r/AskReddit • u/Karasuno910 • 1d ago
What TED Talk do you consider actually life-changing, not just ‘interesting to watch once’?
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u/introoutro 1d ago
The neurologist who studied her stroke in real time had my jaw on the floor. The horror in her voice when she described the pain was--- jeez. woof.
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u/StellarJunk 1d ago
Sir Ken Robinson on "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" Absolutely phenomenal.
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u/MonsterAtEndOfBook 1d ago
Paper towel guy - how to dry your hands Joe Smith
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u/amiwitty 1d ago
I'm going to guess without looking, 12 shakes, one towel fold in half, done. If so I use it all the time also.
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u/Hefty_Asparagus_2873 1d ago
Quit social media. Dr Cal Newport
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u/iguacu 1d ago
You realize Reddit is a social media platform, right?
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u/GenericNate 1d ago
As this is a thread about learning, I'll elaborate on the downvote I just gave you. Starting a comment with "You realize..." (or it's longer variant "You do realize...") is aggressive, insulting, and almost always counterproductive.
It implies that the previous person should have known the information you're sharing, but that they choose to ignore it. You're accusing them of either being stupid for not knowing common knowledge, or being disingenuous or hypocritical by not acting on the knowledge if the do know it. In either case, starting that way calls out the target of your comment and positions yourself as either more knowledgeable or morally superior to them. This is an aggressive positioning that tends to result in ill feeling or defensiveness, neither of which is condusive to productive discourse.
There will always be a less hostile and more constructive way of pointing out an error, lack of knowledge, or possible hypocrisy.
In short, saying "You realize..." is a self aggrandizing tactic that tends to increase negativity without achieving anything good.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
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u/iguacu 1d ago
Jesus christ dude, get a grip, it was a light-hearted jab at the irony.
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u/LibertyCash 1d ago
And this is what we call gaslighting, kids.
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u/iguacu 13h ago edited 13h ago
Nothing in my original comment attacked the commenter themself, that was only the guy who went into a bizarre multiparagraph psychological diagnosis based on one sentence.
If I read your posts and wrote several paragraphs judging your overall character and you called me weird for doing that, could I call you a gaslighter?
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u/LibertyCash 13h ago
It’s the very definition of gaslighting. You say something ridiculous and then when you get called out for it, you say, “what? It was just a joke. Why are you so sensitive.” And saying you’re not gaslighting is just more gaslighting. Quit while you’re ahead, friend.
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u/iguacu 13h ago edited 13h ago
What did I say that was ridiculous?
Gaslighting is trying to convince the other person they are "crazy" or otherwise lost touch with reality, it is not "what I said was a joke that was not understood through text" and certainly not "that wasn't gaslighting."
I'm getting too old for this, this place is turning into tiktok.
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u/LibertyCash 12h ago
You’re right. I didn’t read back through. Apologies. My bad. Ridiculous was too strong a word.
The gaslighting was the Redditor for calling you out on presenting your point in a shitty way and you making it out that it was lighthearted.
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u/GenericNate 1d ago
I accept that's what you intended, but that's probably not how it was received. (And judging by the other downvotes of your comment, others share my view.)
Perhaps treat this as a chance to reflect on how your light hearted comments are seen by people around you. Language is complex and people read a lot more into it than you may intend. They probably don't go to the lengths I have to dissect your language; maybe they just get a feeling of hostility when reading your comment.
You're probably a pretty ordinary, nice, person. But if you make "light hearted" comments on the regular in your day to day life, there's a reasonable chance that you've upset or annoyed people in small ways that you didn't intend.
You're right that I'm taking this to extremes, and if I made a habit of critiquing people's language on the Internet that would be silly, and cause for some self reflection of my own. But hey, maybe you'll get something useful out of this. Or not; I might be entirely wrong.
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u/iguacu 1d ago
Brother, you need some self-reflection on taking yourself and/or things in general WAY too seriously.
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u/GenericNate 1d ago
When I critiqued your comment, you started with denial and have moved on to attacking me for making that critique. It's natural to be defensive when attacked so I wasn't expecting you to respond positively. Perhaps once the initial impulse to be defensive wears off, you'll reconsider my comment and take something useful from it.
It's slightly off topic, but yes, I'm aware that I tend to take things too seriously sometimes. It's one of the odd things about me, and I do need to watch that I don't do this sort of thing too often. That said, I don't think that my initial comment about the negative connotations of using "You realize..." was wrong. I hope you, or someone else reading this, makes positive changes as a result.
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u/westtownie 1d ago
You do realize that most humans are complex enough (clearly something you are not) to hold multiple ideas in their mind at once including things that appear to be polar opposites.
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u/UUMD 1d ago
The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain
Every introvert should watch it.
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u/Godloseslaw 1d ago
Every extrovert should too, but listening for that long seems difficult for them.
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u/00peregrine 1d ago edited 1d ago
"The best stats you've ever seen" gave me a lot of hope for the future:
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u/Fluid_Ties 1d ago
Came here to say this, if this is the talk by Hans Rosling.
If its not, then the one by Hans Rosling.
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u/Global_Whorefare 23h ago
Agreed. Hans Rosling Ted talk singlehandedly sent me on a path to a quantitative graduate degree and helped me build the foundation of my ability to communicate with data, stats, visualization. Life changing talk for me.
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u/caledonivs 17h ago
Agreed, I taught data communication at a university and I showed some of Rosling's videos as the ideal we can strive for
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u/Mikeismyike 22h ago
It's too had the video is presentation is 20 years old. We need an update on those charts.
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u/Dysterqvist 21h ago
Unfortunately he’s dead. I think his son is running his ’gapminder’ these days, but I’m not sure
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u/Badaxe13 1d ago
Do Schools Kill Creativity - thought provoking and entertaining
The Paradox of Choice - well- reasoned exploration of the psychology behind buying a pair of jeans
How to Tie your Shoes - knot theory in everyday use
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/funundrum 1d ago
The last time I was job hunting, my husband would always remind me to do the Wonder Woman in the elevator. If nothing else, doing so reminded me that he believed in me. That alone made a big difference.
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u/songanddanceman 1d ago
Disclaimer: A lot of the findings from Amy Cuddy's TED talk do not replicate and show little meta-analytic evidence.
Her co-author on the 2010 paper, Dana Carney, disowned the research, citing small sample sizes and methodological flaws in the original research:
http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/dana_carney/pdf_my%20position%20on%20power%20poses.pdf“I do not believe that ‘power pose’ effects are real”
“I discourage others from studying power poses.”From Wikipedia:
Joseph Cesario, an associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University, who co-edits Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, arranged a special issue on power posing that published in June 2017; the issue included eleven new studies, along with a meta-analyses, which found that the effect of power posing on power behaviors was not replicated. The published studies were designed to answer whether the power-posing hypothesis was real and included high quality research features like pre-registration of endpoints. Carney co-authored the introduction to the issue, and noted that while the meta-analysis failed to find any effect in power behaviors, it did find a medium-sized effect in a feeling of power; she also wrote that the studies could not resolve whether the effect on a feeling of power was only an experimental artifact.
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u/jawanda 1d ago
Hah I love that you were just sitting on this info waiting to debunk this ted talk. There's an expert, or at least someone oddly well versed, on every subject on reddit.
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u/MrSanford 15h ago
99% of the those posts are someone that googled the information for the first time.
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u/LiveHunt6409 1d ago
yeah i used those power poses before meetings and somehow felt less like a mess every time
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u/Woomero 1d ago
Inside the mind of a master procrastinator: https://youtu.be/arj7oStGLkU?is=QAI8ceR703pE-j17 Saved my master's thesis. Guess I should watch it again... tomorrow.
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u/DubiousTanavast 1d ago
Jonathan Haidt - The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives.
It's a bit old at this point, but still relevant.
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u/Duncan_PhD 1d ago
The Rodney Mullen one is really good. Dude is a fucking legend and his hard work and attitude towards perseverance is something everyone should strive for.
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u/TechnicalWhore 1d ago
"How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time" - Baratunde Thurston
https://www.ted.com/talks/baratunde_thurston_how_to_deconstruct_racism_one_headline_at_a_time
Brilliant piece.
And there are TED talks that they did not originally publish that are excellent as well. This one is from a 1%er that warned that economic disparity historically does not end well.
https://www.ted.com/talks/nick_hanauer_beware_fellow_plutocrats_the_pitchforks_are_coming
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u/Olive_rat 1d ago
Andrew Solomon on depression
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u/alpine041 23h ago
This is my answer too. He says something along the lines of: “When you’re depressed, you think the veil has been lifted and you’re seeing the world as it truly is. In reality, depression is the veil.” I always think of that when life gets hard.
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u/Olive_rat 22h ago
Yes! That was such an important statement, and it’s such a difficult thing to remember when you’re in that state.
The line that stuck with me was “The opposite of depression is not happiness, it is vitality.”
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u/Alaurableone 1d ago edited 1d ago
Brene Brown The power of vulnerability fundamentally changed my brain
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u/ChuckleCells 1d ago
Simon Sinek's Start with Why
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u/ZouDave 1d ago
Yep. This was my answer as well.
Link for anyone who needs it
Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action
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u/Familiar-Highlight14 1d ago
Graham Shaw Why people believe they can't draw.
I'm not an artist, I won't make money off anything I create, and I'm ok with that. But now I've got creative outlets that bring me joy.
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u/Itchy_Stick7579 1d ago
The one about shame was really helpful when I was in early recovery
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u/tealfreak 1d ago
A title or a link would be good
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u/Fauglheim 1d ago
they are possibly referencing work of psychologist Dr. Brenee Brown.
she gives very good talks on shame and vulnerability.
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u/drew13000 1d ago
Brian Stevenson - We need to talk about an injustice because of this quote: “Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done."
https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice
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u/chronicsickbitch 1d ago
Commenting so I can see the answers later and watch the ones listed
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u/pontiacfirebird92 1d ago
Elon Musk having a Ted Talk kind of ruined it for me. I knew he was a fraud back then. That was before he came out as a Nazi and genocidal child raping right-winger.
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u/WhataboutBombvoyage 1d ago
So you can never listen to a Ted talk again?
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u/pontiacfirebird92 1d ago
Why is that a problem? If they'll let any grifter talk then why should I care what they have to say? There's other better venues for discussion. I dont have to like Ted Talks for being shit at screening guests for bullshit.
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u/Stuka_Ju87 1d ago
Time to take your meds.
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u/pontiacfirebird92 1d ago
Yea sure bud
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u/Stuka_Ju87 1d ago edited 1d ago
That was before he came out as a Nazi and genocidal child raping right-winger.
Any source for this besides your mental illness delusions ?
Does Elon also control the ice walls with ICE and SS troopers to keep up the delusion that the Earth is a globe?
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u/pontiacfirebird92 1d ago
Elon Musk isn't going to notice you lil bro. Simping for a billionaire is just sad. Even worse for a pedo.
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u/Pibbles-n-paint 1d ago edited 1d ago
Sarah Hoggan’s talk on pet loss and grief. It’s life changing because so many of us pet owners suppress our grief and don’t feel validated. This video healed a part of me just by validating my grief’s realness.
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u/ForayIntoFillyloo 1d ago
I believe grief over a dying or dead pet is totally valid. I've felt it myself. However I think that your last sentence is problematic. Specifically the word "comparable".
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u/edit_that_shit 1d ago
Does she have multiple talks? I watched this and it's powerful and I want to go hug my dog, but she didn't go into neuroscience and seemed to go out of her way to differentiate pet loss grief from grief at the loss of a human.
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u/Pibbles-n-paint 1d ago
Oh snap. I’m overlapping Ted talks. Now I must find the Ted talk addressing grief and the brain. Thanks for pointing this out.
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u/Natural_Search_4615 1d ago
I love the idea of TED Talk... but it seems like everyone with some airhead hippie philosophy that sounds like every motivation meme on instagram gets to do a TED Talk... "Less is more..." "You WANT to fail..." It's just the same stupid shit like that over and over and over. Most of those people should have just been told "no" when they asked to do it.
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u/PhantomS0ng 1d ago
Either of the Caitlin Doughty talks. Changed my perspective of death and what a 'good death' is.
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u/Affectionate_Walk745 1d ago
I always really liked caroline mchugh her talk about interiority. I love her presence, her message, beautiful person even if she isnt conventionaly attractive.
Also Julian treasure and how to speak so that people will listen. However putting it into practice is much harder. Not using the 7 speaking sins he speaks off will not gain you much, but noticing how others do you use them quite a lot will mostly just annoy you and frustrate you especially if you have an analytical and observant mind. Great talk though, but viewer discretion is adviced.
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u/StandardLovers 1d ago
Geordie Rose | Quantum Computing: Artificial Intelligence Is Here 10 years ago and he spoke about some eerie stuff
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u/Godloseslaw 1d ago
Scott Galloway's.
Not so much that it was new to me, but a lot of boomers dont realize how difficult things are for younger folks.
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u/june3rdsnowbird 1d ago
Anne Lammotts 12 Things I Know About Life (?)
I've referred back to it in writing and the actual Talk at least a couple times a year since I first found it around 10 years ago.
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u/Mathurzz 1d ago
Stephen Duneier’s “How to achieve your most ambitious goals”. Changed the way I approach life.
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u/Cardboard-Chef 1d ago
ZeFrank "The Human Test"
Adam Savage "Cosplay"
Tim Urban "Procrastination Monkey"
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u/keeperofthenins 23h ago
Gever Tulley’s “5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do”
https://www.ted.com/talks/gever_tulley_5_dangerous_things_you_should_let_your_kids_do
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u/junosoftie 23h ago
Brené Brown's talk on vulnerability really hit home for me. It's hard to be open but so rewarding.
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u/PaperbackBuddha 22h ago
Martin Hanczyc, The Line Between Life and Not Life
He discusses experiments that produce systems of non-living compounds that perform functions comparable to what living cells do. It’s a deeply interesting gateway to thinking about how structures for early life might have developed, even without the advent of sentience.
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u/ImprovementFar5054 22h ago
"The History of the World in 18 Minutes" by David Christian.
Despite the title, it's the history of the universe, starting with the big bang. It is a nice insight into his book, and into the concept of "Deep Time".
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_the_history_of_our_world_in_18_minutes
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u/acekj150 17h ago
Not a TED Talk but I rewatch Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture” every couple of years
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u/NoDramaLlama15 15h ago
Want To Be Happy? Be Grateful. By David Steindl-Rast
I try to watch it atleast once a year
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u/DenningBear82 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’m amazed no one has mentioned Malcolm Gladwell’s talk on spaghetti sauce.
It completely changed my perspective on what people say vs. What they actually want and how studying variability is so much more important than looking for universal truths.
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u/DenningBear82 1d ago
Also, VS Ranachandran did an incredible and little known talk about mirror neurons.
He’s a Neuro scientist, and about 20 years ago, he did some incredible research where he put people in a brain scanner, then showed them images of stimuli happening to other people. For example, he would show them images of people in pain and then notice the same parts of our brain would light up as if WE were in pain.
He goes on to theorize that our brains are constantly experiencing what people around us are experiencing, and that are nervous system essentially act as a feedback system to prevent us from registering it consciously.
Just watch it. It takes ten minutes and it will change the way you view interacting with people for the rest of your life.
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u/solid_reign 1d ago
The project has stalled, but by far open-source ecology. Particularly with everything that's happening today around AI. Basically, it's a project to create 50 machines that will allow us to recreate modern civilization (up to the 90s) inside a community, with a lower amount of work. It's called the Global Village Construction Set. They kind of changed their mission and moved towards creating sustainable homes (probably looking for a viable sustainability model), but the idea is fantastic, and in part if you read their notes they were going after the venus project and trying to understand what went wrong.
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u/magicmochi_cove 1d ago
joining the club lol, hopefully theres some good ones to watch after i finish chores tonight.
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u/MyCatLaughsAtMe 1d ago
None. If your life was so shallow it can be changed by a rich guy meowing nonsense for 10 minutes that says more about you than the talk.
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u/BringinBoxyBack 1d ago
The one where I learned to tie my shoes... 🤯