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When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd

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Re: When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.quora.com/TEDx/Is-Randy-Powell-saying-anything-in... It's not gated if you add share=1.

Don't people go to jail for things like that?

No, this was added explicitly to give people a way to bypass the call to action.

Re: When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd

#64
post #58

If you think of TEDx as simply a wider funnel for TED.com content, I think it has been a great success. I'm surprised to see the HN community so vociferously opposed to TEDx. We are all basically reading a news website that operates with a similar principle (wide funnel, with a method to route the best content to the top for wider distribution).

yea but we are not paying $6000 reading things on HackerNews. If you are paying that much money to attend / support a talk, it better be delivering great quality.

TEDx events are not very expensive, often they are free for attendees.

TED proper is very expensive, and has consistently high quality. The question here is if TEDx is hurting TED or not.

Re: When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd

#65

I'm generally of the opinion that TEDx needs to end entirely. TED is a single organizer, not a movement or a cause - its primary contribution to the world is that of exacting, high-quality curation in a world where everyone has a soapbox. TED's usefulness to people is the trust in the brand and the trust in their curation quality - if this is lost TED's main mission has failed. In my opinion, TED has already lost thi…

I agree entirely. In the case of TED the thing they are "selling" is their curatorial expertise. Nice stage, website, etc, but some of the talks would be great filmed in a shed. In that case, if we doubt their curation the value vanishes.

It's not clear to me why an enterprise like TED would feel growth offered any upside at all (and yes, I read the article). Smallness and exclusivity are virtues, and thanks to that great website the world certainly is not lacking for ways to access their ideas.

If they really only care about motivating and inspiring people then why not offer small grants for others to start their own independent, unaffiliated TED-like events. These events might even thrive without the scarlet letter X -- denoting second-class citizenship in the World of Ideas.

Re: When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd

#66
post #28
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're talking about this TED talk -- http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.htm... What's wrong with it? I thought it was a great TED talk, she makes great points about new and emerging forms of artist-fan relationships and its advantages.

She makes completely untenable points, mostly. Read here for a great write-up: http://madartlab.com/2013/03/13/amanda-palmer-and-the-privil... In a nutshell - it's much easier to rely on donations once somebody else (in Amanda's case, her label) has done the hard work of making you famous. If you're an artist with at best local fame, as most artists are, charge for your music.

I'm surprised more people don't see this. Releasing your music for free is only an advantage if you already have a built-in audience, or if you're something of a first-mover and can benefit from the novelty factor.

But then fast-forward a couple of years and find yourself in a situation where everyone is releasing free music, and you don't get any kind of visibility boost for releasing it for free. What you do have is a bunch of people who feel more entitled in acquiring your product for free.

Re: When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd

#67
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She makes completely untenable points, mostly. Read here for a great write-up: http://madartlab.com/2013/03/13/amanda-palmer-and-the-privil... In a nutshell - it's much easier to rely on donations once somebody else (in Amanda's case, her label) has done the hard work of making you famous. If you're an artist with at best local fame, as most artists are, charge for your music.

I'm surprised more people don't see this. Releasing your music for free is only an advantage if you already have a built-in audience, or if you're something of a first-mover and can benefit from the novelty factor. But then fast-forward a couple of years and find yourself in a situation where everyone is releasing free music, and you don't get any kind of visibility boost for releasing it for free. What you do have i…

Who is going to pay for music they've never heard though? Small artists have to give away their music if they're going to have any chance of breaking out of obscurity.

Re: When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd

#68
post #46

I've not seen the video, but I am always eager to hear about research that opens new perspectives to Maths, even when it's wrong. It may serve as an inspiration or is a waste of time, but that's the cost of advancements in science. If you know links to papers or theories of other people that are worth looking into, let me know. I can't tell if the theories of Mr. Powell have any merit or foundation. But I'll find out…

I am always eager to hear about research that opens new perspectives to Maths, even when it's wrong

Sarah Silverman held just the TED talk for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci5p1OdVLAc

Re: When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd

#69
post #46

I've not seen the video, but I am always eager to hear about research that opens new perspectives to Maths, even when it's wrong. It may serve as an inspiration or is a waste of time, but that's the cost of advancements in science. If you know links to papers or theories of other people that are worth looking into, let me know. I can't tell if the theories of Mr. Powell have any merit or foundation. But I'll find out…

No, stop, this non-thought does not advance science. It's nonrigorous garbage that's designed to go down smooth without much effort. At best it's fanciful noise, at worst it's a cultural nerve toxin.

Re: When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd

#70
post #23
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that he was reading his entire presentation verbatim should have tipped everybody off in the first minute or so. Nobody who's "at the forefront of the most advanced mathematics ever known to mankind" needs that much notes to talk about it. Shoot, I've never had a prof that needed that kind of help... and they're teaching 2nd year courses.

> The fact that he was reading his entire presentation verbatim should have tipped everybody off in the first minute or so His presentation is utter nonsense, but whether he reads verbatim has nothing to do with it. Someone presenting valid results could just be a poor public speaker and/or nervous.

I read from notes when I present simply because I don't present the same material enough times to memorize it, otherwise I'm sure to forget something. A lot of presenters take another approach and put so many words on their slides and that they basically end up reading from them.
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