TED: Ideas Worth Spreading

I can't sit through any of the videos. The speakers are okay, but I hate the self-important tone of the whole thing.

otm. these are basically decent college lectures...being presented as intellectual revelations that are going to change life as we know it.

cynicism is easy

so is self-importance!

i think they are instructed by TED to pitch the talk towards further action ie not "this is what i have found" but "here is what we could do". they are all like that and often it is a little awkward.

The only one I've watched was the Benjamin Zander one on music and passion, really enjoyed that.

(xp) Where you see self-importance I see optimism. And "here is what we could do", yeah that sounds optimistic too, what's awkward about that? And what's wrong with "decent college lectures"? I wish that half my college lectures had been this decent, plus I don't even go to college any more so where else canI see this kind of thing?

http://academicearth.org/

And "here is what we could do", yeah that sounds optimistic too, what's awkward about that?

a lot of scientists and writers are more interested in or focused on a particular discovery in itself, so the part where they switch to a "plan of action" is sometimes a bit hasty and tacked-on

TED will save the world through innovations in optics, sociology and software!

I'm not enough of a cynic to dislike TED and not enough of a self-serving kool aide drinker to believe that TED is Really Deep, however I have to love the fallout from when TED and Sarah Silverman collide.

Gawker commentary

If TED is the Wired of the lecture circuit, what's the Mondo 2000? Cause that's what I'd go see insTED

What were they expecting?

I think they got exactly what they were expecting. All the whining tweets are meant to continue milking the exposure.

the Barry Shwartz talk about choice was eye opening for me

i guess its old but worth a watch. is book is good too

c'mon, this site is great. any other ones like it?

~ideas~

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/cache/gravatars/genemarks_136.jpg

if i was a poor black kid this would be my favorite shit

This is a good one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td1PbsV6B80

(I don't get dave's joke)

i almost envy u for missing this particular internet firestorm http://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2011/12/12/if-i-was-a-poor-black-kid

this is inarguably the best ted talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w

Oh man, I'm going to stay away from that column/comments.

This is probably my favorite one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FBxfd7DL3E

I want to do a TED talk on TED-inflation, how incessant demand for TED was itself the downfall of TED

I would have a graph like this

http://www.forexyard.com/blog/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/USDCHF_Daily1.JPG

c'mon, this site is great. any other ones like it?

― sleepingbag

my conclusion would be that we need to start a TED central bank

'what if we had a bank...for ideas"

I actually gave one of these talks and talked about how this kind of thing (plus The Moth, etc.) are creating a kind of non-fiction performing arts, and removing the artist as middleman: the idea that it's possible to see a cop tell stories as Sunday-afternoon entertainment, rather than going to see an actor pretend to be a cop.

what i dont get is ted licences their brand in the form of TEDx conferences which anyone can hold for a fee, bad brand stewardship, someone should TALK to them abt that

ha xp

They have rules and such for TEDx conferences, so there's some quality control and consistency.

I went to one at the University of Chicago--the speakers included the former president of Boliva as well as my hero Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The event was sold out, with hundreds and hundreds of college kids there.

they should just rename college 'TED', it will help w/ the dropout problem

instead of class, just utube, i believe theres a ted talk abt that as a matter of fact

I do think they're indicative of why there may be an education bubble, as far as universities previously being the primary place to get this kind of education.

oh yeah there def is, I have a thread bout it: rolling online education thread

--and (xpost) the social side, as far as meeting other people with the same interests and way of learning, getting inspired, etc.

In another way, it's in the 19th-century American bootstraps tradition of Emerson, Thoreau, etc.

I got halfway through that Hans Rosling talk, which seems to be the most universally-lauded TED talk ever, when I got pissed off by the same glib bullshit that permeates the rest of TED. Specifically when he's talking about differences between African countries, and he mentions "Sierra Leone humanitarian aid, Uganda development aid, Ghana time to invest, and Mauritius you can go on holiday" as if he had just described the natural lifecycle of African development. Only it's total bullshit, even if those were well-defined stages of development there's no evidence that foreign aid helps countries make those transitions (and some evidence that it does the opposite.)

I know, it's not the point of the talk, it was just a nice way to illustrate a point, blah blah. Don't sweat the details, just absorb the glittering vision, right.

TED provides you with the experience-high of learning without the experience-low of having to remember anything you heard 5 minutes later / doing homework...the details aren't very important

i liked the chimamanda adichie talk about the danger of a single story. iirc there were no graphs, though.

"TED is not simply “engaging” and “entertaining” but a specific type of entertainment that is increasingly out of touch and exclusionary."

http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/against-ted/

(not but what i think that thing i just linked never puts together the really solid critique that i know is possible)

yeah i think there's something about the notion in which not learning but rather experiencing an event where exceptionally intelligent people discuss ideas is in itself learning, never mind that any quiz the next day on what was discussed would result in a failing grade.

TED talks linked on facebook allow people to let others do the heavy lifting for them. 'hey here is some food for thought, not prepared by me but enjoy nonetheless.'

i say facebook b/c i feel like every week i see a new one posted.

i see no evidence that ted is trying to replace school or w/e, its a conference, it works in much the same way as the million other conferences in the world

what if every professor only talked about AWESOME THINGS but you didn't have to remember anything cause NO TESTS

it's like some freshman's stoner fantasy

you;'re sort of conflating academic and trade conferences there, which is exactly what TED does

xp

nah it's not trying to replace school and it won't, it doesn't have the brand, but it functions as a 'this is what I wish school had been' for lots of people

conflating a conference w/college is like some lazy internet guys criticism fantasy

i mean theres def a criticism to be made of ted, just not apparently by the people in this thread, especially not lukas smh

The manliness thread introduced me to this guy's page:
http://vimeo.com/jasonsilva

his bio is like napalm

Many have called Silva an "Idea DJ" and a poet, describing him as "a re-vitalizer and remixer of optimism, and above all, a curator: of ideas, of inspiration, and of awe... like a trumpet player or modern-day digital Mingus, he jams, riffs and rhapsodizes through a tumbling thicket of ideas with such a sharp and vital alacrity that it can take the breath away."

I guess he really could go in the awesomeness fest bucket, too, but I think he's got different aspirations

He left the network to become, according to The Atlantic, "a part-time filmmaker and full-time walking, talking TEDTalk."

a lot of statehouses have been debating laws against this kind of thing lately

MANY have called him an idea dj??

Actually, according to that quote, many have described him as "a re-vitalizer and remixer of optimism, and above all, a curator: of ideas, of inspiration, and of awe... like a trumpet player or modern-day digital Mingus, he jams, riffs and rhapsodizes through a tumbling thicket of ideas with such a sharp and vital alacrity that it can take the breath away." There's really an incredible degree of consensus on this guy.

But I mean based on this guy's bio he is actually reasonably well-known it sounds like?

I know, you would think he wouldn't sound so desperate if he's actually done reasonable work, but apparently he's ramped it up to be a motivational speaker

But I mean based on this guy's bio he is actually reasonably well-known it sounds like?

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, September 17, 2013 9:06 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

never trust bios. especially bios of ppl whose job seems to be self-promoter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Lovethesetrees

It's cool, just a wikipedia user that only ever edited a single page, nothing suspicious here

http://i.imgur.com/p9uEHzA.jpg

pictures of people who have figured out how to swindle

He has some innovative strategies to help you become sexually available.

"From YOUR point of view I'm oriented northwest to southeast.... but from MY point of view it's northeast to southwest! MAKES U THINK"

can alacrity really be sharp

thing about him is, he still thinks inside the box.

http://i.imgur.com/nowjzaq.jpg

My departmental yearly meeting kicked off with someone playing a TED talk and I was dying inside

WONDER

only happens in that intersection of science and art

i don't know if anyone noticed but there's a little subliminal thing in the above image of him saying hi.

The NPR/TED radio hour is some amazing synergy, guys.

synergism

It would be so awesome if he then lifted up his other hand and on the palm was written "YOU DIPSHIT"

http://i39.tinypic.com/wt7hhs.jpg

this man is a hero:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yFhR1fKWG0

i don't lol often but i have been rolling.

WE'RE GONNA KILL 'EM ALL!!!

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/13/ted_talks_are_lying_to_you/

Look on the other speakers' faces during the q&a is priceless

:D

clover that thing has sharp knives watch out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ptUVhs1UU

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/30/we-need-to-talk-about-ted

Let me tell you a story. I was at a presentation that a friend, an astrophysicist, gave to a potential donor. I thought the presentation was lucid and compelling (and I'm a professor of visual arts here at UC San Diego so at the end of the day, I know really nothing about astrophysics). After the talk the sponsor said to him, "you know what, I'm gonna pass because I just don't feel inspired ...you should be more like Malcolm Gladwell."

https://chronicle.com/article/The-New-Academic-Celebrity/145845/

:-/

isn;t the whole point of this dumb shit to post the links on the internet?

i need to see a Spike Lee Ted Talk to research a piece i'm writing and its nowhere on the internet

oh, that's TEDx, or cargo cult fake TED

Quiz: North Korean Slogan or TED Talk Sound Bite?

only got 7 out of 14 : /

that's hilarious

www.ted.com - it's the next best thing to attending a university that actually brings in guest speakers

http://secondlanguage.blogspot.com/2014/08/academic-virtues.html

Perhaps the greatest academic virtue, that is, is patience. Too many academics today think of themselves as public intellectuals whose job it is to "spread ideas" through the most efficient media available to them. Such academics are, literally, ideologues; they think universities produce and distribute ideas. What universities really "produce", friends, is more articulate and knowledgeable students. People who are less likely to be immediately impressed by a TED talk, in fact, because they have a higher standard of belief.

Want to talk about this:

http://www.theawl.com/2014/01/what-if-these-seven-famous-ted-talks-are-just-totally-wrong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBKX-6Gz6A