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Ask Slashdot: What Would Your TED Talk Be About? (ted.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the show-and-tell dept.

Slashdot reader shanen poses the question: if you had to give a TED Talk, what would you talk about? They write: Mostly based on my experiences at TEDx events, though of course I've seen a lot of TED videos. Nick Hanauer's censored TED Talk is still my all-time favorite, though you couldn't see it on the TED website. Proximate trigger for this question was actually looking at the coming TEDx events in the neighborhood... In my own case, I think you'd need to put a gun to my head as motivation, but maybe my sig would be worth a laugh or two? What would your TED Talk be about? How does this idea resonate with you? Feel free to explain in as little as one sentence...

For example: "The inequality of opportunity and how the stereotypical success is a function of where one is born."

5 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. Taking a cue from a previous topic. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here's one: "Why diversity of opinion is vital". Or a more sensationalist variant: "How the decline in tolerance of opposing viewpoints is killing us and our kittens"

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  2. standing ovation! by tommeke100 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Every Ted Talk ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  3. Stop and appreciate life once in awhile by rmdingler · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It could be as simple as "I live in a first world nation!" and my worst day never includes "Find food to feed my family for today" on the to-do list.

    It could be as complex as "I have enough food to get two of my three kids through the winter". Imagine having to bright-side that bit of luck.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  4. How easy it is to meet Paris Accords by 2025 by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My TED Talk would be about literally how easy it would be for the US and Canada to meet and exceed the Paris Accords, achieving 100 percent Renewable Power for electricity by 2025, removing all fossil fuel infrastructure depreciation, deductions, and exclusions, and literally MAKE MONEY and save US and Canadian taxpayers money by doing it.

    Step by step.

    I'd like to thank Capilano University and the University of Washington for the scientific, business, and economic education that made that possible, of course. And another alumnus for getting me started on this path when she made me realize why paper recycling programs weren't doing well - by bringing it back to supply and demand, and allowing me to see a lot of what drives this is literally capital formation and assumptions of risk by the public for actions that cause damage to us.

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  5. The most popular TED talks by Beeftopia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So I'd heard a lot about TED talks, had seen a few on video, and in considering this question, I wondered, what can the subjects be about? Here are the 25 most popular TED talks. They're supposed to 18 minutes or less. The acronym stands for "Technology, Entertainment, Design". So, some ideas I'd like to see:

    Technology:
    * "Avoiding "Guru Syndrome": Start with the Tenerife crash, where two 747s collided on the runway. The copilots knew something was f-cky but wouldn't tell/challenge the captain, and ended with 583 dead in a fireball as the 747s collided at takeoff speed. In programming, in business, in the workplace, one guy sometimes can be though of as knowing everything. He doesn't.

    * "Listening With Humility": No matter how smart you are, and no matter how dumb your client, user or patient is, listen with humility, listen like you're trying to learn, and you can get better results.

    Business:
    * "Stopping Control Fraud": How to create organizational structures which are resistant to control fraud.

    * "How to persuade people to give you money?": I am definitely no expert at this, but I'd like to see a discussion. I see panhandler and charities making money - what desire are they fulfilling in people? I see squeegee boys getting money - what desire are they fulfilling in their "patrons"? I see patent trolls, landlords, pharmaceutical companies, prostitutes, government contractors, lawyers: Why do people give each other money?

    Finance:
    * "What is money?": How do we get people to pick up the trash at zero dark thirty in freezing weather, slaughter cattle, lay pavement, build skyscrapers, go to war, with slips of paper?

    * "What is MMT?": Funding the government via seignorage is an old idea that typically doesn't end well. Why is it becoming popular again?

    * "What drives the economy?": I'd say it's human desire. Can it be reduced to equations? Or do you need a coherent theory of human behavior first?