We Are Now at Peak TED • Hacker News Board

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#31

Post by wrs » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:08 PM UTC

Others wrote: post #12

alexashka wrote: post #4

Is there any actual content in this article? Other than how awesome TED is? Did they address a single concern or critique of TED in this article? No... Just that it's 'awesome'. Well ok then TED organizers... Thanks for reminding us that you think you're so great, you feel no need to listen to anyone.

I'm not sure it really is as pandering as you make it out to be. In some places I wasn't sure what the author thought of TED at all. For example, this sentence is particularly pointed: "Where an audience that gave a standing ovation to Ed Snowden a couple of years ago happily wears tracking devices on their badges that allows fellow attendees to know where in the facility they are within a few meters."

Amusing on the surface, but of course that feature is for the benefit of the audience (and quite useful--the breaks are a bit of a zoo with 1000 people milling about), and they explained from the stage how to turn it off when desired, so he is reaching a little bit with that one.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#32

Post by ryanobjc » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:15 PM UTC

TED just seems so neat, thought leaders talking about things no one else did.

Except the depth is necessarily shallow. So I listened to a TED talk about how social media needs to change and it exacerbates problems. Except he's light on analysis and ideas.

Which is fine I guess, but to me, hearing about how the problem exists without the follow up of ideas on how to fix, just seems incomplete.

And yes, I know, I'm giving him a hard time, etc. But the problem is very real, and needs a very real fix. More videos about how the problem came about just isnt gonna fix it.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#33

Post by melted » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:16 PM UTC

Some of their speakers are just talking out of their ass. There was a woman on TED Radio Hour a few weeks back who was going on and on about how it's so bad that we bury the bodies when people die, and we should instead dress our dead in some mushroom spore infused garbs she's trying to sell. Having a brain of my own, I was like "Lady, do you realize that each of these bodies has produced an enormous mountain of waste in their lifetime? Several tons of shit alone, not to mention garbage, CO2, etc etc". Add to that the fact that those "pollution eating mushrooms" can't really do anything ordinary soil can't do. They can't convert heavy metals to unicorn tears, sorry folks. The stuff dead bodies will release when they decompose matters not one iota. And yet someone in TED approved her participation, and people paid $8K to see this inane drivel. WTF?

Update: here's the talk https://www.ted.com/talks/jae_rhim_lee?language=en

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#34

Post by mcphilip » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:18 PM UTC

The Onion Talks series parodying TED talks has some real gems. My favorite: What is the Biggest Rock?

http://youtu.be/aO0TUI9r-So

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#35

Post by bananaboy » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:20 PM UTC

gsteinb88 wrote: post #28

FlailFast wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True that, which is sad, because charisma can legitimately lower the difficulty of understanding complex ideas; think of your best teachers/favorite professors. I wish TED was filled with more Richard Feynman (charisma * ideas) and less Tony Robbins (charisma % ideas).

I'm not sure that Feynman is the best example here. In fact, in my experience, he's actually more of an example of the problem than the solution. While Feynman does a great job of explaining concepts if you never need to use them, I always found his lectures to be of the "captivating until you try to use them" variety. This wasn't just my experience either -- after struggling with this as a physics undergrad for a wh…

There was a post about that exact topic on math-blog recently http://math-blog.com/2016/02/01/was-richard-feynman-a-great-...

Summary: he wasn't a great undergraduate teacher.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#36

Post by Beltiras » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:21 PM UTC

ryanobjc wrote: post #32

TED just seems so neat, thought leaders talking about things no one else did. Except the depth is necessarily shallow. So I listened to a TED talk about how social media needs to change and it exacerbates problems. Except he's light on analysis and ideas. Which is fine I guess, but to me, hearing about how the problem exists without the follow up of ideas on how to fix, just seems incomplete. And yes, I know, I'm giv…

Some problems need to be acknowledged long before you close in on a solution. Sometimes stating a problem in clearer terms will bring new thoughts on a solution. That can have value in and of itself.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#37

Post by shoo » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:36 PM UTC

http://theamericanreader.com/the-sound-of-ted-a-case-for-dis...

> What I ask myself when confronted with any TED talk is this: why do they all sound the same?

...

> TED’s is the language and tone of the pitch. It’s a style that comes from corporate conference rooms, where product ideas are pitched to potential investors. It’s the fundraiser’s speech. You cannot sound needy—you should sound like there is a world out there waiting to buy your work, that you are here only out of a belief in the importance of spreading your idea.

...

> For various reasons, I find myself forced to sit through a TED-talk now and then. I squirm in my seat—feeling humiliated for myself and the speaker. This is a distinctly un-adult feeling.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#38

Post by wpietri » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:44 PM UTC

melted wrote: post #33

Some of their speakers are just talking out of their ass. There was a woman on TED Radio Hour a few weeks back who was going on and on about how it's so bad that we bury the bodies when people die, and we should instead dress our dead in some mushroom spore infused garbs she's trying to sell. Having a brain of my own, I was like "Lady, do you realize that each of these bodies has produced an enormous mountain of wast…

What's your evidence that a person's decomposing body is particularly more toxic to the environment than, say, their bodily effluents?

Going for natural decomposition doesn't seem much worse to me than cremation and ash-scattering, and it seems way better than pickling them and burying them in a coffin.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#39

Post by wpietri » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:46 PM UTC

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #7

TED trivia: Chris Anderson, the founder, got his break in business by starting an 8-bit computer magazine called Amstrad Action. The magazine grew to become a computer publishing empire, Future plc, giving Anderson the funds and freedom to try TED. (Amstrad Action was a great magazine. I was its freelance tech ed in its last years - gave me my start in journalism.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_Action

Chris Anderson was not TED's founder. That was Richard Saul Wurman. He sold it to Anderson in 2002: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/history-of-ted

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#40

Post by eutectic » Sat, Feb 20, 2016, 11:50 PM UTC

vidoc wrote: post #10

TED, or the perfect display of what public speaking is today: that is, getting some kind of Tony Robbins on stage, who wont be shy of using the same tricks they learnt at some toaster club, to inspire and wow a crowd that's actually more here to enjoy their charisma rather than their ideas. TED is the absolute evidence that the powerpointization of ideas is in its terminal stage.

I don't think this is a new phenomenon, or that there's any reason to suspect it's getting worse. As long as charisma works people will use it, even if they have nothing useful to say.