TED talk notes: Jill Tarter on the search for aliens and Noah Feldman on Islam as technology

Listening to TED talks used to be a regular habit of mine. So periodically, I publish some of those notes. It’s both a personal refresher and a chance to share valuable knowledge with readers. Here’s the complete list of TED notes.

This week we have talks from Jill Tarter on the search for alien life and Noah Feldman on Islam as a technology.

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Jill Tarter: Why the search for alien intelligence matters

  • “we live on a fragile island of life”
  • “if we’re alone…incredible waste of space”
  • discovering other cultured civilizations could strengthen humanity’s bonds with each other
  • “we’re a billion year lineage of wandering stardust”
  • SETI began 50 years ago, it’s the archaeology of the future (given speed of light)
  • our sun is one of 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, and the Milky Way is only one of 100 billion other galaxies (!)
  • the more we learn the wider our “livable space” becomes (e.g., the more stars, the more species in extreme environments we’ve discovered just on Earth)
  • on Earth life happened quickly. the majority of time (90+%) has been spent developing and evolving life, not waiting for it to arise
  • Copernican revolution changed our thinking in many areas (astronomy, physics, theology). Finding alien life would be comparable
  • Drake conducted the first SETI observation of distant stars
  • Paul Allen and Nathan Myrhvold are generous supporters
  • “we all belong to one tribe, Earthlings”

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Noah Feldman: Politics and religion are technologies

  • politics and religion are analyzable as technologies, via conceptual design
  • democracy is a technology to channel power from many into the hands of a few
  • Islam is a means of construing the universe as way to bring salvation to its followers and to achieve goals such as peace, justice, equality as viewed within its doctrine
  • “because they’re technologies, they’re manipulable”
  • democracy and Islam are portrayed as incompatible, but technologies are more malleable than that
  • an Egyptian group of activists were blocked from forming a party which presented as combination of democracy and Islam

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Here’s the full list of TED notes!

World famous chefs Rene Redzepi and Jiro Ono on habits: “The people who are truly at the top won’t say they want to retire after they are 70 or 80. They just fasten their belts after that.”

Jiro and Rene run Michelin-starred restaurants and are among the most respected chefs in the world. For twelve minutes they drink tea and talk about mastery. I wanted to share parts of their conversation. You can tell both chefs have built great habits of hard work and good attitude and pushing, always pushing.

Jiro: If you start saying “I don’t like this” or “this isn’t the job for me” you won’t become an expert in anything

Rene: When did you feel like you were finally a master?
Jiro: 50.

Rene: Did [you] ever want to stop?
Jiro: No. Never. I never considered that question. The only question was, “how can I get better?”

Rene: What makes you happiest?
Jiro: I can work. That’s the first and most important thing. I can work. After that, it’s especially great if you enjoy what you do.

Jiro: If you don’t learn to love your work and remind your brain to make new steps every day, there can be no progress.

Jiro: [on Rene] You are stubborn, right? If you aren’t a strong willed person, you can’t get to this. And you are sensitive, too. Both have to be there to become like this.

Jiro: The people who are truly at the top won’t say they want to retire after they are 70 or 80. They just fasten their belts after that.

Two masters discussing what they do best. A highly recommended video. 12 minutes long. Simply filmed, well executed.

Daily Habits Checklist: February 29-March 6

Daily Habits Checklist February 29-March 6

  • Another solid week, although I still didn’t sing enough (I resumed voice lessons on Friday and this habit should improve)
  • I’ve noticed that some habits are linked. For example when I exercise, I also take a cold shower after. And when I wake early, I complete more habits than on other days. This is similar to the concept of keystone habits
  • I used to target two hours of writing a day. Now I aim for one hour of writing (of the open ended variety), and spend the extra time to blog, sing, and write music lyrics

Why am I doing all this crazy tracking? Read this. And here’s last week.

Thanks for reading! What are your habits? How do you track them? I’d love to hear from you.

Richard Hamming on the habits of great research

richard-hamming-habits
I probably review this talk by mathematician Richard Hamming once a month if not more often. Here are my favorite excerpts:

Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thinking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime.

If you do not work on an important problem, it’s unlikely you’ll do important work. Great scientists have thought through, in a careful way, a number of important problems in their field, and they keep an eye on wondering how to attack them.

…there is a pretty good correlation between those who work with the doors open and those who ultimately do important things, although people who work with doors closed often work harder. Somehow they seem to work on slightly the wrong thing – not much, but enough that they miss fame.

I strongly prefer to work on my own and without noise or bother from outside. But it’s a valuable reminder: socializing (both yourself and your work) can lead to greater career success. As with all things, the difficulty probably lies in balancing between the two poles.

But if you want to be a great scientist you’re going to have to put up with stress. You can lead a nice life; you can be a nice guy or you can be a great scientist.

The habits that emerge: Allow time for deep thinking. Know the important problems in your field. Keep the door open. Adapt to stress.

List #4: don Miguel Ruiz and the Four Agreements you should make with yourself

Whatever life takes away from you, let it go. When you surrender and let go of the past, you allow yourself to be fully alive in the moment. Letting go of the past means you can enjoy the dream that is happening right now.

*For the next list, I’ll probably create a slideshow and publish it to YouTube

In today’s edition of Nerdy Lists we have don Miguel Ruiz and The Four Agreements [Kindle].

A short simple book with intuitive wisdom on how to create a fulfilling life. If I take away one lesson it is: never ever listen to the negative voices in your head. It reminds me of what Lucy Malory said: “Every thought a person dwells upon, whether he expresses it or not, either damages or improves his life.”

The author’s life is fascinating: youngest of 13 kids, surgeon who becomes a shaman after a near death experience, born in rural Mexico and now a bestselling author fluent in English and Spanish.

The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz. You should agree to…

1. Always Do Your Best

Your best is going to change from moment to moment…Under any circumstance, simply do your best

2. Say What You Mean. Mean What You Say

Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.

3. Never Take It Personally

Nothing others do is because of you. It is because of themselves.

4. Never Assume

Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.

*The agreements are reordered and rephrased in a way that I prefer. For the original, check wikipedia.


(author Miguel Ruiz on Oprah’s Network: “Be impeccable with your word”. Did you know impeccable is Latin for “without sin”?)

Thanks for reading! What are your favorite lists? Here’s the collection :)