TED

Is it just me  - or are so many TED talks just touchy-feely hokum ? Specifically, I’m referring to the kind of talk that starts off with the promise of giving hard information and real knowledge – a  new insight or a fresh perspective - and then quickly devolves into feel good foo-foo – about how wonderful and lovely and wonderful and beautiful and lovely everything would be if we could just  <blyaahg>.

 

Take for example the talk by Jill Bolte Taylor¹ describing her experience having a stroke. It starts off interestingly – as she recounts, minute by minute, what went on in her mind as she was experiencing a stroke. And then it all of a sudden ventures into rubbish-land as she propounds some fantasy theory about how the world would be paradise on earth if we were all to lobotomize our left brains and just become right brained zombies.

 

The one that really got under my skin was the utter drivel by  Brene Brown² – who makes some pretty inane observations in her talk – spends 70% of the time just talking about herself, making silly jokes, giving boring anecdotes and then concludes with some b.s. about how we can live wonderful lives by being sincere vulnerable idiots.  Firstly – her “brilliant” conclusions are something even the most thick observer of human nature would have observed … she’s regurgitating ideas that were written about like 6 million years ago. Secondly – as a “serious” researcher – one would expect more quantitative and practical suggestions – not the same bunch of worn out platitudes and clichés issued with such high authority.

 

1: http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

 

2: http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html