***Official interesting TED videos thread***

[rong]

Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are | Video on TED.com

[rong]

Perhaps we could make, and rename this, a ted thread

[a500lbgorilla]

Perhaps we could make, and rename this, a ted thread

Perhaps...

[rong]

Bully!

[wufwugy]

She's hot

Very good video, thanks

[kiwiMark]

What was the original thread title sposed to be. HOW CAN I PLAY BY THE RULES IF I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S ON TOPIC AND WHAT'S NOT.

concur with woofguy

[rong]

Wuf, I thought this ties in nicely with the conclusions of the "what separates humans from animals" lecture. Not in terms if cause and effect (conceptual ideas causing a physiological effect) but in terms of the overall interaction of the mind and the body.

[rong]

Wuf, I thought this ties in nicely with the conclusions of the "what separates humans from animals" lecture. Not in terms if cause and effect (conceptual ideas causing a physiological effect) but in terms of the overall interaction of the mind and the body.

[kingnat]

Daniel Dennett is fucking awesome.

Dan Dennett: Dangerous memes | Video on TED.com

Dan Dennett: The illusion of consciousness | Video on TED.com

[MadMojoMonkey]

I love TED. Such a great idea to gather great ideas!

Elaine Morgan says we evolved from aquatic apes | Video on TED.com

[rong]

In case this thread takes off, how about we make a rule that you have to put a mini intro to any video you post so people know what it's about beyond just the title? It would make the thread a much more useful resource.

[MadMojoMonkey]

This is a long, biological talk about the mantis shrimp, and how it breaks open snails with a hammer-like limb. The limb moves so fast it causes cavitation.

In the category of amazingly awesome animal tricks.

Sheila Patek clocks the fastest animals | Video on TED.com

[MadMojoMonkey]

David Byrne, front-man and lead singer from the Talking Heads, talks about the history of western music. He goes into the spaces in which the music was performed, and relates the acoustic characteristics of the room to what melodic and harmonic structures can work in that environment.

This is just mind-blowingly awesome for any music lover.

David Byrne: How architecture helped music evolve | Video on TED.com

EDIT:
This one is in the category of amazing brain science, but with the fun of performing fMRI scans on jazz musicians and rappers while they improvise.

Charles Limb: Your brain on improv | Video on TED.com

[agnesamurphy]

MMM and I like different things, although we both like TED very much. Here's what some of my favorite TED talks are:

Sheena Iyengar: The Art of Choosing

Ben Goldacre: What Doctors Don't Know about the Drugs They Prescribe

Hans Rosling: Religion and Babies - This guy has several talks about different aspects of public health, and he is an engaging speaker. Loved all of his talks.

Leymah Gbowee: Unlock the Intelligence, Passion, Greatness of Girls - I aspire to be as beautiful, accomplished, and as full of life as this woman.

[Renton]

Becker Very Best of Ted Danson - YouTube

Ted Bundy's Final Interview (by Dr James Dobson) Part 1 of 3 - YouTube

Ted Kennedy on Republicans and Minimum wage - YouTube

[wufwugy]

Pretty sure aquatic ape has been debunked

[Juked07]

Becker Very Best of Ted Danson - YouTube

Ted Bundy's Final Interview (by Dr James Dobson) Part 1 of 3 - YouTube

Ted Kennedy on Republicans and Minimum wage - YouTube

I like your take on ted talks

[boost]

Pretty sure aquatic ape has been debunked

yeah, I thought it was just about the least likely of likely theories.

[MadMojoMonkey]

I'm not saying it's right; I'm saying it's an interesting TED talk. I do think it's food for thought.

In the TED talk, she says that there is opposition, but no alternate theory... She shows some evidence to back her theory.

Also, I took 2 anthropology classes in my undergrad, and both professors said it was an interesting theory that a lot of people don't like, but that there is really no theory that is widely accepted at this time. The discovery that - the African Savanna ecosystem didn't come about until after bipedalism appeared - is fairly recent, and the field of anthropology is still adjusting to these new data.

Do you have any link or source that offers a theory that hasn't been shown to be invalid?

[wufwugy]

All I really know is that a science board I go to doesn't like it and wiki thinks every unique claim it makes isn't supported by evidence

I'll add that aquatic apes wouldn't survive in the first place. Terrible movement, terrible defense, whole lot of predators, and every other somewhat closely related aquatic species is much different in necessary ways

[MadMojoMonkey]

This one is amazing. A group of physicists developed a way to take video at a trillion frames per second. There's a video of a laser pulse going through a bottle right at the beginning.

Ramesh Raskar: Imaging at a trillion frames per second | Video on TED.com

[boost]

I love listening to Indian people speak. I really don't know why. They just have super cool accents, I guess.

[MadMojoMonkey]

This one is on the home page of the site now.

The guy takes a piece of material he calls "porous asphalt" and dips it in something (presumably liquid Nitrogen) then taps it with a hammer and breaks it in half... then he carries it across the stage and puts the two halves together in a microwave and sets the timer... then he gives the talk.

He is describing the properties of a new road material that will quickly shed water and absorb sound due to its pores. Using the healing technique he describes, cracks and normal wear can be repaired by driving a repair vehicle over the spot and using inductive heating.

~7 min

A "self-healing" asphalt

[eugmac]

David Byrne, front-man and lead singer from the Talking Heads, talks about the history of western music. He goes into the spaces in which the music was performed, and relates the acoustic characteristics of the room to what melodic and harmonic structures can work in that environment.

This is just mind-blowingly awesome for any music lover.

David Byrne: How architecture helped music evolve | Video on TED.com

EDIT:
This one is in the category of amazing brain science, but with the fun of performing fMRI scans on jazz musicians and rappers while they improvise.

Charles Limb: Your brain on improv | Video on TED.com

I'm a musician so I thought I'd give my two cents about the first vid. I think of course musicians of all eras have created music to fit the venue/occasion/setting/audience, but at the same time I think it was a more reciprocal process when it comes to size and acoustics of halls/opera houses/etc - Wagner wrote epically huge scale operas, and asked for opera houses to be built accordingly so the whole orchestra would fit into the pit, and musicians like Isaac Stern gave his personal input on how the acoustics of the Carnegie Hall should be.

Any performing artist has experienced playing in vastly different venues. In a dry room with little reverb, you find that you can't be too harsh with articulation but at the same time can play fast music at a faster tempo without risking the notes being swallowed up by the room. Playing the same piece in a church, you would certainly need to articulate way more clearly and slow really fast things down so that everything can be heard and understood, much like a public speaker would take into account the venue in which he's speaking.

[rong]

Everyone who isn't me ruined this thread.

[Pascal]

Bully!

Everyone who isn't me ruined this thread.

supppp

[Pascal]

Also, for any of you bleeding heart liberals out there, I watched this video the other day: http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_steve...injustice.html

It's a talk about America's justice system from a guy called Bryan Stevenson, who is really interesting and an amazing speaker. You may not agree with everything he says and it's far from technical, but it's an interesting story.

[rong]

Bringing this thread back to life with a fuckin beaut!

(Wufwugy, you'll love this)

http://www.ted.com/talks/keith_chen_...ave_money.html

[MadMojoMonkey]

In case this thread takes off, how about we make a rule that you have to put a mini intro to any video you post so people know what it's about beyond just the title? It would make the thread a much more useful resource.

Bringing this thread back to life with a fuckin beaut!

(Wufwugy, you'll love this)

Everyone who isn't me ruined this thread.

wp, sir.

[rong]

Touche!

[rpm]

this isn't a TED speech but similarish genre and didn't really want to make a whole new thread for one video.

david foster wallace talks about dealing with adult life. keeping sane etc. don't really know how to describe it. but it's good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vET9cvlGJQw

about 20 minutes long if anyone is interested. and it's in two parts.

[rong]

I'm so glad you posted that rpm, I've been meaning to buy one of his books for ages but completely forgot.

[rpm]

as soon as i get my hands on enough disposable income i'm going to be buying his "infinite jest". for now i must make do with hearing him talk in youtube clips

[rpm]

you know much about the guy rong? quite a sad story, he suffered from severe depression for most of his life, relying on medication to be able to function. ended up killing himself when the drugs failed to take the edge off, i guess. fantastic writer and speaker though

[rong]

I heard a radio show about him, can't remember the topic, may have been a book club kinda thing or maybe the anniversary of his death, and they discussed him, his life and read a few passages from infinite jest and it sounded brilliant so I want it. Gonna order it today I think.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Lawrence Lessig gives a compelling presentation about the American electoral process.

We the People, and the Republic We Must Reclaim


I could use this as an example of an excellent presentation. Repetition early, emotion late, thoroughly engaging and only a handful of words per slide, makes a single point thoroughly and convincingly without beating you over the head with ideology, has superb timing.

I'm not saying there's a perfect or right way to give a slide-show presentation, but this one is worthy of an ovation, disregarding the content.

[rong]

Well you got me interested.

[rong]

I enjoyed that. I agree with you regarding the quality of the presentation. Interesting speech too.

[rong]

This is brilliant. It's a talk about justice, the American justice system and poverty/colour.

http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_steve...injustice.html

[rong]

Renegade gangsta gardening in South Central LA. Changing the world a plant at a time.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_...entral_la.html

[wufwugy]

This is brilliant. It's a talk about justice, the American justice system and poverty/colour.

http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_steve...injustice.html

Interdasting

I blame puritanism because it teaches people that you should ignore things that make you feel bad

[rong]

This is also just brilliant. Makes me want to consider alternative options for my own kids.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinso...reativity.html

[eugmac]

rong, great stuff, can't agree more. i'm always envious of my fiancee because she had such a different education from me. she went to a waldorf/steiner school, and everything i've experienced about it has been pretty positive. people scoff at it because of the artsy fartsy stuff, but these guys did all that on TOP of the normal curriculum that they had to do to get equivalent credits to mainstream schooling.

here's an example that highlights this pretty clearly:

we both had to make a stuffed animal at some point at school. the way we did it, we picked a design, which meant you got a kit with instructions and materials to create a carbon copy of the dog/cat/pig in the catalogue, if you followed instructions and didn't mess it up. it was so pointless that i had my mom sew it for me while i practised my violin.

my fiancee's class was sent to the zoo to make a sketch of an animal of their choosing. she picked a polar bear. she drew one, then had to produce a stuffed animal out of it. nobody told her how or what materials to use, apart from obviously learning the basics of how to sew two pieces of cloth together and so on. the end result looks a bit more like a polar pig than a bear but it should be pretty obvious that the educational value of her creation was immensely greater than mine.

[rong]

Not heard of steiner education approach before. Was researching Montessori schooling last night, it seems there are some montessoti nurseries near me so we're exploring that option. There seems to be some overlap between the two approaches. Before yesterday I wasn't even aware that there were alternatives to the traditional education rout. I'm glad there are but I imagine they are typically reserved for the wealthy, though I intend to find out.

[rong]

Lawrence Lessig gives a compelling presentation about the American electoral process.

We the People, and the Republic We Must Reclaim

This, as well as the justice one I posted, tilt the fuck out of me. You would think the first time people become aware of these things they should instantly be up in arms demanding change. But this information becomes almost common knowledge, yet nobody does anything. It's ridiculous. We don't deserve the freedoms our ancestors fought for when we literally let people take them away at their whim.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Not heard of steiner education approach before. Was researching Montessori schooling last night, it seems there are some montessoti nurseries near me so we're exploring that option. There seems to be some overlap between the two approaches.

I was a preschool teacher at a Montessori Academy. I even took classes to become a certified Montessori teacher (didn't complete the course, 'cause of crazy life issues). Needless to say, I fully endorse a Montessori education. I can field some questions if you want to fire me a PM.

[kingnat]

Renegade gangsta gardening in South Central LA. Changing the world a plant at a time.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_...entral_la.html

I love this. reminds me a documentary called Truck Farm that I found very inspiring to grow my own food.

[rong]

That talk inspired me to grow my own food as well, not like full on hippy commune only eat what I grow, but I have dug up the crap surrounding my decking in the front garden and will be planting vegetables.

[kiwiMark]

coming at this with a sample of one but I lived with a girl who went to a WS school and was definitely heavily towards the pleasant but lacking in social skills, very awkward, keeps talking to you even if you're in the middle of doing something and say that or only give monosyllabic answers type of deal. would also just stand in the doorway of your room wordlessly for a minute or so after a conversation before walking away. but don't know what role school had vs family etc. ldo

[eugmac]

kiwi, i'd say that describes the opposite of a typical steiner kid from my experience from a much bigger sample.

[a500lbgorilla]

Not a TED talk but is a super entertaining and interesting podcast by NPR's radiolab on choice. Including the paradox of choice, a surprise appearance of a real life Vulcan and how Harrah's casino manages to trick you into enjoy losing.

http://www.radiolab.org/2008/nov/17/

[wufwugy]

Not a TED talk but is a super entertaining and interesting podcast by NPR's radiolab on choice. Including the paradox of choice, a surprise appearance of a real life Vulcan and how Harrah's casino manages to trick you into enjoy losing.

http://www.radiolab.org/2008/nov/17/

Listening. I've posted Jonah Lehrer interviews in the past. They mention him in this. I want to know why I find joy or comfort in poor decisions

[a500lbgorilla]

Listening. I've posted Jonah Lehrer interviews in the past. They mention him in this. I want to know why I find joy or comfort in poor decisions

Did you find what you were looking for?

[wufwugy]

ofc not

[Luco]

So, this guy has created these machines that he calls 'a new kind of life':

http://www.ted.com/talks/theo_jansen...creatures.html

Thoughts?

[MadMojoMonkey]

I guess they're pretty cool Rube Goldberg machines. I don't think any biologist is moved by the notion of them being alive, but it's probably good marketing to get his designs some attention.

As an engineer, I'm super impressed with the design's ability to harness energy and put it to some use. It looks like it's mostly PVC and plastic bottles and tubing. Truly a brilliant design.

I wonder why he went with that scale. It seems like a simple enough machine that it would function, even if it was much smaller or bigger.

[oskar]

I wonder why he went with that scale. It seems like a simple enough machine that it would function, even if it was much smaller or bigger.

I'm just speculating, but I don't think that if you spent the last 40 years taking plastic tubing for awalk around the beach, that you would have the most amazing budget.