DB Optimizer » Favorite Ted Talks (and other online lectures)

Favorite Ted Talks (and other online lectures)

September 22nd, 2011

It’s not about technology. It’s about people and stories. – Dean Kamen

A friend recently ask what are the best Ted Talks, and I thought “what an awesome questions.” Why? Because Ted talks are some of the most engaging, cutting edge and insightful lectures I know of and they are free. The talks dive into new data that is changing the way we perceive and interact with our world from technology to morality. For example some talks show how the changes happening in biotech will eclipse the revolution of the computer and other talks show how the way we makes decisions is flawed from choosing dating partners to investing money, as well as other talks on topics which may sound trite or hackneyed but may be more profound such as how most religions are based upon the golden rule and not upon converting the world. Speaking of religion and spirituality, these talks are my idea of a perfect Sunday morning sermon because there are so many deep and profound ideas that could change our world for the better.

But if these talks are so good where should one start? There are over 600 talks! I’m not the first person to wonder. Some one actually tried to rate the talks. The results are in a spreadsheet here.

Another place to start is of course the Ted talks web site, here.

How did I start? I started with a few recommendations from friends and then I downloaded all the audio recordings I could and listened to them on the drive to work. Here is a list just the audio tracks. (or here )

Of the talks I’ve listened to the, the following pop into my mind as my favorite (followed by rating # from above spreadsheet) :

Religion , Morality and Humanity

Karen Armstrong : Charter for Compassion #320
Richard Dawkins on Atheism #107
Sarah Jones: Global Village #393
Jonathan Haidt: moral roots of liberals and conservatives #179
Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions #14
Michael Specter: The danger of science denial
A kid born in New Delhi today can expect to live as long as the richest man in the world did 100 years ago

How we think, reason, see

Dan Pink: Science of Motivation #1 candle problem, incentives work against creativity
Dan Ariely: Are we in control of our own decisions #18
Dan Ariely: our buggy moral code #93
Michael Shermer: The pattern behind self-deception #177 patterns gone astray, ghosts, UFOs , etc
Daniel Kahneman: The riddle of experience vs. memory #64 happy in the now or in the memory of it
Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice #73 choice makes us unhappy
Dan Gilbert asks, Why are we happy? #69 paraplegic or lotto winner, we make happiness
Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight #27
Sebastian Seung: I am my connectome #?

Biotech

Angela Belcher: Using nature to grow batteries #? bio-nanotech creations
Joe DeRisi solves medical mysteries – DNA matching chips
Juan Enriquez shares mindboggling science – species reboot

David Pogue says “Simplicity sells”
Yes, I’ve seen Hans Rosling, but the above resonates much more with me

Marketing and Product design

Don Norman on 3 ways good design makes you happy beauty matters
Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action
Seth Godin on standing out – best thing since sliced bread

Optical

Beau Lotto: Optical illusions show how we see

A few words about the favorite talks listed above.

Section 1, Religion , Morality and Humanity: The first talk I’ve listed is the most important. Though science and technology may be the most exciting, the majority of the world is religious and and thus the way religions are organized, operate and ask us the think may be the most important area to examine in humanities daily lives. The first talk by Karen Armstrong beautifully clarifies that the worlds major religions are founded upon one teaching : for us to love one another. The second talk from Richard Dawkins on “militant atheism” might sound a bit confrontational but I highly recommend it. The lecture is an erudite, sharp, scathing and funny treatise which puts religion in perspective. The third talk is wonderful on audio – it has some fun turns of perspective and is a rollick through human perspectives that makes humanity easier to love and encourages tolerance. Finally the fourth talk on the roots of liberals and conservatives again encourages tolerance and shows the benefits of boths sides : liberalism which fights for justice and independence and conservatism which builds community and safety. (speaking of safety and security there is a good talk on that as well )

Section 2, How we think, reason, see: The first 7 talks give surprising evidence that the way we reason is often not in our best interest with specific ramifications that are detrimental for the way business and wall street is run and are the roots of the recent financial crises. The last two, Jill Botle and Sebastian Seung, share fascinating insights to the way our brain works.

Sectionn 3, Biotech: Biotech is quick becoming the revolution to change all revolutions and Angela Belcher’s talk gives us an inkling why.

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While on the subject of awesome audio lectures, here are some other good sources:

Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner

These lectures are geared to startups and entrepreneurship. One of my favorite which dovetails with Ted biotech talks is

Innovation in a Disruptive Environment

NPR’s This American Life

These talks are give a personal view on experiences with humanity, American in particular. For a place to start with, a couple of good ones that dovetails with the above Ted talks on religion are

209: God said, huh? (start at minute 29:00 )
304: Heretics

One good trick to know with This American Life is that the mp3’s are available at

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/[episode #].mp3

http://audio.thisamericanlife.org/jomamashouse/ismymamashouse/290.mp3

see another trick to downloading episodes at

http://www.dirtygreek.org/t/download-this-american-life-episodes

Santa Fe Institute

good source of interesting intellectual lectures. A good place to start with the Santa Fe Institute is