11–20 of 89 posts
I stopped caring about TED talks when it became clear that people were more interested in promoting themselves rather than 'ideas worth spreading'. Too many posers looking for that epic photo of them on-stage with the head mic attached.
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 don't mean to come off the wrong way, but did you even read the article? Most of it was about past transgressions and what they've done to tighten the brand. Maybe you're been away too long. I also somewhat reject your characterization of their mission, because their mission first and foremost is about the spread of ideas. TEDx has irrefutably made TED more popular and mainstream and thus more effective as a vehicl…
Quality is not important for TED, it is everything. And like potatolicious, I no longer bother with TED talks because their brand has been poisoned for me. It's a perception problem.
I stopped caring about TED talks when it became clear that people were more interested in promoting themselves rather than 'ideas worth spreading'. Too many posers looking for that epic photo of them on-stage with the head mic attached.
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 don't mean to come off the wrong way, but did you even read the article? Most of it was about past transgressions and what they've done to tighten the brand. Maybe you're been away too long. I also somewhat reject your characterization of their mission, because their mission first and foremost is about the spread of ideas. TEDx has irrefutably made TED more popular and mainstream and thus more effective as a vehicl…
IMO, there is no way to say the above and have it come off the right way. It falls into the same bucket as "with all due respect..."
> "Most of it was about past transgressions and what they've done to tighten the brand."
Yes, and my contention is that it will never be enough. This is not a unique problem - large, spread out organizations are almost universally unable to consistently maintain a high quality bar. The difference is that for TED the quality is the product.
There is IMO no way for TED to reign in its TEDx partners to an extent that will restore the trust in the brand. To do so would basically involve TED taking over the curation of the content, in which case we're talking about an expansion of TED, not a franchising of TED (which, despite being non-profit, is what's occurring right now).
> "I also somewhat reject your characterization of their mission, because their mission first and foremost is about the spread of ideas."
No, it's about the spread of some ideas - as they say themselves, ideas worth spreading.
If our goal was to spread ideas without curation, Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, Tumblr, etc are all doing a far better job. TED's mission, both explicit and implicit, is to highlight particularly poignant people and ideas.
It is also how they rose to fame in the first place - they didn't predate Vimeo or YouTube, and they certainly haven't predated the format of the academic talk. What they did do was have razor-sharp curation and the ability to assemble a lot of great content in one place.
> "TEDx has irrefutably made TED more popular and mainstream and thus more effective as a vehicle to spread ideas."
TEDx has increased the profile of TED, it has also decreased its reputation dramatically. As I've pointed out above already, quality is core to the raison d'etre of TED.
> "People who complain that TED is not curating its content are ignoring how selective it is when posting TEDx content."
And yet kooks still make it. Nobody is saying that TED is sitting back and doing nothing - is that that they are either not doing enough, or that the structure of TEDx makes their task all but impossible.
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 don't mean to come off the wrong way, but did you even read the article? Most of it was about past transgressions and what they've done to tighten the brand. Maybe you're been away too long. I also somewhat reject your characterization of their mission, because their mission first and foremost is about the spread of ideas. TEDx has irrefutably made TED more popular and mainstream and thus more effective as a vehicl…
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 don't mean to come off the wrong way, but did you even read the article? Most of it was about past transgressions and what they've done to tighten the brand. Maybe you're been away too long. I also somewhat reject your characterization of their mission, because their mission first and foremost is about the spread of ideas. TEDx has irrefutably made TED more popular and mainstream and thus more effective as a vehicl…
What now? Well, browsing a random TEDx video is about as informative as watching a random youtube video. Except that you can't listen to Pink Floyd on TEDx, too bad.
Sorry if the tone is a little annoyed, no harm intended..
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't mean to come off the wrong way, but did you even read the article? Most of it was about past transgressions and what they've done to tighten the brand. Maybe you're been away too long. I also somewhat reject your characterization of their mission, because their mission first and foremost is about the spread of ideas. TEDx has irrefutably made TED more popular and mainstream and thus more effective as a vehicl…
> "I don't mean to come off the wrong way, but did you even read the article?" IMO, there is no way to say the above and have it come off the right way. It falls into the same bucket as "with all due respect..." > "Most of it was about past transgressions and what they've done to tighten the brand." Yes, and my contention is that it will never be enough . This is not a unique problem - large, spread out organizations…
Can you please link me to someone you consider a kook on TED.com? The main couple kooks people talk about years later after TED has made changes like vortex math never make TED.com and for good reason.
If you honestly believe less than 1% of TEDx video have any merit, I think that is fairly elitist of you.
Those gated communities are driving me crazy.
The "vortex math" talk was removed from TEDx Charlotte's website, but there's a copy here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oRnhrOf0r0
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.
"What we have is the great unifying field theory, with it you can create and exhaust free energy, end all diseases, produce unlimited food, travel anywhere in the universe, build the ultimate supercomputer, artificial intelligence, and obsolete all existing technology."
All in the first minute. I don't think it was really necessary to take the presentation-style into account...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "I don't mean to come off the wrong way, but did you even read the article?" IMO, there is no way to say the above and have it come off the right way. It falls into the same bucket as "with all due respect..." > "Most of it was about past transgressions and what they've done to tighten the brand." Yes, and my contention is that it will never be enough . This is not a unique problem - large, spread out organizations…
> and yet kooks still make it Can you please link me to someone you consider a kook on TED.com? The main couple kooks people talk about years later after TED has made changes like vortex math never make TED.com and for good reason. If you honestly believe less than 1% of TEDx video have any merit, I think that is fairly elitist of you.
I feel like TED is supposed to be elitist, in terms of the quality of its content.