{"id":3810,"date":"2014-02-05T22:24:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T03:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/?p=3810"},"modified":"2014-02-05T22:24:12","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T03:24:12","slug":"what-is-wrong-with-ted-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/2014\/02\/05\/what-is-wrong-with-ted-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"What is wrong with TED talks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/object><\/p>\n

Do you like TED talks?<\/p>\n

Some address issues relevant to the Core, including\u00a0literature<\/a>, art<\/a>, theater<\/a>, music<\/a>, education<\/a>, and choice of\u00a0curriculum<\/a>. Many of the talks can be informative and inspiring.<\/p>\n

However, Benjamin Bratton,\u00a0a theorist in philosophy, art and design, raises an important point in his TED talk, titled What’s Wrong With TED Talks?<\/em><\/p>\n

He tackles what TED really is, discusses its focus on innovation, and offers valid criticisms of TED’s approach towards technology, entertainment and design. Here is an excerpt from the video linked above:<\/p>\n

The key rhetorical device for TED talks is a combination of epiphany and personal testimony (an \u201cepiphimony\u201d if you like ) through which the speaker shares a personal journey of insight and realization, its triumphs and tribulations.<\/p>\n

What is it that the TED audience hopes to get from this? A vicarious insight, a fleeting moment of wonder, an inkling that maybe it\u2019s all going to work out after all? A spiritual buzz?<\/p>\n

I’m sorry but this fails to meet the challenges that we are supposedly here to confront. These are\u00a0 complicated and difficult and are not given to tidy just-so solutions. They don\u2019t care about anyone\u2019s\u00a0experience<\/i>\u00a0of optimism. Given the stakes, making our best and brightest waste their time \u2013and the audience\u2019s time\u2014 dancing like infomercial hosts is too high a price. It is cynical.<\/p>\n

Also, it just\u00a0doesn\u2019t work<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For more information, visit Benjamin Bratton’s own website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a humorous take on the TED talks, be sure to watch some Onion Talks<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you like TED talks? Some address issues relevant to the Core, including\u00a0literature, art, theater, music, education, and choice of\u00a0curriculum. Many of the talks can be informative and inspiring. However, Benjamin Bratton,\u00a0a theorist in philosophy, art and design, raises an important point in his TED talk, titled What’s Wrong With TED Talks? He tackles what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3740,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[477,4261],"tags":[48568,48570,48573,48572,48567,579,48571,48569,644,48566],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3740"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3811,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810\/revisions\/3811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}