The social mind is a wonderful thing. Mittt Romney is viewed differently today by the generalized other than he was viewed by the same audience in 2008, yes? Every traditional society's members knows emotions are inextricably interwoven into reason . The English language has many words but few words for expressing our emotions. I get excited about learning! Engagement might be the best word for learning.The higher the social class the les emotional we become in most Industrialized societies.
The social mind is a wonderful thing. Mittt Romney in 2012 is viewed differently by the generalized other than he he was viewed by the same audience in 2008, yes? Every traditional society's members knows emotions are inextricably interwoven into reason . The English language has many words but few words for expressing emotions. I get excited about learning! Engagement might be the best word for learning. higher the social class the les emotional we become in most Industrialized societies.
Politicians are faking their social skills to gain power over people who allow their emotions to rule their actions too much. Do not be oppressed, this guy seems totally wrong to me.
Homosexual activists understand the power of words.
Please visit my channel to watch a one-minute video clip in which popular atheist author Richard Dawkins admits that homosexual activists "hijacked the word 'gay'".
The word "homosexual" is more appropriate and accurate because it, unlike the word "gay", actually describes the behavior/attraction/relationship being discussed.
The word "gay" helps homosexual activists push their agenda.
why does TED ask journalists to talk about anything that's not journalism? Why not invite an expert in the field? This is stand-up comedy more than anything else
When they finally do, that decision can be vetoed, challenge by congress or slowed down through bureaucracy. Moral values are often discouraged in foreign policy due to potential conflict that can elevate through the effort of securing interest, especially when promises have been broken. Therefore, the human experience of a good life is forever shrinking as conflict across the globe continues. Sorry there’s no happy ending…peoplebreeze com
Foreign Policy is driven by economic means, often pressured by interest group. The choices that are available in foreign policy are greatly influenced by profit and security. Foreign policy evaluates corporate interest with government capabilities in relation to public concerns. Politicians are not philosophers; they often do not look at the overall consequence of their action. peoplebreeze com
IOW, that we are social animals, I see as impediment, not something to cultivate. One concrete example: it is natural for humans to form hierarchies, pyramids with few on top treading over those below. Is this something you would consciously choose as an ideal, a master/slave civilization? Obviously the Free World chose otherwise, it chose parliaments and free discourse. So it's not something to embrace unconditionally, most of it is something to fight against.
u r a social animal. Now, either accept it, or don't accept it. This guy: "accept it!". He wants to "thrive" 11:00. If your reason is "weak", why not enhance it? If you're governed by your animaltions, why not learn to overcome them?
But actually he conflates another thing into the mess, and that's Values. True, deepest values are emotional, but not every emotion is result of animalcy. What we need is ETHICAL AXIOMS: Do No Harm. Free Mind. No Coercion!
A very good, solid talk, giving many, many examples of how emotionality is vitally to rationality, central to our identity and rationality's purpose and often more insightful and correct on points of fact.
New, interesting, relevant, entertaining and well argued.
Unsurprisingly lots of comments from new atheist nerds that it's meaningless, didn't learn a thing, questioning the facts, the reasoning and really hating it.
I'm guessing explaining standard model cosmology isn't getting them laid.
@mikaelfodor If you didn't learn anything it is because you failed to be open enough to learn; because it was against your own prejudices to allow yourself to learn. It is impossible not to learn, for familiarity isn't absolute truth, for there is nothing in this world that you completely know, including yourself .I can learn something by looking at something I've seen a thousand times before, I can learn by staring at the back of my hand. Really, learn to learn, set yourself free.
@sixtiksix An idiot is an individual who is pre-cognizant, they literally have no ability to think or formulate thoughts. Though I could translate your comment as such, once he started challenging my own beliefs the cognitive dissonance made me uncomfortable, and instead of being able or willing to see things in a different way, I put up my walls and dismissed him with a word that is hardly descriptive. It's okay to be scared, we are all scared.
@DonAnonimus It's the part where he talks about the soldiers detecting "coldness" where there were landmines... but I'm willing to bet that "coldness" just means "empty."
I wouldn't hang around a land mine I just planted, would you?
didn't like it, too vague. Sounded more like a TEDwoman talk, but done by a man. The conspiracy theorist part of my brain tells me that this is exactly what it was
I find it odd that although claiming that feelings provide the right answers most of the time and rejecting the notion that rationality is the most appreciable virtue in humans, he says that we should value the rational activity of self-reflection and self-critique highly which is, in fact, a fundamental part of reasoning and thus the virtue he finds too highly appreciated. He is right when he says that this isn't one of the virtues measurable by IQ, but it is in fact inherent to reason.
For more on how we are children of the French Enlightenment, read "Voltaire's Bastards" by the greatest Canadian philosopher of our age, John Ralston Saul.
Can anyone actually identify ANY insights in this talk?
I mean he says a lot of stuff, but it's all intuitively obvious pop-psychology ga-ga. As i'm watching the talk i'm realising that this is the kindof vapid talk i would have given if i was told that i had to get infront of an audience and SAY NOTHING OF CONSEQUENCE FOR 20 MINUTES.
Sure, there was nothing incorrect in there. But there was just nothing in there, period. I feel like i just ate a pack of ramen noodles, no nutritional value.
@roidroid "To know and not do is to not really know" I don't know you but sometimes when we become educated we have a distorted and unbridled desire for novelty. However, because something is "intuitively obvious" as you say does not make it any less important. Because although it is "intuitively obvious" hardly any of us actually practice this axiom of humanity, hence, all our societal problems.
Though he is correct in most counts of how dehumanizing certain processes is wrong, he is over analyzing the situation. If you try and explain a true, or logical statement to somebody who doesn't understand it, despite the fact that you told them the truth, you cannot expect them to believe you simply because it is correct unless they understand. Emotions on the other hand, are inherent within us, and are therefore more globally understood. it doesn't mean emotions are superior to logic.
interesting ideas but very general, i guess he didnt have time to get too specific , i'm gonna check out the book . i think we should come up with a better name than new humanism
I have to make an important decision in the near future. Its about choosing the subject of study. My conscious says, go the safe way, study mechanical engineering, you get a good payed job. But my feelings tell me something totally different. I know from the time when I choose a car, that its good to go with your subconsciousness. I still happy with it today and I bought it 6 years ago.
Should I go with the same gut feeling when choosing my field of study?
@FreestyleBrain U know, go with whatever bc whether u study ME or not doesnt dictate the future of ur life. For all u know, there will be no good ME jobs by the time u graduate. There really is no "safe" choice in ANYTHING! Go with love and with ur gut. GO with what ull least regret if life throws u some lemons. and... if u choose a major... u can always change it!!!
@meb025 Yeah, thx for that! I'll go with my gut feeling. I've got a lot of stuff here laying around to go through how to figure it out. It involves a lot of selfknowledge. Thats good! Here in Germany we unfortunatly are getting teached that BA and MAs and Phds are SOO important for you. bullshit. In other countries its totally different like I've experienced!
Go with your gut, but don't be afraid to sit back and reflect on activities/experiences you've had in the past that you enjoyed. I was initially going to go engineering, but then I went Kinesiology. I wound up leaving that after doing 1.5 years, taking a couple years off of school, teaching myself programming, and going back in computer science. I've now finished creating a small game and am working on a very cool project with people I know.
@FreestyleBrain Go with your heart. If you go down a path in conflict with your "calling" you'll lose your life. On a practical note, out of the gate you may get a bigger paycheck in mechanical engineering but over the next 10 years that will fade as you lose out to those in engineering who have the passion. But if you follow your heart you'll end up finding a place where those skills are valued more and you'll be the one with passion which should make you some decent money in almost any field.
mindblowing insight. only we now need see our subconsciousness as the universe expressing itself through us. In chinese medine water reads of (holds) the emotions. emotions speak of feelings, and feelings are the language of the soul. and the soul is the cosmic expression and manifestion of consciousness . . .through which the universe expresses itself in matter
Eh, it was ok. He could've picked and choosed one or two topics and talked more about them in depth instead of skimming over a few, and some of his jokes were ok.
But seriously, any rational human being knows that human beings are not rational :D
@t3tsuyaguy1 The guy first presents a series of things that the viewer mask rightly or wrongly as valid , then using the fallacy of "Argument from authority " that he just established himself to be presents a serious of statements that are mostly work but easily sold as correct.
The valuing of under-estimating that he calls ' epistemological modesty' instead of valuing accuracy is such a glaring example. Over or under-estimating is just as statistically wrong.
@bogdanbelcea This statement is not making sense. His point is that people value standardized tests and "reasoning," not realizing that the average person's reasoning is fundamentally flawed bc they lack ALL the info and ALL factors. And that we should make use of our emotions more. and that standardized testing does not necessarily predict success in life!
@meb025 But this is exactly my main issue with his stance. Getting Info and facts is easy. Checking them is just a tiny bit of work, and revising your initial estimation based on the new data is mostly painless and takes only a decent amount of work and energy.
Updating an "emotional" position based on new info and data is extremely difficult and more importantly painful. It implies admitting and being aware that your emotions were wrong. Letting go of bad data is easy.
@bogdanbelcea Because you can't help it, and had better learn to work with yourself rather than against. Everybody feels emotional attachment to the ideas they espouse; if you admit that, you can look more closely at ideas, and compensate for your attachment to some extent. Or were you wondering about the evolutionary advantage of such a seemingly flawed system? That would be an interesting question to ask.
@bogdanbelcea Albert Einstein rejected Quantum physics on essentially emotional grounds, believing that "god would not play dice with the universe." He was wrong, but the story shows a hugely influential modern genius, unabashedly relying on intuition and non-rational thought. So many great ideas, modern and ancient, came not from logical progression, but in a flash of intuition, later confirmed by careful research. Both intuition and research have their place.
@t3tsuyaguy1 Additionally, he entirely fails to present any argument for any of his statements. The only "reason' to consider anything of any value that he presented seems to be , like I stated , that he is indeed funny and witty. As expected, a lot of people find that to be a valid reason to stop demanding arguments if not at least a shred of clear data.
@bogdanbelcea Must say that I completely agree with you. Throughout the video I was skeptical of many things. There was no proof involved, and mentioned and hopped from so many different subjects that it was hard to keep up. This, mixed with his plethora of logical fallacies and humor, caused many individuals to agree with him upfront. In fact, I tallied many times where you could present an argument debunking the supposed truth-entailing statements he had made. -Sigh- Nice idea; Bad substance.
@GlueRman Haha, Very true. Just like poetry, it is more about possibilities than any strict knowledge that is to be gained from reading it - Or in the case watching.
@david0aloha Lets take the idea "the success of a group being mainly reliant on working together(Which was used by him to indicate reason being of lesser usefulness in social situations). The terms he used in this example were rather bland, but he did attempt to provide implications. Grab a group of people who work well together, then tell them to solve problems dealing with cancer - See how well that goes. Point being, the sphere in which he supposed ideas was too big, creating inconsistencies.
@ACANOFSODA Actually, people are working together very hard to solve cancer. Cure for cancer will not be as simple as an antibiotic, its going to be a series of treatment. There are many ways to combat and prevent cancer. There are many treatments. Our bodies actually produce cancer everyday, we're just healthy enough to combat it. WHy does everyone always go to cancer when they want to make a point, hahah
@meb025 My point had nothing to do with cancer... Hahaha. I could have just as easily used population problems, etc. It just makes more sense to pick an extreme to show that a theory doesn't fit all aspects. Like morality, people tend to produce theories based on a narrowed perspective, then forget and allow that perspective to expand its grounds. This creates an inconsistency, as shown. See if people can defend lives being equal when resources run low and population is high. Same concept.
@david0aloha Also, study the way he talks and the words he uses. He attempts to slip in "mostly", "sometimes", "Some odd percentage did it a certain way" - All uses as linguistic implications, but clearly lack anything solid. There are, as I said, so many things that he mentions that either have no substance, or are used as a child whom just got done watching a documentary on aliens and wishes to develop a theory. If anything, Thomas Hobbes did not discount reason at all - If you read any of it.
@ACANOFSODA He's not discounting reason. Hes showing that the way human being reasons is not necessarily as logical as they think. ANd that our conscious is only able to process a very small subset of all the signals our brain detects, meaning, our reasoning from the get-go is flawed from not considering ALL information and ALL points of view. Use of subconscious by accessing emotions is a way to significantly decrease the time needed to make a truely logical choice. This will take practice
@bogdanbelcea Those weren't arguments either. Leave that poor pot alone kettle-guy.
I'm just kidding with you. His talk IS argument & data deficient. He is banking on emotional persuasiveness to get people to question their assumptions. He hopes to undermine the mythos surrounding politicians. There is value in this. However, I would agree that it could be done better.
human nature didnt lead to the politicians skills and attitudes, ITS TONS OF MONEY AND FAVORS FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE AND CORPORATES THAT GIVE THEM THE DRIVE TO BE HOW THEY ARE!!!
Summary of the talk: "I have never grabbed an econ textbook, but they are all wrong."
I didn't major in economics but even I knew what he was talking about. Greenspan and other free market proponents believed the banks would self regulate out of their own rational self interest...turns out they imploded their companies and the financial system with it.
Yeah, we need to get more intuitive with stuff like quantum physics and cancer treatment. Just have a glance at it and let our superior intuitions work it out for us.
He mentions Iraq, but afaik the problem with Iraq was that people acted upon their intuitions and emotions rather than upon knowledge and reason.
Groups are not smarter than individuals. They're bloody stupid. Put a lot of people together and let them act their emitions and you get stuff like organized religion.
@lendavis Not all TED presenters do it without one. Some people find it easier to talk infront of large groups of people (the people in the audience and the thousands that will watch it on the internet) if they've written down their speed and recite it.
On a side note, he poorly executed that porn joke :0
Coming from somebody who applied to Harvard last year and sincerely wanted to get in in order to be surrounded by interesting, intellectual people (not just to get a good job) but was rejected...ouch. Don't stereotype. :-/ We're just trying to work the system, man, and if that means we have to play a musical instrument AND do community service AND take a bazillion APs...that's what we'll do.
@MiCKi914 Its prejudice to think u cant get similar experiences at many other colleges and universities. Harvard does NOT take the cake on having the most interesting, intellectual people, far from it. They have a lot of money. Note, if all ur friends are going to a certain type of school, odds are, ur not getting a diverse, mind-opening experience.
If Rick Warren and other evangelical leaders dont start espousing elements of perennial philosophy soon...they will be out of business in ONE GENERATION! They put G-d up in the sky, instead of inside them. They concretized metaphors of Heaven & Hell...so they made them real places. At Nicea, they even voted to make Jesus a REAL PERSON instead of strictly mythic like the Greek & Romans had done. The Gnostics know better, the Sufis know better, the NeoPlatonists knew better. Science knows BETTER!
As long as fundamentalist christians are the dominant majority here in America, DON'T EXPECT an Age of Enlightenment...unless the Mystics can coax the faithful to see the signs allegorically written in their texts. Pilgrim's Progress, just like Dante's Inferno, just like Jacob's ladder, just like Plato's Cave & the Divided Line - all have messages IN THEM. The same story of "inner-light" & the methods to reach that nexus with the nous are in Zen, Taoism, Qabala, Freemasonry, Alchemy, etc...
@TruthJockey Wow for someone who has it all figured out so clearly your language is very poor. Right from the start you are attacking. Fundamentalist is often used to ridicule adherents and anyways the people who wear that name as a banner of pride are not the majority here. Dominant majority = majority. I agree with lots of the citations you provide but maybe you need to review these texts. What ever you call your god there are lots of ways to enlightenment even Christianity when done right.
@techhungry1 Nobody (knowingly) wears that banner...or at least that's the way it seems. They think "the other" is a fundamentalist...that's been my experience with LITERALISTS, those that need a "sky daddy" deity, feeling they deserve more than a mythic image. How in the world can a Christian find "THE LIGHT" if they've been conned into believing HEAVEN & HELL are real places...that's basic "fear based manipulation 101". You can't even get THERE w/out getting past The Ego, Fear & Desire???
@TruthJockey In my opinion for a Christian that practices their religion appropriately fear is not the motivation to do things, when you act out of fear you distance yourself from the lord and it is acting out of love that brings you closer. So rather than the fear of hell being the incentive to do good works it is the love of the Lord and is will.
After the Vatican could just get rid of purgatory then it should be clear how tangible of a place heaven or hell is. That is if you define a real place as a physical space but I don’t think many Christians believe if you fly a space ship somewhere far enough you can find heaven. It doesn’t exist in the sense you or a literalist are speaking but as a parallel to Buddhist ideas I think that those planes of existence could be just as real as this one.
Whoever was retarded to thumb up that shit about the intro needs to be hanged. TED's into is part of what makes it TED. Go fuck yourselves, one and all.
He started and ended with the key term "Human Nature". But several leading scientists question whether human nature, as a concept, even exists. And, have found that accepting the flawed concept of human nature (as opposed to human behavior) has detrimental effects on how we treat people.
Watch Zeitgeist Moving Forward, and we'll overcome our social paralyzation. =)
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The social mind is a wonderful thing. Mittt Romney is viewed differently today by the generalized other than he was viewed by the same audience in 2008, yes? Every traditional society's members knows emotions are inextricably interwoven into reason . The English language has many words but few words for expressing our emotions. I get excited about learning! Engagement might be the best word for learning.The higher the social class the les emotional we become in most Industrialized societies.
mdandrea39 2 weeks ago
The social mind is a wonderful thing. Mittt Romney in 2012 is viewed differently by the generalized other than he he was viewed by the same audience in 2008, yes? Every traditional society's members knows emotions are inextricably interwoven into reason . The English language has many words but few words for expressing emotions. I get excited about learning! Engagement might be the best word for learning. higher the social class the les emotional we become in most Industrialized societies.
mdandrea39 2 weeks ago
Politicians are faking their social skills to gain power over people who allow their emotions to rule their actions too much. Do not be oppressed, this guy seems totally wrong to me.
Rightious23 1 month ago
He would make a great sports announcer or a narrator.
alexandwolfe1 1 month ago
Homosexual activists understand the power of words.
Please visit my channel to watch a one-minute video clip in which popular atheist author Richard Dawkins admits that homosexual activists "hijacked the word 'gay'".
The word "homosexual" is more appropriate and accurate because it, unlike the word "gay", actually describes the behavior/attraction/relationship being discussed.
The word "gay" helps homosexual activists push their agenda.
lightandbeautiful 1 month ago
why does TED ask journalists to talk about anything that's not journalism? Why not invite an expert in the field? This is stand-up comedy more than anything else
ennot 1 month ago
The opening few minutes sound like a jealous, insecure man who wishes he was a good looking rich liberal :)
tristramshandy3 2 months ago
When they finally do, that decision can be vetoed, challenge by congress or slowed down through bureaucracy. Moral values are often discouraged in foreign policy due to potential conflict that can elevate through the effort of securing interest, especially when promises have been broken. Therefore, the human experience of a good life is forever shrinking as conflict across the globe continues. Sorry there’s no happy ending…peoplebreeze com
PeopleBreeze 3 months ago
Foreign Policy is driven by economic means, often pressured by interest group. The choices that are available in foreign policy are greatly influenced by profit and security. Foreign policy evaluates corporate interest with government capabilities in relation to public concerns. Politicians are not philosophers; they often do not look at the overall consequence of their action. peoplebreeze com
PeopleBreeze 3 months ago
IOW, that we are social animals, I see as impediment, not something to cultivate. One concrete example: it is natural for humans to form hierarchies, pyramids with few on top treading over those below. Is this something you would consciously choose as an ideal, a master/slave civilization? Obviously the Free World chose otherwise, it chose parliaments and free discourse. So it's not something to embrace unconditionally, most of it is something to fight against.
aoeaoae 3 months ago
u r a social animal. Now, either accept it, or don't accept it. This guy: "accept it!". He wants to "thrive" 11:00. If your reason is "weak", why not enhance it? If you're governed by your animaltions, why not learn to overcome them?
But actually he conflates another thing into the mess, and that's Values. True, deepest values are emotional, but not every emotion is result of animalcy. What we need is ETHICAL AXIOMS: Do No Harm. Free Mind. No Coercion!
So is really free mind "dehumanizing"??
aoeaoae 3 months ago
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Wow so much information
juliacotic 3 months ago
One man with courage makes a majority.
andreeaweed 3 months ago
A very good, solid talk, giving many, many examples of how emotionality is vitally to rationality, central to our identity and rationality's purpose and often more insightful and correct on points of fact.
New, interesting, relevant, entertaining and well argued.
Unsurprisingly lots of comments from new atheist nerds that it's meaningless, didn't learn a thing, questioning the facts, the reasoning and really hating it.
I'm guessing explaining standard model cosmology isn't getting them laid.
leconfidant 3 months ago
I liked the stuff he said in the second half, it was more thought provoking & made a lot of good points.
DoodleTaffy 5 months ago
Very interesting....!
Silofosi 5 months ago
if only he was this amusing in his book
ThisGuyUnderMeIsGay 6 months ago
I like how faggots in the comments section can't look deep enough to understand his message, this was really insightful and informational..
TehKoolaidkid 6 months ago
bull shit over bull shit. there is more factual statements in a chuck klosterman book. he just babbles like he's smart but is saying NOTHING
2010CAS 6 months ago
@2010CAS Perhaps you have listening comprehension problems.
atownlefttrain 5 months ago
Liberal
H1TMANactual 6 months ago
Picked an interesting topic and managed to say nothing of any worth, I didn't learn anything from that.
mikaelfodor 8 months ago
@mikaelfodor If you didn't learn anything it is because you failed to be open enough to learn; because it was against your own prejudices to allow yourself to learn. It is impossible not to learn, for familiarity isn't absolute truth, for there is nothing in this world that you completely know, including yourself .I can learn something by looking at something I've seen a thousand times before, I can learn by staring at the back of my hand. Really, learn to learn, set yourself free.
atownlefttrain 5 months ago
Seemed really great til his comment about Iraq....just like when someone from the right starts talking about jesus.....he's an idiot....
sixtiksix 8 months ago
@sixtiksix An idiot is an individual who is pre-cognizant, they literally have no ability to think or formulate thoughts. Though I could translate your comment as such, once he started challenging my own beliefs the cognitive dissonance made me uncomfortable, and instead of being able or willing to see things in a different way, I put up my walls and dismissed him with a word that is hardly descriptive. It's okay to be scared, we are all scared.
atownlefttrain 5 months ago
He explained why Mitt Romney will win the republican nomination, which means that we will have a question between bad and worse again.
Terje1337 8 months ago
@Terje1337 yep.....again......
sixtiksix 8 months ago
STOP making the intro so LOUD.
madhatterten 9 months ago 30
Policy makers should listen to his message about human capital.
sirbarryholloway 9 months ago
Funny, observational, and insightful.
"Educating your emotions". Sounds like a useful idea.
It's not a revolution, though. It's still just an idea.
trr321321 10 months ago
holy shit that was good. I'm going to watch this several times tonight
brdy724 10 months ago
Alright presentation, but does anyone else feel the guy is jumping into new-age woo-woo territory a bit?
DonAnonimus 10 months ago
@DonAnonimus It's the part where he talks about the soldiers detecting "coldness" where there were landmines... but I'm willing to bet that "coldness" just means "empty."
I wouldn't hang around a land mine I just planted, would you?
Icemario87 9 months ago
this dude is sweet. modern day Aristotle.
TheJstew23 10 months ago
Beautiful.
NowhereToBeFound77 10 months ago
didn't like it, too vague. Sounded more like a TEDwoman talk, but done by a man. The conspiracy theorist part of my brain tells me that this is exactly what it was
Tolstoievsky 10 months ago
@Tolstoievsky mysogynist
avafrav 10 months ago
@avafrav Agreed.
Imogen1885 10 months ago
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@Tolstoievsky misogynist
avafrav 10 months ago
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fctchk 5 months ago
@Tolstoievsky bingo! and corroborated by the entry on him in Dickipedia.
fctchk 5 months ago
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BHTSLT 11 months ago
@ElProximo yes
davidthecook 11 months ago
lol they didnt like the pornography comedy relief bit
miraclechipmunk 11 months ago 16
@ElProximo Maybe. If so, what a fine lookin' Jew!
papalosopher 11 months ago
I find it odd that although claiming that feelings provide the right answers most of the time and rejecting the notion that rationality is the most appreciable virtue in humans, he says that we should value the rational activity of self-reflection and self-critique highly which is, in fact, a fundamental part of reasoning and thus the virtue he finds too highly appreciated. He is right when he says that this isn't one of the virtues measurable by IQ, but it is in fact inherent to reason.
RedlefB 11 months ago
Genius
twistedbass15 11 months ago
This was a brilliant short-lecture. This is why I watch TED.
jonathanbluestein 11 months ago
Great video, spread it around..
paulnur90 11 months ago
For more on how we are children of the French Enlightenment, read "Voltaire's Bastards" by the greatest Canadian philosopher of our age, John Ralston Saul.
papalosopher 11 months ago
Can anyone actually identify ANY insights in this talk?
I mean he says a lot of stuff, but it's all intuitively obvious pop-psychology ga-ga. As i'm watching the talk i'm realising that this is the kindof vapid talk i would have given if i was told that i had to get infront of an audience and SAY NOTHING OF CONSEQUENCE FOR 20 MINUTES.
Sure, there was nothing incorrect in there. But there was just nothing in there, period. I feel like i just ate a pack of ramen noodles, no nutritional value.
roidroid 11 months ago
@roidroid in conclusion... he's identical to that politician he described early in the talk.
high in social skills.
low in substance.
Columnists are paid for their ability to get and hold the attention of a large audience, are they all like this guy?
*sigh*, i ain't even mad. Just disappointed really, i was expecting more.
roidroid 11 months ago
@roidroid
What were you looking for?... the unified theory of the universe?
BestestMoron 11 months ago
@BestestMoron just something new and/or insightful.
roidroid 11 months ago
@roidroid "To know and not do is to not really know" I don't know you but sometimes when we become educated we have a distorted and unbridled desire for novelty. However, because something is "intuitively obvious" as you say does not make it any less important. Because although it is "intuitively obvious" hardly any of us actually practice this axiom of humanity, hence, all our societal problems.
KDN888 11 months ago
Though he is correct in most counts of how dehumanizing certain processes is wrong, he is over analyzing the situation. If you try and explain a true, or logical statement to somebody who doesn't understand it, despite the fact that you told them the truth, you cannot expect them to believe you simply because it is correct unless they understand. Emotions on the other hand, are inherent within us, and are therefore more globally understood. it doesn't mean emotions are superior to logic.
itanimullitenretni 11 months ago
interesting ideas but very general, i guess he didnt have time to get too specific , i'm gonna check out the book . i think we should come up with a better name than new humanism
WalterWalkie 11 months ago
Wow, really great talk. Very grounded but soulful at the same time.
Neanderthalcouzin 11 months ago
one of the better talks I've seen, great work
MrLiketoplayGuitar 11 months ago
YES! Bc traditionally women have been thought of as these irrational, emotional beings... ha! Jokes back on u, sucker!!
meb025 11 months ago
My name is Bart, and I love art.
HamsterPants522 11 months ago
This is the kind of talk that made me suscribe to TED. thanks.
shazrinaiman 11 months ago
I have to make an important decision in the near future. Its about choosing the subject of study. My conscious says, go the safe way, study mechanical engineering, you get a good payed job. But my feelings tell me something totally different. I know from the time when I choose a car, that its good to go with your subconsciousness. I still happy with it today and I bought it 6 years ago.
Should I go with the same gut feeling when choosing my field of study?
What do you think?
FreestyleBrain 11 months ago
@FreestyleBrain U know, go with whatever bc whether u study ME or not doesnt dictate the future of ur life. For all u know, there will be no good ME jobs by the time u graduate. There really is no "safe" choice in ANYTHING! Go with love and with ur gut. GO with what ull least regret if life throws u some lemons. and... if u choose a major... u can always change it!!!
meb025 11 months ago
@meb025 Yeah, thx for that! I'll go with my gut feeling. I've got a lot of stuff here laying around to go through how to figure it out. It involves a lot of selfknowledge. Thats good! Here in Germany we unfortunatly are getting teached that BA and MAs and Phds are SOO important for you. bullshit. In other countries its totally different like I've experienced!
FreestyleBrain 11 months ago
@FreestyleBrain
Go with your gut, but don't be afraid to sit back and reflect on activities/experiences you've had in the past that you enjoyed. I was initially going to go engineering, but then I went Kinesiology. I wound up leaving that after doing 1.5 years, taking a couple years off of school, teaching myself programming, and going back in computer science. I've now finished creating a small game and am working on a very cool project with people I know.
I'm happy with my choices.
david0aloha 11 months ago
@FreestyleBrain Go with your heart. If you go down a path in conflict with your "calling" you'll lose your life. On a practical note, out of the gate you may get a bigger paycheck in mechanical engineering but over the next 10 years that will fade as you lose out to those in engineering who have the passion. But if you follow your heart you'll end up finding a place where those skills are valued more and you'll be the one with passion which should make you some decent money in almost any field.
thedesertdweller 11 months ago
This is by far one of the best TED talks I have ever seen.
spunkygoldfish 11 months ago
one of the best speeches of this great channel
ChalleFoV3 11 months ago
BEST SPEECH THIS WEEK. THE PART ABOUT THE SUBCONSCIOUS WAS THE SHIT!!!
arian50 11 months ago
nyt for the win BITCHES ~!!!!!!!!
FUCK YEAH
rankarandas 11 months ago
mindblowing insight. only we now need see our subconsciousness as the universe expressing itself through us. In chinese medine water reads of (holds) the emotions. emotions speak of feelings, and feelings are the language of the soul. and the soul is the cosmic expression and manifestion of consciousness . . .through which the universe expresses itself in matter
HamOnCan 11 months ago
One of the best TEDtalks ever!
SEThatered 11 months ago
this guy is talking the truth. America is on it's "peak" of rationalization, calculation and emotional distress.
TheDepreso 11 months ago
what is happening in the comments section??
wynngoes 11 months ago
This dude is all over the place...I felt like I was listening to Charlie Sheen.
papatoony 11 months ago 3
Eh, it was ok. He could've picked and choosed one or two topics and talked more about them in depth instead of skimming over a few, and some of his jokes were ok.
But seriously, any rational human being knows that human beings are not rational :D
xSilverPhinxx 11 months ago
Sounds like an appeal to Pathos to me.
Cyllid 11 months ago
interestingly, my mum and I had a conversation similar to this talk about how we measure success a few days ago
nanacindynz 11 months ago
"A disproportionate number of Dennis's become Dentists and Lawrences Laywers."
I'd like to see the data on such an extraordinary claim.
furikuri52 11 months ago
@furikuri52
Okay, here you go:
blog.centerforinnovation.mayo.edu/files/2010/09/1.pdf
david0aloha 11 months ago
Comment removed
furikuri52 11 months ago
pyschopathy helps...
the7thwreck 11 months ago
YT comment section debaters, be gone with you! Back to thine basements and thine frozen burritos!
nobodyreal16181 11 months ago 2
I find this really interesting!! I love the part about how we are all seeking to become one with things.
lenaslife 11 months ago
Another talk about be "human" and consider the emotions, bla, bla, bla... nice talk, poor content.
racpembertondual 11 months ago
A wonderfully clear description of our inner human urge to realize our true fundamental nature.
We are One.
goog2k 11 months ago
lost me on the Hofstadter panpsychism, but a "new humanism" is definitely something that's beginning to take form and should
theseanze 11 months ago 11
Emotions are a tool, used to to enhance the chance of survival, in a world without reason.
kirilradivoev 11 months ago
I wish people would pay more attention to what someone does instead of what someone says.
KladionicaCity 11 months ago 45
@KladionicaCity why?
NegativeNick 11 months ago
Great talk
kryptonickraze 11 months ago
most of the talk is wrong and reproduces outdated ideas.psychoanalysis has said such things ages ago
fabiochrist 11 months ago
@fabiochrist like what? i didnt hear anything that doesnt seem like common sense
Neylonx 11 months ago
@fabiochrist "Your wrong" & "I've heard that before", are not arguments.
t3tsuyaguy1 11 months ago
Best talk for a long time
doford 11 months ago
Being funny and witty sure does not make you right mr. David Brooks
bogdanbelcea 11 months ago
@bogdanbelcea Fuck off.
jordandaniels7 11 months ago
@jordandaniels7 No, @jordandaniels7 , telling me to " fuck off " does not increase the truth value of his statements either
bogdanbelcea 11 months ago
@bogdanbelcea How profound. You should probably go back to shoving your head up your ass and telling kids that jesus loves them.
jordandaniels7 11 months ago
@bogdanbelcea Suggesting that someone may be wrong is not an argument.
t3tsuyaguy1 11 months ago
@t3tsuyaguy1 The guy first presents a series of things that the viewer mask rightly or wrongly as valid , then using the fallacy of "Argument from authority " that he just established himself to be presents a serious of statements that are mostly work but easily sold as correct.
The valuing of under-estimating that he calls ' epistemological modesty' instead of valuing accuracy is such a glaring example. Over or under-estimating is just as statistically wrong.
bogdanbelcea 11 months ago
@bogdanbelcea This statement is not making sense. His point is that people value standardized tests and "reasoning," not realizing that the average person's reasoning is fundamentally flawed bc they lack ALL the info and ALL factors. And that we should make use of our emotions more. and that standardized testing does not necessarily predict success in life!
meb025 11 months ago
@meb025 But this is exactly my main issue with his stance. Getting Info and facts is easy. Checking them is just a tiny bit of work, and revising your initial estimation based on the new data is mostly painless and takes only a decent amount of work and energy.
Updating an "emotional" position based on new info and data is extremely difficult and more importantly painful. It implies admitting and being aware that your emotions were wrong. Letting go of bad data is easy.
Why use emotions ?
bogdanbelcea 11 months ago
@bogdanbelcea Because you can't help it, and had better learn to work with yourself rather than against. Everybody feels emotional attachment to the ideas they espouse; if you admit that, you can look more closely at ideas, and compensate for your attachment to some extent. Or were you wondering about the evolutionary advantage of such a seemingly flawed system? That would be an interesting question to ask.
Kojak7snap 11 months ago
@bogdanbelcea Albert Einstein rejected Quantum physics on essentially emotional grounds, believing that "god would not play dice with the universe." He was wrong, but the story shows a hugely influential modern genius, unabashedly relying on intuition and non-rational thought. So many great ideas, modern and ancient, came not from logical progression, but in a flash of intuition, later confirmed by careful research. Both intuition and research have their place.
Kojak7snap 11 months ago
@t3tsuyaguy1 Additionally, he entirely fails to present any argument for any of his statements. The only "reason' to consider anything of any value that he presented seems to be , like I stated , that he is indeed funny and witty. As expected, a lot of people find that to be a valid reason to stop demanding arguments if not at least a shred of clear data.
bogdanbelcea 11 months ago
@bogdanbelcea Must say that I completely agree with you. Throughout the video I was skeptical of many things. There was no proof involved, and mentioned and hopped from so many different subjects that it was hard to keep up. This, mixed with his plethora of logical fallacies and humor, caused many individuals to agree with him upfront. In fact, I tallied many times where you could present an argument debunking the supposed truth-entailing statements he had made. -Sigh- Nice idea; Bad substance.
ACANOFSODA 11 months ago
@ACANOFSODA I guess the whole point was for you to FEEL he was right! :-p
Well, that's truthiness for ya! Not that he's wrong, neither that he's right.
GlueRman 11 months ago
@GlueRman Haha, Very true. Just like poetry, it is more about possibilities than any strict knowledge that is to be gained from reading it - Or in the case watching.
ACANOFSODA 11 months ago
@ACANOFSODA
Can you provide an example of a counter-argument debunking something he said?
david0aloha 11 months ago
@david0aloha Lets take the idea "the success of a group being mainly reliant on working together(Which was used by him to indicate reason being of lesser usefulness in social situations). The terms he used in this example were rather bland, but he did attempt to provide implications. Grab a group of people who work well together, then tell them to solve problems dealing with cancer - See how well that goes. Point being, the sphere in which he supposed ideas was too big, creating inconsistencies.
ACANOFSODA 11 months ago
@ACANOFSODA Actually, people are working together very hard to solve cancer. Cure for cancer will not be as simple as an antibiotic, its going to be a series of treatment. There are many ways to combat and prevent cancer. There are many treatments. Our bodies actually produce cancer everyday, we're just healthy enough to combat it. WHy does everyone always go to cancer when they want to make a point, hahah
meb025 11 months ago
@meb025 My point had nothing to do with cancer... Hahaha. I could have just as easily used population problems, etc. It just makes more sense to pick an extreme to show that a theory doesn't fit all aspects. Like morality, people tend to produce theories based on a narrowed perspective, then forget and allow that perspective to expand its grounds. This creates an inconsistency, as shown. See if people can defend lives being equal when resources run low and population is high. Same concept.
ACANOFSODA 11 months ago
@david0aloha Also, study the way he talks and the words he uses. He attempts to slip in "mostly", "sometimes", "Some odd percentage did it a certain way" - All uses as linguistic implications, but clearly lack anything solid. There are, as I said, so many things that he mentions that either have no substance, or are used as a child whom just got done watching a documentary on aliens and wishes to develop a theory. If anything, Thomas Hobbes did not discount reason at all - If you read any of it.
ACANOFSODA 11 months ago
@ACANOFSODA He's not discounting reason. Hes showing that the way human being reasons is not necessarily as logical as they think. ANd that our conscious is only able to process a very small subset of all the signals our brain detects, meaning, our reasoning from the get-go is flawed from not considering ALL information and ALL points of view. Use of subconscious by accessing emotions is a way to significantly decrease the time needed to make a truely logical choice. This will take practice
meb025 11 months ago
@bogdanbelcea Those weren't arguments either. Leave that poor pot alone kettle-guy.
I'm just kidding with you. His talk IS argument & data deficient. He is banking on emotional persuasiveness to get people to question their assumptions. He hopes to undermine the mythos surrounding politicians. There is value in this. However, I would agree that it could be done better.
t3tsuyaguy1 11 months ago
Good talk!
DJGelbart 11 months ago
Fucking finally!!! This is the reason I subscribed to TED all those years ago! The circle has gone round, I have what I was looking for.
Thank you David Brooks.
MatsMinds 11 months ago
human nature didnt lead to the politicians skills and attitudes, ITS TONS OF MONEY AND FAVORS FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE AND CORPORATES THAT GIVE THEM THE DRIVE TO BE HOW THEY ARE!!!
wdcsucks1 11 months ago
Not very engaging.
TheMatrixAussie 11 months ago
Summary of the talk: "I have never grabbed an econ textbook, but they are all wrong."
Loved his diagnostics of the financial crises too; "we thought people were rational". wow.
UnconformistSheep 11 months ago
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@UnconformistSheep
Summary of the talk: "I have never grabbed an econ textbook, but they are all wrong."
I didn't major in economics but even I knew what he was talking about. Greenspan and other free market proponents believed the banks would self regulate out of their own rational self interest...turns out they imploded their companies and the financial system with it.
parkj238 11 months ago
Yeah, we need to get more intuitive with stuff like quantum physics and cancer treatment. Just have a glance at it and let our superior intuitions work it out for us.
He mentions Iraq, but afaik the problem with Iraq was that people acted upon their intuitions and emotions rather than upon knowledge and reason.
Groups are not smarter than individuals. They're bloody stupid. Put a lot of people together and let them act their emitions and you get stuff like organized religion.
Utter crap.
wishpishh 11 months ago
the old musical intro with thundering timpani >> the jet sound effect
fornello123 11 months ago
So, every kid grows up rich and white and in America? Yeah, that is the problem.
Also, the 'insights' were flowery and unclear, and you give no details as to how they affect us or why.
Not a fan of this talk.
bowerbjo 11 months ago
Brilliant talk, one of the best in a while. Go TED!
Jaikkanen 11 months ago
He needs to ask his mom for help getting dressed next time and, if really motivated, he could learn his speech instead of read it.
TheRottieRobb 11 months ago
this talk really hit home with me. now my soul hurts. sigh.
OpakeArawra2 11 months ago
Why is he reading a speech when all other TED presenters do it without one?
lendavis 11 months ago
@lendavis Not all TED presenters do it without one. Some people find it easier to talk infront of large groups of people (the people in the audience and the thousands that will watch it on the internet) if they've written down their speed and recite it.
On a side note, he poorly executed that porn joke :0
apocaRUFF 11 months ago 3
@apocaRUFF totally caught that bomb on the porn joke too lol
natedejuggla 11 months ago
@lendavis THEY HAV TELE PROMPTERS NIGGA
rankarandas 11 months ago
Great talk, though the digression with the jokes gets a little bit annoying...
brettygood 11 months ago
Republican BS
MrFrankBullitt 11 months ago
Sexual harassment and public indecency are indicators of great social skills?
DancingHorses26 11 months ago 5
Terrific talk!
P00P0STER0US 11 months ago
You forgot to mention that all politicians are psychopaths.
HigherPlanes 11 months ago
@HigherPlanes word.
natritious1 11 months ago
Coming from somebody who applied to Harvard last year and sincerely wanted to get in in order to be surrounded by interesting, intellectual people (not just to get a good job) but was rejected...ouch. Don't stereotype. :-/ We're just trying to work the system, man, and if that means we have to play a musical instrument AND do community service AND take a bazillion APs...that's what we'll do.
MiCKi914 11 months ago
@MiCKi914 Its prejudice to think u cant get similar experiences at many other colleges and universities. Harvard does NOT take the cake on having the most interesting, intellectual people, far from it. They have a lot of money. Note, if all ur friends are going to a certain type of school, odds are, ur not getting a diverse, mind-opening experience.
meb025 11 months ago
Dude needs to lay off these droning clusters of jokes
xNickTheBrickx 11 months ago
@xNickTheBrickx You are very polite to call them "jokes"
bowerbjo 11 months ago
David Brooks... and he writes books...
bridgam 11 months ago 18
humans holding non-humanistic views of humanity...priceless!
xjustamem0ryx 11 months ago 3
O_O omg i know some guys like that ..the super social touchy guys ...but are as thick as bricks when it comes to the greater good
crackthecorn 11 months ago
If Rick Warren and other evangelical leaders dont start espousing elements of perennial philosophy soon...they will be out of business in ONE GENERATION! They put G-d up in the sky, instead of inside them. They concretized metaphors of Heaven & Hell...so they made them real places. At Nicea, they even voted to make Jesus a REAL PERSON instead of strictly mythic like the Greek & Romans had done. The Gnostics know better, the Sufis know better, the NeoPlatonists knew better. Science knows BETTER!
TruthJockey 11 months ago 2
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TruthJockey 11 months ago
As long as fundamentalist christians are the dominant majority here in America, DON'T EXPECT an Age of Enlightenment...unless the Mystics can coax the faithful to see the signs allegorically written in their texts. Pilgrim's Progress, just like Dante's Inferno, just like Jacob's ladder, just like Plato's Cave & the Divided Line - all have messages IN THEM. The same story of "inner-light" & the methods to reach that nexus with the nous are in Zen, Taoism, Qabala, Freemasonry, Alchemy, etc...
TruthJockey 11 months ago 2
@TruthJockey Wow for someone who has it all figured out so clearly your language is very poor. Right from the start you are attacking. Fundamentalist is often used to ridicule adherents and anyways the people who wear that name as a banner of pride are not the majority here. Dominant majority = majority. I agree with lots of the citations you provide but maybe you need to review these texts. What ever you call your god there are lots of ways to enlightenment even Christianity when done right.
techhungry1 11 months ago
@techhungry1 Nobody (knowingly) wears that banner...or at least that's the way it seems. They think "the other" is a fundamentalist...that's been my experience with LITERALISTS, those that need a "sky daddy" deity, feeling they deserve more than a mythic image. How in the world can a Christian find "THE LIGHT" if they've been conned into believing HEAVEN & HELL are real places...that's basic "fear based manipulation 101". You can't even get THERE w/out getting past The Ego, Fear & Desire???
TruthJockey 11 months ago
@TruthJockey In my opinion for a Christian that practices their religion appropriately fear is not the motivation to do things, when you act out of fear you distance yourself from the lord and it is acting out of love that brings you closer. So rather than the fear of hell being the incentive to do good works it is the love of the Lord and is will.
techhungry1 11 months ago
After the Vatican could just get rid of purgatory then it should be clear how tangible of a place heaven or hell is. That is if you define a real place as a physical space but I don’t think many Christians believe if you fly a space ship somewhere far enough you can find heaven. It doesn’t exist in the sense you or a literalist are speaking but as a parallel to Buddhist ideas I think that those planes of existence could be just as real as this one.
techhungry1 11 months ago
Whoever was retarded to thumb up that shit about the intro needs to be hanged. TED's into is part of what makes it TED. Go fuck yourselves, one and all.
apocaRUFF 11 months ago
@apocaRUFF hanged, verily? That seems extreme, no?
jahrleriksen 11 months ago
Feels good when I'm so far ahead of the curve.
PsySwitch1983 11 months ago
New age crap. You're either with science or against us;)
skorpen2 11 months ago
Shallow.
1marcelo 11 months ago
never thought of it that way
SuperStrif 11 months ago
Featuring the bourgeoisie humor of David Brooks, who apparently only read Sociobiology last year or so.
Hamandchees3 11 months ago
He started and ended with the key term "Human Nature". But several leading scientists question whether human nature, as a concept, even exists. And, have found that accepting the flawed concept of human nature (as opposed to human behavior) has detrimental effects on how we treat people.
Watch Zeitgeist Moving Forward, and we'll overcome our social paralyzation. =)
watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w
TheVenusMan 11 months ago
Thank you TEd, please keep going in this direction, awesome talk. Just great.
TheLiberalSoup 11 months ago
not all peoples are as money-obsessed as Americans.
310sucks 11 months ago
Alot of emotional blah, blah, without much analysis and evidences. This is quite poor TED. Disapointing :(
I don't want drama and emotions. I want to discover about things.
stevenaudet 11 months ago
Blah, blah, blah.......The future is brighter than I thought.
That is the entire show. Don't waste 18 mins of your time.
TheAnubisDrake 11 months ago
who would have thought dane cook would be doing a TEDtalk. hahah am i right. am i right!
kiddhitta 11 months ago
It's like stand up comedy, entertaining, but not a single idea worth spreading.
GHortaV 11 months ago
and this is why i feel subhuman...
greycloud24 11 months ago
I really enjoyed the talk, but I almost gave up on it because it takes him almost 9 minutes to get to the crux of his argument.
gunuin 11 months ago 2