Shigeru Ban

Thanks oaktown, I've not seen that one.

Sir ken Robinson
Logan Laplante

Thanks boop, those look so fab.

I use TED talks in my profession, and so have perused many of them. These are my favorites because they caused me to pause and ponder. (They all cause me to pause and ponder, but these were unexpected finds.)

My kids are in advanced math classes and while I appreciate what they're learning, this one resonates and makes it hard to nag them about doing their algebra homework. They've not learned statistics yet.
http://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_for_changing_math_education

This for its practical approach to food consumption, and because I'm an avid fan of Mark Bittman.
http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat

And this one, simply because I went to school with her, and I'm proud of her!
http://www.ted.com/talks/megan_kamerick_women_should_represent_women_in_media

Editing to add that Bittman's piece contains some wonderful historical perspective about family food preparation and consumption, about halfway in, if anyone is inclined to watch it.

This post was edited by peony4 on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 1:09

Thanks peony4. I will look them up for sure. I didn't realize that Bittman was on TED. I've read a bunch of his stuff.

I used to use them professionally as well and even added a short clip from one to my power point presentations I used to give...Hans Rosling on the best stats you've ever seen.

Count me as one who is kind of over TED talks. The fact is that listening to a ten minute talk will not make you more knowledgeable unless you follow it up with reading on your own. It's symptomatic of our society that we believe otherwise. Inspirational and moving talks.....ten minutes is about as much of those as I want to hear, lol.

Hi kswl, to me, that was the point -- to whet the appetite and provide a starting point for finding new interests. When I watch those talks I feel like I am "browsing." I really don't care so much for shopping except for ideas . . . . for example I "bought" Shigeru Ban (3 books from Amazon since all the library ones were checked out).

Why am I not surprised at your take on them, kswl...

I don't think anyone watching expects to become experts on a subject based on a short talk, but I do find some of the talks inspirational, or entertaining, or mind bending, or educational about topics with which I have little familiarity. I appreciate the exposure to people who are bright, knowledgable and thoughtful with experiences I haven't had. I am free to follow up on topics I find of particular interest to learn more. And 20 min of TED beats the heck out of 20 min of "reality TV" any day.

To me it's like the video version of the New Yorker magazine....

But if they aren't useful for you, you know what to do....

Maybe Mental Floss more than The New Yorker?

Huh, oaktown...never heard of mental floss...very interesting.

Dr. Terry Wahls on how a radical change in her diet reversed severe MS.

It's available on YouTube, although TED seems to have distanced itself from it for some reason.

Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) on writing.

Interesting that TED has dropped her talk...but would be interesting to hear.

I enjoyed eat pray love...it would be interesting to hear what she has to say. Someone recently posted a video of her trying to sell her home. She seemed a bit ditzy in that video....

"Why am I not surprised at your take on them, kswl"

I don't know?

The Dr. Terry Wahls' talk is a good case in point, since somebody else brought it up. We have a family member with MS who was so "inspired" by that talk that she discontinued her Avonex injections in favor of the Wahl diet as treatment. I am (painfully) aware that TED talks are not a substitute for independent judgment and/or intelligence, but my point is that these talks are now functioning as the infomercials of the academic world or faux intelligentsia, to the detriment of individual thought. My opinion, ymmv.

We have a family member with MS who was so "inspired" by that talk that she discontinued her Avonex injections in favor of the Wahl diet as treatment.

And did it turn out to be a bad idea? Giving up a pharmaceutical isn't by definition a mistake. Dr. Wahls' research is impressive, and her results outstanding.

I don't have MS, but I have other issues. When started "minding my mitochondria" (to a much more modest degree than what Dr. Wahls did), the result was a noticeable and very welcome increase in energy.

Yes, it turned out to be a really bad idea. And with her (our relative's) kind of MS, by the time the symptoms come back the patient may have been without treatment for years.

I'm not opposed to nutritional regimens as treatment modalities, alisande. But I very much worry when they are used as substitutes for proven results from large scale studies ----solely on the basis of one person's documented experience and a whole lot of ensuing anecdotes. I don't wonder why Wahl's talk was taken down.

Well, if Wahl was hawking snake oil then it speaks well for TED that they took it down. But I don't find exposure to the "academic world" detrimental to individual thought. Rather, I find it stimulating. But TED, just like any other media outlet or internet site, should be viewed with a critical eye. The whole point of academic study is to learn to think critically and question and not accept anything at face value. I'm not sure what "faux intelligentsia" you are talking about, but the majority of talks I've listened to were from well credentialed academics...not that they too can't be talking out of their hat...but certainly they are better educated and have more interesting things to say than a lot of talking heads on the cable tv shows or talk radio...

I guess my milage does vary...I think it's easy to do a lot worse than TED.

" But I don't find exposure to the "academic world" detrimental to individual thought."

Not really what I said.

Am I the only one who doesn't watch TED talks??? Although I have watched "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch - also read the book. If that's TED, I do have that one experience!

tina

I don't go looking for them Tina but come across them when looking up subjects I am researching.

For example I am interested in homeschooling so I have watched the two I mentioned.

Nevermind. :-)

This post was edited by peony4 on Thu, Jun 5, 14 at 16:11

tinam61, randy pausch wasn't a TED talk, but it was a good talk.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. The TED talks typically run about 20 min or less and can cover a wide variety of topics...some scientific, some research oriented addressing global problems, health issues...some are future oriented talking about cutting edge technology...some are strictly entertaining including pieces of music or humor, I remember one where the woman talked about and played a hurdy gurdy. Some are inspirational about people who have succeeded against stiff odds, some are leadership oriented. The tag line is "ideas worth spreading" and that's really what it's all about. There are over a thousand talks available for viewing. Have fun exploring them.

Thanks for explaining Annie. Obviously, I'm clueless! I'm not big about watching stuff online but it sounds like there could be some interesting stuff! I would guess some of the researchers I work with take advantage of TED. "Ideas worth spreading" - I like that!

One of my public radio stations carries TED talks now, so it's probably available on some others as well.

I just watched a short bit on the Hurdy Gurdy that was a TED film, but didn't care for it. If others are comparable to "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, I might have to start checking them out.