I used to watch TED in the early days and it was interesting, even exciting. In my opinion it has become a vehicle for self-agrandising people. It is no longer interesting or exciting.
Doomed by its own success perhaps?
Mike Downing
3 months ago
There’s the other staple; the therapy type confessional from a ‘brave’ person (the trans brigade are over-featured naturally) at the end of which the audience (as if on cue) gets to its feet and gives a group hug and teary ovation to the splurger.
Cathy Carron
3 months ago
No doubt Ackerman will talk about the demise & degradation of higher education. The TED executives who quit clearly aren’t into mirrors.
Stuart Bennett
3 months ago
The Coleman Hughes debacle exposed TED as more influenced by ideology than ideas.
I thought Chris Anderson handled Coleman Hughes’s complaints well. Why do you call it a debacle?
Fernando B
3 months ago
Bill Ackman, in my opinion, has gone from strength to strength over the past few months. It’s telling how the moment he has decided to be more vocal about some of the hottest topics of the day the cancellation high priests have started their chanting.
I just had a look at two of the TED Fellows who have resigned because of the association with him. They are the usual suspects!
Lucianne Walkowicz
Walkowicz is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
On October 12, 2021, Walkowicz resigned[11] their position on NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee over the Agency’s terse response to concerns on the naming of the James Webb Space Telescope.
In April 2020 Walkowicz filed a trademark lawsuit against Mattel and one of its subsidiaries, American Girl.[18] The lawsuit alleges that the toy-maker stole Walkowicz’s likeness for the Luciana Vega astronaut doll.[19]
Sarah Sandman
Sandman is the founder and co-director of Brick x Brick, an art performance project that built human walls against Trump and misogyny from 2016-2020.
The TED talk format sometimes adds something extra, but most of them could be summarized in an article that could be digested in a fraction of the time. Also, they’re usually quite shallow. I’d rather just read.
Edward H
3 months ago
The timing of this is quite amusing; I was just listening to a podcast with Chris Anderson (head of TED) last week in which he was defending TED from accusations of bias over the Coleman Hughes affair. This incident just goes to show how little his finger was on the pulse (giving him the benefit of the doubt that he actually believed what he was saying on the podcast…).
I followed the Coleman Hughes affair pretty closely. I thought Chris Anderson handled that well. Coleman Hughes’s main complaint was that his video wasn’t getting as many views as he wanted. That’s not TED’s fault.
My impression was that Coleman Hughes’ main complaint was that TED’s post-talk promotion of Hughes talk was atypically minimal and that was the cause of the minimal views.
Your explanation seems wrong.
David Kingsworthy
3 months ago
Obviously they need to diversify their offerings, institute tiers, like TED-science, TED-culture, also TED-premium etc.
starkbreath
3 months ago
Tireless Extrapolation of Dumbassery.
Tom K
3 months ago
Not to mention the extent to which TED is focused on, as the Critical Drinker puts it, THE MESSAGE. Wokism is the default setting leading to a lot of tedious rubbish, speaker identity coming before subject matter quality time, after time.
I used to watch TED in the early days and it was interesting, even exciting. In my opinion it has become a vehicle for self-agrandising people. It is no longer interesting or exciting.
Doomed by its own success perhaps?
There’s the other staple; the therapy type confessional from a ‘brave’ person (the trans brigade are over-featured naturally) at the end of which the audience (as if on cue) gets to its feet and gives a group hug and teary ovation to the splurger.
No doubt Ackerman will talk about the demise & degradation of higher education. The TED executives who quit clearly aren’t into mirrors.
The Coleman Hughes debacle exposed TED as more influenced by ideology than ideas.
TED: Ideology Worth Ignoring
My first thought too. I guess TED has become an institution now, and like all institutions, has been captured by progressive ideology.
I thought Chris Anderson handled Coleman Hughes’s complaints well. Why do you call it a debacle?
Bill Ackman, in my opinion, has gone from strength to strength over the past few months. It’s telling how the moment he has decided to be more vocal about some of the hottest topics of the day the cancellation high priests have started their chanting.
I just had a look at two of the TED Fellows who have resigned because of the association with him. They are the usual suspects!
Lucianne Walkowicz
Walkowicz is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
On October 12, 2021, Walkowicz resigned[11] their position on NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee over the Agency’s terse response to concerns on the naming of the James Webb Space Telescope.
In April 2020 Walkowicz filed a trademark lawsuit against Mattel and one of its subsidiaries, American Girl.[18] The lawsuit alleges that the toy-maker stole Walkowicz’s likeness for the Luciana Vega astronaut doll.[19]
Sarah Sandman
Sandman is the founder and co-director of Brick x Brick, an art performance project that built human walls against Trump and misogyny from 2016-2020.
You couldn’t make this stuff up. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a Viz comic.
Anyone who hasn’t watched 2070 Paradigm Shift is doing their funny bone a great disservice.
And then there’s this: https://youtu.be/_ZBKX-6Gz6A?si=mag65z5Dk_mzjhzk
The TED talk format sometimes adds something extra, but most of them could be summarized in an article that could be digested in a fraction of the time. Also, they’re usually quite shallow. I’d rather just read.
The timing of this is quite amusing; I was just listening to a podcast with Chris Anderson (head of TED) last week in which he was defending TED from accusations of bias over the Coleman Hughes affair. This incident just goes to show how little his finger was on the pulse (giving him the benefit of the doubt that he actually believed what he was saying on the podcast…).
I followed the Coleman Hughes affair pretty closely. I thought Chris Anderson handled that well. Coleman Hughes’s main complaint was that his video wasn’t getting as many views as he wanted. That’s not TED’s fault.
My impression was that Coleman Hughes’ main complaint was that TED’s post-talk promotion of Hughes talk was atypically minimal and that was the cause of the minimal views.
Your explanation seems wrong.
Obviously they need to diversify their offerings, institute tiers, like TED-science, TED-culture, also TED-premium etc.
Tireless Extrapolation of Dumbassery.
Not to mention the extent to which TED is focused on, as the Critical Drinker puts it, THE MESSAGE. Wokism is the default setting leading to a lot of tedious rubbish, speaker identity coming before subject matter quality time, after time.
The best TED talk about TED talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo5cKRmJaf0
The fact that Carole Cadwalladr was allowed to give one tells you all you need to know about TED talks.