A few interesting TED talks:
- Are we in control of our own decisions by Dan Ariely. Another take on Barry Schwartz’s awesome idea centered on the “Paradox of Choice” (here’s a TED talk of his own from 2005 on the topic – HIGHLY recommended). Dan’s point is that what we set as defaults in forms, webpages,or any means of collecting information can have a dramatic impact on the results collected.
- Searing photos of war by James Nachtwey. This is the kind of presentation that makes me sit up, look around, and ask “Am I really spending my time wisely today?” It makes me want to go out and really put myself out there, to try to make the world a better place. It appeals to the idealist in me. On a realist level though I do believe I’m going to provide as much support as I can to MSF this year.
- The LIFE project by Frans Lanting. An interesting use of photography to tell the history of the world in Frans’s eyes. I’m not sure it is as effective as he hoped it would be. I know that when I started watching it I wasn’t “wow – zoom!” about the photos themselves. He certainly paints a vivid story though, with technically interesting pictures.