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We Are Now at Peak TED

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Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#51

Post by randycupertino »

alexashka wrote: post #16
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).

Perhaps I'm nitpicking but charisma gets people to listen, that's it. It is not related to the quality of the content. The problem with Tony Robbins is he's mister positive and only focused on personal improvement. These are enormous constraints that ignore the bigger picture. Feynman is great at explaining physics because it's not wishy washy - it is also really not that interesting past the cute basics, sooner or l…

My friend paid $5500 to go to a Tony Robbins seminar in Florida last fall- in addition to flights from SF, hotels, food, etc. She walked on coals and got to take some cool selfies with various people. When she came home, she was 7k poorer and I asked her what they talked about. She raved about the "experience" but didn't seem like she'd garnered any real insights other than to be positive and the same old The Secret garbage of visualizing the life you want. imo she should have used that 7k to chip away at her 60k debt in student loans.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#52

Post by randycupertino »

ryanobjc wrote: post #44
alexashka wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps I'm nitpicking but charisma gets people to listen, that's it. It is not related to the quality of the content. The problem with Tony Robbins is he's mister positive and only focused on personal improvement. These are enormous constraints that ignore the bigger picture. Feynman is great at explaining physics because it's not wishy washy - it is also really not that interesting past the cute basics, sooner or l…

This is exactly my thoughts on what's wrong with TED. It's not in the pursuit of the truth. Therefore, it's in the pursuit of status. You can see this among those who wave around TED talks they have seen as some kind of currency. "Oh have you seen the TED talk about Y? It's so amazing!" But also, by their nature, the talks cant dive deep. People are there to be amused and kind of learn, but real education is difficul…

That's why the "Ted Talk about Nothing" is one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o

Their manner of speaking reminds me of American Dad making fun of Ira Glass. Why is pausing??! Doesn't he know what he's going to say next??? AAAAHH. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUvQdoOEDGw

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#53

Post by brohee »

tdeck wrote: post #15
minikites wrote: post #3

This banned TED talk is all you need to know about TED and where their motivations are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKCvf8E7V1g Peak TED is actually this video on how to use one paper towel when washing your hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FMBSblpcrc . You mean if you shake your hands and fling water all over the bathroom then you don't need as much paper to absorb the remaining water? How revolutionary.

Scoff all you want, but in the years since I watched that I have dried my hands with one paper towel every time. One anecdote, sure, and I don't watch TED anymore. But this is hardly the worst TED talk. At least it provided some practical advice rather than vaguely asserting some breakthrough.

I hope you saw the shoelace tying one. Maybe you're doing it wrong like I used to before seeing it.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#54

Post by specialist »

alexashka wrote: post #16
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).

Perhaps I'm nitpicking but charisma gets people to listen, that's it. It is not related to the quality of the content. The problem with Tony Robbins is he's mister positive and only focused on personal improvement. These are enormous constraints that ignore the bigger picture. Feynman is great at explaining physics because it's not wishy washy - it is also really not that interesting past the cute basics, sooner or l…

The problem with Tony Robbins...

is that he's peddling dangerously wrong beliefs to gullible rubes.

A coworker came back from one his events telling me all sorts of fruity crap. Like how the germ theory for disease is bunk. So apparently I gave myself cancer with negative thoughts (blame the victim).

That flipped my bozo bit for Tony Robbins.

I love gifted, charismatic, motivational speakers. Sometimes called leaders or actors or politicians. But they shouldn't profit from causing others harm.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#55

Post by l33tbro »

Was thinking only yesterday we must be at peak "peak". Has become a pretty commonplace descriptor these days for anything experiencing maximum popularity in its life cycle, which I think applies to its current status as a buzz-term.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#57

Post by serf »

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…

Robert Leighton: "Feynman has a peculiar property, which is that at the time he's explaining something, it appears very clear and transparent--you can see how everything fits, and you go away feeling very good about it, as if, "Well, there's a lot of loose ends there that I want to follow up on; but boy, wasn't that great!" And about two hours later, like what they say about Chinese food, it's all gone and you're hungry again. And you don't remember what happened.[0]

[0]: Feynman's Tips on Physics: Reflections, Advice, Insights, Practice - https://books.google.com/books?id=FZ4fAQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT32&ots=...

edit: wrong name.

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#58

Post by DonHopkins »

snewk wrote: post #23
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.

so, i have a speaking engagement at a local TEDx event next weekend. I think my topic is both interesting and educational, and the way its presented will (hopefully) get people thinking about the subject in a new way. what do i do? cancel?

Troll them with a great talk like "How to Deconstruct Almost Anything". [1]

"Academics get paid for being clever, not for being right." -- Donald Norman

http://www.fudco.com/chip/deconstr.html

Re: We Are Now at Peak TED

#60

Post by Nickste »

Adam Savage (of Mythbusters) did a hilarious fake TED Talk at the Amanda Palmer ninjaTED show the other day: https://huzza.io/amandapalmer/live-stream/amanda-palmer-ninj...

"What if we could use data, to build the perfect snowboard?"

"In the average Silicon Valley tech company, 95% of time is wasted building tech products"

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