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The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

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Re: The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

#21

Post by tjradcliffe »

cgabios wrote: post #2

TED, I think, serves as a modern version of high-brow oration as the middle letter suggests: Entertainment. It's a double-ended marketplace platform of content providers (speakers) and content consumers (paid attendees and non-paid viewers). Since the cost is high to paid attendees, the content must be as good and fresh as humanly possible. From what I've seen as a non-paid viewer, I think TED accomplishes this reaso…

TED talks are predigested intellectual pablum that make the people hearing them feel smart. Seeing one is mildly entertaining. Seeing two is cloying. Seeing three makes you aware of how intolerably formulaic they are. In fairness I've only seen half of a few, because they bored me stupid by the time they were half way through and it had become apparent that the whole schtick was to make the audience feel special and insightful. So I may be missing something wonderful.

TED suffers from the same malaise as all "cutting edge" forums: it has no apparent effect on the world, other than transfering money from attendees to speakers and organizers. Which is great: taking money from willing dupes is as old a humanity, but as the years role by it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain that anything more interesting than the release of the latest forumlaic blockbuster is going on.

Refuting this claim is easy: all you have to do is show a dozen or two cases of people who came away from TED changed in a some permenant and actionable way. People who didn't just go back to the same jobs doing the same thing in pretty much the same way. Does anyone have any data rather than anecdotes on this? It would be easy to prove my judgement wrong using it.

Re: The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

#23

Post by teh_klev »

wodenokoto wrote: post #14
jerf wrote: post #6

"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." Someone in HN linked this in a previous discussion about TED, but especially with that quote in the piece it's even more a dead-on satire home run from the Onion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tom6_ceTu9s Part of a series though my impression was that it's t…

There's an actual TED talk like this. http://virates.com/society/1486101

Direct link to YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=17&v=ToJD5r2SmwI

Re: The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

#24

Post by Houshalter »

I thought this was going to be about this interview posted today. He claims that TED, the organization, has become a Scientology-like cult. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JhwQ17mLjo

Instead the article is just complaining that he doesn't like the speaking style of TED talks. This is extremely subjective of course, but I really don't mind the format. Yes it's a pitch, but I don't feel like its embarrassing or shameful like the author keeps saying.

Re: The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

#25

Post by nostrademons »

jerf wrote: post #6

"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." Someone in HN linked this in a previous discussion about TED, but especially with that quote in the piece it's even more a dead-on satire home run from the Onion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tom6_ceTu9s Part of a series though my impression was that it's t…

Fascinating. It reminds me of this eternal question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE

Re: The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

#26

Post by duskwuff »

A_COMPUTER wrote: post #10

They mentioned Sarah Silverman's TED talk deflating the pomposity of TED, but it is unbelievable that they didn't mention the TEDx talk "2070 Paradigm Shift". A guy made up a completely false story about himself to get on a TEDx roster, then for 20 minutes made up complete nonsense like going to Rwanda with Elon Musk to give African villages ipads so they could learn javascript. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yFhR1…

TEDx conferences are run by people peripherally related to TED, if at all, and they have a long and unfortunate history of giving a platform to frauds, hoaxes, and charlatans. I think it's gotten a bit better after some particularly bad talks came to light in late 2012, but quality control is still frequently lacking.

A starting point for further reading: http://tedx.tumblr.com/post/37405280671/a-letter-to-the-tedx...

Re: The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

#27

Post by michaelochurch »

It isn't just "TED". TED is a symptom (and not all of the talks are bad; the format must be shallow because it reflects the short attention span and quick-to-dismiss mentality of the upper class). It's this horseshit faux-liberal self-congratulatory corporate house-slave culture. That's where this speaking tone of "pitching" rather than teaching or exhorting or enlightening (when needed) condemning comes from. I can't fucking stand it. It glorifies saying nothing in a vacuously charismatic and uselessly intelligent, but extremely socially acceptable, way. It legitimizes the existing elite's sense of its own "meritocracy" and encourages the passive-aggressive behavior for which the California business culture is known.

This whole culture (and I can't blame TED for this; it would exist with just as much force regardless of whatever TED did or didn't do, because TED really isn't a big deal in any way) castrates the people who are supposed to be "intellectuals" and it often galvanizes the upper-middle-class against truly creative people, who are almost never socially acceptable because those two objectives are often diametrically opposed.

That said, I've been on the pro-distaste vector for years and look where it has got me such as... well, let's start here, on this TED-Junior forum we call Hacker News. Anything I say, 5 people I've never met who've only read the name and not the content come and downvote it to shit. None of that matters in the least (downvotes don't really mean anything when you get them for nothing) but it's worth pointing out. Yes, the world absolutely needs people to express distaste and disgust. We need to stop accepting the monstrous waste of resources and peoples' finite attention when something like Snapchat gets funded and some Joffrey gets to play boy-king. That said, it often leads to some pain for the courageous individual. You don't always make friends being right.

Rant over. Fucking take it away.

Re: The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

#28

Post by vixsomnis »

I've seen a few TED talks: notably, from those published on Netflix under "Head Games". There are some interesting topics there. Cults, consciousness (always amusing to hear people claim they've cracked this one), self-deception, the optimism bias, and so on.

It's not something you should watch a lot of. I'd consider it mostly "inspiration" and not actually a learning experience, as most of the speakers make grandiose claims (fluent in a language within a month, on the brink of understanding the entire brain, etc.).

TED should be watched and enjoyed if you like that sort of thing, and then heavily supplemented with more trusted academic material.

For consciousness, I found this book at my school's library last year, and enjoyed reading it: http://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes-...

I don't remember if I saw the TED talk first, and then read that book, or vice-versa...

TED talks make me feel like I'm living in the future. Even if the speakers are overconfident to the point of foolishness, it's enjoyable to watch as long as you remind yourself that it is sometimes only conjecture and science-fiction. I think the author of this article is overreacting.

Re: The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

#29

Post by seanmcdirmid »

michaelochurch wrote: post #27

It isn't just "TED". TED is a symptom (and not all of the talks are bad; the format must be shallow because it reflects the short attention span and quick-to-dismiss mentality of the upper class). It's this horseshit faux-liberal self-congratulatory corporate house-slave culture. That's where this speaking tone of "pitching" rather than teaching or exhorting or enlightening (when needed) condemning comes from. I can'…

I totally agree. Dissenters/malcontents don't have an easy life, and they have to be absolutely freaking amazing (genius, good communication skills) to have any impact at all (or they are just written off as cranky, crackpots, or worse). Much easier to just join the echo chamber and go with the flow.

Re: The Sound of TED: A Case for Distaste

#30

Post by justinpaulson »

michaelochurch wrote: post #27

It isn't just "TED". TED is a symptom (and not all of the talks are bad; the format must be shallow because it reflects the short attention span and quick-to-dismiss mentality of the upper class). It's this horseshit faux-liberal self-congratulatory corporate house-slave culture. That's where this speaking tone of "pitching" rather than teaching or exhorting or enlightening (when needed) condemning comes from. I can'…

"You don't always make friends being right."

Or maybe your attitude is clouding any articulate argument that you may be presenting. The reason TED works is because how you present your message is a large part of how successful your message is. If you are receiving that many downvotes, it is probably due to a combination of your self-righteous message and the arrogant way you are presenting it.

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