TED: Ideas Worth Spreading

yes, it's pretty great!
a bit 'southern california will save the world!' but whatever, tons of great talks about all kinds of things! i played one on my radio show a couple weeks ago about growing new body parts - ooh

i don't like the slick advertising though. of course.

e.g., bmw

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

^ weird. Some of these talks are fantastic.

"Amazing data visualizations" says I. "With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world."" says TED. Way better than either of those makes it sound:
http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

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

eh there's nothing magic about a 'college lecture' that makes it different from a 'conference talk', in some contexts they can be exactly the same speech

like im sure hans rosling is unaware of some research that you have in yr possession and was intending lil off handed one liners to actually represent the complexity of african economics etc

yeah totally i was talking abt magic things im sure theres no difference in intention, w/e its all stupid cause no homework

ok, word's don't matter, got it, i'll watch TED talks with renewed interest

*words lol

well you have to understand what the words mean i think is the point

i mean did u hear he said 'Mauritius you can go on holiday' therefor his industry leading work is invalid *buffs nails*

well either what hans said in that brief passage didn't mean anything, or it was mendacious bullshit, can you clarify

thank you for those two choices lukas im sure they are the only possible meanings

u should give a ted talk

don't steal my tedflation idea

i should have revealed the top action films in a TED talk. would have owned imo.

feel like the ted people wouldve wanted the matrix to place higher

huh? what's the beef with TED? so a bunch of people want to put up a bunch of youtube videos of talks, some of which are entertaining or inspiring... and?

theres a triumphalist culture that rubs people the wrong way from what i can tell

Let's get a group rate on a nice resort and do TEDLX

well the prob w/ ted is that it's not really meant for people who want to really learn concrete things or even build new frames of reference and it's not really presented as 'this lecture is here to get you interested in african economics, here's some ways to learn more.' it's learning as a form of forgettable entertainment, it's like watching tv w/ the idea that you're doing something important.

it's also sorta like reading a list of movie twist-endings for movies you haven't seen. this will not be the downfall of traditional higher ed (other things are) but there is something crass and weird about the idea that the only things worth learning are mind blowing.

eh the experience is not that far from like reading the new yorker or w/e

tbf to the adichie talk i like, i don't think she thinks it's mind blowing. but also i like reading the new yorker.

and watching tv

i would probably like ted talks if i watched more of them

i agree that theres a frivolous aspect to ted, mostly in their marketing abt amazing minds gathering together and for a j/o sesh, but ive def remembered a bunch of the stuff ive watched, i havent used that knowledge to bend the course of history to my will, but i think it can be legit educational, if not anymore so than youd expect from a 10min video, i mean i have never once requested a masters degree after finishing a ted talk, and i think that level of education has value as does watching an ep of nova or w/e

I've liked them more as audio podcasts than watching them, but maybe that just has to do with listening to them while walking, or maybe it's not having to look at someone's clothes and appearance.

there are interesting ideas in TED talks but the tone is so off-putting to me

Like, it's nice to walk through some woods with headphones on, listening to Felix Dennis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-bHvDcgQQ

it's not the triumphalism so much as it is the velocity, as if we can just zip through important ideas quickly without being critical of them. like we have enough of that in our culture and i think it's damaging.

i would probably not like TED talks if i watched more of them, i think the aspect of them that's 'Inspiring People talk about the Inspiring Things they have done' would get to me somewhat. (i hate biographies, too)

many of the talks are not that great, but some are

feel like someone on another thread (iatee?) was talking about the more tech-oriented tedtalks being suspect on an anti-union pro-management tip? maybe i made this up? i of course have seen no tech ted talks or technical talks of any kind, so i wouldn't know.

well many of the people are successful and wonderful so it stands to reason

yeah the only way you're going to be able to argue against the self-interests of people watching your talk is if you have more than half an hour and you don't have to be inspiring

The cousin of this is Pecha Kucha, which gives a tight structure that allows experts to give a focused talk on something they're passionate about. The night I attended one of these, Jon Langford did one, Ken Nordine (age 90) did one, a guy who built a 3-storey Eiffel Tower replica in a department store did one.

not sure why internet video requires a counter-argument when no other medium does?

Yeah thats what I'm now thinking too bnw - why are these guys getting the caning not given to say, a Carl Sagan tv special?

(I'm not saying TEDs should be at all srs learnin, but I've enjoyed the ones ive watched. I do agree they can skim far too much sometimes tho)

maybe if they wore turtlenecks and posed in front of pictures of the universe

summaries can be cool, have fun and enjoy. i just can't get down with the tone so i'll bash on whatever mis-steps i can find.

http://www.poptech.org has good talks too that aren't quite so TED-y

even though my honest opinion is more mixed than i'll let on, the more ted-boosters i meet the more i feel it's important to be a ted-hater. like in my experience they tend to be smug, optimistic about the future in a dismissive "pfft, cynicism? what don't you read the economist?" kind of way, have major boners for technology and often also capitalism. i think the curation of ted-talks pushes a really partic kind of complacency in face of the self-correcting market mechanism + high expectations of the fruits of technology. a lot of ted talks i watched when i was most into it were like stewart brand, bjorn lomborg; these refreshingly positive, counterintuitive approaches to problems that have been generally presented as insurmountable. i realize people respond to this esp in contrast with a lot of bleak shit out there, but theres an obvious imbalance thats kind of harmful imo

best ted talk is aubrey degray fountain of youth

oh yeah, that one is good

agree w trayce and lagoon: i can't see what's wrong with a bunch of short lectures presented for some combination of edification, inspiration and entertainment. sometimes it's nice simply to see/hear experts and innovators talk about their work, to engage with thinking and information from a curious rather than a studious or rigorously critical perspective. yeah, there's a general tone of cheerful, vaguely new age optimism to the TED project as a whole, but i don't think that's necessarily such a bad thing, even it sometimes feels a bit forced. if TED talks were your only source of intellectual nourishment, your brain would starve, but it's not like there aren't countless other options available.

love this one on theo jansen and his "creatures":

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

i think that going into TED with cynicism/criticism is healthy and advisable, especially for talks for the past couple of years, as TED has gotten more and more popular - and the comments, unlike a lot of websites in general, are often pretty good at relating that cynicism/criticism and in some cases actually aide the talk.

in general, I like TED talks because i think the more informal education out there the better, but feel like many of them (but not all) have too much of a veneer over the subject matter that perks it up and dumbs it down more than necessary - this is esp true of some of the tech ones... rah rah technology + money-making! with no socio-cultural insight. ergh...

oh yes i remember that one on jansen too - so cool :)

lag00n mentioned the nyer upthread and I would say a pretty good reference point is m gladwell. he's not the worst person in the world, he's even written some interesting stuff. would anyone here want him to be the editor of the nyer? the gladwell/freakeconomics/david brooks pop intellectualism approach to the world can be okay for an article but it's bad as a philosophy because we don't live in a world with 'big problems' that can be solved w/ big counterintuitive solutions that nobody thought about, we live in a really complicated place w/ really complicated problems. most of the ted speakers prob know this, but that's not the ted narrative.

if TED talks were your only source of intellectual nourishment, your brain would starve, but it's not like there aren't countless other options available.

i think plenty of brains starve on a lot less

I just have to say I never got this "west coast new age positivity" vibe some ppl are hating on, from TED stuff Ive seen. Perhaps Ive not seen enough or there is some culture surrounding the society that I have missed. On the stand-alone lectures Ive seen, I've enjoyed most of them (not all - some people are great scientists but shocking speakers).

And who says there's nothing to learn? This guy, for example, was a very entertaining watch and I totally learned some new things about propulsion research:

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

iatee otm

it's interesting that the videos posted here are all from a few years ago. i think that's the point of the Against TED essay - that TED has changed and isn't as smart/clever/interesting anymore.

it's called tedflation, I'm preparing a presentation on it

or has become more Cult of TED or something
xp!

i agree to a point but

1) not fair to lob the david brooks shit grenade
2) think there is also a danger in barring topics from the casual viewer
3) also some elitism in thinking the viewer begins and ends their understanding of the topic with one web site

/david brooks was the last thing I added to that paragraph, gave it a little extra something

it's interesting that the videos posted here are all from a few years ago. i think that's the point of the Against TED essay - that TED has changed and isn't as smart/clever/interesting anymore.

Ah ok, this is an interesting point.

also some elitism in thinking the viewer begins and ends their understanding of the topic with one web site

And, also this. And in addition, elitism in assuming all scientific/new ideas stuff MUST be rigourous and long winded and thorough. Can we not have populist stuff too, for the average joe who *would not absorb this stuff at all otherwise*?

The cousin of this is Pecha Kucha, which gives a tight structure that allows experts to give a focused talk on something they're passionate about. The night I attended one of these, Jon Langford did one, Ken Nordine (age 90) did one, a guy who built a 3-storey Eiffel Tower replica in a department store did one.

― Fonz Hour (Eazy), Sunday, February 19, 2012 12:51 PM (1 hour ago)

i gave a pecha kucha presentation on my threeframes tumblr. each slide was a different gif and i finished with one from clash of the titans and proclaimed "RELEASE THE KRAKEN" at the very end (it was opening weekend of the new COT)

'the world is really complicated' is not elitism, it's just true xp

flopson/iatee otm

im sure theres tons of good ted talks out there but i tend to associate ted w/ that glib silicon valley 'technocratic' positivism, the same kind of people that give us "charter schools" and "union-busting" as the future of education reform. maybe im wrong though. the crowd i associate w/ ted is less the economist or nyer crowd than the wired magazine crowd.

is ted a thing in 2012, I thought it was like 2010 shit

Any teachers care to comment on Khan Academy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM95HHI4gLk

I actually think the khan academy type online learning is gonna be pretty important #noteacher

note that all the lectures there are like 'graphing a line in slope intercept form' and not 'how slopes intercepts can change your life and will change everything we know about modern medicine'

I actually think the khan academy type online learning is gonna be pretty important #noteacher

note that all the lectures there are like 'graphing a line in slope intercept form' and not 'how slopes intercepts can change your life and will change everything we know about modern medicine'

― iatee, Sunday, February 19, 2012 7:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.mathalicious.com/2012/02/04/khan-academy-its-different-this-time/

Instead, the real issue with Khan Academy is its underlying pedagogy (or lack thereof). Quite simply, it doesn’t work. Not only do we know this anecdotally — how many adults still say “I don’t do math?” — but we also know it experimentally. In fact, we’ve known it for decades!

In general, I find TED to be entertaining and no worse than popular science media & other infotainment, and often inspirational and informative. But this illustrates what I hate about TED. It isn't just bright people sharing innovative ideas. Sometimes it's bright amateurs spreading ignorance in critical areas outside of their expertise.

I think that SK came up with a clever idea that could possibly be leveraged by innovative and experienced educators. Here's what the billionaire (who has no experience as an educator) who's pumping millions of dollars into education (with strings attached) thinks of Khan Academy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuMTSU9DcqQ&feature=relmfu

Khan Academy boosters think this will transform education. They use a lot of language around how it will change the teachers role. They don't have any experience, but they have a lot of money and they run successful businesses, so why won't these failing educators just get out of their way?

yeah, but that's the difference between attempted online education and vaguely "educational" lectures as a form of online entertainment. neither is intrinsically superior to the other, apples and oranges.

xp

i tend to associate ted w/ that glib silicon valley 'technocratic' positivism, the same kind of people that give us "charter schools" and "union-busting" as the future of education reform. maybe im wrong though. the crowd i associate w/ ted is less the economist or nyer crowd than the wired magazine crowd.

― max, Sunday, February 19, 2012 5:32 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

TED = charter schools and union busting?!? come on, that's just the cheapest, lowest form of guilt by association. the crowds we "associate with" things don't have much to do with the actual significance/value/impact of those things when evaluated on their own merits.

actually I was educated at a right to work TEDcharter school

...and in addition, elitism in assuming all scientific/new ideas stuff MUST be rigourous and long winded and thorough. Can we not have populist stuff too, for the average joe who *would not absorb this stuff at all otherwise*?

― Lindsay NAGL (Trayce), Sunday, February 19, 2012 5:12 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

OTM, and we don't even have to appeal to some otherwise helpless "average joe" in order to make this point. No one can know about everything that's going on the world today, and therefore anyone might benefit from brief introductions to some of what's out there. Okay, fine, so TED overesells the transformative power of left-field "big ideas", but that hardly seems like the worst intellectual crime being foisted on the world atm. these things are introductions, abstracts, basically back cover blurbs. invitations to do more research, if you're really interested. and fodder for water cooler/facebook conversation if you're lazy. either way, a service to humanity.

nah I don't think khan etc stuff are gonna replace high school teachers but they're pretty nifty supplements for a hs student having trouble w/ homework

xp

college otoh

In a venn diagram of who moved my cheese, waiting for superman, awesomensess fest, and what the bleep do we know, there is some serious TED overlap.

theres definitely zero overlap between the awesomeness fest and the ted conference as far as like actual people involved, prob the rest of them all too, if you want to argue some similar cultural orientation yeah sure but just in a v general sense, feel like some in this thread in wanting to indite ted on charges of being glib are themselves being somewhat glib

i mean theres no need to try and associated the ted conference w/the worst people in the world in order to make a criticism, theyre also not nazis, doesnt mean theres nothing wrong w/them

it's a pretentious way to present free lectures, but i can't believe people are getting their dander up over them.

theres definitely zero overlap between the awesomeness fest and the ted conference as far as like actual people involved

http://www.awesomenessfest.com/meet-the-tribe/
http://i.imm.io/gUNA.png

it's a pretentious way to present free lectures, but i can't believe people are getting their dander up over them.

― da croupier

tis the season for the flakes that don't melt

phfft w/e one person

Yeah, when I refer to awesomeness fest, I do mean it in a very general way, and of course I was being glib. I have enjoyed several TED talks online and I value them. But there are threads of magical thinking and shortcuts around serious critical analysis that run through self-help, professional development, technophilia, education reform, economic policy; etc that are on the same continuum, and I see some of these same threads running through some of the TED talks I've viewed, and I'm not surprised.

FYI this was the second Google search result for "awesomeness fest ted"

http://www.awesomenessfest.com/dr-srikumar-rao/

PS I don't think Dr. Srikumar Rao is the worst of the worst.

TBH those threads run through the entirety of human society on all levels and sometimes those kinds of shortcuts actually lead to revolutions in technology and improvements in peoples lives. You just want to ~contain~ it, not eliminate it.

www.makelovenotporn.com

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/MLNP01.png

But there are threads of magical thinking and shortcuts around serious critical analysis that run through self-help, professional development, technophilia, education reform, economic policy; etc that are on the same continuum, and I see some of these same threads running through some of the TED talks I've viewed, and I'm not surprised.

― Unleash the Chang (he did what!) (Austerity Ponies), Monday, February 20, 2012 12:41 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

im sympathetic to that view but i think to some extent what youre picking up on is like people like doin actual things, producing work that because it exists is naturally going to lend itself to criticism, what separates the ted situation from what the awesome cheese inc is many of the speakers are genuinely accomplished in their fields, which does i think somewhat excuse them against charges of magical thinking etc, like i just watched Martin Seligman: Why is psychology good? and i felt like a lot of it was sort of a little too pat or shallow or something, but the thing is he has at least research and a coherent system, its kinda the opposite of a shortcut, it demands specific critical engagement not just more 'this smells new agey' or w/e like that awful new inquiry piece posted upthread

plus if you have substantial objections, i think it makes more sense to critique the TED talks on a specific, case-by-case basis than to paint them as brain candy in a generic sense. afaict, they're not all slapdash, intellectually dishonest utopian unicorn crap, and if you wanna make that case, then it behooves you to bring something concrete to the table. a broad-brush objection to the general "tone" doesn't count for much, imo.

many of the speakers are genuinely accomplished in their fields

I totally agree.

they're not all slapdash, intellectually dishonest utopian unicorn crap

I totally agree.

ponies!

(had to say)

www.makelovenotporn.com

― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Monday, 20 February 2012 05:56 (25 minutes ago) Permalink

why did you post this

makelovenotporn seems kind of silly but I have met dudes who srsly don't understand the difference between porn and the real world so I guess it has a purpose.

why did you post this

― ⚓ (gr8080), Sunday, February 19, 2012 10:23 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

was mentioned in that cindy gallop awesomenessfest profile that, uh, you posted

oh lol

a broad-brush objection to the general "tone" doesn't count for much, imo.

I agree that it's not going to convince anyone who doesn't feel the same way, but I think "tone" is an ok way to make decisions about what you choose to pay attention to. Not that it indicates some deep badness, but it indicates a mismatch between your concerns and that of the speaker. Maybe those concerns aren't material to the subject of the talk itself, but with an infinite amount of stuff to watch, who cares?

oh sure, entirely up to personal choice

like in my experience they tend to be smug, optimistic about the future in a dismissive "pfft, cynicism? what don't you read the economist?" kind of way, have major boners for technology and often also capitalism. i think the curation of ted-talks pushes a really partic kind of complacency in face of the self-correcting market mechanism + high expectations of the fruits of technology.

they're a bit like those internet articles where there's been a "scientific breakthrough" re: cancer, or some important technology that will Make Life Better For Everyone. Everyone cheers in the comments section or whatever but you know that you will never read or hear about this theory or breakthrough again.

I bet Socrates' lectures were a lot like a TED talk. Trying to get the common man people to think about exciting new ideas and the philosophy behind every day life.

And then the proto-ilxors had him killed because he looked pretentious and said iPads could replace schools.

I watched this, then I bought the book.

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

so y'know you can springboard from these to some kind of real learnin'.

OTM, and we don't even have to appeal to some otherwise helpless "average joe" in order to make this point. No one can know about everything that's going on the world today, and therefore anyone might benefit from brief introductions to some of what's out there. Okay, fine, so TED overesells the transformative power of left-field "big ideas", but that hardly seems like the worst intellectual crime being foisted on the world atm. these things are introductions, abstracts, basically back cover blurbs. invitations to do more research, if you're really interested. and fodder for water cooler/facebook conversation if you're lazy. either way, a service to humanity.

there is a problem with your introduction to a scientific or technological field being "this idea out of left-field is come to TRANSFORM the moribund field of [blah]". viz: you aren't left with a strong understanding of The Left-Field Idea because there isn't time, you aren't left with much of an understanding of the field itself because you've only been told about aspects that relate to The Left-Field Idea, and you are, however, left with the sense that the field itself is half-dead and in need of a drastic saviour because that is the peg the whole talk is hung upon.

which is the same problem as one gets from those 'scientific breakthrough' articles, it's not unique to TED -- but i don't think, as a format, this sort of thing encourages you to learn more about the field, because you've already been told: the field is flawed in a way that needs breaking through with the Big Idea that this guy has.

a combination of cynicism and triumphalism that leaves little space for us.

lol joe did ur dad invent Ted or something

i love that Iain Mcgilchrist talk

feel like most of the 99% is not really interested in TED-style "breakthroughs" but some sustained elbow grease on the problems that are already very well known

i.e. sometimes i think TED acolytes need a stern talking to from chekhov

totally - my favourite talks are usually the really-real ones about shifted ways of looking at and facing and solving old problems without devaluing history and cultural context. my other favourite talks are about outer space.

I feel like TED is an offender, but not a bad one, of the "hey, if we listen to some guy talk about his ideas, we will get ideas of our own" convention circuit.

Still not as bad as the "I'm going to have a start-up company/website, I just have no idea what it will be yet, let's all talk over drinks after listening to someone actually successful speak" offenders of the world.

Glib, generalized accusations of glibness = projection!

But then agin, we only have limit space to write on here versus, say, publishing an essay about it.

I've prepared a glibflation chart for my tedflation presentation

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

Something else that can make a false impression of glibness is that the speakers aren't given introductions--so you have to do your own homework to know that Martin Seligman was president of the American Psychological Association, or that Moot is the guy you want giving a talk about anonymity and the internet.

every minute wasted on context is a minute that could be better spent on david brooks style union busting

I like what Jason Fried and company have produced, but their idea salesmanship is obnoxious as hell

lol joe did ur dad invent Ted or something

― max, Monday, February 20, 2012 8:00 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol i know its ridiculous ive become the defender of TED in this thread since prob on this v message bord ive cast similar shade upon its holy endeavors, i guess i feel like some of the criticism itt would be better presented as a straight diss like 'lol 1% j/o sesh w/e' than the kind of generalized intellectualisms that weve seen, cause i do think once youve taken that step it becomes kinda self parody to not engage w/the really quite rigorous work many of these people have done

TED chucklebutt

i have to admit that for me "ideas worth spreading" has the effect of provoking the unfortunate mental image of a shovel stuck into a large pile of manure

or at least acknowledge that some of the speakers have done serious work and deep thinking

just to be clear i dont really mean to talk shit on the speakers themselves just on 'ted culture' and the kind of people i notice sharing ted talks

full disclosure i shared a ted talk the other month

imagineering http://www.easyfreesmileys.com/smileys/free-sexy-smileys-947.gif

i guess its somewhat difficult to successfully generalize abt this thing that has hundreds of speakers who are each different people

xp SEE

Like I said, it's like a cargo cult among some people where there's a belief that having smart people talk about their ideas will give you ideas.

btw I am going to go watch a few TED talks today for "inspiration"

i do think theres something v now abt ted, like if i were writing a novel id want to hit upon the sort of information idealism that flows through ted and freakanomics and w/e, theres a level of irony because for mostly its just stuff to talk abt at parties

this all sounds horrible

Like I said, it's like a cargo cult among some people where there's a belief that having smart people talk about their ideas will give you ideas.

― valleys of your mind (mh), Monday, February 20, 2012 11:13 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

eh this is just base cynicism, cause the vast majority of people who watch ted arent doing it cause they want to have omg awesome idea, theyre just curious, and also engaging w/smart peoples ideas will often give you ideas! all of this is just like perfectly natural being a person things

I'm sad I lost max in this battle for ilx hearts and minds but imo once you have become a ted speaker it has ruined you as a human being forever, even cool people like nate silver or david byrne. everytime I learn something new I make sure the thing I'm learning about wasn't shared on ted, if it was I try to figure out a way for the opposite to be true.

when i learn something new i try to not share it at all because people can get a lil weird sometimes

Eazy, I enjoyed your talk. I'm really interested in relational aesthetics and socially driven art experiences, both as a participant and as an artist. I agree that the talkback and the post-show discussion are often a little awkward, and with the exception of a theatrical workshop open to the public, sometimes of limited use. I feel like a lot of arts organizations are experimenting with experiences incorporating or built around organic social interaction. A lot of this is being driven by independent artists in our local arts scene.

On a related subject, have you had the opportunity to participate in a Gob Squad, Blast Thoery, or Rimini Protokoll performance? Some great stuff.

I'm sympathetic within my own lol disciplines about the accusations of learning-lite but at the same time it seems so weirdly grad-school to get mad about something like this stuff. if people spend an hour hearing a lite version of important shit that glosses over stuff that'd cause them to tune out if it came up, that's still better than nothing, which is the default. it's like: ideally, your kids don't watch any TV at all, it's not really good for 'em. guess what, they're gonna watch tv. might as well have some ok TV. is it going to be Really Good TV? of course not, you can't really do much with an hourlong program, but what the hell, it beats sniffing glue

relatedly, I turned down a TEDx talk earlier this year because I'm too busy to put together a talk & the objections people have to this are exactly why I wouldn't presume to squash the issues that're important to me into a brief talk from a dude (me) who doesn't really know that much anyway

I am looking at the list of TED fellows and everyone on it is alive except for MLK

http://www.ted.com/speakers?orderedby=TALKPOSTED&page=45

it's like when mormons baptize you posthumously except w/ conference speaking as a religion

always kinda felt that way about: http://www.egs.edu/

look at the faculty bar on the right

if mlk were alive today he would def have a laser pointer and a headset and the freakeconomics guys would help him figure out new smartphone apps w/ which we can defeat racism

btw outside of my claimed cynicism, I am mainly annoyed when TED doesn't go into detail! I kind of wish there was a built-in curriculum of long-form articles and the worst is when someone is very energetic but doesn't pull deeper content. You can give a quick talk that the layperson will get while still hinting at the depth of expertise.

I would watch the hell out of aero's talk, should it happen, because his ilx posting style betrays an ability to draw on a depth of experience to insert deep zings into content.

A friend and I used to joke about going to that EGS thingy that Mordy linked because, wow, what a list. Recently it's really seemed that it is a front for people to extract money from being known intellectuals.

yeah EGS always seemed like such a scam

i mean, dj spooky! get real everyone

Plus also fuck a freakanomics.

I saw one of the founders of this thing speak: http://alldaybuffet.org/

The Feast convenes the most remarkable entrepreneurs, radicals, doers and thinkers who are revolutionizing the way things work for the betterment of humanity.

Probably a good time, but $$ and I am not sure about conferences that bill themselves as "salons"

tbh I have enjoyed some local salons that are v entertaining and deliver. Not really TED style, but not wholly unrelated.

I guess it really depends on who shows and what kind of community it is. I'd enjoy a salon with ilxors.

TED basically makes me feel like Dr Morbius

http://gastronongrata.blogspot.com/

http://www.salonsaloon.info/

Plus also fuck a freakanomics.

― Unleash the Chang (he did what!) (Austerity Ponies), Monday, February 20, 2012 11:41 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

freakanomics is in fact actual bullshit

lag∞n needs a whole boxful of OTMs here

think I just officially 'won' the debate

the objections people have to this are exactly why I wouldn't presume to squash the issues that're important to me into a brief talk from a dude (me) who doesn't really know that much anyway

this is pretty much exactly why we need an underrated aerosmith to give one of these things!

u should hold yr own tedx at yr house, just u n areo tedxing

btw I watched the bjarke ingels ted talk this morning and there was a moment for the "is it racist?" thread! dude totally had a comedic gong noise as a punchline after talking about a project in china

Anyone feel like listing off some of these TED videos that are worth it? I have a few I want to watch and might as well make a week of this shit.

this is pretty much exactly why we need an underrated aerosmith to give one of these things!

"Why You Should Definitely Not Expect Me To Say Anything Worthwhile During the Next Hour-Plus," a talk by Underrated Aerosmith Bootlegs I Have Owned

That's pretty good. It takes some people only about 20 minutes to say nothing worthwhile!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpjVgF5JDq8

the tone of TED can also be "What If Everything We Know About _____ Is Wrong?" pop iconoclasm, lets turn conventional wisdom upside down stuff. I think that's what it has in common with freaknomics and is what irks people.

everytime I learn something new I make sure the thing I'm learning about wasn't shared on ted

I do exactly this, but with QI. I think that show is related to this discussion somehow.

Like, something to do with people being smart by proxy? You know the kind, who have a world of facts at their fingertips, but take them away from an internet connection or ask them to develop a thought or bring ideas together for themselves and they fall to pieces.

Gah some of u guyz can be so damn cynical sometimes :(

hey, I feel that way about myself when I go through a lurking phase on ILX, where all I do is read smart people making smart points and feel as if I'm learning something when actually I'm not learning very much at all. It's easier to listen to a TED talk then give one.

ILX is excellent in that it's participatory, though. I'm much more of a consumer than a participator and could get sucked into the world of TED. Here, I can learn things and then type the well-earned "otm" into the text box.

otm

lol

This piece is a good reminder that Davos is pretty much the model for TED, without offering up the talks and panels:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/03/05/120305fa_fact_paumgarten?currentPage=all

how to tie your shoes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAFcV7zuUDA

http://nymag.com/news/features/ted-conferences-2012-3/

starts off weak/cheesy, picks up

yeah that's a good read

"Summit Series is the anti-Aspen, targeting twentysomething entrepreneurs, 1,000 of whom last year paid $3,500 to spend four days on a cruise to the Bahamas. The event featured glow sticks, condoms, Russell Simmons–led yoga, a shark-tagging excursion with Timothy Ferriss, and talks on philanthrocapitalism by people like Richard Branson and Peter Thiel."

I'm not saying you could have made the world a better place with one well-aimed torpedo... I'm just saying.

Sounds like a pretty crazy time and I bet Richard Branson knows how to party. I'd also like to listen to Peter Thiel on "philanthrocapitalism" and how that relates to his libertarian island nation. Possibly not for too long, though.

http://i43.tinypic.com/22mj5e.png

hah! beat me to it.

Ridley Scott likes TED:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7YK2uKxil8

what is that scary red green-eyed creature?!?

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/03/ted_a_publishing_platform.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-AWAREN-_-GANS_POST-_-030512

i defy anyone not to loathe everything about this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_6SfMZxoLc

it's like it was engineered by robots to cause maximum hatred

Has anyone here ever been to the Summit Series?

https://twitter.com/#!/RandomTEDTalks

Starts a bit glib, but actually a nice talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IERy6VR0tM

Too Hot for TED: Income Inequality

There’s one idea, though, that TED’s organizers recently decided was too controversial to spread: the notion that widening income inequality is a bad thing for America, and that as a result, the rich should pay more in taxes.

TED organizers invited a multimillionaire Seattle venture capitalist named Nick Hanauer – the first nonfamily investor in Amazon.com – to give a speech on March 1 at their TED University conference. Inequality was the topic – specifically, Hanauer’s contention that the middle class, and not wealthy innovators like himself, are America’s true “job creators.”

“We’ve had it backward for the last 30 years,” he said. “Rich businesspeople like me don’t create jobs. Rather they are a consequence of an ecosystemic feedback loop animated by middle-class consumers, and when they thrive, businesses grow and hire, and owners profit. That’s why taxing the rich to pay for investments that benefit all is a great deal for both the middle class and the rich.”

You can’t find that speech online. TED officials told Hanauer initially they were eager to distribute it. “I want to put this talk out into the world!” one of them wrote him in an e-mail in late April. But early this month they changed course, telling Hanauer that his remarks were too “political” and too controversial for posting.

Other TED talks posted online veer sharply into controversial and political territory, including NASA scientist James Hansen comparing climate change to an asteroid barreling toward Earth, and philanthropist Melinda Gates pushing for more access to contraception in the developing world.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/17/the_10_ted_talks_they_should_have_censored

TED is there to make you feel great about working within the status quo! Actually going to the thing is relatively exclusive, so why the fuck would they want to spread the idea that exclusive groups are not what's really influential?

xp watched one of those talks (Jane McGonigal), it was not the hilariously appalling embarrassingment they made it out to be.

They didn't ban his speech because it was about income inequality, they banned it because it sucked.

The subject isn't "too hot for ted" - http://blog.ted.com/2012/05/17/playlist-the-roots-and-effects-of-income-equality/

http://tedchris.posterous.com/131417405 <- read this

Well, except . . . http://roundtable.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/more-on-ted-entrepreneurs-woul.php

I agree with your language about ecosystems, and your dismissal of some of the mechanistic economy orthodoxy, yet many of your own statements seem to go further than those arguments justify

But even if the talk was rated a home run, we couldn't release it, because it would be unquestionably regarded as out and out political. We're in the middle of an election year in the US. Your argument comes down firmly on the side of one party. And you even reference that at the start of the talk. TED is nonpartisan and is fighting a constant battle with TEDx organizers to respect that principle.  (This aspect wasn't helped by the news that David was planning to mobilize Move On to distribute the talk.  If it wasn't political before, it certainly would have been then.) 

idk, unless you are purposefully politically naive, you're going to have an opinion about the whys and hows of income inequality, and will probably reference ways to fix it, and all of the thoughts I'm aware of have inherently partisan viewpoints.

I haven't heard a good conservative-perspective "this is why income inequality is at this level, and this is why (or this is why it's ok)" speech that doesn't completely piss me off! I welcome anyone who can point me to one.

http://scientopia.org/blogs/goodmath/2012/06/03/numeric-pareidolia-and-vortex-math/

whoops.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annetrubek/oh-god-ted-makes-a-book

lol.

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/terminal05/2012/6/28/11/enhanced-buzz-11596-1340898404-22.jpg

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

ohgod the excerpts from that book

this book sounds retarded

also don't neglect to read the one s. clover posted

I felt kind of bad that I was mocking TED at my friend who was asked to write a blog post for a local TEDx site. But I can see where he'd appreciate some of it because he's got an architecture background, and holy shit does that TED book sound like some of the crap that architects write.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDHET3aCI2U

nope

the tools and the passion, at the same damn time
imagine the future and the past, at the same damn time
wonder insight ideas, at the same damn time
will you dream with me, will you build with me, at the same damn time
at the same damn time, at the same damn time
at the same damn time, at the same damn time
at the same damn time, at the same damn time
ted time

Via Whiney. Brooklyn's cycle is now complete:

http://www.brooklynbowl.com/event/189045?utm_source=MEL&utm_medium=20281

"What if I told you that everything you *thought* you knew about TED Talks -- namely that they were of some intellectual substance -- was wrong??"

Do you guys not see that we are moving beyond SmartPhones and SmartComputers, into a technological and -- dare I say it? -- moral breakthrough that will bring us all SmartLives? That information is a friend and ignorance is on the retreat in all four corners of the world. But before we talk about how society, our society, is smarter than ever: let me tell you about the stabbing I witnessed at a Black Friday sale this weekend, and a quick review of Ke$ha's new album.

is the signature sound of TED uptalk.

TEDx talks are the user-generated someecards of the lecture circuit

This article has it right:

TED is no longer a responsible curator of ideas “worth spreading.” Instead it has become something ludicrous, and a little sinister.

Today TED is an insatiable kingpin of international meme laundering—a place where ideas, regardless of their quality, go to seek celebrity, to live in the form of videos, tweets, and now e-books. In the world of TED—or, to use their argot, in the TED “ecosystem”—books become talks, talks become memes, memes become projects, projects become talks, talks become books—and so it goes ad infinitum in the sizzling Stakhanovite cycle of memetics, until any shade of depth or nuance disappears into the virtual void. Richard Dawkins, the father of memetics, should be very proud. Perhaps he can explain how “ideas worth spreading” become “ideas no footnotes can support.”

from: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/105703/the-naked-and-the-ted-khanna

http://www.theonion.com/articles/ayman-alzawahiri-delivers-tedtalk-on-changing-face,31869/

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