2014年7月5日 星期六

Which country does the most good for the world?

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TED
This week on TED.com
July 5, 2014

Simon Anholt: Which country does the most good for the world?

17:54 minutes · Filmed Jun 2014 · Posted Jul 2014 · TEDSalon Berlin 2014

It's an unexpected side effect of globalization: problems that once would have stayed local—say, a bank lending out too much money—now have consequences worldwide. But still, countries operate independently, as if alone on the planet. Policy advisor Simon Anholt has dreamed up an unusual scale to get governments thinking outwardly: The Good Country Index. In a riveting and funny talk, he answers the question, "Which country does the most good?" The answer may surprise you (especially if you live in the US or China).

Playlist of the week

Open-source, open world (9 TED Talks)

Hear great ideas from our shareable future -- of open code, open data, open government. Watch »

Total run time 2:15:51

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Chris Domas is a cybersecurity researcher, operating on what’s become a new front of war, "cyber." In this engaging talk, he shows how researchers use pattern recognition and reverse engineering (and pull a few all-nighters) to understand a chunk of binary code whose purpose and contents they don't know. Watch »

In this charming talk, Sara Lewis tells us how -- and why -- fireflies produce their silent sparks, what happens when two fireflies have sex, and why one group of females is known as the firefly vampire. (It's not pretty.) Find more astonishing facts about fireflies in Lewis' footnotes. Watch »

When he was a child, George Takei and his family were forced into an internment camp for Japanese-Americans, as a “security" measure during World War II. 70 years later, Takei looks back at how the camp shaped his surprising, personal definition of patriotism and democracy. Watch »

We often think of bias and prejudice as rooted in ignorance. But as psychologist Paul Bloom seeks to show, prejudice is often natural, rational ... even moral. The key, says Bloom, is to understand how our own biases work -- so we can take control when they go wrong. Watch »

how much are you prepared to reveal?

On ideas.ted.com: Find out why Ash Beckham is a chronic over-sharer ... and so is Hasan Elahi (or is he?). And see gorgeous new portraits from photographer iO Tillett Wright.
Plus: Two privacy researchers reveal how little we actually know about online privacy.

 

Quote of the Week

Americans don't know a lot about the Middle East — [they] don't know we laugh."

Maz Jobrani
Maz Jobrani: A Saudi, an Indian and an Iranian walk into a Qatari bar ...

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  Last year in a TED talk about credit rating agencies, I posted

“The numbers the 3 agencies use are not secret: employment rate, GDP, GNP, debt, green investments, housing prices, and many others. So if really just wanted to reform rating agencies and not looking to influence the markets themselves, they would collect the data and create an easy way for anyone to custom-build their own formula. Let the investors decide if employment rate trending is more or less important than green investments vs GDP. “

In that spirit I suggest Simon Anholt ... let people create their own formulas. Crowd-source the rankings, and he would be able to see what aspects people found important, as well as how countries ranked.

To me, a good country would score high in freedom of speech, number of free MOOCs, number of small businesses and private-sector jobs, but some may feel that the amount of tourists or hospitals is a sign of a good country."
 
 

2014年6月28日 星期六

How to speak so people want to listen

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TED
This week on TED.com
June 28, 2014

Julian Treasure: How to speak so that people want to listen

09:58 minutes · Filmed July 2013 · Posted June 2014 · TEDGlobal 2013

Have you ever felt like you're talking, but nobody is listening? Here's Julian Treasure to help. In this useful talk, the sound expert demonstrates the how-to's of powerful speaking — from some handy vocal exercises to tips on how to speak with empathy. A talk that might help the world sound more beautiful.

Playlist of the week

The first 6 TED Talks ever

TED Talks just turned 8 years old! Watch the very first 6 talks posted online, all the way from June 27, 2006. Watch »

Total run time 1:57:18

watch this week's ted talks

Lorrie Faith Cranor studied thousands of real passwords to figure out the surprising, very common mistakes that users -- and secured sites -- make to compromise security. And how, you may ask, did she study thousands of real passwords without compromising the security of any users? That's a story in itself. It's secret data worth knowing, especially if your password is 123456 ... Watch »

In 1991, Shaka Senghor shot and killed a man. He was, he says, "a drug dealer with a quick temper and a semi-automatic pistol." Jailed for second degree murder, that could very well have been the end of the story. But it wasn't. Instead, it was the beginning of a years-long journey to redemption, one with humbling and sobering lessons for us all. Watch »

Many of the world's biggest problems require asking questions of scientists -- but why should we trust what they say? Naomi Oreskes is a historian of science, and she examines our attitudes toward scientific inquiry -- and shares her own surprising reasoning for why we trust science. Watch »

Ge Wang makes computer music, but it isn’t all about coded bleeps and blips. With the Stanford Laptop Orchestra, he creates new instruments out of unexpected materials—like an Ikea bowl—that allow musicians to play music that’s both beautiful and expressive. Watch »

amazingness every day: ideas.ted.com

Guess which country does the most good for the world. (Is it yours?) Learn an amazing trick your body does underwater to save your life. And read this Q&A between a neuroscientist and a former prisoner: Can our brains help us rehabilitate?
Plus: 5 human feelings that animals have too ...

 

Quote of the Week

What makes most of us who we are most of all is not our minds and not our bodies and not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us."

Joshua Prager
Joshua Prager: In search of the man who broke my neck

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  EXCELLENT talk. One of the best I've seen in a long time. Thank you Shaka for sharing your story. I work with at-risk youth in Flint, Michigan (not too far or too different from Detroit!) and many of the young people we see have similar stories as yours. I'm going to share the video of your talk, as well as the accompanying transcript of your conversation with Daniel Reisel with all of our staff, as well as the youth that enter our shelter. Thank you again for sharing your journey with us. It's a story that our youth need to hear."
 

2014年6月21日 星期六

How to make hard choices

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TED
This week on TED.com
June 21, 2014

Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices

14:41 minutes · Filmed May 2014 · Posted Jun 2014 · TEDSalon NY2014

Here's a talk that could literally change your life. Which career should I pursue? Should I break up -- or get married?! Where should I live? Big decisions like these can be agonizingly difficult. But that's because we think about hard choices the wrong way, says philosopher Ruth Chang. She offers a powerful new framework for shaping who we truly are.

Playlist of the week

7 TED Talks on how we make choices

Inspired by the talk above? Keep exploring, with the selected talks in this playlist. Explore why some choices are so hard to make -- and learn how we can choose to make better ones. (Or are we in control of our own choices at all?) Watch »

Total run time 2:16:47

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Jamila Lyiscott is a “tri-tongued orator;” in her powerful spoken-word essay “Broken English” she celebrates — and challenges — the three distinct flavors of English she speaks with her friends, in the classroom and with her parents. As she explores the complicated history and identity each language represents, she unpacks what it means to be “articulate.” Watch »

What must our dogs be thinking when they look at us? Poet Billy Collins imagines the inner lives of two very different companions. It’s a charming short talk, perfect for taking a break … Watch »

One could argue that slang words like ‘hangry,’ ‘defriend’ and ‘adorkable’ fill crucial meaning gaps in the English language, even if they don't appear in the dictionary. After all, who actually decides which words make it into those pages? Language historian Anne Curzan gives a charming look at the humans behind dictionaries, and the choices they make. Watch »

Plenty of good things are done in the name of religion, and plenty of bad things too. But what is religion, exactly — is it good or bad, in and of itself? Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah offers a generous, surprising view. Watch »

ideas.ted.com, fresh every day

On ideas.ted.com: Hey word nerds! Meet 20 English words that once meant something very different. And a must-read letter from 1855
Plus: Are kids getting worse at creative writing? 6 sci-fi books to share and inspire wilder thinking.

 

Quote of the Week

We have a visceral reaction to the idea that anyone would make very much money helping other people. Interesting that we don't have a visceral reaction to the notion that people would make a lot of money NOT helping other people."

Dan Pallotta
Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is dead wrong

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  Imagination is what enables our developed brains to reconcile the facts of life, long enough to survive and perpetuate the species. There have always been those that harness and organize the superstitious part of our imagination. Religion has its roots in the beauty of imagination. Beauty is a powerful thing."

why we lie

Let's face it: people lie. We lie to each other and to ourselves. Is there a deeper reason why we do it? TED speakers take on the hard truths of deception in the latest TED Radio Hour »