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The irony is that Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely are famous for their pop-sci/TED talks studying dishonesty. Turns out they were dishonest themselves. https://w

The irony is that Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely are famous for their pop-sci/TED talks studying dishonesty. Turns out they were dishonest themselves. https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190568472/dan-ariely-francesca-gino-harvard-dishonesty-fabricated-data https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190568472/dan-ariely-frances...

hughesjj 2y ago
I'm at the point where if I see it in a TED talk I'm assuming it's a bullshit grifter
- usea 2y ago
  Even 8 years ago that was a safe view to hold.
  - hughesjj 2y ago
    Indeed. By 2016 I think I had moved from "wow tedx is junk but official Ted still has some good stuff" to "man even the official ones really are more hype than substance are are in dire need of quality control"
- hilux 2y ago
  Me too. Same for pretty much any "scientist" on NPR, or with a popular book. Not EVERY one is a hack or a fraud, but enough are that as a group, they're not trustworthy. That's a big chunk of my adult life I need to forget, because I was so into the broad field of applied social science, Ariely in particular. It's a real shame.
- zo1 2y ago
  I blocked the TED channel on YouTube a few years back as it was getting bad. They first diluted their "brand" or quality with TEDx, and it's been downhill since as they've been scraping the bottom of the barrel and tried to "scale" or "franchise". Happens everytime, growth at all costs. The only way to stop it is to have passionate leaders who care more about the goal than the money. Unfortunately, usually by the time these leaders have established their company they are also on a downward life trajectory in terms of years left, so they switch to "extraction" mode.
  - Suppafly 2y ago
    I don't have a problem with the concept of locally branded TED talks under the TEDx umbrella, but I do have a problem of TEDx talks pretending that they are genuine TED talks. Generally actual TED talks have some quality checks built in, they sometimes allow garbage through, but it's far more rigid than the stuff you see at the TEDx talks.
    - guappa 2y ago
      I presume you just need to pay to get up on stage.
      - Suppafly 2y ago
        I don't even think you pay. The x ones are just local ones put on random organizations. They may pay something for the tedx branding, but I believe organization itself decides who to let speak.
- protomolecule 2y ago
  Even if it is a Nobel prize winner like Jennifer Doudna?
  - hughesjj 2y ago
    I don't know who that is but applying my heuristic, yes, I'd assume so. It's a heuristic, not a conviction. Generally I don't bother to listen to the TED talks anymore and I'm much more distrustful in my priors than "normal" for anyone I see giving one. That said it's not like I'm going to dismiss someone with otherwise solid credentials out of hand just because they gave a TED talk, but it still lowers my trust. Really depends on what you're trying to use the info for. I'm not a researcher so it's not like this affects my day job, and if I was I'd like to think I'd dive into the sources rather than ever just taking someone for their word. That's like the equivalent of copy pasting some code you found on discord into your production app.
  - guappa 2y ago
    Well the guy who invented lobotomy got one of those. Or the guy who invented microcredit. To not even venture in the peace nobel prizes area, where getting one is probably indicative of being evil.
    - adastra22 2y ago
      I mean the Nobel committee gave the Peace prize to Kissinger. I’m not sure they’re a good bellwether for anything.
      - seanhunter 2y ago
        Tom Lehrer famously retired when Kissinger got the peace prize declaring satire to be dead. The really funny one to me is they gave literature to Winston Churchill because they thought they probably couldn't give him peace, then when Kissinger came up they thought "Why not?"
        FergusArgyll 2y ago
yard2010 2y ago
I would argue: that's just the tip of the iceberg. This is how it works. In a system in which there are external motivations (power, money, number of citations etc.) it's a problem of incentives, and should be solved by putting the emphasis on other values, as a culture. What you describe is a symptom. Ofc, I'm not trying to defend such behavior.
visarga 2y ago
Maybe they were doing "first-person research" on dishonesty. /s
dylanmarshall 2y ago
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hughesjj 2y ago

I'm at the point where if I see it in a TED talk I'm assuming it's a bullshit grifter

usea 2y ago
Even 8 years ago that was a safe view to hold.
- hughesjj 2y ago
  Indeed. By 2016 I think I had moved from "wow tedx is junk but official Ted still has some good stuff" to "man even the official ones really are more hype than substance are are in dire need of quality control"
hilux 2y ago
Me too. Same for pretty much any "scientist" on NPR, or with a popular book. Not EVERY one is a hack or a fraud, but enough are that as a group, they're not trustworthy. That's a big chunk of my adult life I need to forget, because I was so into the broad field of applied social science, Ariely in particular. It's a real shame.
zo1 2y ago
I blocked the TED channel on YouTube a few years back as it was getting bad. They first diluted their "brand" or quality with TEDx, and it's been downhill since as they've been scraping the bottom of the barrel and tried to "scale" or "franchise". Happens everytime, growth at all costs. The only way to stop it is to have passionate leaders who care more about the goal than the money. Unfortunately, usually by the time these leaders have established their company they are also on a downward life trajectory in terms of years left, so they switch to "extraction" mode.
- Suppafly 2y ago
  I don't have a problem with the concept of locally branded TED talks under the TEDx umbrella, but I do have a problem of TEDx talks pretending that they are genuine TED talks. Generally actual TED talks have some quality checks built in, they sometimes allow garbage through, but it's far more rigid than the stuff you see at the TEDx talks.
  - guappa 2y ago
    I presume you just need to pay to get up on stage.
    - Suppafly 2y ago
      I don't even think you pay. The x ones are just local ones put on random organizations. They may pay something for the tedx branding, but I believe organization itself decides who to let speak.
protomolecule 2y ago
Even if it is a Nobel prize winner like Jennifer Doudna?
- hughesjj 2y ago
  I don't know who that is but applying my heuristic, yes, I'd assume so. It's a heuristic, not a conviction. Generally I don't bother to listen to the TED talks anymore and I'm much more distrustful in my priors than "normal" for anyone I see giving one. That said it's not like I'm going to dismiss someone with otherwise solid credentials out of hand just because they gave a TED talk, but it still lowers my trust. Really depends on what you're trying to use the info for. I'm not a researcher so it's not like this affects my day job, and if I was I'd like to think I'd dive into the sources rather than ever just taking someone for their word. That's like the equivalent of copy pasting some code you found on discord into your production app.
- guappa 2y ago
  Well the guy who invented lobotomy got one of those. Or the guy who invented microcredit. To not even venture in the peace nobel prizes area, where getting one is probably indicative of being evil.
  - adastra22 2y ago
    I mean the Nobel committee gave the Peace prize to Kissinger. I’m not sure they’re a good bellwether for anything.
    - seanhunter 2y ago
      Tom Lehrer famously retired when Kissinger got the peace prize declaring satire to be dead. The really funny one to me is they gave literature to Winston Churchill because they thought they probably couldn't give him peace, then when Kissinger came up they thought "Why not?"
      - FergusArgyll 2y ago

yard2010 2y ago

I would argue: that's just the tip of the iceberg. This is how it works. In a system in which there are external motivations (power, money, number of citations etc.) it's a problem of incentives, and should be solved by putting the emphasis on other values, as a culture. What you describe is a symptom. Ofc, I'm not trying to defend such behavior.

visarga 2y ago

Maybe they were doing "first-person research" on dishonesty. /s

dylanmarshall 2y ago

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