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Offline rumborak

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TED talks
« on: September 16, 2011, 07:29:58 AM »
So, I work (well, worked) in a tech company, and many of my coworkers virtually start to lactate when they hear the term "TED". I saw that they have a video podcast so I subscribed to it, but frankly I have to say I am utterly disappointed.
Were they better at some point? The ones I've seen so far were a mixture of either Epcot Center-style predictions of the future that are bound to be laughable 10 years from now, or just a conglomerate of shoddy reasoning. I watched one earlier called "is democracy hindering economic growth?", and the guy's reasoning would have made him flunk a highschool debate.
So, what gives?

rumborak
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Offline the Catfishman

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Re: TED talks
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2011, 07:38:11 AM »
I used to watch them all the time until a few years ago.. a lot of them nowadays seem to be all feel-goody.. especially the ones about new hip educational systems and stuff.
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Offline XJDenton

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Re: TED talks
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2011, 08:41:39 AM »
They are a bit hit and miss, but the good ones are worth watching.
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Offline ReaperKK

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Re: TED talks
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2011, 08:53:00 AM »
Quote from: XJDenton on September 16, 2011, 08:41:39 AM
They are a bit hit and miss, but the good ones are worth watching.

I agree with this.

Mike Rowe does a great TED talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRVdiHu1VCc
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Offline El Barto

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Re: TED talks
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2011, 08:53:44 AM »
Quote from: XJDenton on September 16, 2011, 08:41:39 AM
They are a bit hit and miss, but the good ones are worth watching.
That's been my take on it.  Usually the good ones get some word of mouth working.  I keep a feed on my home page of the most recent 3, but never watch them.  Normally it's on here that somebody will recommend a good one. 

One of those Mythbuster guys did a pretty neat one a few years ago.  I say neat because he really didn't have anything new or Earth-shattering to say.  Only a nice story about how creativity works in strange ways, and how the practical result is often times completely unrelated to the motivation. 
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Offline ReaperKK

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Re: TED talks
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2011, 08:55:13 AM »
I remember that TED talk, I think he spoke about how he became obsessed with having this falcon.
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Offline El Barto

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Re: TED talks
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2011, 09:03:41 AM »
Yup, that's the one.

Achieving the end of the exercise was never the point of the exercise to begin with, was it?
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Argument, the presentation of reasonable views, never makes headway against conviction, and conviction takes no part in argument because it knows.
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Offline Genowyn

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Re: TED talks
« Reply #7 on: September 16, 2011, 11:20:41 AM »
Yeah that was definitely an interesting one.
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Offline jsem

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Re: TED talks
« Reply #8 on: September 16, 2011, 11:30:00 AM »
I think I posted a thread with a TED talk once, it had to do with US foreign policy and how the US is viewed in the eyes of the supposed terrorists. It was purely philosophical though, had to deal with empathy. Let me find it...

Found it:
https://www.ted.com/talks/sam_richards_a_radical_experiment_in_empathy.html

The thread was here
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Offline XJDenton

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Re: TED talks
« Reply #9 on: September 16, 2011, 11:49:21 AM »
This one is good: it talks about math education.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60OVlfAUPJg
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