"We enthusiastically believe in the ability of ideas to change our behavior, our lives, and the whole world, so we are building a place for sharing the free knowledge offered by the most inspirational thinkers of the world to create a community of people who are eager to share ideas with others."
Statement (1) Objectives of the "Ted"
In May 2010, the Egyptian engineer Ibrahim Karim, on the TEDEX Cairo platform, stood at the American University building in the busy city to speak to a wide audience about his great achievements in so-called bio-engineering or biogeometry, By studying the vibrations of energy emanating from shapes, colors and sounds, according to that idea we can engineer some wooden structures to affect our behavior, making us happier or sad, as well as can maintain the water does not despair for thousands of years!
These forms, as he put it in the Egyptian colloquial language, "change the environment and correct every need," during the half-hour speech repeated the cream of that expression more than one image, and even so much so that he claimed that these engineering designs completely treat epileptic seizures, This goes on to talk about the pharaohs and how they knew this science thousands of years ago, the same degree of generalization and maximization leads us to an important question: Do you notice something?
Exactly, that very high quality of claims is one of the hallmarks of pseudo-science. Biochemistry is only one of the famous branches of human development, which represents a collection of unpublished "energy" claims in any respectable scientific journal, but the problem we face with Karim's lecture is that it Not on his Facebook account, on his YouTube channel, but on TEDEX, the new religion of the modern world.
Empire "Ted"
Well, to understand what we mean, let's start in 1984, at the moment when the Ted conferences began to appear. At that time, no one would have imagined that this group of annual conferences bringing together a few hundred people in California would become a global phenomenon with revenues of over $ 60 million. In 2006, the non-profit organization decided to make all its lectures available for free on the Internet and then translated into more than 100 languages. Three years later, Ted allowed other organizations or individuals to obtain free TED conferences under the name " TEDX "(TEDx), here the phenomenon of" Ted "started everywhere.
In 2014, the number of "TED" lectures reached 30,000 from 130 countries, but it reached 100,000 after three years in 2017. TED lectures were seen more than two billion times, with an audience of millions, All cultures and countries, you know it and notice it everywhere, TED is no longer an annual conference to talk about innovation in technology, entertainment and design (the first three letters of the TED logo). It is actually a substitute for actual lectures, everyone receives knowledge and inspiration A new kind of report has emerged that will give you the best "Ted" lectures. Of "Ted" at least one day, or 10 each month maximum, but, what the results of it all?
Let us rephrase that question in another way: over the past 30 years, the last decade has included an extraordinary expansion of podium activities, after tens of thousands of lectures on creativity and height of imagination, the limit of the sky and the breaking of barriers and the endless stimulation that Ted puts in the minds and hearts of spectators. TED's new innovations in technology, science, management and self-development - what has changed in the world? Have the prophecies of all those lectures on supernatural technology, highly efficient management systems and new experiences been realized that will turn the human into a new version of Superman?
No, in fact, none of those expectations have yet occurred. The world has not turned into a rosy paradise like the ones Ted has given us in our faces. But to understand why, let's go now to the Ted site, ), In which the Foundation ignores pseudo-science, saying that with the growth of TEDx on a global scale, some local events have been targeted by speakers who offer unsubstantiated claims about science and health. Its guidelines require that the scientific and health information provided during its lectures be supported by revised research Here, people are asked to tell her about any lecture that supports false flags.
Contemporary falsity
But this may seem a bit odd if we decide, for example, to look at the list of the 25 most popular lectures on the Ted site itself, and start with the lecture "Your body language is your self" ) For "Cady Mom" specializing social psychology from Princeton. The lecture, in 2012, is undoubtedly a defining moment in the life of "Cady", which moved overnight, to become a world famous, saw that lecture more than 50 million people, and is ranked second in the most "Ted" lectures since The beginning and the moment of writing these words, but there is one problem, namely that the claims "Cady" in her lecture were not supported by scientific evidence.
Cady begins by referring to the importance of dealing with body language with greater attention because it is already a strong indicator of our mental state, but the problem arises when she makes a very high leap in which she says that our own body language can change our behavior, , Cady says that some movements, or physical practices, can create new behavior in our lives and change our mental states. After the extraordinary deployment of the Teddy Cadet lecture, the attack began with the same force.
During the next six years of the lecture, and with the rising popularity of the "Power of Posing" formula, which means taking specific physical situations to create a better psychological state, studies ( 7 , 8 , 9 , 10) All in all, to confirm in its entirety that the results I spoke about were not accurate enough, and can not be repeated. 11 These studies were published only a year ago to put an end to the "pretense of pretense" when I pointed out that the sense of power resulting from specific physical conditions - the Smara Juha that Cady has held in recent years - can not be translated into strong or effective behaviors .
On the other hand, in the third place of the most Ted lectures we will meet "how great leaders inspire action" by Simon Sinik, the British-American author, motivational lecturer (now his job), the consultant Organizational Chart. In his 43-million-page lecture, Senec talks about how leading companies can build their inspirational message through what he calls the "Golden Circle", which starts with asking why we do it. What he calls a "personal discovery" that only a very few people know, and which is the reason for their success.
This may seem genuinely inspiring, which may be useful to some on a personal level and perhaps at the level of his own company. Although the science of administration and economics does not recognize this model and does not see it clearly and does not use it during the construction of its first blocks, As usual, at that point where Senec begins by talking about his theory, which he has discovered himself, inside our brains ( 13 , 14) and our neurotransmitters, here Senk gives you some terminology from neuroscience, it is the point that begins to trust the leak little by little Here, man - as you see - speaks in purely scientific language, is not it ?!
In the ninth place in the list of the most historically watched lectures from Ted, you will see a somewhat familiar face. It is the most famous promoter of pseudoscience, Tony Robbins, the great human development coach who The cost of his annual training ticket is $ 500 per day. With a promise to go through the most extraordinary experience of your life, walk up to 1000 degrees C, while filling your brain with positive thoughts, but what we know is that it has nothing to do with positive thoughts. Coal, simply, is a bad conductor of heat. It's like getting a cake out of the oven and quickly touching it with your finger.
Robbins' lecture at Ted, the one seen by more than 23 million people, is titled "Why do what we do?" For about twenty minutes, Robbins uses a language that appears to be scientific in an attempt to explain the reasons for your failure to live, and if you can not easily make your difficult decisions, identifying yourself as a "man of finding reasons" who thinks our feelings are What leads us to make our decisions and that he discovered it through his own laboratory asking people "did not do what they do?", Noting that this question title of the lecture is simply a goal not yet fully accessible, we know it as "psychology"!
We are talking here, only, within the scope of the most viewed lectures from Ted, which are posted by the Foundation on its main web site, but if you decide to search ( 17 , 18 , 19 , 20) a bit about the rest of Ted's lectures, "For example, Phil Plight, 21 , the famous science presenter, has been ashamed to say that some of the lectures at the same conference where he gave a lecture on the asteroids I talked to, In matters there is no scientific evidence of their validity, but the problem faced by the "Ted" is too large to be a set of pseudo lectures It must be removed from the TED lists in order to become an ideal platform, the problem - apparently - in the TED itself.
The "Ted" problem is "Ted"
Ted's lectures are mainly based on three (22) rules, if found in the lecture, they go to the world of Ted, but if they do not exist they will be excluded. The first is to have a different idea, to push people to see the world differently, and second to provide solutions to the TED audience's problems or to offer them a better future. The third is to make the lecture inspirational, built in a way that drives the public to enthusiasm. Ted's lectures, if you want to present one, are to present your idea through your own experience, in the sense that you present your idea, no matter what the specialty, as disclosure that changed the course of your life.
Ted's lecturers do not suddenly appear to deliver the lecture on the day of the conference, but only three months of training and preparation. In the beginning, the transcript provides initial copies of the text of the article, which is then modified to fit the TED policy, which of course contains another condition, along with the rules we have just talked about, the maximum duration of the lecture (23) (18 minutes) . Then, in the days preceding the event, the lecturer makes a set of performance experiments. During this period the lecturer is supposed to keep the text of the article presented in the lecture "Ted" or "TEDEX" by heart.
To understand this strong influence on the three rules we talked about earlier, we can compare Ted and other lectures that provide knowledge services, such as science lectures, business administration or technology, and the most important difference concerns a simple question: "What is the point to focus on?" , In the cognitive lecture, that point is the same "knowledge" or concept of knowledge. In Ted, the focus is primarily on the way in which the information is communicated to the public. This idea can be clearly understood in the principle formulated by Marshall McLuhan ( 24 , 25) , who has the most controversial theories of mass communication in The last century, when he said "the medium is the message", means that the way the message or content is presented is as fundamental and influential in the audience as the message itself.
TED is a perfect example of what McLuhan talked about decades ago in his book Understanding Media. One of the signs, for example, is the excessive interest in the TED policy of the visual presentation associated with the lecture. It is recommended that the lecturer use as few words as possible, or no words at all, only a set of images or designs would be ideal. In a regular lecture, the main goal will be to provide evidence supported by strong evidence. In Ted, the goal is always, and only, to attract the audience's attention for 18 continuous minutes.
For this reason, TED requires experienced and professional records to provide information, regardless of the degree of sincerity and accuracy of the information itself and its importance, and this is a big problem that drives the emperors of pseudo-science to "Ted", because they are primarily "show" professionals, Worth spreading really to avoid "Ted" because they are not professional show.
In other words, Malcolm Gladwell will find it very easy to enter the world of Ted when he decides to explain his concept of freedom of choice in the context of a tale of pasta sauce and its variety of recipes over the past 30 years and its impact on American society. A physics professor from an obscure university , Or even from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and although he had devised a great idea to explain the crisis we face when we try to understand the graphene (is it a super conductor or an excellent insulator?), It would be hard for him to find that opportunity, "Poor, and for another important reason, is that his information may not be simplified to a degree "Crazy" may lose its meaning.
The stimulus revolution
Ted's goal is to inspire, it may be a good thing, but it will not improve your life by following it and whispering behind it. Only one thing can do that.
One of Ted's problems is the obvious and frank inclination to flatten or dilute ideas too much to suit a recreation mold based on the previous three rules. These very simplistic ideas, however important, may be harmful to some degree. First, they require a little effort by the learner to understand, analyze or even debate them, thus giving the TED audience a false sense of the real world, , And dealing with the world, is rarely encountered in everyday life, and the elegance of design and literal text and lecturer give the audience "Ted" final image Platonism of things that are not, addition, it is necessary, according to the concept of "Ted" to provide information, The lecture is overly optimistic, so the lecturer will not present the criticism For his project, to push you to a positive atmosphere.
For these reasons, the Ted phenomenon is only logical when you realize that it is all about the audience . 27 These lectures are designed primarily to make people feel good about themselves and with intelligence and that they can achieve a great deal of knowledge through a small 18 minute lecture. The final point is that it gives the audience the impression that they are part of the elite group, making the world a better place for them. They are at the top with the best people of the planet because their mental abilities allow them to understand the achievements of these great people.
But optimism is damaging, the most influential being the results of those ideas offered by Ted's lectures. For example, many TED lectures are interested in presenting some scientific or technological studies with the potential to indicate only statistical results that are intended to shape the lecture in a seemingly "affirmative" manner, because that is the nature of the presentation method In the world of Ted, here the audience directly relates to the lecture that this is what the science or the technology is saying for sure, and the world is expected to improve in a few years, and then the same person - for example, 20 years - will hear about final treatments Cancer and the final discoveries of the origin of the universe and the devices of spy fairy wonder in the end: Is Science failed? Does he lie to us? Will we remain for another 20 years listening to them and waiting for their results to be realized? Here Ted may cause what stands exactly in contrast to her goal, despair.
At that point we can understand, well, what we mean when we try to answer our first question, Why has not the world become a paradise yet "Ted"? It is important to be optimistic, and yes, ideas can change our behavior, with the word "Ted", but not as simple as words or words in the lecture. Our optimism must match the complexity of the world. When we can not easily achieve any of those overly optimistic dreams, which we think has already happened, Ted's role as president, and perhaps the only one for young people in the modern world, has not been to provide information, Ted says in a statement. Its goals, it is only "stimulus", but the stimulus may also be harmful.
In other words, you may imagine at first glance that motivation drives you to action and accomplishment, but does it? Often, motivation motivates you to misjudge the limits of your abilities, those that rise to the sky, with another misconception about the degree of "difficulty" of the world itself. You think that everything is possible, which may shock you in every direct confrontation with this reality. Here Ted's role in your life is quite the opposite of what you think. Yes, it really motivates you, but when the stimulation effect ends, and it does not exceed several days with the first confrontation against the real world, you will begin to feel like withdrawal symptoms, you will feel that you need a new lecture to motivate you here and now. At that point, the stimulus turns into a drug, from a motivational lecture to another motivational lecture, and does nothing more.
But what we would like to make clear, and underline in this high wave of claims to take Ted's lectures as a new motivational religion, is that "TED" is not a devil, of course. Her lectures are often useful, and we do not invite you to stop following them. "It can not be a source of trust at all. The mechanism in which Ted works is fundamentally incompatible with the concept of sincerity of information in various aspects of knowledge. Ted's goal is inspiration. It may be a good thing, but it will not improve your life by following it and whispering behind it. Only one thing you can do is to do it now and do as much as you can.