TED — Technology, Entertainment and Design
TED has pretty much reached a point where it’s like YouTube, there is so much random crap that it’s hard to find something you really want to invest 18 minutes in. The good folks at the [easyazon_link identifier=”B00GKS2QB2″ locale=”US” tag=”londonthoug-20″]NPR[/easyazon_link] show, The TED Radio Hour, have taken the work out of sorting TED talks. They pick a topic and then drop in bits and pieces of TED talks and interviews with the people who gave the talk.
For the most part these are thought provoking and fun. Most of the speakers are people I have never heard of who are promptly forgotten as soon as their talk is over. But I’m kind of rare in that regard, it seems that giving a TED talk is one of the sure pathways to fame and fortune these days. If anyone at TED would like me to give 15 minutes on portrait photography or blogging or writing, please feel free to shoot me a comment. In related news, it’s been six months and still no word from Publisher’s Clearinghouse.
Like FOX News and MSNB and every hometown sports radio show, the TED Radio Hour is aimed squarely at people who agree with everything the speakers have to say. The host, Guy Raz, might ask a few questions, but these are never Gotcha questions about the validity of the statements, but always Wow, how did you come to discover that? questions. I love the TED Radio Hour, but they are taken from TED Talks, where no one is ever wrong and if we just took their advice the world would be a better place.
As Entertainment, I like The TED Radio Hour a lot. I like the way Guy Raz has curated the content into an hour that makes more sense than the minutes of TED Talks. The point is to make you think, which is not an easy thing to do in the age of instant and easy answers to any and all questions.
