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About Me

Location:
United States, Asheville, NC
Current organization:
UNC Asheville
Past organizations:
iD Tech Camp
Current role:
student - B.S. Computer Science
Gender:
Male
Areas of expertise:
programming - C, C++, Java, Facilitating, Ultimate (Frisbee Playing)
I am:
Agnostic, Athlete, Connector, Educator/Teacher, Student, Technologist
My website links:
Semi-Personal Brainstorming Blog
Universities:
University of North Carolina - Asheville
TED conferences attended:
TEDActive 2013
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Comments

  • TEDCred score: +1300.50 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

  • A comment on Talk: David Foster Wallace: This is water

    May 18 2013: I love this speech - it hits especially close to home as my senior undergraduate year is approaching.

    However, the choice to determine meaning is surely not the only choice we have in these kinds of situations. We can choose our job, and the work that we do, and the company we keep. Work, as challenging as it can be, should not be drudgery. Admittedly, this comes from an idealistic college student. However, if we, as human beings, cannot choose to do what we love and love what we do, then what choice remains to us?
  • +5

    A comment on Talk: Candy Chang: Before I die I want to...

    Sep 30 2012: Before I die, I want to be truly impulsive - I want to live life with a vibrant passion. I want to live life without having "second thoughts".

  • A comment on Talk: Ayah Bdeir: Building blocks that blink, beep and teach

    May 28 2012: I like these a lot. They are a great introduction to circuitry, and what you can, eventually, do. However, as a college student taking multiple circuitry and electronics courses per year, I know that it takes so much more than just hooking a few magnets together. The wiring, soldering, and engineering for electronic circuits is incredibly intricate work. The understanding of how these little modules are put together themselves is not communicated via littleBits. Sure, users will learn about how these modules work together. That isn't enough for me, though. It's a surface level understanding which doesn't explore the depths of electronic circuitry.

    It's a great step in the right direction - I'd love to see this go further!

  • A comment on Conversation: How can we re-frame tax policy to make people happier about paying taxes and/or spending pro-socially?

    May 9 2012: Some others have already mentioned giving individuals some control over their taxes, but let's take it to its logical conclusion.

    To make people happy about paying their state and federal taxes, give them full control over where that money goes. Complete control. Let's say citizens receive a list of issues, projects, and initiatives. They then write in a percentage they would like to put towards each issue (yes, 0% is an option). However, they must still pay the same amount of total taxes.

    With citizens able to choose where all of their taxes go, we can speculate on a few results:

    1) Some crucial public projects would go underfunded and fail.
    2) Taxpayers would be happier. They would have the power of choice, after all!
    3) Politicians and government workers would have to find other jobs (after all, who would assign a percentage of their taxes towards governmental wages? [just a joke, I swear!] )

    There is no chance of this system being implemented any time soon, but it's a nice thought! However, it doesn't take much to improve on our current system of taxation: "Put the money in the bag, or else! And I won't tell you what I'm spending it on, either!"

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