TED Talks with English transcript

Sharon Brous: It's time to reclaim religion

TEDWomen 2016

Sharon Brous: It's time to reclaim religion
1,391,871 views

At a moment when the world seems to be spinning out of control, religion might feel irrelevant -- or like part of the problem. But Rabbi Sharon Brous believes we can reinvent religion to meet the needs of modern life. In this impassioned talk, Brous shares four principles of a revitalized religious practice and offers faith of all kinds as a hopeful counter-narrative to the numbing realities of violence, extremism and pessimism.

Veerle Provoost: Do kids think of sperm donors as family?

TEDxGhent

Veerle Provoost: Do kids think of sperm donors as family?
1,144,738 views

How do we define a parent -- or a family? Bioethicist Veerle Provoost explores these questions in the context of non-traditional families, ones brought together by adoption, second marriages, surrogate mothers and sperm donations. In this talk, she shares stories of how parents and children create their own family narratives.

Elizabeth Lesser: Say your truths and seek them in others

TEDWomen 2016

Elizabeth Lesser: Say your truths and seek them in others
1,709,264 views

In a lyrical, unexpectedly funny talk about heavy topics such as frayed relationships and the death of a loved one, Elizabeth Lesser describes the healing process of putting aside pride and defensiveness to make way for soul-baring and truth-telling. "You don't have to wait for a life-or-death situation to clean up the relationships that matter to you," she says. "Be like a new kind of first responder ... the one to take the first courageous step toward the other."

Natalie Panek: Let's clean up the space junk orbiting Earth

TEDxToronto

Natalie Panek: Let's clean up the space junk orbiting Earth
1,112,579 views

Our lives depend on a world we can't see: the satellite infrastructure we use every day for information, entertainment, communication and so much more. But Earth orbit isn't a limitless resource, and the problem of space debris will get worse without a significant change to our behavior. Natalie Panek challenges us to consider the environmental impact of the satellites we rely on. Our orbital environment is breathtakingly beautiful and our gateway to exploration, she says. It's up to us to keep it that way.

Jia Jiang: What I learned from 100 days of rejection

TEDxMtHood

Jia Jiang: What I learned from 100 days of rejection
6,040,624 views

Jia Jiang adventures boldly into a territory so many of us fear: rejection. By seeking out rejection for 100 days -- from asking a stranger to borrow $100 to requesting a "burger refill" at a restaurant -- Jiang desensitized himself to the pain and shame that rejection often brings and, in the process, discovered that simply asking for what you want can open up possibilities where you expect to find dead ends.

Kate Adams: 4 larger-than-life lessons from soap operas

TED@UPS

Kate Adams: 4 larger-than-life lessons from soap operas
1,653,027 views

Soap operas and telenovelas may be (ahem) overdramatic, but as Kate Adams shows us, their exaggerated stories and characters often cast light on the problems of real life. In this sparkling, funny talk, Adams, a former assistant casting director for "As the World Turns," shares four lessons for life and business that we can learn from melodramas.

Ryan Gravel: How an old loop of railroads is changing the face of a city

TEDNYC

Ryan Gravel: How an old loop of railroads is changing the face of a city
886,995 views

Urban planner Ryan Gravel shares the story of how his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, rallied to build a massive urban park that will transform an abandoned railroad track into 22 miles of public green space called the Atlanta BeltLine. The places we live aren't inevitable, he says -- and if we want something different, we need to speak up.

Tiq Milan and Kim Katrin Milan: A queer vision of love and marriage

TEDWomen 2016

Tiq Milan and Kim Katrin Milan: A queer vision of love and marriage
1,566,834 views

Love is a tool for revolutionary change and a path toward inclusivity and understanding for the LGBTQ+ community. Married activists Tiq and Kim Katrin Milan have imagined their marriage -- as a transgender man and cis woman -- a model of possibility for people of every kind. With infectious joy, Tiq and Kim question our misconceptions about who they might be and offer a vision of an inclusive, challenging love that grows day by day.

Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi: An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter

TEDWomen 2016

Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi: An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter
926,790 views

Born out of a social media post, the Black Lives Matter movement has sparked discussion about race and inequality across the world. In this spirited conversation with Mia Birdsong, the movement's three founders share what they've learned about leadership and what provides them with hope and inspiration in the face of painful realities. Their advice on how to participate in ensuring freedom for everybody: join something, start something and "sharpen each other, so that we all can rise."

Joe Lassiter: We need nuclear power to solve climate change

TEDSummit

Joe Lassiter: We need nuclear power to solve climate change
1,192,799 views

Joe Lassiter is a deep thinker and straight talker focused on developing clean, secure and carbon-neutral supplies of reliable, low-cost energy. His analysis of the world's energy realities puts a powerful lens on the stubbornly touchy issue of nuclear power, including new designs for plants that can compete economically with fossil fuels. We have the potential to make nuclear safer and cheaper than it's been in the past, Lassiter says. Now we have to make the choice to pursue it.

Juan Enriquez: What will humans look like in 100 years?

TEDSummit

Juan Enriquez: What will humans look like in 100 years?
3,026,029 views

We can evolve bacteria, plants and animals -- futurist Juan Enriquez asks: Is it ethical to evolve the human body? In a visionary talk that ranges from medieval prosthetics to present day neuroengineering and genetics, Enriquez sorts out the ethics associated with evolving humans and imagines the ways we'll have to transform our own bodies if we hope to explore and live in places other than Earth.

Adam Galinsky: How to speak up for yourself

TEDxNewYork

Adam Galinsky: How to speak up for yourself
6,470,165 views

Speaking up is hard to do, even when you know you should. Learn how to assert yourself, navigate tricky social situations and expand your personal power with sage guidance from social psychologist Adam Galinsky.

Steven Johnson: The playful wonderland behind great inventions

TED Studio

Steven Johnson: The playful wonderland behind great inventions
1,351,401 views

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Well, not always. Steven Johnson shows us how some of the most transformative ideas and technologies, like the computer, didn't emerge out of necessity at all but instead from the strange delight of play. Share this captivating, illustrated exploration of the history of invention. Turns out, you'll find the future wherever people are having the most fun.

Kimberlé Crenshaw: The urgency of intersectionality

TEDWomen 2016

Kimberlé Crenshaw: The urgency of intersectionality
1,680,633 views

Now more than ever, it's important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias -- and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term "intersectionality" to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you're likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.

Sandi Toksvig: A political party for women's equality

TEDWomen 2016

Sandi Toksvig: A political party for women's equality
920,342 views

Women's equality won't just happen -- not unless more women are put in positions of power, says Sandi Toksvig. In a disarmingly hilarious talk, Toksvig tells the story of how she helped start a new political party in Britain, the Women's Equality Party, with the express purpose of putting equality on the ballot. Now she hopes people around the world will copy her party's model and mobilize for equality.

Jennifer Brea: What happens when you have a disease doctors can't diagnose

TEDSummit

Jennifer Brea: What happens when you have a disease doctors can't diagnose
2,042,782 views

Five years ago, TED Fellow Jennifer Brea became progressively ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis, commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome, a debilitating illness that severely impairs normal activities and on bad days makes even the rustling of bed sheets unbearable. In this poignant talk, Brea describes the obstacles she's encountered in seeking treatment for her condition, whose root causes and physical effects we don't fully understand, as well as her mission to document through film the lives of patients that medicine struggles to treat.

Bettina Warburg: How the blockchain will radically transform the economy

TEDSummit

Bettina Warburg: How the blockchain will radically transform the economy
3,779,189 views

Say hello to the decentralized economy -- the blockchain is about to change everything. In this lucid explainer of the complex (and confusing) technology, Bettina Warburg describes how the blockchain will eliminate the need for centralized institutions like banks or governments to facilitate trade, evolving age-old models of commerce and finance into something far more interesting: a distributed, transparent, autonomous system for exchanging value.

Jonathan Haidt: Can a divided America heal?

TEDNYC

Jonathan Haidt: Can a divided America heal?
2,005,570 views

How can the US recover after the negative, partisan presidential election of 2016? Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the morals that form the basis of our political choices. In conversation with TED Curator Chris Anderson, he describes the patterns of thinking and historical causes that have led to such sharp divisions in America -- and provides a vision for how the country might move forward.

Hector Garcia: We train soldiers for war. Let's train them to come home, too

TED Talks Live

Hector Garcia: We train soldiers for war. Let's train them to come home, too
1,099,517 views

Before soldiers are sent into combat, they're trained on how to function in an immensely dangerous environment. But they also need training on how to return from the battlefield to civilian life, says psychologist Hector Garcia. Applying the same principles used to prepare soldiers for war, Garcia is helping veterans suffering from PTSD get their lives back.

Fawn Qiu: Easy DIY projects for kid engineers

TED Residency

Fawn Qiu: Easy DIY projects for kid engineers
1,215,408 views

TED Resident Fawn Qiu designs fun, low-cost projects that use familiar materials like paper and fabric to introduce engineering to kids. In this quick, clever talk, she shares how nontraditional workshops like hers can change the perception of technology and inspire students to participate in creating it.

Suzanne Barakat: Islamophobia killed my brother. Let's end the hate

TEDWomen 2016

Suzanne Barakat: Islamophobia killed my brother. Let's end the hate
1,959,626 views

On February 10, 2015, Suzanne Barakat's brother Deah, her sister-in-law Yusor and Yusor's sister Razan were murdered by their neighbor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The perpetrator's story, that he killed them over a traffic dispute, went unquestioned by the media and police until Barakat spoke out at a press conference, calling the murders what they really were: hate crimes. As she reflects on how she and her family reclaimed control of their narrative, Barakat calls on us to speak up when we witness hateful bigotry and express our allyship with those who face discrimination.

Halla Tómasdóttir: It's time for women to run for office

TEDWomen 2016

Halla Tómasdóttir: It's time for women to run for office
1,023,888 views

With warmth and wit, Halla Tómasdóttir shares how she overcame media bias, changed the tone of the political debate and surprised her entire nation when she ran for president of Iceland -- inspiring the next generation of leaders along the way. "What we see, we can be," she says. "It matters that women run."

Tim Leberecht: 4 ways to build a human company in the age of machines

TEDSummit

Tim Leberecht: 4 ways to build a human company in the age of machines
1,618,597 views

In the face of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we need a new radical humanism, says Tim Leberecht. For the self-described "business romantic," this means designing organizations and workplaces that celebrate authenticity instead of efficiency and questions instead of answers. Leberecht proposes four (admittedly subjective) principles for building beautiful organizations.

Ian Bremmer: How the US should use its superpower status

TEDxNewYork

Ian Bremmer: How the US should use its superpower status
1,014,028 views

Americanization and globalization have basically been the same thing for the last several generations. But the US's view of the world -- and the world's view of the US -- is changing. In a fast-paced tour of the current state of international politics, Ian Bremmer discusses the challenges of a world where no single country or alliance can meet the challenges of global leadership and asks if the US is ready to lead by example, not by force.

Mallory Freeman: Your company's data could help end world hunger

TED@UPS

Mallory Freeman: Your company's data could help end world hunger
1,090,373 views

Your company might have donated money to help solve humanitarian issues, but you could have something even more useful to offer: your data. Mallory Freeman shows us how private sector companies can help make real progress on big problems -- from the refugee crisis to world hunger -- by donating untapped data and decision scientists. What might your company be able to contribute?

Kandice Sumner: How America's public schools keep kids in poverty

TEDxBeaconStreet

Kandice Sumner: How America's public schools keep kids in poverty
1,614,819 views

Why should a good education be exclusive to rich kids? Schools in low-income neighborhoods across the US, specifically in communities of color, lack resources that are standard at wealthier schools -- things like musical instruments, new books, healthy school lunches and soccer fields -- and this has a real impact on the potential of students. Kandice Sumner sees the disparity every day in her classroom in Boston. In this inspiring talk, she asks us to face facts -- and change them.

Victor Rios: Help for kids the education system ignores

TED Talks Live

Victor Rios: Help for kids the education system ignores
1,472,337 views

Define students by what they contribute, not what they lack -- especially those with difficult upbringings, says educator Victor Rios. Interweaved with his personal tale of perseverance as an inner-city youth, Rios identifies three straightforward strategies to shift attitudes in education and calls for fellow educators to see "at-risk" students as "at-promise" individuals brimming with resilience, character and grit.

Christopher Soghoian: Your smartphone is a civil rights issue

TEDSummit

Christopher Soghoian: Your smartphone is a civil rights issue
1,581,538 views

The smartphone you use reflects more than just personal taste ... it could determine how closely you can be tracked, too. Privacy expert and TED Fellow Christopher Soghoian details a glaring difference between the encryption used on Apple and Android devices and urges us to pay attention to a growing digital security divide. "If the only people who can protect themselves from the gaze of the government are the rich and powerful, that's a problem," he says. "It's not just a cybersecurity problem -- it's a civil rights problem."

Kelli Jean Drinkwater: Enough with the fear of fat

TEDxSydney

Kelli Jean Drinkwater: Enough with the fear of fat
1,924,847 views

In a society obsessed with body image and marked by a fear of fat, Kelli Jean Drinkwater engages in radical body politics through art. She confronts the public's perception of bigger bodies by bringing them into spaces that were once off limits -- from fashion runways to the Sydney Festival -- and entices all of us to look again and rethink our biases. "Unapologetic fat bodies can blow people's minds," she says.