TED: Ideas Worth Spreading

[Prometheus]

TED talks are always a rich source of tantalizing and fascinating lectures.

 

[Abtigiis]

Eesh Calaa! Mahadsanid Prometheus. Very, very educating. Sam Harris's conclusion that there there is objective moral values and hence human beings must converge on what they all regard as right or wrong, good and bad makes lots of sense and is already happening in a way. but he sullied his presentation with a bit of overdramatising some examples he used, mainly those that relate to Islam. The fact is he is right on those issues, but you could not miss the tinge of patrionising attitude. Also, he missed, I think, to mention how that convergence on moral values will occur, which is through education. My only question is is he prepared to accept women who veil themselves because they find it trendy, in an environment where the context he described as the basis under which women veil themselves 'voluntarily' is not what it is today? Meaning will he say people who deviate from some universal moral practices, like those who accpet veils, are eccentrics under such circumstances?

 

Also, if he thinks that there has to be a universal moral values on how women should dress, what about a universal value about sexuality and hence gay and etc etc. Or is the main contention that choice and freedom should be the criterea which any universally acccepted value should be based on. If so, are freedom and choice not subjective concepts? Or can there be a universally agreed upon objective definition of freedom too? Given that human beings will always differ in intellect, economy, and in their understanding and interpretations of their environment, is it not possible that what is freedom for one might be viewed as abuse by the other?

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

TED is good but I find RSA more interesting, specially RSA Animate

[Prometheus]

Libaax,I think TED producers collaborated with

on a number of videos. Love the RSA Animate videos. Catchy cartoons. Superb delivery. Neat stuff.

 

Abtigiis, I recently finished reading Harris' The Moral Landscape. And I think that scientists need to wrest ethics from the philosophers. The old philosophical system of rational speculation needs to replaced and grounded in the firm empirical methods of science. Rational speculation is useful to a certain point. But it doesn't quite end the debate. Knowledge does not result from prolonged philosophical analysis, rather it is the result of rigorous experimentation. Philosophy must have an empirical foundation, else it will be viewed as a quaint linguistic exercise of airy speculations. Philosophers used to endlessly argue, for instance, about the nature of 'life' - how are living things different from non-living things'? Some philosophers defended the principle of vitalism while others argued for mechanism. This two thousand year-old philosophical conundrum was brought to an end by a simple experiment - Wohler's synthesis of urea from inorganic molecules. There's no intrinsic 'life-giving' force that permeates living things. Vitalism was dead, and mechanism won the day. This is a good example of how science can crack age-old philosophical chest-nuts. This brings us to morality. Can science actually solve this riddle as well? The problem seems intractable. I think Harris elicited loud grumbles in scientific and philosophic circles when he claimed the famous ought-is gap of Hume is a most silly and stubborn illusion. Can we really connect facts and values? I've read many clever thought-experiments by moral philosophers that are difficult to answer, so I'm not completely sold on it. Harris had a memorable debate on his blog with a prominent physicist who questioned his logic. I must say I found the physicist's rebuttals devastating and unanswerable.

 

Why did I pass over religious morality? Theologians never quite possessed sophisticated theories on ethics, as most of them widely assume that mere divine commandment is sufficient to justify moral suasion. I suppose such philistines are oblivious to Euthyphro's dilemma.

 

In any event, I think moral philosophy and science can converge on certain things. Neuroscience is still in its infancy. But I'm cautiously optimistic that our understanding of the human mind (that is, the brain) will conclusively answer this question.

[Blessed]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

[-Serenity-]

I'm a big TED fan and RSA animate is great! I feel totally inspired everytime I watch either. I've been listening to some of the talks from the CUSP conference in the last couple of days and below is the link. Similar to TED andthe RSA, the CUSP conference brings together innovative thinkers and thought leaders to talk about ideas to change the world.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/CuspConference

 

I'll also share my all-time favourite ted talk.

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html

 

Enjoy!

[Cara.]

This is the first TED talk I watched and still my favorite. I love data presented in innovative and interesting ways.

 

Hans Rosling's new insights on poverty

 

 

[Cara.]

LST, I would never have taken you for a Twilight fan

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

^^ Cara, waan dhallinyaraynayaaye sow uma jeedid. vampire!!! I just found the brilliant graphics cool.

[5]

LOL @ Libaax-Sankataabte. Cara I think with that avatar, he's earned the title Twihard

 

I was quite fascinated by the ideas presented in this talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_seung.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2010-09-29&ref=nf

 

but this one is my favourite because the speaker is funny and the subject matter is of special interest to me: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

[-Serenity-]

[Prometheus]

If TED is famous for its inventive and informative videos, then EDGE is famous for its questions. An inter-disciplinary panel of prominent scientists and brilliant thinkers are asked an annual question. Queries from previous years include: what is your dangerous idea, what do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it, what have you changed about your mind and why, what questions have disappeared, what's your law?

 

This year's question has elicited a number of fascinating responses. The question: What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit? These simple rules of thumb militate against cognitive illusions and errors. Nomads would do well to incorporate these tools in their intellectual toolkit. http://www.edge.org/q2011/q11_index.html

[Fazliyah]

A Radical Experiment in Empathy

 

http://quietube.com/v.php/http:/http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUEGHdQO7WA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

[Fazliyah]

http://quietube.com/v.php/http:/http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUEGHdQO7WA

[puntnomads]

I recently heard 2 good TED talks.

 

Naomi Klein: Addicted to risk

 

Van Jones: The economic injustice of plastic