8 ms·

The Church of TED

236 points by dcre 12y ago

MrMeker 12y ago
I have a lot of the same feelings about TED. The presenters come across as arrogant and usually misrepresent their project as ready to work, when in fact all they have is one dubious artifact. "Oil Companies hate her: One TED presenter's idea will eliminate the world's oil usage."
- larrys 12y ago
  I remember a similar theme way back in the 70's being used in the rear pages of auto magazines to sell some secret additive to getting high mileage in your car. In a similar way, if something was a great idea, and could improve mileage, the oil companies with their power would kill it. (Or the entrepreneur had different variations). Or that they were in cahoots with the auto makers. Haven't researched it but wouldn't be surprised if history showed this existed literally back to when cars first appeared.
  - WalterBright 12y ago
    > if something was a great idea, and could improve mileage, the oil companies with their power would kill it. This is incorrect by inspection. As my father (Air Force) told me, if there was an invention that substantially improved mileage, the military would be all over it. They would not let anyone stand in their way. (Fuel consumption is a severe limiting factor in military machines.)
    - larrys 12y ago
      An urban legend for sure, this version also claimed the government was culpable: (Towards bottom of page) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_saving_device http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_saving_device
  - teddyh 12y ago
    There are, basically, four things which will improve your gas costs, in rough order of decreasing effectiveness: 1. Move closer to where you work: (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-of-commuting/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-of-c...) 2. Use a bicycle more often, every time it’s possible. (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safest-form-of-transportation/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safe...) 3. Switch your car to a more sensible car, which also should have better mileage: (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/02/car-strategies-to-cut-your-costs-in-four-or-more/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/02/car-strategies-to-...), (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/09/04/its-never-too-late-to-ditch-your-gas-guzzler/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/09/04/its-never-too-late...) 4. Learn to drive better. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-efficient_driving https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-efficient_driving)
    - larrys 12y ago
      "move closer to where you work" My office is about a 3 minute drive from where I live. The biggest improvement isn't the gas cost it's the fact that I pickup an immediate 1.5 to 2 hours a day in time from not having to commute!)
- dscpls 12y ago
  You write that as if it's an example of an actual TED talk title. How about you make your point with a real example. I haven't seen anything as misrepresenting as this.
  - hueving 12y ago
    Al Gore's talk was missing anything meaningful or new.
  - cma 12y ago
    Crows that clean up trash
- hackinthebochs 12y ago
  I swear "arrogant" is the catch-all term to use to describe smart people you don't like. It's lost all meaning and so I find it hard to take any critique seriously where arrogance is central to its thesis.
  - iolothebard 12y ago
    >having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities. Until they actually deliver, I'd say it holds true for most people. Myself included. However, to achieve anything in life, you kind of have to be arrogant IMO. Because to believe in yourself without any tangible proof of your beliefs, is on its face arrogance (IMO). I think self belief/confidence can be misconstrued as arrogance, but we're really splitting hairs IMO. It's mostly the delivery of said belief that we judge people on. And judging is pointless as well. Some of us need to pump ourselves up in a world full of people that work to achieve little on their own to keep motivation going.
    - hackinthebochs 12y ago
      >However, to achieve anything in life, you kind of have to be arrogant IMO. Because to believe in yourself without any tangible proof of your beliefs, is on its face arrogance (IMO). I completely agree with this, which is exactly why I find arrogance as the go-to criticism for smart people out there doing stuff to be extremely odd, and rather telling about the speaker.
- welly 12y ago
  That sounds more like a Buzzfeed headline than TED.
cs702 12y ago
"TED, with its airy promises, sounds a lot like a secular religion ... The TED style, with its promise of progress, is as manipulative as the orthodoxies it is intended to upset." Many (though not all!) TED presentations showcase individuals who think highly of themselves explaining in digestible soundbites how they're going to make the world a better place, in front of live audiences who have a high opinion of themselves, for video distribution to online audiences who want to think highly of themselves. It may not be a religion, but TED definitely has a cult-ish feel to it.
- cheatsheet 12y ago
  Can't you frame every social organization in this kind of light? Stuff that people spend their lives on - they make it sound simple so other people understand it - this forms a 'social group dynamic' through the action of communication or information transfer. If other people understand it, then they participate and contribute to the growth of 'stuff'.
  - hawkice 12y ago
    > Can't you frame every social organization in this kind of light? This reminds me of the comment I recall from 'patio11's podcast, someone was talking about how their sales pitch uses a lot of spam-associated techniques like suggestive rhetorical questions ("Are you happy with...", etc.), and was asked (in order to give structure to the guest's pitch) something to the effect of, "What separates you from the spammers?" and his answer was, essentially, nothing except I deliver the goods. I think in general this is the only sane answer to this style of question. Can't you frame every organization as a cult? Probably, if you word it carefully. Not the right question on either end, really. Does TED deliver the goods... I don't think so. If these people truly have deep knowledge of their fields, <20 minutes is not long enough to really communicate that in general, and from the talks I've seen, while engaging and enjoyable, are not really informative. On a higher level, it's 2015 -- if I really want to change someone's brain so that it _gets_ my field, there will be e.g. interactive elements, which are largely missing from TED talks.
    - 12y ago
zf00002 12y ago
geez I had no idea it cost $8,500 to attend
- cpncrunch 12y ago
  I'm struggling to understand why anyone would pay this. What is the perceived value?
  - hueving 12y ago
    The sense of smugness you will achieve is worth it to some people.
  - gr33nman 12y ago
    The value is in networking (meeting other like-minded people who can afford the $8,500 price of admission).
    - cpncrunch 12y ago
      You're probably right, although I'm thinking that there must be more efficient ways of networking. I was considering going to Google I/O this year for the networking, but have decided that it's probably not worth the $3k it would cost me. Perhaps someone needs to come up with a social networking tool for people like HN readers.
discardorama 12y ago
FTA: "TED talks routinely present problems of huge scale and scope — we imprison too many people; the rain forest is dying; look at all this garbage; we’re unhappy; we have Big Data and aren’t sure what to do with it — then wrap up tidily and tinily. Do this. Stop doing that. Buy an app that will help you do this other thing." ... and at the bottom: Megan Hustad is the author of “How to Be Useful” .... From it's blurb: "There's a lot of career advice out there. Much of it dumb. But what if someone read all the advice books -- over a hundred years' worth -- and put all the good ideas in one place? Could you finally escape the cube? Stop mailing things? Be happier?" I dunno, but Ms Hustad is doing exactly what the TED talks she derides are doing. Maybe she's upset because she has never been invited to talk at TED? I have never looked at TED talks as a solution to anything; to me, they're just interesting people talking about what they do.
- frozenport 12y ago
  >>they're just interesting people talking about what they do. I thought this, but then there were a few TED talks on fields that touch my work. I was furious that TED would provide a venue for charlatans. In some ways the people who promise the most, and whose can be boiled down to sound bites are rarely the folks who do the interesting work.
  - larrys 12y ago
    Agree. Talking a good game and doing are two different things. (That doesn't mean however that it's not possible to do both). People for sure go for pithy sound bites and easily digestible (with no way to verify) information thrown at them. Typically with little skepticism. Plus, there is a bit of the claque (esq.) effect in play I'm sure when you are in the audience. [1] [1] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/119756/claque http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/119756/claque
  - derriz 12y ago
    Had the exact same experience. I had assumed TED talks provided easily digested summaries of various scientific, economic, social, etc. fields. Until I saw a talk about my current field of work. Charlatan is too kind a description - as it suggests some sort of cynical intelligence behind the act; the speaker was simply an idiotic clown. He hadn't a clue - yet the audience treated his completely mistaken analogies as profundities. That was the end of TED for me.
carsongross 12y ago
I will say, this TED talk improved my life immeasurably, if only for two minutes and fifty eight seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tom6_ceTu9s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tom6_ceTu9s
- delish 12y ago
  I watch this Reggie Watts talk when I need a pick-me-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHK_r9RXTc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHK_r9RXTc
  - adriand 12y ago
    Simply brilliant. I understand some of the criticism of TED but I've seen stuff - like this clip - that is so damn good, I don't really see what all the fuss is about. And since we're talking about Reggie Watts, I have to share my fave of his: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bLFO4ZV0i4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bLFO4ZV0i4
- sb057 12y ago
  I'm personally a bigger fan of how Sam Hyde explains how the future will change within our lifetimes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cflCyyEA2I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cflCyyEA2I
- ffn 12y ago
  Hey... wait a minute... something seems oddly off about that Ted Talk. I mean it's really deep and my life was irreversibly changed afterwards, sure, but something seemed off about that particular Ted Talk you linked.
ianstallings 12y ago
Eddie Huang had an interview with Joe Rogan where he talked about the behind the scenes weirdness and cultish feeling he felt as a speaker when he tried to leave.
- bramgg 12y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLMBdnbXk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLMBdnbXk
  - smutticus 12y ago
    This video changed my attitude about TED when I initially saw it.
  - MollyR 12y ago
    This was very surprising to me. I'm glad you linked it. I have definitely changed my mind about ted. The fact they forced Eddie to have a roommate is weird, and creepy. It seems like humans just can't live with out religion.
    - ianstallings 12y ago
      I know that story just gets weirder as he goes along. The part about them telling him to pack a poncho because it was going to rain was too good.
- fadsasda432 12y ago
  Thank you, that was an interesting talk. It is also hilarious how they discuss the problem of multiplying 2000 * 8000, but I blame the herb.
delish 12y ago
Alan Kay has an apropos quote[0]: > This [The fact that science is a human-driven, human-invented process] is hard to explain to K-8 science teachers, who think that science is a new religion with new truths to be learned. They think it's their job to dispense these catechisms. [emphasis added] I think viewers of TED talks are looking to be told what to believe. I'm not at all moralizing--I sometimes watch TED talks--but I do think science-as-religion (a bunch of facts or truths to be memorized or internalized) is a distortion that "opiates the people," so to speak. [0] Is it really complex? Or did we just make it complicated? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubaX1Smg6pY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubaX1Smg6pY
- dbenhur 12y ago
  But I Fuckin' Love Science https://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience https://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- bloaf 12y ago
  I think that in science there is an inherent tension between what scientists know and what what the public knows. Scientific knowledge is covered in asterisks. To read and understand science typically requires an extensive amount of background knowledge; without that it is very easy to misinterpret the strength, significance, or applicability of a scientific finding. Many of the asterisks are themselves scientific conclusions with their own set of asterisks. The public, at least in areas which are not immediately relevant to daily life, cannot be assumed to have that background knowledge. Therefore, the tension is essentially this: How can scientists make people aware of (or interested in) scientific knowledge if they have to strip out all the asterisks when talking to them? Making science into a catechism is simply one solution to the above problem. Ignore the asterisks and turn the fundamental findings of physics and chemistry into dogma and dispense it as gospel truth. I actually am somewhat o.k. with this. Sure, Joe Public might come away with an over-simplified and over-confident knowledge about what science says, but I think that a clumsy knowledge of scientific facts is better than the impression that scientific knowledge is arcane and out of reach. After all, it is highly unlikely that Joey P. will find himself in a situation where it is very important for him to really understand all the subtleties behind his k-8 scientific knowledge, but that knowledge is likely to come in handy. The only problems with the science-as-religion solution are a potential "loss of faith" and the perception of arbitrarity with regards to scientific findings. The first can easily happen when someone learns about a new finding which contradicts the dogmatic version of science but is entirely consistent with the heavily asterisked actual scientific consensus. The second problem is basically "rejectability;" if people think that science is a set of arbitrary rules, then they are free to reject them the same way they would reject other religions.
GigabyteCoin 12y ago
It's incredibly they manage to fill the seats at those prices. Church is free and they can barely manage to coax anybody through their doors anymore.
- bbcbasic 12y ago
  Supply and demand. If they sold seats to witness a new pope starting his gig, I am sure they'd sell for quite a lot!
- cpncrunch 12y ago
  Unless you're this guy: http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/college-park/2015/03/13/televangelist-wants-millions-for-new-jet/70287852/ http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/college-park/2015/03...
- tonyedgecombe 12y ago
  People value things by how much they pay.
seanplusplus 12y ago
Irony: the author of this article gives a TED talk about her research.
- saraid216 12y ago
  That's not irony. That's Birdman winning an Oscar.
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
The onion has some good TED satires: http://gizmodo.com/5950924/the-onions-ted-talks-parodies-way-smarter-than-the-real-thing http://gizmodo.com/5950924/the-onions-ted-talks-parodies-way... (Forgive the gizmodo link, but onion is blocked in China) I think TED has to do with what I observe happens to corporate, startup, and ya, religious cultures that tend to take themselves a bit too seriously and live in an echo chamber too long. I would totally pay for inspiring tech talks with sarcastic John Oliver style deliveries. A bit of cynicism and sarcasm goes a long way in making something seem real to me.
- muyuu 12y ago
  IMO the best thing the people from Onion have done since this genius piece http://www.theonion.com/articles/al-gore-places-infant-son-in-rocket-to-escape-dyin,2495/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/al-gore-places-infant-son-i...
- boyaka 12y ago
  Here's a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEzMNp2d6Bk&list=RDhEzMNp2d6Bk#t=8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEzMNp2d6Bk&list=RDhEzMNp2d6...
- spodek 12y ago
  Here's my version of every TED talk ever in 99 seconds -- http://joshuaspodek.com/funny-every-ted-talk-ever-99-seconds http://joshuaspodek.com/funny-every-ted-talk-ever-99-seconds
- the_cat_kittles 12y ago
  from one of the comments on that link, its reggie watts satirizing TED in a TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHK_r9RXTc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHK_r9RXTc
bbcbasic 12y ago
I am surprised at the cost and the graduate-job-interview style questions just to attend a satellite event like TEDx Sydney. I applied and was rejected. I am not interesting enough for them I guess, maybe I will apply again once I have been to the moon. So freshly discontented, I am more inclined to agree Ted is a religion, cult etc. :=) I do find the talks unsatisfying. The first 3-4 I watched were great (but I can't even remember what they are about) then they are same-ish after that. (My reason to attend was meeting people rather than the talks.) There is a lot of style over substance in TED talks. I rather have an OK public speaker speaking about something very interesting to me than vice versa.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
tiger10guy 12y ago
I'll just leave [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5tGpMcFF7U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5tGpMcFF7U) here. Dan Dennett has said similar things.
seanv 12y ago
TED's reaction to the article https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlOSdRMSG_k&feature=youtu.be&t=40s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlOSdRMSG_k&feature=youtu.be...
shas3 12y ago
The one purported benefit of TED talks is democratizing knowledge and inspiring people. The latter, possibly it does. Some claim its benefit as giving access to knowledge for people without direct access to universities, etc. The former, TED talks fail at, spectacularly and dangerously. In the era of MOOCs, for someone without direct access to good learning resources, or for people who cannot learn stuff from books, TED talks are a dangerous distraction. I tend to some times view more 'academic' TED talks- like the U Penn professor on swarm robots, or the MIT prof's talk on childhood development. These talks are cripplingly inadequate for anyone serious about learning stuff. They present very little, if any discussion of existing literature or about other researchers work. TED talks are the antithesis of 'standing on the shoulder of giants'. Most academic TED talk speakers tend to present themselves as the lone giant in their field of expertise, and their work as being the final truth in their field.
- hackinthebochs 12y ago
  TED talks are not edging out legitimate academic coursework. The dichotomy you speak of doesn't exist. There is a market and a need for talks that don't attempt to be rigorous in any sense, but are simply to show what is possible and what is coming. Why do many of you people seem to be against this? These critiques look more like territory-marking than anything substantive.

236 points by dcre 12y ago

I have a lot of the same feelings about TED. The presenters come across as arrogant and usually misrepresent their project as ready to work, when in fact all they have is one dubious artifact. "Oil Companies hate her: One TED presenter's idea will eliminate the world's oil usage."

larrys 12y ago
I remember a similar theme way back in the 70's being used in the rear pages of auto magazines to sell some secret additive to getting high mileage in your car. In a similar way, if something was a great idea, and could improve mileage, the oil companies with their power would kill it. (Or the entrepreneur had different variations). Or that they were in cahoots with the auto makers. Haven't researched it but wouldn't be surprised if history showed this existed literally back to when cars first appeared.
- WalterBright 12y ago
  > if something was a great idea, and could improve mileage, the oil companies with their power would kill it. This is incorrect by inspection. As my father (Air Force) told me, if there was an invention that substantially improved mileage, the military would be all over it. They would not let anyone stand in their way. (Fuel consumption is a severe limiting factor in military machines.)
  - larrys 12y ago
    An urban legend for sure, this version also claimed the government was culpable: (Towards bottom of page) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_saving_device http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_saving_device
- teddyh 12y ago
  There are, basically, four things which will improve your gas costs, in rough order of decreasing effectiveness: 1. Move closer to where you work: (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-of-commuting/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-of-c...) 2. Use a bicycle more often, every time it’s possible. (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safest-form-of-transportation/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safe...) 3. Switch your car to a more sensible car, which also should have better mileage: (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/02/car-strategies-to-cut-your-costs-in-four-or-more/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/02/car-strategies-to-...), (http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/09/04/its-never-too-late-to-ditch-your-gas-guzzler/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/09/04/its-never-too-late...) 4. Learn to drive better. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-efficient_driving https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-efficient_driving)
  - larrys 12y ago
    "move closer to where you work" My office is about a 3 minute drive from where I live. The biggest improvement isn't the gas cost it's the fact that I pickup an immediate 1.5 to 2 hours a day in time from not having to commute!)
dscpls 12y ago
You write that as if it's an example of an actual TED talk title. How about you make your point with a real example. I haven't seen anything as misrepresenting as this.
- hueving 12y ago
  Al Gore's talk was missing anything meaningful or new.
- cma 12y ago
  Crows that clean up trash
hackinthebochs 12y ago
I swear "arrogant" is the catch-all term to use to describe smart people you don't like. It's lost all meaning and so I find it hard to take any critique seriously where arrogance is central to its thesis.
- iolothebard 12y ago
  >having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities. Until they actually deliver, I'd say it holds true for most people. Myself included. However, to achieve anything in life, you kind of have to be arrogant IMO. Because to believe in yourself without any tangible proof of your beliefs, is on its face arrogance (IMO). I think self belief/confidence can be misconstrued as arrogance, but we're really splitting hairs IMO. It's mostly the delivery of said belief that we judge people on. And judging is pointless as well. Some of us need to pump ourselves up in a world full of people that work to achieve little on their own to keep motivation going.
  - hackinthebochs 12y ago
    >However, to achieve anything in life, you kind of have to be arrogant IMO. Because to believe in yourself without any tangible proof of your beliefs, is on its face arrogance (IMO). I completely agree with this, which is exactly why I find arrogance as the go-to criticism for smart people out there doing stuff to be extremely odd, and rather telling about the speaker.
welly 12y ago
That sounds more like a Buzzfeed headline than TED.

cs702 12y ago

"TED, with its airy promises, sounds a lot like a secular religion ... The TED style, with its promise of progress, is as manipulative as the orthodoxies it is intended to upset." Many (though not all!) TED presentations showcase individuals who think highly of themselves explaining in digestible soundbites how they're going to make the world a better place, in front of live audiences who have a high opinion of themselves, for video distribution to online audiences who want to think highly of themselves. It may not be a religion, but TED definitely has a cult-ish feel to it.

cheatsheet 12y ago
Can't you frame every social organization in this kind of light? Stuff that people spend their lives on - they make it sound simple so other people understand it - this forms a 'social group dynamic' through the action of communication or information transfer. If other people understand it, then they participate and contribute to the growth of 'stuff'.
- hawkice 12y ago
  > Can't you frame every social organization in this kind of light? This reminds me of the comment I recall from 'patio11's podcast, someone was talking about how their sales pitch uses a lot of spam-associated techniques like suggestive rhetorical questions ("Are you happy with...", etc.), and was asked (in order to give structure to the guest's pitch) something to the effect of, "What separates you from the spammers?" and his answer was, essentially, nothing except I deliver the goods. I think in general this is the only sane answer to this style of question. Can't you frame every organization as a cult? Probably, if you word it carefully. Not the right question on either end, really. Does TED deliver the goods... I don't think so. If these people truly have deep knowledge of their fields, <20 minutes is not long enough to really communicate that in general, and from the talks I've seen, while engaging and enjoyable, are not really informative. On a higher level, it's 2015 -- if I really want to change someone's brain so that it _gets_ my field, there will be e.g. interactive elements, which are largely missing from TED talks.
  - 12y ago

zf00002 12y ago

geez I had no idea it cost $8,500 to attend

cpncrunch 12y ago
I'm struggling to understand why anyone would pay this. What is the perceived value?
- hueving 12y ago
  The sense of smugness you will achieve is worth it to some people.
- gr33nman 12y ago
  The value is in networking (meeting other like-minded people who can afford the $8,500 price of admission).
  - cpncrunch 12y ago
    You're probably right, although I'm thinking that there must be more efficient ways of networking. I was considering going to Google I/O this year for the networking, but have decided that it's probably not worth the $3k it would cost me. Perhaps someone needs to come up with a social networking tool for people like HN readers.

discardorama 12y ago

FTA: "TED talks routinely present problems of huge scale and scope — we imprison too many people; the rain forest is dying; look at all this garbage; we’re unhappy; we have Big Data and aren’t sure what to do with it — then wrap up tidily and tinily. Do this. Stop doing that. Buy an app that will help you do this other thing." ... and at the bottom: Megan Hustad is the author of “How to Be Useful” .... From it's blurb: "There's a lot of career advice out there. Much of it dumb. But what if someone read all the advice books -- over a hundred years' worth -- and put all the good ideas in one place? Could you finally escape the cube? Stop mailing things? Be happier?" I dunno, but Ms Hustad is doing exactly what the TED talks she derides are doing. Maybe she's upset because she has never been invited to talk at TED? I have never looked at TED talks as a solution to anything; to me, they're just interesting people talking about what they do.

frozenport 12y ago
>>they're just interesting people talking about what they do. I thought this, but then there were a few TED talks on fields that touch my work. I was furious that TED would provide a venue for charlatans. In some ways the people who promise the most, and whose can be boiled down to sound bites are rarely the folks who do the interesting work.
- larrys 12y ago
  Agree. Talking a good game and doing are two different things. (That doesn't mean however that it's not possible to do both). People for sure go for pithy sound bites and easily digestible (with no way to verify) information thrown at them. Typically with little skepticism. Plus, there is a bit of the claque (esq.) effect in play I'm sure when you are in the audience. [1] [1] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/119756/claque http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/119756/claque
- derriz 12y ago
  Had the exact same experience. I had assumed TED talks provided easily digested summaries of various scientific, economic, social, etc. fields. Until I saw a talk about my current field of work. Charlatan is too kind a description - as it suggests some sort of cynical intelligence behind the act; the speaker was simply an idiotic clown. He hadn't a clue - yet the audience treated his completely mistaken analogies as profundities. That was the end of TED for me.

carsongross 12y ago

I will say, this TED talk improved my life immeasurably, if only for two minutes and fifty eight seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tom6_ceTu9s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tom6_ceTu9s

delish 12y ago
I watch this Reggie Watts talk when I need a pick-me-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHK_r9RXTc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHK_r9RXTc
- adriand 12y ago
  Simply brilliant. I understand some of the criticism of TED but I've seen stuff - like this clip - that is so damn good, I don't really see what all the fuss is about. And since we're talking about Reggie Watts, I have to share my fave of his: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bLFO4ZV0i4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bLFO4ZV0i4
sb057 12y ago
I'm personally a bigger fan of how Sam Hyde explains how the future will change within our lifetimes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cflCyyEA2I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cflCyyEA2I
ffn 12y ago
Hey... wait a minute... something seems oddly off about that Ted Talk. I mean it's really deep and my life was irreversibly changed afterwards, sure, but something seemed off about that particular Ted Talk you linked.

ianstallings 12y ago

Eddie Huang had an interview with Joe Rogan where he talked about the behind the scenes weirdness and cultish feeling he felt as a speaker when he tried to leave.

bramgg 12y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLMBdnbXk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLMBdnbXk
- smutticus 12y ago
  This video changed my attitude about TED when I initially saw it.
- MollyR 12y ago
  This was very surprising to me. I'm glad you linked it. I have definitely changed my mind about ted. The fact they forced Eddie to have a roommate is weird, and creepy. It seems like humans just can't live with out religion.
  - ianstallings 12y ago
    I know that story just gets weirder as he goes along. The part about them telling him to pack a poncho because it was going to rain was too good.
fadsasda432 12y ago
Thank you, that was an interesting talk. It is also hilarious how they discuss the problem of multiplying 2000 * 8000, but I blame the herb.

delish 12y ago

Alan Kay has an apropos quote[0]: > This [The fact that science is a human-driven, human-invented process] is hard to explain to K-8 science teachers, who think that science is a new religion with new truths to be learned. They think it's their job to dispense these catechisms. [emphasis added] I think viewers of TED talks are looking to be told what to believe. I'm not at all moralizing--I sometimes watch TED talks--but I do think science-as-religion (a bunch of facts or truths to be memorized or internalized) is a distortion that "opiates the people," so to speak. [0] Is it really complex? Or did we just make it complicated? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubaX1Smg6pY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubaX1Smg6pY

dbenhur 12y ago
But I Fuckin' Love Science https://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience https://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
bloaf 12y ago
I think that in science there is an inherent tension between what scientists know and what what the public knows. Scientific knowledge is covered in asterisks. To read and understand science typically requires an extensive amount of background knowledge; without that it is very easy to misinterpret the strength, significance, or applicability of a scientific finding. Many of the asterisks are themselves scientific conclusions with their own set of asterisks. The public, at least in areas which are not immediately relevant to daily life, cannot be assumed to have that background knowledge. Therefore, the tension is essentially this: How can scientists make people aware of (or interested in) scientific knowledge if they have to strip out all the asterisks when talking to them? Making science into a catechism is simply one solution to the above problem. Ignore the asterisks and turn the fundamental findings of physics and chemistry into dogma and dispense it as gospel truth. I actually am somewhat o.k. with this. Sure, Joe Public might come away with an over-simplified and over-confident knowledge about what science says, but I think that a clumsy knowledge of scientific facts is better than the impression that scientific knowledge is arcane and out of reach. After all, it is highly unlikely that Joey P. will find himself in a situation where it is very important for him to really understand all the subtleties behind his k-8 scientific knowledge, but that knowledge is likely to come in handy. The only problems with the science-as-religion solution are a potential "loss of faith" and the perception of arbitrarity with regards to scientific findings. The first can easily happen when someone learns about a new finding which contradicts the dogmatic version of science but is entirely consistent with the heavily asterisked actual scientific consensus. The second problem is basically "rejectability;" if people think that science is a set of arbitrary rules, then they are free to reject them the same way they would reject other religions.

GigabyteCoin 12y ago

It's incredibly they manage to fill the seats at those prices. Church is free and they can barely manage to coax anybody through their doors anymore.

bbcbasic 12y ago
Supply and demand. If they sold seats to witness a new pope starting his gig, I am sure they'd sell for quite a lot!
cpncrunch 12y ago
Unless you're this guy: http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/college-park/2015/03/13/televangelist-wants-millions-for-new-jet/70287852/ http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/college-park/2015/03...
tonyedgecombe 12y ago
People value things by how much they pay.

seanplusplus 12y ago

Irony: the author of this article gives a TED talk about her research.

saraid216 12y ago
That's not irony. That's Birdman winning an Oscar.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

The onion has some good TED satires: http://gizmodo.com/5950924/the-onions-ted-talks-parodies-way-smarter-than-the-real-thing http://gizmodo.com/5950924/the-onions-ted-talks-parodies-way... (Forgive the gizmodo link, but onion is blocked in China) I think TED has to do with what I observe happens to corporate, startup, and ya, religious cultures that tend to take themselves a bit too seriously and live in an echo chamber too long. I would totally pay for inspiring tech talks with sarcastic John Oliver style deliveries. A bit of cynicism and sarcasm goes a long way in making something seem real to me.

muyuu 12y ago
IMO the best thing the people from Onion have done since this genius piece http://www.theonion.com/articles/al-gore-places-infant-son-in-rocket-to-escape-dyin,2495/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/al-gore-places-infant-son-i...
boyaka 12y ago
Here's a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEzMNp2d6Bk&list=RDhEzMNp2d6Bk#t=8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEzMNp2d6Bk&list=RDhEzMNp2d6...
spodek 12y ago
Here's my version of every TED talk ever in 99 seconds -- http://joshuaspodek.com/funny-every-ted-talk-ever-99-seconds http://joshuaspodek.com/funny-every-ted-talk-ever-99-seconds
the_cat_kittles 12y ago
from one of the comments on that link, its reggie watts satirizing TED in a TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHK_r9RXTc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHK_r9RXTc

bbcbasic 12y ago

I am surprised at the cost and the graduate-job-interview style questions just to attend a satellite event like TEDx Sydney. I applied and was rejected. I am not interesting enough for them I guess, maybe I will apply again once I have been to the moon. So freshly discontented, I am more inclined to agree Ted is a religion, cult etc. :=) I do find the talks unsatisfying. The first 3-4 I watched were great (but I can't even remember what they are about) then they are same-ish after that. (My reason to attend was meeting people rather than the talks.) There is a lot of style over substance in TED talks. I rather have an OK public speaker speaking about something very interesting to me than vice versa.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

tiger10guy 12y ago

I'll just leave [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5tGpMcFF7U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5tGpMcFF7U) here. Dan Dennett has said similar things.

seanv 12y ago

TED's reaction to the article https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlOSdRMSG_k&feature=youtu.be&t=40s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlOSdRMSG_k&feature=youtu.be...

shas3 12y ago

The one purported benefit of TED talks is democratizing knowledge and inspiring people. The latter, possibly it does. Some claim its benefit as giving access to knowledge for people without direct access to universities, etc. The former, TED talks fail at, spectacularly and dangerously. In the era of MOOCs, for someone without direct access to good learning resources, or for people who cannot learn stuff from books, TED talks are a dangerous distraction. I tend to some times view more 'academic' TED talks- like the U Penn professor on swarm robots, or the MIT prof's talk on childhood development. These talks are cripplingly inadequate for anyone serious about learning stuff. They present very little, if any discussion of existing literature or about other researchers work. TED talks are the antithesis of 'standing on the shoulder of giants'. Most academic TED talk speakers tend to present themselves as the lone giant in their field of expertise, and their work as being the final truth in their field.

hackinthebochs 12y ago
TED talks are not edging out legitimate academic coursework. The dichotomy you speak of doesn't exist. There is a market and a need for talks that don't attempt to be rigorous in any sense, but are simply to show what is possible and what is coming. Why do many of you people seem to be against this? These critiques look more like territory-marking than anything substantive.