Sometimes, Addiction Is A Good Thing

Honestly. Because the thing I happen to be addicted to at the moment is basically beating my education at its job.

TEDTalks.

Ever heard of them? No?

WHAT?

Please, just humor me, and watch this:



(Courtesy of TED.com)

First of all, I love the way the he opens up with his personal experience with his baby boy. Hearing his son progress from "gaa" to "water" was probably one of the more flabbergasting things I have seen on the Internet.

But this is a lecture. And in a culture where the word “lecture” automatically conjures up an image of sleepy college students half-listening to a professor, it is strange to see that most people who watch TEDTalks are of this same demographic - college students. What is it about these lectures, or “talks” that have people sitting up in their seats?

Just out of my own curiosity, I talked to some students at NYU to get an idea of why they liked TEDTalks so much, and what made these lectures so fascinating to them. Some people said it was because you could learn so much from these people, but not have to sit down for an hour and suffer through a long, boring speech. I would agree - each talk is about 18-20 minutes long, which is perfect for someone like me who is always on the go. And TEDTalks are set up in such a way that the speakers come with the intention of hooking the audience in from the get-go, and wanting to be popular to contrary opinion.

Other people said it was because they felt that these speakers were a new wave of inspiration, rather than celebrities or the rich and famous that many people look up to nowadays.

...I don't know about that. I mean, I still think Johnny Depp is the man, and he dropped out of high school.

But seriously, everytime I see one of these lectures, I just want to get up and do something revolutionary. Or at least run a mile to work off the adrenaline rush. When I see it in writing, it sounds ridiculous, yes I know. But these people are an inspiration to me. I feel like these talks can define the new generation of education, as a revolutionary way of teaching, practically rather than academically. Unfortunately, while I praise and worship TEDTalks, I feel like not enough people know about them, which is a shame. Though I am not a part of TED, I feel like the next step for them would be to actively seek out educational institutes around the world and implementing these speakers or talks into those school curriculums - or having teachers and professors doing it the other way around . Imagine watching Deb Roy's talk in your boring, high school psychology class, or better yet, have the actual Deb Roy speak to your boring, high school psychology class. Now, doesn't that psychology class sound a little better?

But while the TED people in their cute little Manhattan office work on that, here I am, publicizing these talks to you, those few people out there that read this blog. Go ahead, learn something new.

I dare you.

(PS. If you remember a while ago I posted a music-related article mentioning my choral hero, Eric Whitacre - here is a talk by him on TED.com about his "virtual choir". It's definitely worth a look-see.)



(Courtesy of TED.com)
(Now, asking me to compare between this guy and Johnny Depp, well, that's a whole different ball game.)