HN Explorer

Ask HN: What is your favorite TED talk?

123 points by derwiki ↗ HN
I really like Hans Rosling, Clay Shirky, Richard Dawkins, and Nick Bostrom's talks. I've found TED talks to be pretty hit-or-miss, so I'm reaching out to HN.

I'm also aware of this thread: http://www.imminst.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=16384 but I'm more interested in what you guys think.

81 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 139 ms ] thread
yan
Ramachandaran's talk had a profound effect on me (neuroscience/brain). Mark Bittman's talk was great, but I like everything that man writes (food). Clinton's talk made me feel like I knew him better after watching it. It felt very personal. Dave Eggers' talk was beautiful (learning). Ze Frank's talk was good if you follow his stuff. Murray Gell-Mann gave a beautiful talk (physics). I bought Dan Gilbert's book after watching his. Alan Kay was, obviously, very good. Sir Ken Robinson's talk was absolutely great also (learning.)

This is just a small sample of the ones that I have seen and liked. I haven't seen most yet.

garyrichardson
I like Joshua Klein's talk about Crows: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intel...

I, for one, welcome our new crow overlords.

fgimenez
That talk was absolutely amazing. It was incredibly inspiring.
lacker
Definitely the crows talk has been my favorite.

A quick summary if you are not convinced. This guy has trained crows to interact with a vending machine. I am surprised by how intelligent they are. Go watch it!

azharcs
I was so inspired by Joshua Klein's talk that i even sent him a congratulatory mail too. Now whenever i look at crows, i observe them, before i just used to think they were nuisance.
catone
I think it's probably this one: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/william_kamkwamba_on_buil...

"When he was just 14 years old, Malawian inventor William Kamkwamba built his family an electricity-generating windmill from spare parts, working from rough plans he found in a library book."

Though the actual interview is a bit awkward at times, I found his story to be very inspiring.

steveplace
The second Hans Rosling talk where he swallows a sword at the end.
aikiai
Jill Bolte's talk about her stroke.

Her talk illustrates the different processing styles of our right and left hemispheres. This is a fascinating subject, that often gets trivialized because of all the New Age BS revolving around it.

Her experience is remarkable, and very powerfully delivered. Don't be fooled by her "spiritual" overtones, the science she references is very real and convincing, and the way she ties it to her own experience is fascinating.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_power...

scw
If you found her talk fascinating (as did I), definitely check out her book (http://drjilltaylor.com/book.html), which covers the entire process in great detail. At times its a bit slow, but it successfully elucidates the challenges she faced, and the eight years of recovery which followed the stroke.

I think the spiritual aspect of the story shouldn't be ignored: our perception of reality is also 'plastic', and we can, to a large extent, retrain ourselves to respond differently to sensory input.

bprater
Agreed, both the TED video and her book were amazing. If you are the kind of person that wants your reality expanded, take a look at what she is up to.
aikiai
Amazon'd. I've actually meant to research her recovery. Can't wait.

I agree that the spiritual half of the story is crucial as well. Actually, this reply got too long and spawned a short blog post, check it out if you are interested. ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=442574 )

I was merely reaching across the aisle, lending her some tech credence despite the fact that she sounds like "one of those spiritual types" at times.

mixmax
On the morning of my stroke I woke up to a pounding pain behind my left eye. I'm asking myself what's wrong with me, what's wrong? Then I realised oh my gosh I'm having a stroke, and the next thing my brain says to me is wow this is so cool: How many brain scientists have the iopportunity to study their own brain from the inside out. But then it crosses my mind: I'm a very busy women, I don't have time for a stroke.

Talk about dedication to your studies...

tdavis
Yes, it truly was fascinating. I had forgotten I'd watched it until you mentioned it... perhaps I'll have to watch again!
jbrun
Below is a list of Ted Talks, my top five which blew me away, followed by some other favorites. Enjoy!

Top 5:

Zander on music, Hans Rosling on World Development, Bolte on Strokes, Lessing on Creative Commons, and the DNA Folding one

Some other favourites (full list here: http://www.ted.com/index.php/profiles/favorites/id/564):

Putting photos together - magically (Photosynth)

Design of the Universe

Johnny Lee: Creating tech marvels out of a $40 Wii Remote

John Francis - Planet Walker

Theory of everything

Evil

Liberal vs Conservative Brains

How Kids Learn

DTrejo
DNA FOLDING!!!

A must watch.

thesubjective
Mycologist Paul Stamets lists 6 ways the mycelium fungus can help save the universe. Seriously....Amazing. A must for everyone. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mu...
dylanz
+1... My favorite talk thus far. Amazing content, from an amazing man.

The talk done by Clifford Stoll was probably the most amusing however.

Chocobean
That was a good one. Although watching him rave about fungi, I couldn't shake the feeling that if it came down to survival of nature with Fungi at the top, or humanity without fungi, he'd pick fungi every time....is it just me? He's definitely passionate! =)
rubing
what some people won't say/do in order to get government funding...what a load of crap!
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sidsavara
Malcom Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spagh...

Replace spaghetti sauce with software development and Facebook versus Twitter Versus Hacker News Versus Reddit etc

It's all about users =)

mechanical_fish
Gladwell is a brilliant storyteller. He's got the Ira Glass mojo.

Incidentally, now that I've finagled Gladwell and Glass into the same sentence: Ira Glass's interview on storytelling is not a TED talk. But it should be. Especially part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE&feature=relat...

jodrellblank
I've like never like and ok like heard of like Ira like Glass or ok and like like like before but if like that clip like ok is like anything to like go on like then like Gladwell certainly like doesn't like have like his mojo at like like all.

Which is nice.

naish
Another good one not yet mentioned is Benjamin Zander on Music and Passion:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_...

cadalac
Wow! Thanks for sharing. I've listened to many interviews and presentations by famous musicians such as Andres Segovia, Frank Zappa, Joe Satriani etc. But this guys brilliant analysis of Chopin's Prelude op.28 no.4 has to be one of the most inspiring things I've ever heard on music. Funny how after the first five minutes of the presentation I had given up all hope of learning anything from him since he seemed to be more interested in just giving an entertaining talk. I think I've found a new musical hero!
nirmal
Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness

What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard says we can train our minds in habits of well-being, to generate a true sense of serenity and fulfillment.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_ha...

canoebuilder
If you have an interest in Buddhism, I recommend this book- http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Lotus-Journey-Frontiers-Buddhi... , The Quantum and the Lotus, by Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan, an astrophysicist. In it they discuss the parallels of modern science and Buddhism. The books format makes a compelling subject even more so, as it is presented as a dialogue. i.e.

Ricard: Lorem Ipsum

Thuan: Lorem Lorem Ipsum

Ricard: Lorem Ipsum?

Thuan: Lorem Ipsum =)

grandalf
This isn't a TED talk but it might as well be. I found it quite inspiring:

Shai Agassi talking about his company Betterplace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPEwJfSaYmY

(Just try to ignore Tim O'Reilly's annoying, negative presence and useless attempts to upstage his guest)