TED Talks

[mary poppins]

I like listening to TED talks once in a while. Do you listen to them? If so, do you have any favorites or recommendations?


http://www.ted.com/talks

 

[vc10um]

My husband has really gotten into these recently! I think my favorite I watched with him was done by an architect from Copenhagen...

 

[Skippy123]

Hi!!! I was thinking of starting a thread on TED talks! I LOVE TED talks; I was on a trip to Alaska and downloaded some TED talks to my ipod! I am so glad I did it because I did this boat ride I wasn't too crazy about doing and for part of the boat ride you don't see much so on the way back I watched some of them! The company my husband works for encourages their employees to watch them from time to time!

 

[ksinger]

I've watched a very few talks, a couple of years ago - Sam Harris as I recall, and watched one just last year by a woman (don't recall the topic clearly - something very inward-ish as I recall) but was unimpressed with that one - I found her repetitive and a bit smarmy.

And at the risk of being a big fat downer, oddly enough I read this piece at Salon this very morning.
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/21/dont_mention_income_inequality_please_were_entrepreneurs/singleton/?tw_p=twt

 

[justme1]

I love this one http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html

 

[Skippy123]

I love this one http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html

off to watch it!

 

[Haven]

I love TED talks! I've had a crush on Sir Ken Robinson for a few years now because of one of his amazing TED talks.

 

[Skippy123]

I watched a TED Talks on What how we eat can make a difference; fascinating research going on regarding angiogenesis.
http://www.ted.com/talks/william_li.html

 

[sonnyjane]

Love them! Been listening for a while now

 

[AGBF]

I've watched a very few talks, a couple of years ago - Sam Harris as I recall, and watched one just last year by a woman (don't recall the topic clearly - something very inward-ish as I recall) but was unimpressed with that one - I found her repetitive and a bit smarmy.

And at the risk of being a big fat downer, oddly enough I read this piece at Salon this very morning.
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/21/dont_mention_income_inequality_please_were_entrepreneurs/singleton/?tw_p=twt

I watched an entertaining TED "talk" by an Iranian comedian performing in the Middle East, perhaps in Qatar, then read this on-line article. I am glad you posted it, ksinger, and don't think you are a "downer". I was very put off by the more serious TED talks, which is why I chose to watch the comedian. I cannot imagine getting a huge amount of insight and wisdom in a very short speech, although I have to admit that President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was succinct without being meaningless. There was just something about the TED talks that made them look less-than-GettysburgAddressish to me! Your link provided some ideas as to why that might be the case.

Deb/AGBF

 

[LaraOnline]

Interesting critique, but I found a key assumption of the critique a little 'off':

Anderson cited, specifically, his concern that “a lot of business managers and entrepreneurs would feel insulted” by the argument that multimillionaire executives hire more employees only as a “last resort.”

I think Anderson was right to be concerned about the speechmaker's attitude at this point. It's an out look ('hiring more employees only as a last resort') that is fundamentally the opposite of everything the brand of TED seems to stand for.

I mean, we run a small business. We don't think like this. ('last resort') And we live in nickle-and-dime Australia! We hire because we have a good idea, we want to reach out and communicate with our client community better, we want to offer genuinely better service to them. And then, through that, build up a stronger business.

The current Australian government and indeed the dominant culture of our country would think like this ('hiring last resort') but it doesn't make it at all true.

True entrepreneurs see themselves as risk takers, and as generous and generally optimistic people, sharing the wealth or at least the opportunity for personal development with others. For themselves and their own private financial goals, certainly at a bare minimum, they would be comfortable spending - even spending money they have not yet earned if necessary, through loans, to earn.

If non-entrepreneurial types, looking at successful businesses, only think about the cost side of things, it's not fair to say entrepreneurial types only think about the cost side, too.

No wonder Anderson didn't like the speech. That point seemed out of touch with modern concepts of entrepreneurialism.
TED's more Bill Gates than Scrooge, surely.

 

[bluebirrrd]

This is my absolute favorite TED talk and may actually be responsible for changing my life, lol. It's helped give me the courage to make a very big decision.

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

 

[Skippy123]

This is my absolute favorite TED talk and may actually be responsible for changing my life, lol. It's helped give me the courage to make a very big decision.

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

he sounds interesting! I like what he says "sameness is boring" I love the banana wall on self Confidence.

 

[rubybeth]

I've watched many, many TED talks. A favorite is Nick Hanauer on income inequality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx2Y5HhplI

 

[mary poppins]

I just watched Monica Lewinsky's TED Talk, "The Price of Shame", and thought it was really good. She's come a long way since the whole Clinton debacle.

https://www.ted.com/talks/monica_lewinsky_the_price_of_shame?language=en

 

[redwood66]

Love TED Talks. We try to come up with good ones for the office and watch once a month.

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

A great one for educators and parents:

https://www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

This is a neat one on music as well:

https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_gupta

 

[december-fire]

Warning: this one has no educational value.

But it made me laugh.


"This is what happens when you reply to spam email."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QdPW8JrYzQ

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I like the mixture of serious, funny, unexpected and, yes, some rather fringe point of views from TED talk. I don't expect an indepth look at any subject, but a more personal take that often leads me to read more about a person, a line of research, etc.

One of my favourites is Andrew Solomon's talk on depression. "The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality" makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[Karl_K]

I try but they put me to sleep.
I should look and see if they offer transcripts I could covert for my kindle.

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

This is a nice talk: Keep Happy All -

https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling?language=en

 

[mary poppins]

Thank you for some great suggestions. I have watched many of the talks mentioned in this thread and have found them interesting, insightful, thought provoking and/or entertaining.

Karl, though the talks are 20 minutes or less, it can be difficult to pay attention or stay awake the whole time when someone is talking that long. Some talks also have transcripts.

My husband has really gotten into these recently! I think my favorite I watched with him was done by an architect from Copenhagen...

vc10um, I found it really interesting to see and hear how the buildings Bjarke Ingels described evolved. The design concepts and what they incorporated were neat, and I loved the artistic and eco-friendly aspects. I also enjoyed listening to his accent.

I was very excited yesterday when I received an email of breaking local news saying he has been retained to design my local football team's new stadium and a local school, and his firm is working with the Smithsonian on a 20-year master plan for museums on the National Mall.

I though you and your DH might be interested in knowing he is going to be featured as a "Starchitect" on tomorrow night's episode of 60 Minutes.

 

[mary poppins]

Logged on to YouTube a bit ago and this interesting talk full of truths was on the front page. Very interesting to have life perspective as a man and then a woman.

Have you watched any interesting TED talks lately? Do tell!

 

[arkieb1]

Warning: this one has no educational value.

But it made me laugh.


"This is what happens when you reply to spam email."

I'd never seen that before (it was really funny) is it terrible to admit I do this too like that guy, I usually ask the scammers to send me money if they say they have a sick or dying relative then I tell them I have a sick or dying pet that needs medical insurance or that has huge bills and they should send me money.

And cold callers that phone me to sell me something I talk in bad Asian if they are not Asian or just a pigeon English or I try and sell them something, they usually get so frustrated about me wasting their time 99% of the time they hang up. Twice I've almost convinced Australian cold callers to buy products from me.

It's probably wicked but I figure if they are wasting my time then at least I'm going to have a bit of fun wasting theirs.