A YouTube Find
By Mr JM
In an Info World gone slightly nutso, it is refreshing to find real data, to find sites which attempt to provide a path to knowledge that can be used to help elevate one’s awareness of either self or the world around us.
Each year, in Monterrey in the States, there is a gathering of people with a wide variety of interests, people who are making their own path through their chosen field of knowledge. Some are names you will know, like Stephen Hawking or Brian Greene, some are known only to those with specific interests like Susan Blackmore, Louise Leakey or Billy Graham and some you will not know at all such as Jonathan Drori or Clifford Stoll
You can find a collection of the TED talks either by searching youtube for TEDtalks or go to the Director’s pages http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?p=r&user=TEDtalksDirector&page=1
The TED Conference (TED for Technology, Entertainment, Design) brings together some of the most remarkable people you will find on the internet. In these mini-lectures (most are about twenty minutes long) you will be entertained, challenged and educated. You will find your buttons getting pushed, your misconceptions buffeted and your opinions being questioned for Truth.
Clifford Stoll has to be seen to be believed. Jonathan Drori asks questions to which you think you have the correct answer, only to find not only that you don’t but that the fact you don’t provides valuable clues as to how we think.
Susan Blackmore takes the concept of Memes a step beyond. Many people have no idea what memes may be but the concept of them goes back decades, and they affect everything we say and do, they provide the basics behind our best and worst behaviours and they explain why, for example, children who have been molested often go on to become molesters, even though one would expect their reality of the experience would ensure they would avoid such a future.
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