I recently watched a fresh batch of videos from the TED conference, and liked some of them. More or less in order of awesomeness
About the famous experiment with children who were promised two marshmallows if they could last 15 minutes alone with one. Those who waited longer ended up with far more goodies in life.
https://www.ted.com/talks/joachim_de_posada_says_don_t_eat_the_marshmallow_yet
Patience and hard work are 90% of success. As old as the hills, but truer than ever.
Parasites are with us, parasites are around us, parasites are inside us.
https://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_suicidal_wasps_zombie_roaches_and_other_tales_of_parasites
About zombified cockroaches and toxoplasmosis—informative and funny.
A cartoon-style animated dialogue about why nothing beats reason and rational argument.
https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_and_rebecca_newberger_goldstein_the_long_reach_of_reason
I’ve long been convinced that this is exactly right, and that we need to stop going on about how “emotions are what make us human.” Emotions are animal; what makes us human is reason, which in our advanced form is almost entirely absent in other animals.
Migrants send billions of dollars home every year, while wicked banks and other money-transfer services charge enormous fees.
https://www.ted.com/talks/dilip_ratha_the_hidden_force_in_global_economics_sending_money_home
I always enjoy stories about poor, unfortunate people being oppressed by megacorporations, though for a long time now I’ve taken them with a hefty dose of skepticism.
A man records one second of video every day so he can remember how he lived and what he lived for.
https://www.ted.com/talks/cesar_kuriyama_one_second_every_day
Why video rather than, say, Instagram is unclear, but it’s still useful.