barely an opportunity to work... Why am I healthy adult?
  
  My mom saw her position, got family to help out, and made the best of it. Fortunately, as a child with a working mom, I was allowed to be a child and test my limits. No one scheduled play dates, and no one threw numbers at our family indicating we were at rock bottom, and using that comparison with others to make it seem as if we deserved something for the choices my mother made.
  
  The sense of family she provided, the ability to test myself as a child, and her strength as a parent...That is why our whole family is doing fine. No one has a weight problem, and we are brutally honest with each other when problems arise.
  
  Btw...I have epilepsy. I am sure others do too. But my upbringing taught me how to deal with those things I cannot control, instead of feeling obligated to have someone fix it for me. Maybe I am still a JFK generation of "ask not what your country will do for you...", and healthcare is ridiculously overpriced, but maybe if we buried numbers and allowed for some mystery or tests in our lives, we would know how to deal with problems on our own.
  
  I dont use myself as an example only. We all have problems. The answers lie within ourselves and those who have taught us in our family how to deal with them.
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  A comment on Conversation: Whose responsibility is it to educate our young people on healthy eating, physical activity, and positive self esteem?

  Oct 21 2011: You are correct Corinne. I do believe however that the answer is buried within your statement.
  
  Parents need to stop listening to fads, stop letting the television tell them what is right for them (a mistake many children make), and get back to basics...not for themselves...but for their children.
  
  If a doctor told me, "If continue to eat McDonalds, you will make yourself sick and have a heart attack.", my next visit would be to the fruit/vegetable isle of the supermarket.
  
  I understand that I am over-simplifying something here, but when it comes down to it, arent we all masters of what happens to us anyway? If that is the case, why do we make things so difficult for ourselves by focusing on negative reasoning behind what others do, and start doing what is required to make us healthy?
  
  Too many people suffer from a bigger problem...Feeling everyone should fix everything for them, and having to hit rock bottom before they make significant changes. We have more info available these days to stay healthy.
  
  I dont think it is used because many look for the quick and easy way out first. Positive actions take work, and to me, over the past 30 years...I have witnessed parents getting lazy.
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  A comment on Conversation: Whose responsibility is it to educate our young people on healthy eating, physical activity, and positive self esteem?

  Oct 21 2011: It is the job of the parents to do this. Simply put.
  
  If they are failing at it, then they need to start leading by example, as all parents should.
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  A comment on Conversation: I have an ethical question. Is it wrong to use placebos?

  Oct 21 2011: As someone who deals with a medical condition, placebos are a must. The human mind can be one's best friend or own worst enemy. As human nature dictates, when we perceive ourselves to be right, we are never wrong.
  
  Placebos offer a way for a person to visit the truth behind their beliefs and discover if it really helps them or not.
  
  If your intention is to deceive so that you succeed and others fail, and only you know that, then you are violating ethics. The power of a belief system can lead one to ultimate failure or success. That said, are you labeling something a placebo, but in fact, it is an attempt to deceive for personal wealth? Two different things. What do you offer someone after they find out it is a placebo?
  
  Steven
  Voice123
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  A comment on Conversation: Why do you TED? And has your reason changed or developed as you use it more

  Sep 30 2011: To exercise my brain in this challenging new world ... which basically means I am getting older....but anyway, I enjoy the challenging thoughts and it keeps the juices flowing! :)
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  A comment on Conversation: Name one thing you've learned from another TEDster.

  Sep 19 2011: "People buy what you believe. Not what you do."
  
  - Simon Sinek.
  
  How Great Leaders inspire action

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

  Aug 8 2011: Jeffrey, what makes you think what I mentioned is training someone for a capitalist business model?
  
  By the way, the underlying cause as to why the economy crashed and stayed that way, started 30 years ago.
  
  So, lets prepare students by not expecting anything from them, and that will not happen again?
  
  Yeah right, because what happened in the 80's came from all of the former hippie free loving/dont judge me youth of the 60's who became some of the greediest capitalists ever.
  
  But yeah...we should repeat this cycle of expecting no more than the ability to talk, as a way to define who is educated. By the way, no matter what the idea is...at some point...we all end up grading or judging someone in some form because human nature cannot exist without acknowledgement.
  
  The US economy crashing is a whole different topic of its own.
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  A comment on Conversation: Isn't it time to eliminate grades in education?

  Aug 8 2011: Mark, I have to wonder if you are tired of teaching and I say that because you are starting to look at students/teenagers as adults capable of rational decision making. Every independent thinking teen I knew, or know now, tries to become an actor. lol
  
  They are still hormonal, under-developed, and require reassurance that someone actually gives a damn about them. Sometimes a good grade achieves this.
  
  What happens in that high school I mention is that the entire community feels more involved in raising the students, and this gives the students of feeling of independence to think freely. They will need that as they start choosing careers.
  
  WHY? They have a safety net to do so...the very parents who get involved.