TED Theme: How the Mind Works
At a conference about ideas, it’s important to step back and consider the engine that creates them: the human mind. How exactly does the brain -- a three-pound snarl of electrochemically frantic nervous tissue -- create inspired inventions, the feeling of hunger, the experience of ...
At a conference about ideas, it’s important to step back and consider the engine that creates them: the human mind. How exactly does the brain -- a three-pound snarl of electrochemically frantic nervous tissue -- create inspired inventions, the feeling of hunger, the experience of beauty, or the sense of self -- and how reliable is it? Dan Dennett contemplates the mind as an ecosystem in which a new class of entities -- memes -- can compete, coexist, reproduce and flourish, and asks what sorts of nefarious things these entities might be up to. An enthusiastic Dan Gilbert presents his new research on the peculiar, counterintuitive -- and perhaps a smidge deflating -- secret to happiness. And Jeff Hawkins explains why a napkin-sized sheaf of cellular matter, wrinkled into a ball, will fundamentally change the direction of the computer industry.
Show all Visit Show Website http://www.ted.com/themes/view/id/4Recently Aired
-
HD
Flow, the secret to happiness | Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi asks, "What makes a life worth living?" Noting ...
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi asks, "What makes a life worth living?" Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of "flow."
-
HD
Design and the Elastic Mind | Paola Antonelli
MOMA design curator Paola Antonelli previews the groundbreaking show Design ...
MOMA design curator Paola Antonelli previews the groundbreaking show Design and the Elastic Mind -- full of products and designs that reflect the way we think now.
-
HD
Lessons from past presidents | Doris Kearns Goodwin
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about what we can learn ...
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about what we can learn from American presidents, including Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson. Then she shares a moving memory of her own father, and of their shared love of baseball.
-
HD
Robots will invade our lives | Rodney Brooks
In this prophetic talk from 2003, roboticist Rodney Brooks talks ...
In this prophetic talk from 2003, roboticist Rodney Brooks talks about how robots are going to work their way into our lives -- starting with toys and moving into household chores ... and beyond.
-
HD
Human nature and the blank slate | Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker's book The Blank Slate argues that all humans ...
Steven Pinker's book The Blank Slate argues that all humans are born with some innate traits. Here, Pinker talks about his thesis, and why some people found it incredibly upsetting.
-
HD
The psychology of evil | Philip Zimbardo
Philip Zimbardo knows how easy it is for nice people ...
Philip Zimbardo knows how easy it is for nice people to turn bad. In this talk, he shares insights and graphic unseen photos from the Abu Ghraib trials. Then he talks about the flip side: how easy it is to be a hero, and how we can rise to the challenge.
-
HD
Health and the human mind | Marvin Minsky
Listen closely -- Marvin Minsky's arch, eclectic, charmingly offhand talk ...
Listen closely -- Marvin Minsky's arch, eclectic, charmingly offhand talk on health, overpopulation and the human mind is packed with subtlety: wit, wisdom and just an ounce of wily, is-he-joking? advice.
-
HD
The moral roots of liberals and conservatives | Jonathan Haidt
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form ...
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most.
-
HD
What we think we know | Jonathan Drori
Starting with four basic questions (that you may be surprised ...
Starting with four basic questions (that you may be surprised to find you can't answer), Jonathan Drori looks at the gaps in our knowledge -- and specifically, what we don't about science that we might think we do.
-
HD
Kids can teach themselves | Sugata Mitra
Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole ...
Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own -- and then taught other kids. He asks, what else can children teach themselves?
