TED - Technology, Entertainment, Design

TED is one of my favourite web sites. It's the online presence for the TED Conference that's held every year. As the web site says, 'the annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives.' And boy do they. Below are two of what I think are amongst the most interesting of those talks.

In this video brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor talks about the stroke she suffered and how she managed to study the effects as they were actually happening to her. What starts out as a fairly interesting talk about the biology of as stroke soon becomes something much more as she discusses the spiritual and metaphysical aspects of her experience. She's an amazing speaker and I defy anyone not to be moved by this talk.

 

In this video Joshua Klein discusses his research with crows. He's created experiments that show just how intelligent, and misunderstood, these birds are. It doesn't sound like a very interesting topic, does it? But he manages to really engage the viewer with his passion for his subject matter. He's not as out there as Jill Bolte Taylor but he also has a way of making you look at things differently.

 

So check out the web site for lots of other talks. I've found it pays off to click on links to the people and topics I don't think I'm going to be interested in. Inevitably it's fascinating and eye-opening. If you're going to stuff about wasting time on the net you might as well learn something while you're at it!

 

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