TED talks

Soulful

Soulful

life is good
MBTI
♥
www.ted.com

how do you all feel about TED talks?
do you feel like the ideas are worthwhile and actually beneficial to humanity? are they, as the TED slogan suggests, "worth spreading"?
do you feel TED talks have a useful purpose within our societies?
do they contribute anything to our societies?
who attends these talks?
are they anything more than pompous or "feel good" presentations without much practical value?

how would you describe the culture of the society that shapes the ways in which the talks are delivered and why they're delivered in that way?
each talk seems to try to be "inspiring" in some way, or perhaps "englightening". are these talks actually so, or do they pay lip service to these ideas in a society that commodifies and commercializes "feel good" concepts?
many of the talks focus on making our world a better place, or discuss concepts like rights, science, novelties, etc.

in a practical sense, are TED talks anything more than an indulgent display of "feel good" lectures?
do they bear any positive impact on society as a whole?
do they actually inspire?

I don't know why I feel so cynical about these lectures, as it's something I would typically love. But their manner and style reminds me of a 21st century indulgence of pompous "high culture" . And it kind of bugs me. Just so it's clear, I'm totally open to differing opinions. More than anything, I am curious to learn how others experience/perceive these web-broadcasted events.
 
No, I agree with you....

One of my INFJ friends is hooked on them, but Ireally don't get why he thinks they are so special. He sends them to me all the time....some of them are amusing, or clever, but I have yet to come accross anything massively beneficial to ANYTHING really.
 
I'm glad to know it's not just me!

In thinking about this, I realized I don't have a problem with the lecturers; it's moreso the delivery that irks me, which suggets it's for a very specific audience.

"Oh, let's figure out how we'll save the world by sitting in posh seats and clapping and laughing appropriately at well-timed intervals or well-delivered points, whilst assuming contemplative faces in the meantime, and gathering in the hall after the lecture to congratulate the speaker on their insightful (marrrrvelous) presentation all the while chatting with a sense of amazement in one's voice at how important and valuable these ideas are."

It reminds me of academics who work solely within academia and with fellow academics, write incomprehendable texts assigned solely within the post-secondary environment, yet vehemently argue the value of their work and its impact in changing society for the better. I don't know if there is a complexity to this that I am undermining, but I don't see how sitting in a room reading or arguing about the appropriate way to approach a word or concept bears much of an impact on life outside of the ivory towers.

I am ashamed of how cynical these ideas are. :(

but also WTF?
 
I genuinely have yet to be sent a TED talk that I feel is in any way like its contributing to it's field of expertise other than pointing out some interesting facts, or stating the obvious/already known in a way that makes the person sound like some prodigious intellectual, which of course comes back to your points on the delivery.

I just don't like wasting my time, really.

Cynicism isn't all bad...it's good to be skeptical sometimes! :D
 
I've never felt compelled to go out to do something because of a TED talk. To me that shows that it is just 'feel good' programming.
 
You need to see Sal Khan's TED talk on reinventing education. Probably one of the most effective talks on there that I have seen.
 
Someone sent me a TED talk of how to dry your hands with one paper towel. It sounds silly but it was good and easy enough to start doing (it was actually like a new "trick" that people didn't believe I could do--exciting lives we lead). Something small with a potentially big impact if everyone did it. It was also fun to understand the science.

I don't think I've ever actually watched a whole TED talk other than that one. I'll have to check out the one about reinventing education.
 
No, but I like watching most of them. Most of the ones I've seen were utterly useless but they were still interesting.
 
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