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  • EADD Moderators: Pissed_and_messed | Shinji Ikari

The EADD Inspirational and Thought Provoking Stuff Thread

Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream

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Censored Ted Talk: War On Consciousness: Graham Hancock: Ayahuasca, Shamanism VIDEO

knock said:
This thread is kind of inspired by Mugz; he was always interested in new ideas and often linked to thought-provoking videos and websites. Much of the stuff he enthused about was a bit left field and he got a lot of flak for it, but it washed over him, and his optimism was contagious.

I hadn't heard of TED Talks until he posted about them here, and while there's a lot of CEO wank material there is a lot of good stuff too. I don't want to limit the thread to TED talks, or even to videos. It could be text or audio material, whatever. This thread is for spreading thought-provoking, optimistic material about making the world a better place. It can be big things or small things, and they don't need to be right or wrong, but they should at least provoke thought, and at best should be practical things that people can use to make life better for everyone. Critical discussion is encouraged.

I'm starting it off with a couple of TED talks that I've watched recently. I don't agree with everything in them, but they're worth watching just to get ideas moving.
Click to expand...



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

Anyone else seen this vid? I thought it was pretty interesting. Fuck Ted Talks for censoring it.

from 17:30mins onwards (the concluding points he makes) I am in complete agreement with. I'm sure a lot of you will appreciate the entire talk.

EDIT: Changed title from banned to censored
 
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Ted talks didn't ban it they didn't agree with his points and said it didn't fit in with what they represent. They have the right to choose what is affiliated with their name
 
I've read the book. Interesting stuff about DMT - "Because DMT is ridiculously illegal I had to find some off a mate in Bristol..".

He's trying to have a bit of contact with his father who died recently. Not sure DMT is going to contact the dead but it's certainly a once in a lifetime experience, particuarly oral DMT.
 
This thread is kind of inspired by Mugz; he was always interested in new ideas and often linked to thought-provoking videos and websites. Much of the stuff he enthused about was a bit left field and he got a lot of flak for it, but it washed over him, and his optimism was contagious.

I hadn't heard of TED Talks until he posted about them here, and while there's a lot of CEO wank material there is a lot of good stuff too. I don't want to limit the thread to TED talks, or even to videos. It could be text or audio material, whatever. This thread is for spreading thought-provoking, optimistic material about making the world a better place. It can be big things or small things, and they don't need to be right or wrong, but they should at least provoke thought, and at best should be practical things that people can use to make life better for everyone. Critical discussion is encouraged.

I'm starting it off with a couple of TED talks that I've watched recently. I don't agree with everything in them, but they're worth watching just to get ideas moving.

1. Lawrence Lessig: "We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim"

Lessig talks about how US democracy has been corrupted by the way political funding is organised, and suggests a fix. He is a Director of the Free Software Foundation and founded Creative Commons. He's one of the good lawyers. Obviously we're not the US but similar problems are inherent in political systems across the world. He's a persuasive and fast-paced speaker.

2. Dan Ariely: "What makes us feel good about our work"

Ariely talks about how work can be more fulfilling and engaging. He presents the results of some simple, clever experiments which show how people's attitude to their work is affected by their relationship to the product. He gets bonus points from me for his flattering reference to Marx and his understanding of alienation.
 
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TED Talks are amazing. The good ones anyway. Have lost hours filicking through stuff on their site. Much of it really is inspirational - and I fukkin loathe the term "inspirational" but is richly deserved sometimes.

Would take ages to dig up favourites but a couple that leap to mind that I really enjoyed...

Carolyn Porco: This is Saturn - Yes it is "just" another recounting of a NASA project but she does it so well. Even if you give nary a toss about pretty pix of Saturn you've a heart of stone not to catch the enthusiasm that she emanates. Was her team that took that jaw-droppingly gorgeous pic of Earth glimpsed through one of Saturn's rings whilst backlit by being eclipsed by the sun. Possibly the most gorgeous pic in all of astronomy <3

NSFW:
saturn_cas.jpg


Also really liked this fella. He achieved something pretty fukkin impressive - especially given his age - but perhaps a bit niche for wider interest. Is not dry and technical at all though. Just a bit nerdy. I find this kinda stuff inspiring anway.

Aaron O'Connell: Making sense of a visible quantum object
 
Those look very interesting, Sham, thanks, I'll check them out in the not too distant. I don't expect this thread is going to move very quickly, nor do I want it to, because it's not that type of thread. Bit annoying that low traffic threads get lost in the depths of page 2 :\ forum software prefers quantity over quality :D just need to feed it steadily like a slow-burning fire, I think.
 
Yeah I might ditch the inspirational bit of the title, it is a bit new agey hocus pocus management newspeak isn't it. But am keen on it being positive stuff, links to neo-nazi material might be thought provoking but that's not what this is for...

Suggestions for improved thread title readily accepted.
 
'New TED Talks are released every weekday' is exactly why TED makes me sick these days. Glorified youtube videoblog lovein for hipsterlectuals.
 
This is true. There is a helluva lotta dross. But the good ones really are good. Don't think it was intended to be a TED Thread really. More that Knock started with a couple and I've been too lazy to look beyond me TED bookmarks yet 8)

Speaking of which...

Oliver Sacks: What hallucination reveals about our minds

and...

Photographing the speed of light: Ramesh Raskar at TEDGlobal 2012 - if that one doesn't come under "Inspirational" and "Thought Provoking" I'll eat my ballsack off.

And maybe a lil quote - not taken from a TED Talk 8o8o8o

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Click to expand...

Quite.
 
Shambles said:
=D

Pretty sure this counts as both inspirational and thought-provoking...

Alexander Tsiaras: Conception to birth -- visualized
Click to expand...

Amazing video, but one which hits home particularly hard as we lost our first child at 28 weeks - too old to terminate, to young to be viable without serious medical intervention. She suffered from hydrocephalus and would (probably) have been seriously physically & mentally handicapped, as well as in & out of hospital for life - though how bad this would have been is something we will never know. The decision was made to terminate as soon as we found out the problem, but as she was too far gone, my wife had to give birth naturally. We just watched her die.... Something we'll never get over, but as the missus was a care worker for the mentally and physically handicapped at the time, she was under no illusions as to what 24 hour care REALLY means. Something like this really brings it home what you've lost....
 
FUBAR - Those on here that know.....well know & the rest don't matter but I know part how you feel.
My thoughts are with you & lady FUBAR at this time.

On a lighter note what's this TED stuff actually about?
 
ted is "technology, education and design". It's mostly a bourgeois wankfest but contains the odd hidden gem. A fair few gems really.
 
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